To Perytonia

by Cloudy Skies

Chapter 35

I’ve written my… observations on our captivity as a separate entry just now, because I suspect I am going to give that to the Princesses at some point. If they don’t have any need for it, perhaps Twilight will find it edifying. Possibly mortifying.

Well, that’s one reason I made that entry separate, at any rate. The other reason is that it feels oddly distant now, and I don’t wish to taint this evening’s memoirs with such thoughts. Today has been a challenge. Multiple challenges, in fact, but it hardly feels so daunting now. Certainly part of it is what Rainbow Dash delights in telling me over and over, bless her persistent self; I truly am in good shape, but the true stress of this journey has never been physical. That I can keep up with my friends physically makes little difference by itself.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash have finally found their stride together, I think. Or is that “again”? I fear I’ve neglected our friendships as of late. I’ve been obsessed with things that seemed so very important in the moment, but now those concerns are much more distant. I can hardly be expected to think of Cotronna and worry about this sigil delivery business while we are lost and in peril.

Just as I think that perhaps I need to speak up and ask dear Fluttershy if she needs somepony to talk to, just as I think I need to shout some sense into Rainbow Dash, here we are. Everything is in order, and everypony is happy, and the concerns of last week seem very… well, I used the word before, but I shan’t be shy about repeating it: distant. We’ll tackle any and all issues as they come up, and I’m more than capable of doing my part. With two of my best friends for support, there is nothing I can’t do.

Even if ignoring the state of my mane takes every ounce of my willpower.

Good grief, my poor, poor mane.

-R

---

“I think you can come a little closer now if you want, but it’s probably best if you just, um, sit and… watch for a little while first,” said Fluttershy, her voice soft and low. She ran a hoof along the creature’s side, and the huge spotted cat let out a deep, rumbling purr, stretching out its forelegs with sharp claws on display.

“Yeah, no, that’s cool,” said Dash, her own tail flicking about. “Super cool. I’m totally sitting here just because I want to, not because I’m afraid of coming any closer.”

Fluttershy giggled, smiling at Rainbow Dash. “You sure you don’t feel like laughing at her like you laughed at the capybara yesterday?”

“Don’t see that happening, nope,” Dash said, stifling a giggle at Fluttershy’s words, trying not to wake Rarity.

Dash sat on the ground not far away from their bed, having tucked Rarity in as best as she could. It was still dark and cold, twice as cold because of the humidity, but Dash could tell it would be morning soon. She wasn’t all that tired any more, and had woken up to a growl. To Fluttershy cuddling and chatting with what she said was a jaguar.

Twice as awesome as that singular fact, the first thing Fluttershy had done after hushing her was beckon Dash closer, wanting Rainbow Dash to be a part of the moment. It had been so long since the last time Fluttershy had wanted to share her excitement over animals, Dash would be happy to join no matter what kind of creature she’d found. Of course, Fluttershy hadn’t hidden away the capybara and the frogs yesterday, either, but this was one of those rare, special moments. Fluttershy invited Rainbow Dash in to be a part of something not everypony would ever get to see, and Dash cared mostly because it was Fluttershy who did it.

In short, things were the way they should be, and that was awesome.

“For the record, and talking about laughing, that thing you found yesterday was funny, come on,” Dash said, chuckling at the memory.

Fluttershy frowned in the pre-morning light. “He was a perfectly normal capybara—”

The jaguar turned halfway around, yowling and looking at Fluttershy with bright yellow eyes.

“Oh. Oh, no, I didn’t mean we’ve seen a capybara,” said Fluttershy shaking her head briskly. “I have a book. It’s a little hard to explain, but I don’t know any capybara here, I’m very sorry.”

Dash blinked. The jaguar let out a low rumble, got up, stretched, and licked at Fluttershy’s chest-coat, all before slinking away into the darkness. The jaguar was gone in seconds even in the sparse jungle of the foot of the mountain, its spots and markings camouflaging it.

“She has to go. Jaguars are nocturnal, and she’s a little busy anyway. I guess she really just wanted to say hello,” Fluttershy explained, tilting her head. Her short mane flipped from one side of her face to the other. Dash could watch that infinity times and still love it.

