When Rainbow Dash's stomach began growling, the mountain range had begun to slope into the brightest, greenest landscape she had seen for days. The air was wet here, filled with the most delicious scents of spring. She gazed down as she saw lush forests dotting the eastern edge of the mountains.
The afternoon sun warmed her flank as she touched down in an emerald glade. Several small woodland creatures bounded away immediately after her landing. Rainbow Dash glanced around, feeling as if she was the first pony in centuries to set hoof in this beautiful, alien landscape. Her insides gurgled once more as she desperately scanned the nearby trees. She thought of the moldy bread in her saddlebag, the same pathetic thing she had nibbled on ceaselessly for weeks, and she couldn't help but grimace.
Something sparkled in her goggled vision. Her heart jumped, and she found herself galloping towards a cluster of trees to the north. She skidded to a stop as soon as she was underneath the desired branches, and she actually drooled.
They were apple trees, and the fruit hanging off them were of a plump and ripe nature befitting a pegasus' dreams, her dreams. With a gentle flap of blue wings, Rainbow Dash hovered until she was nose-to-skin with the brightest apple in sight. She gave it a close sniff and could already sense the sweetness. With two hooves, she plucked the apple loose, raised her goggles, and turned the object over in her grasp.
The skin of the apple looked perfect, but she was hardly a qualified judge. There was no telling if there were parasites hidden inside the thing, or if the apple was rotten at the core, or if there was a bitter taste just waiting to poison her. So much as licking the strange fruit could very well have been an extremely dangerous prospect.
So Rainbow Dash took a huge bite.
Immediately, her mouth was filled with a flooding river of euphoria. Her ruby eyes flew back in her head, and she let herself fall like a feather to the downy grass below. She took another bite, reveled in the heavenly taste, and giggled like a foal, her voice echoing gaily across the emerald clearing. Less than two minutes later, the entire apple had been scarfed completely. No sooner was Rainbow Dash finished with this gluttonous feat, she was darting back up to the tree for a second fruit, then a third, then a fourth. She tucked these under her hooves, forelimbs, and even her wings. Stifling another evil laugh, she victoriously galloped over to a patch of shade and set her things down. Pulling her blanket loose from the saddlebag, she rolled it out along the soft blades of grass and laid herself down so that her forward half was in the shade and her rear half was warmed by toasty sunlight.
So luxuriously reclined, she took her time savoring the succulent fruit. Her eyes danced with the rays of sunlight glittering through the waving leaves above. Her mind toyed with errant thoughts, bursting through her head in cadence with the felicitous tastes bursting in her mouth. She let a giggle leave her lips, then another. Soon, the first three apples were consumed. Tossing the cores away, she polished the fourth and last apple against her chest and raised it to her lips.
But then she stopped.
Rainbow Dash blinked. Slowly, her jaw clamped shut. She gazed with a solemn expression at her face being reflected in the immaculate red skin of the apple. Her nostrils flared, and scents that didn't belong to the emerald glade were now assaulting her. The next breath from her mouth was painful, and soon her eyes fell to the reflection of the ruby lightning bolt hanging from her neck.
A sour lump formed in her throat. Rainbow Dash said nothing. She didn't eat the apple. Shadows began filling the glade as the Sun was setting beyond the mountains to the west. It was still early in the afternoon, but Rainbow Dash no longer felt like flying—not yet. The wind had been taken from her wings.
With a gentle yawn, she grasped the blanket in her mouth and dragged it to the base of a tree, where the shadows were thickest. Pulling a second blanket out of her saddlebag, she wrapped it around her blue body and settled down on folded legs. Rainbow Dash lingered before resting her head. Gnawing on her lip, she reached once more to the apple. Instead of nibbling on it, she merely cuddled it close to her—even nuzzling its soft skin with her cheek.
Exhaling, Rainbow shut her eyes. There was a touch of moisture to her lashes, but she paid it no heed as she happily embraced the lulling kiss of slumber.
this is interesting, although i must say there is a certain lack of plot so far, but it seams like your saving up for something
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Seems to be running away. Something to do with Loyalty? Apples and, even though it was just a description, Emerald may imply has something to do with Applejack.
Yeah, I'm gonna stop jumping to conclusions and just follow for now.
Beautiful, but I really hope this goes somewhere soon.
Absolutely wonderful descriptions with the apples. My mouth watered the whole time, and I now want one. Nicely done! I see you've stopped using her name as much as you did, too. Good to see, good to see.
Moving on, I think by now that I'm of the mind she is running from....her friends? She feels sadness, bitter, and angry at herself for running away because she's the element of loyalty, which I'm assuming is what that pendent is. And it keeps reminding her of that fact over and over again.
OK. Lets analyze this. What the @#$% does "Austraeoh" mean?!
She's annoyed with the pendant. I can't help but feel she's not entirely happy about going wherever she is going.
Also, I want an apple now...
People need to shut up about lack of plot. There's tons of plot here, perhaps more than most fics, we just don't know any of it yet This story continues to be incredibly interesting. Something to do with Applejack now?
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To answer your question, let's see if Austraeoh is spelled anything backwards...
...
hoeartsua
...
This is gibberish.
1119068Ponified Australia???
God damn, you can make eating an apple extremely beautiful and thought provoking.
Anyway, this just solidifies that she is either A) homesick, or B) she is missing her friends due to whatever mission -- or thing -- she is doing. I doubt she's going to save them, because if she was then she'd be a good bit more determined than she is depressed. I also doubt that she is running away from her friends, don't have much proof against it besides the fact that she's more melancholic than she is guilty, though. There was one theory on the first chapter, I think, that said they were going to hide the elements. That'd make the most sense so far, seeing as she's going farther than their recorded maps.
