“And every rain season, Cloudsdale enlists the help of a completely different town to gather water for the coming precipitation,” Rainbow Dash said, flying at a slow drift. “All of the village's pegasi are required by Equestrian law to assist in funneling a reservoir's worth of moisture into a waterspout that will then be absorbed by the rain factories in the floating city.”
“What a remarkable industry,” Hushtail remarked. His wobbling legs carried him slowly behind Rainbow Dash as the two strolled alongside a wooden railing overlooking the gorge below Windthrow. “If pegasi have been capable of anything, it's been in employing an outstanding methodology. I've known many a unicorn to have lived through life without using his or her horn once. Winged ponies, on the other hoof, appear more than willing to utilize the full gifts that nature has given them.”
“Yeah...” Rainbow Dash stretched her limbs and cracked her neck joints. “Ahhh... We are pretty awesome. Heh. Every ten years or so, rather than dredge water up from another village, Cloudsdale sends its finest fliers to the waters beyond Blue Valley to carry an even larger supply of water in anticipation of the regular dry season. When I was really young, one of my dreams was to make that journey... to be among the few, proud fliers to have made such a delivery.”
“And did you, traveler?”
Rainbow Dash exhaled She gazed up at the dimming fog as night descended on the lofty, wooden town. “Turns out I ended up flying a much longer distance. About four times as long as the trip to Blue Valley and back.”
Hushtail nodded, his gray mane fluttering in a mountain breeze. “Undoubtedly by now you would have earned Cloudsdale's approval to perform the ten year ritual.”
“Yeah. Maybe.”
“Though I imagine your credentials are fabulous enough,” Hushtail said. He pointed an aged hoof at her neck. “Seeing as how you bear one of the Six Stones.”
Rainbow Dash jerked in mid-air. Slowly, she pivoted around and squinted down at him. “Six... stones...?”
“Come now, traveler,” Hushtail said with a knowing grin. “We live in a large world. Wintergate is not nearly as far from Equestria as you might think. I grew up being told of the Six Stones of Nightmare's Bane. However, I'm old enough to remember the illustrations that came with that tale.”
“You don't say...”
“I won't presume to question you over why you're bearing it. But the fact that you're all this distance from the Home of the Sun Goddess leads me to wonder.” His eyes narrowed. “Has something terrible happened to the harmony of your homeland.”
“My homeland's fine,” Rainbow Dash uttered bluntly. Her lips briefly formed something akin to a frown. “What's the big deal about a stupid stone, anyways?”
“If that be the case, then surely you could take it off. It looks terribly heavy.”
Rainbow Dash said nothing. She merely bit her lip.
At that time, a series of hoofsteps echoed across the wooden platforms a few feet away. Rainbow Dash turned to see several stallions covered in soot, their limbs clad in black canvas and leather. Several sacks full of mining tools and luminescent stones hung from their saddlebags.
“Sladesteed!” Hushtail exclaimed and marched with remarkable enthusiam towards the group. “You are back from your labors! What remarkable timing! Fulltrot's caravan has returned. What's more, we have a most splending guest in our presence.”
Everypony, upon seeing Hushtail, stopped and bowed their heads in reverence. All except one pony, that is. A young stallion with a light-brown coat and a blonde mane merely grunted, “I have very little time for rejoicing or socializing, father. I have to make sure that the minerals carried from the mountain exceed last month's quota. We are, after all, falling behind in supplying the southern trade route. If we wish for next month's merchants to plan visiting us for next year, somepony is going to need to lose a lot of sleep to make that happen.”
“Son, I understand that you are greatly pressed to finish your tasks,” Hushtail uttered. “But you must not forget that you are both my heir and my representative. It is the polite, Windthrow way to pay respects to outsiders—”
“That's just it, father! Everypony it an outsider to us!” Sladesteed grunted, his chestnut eyes brightly lit up. “But that doesn't have to be the case! If we went out and hired ponies from the southern villages with the sole purpose of employing them in the mines, we would increase profit and trade all at once! We need to get our names known beyond the lengths of these jagged cliffs!”
“I respect your opinion, Sladesteed. But I don't think now is the time for—”
“It's never the time, father!” Sladesteed hissed, giving Rainbow Dash a lethargic glance. “I don't care how many guests we have. There's work to be done, and on account of your stubborness it falls on my shoulders and mine alone! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to check on today's progress...”
Sladesteed thundered away. His many associates fidgeted awkwardly before breaking up to mingle with their families and the returned caravan.
Hushtail sighed and turned to look up at Rainbow Dash. “I am truly, terribly sorry for that. My son and I do not see eye to eye like we used to. It bothers me that it has to show so openly, especially when I'm in the middle of conversing with a pegasus visitor such as you.”
“Hey, don't sweat it, pops,” Rainbow Dash said, though she glanced nervously over her shoulder the entire time. “I hate to be rude too, but I was actually needing to go and... uhm... be alone for a little bit.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. This will be the first night that the moon's been full in weeks.”
