It may not have been heaven, but as far as Rainbow Dash's stomach was convinced, it was the next best thing. She crawled through the shrubbery, munching flower after flower, her insides blessing her with sumptuous gurgles as she ingested petal after petal of floral goodness. She bore her nose through the colorful array, snatching lavender bud after lavender bud. Half of them went into her mouth, the others she collected in the thick of her saddlebag. She knew that she had a cold, perilous, and potentially long flight ahead, and she wasn't about to risk starvation while scaling the mountains ahead.
The daylight was beginning to wane, and Rainbow was already planning to spend the night and wait until morning to begin her trek. With a tall and unknowable land formation ahead of her, it was absolutely prudent that she begin the flight in the daytime when she could see what was below.
So, she rummaged through the shrubbery and picked out the plants that were dying or halfway dead. With the use of her hatchet, she ripped the dry twigs apart and formed kindling. She prepared a campfire for the night, but made sure to pack even more twigs and sticks of wood for the mountainous journey.
Night fell. The fire warmed her. She sat in peace, half-covered by her blanket, surrounded by soft grass and flowers. The stars painted a muted canvas over her head, and for some reason staring at them didn't fill her heart with lonesomness that evening.
She rolled over onto her back. Exhaling, she saw her breath spreading vapors in the amber firelight. The cosmos dipped in and out of the mist, and her eyes bounced around and did loopty-loops between stars, imagining that she was a lone speck of a pegasus outracing a bumbling group of ill-minded Shadowbolts.
For the next hour or so, she kept her body as still as possible and squinted at the starlight, attempting to spot where and in what direction the constellations moved. She wondered briefly if the entire universe was still—including the earth—and that she was the only thing that moved. She didn't understand where she was going with that thought. She fell into slumber with a smile.
The next morning was a foggy affair. She poured sand on the fire, stretched her limbs, took a breakfast bite of flowers, and took off. The saddlebag weighed three times as much, but after a brief strain she hardly mind. It was an invigorating challenge, and she tore her way skyward against the wind.
It took a solid hour of flight before she reached the rising slope of the first mountain range. In her feeble mind, she had imagined that she made camp at the very western edge of the land ridge, but she realized that she was wrong. The first attempt to scale the rising topography gave her a clear picture of just how immense these peaks were going to be. They dwarfed the elevated landscape of western Wintergate by a long shot.
Whistling, Rainbow Dash nevertheless climbed her way up the troposphere. The air grew thin, and she was stabbed from all sides by a persistent, knifing chill. It made her heart beat faster, and she felt slightly nostalgic for Cloudsdale. It was the second thing in the last twenty-four hours that made her smile. In a way, she was even somewhat proud of herself. It gave her a boost of strength as she skimmed over the top of the first summit, and came to a high coast above the first row of mountains.
From here, she could see the entire east horizon—but that very same horizon was blocked. There were innumerable mountains blocking her sight, all of them taller and more daunting than what she was just then scaling. Their elevated tips shone with bright sheets of snow and frost. It looked like she was about to glide over a gigantic field of ivory bones, deposited by some ancient gods.
Rainbow Dash blinked. She raised her goggles with a smirk. For the next hour, she challenged the biting cold head-on, not even doubting who would win.
Staying up to 11:35 to catch up LIKE A BOSS. I was on chapter 40 something earlier today but took the time to read everything up to this chapter. I eagerly await moar.
Good, very good so far. The descriptions are vivid and come to life. Dash's personality seems spot on too.
But the pacing is excruciating. You're spreading the butter much too thin over the toast, in my opinion. As much as I enjoy long, protracted stories... the urge to skip sentences or even paragraphs is getting harder to fight. And knowing that even if I do skip ahead a little bit, it'll do me no good as the chapters are so short doesn't really help.
Finally caught up. This story is so much fun to read. My only regret is that, now that I've finally caught up, I'll only have a chapter a day or so to read.
