Through Mountains, Valleys, and Terraces
Rainbow trotted east—or at least she assumed so. The narrow granite pass through the two mountains was an erratic, winding thing, constantly lifting up with shallow steps. Old, splintery boards had been hammered into the stonework many times over the past few centuries, allowing a crude ramp for ponies drawing wagons up the pass. Not all of the ramps were in decent shape. But it appeared that no one in Rohbredden was particularly in a rush to fix them... or use them. Whenever an eastward caravan of wagon-pullers got stuck, everypony would come together to lift the cart and push it past the nearest obstacle. Even perfect strangers—ponies trotting in the opposite direction—willingly set everything else aside to help the occasional traveler to overcome the current hurdle before resuming their own journey.
The pass was scarcely wide enough to allow more than six ponies' width to trot by. This not only made the sojourn through the mountains feel claustrophobic, but it provided an issue when east-bound and west-bound travelers inevitably had to cross. To solve this, several niches had been carved into the porous limestone of the mountains. They were chiseled out of the northern mountain—spaced apart every twenty meters or so. There was enough room in each alcove for at least three wagons to wait front-to-back.
Rainbow Dash found this out when she had to wait inside such a pocket for a good fifteen minutes, allowing a heavy caravan of ten wagon-pullers to pass by, heading west towards the rice fields she had passed earlier that day. She stood side-by-side with several other ponies as she waited, crammed in close enough with them that she could smell their breaths. At first, a terrible sense of discomfort overwhelmed her, and she constantly tilted her hat down—for fear that someone might recognize her. However, as the minutes wore on, her worries proved unfounded. What's more, the ponies gathered around her broke into cheerful conversation. They were likely strangers to one another, but Rainbow could scarcely tell. Rohbreddenites—both young and wrinkled—chatted pleasantly about rice crops, dredge coal prices, and the upcoming Month of Thawing. The latter proved to be a conversation of intense interest and joy to the locals. More than once, Rainbow glanced at the caravans—both coming and going—and spotted colorful packages full of what Twilight and Pinkie identified as fireworks. Colors of bright fiery red and deep icy blue swirled in painterly contrast, a common motif in every piece of decoration bound for one celebration or another.
At last, the pass was clear once again for Rainbow to continue trotting. A part of her missed the chance to listen in on the mirth of the locals. It was a good thing to have her four friends nearby, but in such a tight space the pegasus could scarcely afford to chat with them. No doubt the looming limestone would throw her voice in echoing salvos east and west so every fuzzy ear could hear her rambling.
Thankfully, there wasn't much length left for piercing the mountains. Rainbow squinted, for a bright patch of sky opened up in front of her. The path widened and the eastbound caravans spread evenly as they exited the ravine. Soon, Rainbow's eyes were awash in an epic ocean of green. The dewy smell of marshes mixed with the scent of rich fertilized soil. Rainbow gazed left and right, and all she could see was wave after wave of rice paddies. The Silt Path loomed above the wet fields on an elevated track of compacted dirt.
Gazing aside, Rainbow and her friends could see living rows of farmers rummaging through the tall grass blades. The ponies pulled up thick clusters by the roots, bundling them together and hoofing them over to other ponies tasked with carrying the harvest back to the farm. They accomplished this with dual baskets hanging in a delicate balance from a wooden yoke propped over their flanks. Some ponies carried six... eight... even ten baskets at a time. From the thickness of their leg muscles, Rainbow could tell that this is what these ponies did over the course of their entire lifetime.
Rainbow spotted no less than a hundred farmers working the paddies around her. Even still, they were mere drops in the emerald ocean. Humid breezes blew into the valley, making emerald blades dance in lengthy waves between the mountains. For a brief moment, Rainbow teetered left and right in her gait. She had been standing on barges and boats and other platforms for so long that the movement of the grass tricked her mind into thinking she was on the seven seas again. To distract herself, she gazed south—watching with mute awe as the fields rose into multiple, elevated terraces. The minuscule dots of pony farmers worked there as well, and Rainbow could spot tiny shacks and farmhouses dotting the edges of the circular platforms. The geometric designs reminded Rainbow of the coral formations she saw beyond the aquakinetic shields of lower Shoggoth—only they were all green and full of rice. There was no telling how long—or how many generations it took to carve such topography into the landscape. The entire time Rainbow trotted the Silt Path, she could hear Twilight Sparkle and Rarity debating it with breathless interest.