“Why did you lie to her, though?” Dash asked, walking over to her. She nuzzled into Fluttershy’s wings on a whim, earning a smile.

“Jaguars and capybara, they, um, don’t get along,” said Fluttershy, her ears splayed.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Like that little pudgy thing could take on a jaguar, heh. Fighting wouldn’t be fai—oh,” said Dash, finally catching on. She winced. “Right. And that’s the point. Not just… fighting. Jeez. That’s not cool.”

Fluttershy shrugged by way of reply. “It’s not very nice to think about,” she said, leaning over to rub her snout against Dash’s neck affectionately. She came away with one of her own pink hairs from yesterday glued to her snout sideways.

“Nice mustache,” Dash muttered, reaching up to brush it away. Fluttershy snorted with laughter, quiet at first, and then Dash had to join in, the two of them breaking into fits of giggles, the stupid little hair dispelling the gloom before it could even begin to settle.

“I see you’re up already,” said Rarity with a yawn, the unicorn shivering as she shrugged her way out of the blankets.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you,” said Dash, one wing waving.

“Well, you did, but it’s no matter,” Rarity said touching her messy mane and sighing with a faint smile on her lips as she looked about. When she lit up her horn, Dash had to shield her eyes, already accustomed to the darkness. “I imagine we should start our journey as soon as possible.”

Fluttershy nodded her agreement. “It’s probably going to get warm before long. If we’re all feeling rested, I guess we must’ve slept enough, but I have no idea what time it is. This place is really confusing.”

“You’ll have to give me a moment to decide on whether or not I do feel rested,” Rarity commented, yawning as she got up and started to fold their blankets. ”I think I can fit at least one of the blankets in our bags now that we’re carrying less water. I’ll take the larger blanket on my back and tie it up.”

“Good thinking,” said Rainbow Dash, nodding at her. She cast one final glance at the mountains to their east. One last look before they actually stopped staring and started flying. “Let’s grab something to eat, and do this.”

Not long after, some bread and dry water crammed down her throat, Dash had her wings out and knelt down for Rarity to mount up. It took a while to find a comfortable position that let Rarity hold on without her saddlebags getting in the way of Dash’s full range of motion, and after some deliberation, Dash’s own saddlebags were passed over to Fluttershy, who insisted she could handle it, and that was it. Rarity wrapped a thick winter scarf tight around her own neck to ward off the night-time cold that faded even now, and they were off.

Short, powerful wingbeats carried Dash up and through a gap in the canopy. Fluttershy matched her ascent, and soon the two pegasi soared east side by side, the jungle below a darker green than Dash’s wings, but still close enough that she at times lost sight of her own feathers at the edge of vision. The effect was unsettling at first. In the darkness, and with the jungle behind them, it looked like she was flying wingless—but she definitely felt her wings. Before long, what began as simply flying had become a real workout, her wings making two beats for every one of Fluttershy’s.

“You okay?” Dash asked Fluttershy after a while, glancing over at her. Fluttershy nodded and smiled briefly, her head down, focused on the task.

Better to ask Fluttershy than have to consider the question herself. She could already tell this wouldn’t work. She had a distraction in simply watching Fluttershy fly, enjoying the way Fluttershy powered through despite labouring under her own double load, but she knew from long experience that trying to forget how tired she was would only help for so long.

They flew right above the top of the jungle and its constant noise of insects and animals unseen. Here a hoot, there a yowl or a hiss, but every now and then, Dash noticed the jungle got closer. She wasn’t dropping down. The jungle rose up. Of course it did. They were climbing, and so she was forced to fly up, to always climb herself, and with a passenger—even if it was just Rarity—that was no easy feat.

The jungle passed by at a good pace still. Every second Dash kept going, the treeline ahead and above came closer and closer. She had a target to focus on. Dash wiped her brow and flicked away budding sweat, redoubling her efforts with a growl.

“Are you getting tired?” Fluttershy asked a little later still, giving her a look full of concern.

“If you need to land, dear, better you do that than risk us crashing,” said Rarity. Dash felt her grip loosen a little for a second. “I think we’ll both need a bath after this, ew. No offense, of course.”

