“So, like, uhm... have you ever really needed to grind your hooves? Like really bad? Because they get such sharp edges from trotting around so much that when you try to cure an itch that won't go away, you accidentally start scratching yourself real bad? And you think 'Ow, jeez, if only I had put a file to these hooves of mine, I may not be making scars on myself.' It's almost as annoying as when the winter hits and you start molting. Cuz is there really any easy way to sweep feathers... off the... bedroom floor...?” Rainbow Dash's words trailed off. She gulped.
The entire crowd of Windthrow ponies was staring at her blankly.
“Ahem.” She cleared her throat and shifted nervously where she sat next to Fulltrot. “What I'm trying to get at, I think, is an anthology.”
“Analogy,” Fulltrot corrected in a whispery voice.
“Right! One of those!” Rainbow Dash smiled sheepishly. “You see, this village could really go with a chance to... uh... to grind its hooves! Cuz everypony is so on edge and so freaked out about these monsters and crud that just about any little thing is capable of throwing you guys off your rocker! I mean, sure, yeah, it helps to be virulent.”
“Vigilant.”
“Why aren't you talking?” Rainbow Dash hissed.
Fulltrot smiled. “You're doing fine.”
“Nnngh...” Rainbow turned towards the crowd once again. “It helps to be vir—... vigilant. But at the same time you shouldn't forget that you're a bunch of big, strong ponies with a lot of weight to throw around and these winged chumps don't know what's coming to them!”
“Unnngh...” Sladesteed facehoofed. “This is a waste of time...”
“Exactly!” Rainbow Dash smiled. She turned to see Fulltrot's frown. “No. NO!” She spun and barked at Sladesteed from afar. “It's not a waste of time! Hear me out—”
“Ponies have died trying to ward off those creatures from the top of the mountain,” Sladesteed said, glaring across the crowd at her. “I can't see what a pegasus from Equestria could possibly know about what we've been through.”
“And I'm telling you!” Rainbow's voice cracked as she spoke louder. “They're NOT on the top of the mountain! There's nothing on the top of the mountain but the mountain!” Several citizens glanced at one another and murmured as she went along, “I was there, alright? I was there and... like... all I saw were a bunch of fissures venting steam up into the air!”
“Fissures...?” Hushtail spoke up.
“Yeah! They were cracks. Too tiny for even those horrible bat things to fly through. If I didn't know better, I'd say that the super-evil mists were coming from inside the mountain itself!”
“From inside the mountain?!” Sladesteed made a face. “Preposterous! That's impossible!”
“Well...” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “You tell me! You're mining inside that giant chunk of rock all the time, aren't ya?”
Sladesteed merely frowned at her. His nostrils flared and he motioned towards his closest cohorts. “Come on, brothers. I should have known better than to have called this meeting. Nothing's ever going to change, so might as well spend our time doing something constructive. Quickly now! If we don't gather enough minerals, the trade parties will abandon us for another year!”
Rainbow Dash blinked confusedly as Sladesteed and a large group of ponies marched away. Slowly, the crowd began to dissipate.
“Well, that's certainly rude,” Gold Petals muttered in a low voice.
Rainbow Dash gazed aside at her. “What are you still doing here? Come to tell me that it was a good speech?”
“No. It sucked big time,” she replied. “Still, I can't help but think that Sladesteed got up on the wrong side of the stables this morning.”
“Yeah, what's up with that?”
“He's a headstrong stallion,” Fulltrot remarked, gazing at the work ponies trudging their way towards the mineshafts in the side of the mountain. “He knows as well as any villager in Windthrow that Hushtail's days are numbered. It's not that the young pony is starved for power. He just takes his responsibilities a little to closely to heart.”
“And that is a heart that has hardened over the years,” Hushtail added as he marched over towards Rainbow Dash. “I am most sorry, Equestrian, for the awkwardness of that scene. It goes without saying that my son and I haven't seen eye to eye in a long time.”
“Well, he's concerned for a lot of good reasons,” Rainbow Dash said. “Sounds like things in this village has been pretty grim. How many other ponies have wanted to relocate, I wonder?”
Instead of answering that, Hushtail leaned forward and asked, “Is it true? There were no nests atop the mountain summit?”
“None that I could see, sir,” Rainbow Dash replied. “Though, I didn't really get the best look-see. Maybe I can fly up there again.”
“No matter what you may or may not find, I doubt that'll be the crux of the issue,” Fulltrot said. “Even assuming that the creatures have dwindled in numbers overnight, if our village doesn't have solidarity in the defense effort, we can start mourning the fate of Windthrow already.”
“I don't think I get you...”
“My son has done nothing but stir up doubt and fear,” Hushtail gravely said. “I applaud his attention to seriousness, but I fear that his anxiety has gotten the best of him. He may not have a proper assessment of his own charisma, but his words are putting a damper on the spirit of this village.”