The Silt Path curved slightly north, passing the edge of a massive hilltop. There were a few elevated peaks here or there—but nothing like the breath-taking mountains that jutted out of the earth on either side of the Sunset Tract back west. Here, the landscape stretched evenly before and behind Rainbow Dash, affording her a mostly uninterrupted view of the Silt Path and the traders trotting it. The leisurely pace of journeyponies that Rainbow observed earlier was back in full-force, and occasionally she would come across groups of Rohbreddenite gathered along the edge of the elevated dirt road. They paused with their wagons parked side-by-side, sharing information, stories, and goods. More than a few of them smiled and gestured at Rainbow Dash as she passed by. Each local who made eye contact with her would hug themselves with their forelimbs before drawing their right fetlock across their front left leg, then waving it towards Rainbow Dash with what looked like a half-hearted salute. Rainbow noticed this gesture being shared between most ponies who stopped to chat with one another. Fluttershy was most curious about the meaning behind it, and she struck up a rather dense conversation with the rest of the mares as Rainbow Dash pressed on.
An hour and a half into the trek, Rainbow wondered if there would be no end to the valley. Indeed, she saw the mountains of central Rohbredden ever-looming in the distance. However, it almost felt as though the rice fields were receding from her with each step that she took. The pegasus' hooves ached, and not a second went by when she didn't sorely miss the ease and freedom of flying.
The ghostly mares took note of Rainbow's exhaustion, and they insisted on multiple occasions that she pause somewhere to catch her breath and allow her muscles to rest. Stubbornly, she resisted—at least until Rarity mentioned that she sensed a series of structures up ahead. Rainbow squinted and—sure enough—beyond the crest of a hilly part of the path, she took note of a series of wooded stave structures and turf houses. It was the first village they had stumbled upon for miles, and it rested at the junction of three roads that converged with the Silt Path. It was an obvious resting place for travelers from afar—judging from the thick brown field of dirt where dozens (if not hundreds) of wagons were parked. There were tall wooden spires hammered into the soil along four corners surrounding the village, and Rainbow looked up to see burning braziers hanging from the chiseled effigies of windigos. No doubt—at night—these fires burned bright, serving as a beacon to all who dared to traverse the Silt Path at night.
At first, the dense presence of Rohbreddenites gathered at the village turned Rainbow off. However, at the insistence of her friends, she took a deep sigh and slowed her gait, searching for a spot in the village where she could rest for a bit. Sure enough, the sun was coming down, and the towering mountains of limestone to the west meant that the valley would be covered in a thick shade long before the actual arrival of night. It suddenly occurred to Rainbow Dash that the Sunset Tract was named appropriately, for it was quite likely that only the townships of Osmanthus Prefecture enjoyed the setting sun in this part of the continent. Rainbow thought of how bright the starlight might be in a valley this remote. And then she thought of moonlight, and a chill ran through her body.
There were spare bits in her saddlebag, and Rainbow could already detect the signs of an inn situated at the town. Indeed, she figured, she might be staying for the night.
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Oh wow, I really want this to keep going
Yay! It's Rainbow again!
I'm worried that this might be Rainbow's last talk with Luna.
Moontalk time?
6730361 Moontalk time.
....chapters like this are why we need a fanimation project going. Even then, I doubt it would do the image justice.
-Companions have returned, inner darkness spurned. Utaan.
No dialogue, merely narration and vivid description of the scenery. Been a while since we last had chapters like this.
Please let Bard and Wildcard reside in that inn...
Ah, and once again a return to the dialogue-free chapter style. Just nice descriptions of what the new landscape Rainbow's in is like, giving us that sense of immersion.
Back on the road again. Sights to see, places to go, conversations to hear....Wonder if rainbow is going to miss this if she completes her journey. Well that is in the future, for now....
The journey continues
Ya know, I realize I'm gonna catch flak for this, but I just gotta say this.
Why in god's name do we have like a million generic clop-fics on this damn site, with a 100-1 like/dislike ratio, and then have a handful of beautifully written novels with a 3-1 like dislike ratio? Wtf everybrony?
Dat scenery.
Chapters like this are always refreshing. Gives the story room to breathe, y'know?
Beautiful scenery and upcoming moontalks, yus.
--
Oh, and I had a thought - if Rainbow is confronted by the Talon, where are they going to bring her? To Verlax's...mountain thingy for trial? Is that where her test of Honesty will be?
If there's a confrontation with Rainbow and Seraphimus, and Rainbow gets the heroic monologue out or otherwise convinces her that she still needs to do this East thing, can we have her do that sneaky thing "Well, we'll just have to make sure you don't hurt anybody else doing it" and thus Paladin escort and "my what fine architecture" moments? I would like that.
Another nice bit of setting exploration. It's nice to have these moments to sit back and smell the roses.
And rice paddies.
Yes. This is clearly the terrible things Serph says RD is doing. I mean, walking. How evil.
