What Rainbow Dash didn't account for was how dry she would feel. The cold winds high above the mountain were blisteringly harsh. She felt her lips becoming chapped within hours. What was more, the sunlight reflecting off the snow-capped mountains was quite literally baking her skin. She found herself gliding in southeast and northeast angles, alternating the sides of her body exposed to the solar glow. Most of the trip was performed squinting, and she definitely put the shades of her lenses through a workout.
Ultimately, the entire trek was a test of endurance. Rainbow Dash found herself having to rest on multiple occasions. This wasn't a difficult thing to do; many of the craggy rock formations provided shade for her to sit down and rest her eyes and body from the reflected sunlight. She found patches of snow that were melting. With her flint and steel, she made a torch out of a stick or two and melted the frost even further, dripping mountain fresh liquid into her canteen. After an hour, she had enough water to splash over her dry lips and wet her whistle. Refreshed, she took wing and soared eastward once again.
Even the mountain range of Canterlot couldn't compare to the majesty of Wintergate's eastern border. The granite plateaus rose so steeply that they deserved their own horizons. There were peaks so tall and prominent that giant swaths of shadow marked where they blocked the sunlight. Rainbow Dash briefly felt as though she were navigating a light show.
Every now and then, the snow would disappear, and the black surface of the elevated rock would appear to Rainbow Dash's hawk-eyes. The exposed stone was polished, smooth, immaculate as black pearls. The sheen of frost was so fine that sometimes she'd look down and get a kaleidoscopic effect, as if she was skimming the surface of onyx diamonds.
All in all, there was a haunting stillness to the roof of the world. Aside from random bursts of whistling gales, everything was dead quiet. There were no birds, no waterfalls, no hint of pony life for miles upon miles of jagged rocks.
Rainbow Dash had always dreamed of seeing the world. All her life, though, she had foolishly assumed that the available landscapes would be filled to the brim with ponies. These last few weeks, however, spent from the height of clouds, with the world turned microscopic and bleak down below, she was introduced into an unfathomable loneliness. There was something about it that was tantalizing, though, like swimming underwater for several minutes before coming up to air. Rainbow Dash didn't know how many days she had before seeing another sign of civilization. In a way, she didn't care. If anything, she had previous records to beat. She almost slowed her flight to a casual glide as she comprehended the immensity of her trip.
Then, as always, she would feel the weight of her pendant. She'd imagine a gray horizon as her forehead ached and her eyes flickered a different color. A brief sigh escaped her lips, and she accelerated her flight.
The world was turning crimson; the snowy peaks reflected a rich amber-brown. She realized that the sun was setting behind her. Soon, the shadows from the mountainsides were turning horizontal. The air grew chilly, and feeling dry was becoming the least of her worries. She had to find a place to set up camp, and she had to land before it became too dark to properly see anything. It didn't help that the further she circled about and looked, her lenses started to frost over. A groan escaped her lips, and the first pang of worry lit her soul that dying evening.
This is truly a beautiful story.
I will take this opportunity yet again to mention that I would like to know why Dash is on this quest, because it is now obvious that she is on a quest. Celestia is directing her energy towards keeping a Rift under control, and Dash is looking for this Armory, but why? What has happened? And where have the rest of the Mane 6 gone? It seems like there's a lot of story to go, so I'm not too concerned about answering those questions right this instant, but they are things to think about.
1211750 nah, they just dont bother... right now im struggling to catch up... its pretty teedious actually, i'd just wish i'd know whats going on so i can carry on whit my life
1053220
This feeling is definately mutual.
1211750
Sometimes theres just not much to say. Its a beautiful story, theres not much I can add with my pathetic little comments.
I sort of feel that this fic is best read with the same mind set that dash has, utterly alone.
Loving how we have come the full circle back to nature :)
IIIIIt's Dashie's Third Marathon Evaluation Time!
So this chapter has...sniffle...GLORIOUS...mountains... The are so beautiful, even if there is no plot. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. Two...left.....c'mon.......
Atmosphere. There's something about "roof of the world" that just ignites my imagination.
And hey, almost halfway through.
1211750 I'm still here!
1211750
Have another reader. I'm not even halfway done yet.
You guys, do you get the feeling that you're part of something bigger, when you read this?
2169304 Oh please yes.
But gah. This fic is like... a cat. A cat chasing a mousey made up of electrons. YOU CAN'T CATCH THE MOUSEY, THE MOUSEY IS SUPERLUMINAL. So like whenever the cat sees the mouse it automatically moves 'cause light is hitting or summat. We are the cat.
Idk what just happened.
This was yet another beautiful chapter. The way that you described the mountains, with all it's climate and difficulties, as well as Rainbow's difficult trek up it, was truly astounding. I've never read a story that does adventure, or descriptions, like this before, and I want more stories like. Luckily there's three sequels and a lot more planned.
To the edge of the world.
Many have traveled this path before me, and perhaps there are many more to come. On this, the fourth day of my journey I finally make myself known.
I'm really enjoying this story so far, spelling & grammatical errors aside. There's a lot of information provided to us through these little bite-size chapters, but not so much that we still don't have questions at every turn. From what I can gather, Discord's release didn't go quite the way season 2 portrayed it. As a result, poor little dashie has a lot of painful memories and a mission from Luna to fly east, presumably to the
endother side of the world.Some are joking that Rainbow Dash might go so far east that it would've been quicker to go west, and it's a funny thought. But all of a sudden I have to wonder if Equestria is flat instead of round. When Celestia raises the sun I assume that the sun is up for the entire world, not just one half of it. Same with Luna and the moon.
So, she is not the first to be tasked with her mission of the Midnight Armory. So this makes me wonder: what conditions must be met to warrant an excursion to the Armory? According to the unicorn Astril(?), the Armory is a legendary, borderline mythological place, which seems to me that since Luna seems to be the one to have sent Dash on her mission that the Armory is real but hasn't been entered for a long time. So would that mean the last time a quest to the Armory was required, that something along the lines of King Sombra, Nightmare Moon (probably not), or Discord's reign was happening.
Random thought: did the Elements of Harmony come from the Midnight Armory?
5791442
I actually took that line more as "how long can I go without seeing civilisation?" Sure, it's possible somepony made this trek already, but I doubt it was well documented. And it probably happened a very long time ago if it happened at all.
5791442
In this universe I'd bet my bottom buck on it.
6061832
I took it as meaning how long she could go with out seeing ponies or other sentient life with which to commune with, or maybe of uninterrupted travel time save sleep of course.
This reminds me of the few times I've made multiple-state car trips for stuff on my own. I always think It would have been more fun with company, but... There's just a feeling to solo journeys that you can't really replace.
In my memory of this story, I forgot how much scenery there was, and how captivating it was.