“Well, sorry that my... uh... 'outsider enthusiasm' wasn't enough to tip the boat,” Rainbow Dash said, casting a glare at Fulltrot.
“I just wish that I could reach out to him somehow,” Hushtail muttered. “Alas, I am getting along in my years, and I don't know how many chances I have left.”
Rainbow Dash glanced over at Gold Petals. Gold Petals squinted curiously from beneath her hood. With determined breath, Rainbow Dash smirked at the two elders. “Perhaps, then, this is a chance that I should be taking up.” And she trotted at a brisk pace towards the mineshaft.
Oh hoho! Into the mines then. Let us find out where the heck those spiderbats are coming from!
Hm. I think Rainbow sort of explained the issue as to where the smog and bats come from. Let's see:
- Okay. So the bat things don't live on the mountain - maybe they come from inside it? Like, maybe the smog and the monsters are a byproduct of... what's being done to the mountain itself? Perhaps mining has upset some balance within the rock, and the result is you've disturbed these creatures and they're like so pissed off! So they retaliate for you... upsetting the balance? Maybe?
Huh. Maybe. I dunno, Rainbow isn't the sharpest pony. Still.
Yep. Dash's speech didn't work out so well...
And now to find out where these strange creatures are coming from, perhaps?
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
So in this chapter, Rainbow gives a less than uplifting speech to Windthrow after which Sladesteed goes down to the mines. Not much else here, but Rainbow is going after Sladesteed to try and convince him to stay in Windthrow, so we might see where the creatures are coming from next time, which I will be looking forward to. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. Hooray for the hiatus! But I needed one after the Marathon... I was on hiatus mostly because I was working on my first fanfic, which will be up tomorrow. From now on, I'll try to put at least 1-3 evaluations up per day, unless stated otherwise. Have a nice day!
It's SOO obvious it's a dragon's cave... Come on, Dash. Look at the signs! You've dealt with this before! (not the bat creatures, the smokey mountain)
Alas they dug too greedily and too deep.... frigging balrog
At this point in the story I'm really wondering why this town is so important when Rainbow Dash is in the middle of another quest under the supervision of Canterlot royalty. As enticing as the Windthrow plot is, no important connection between it and the original plot from the very beginning has been made clear. Whether this is intentional or not, it leaves me confused, wanting a good explanation. Alas, I shall read more to find out!
1859584
element of loyalty remember? they gave her food and compny, so she's obliged by her principles to help them till the situation is cleared up (or they all die, whichever comes first)
They dug too deep and are now threatened by a creature that has makes them either relocate or fight back and they don't relocate. The story of Moria perhaps?
See, and now we know what the problem is. The Wintergate ponies mined too much in the mountains, so much that it upset the balance and natural smoke seeped out of the mountains in an attempt to stop them, but it didn't work, and instead they are warding off the smoke with magical crystal balls. To remedy this, these spiderbat creatures are destroying the crystal balls and helping ward off the ponies that have done so much damage to their beautiful mountain home.
Well, I'm not good at making theories, but it's what I think. Now I'll stop reading for the night and pick up in the morning. If I read all day, maybe I can reach 100!
~FierceRainbow
1359627
Maybe, but it seems like a little too much for a dragon. It is also smokey, not black.
Family strife.
Dammit Windthrow, didn't you guys learn your lesson from Tolkien?
This is what happens when you dig too deep!
Best speech, 10/10.
5082069 The Dw- uh, Windthrow ponies, delved too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness of Khaza- I mean, um, the mountains into which Windthrow is carved...
I love the way Dash is written in this. You somehow manage to capture her boundless energy and nature perfectly in the written word. Onward I read, because screw studying for midterms!
~SolidFire
"No, I know what I said."
hm...slowly the mystery is giving us hints to help better understand what's going on. it feels like discord is involved in this somehow as the eyes and her determination and panic to get her element back on solidify this theory, I hope as I read on this mystery shall be solved.
Dash has the public speaking skills of a potato.
Well that could not have gone better. Seriously, it was clear that those there were in no mood to listen to anything that is not fitting into their preconceptions. They only want one type of solution, and will reject all other solutions, even ones that work, in favor of this one, even if it does not work.
07/13/2019
01:17 UTC
i find it funny that the words dash misused are more advanced than the ones the meant to say in the first place
"anthology" is pretty advanced, especially compared to the common "analogy"
and i myself didn't even know about the word "virulent" until i read it here
Well, so much for that. Let's go exploring, see if we can find out anything.
Oh
Oh he knows, he's just an absolute ass trying to make a play at power! Fuck you Sladesteed!
Okay, now Sladesteed has officially gone from simply being a well-meaning jerk to actually kind of suspicious. His timing on the rescue with the miners armed with crossbows is almost too perfect, not to mention he's the only person who said that the monsters nested on the top of the mountain. No one else suggested that. If the strange mist is coming from the top of the mountain and he works in it, then logically he should know about it.