6730555
It is unbelievably evil! Just like this picture. mlpforums.com/uploads/post_images/img-1837182-3-3145820_1359951892239.54res_368_375.jpg
Rohbredden gives such strong eastern-Asian (Vietnam, China, Thailand) vibes that I got to thinking what the other places Rainbow has been might parallel, whether intentionally or not.
Early-Austraeoh was largely high fantasy themes -- nothing real-world. Mountainside mining village built on boardwalks, techno ring city, lost ancestral home infested with dragons.
Ledomare could parallel Germany. Strong focus on industry and development, then the war/propaganda side.
Frozen Sea clearly far north/arctic. Not very unique/intentional.
Lands between Alafreo and the outskirts of Val Roa, South America. Especially Durandana. Tribal, small villages, etc.
Val Roa and the Grand Choke, northern Africa. Deserts, riches among the nobles,
goblin terrorists.Colonial islands could be Hawaii, or most any other tropical island chain (specifically with tribal natives -- see Nealend Atoll).
Rohbredden is obviously the most intentionally modeled after real-world culture, I'm just putting a few ideas out there about possible inspiration sources.
6730413 Because people like pone pron better than they like scenery porn.
6730382 There is one! Sorta. From what I know, progress is kinda slow. It was going to be 2d intially but switched to sfm. I did some of the writing for it, but left the project later. They did recently release an animation test though! Look up Austraeoh on YouTube.
I kind of want to see someone draw this whole chapter in a comic form. It would be very beautiful, I just love how calm and peaceful everything is.
Sadly, a lot of that is because I have a very bad feeling it's not going to stay that way for long.
6730613 Suddenly thinking of the islands as Polynesia, I wonder if there's some sort of New Zealand...
6730746 True. And Dash is minus flight for now, and the story looks like it's heading in the direction of Dash inevitably being captured. But nothing says that at some point it won't come down to Dash and Seraphimus, though. And when that happens, Headbutts will occur.
I have a feeling it'll only take the Talon a day and a half to catch up to her.
Woot! New chapter!
You know, I'm as curious as Fluttershy. What is this thing?
6730727
6731210 No, I mean a bigass island, mountainous and likely volcanic like New Zealand or even Viti Levu. Not an atoll. There's no indication that Nealend is anything more than a slightly large atoll in the geographical sense. (at least I think there isn't.)
...Come to think of it, it could've been Luminar.
Hmm, the motion of the forelimbs implies the local peasants see Samurai Dash.
Which means there are Samurai.
And Ronin.
And Ninja.
But nobody sees them.
Rainbow Dash cant talk with Luna very easily if she cant fly up to clear skies.
Through river, root and stone,
The distant call of home.
So far yet always with us,
Inside our hearts and bones.
...all this talk about Dashie approaching the edge of the world. She's clearly in the Middle Kingdom now!
6731162 The arms around torso thing seems to be about the cold, some special greeting related to the thawing. And as Dash doesn't respond the way one is supposed to answer that salute, they just wave their hoof at her, a more universal salute...
That pretty much sums up my feelings about this chapter. That scenery description...
Does no one realize how bad it would be for Dash to get busted talking with Luna? With her mane gone her biggest identifying mark is her element and that isn't exactly something she can just remove.
I hope Dash isn't planning on spending bits for a room considering she'll be talking to Luna all night. Maybe she'll sleep for a few hours before moonlight. Yes that makes more sense.
6731162 , 6731312 I imagine not many other ponies, outsides local residents, choose to walk the Silt Paths when they could just take a boat. The only types of ponies who'd probably do that are pilgrims and I wouldn't be surprised if Dash looked like one on a pilgrimage. The gesture is probably a customary greeting, or blessing/prayer for Verlaxion to guide and keep them safe.
I bet Dash's loose hat is going to get her in trouble here, whether from just finally falling off or from her getting fed up with it and tossing it away somewhere.
6730571
Arrest this despicable wretch. And yes, give her a hug, too.
Thank you for this brief respite.
Have to say, this story has such a great worldbuilding. It's what started me to read this, and is what is keeping me going. Glad to see Ic still hasn't lost it. Also kinda nice to have some respite before the next bad thing happens
It's quiet...Too quiet.
It's always a good day when nice chapters like this come my way.
Dear Celestia,
Today I learned that Verlax has either disabled waterborne diseases or made her subjects resistant to these scourges.
Wouldn't it be funny if the Talon found her right when she's talking to Moonbutt?
6806028
unnerving for sure...
Very serene and nice here. It's like a nice journey before everything inevitably goes wrong.
8198976
Mind coming back at day break?
The fact that she’s walking means the Talon will have a much easier time catching up to her, especially with that eyewitness account of the hairdresser.