“What significance is that, pray tell?” Hushtail blinked awkwardly. “Do pegasi rely on the lunar cycle? I feel horrible for being so forgetful...”
Rainbow Dash smiled and waved a hoof. “It's okay. I'm sure we can pick up this conversation tomorrow.” She felt the weight of the pendant around her neck and further murmured, “I'd like to learn more about your village and these nasty creatures you're tackling with.”
“I wish I could provide you with something less macabre to discuss.”
“Hey, we'll work on that too. Uhhhmm... So yeah! See ya!” She ascended through the fog in a blur. Out of range of his eyesight, she gave a deep sigh, and climbed towards the top of the troposphere.
You're putting off the reveal as long as you can just to spite your readers aren't you?
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He must be, I thought for sure Mr. Exposition was gonna show up finally, maybe by chapter 50 he'll arrive
I for one invite the mystery.
Let's see what transpires! Onward!
...Don't tell me.
She's a marewolf.
Jeez, every time Rainbow jumps around questions of Equestria, I get more and more curious. Onward with the next chapter!
A full moon, eh? I wonder if this has something to do with a certain princess of the night...
30 chapters in still haven't got a solid idea as to why rainbow is this far from equestria.
Did she fail during the discord fiasco? A serious illness that requires the constant wearing of the element of loyalty? Is she some how permantly connected to the elment?
I must know! but am gona read later.
IIIIIt's time for Dashie's Marathon Evaluation Time!
So in this chapter, we learn that Hushtail apparently has a son, and, like most fathers and sons of the literary world, they don't exactly see eye to eye on most things. That's not to say I mind it, and I rather think that Dash and Sladesteed will have some interesting interactions later on. (As a side note, I would just like to point out that my earlier and supposed disinterest with the plot was because I took into account the fact that the the chapters are very short. I will overlook this in the future and try not to be such a harsh critict.) Also, the night of the full moon has come, so I am very excited for that. One last thing that I find surprising is that the Windthrowers know of the Elements of Harmony. Fulltrot did show some interest in Dash's necklace when they first met, but I didn't think they actually knew it was an Element , or Stone, as they call it. I am in the highest of anticipations for the next chapter. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. The Marathon Evaluation Time will be a special series where I upload 10 Evaluation Times in one night. It's going to be rigorous, but I'm going to do this! And big thanks to bigchibz110, THEpandaman007, and Shamrocker for supporting my evaluation time. And, actually, an extra special thanks to Shamrocker for inspiring the Marathon Evaluation Time! Here's to 9 more evaluations. (_)- (She is holding the cider.)
Good god, you're sadistic. I thought I was getting answers, but NOPE.
Ugh. Fine. I'll keep reading.
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Why am I not surprised?
I'm applying regular fantasy standards and not just fanfiction standards when I say I really appreciate that 'the mining town" is not just a plot device but an actual place with a plausible reason for existence and the internal politics are more complicated than "outsiders good" and "outsiders bad". I really can't stretch how important that was to me, but ill try
here's the importance: ====
Here's the importance stretched: ---------
She's having her period?
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omfg, where can I get your profile pic. I love this story and all, and I'm sorry if this is ruining anyponies feels, but it's too awesome to let slide.
Aw, I though we were going to get answers... It's going to be the end of the story if we ever find out why she's travelling, isn't it? Clever, now I have to keep reading. So, this 'full moon' thing. I'm not really sure what the significance of this is, but I'm sure I'll find out. Forgive me, but I think the whole 'father-son' bit felt a bit rushed, but hey, it's fine.
The full moon and her Element have something in common.
One of you guys is good guessed. I practically did a spit take when I read the comment. So you got some exposition, but not the kind you wanted I presume? RD is such a tease. oh well. So apparently Windthrow has economic turmoil that goes deeper then the mention of it last chapter, so despite the fact that they have such valuable ore they are constantly losing money.
If only you knew Hushtail, if only you knew...
Alright, time to see if my Luna guess is accurate
The price of loyalty. Or disloyalty. Is that what drove her from Equestria? The price was too high? Well, I'll just have to check out farther to find out. The puzzle pieces keep coming, but so far, not much is connecting.... Bah! Oh well, onwards and upwards, as they say.
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I had to reply to this and let it remind me of something for when I'm not on my phone. Heh, full moon time!
~SolidFire
Sladesteed is an ass. Is he the bad guy?
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No, he's just thinks of the future more than his father does, and because of that he needs to be a bit of an ass, so that he can get the work that needs to be done done.
She's totally fucking hiding something.
O-... Okay? Maybe we learn what the deal with the mom is next?
Oo, a mouthy little capitalist that Sladesteed.
Sladesteed's not a welcoming kind of guy.
Hushtail is trying.
Full Moon time incoming.
Ooh, first full moon!