This story is a wonderful exploration of Rainbow Dash's character and a study in the short-chapter form. As much as I love long Chapters, these are good, simple moments full of good writing and a bit of prose.
Don't let an editor near this, but do perform a spell check before posting, there's been a number of typos throughout.
I can't wait to read more.
And what's beyond the mountains? I want to know this too, and I figure we'll be finding out shortly. As for that book... Well, that remains to be seen.
You know, I rather enjoy the lonley wandering parts of the story. Maybe because that's where the story started, it seems right, or maybe it just reminds me of myself.
IIIIIt's Dashie's Third Marathon Evaluation Time!
So in this chapter, nothing much happens. Basically Dash just prepares for her journey up the mountain. That's pretty much it, so...yeah. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. I'm in the home stretch...three left...
Day 4: Down a slope!
Wow, this planet is empty.
1752364
Nah, ours is just full.
Just how big is their world? Rainbow can break the sound barrier pretty much on command , which means she can fly pretty fast and cover a lot of distance in one day. A modern real world aircraft can fly around our world in only a few days time, stopping only for a refuel, yet Dash has been going for months at least.
Still loving this story however. Makes me kinda angry I put it off so long that there's now two sequels to it, one of which has just as many chapters and is just a wee bit longer. The second sequel is most likely going to be of epic length as well.
107 chapters to go!
2247368 Rainbow can break the barrier when effectively sprinting. Prolonged travel is naturally slower.
2247368 2373782 True.
A Rockwell B1 bomber burns about 200,000 lb/hr of fuel when cruising at supersonic speed. Yes, that is two hundred thousand pounds of fuel per hour.
A Boeing 707, about the same weight as a B1 from about the same time period, but designed to cruise at a more fuel-efficient subsonic speed, burns about 12,000 lb/hr when cruising.
Flying supersonic burns about 17x more fuel. I'm sure that muscle fatigue would probably factor in as well. For distance, you cruise at maximum efficiency, not maximum speed. Remember the running of the leaves? Rainbow learned her lesson.
Alright, so the flowers weren't poisoned. Unless the effects take place later... Anyway, still loving the subtle loneliness, vivid descriptions and beautiful prose. I think the best part of this chapter was when Rainbow was just taking her first steps into the mountain range and it was describing them. I'm feeling intimidated by those towering peaks just reading about them, yet Rainbow isn't in the slightest, and is prepared for a cold trek. I have a feeling something bad is going to happen to her while she's crossing them, but then again, I get that feeling every chapter. Probably just because she's so awesome in this, but all on her lonesome. Despite how powerful she's proven herself to be, I can't help but think she's seems vulnerable. Well, even if she's not physically, she definitely is mentally.
Up hill both ways.
3751308 Rainbow flaps wings. a short energy output to flap up, then a smaller gravity assisted output to flap down. it would be the same as multiple P.D. engines detonating separately but in repeating succession. rather than a constant solid output. Factor that into your equation. :P
Just figured id point that out for shits and giggles. No
Can't help but wonder what a pony hatchet would look like.
Maybe the handle's shaped and just behind where the axe-head would be?
... or maybe it just looks like a regular hatchet and magically sticks to their hooves?
Hmm...
7268555 While it might have a hole, loop or socket for the hoof to slot into, more than likely I figger that they just hold it in their mouths.
That depends on ones relativistic POV. Rainbow would hate that science taking the fun out of her musings, at this point at least.
02/22/2017 20:42 UTC
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Technically, there is no way for both the universe and the Earth to both be still no matter the reference frame...but it's a story and not a science text book so I'm good with that. lol
Passing over a mountain range would be a lot easier when you can fly.
I was wondering why I didn't remember a mountain-climbing section...
Well, it's good to see that Rainbow's journey isn't all moping and stoicism. There are moments of happiness, even if fleeting.
Shame Rainbow still chooses to leave some of that happiness behind, though.