Then again, maybe her friends are dead?
We shall see.
Geez. I did not see over 100 chapters to this story.
In it for the long run, I suppose...
But.... WHY SO MANY?! dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/sillyfilly_Twilight_Sparkle.png
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lewl, thats what im saying i wonder where this is going though
I just realised how many chapters there are....
O~O
Yum./Aaaaww...
Hai guys! Just a note, I started my evaluation time after this chapter, soooo...yeah. I suppose I could still do one, if anyone wants me to, but it wouldn't be a first impression. So I'm just gonna leave this chapter evaluation-time-free.
-MASH
P.S.: If I get a note that someone wants an evaluation time for this chapter, I will write it.
I've seen something like this chapter somewhere before... I suspect... but I have to wait 'till tomorrow to find out.
If her annoyance with the pendant is any indication, she seems to have left her friends, it being the Element of Loyalty. That I'm pretty sure of.
The rest I have little to no idea. Great work, it's beautifully written.
Excellent writing, intriguing story line.....but I can't believe how many chapters there are! This'll be like reading a novel!
Huh. I wonder if this has to do with when she was discorded.
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I had come to the same conclusion about loyalty, however apples and applejack I hadn't thougt of.
So Rainbow Dash took a huge bite i am sold by this point
I totally realize that there is a plot.
I pick up on your context clues sir, and I ask myself the questions you (probably) intend me to ask. I see that she left, that she misses home, that she has a purpose. Perhaps Luna sent her on this journey, perhaps not. I trust in you to answer the questions raised by the narrative (what is her goal? why is she alone? under what circumstances did she leave?) as the plot progresses, and I look forward to learning them.
Just to recap: I see what you're doing here, and I don't hate it.
oh god i'm going to be Reading this when i should be sleeping....fuck you and your awesome story.....and i'm only chapter 3 and addicted like i'm on meth....
What if Rainbow just dosent want the others to use the elaments of harmony for some reason? Did they go evil? Just a general guess, I don't know.
and kids this is why you don't run away from where you are except me because I know my way around
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I'm going to keep my opinions small this time because I still have to read this story, and then your other ones, which will take about one good year.
Just like in every other chapter.
Ooooh.
So Rainbow Dash has travelled beyond the known realms if Equestria to a place that seems to good to be true? Yeah, I get a bad feeling about this. For some reason she has her element of harmony, but seems to hate it. Why is this?
Nothing more is revealed in this chapter, it's just Rainbow Dash on her journey, which we still don't know why she's on. But I guess that's the point, isn't it? I'm spending too much of my precious reading time on this review anyway, so I'm going to stop here.
Feeling quite famished
Dash finds, eats many apples
But not without tears
Wow. You guys are good guessers, or at least what he wants you to guess. I'm not going to spoil anything in these comments and if I do I apologize in advance, but I don't think it will happen. So another thing that I will be doing is to take down brief summaries of each chapter so I don't have to reread it again to get general information about this story. I also intend to send my findings to the Austraeho movies squad if they will allow me, but I'm sure that that suicide train crashed awhile ago, but I sure hope that it didn't.
Instead of music, here's the trailer that they made
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZzxGMiLVnY
Might intrigue you folk and maybe you'll offer your support
(sorry for the youtube insert failure)
Applejack got pissed that RD ate one of her apples.
I've waited too long to read this thing.
Okay, I waited too long with starting this. The first chapters were written beautifully though. Okay. I'm ready for this jorney. 200 chapters and then some countless sequels. If all of that is as good as this, I can't wait for it.
It seems to me that she needs Eljunbyro already. Okay, that was bad. Forgive me?
In total Imploding Colon has written 2,049,060 words so far, making this the longest continuous storyline/series on Fimfiction. I ask just one question: How does he write and post a chapter EVERY SINGLE DAY???
Yup, that's Rainbow alright.
knowing what I know now
I stll have no idea what this is other than that Rainbow flies east for 2,000,000 words. I love it!
Hmm, laugher in the wind in the previous chapter and apples in this one and more animosity towards her element. It seems like this may have something to do with her friends but I still don't know enough to make any kind of educated guess so I'll just continue.
6300005 Approximately 3,500,000 as of September 2016.
In an SS&E fic, I can't not see all interactions RD has with apples as subtext, but this one especially so.
So she's wearing her element? Also, the way she stops eating that apple makes me wonder if something happened to Applejack.
rereading in hopes there will be an update when i finish
I'm lost. Did she see her reflection in the apple or something?
Equus fructos diu desideratos fruitur et superiora tempora meminit. (A horse enjoys fruits long missed and remembers former times.)
Equus Orientalis.
Chapter 3 Opinions
I feel like such an idiot right now. Of course the lightning shaped pendant is her element! How did I not realize that sooner?
This chapter was pretty interesting. Still raises more questions than answering though. Which can be, and in this case is a good thing. I just hope it doesn't drag on with raising this many questions for too long. The way Rainbow suddenly stopped and looked at her reflection in the apple makes me think that something happened to Applejack. I had suspicions that something had happened to the rest of the mane six since Rainbow Dash was the only one of the mane six in Argo's animation, and I'm interested to see what happened to them, if that is the case.
I'm off to chapter 4!
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So you've also been been inspired by the animation to try this story?
Me, as well. I've been putting this story on the back burner for way too long.
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Same boat. I actually was a good 20-30 chapters in when I first started but it was so long ago I figured I should restart so I remember what's going on.