“I’m fine,” Dash grunted, speeding up a little more. When the going got tough? Get tougher. She grit her teeth and cast another glance at Fluttershy and found the short-haired pegasus as resolved as she, flying on.

But no, she wasn’t fine at all. They had underestimated the length of the slope. She held on and pushed ahead for as long as she could, flying on and on in silence, but they’d barely crossed the treeline and left the last of the jungle behind when Rainbow Dash signalled to land. The mountains still loomed tall and refused to let them near, and far behind them, past the mountains at the other side of the Cauldron, the sky that had once been dark now glowed red, proving that time had in fact passed. The heat grew steadily, and amidst the constant climb, the heat and the extra weight, Dash knew she couldn’t go on another minute. There was a time to go, and there was a time to realise she’d lose her wings again if she didn’t stop.

The two pegasi landed on a rocky slope bearing sparse mosses, loose stone, and little else. Dash touched down a little harder than she intended, sucking in breath at the impact. When Rarity slid off her, Dash hung her head, trying to catch her breath. She spread her wings as far as they would go, then packed them away, repeating the motion slowly, over and over to make sure they wouldn’t cramp up.

“Darling, are you sure you are okay?” asked Rarity. She levitated one of their water bags out of Fluttershy’s saddlebags when the other pegasus trotted over to touch her snout to Dash’s head. A moment later, Fluttershy stepped back, and Rarity proffered the water. Dash drank deep, wiped her muzzle, and took another drink.

“I’m fine, seriously,” said Dash again, letting out a deep breath. “We’ll just have to take breaks, or figure something else out. I can’t keep this up forever.” She stretched out her legs for good measure, eyes on the pass ahead. It didn’t look like they’d made any progress at all, and now the sun caught up. At any moment, the sun would crest the mountains far in the distance behind them. Light touched the blindingly bright white peaks above them even now. She had fought for every wingbeat for what felt like forever, and the false morning hours were nearly spent.

“Oh,” said Dash when she looked down. Proof of how far they’d come lay not ahead, but behind them. The stretch of bare rock leading down to the jungle was a lot longer than she’d thought, and beyond, the drop to the bottom of the cauldron seemed dramatic and immense all of a sudden.

Fluttershy tilted her head. “Hm?”

“Dunno, just felt like we weren’t moving, but I guess we haven’t been standing still after all,” said Dash, shrugging. “Or, flying still.”

“I should think not. We’ve been flying for hours,” said Rarity, nodding quickly. “You’ve done a wonderful job.” She took a draught of water herself as they watched the sun slowly creep down the western mountains.

“Felt like longer,” Dash grunted. “But yeah. We’ve spent so much time on the ground, I don’t even remember how fast flying is,” she admitted with a laugh. Fluttershy giggled as well, shaking her head.

“I don’t think it’s that strange,” said Fluttershy, her mirth petering out. “It’s hard to tell distance here, though. It feels like the mountains ahead of us just keep getting bigger without getting closer.”

“You’ve been thinking the same thing, huh?” Dash asked. Her neck ached from looking up at the peaks ahead. Even the pass they were headed for was stupidly far up. She felt like a filly staring at the cookie jar on the top shelf—before she could fly, that was.

“Mm, and I just realised we’ll have problems landing and taking off when we get high up,” Fluttershy added. “If it’s all snowed down, steep and maybe even windy, we don’t know that we’ll find a safe place to land. We might not be able to stop to let you rest. We’ll have to think of something else.”

“Yeah,” said Dash, frowning. “Ugh, you’re right.”

“You two tell me if there is anything I can do to help,” said Rarity. She got up, put their water away, and took a shaky few steps towards an outcropping a small ways away. “You’re more than up to the task, I’m certain—” she continued.

“Hay yeah we are!” said Dash.

“—but for now, I take it we’re done with today’s flying since it’s already heating up,” the unicorn continued. “I think we’ll have some shade over there.”

“I think you’re right,” said Fluttershy, following in her wake. “We probably want to wait until sundown. Maybe we should sleep a little during the day so we have all night to fly or climb.”

“Naps?” Dash asked, hovering up to punch the air. “Finally!”

Rarity chuckled. “You know, for all that you complain about the lack of naps, I thought you would’ve had your fill of naps during our time in that awful cell.”

“Eh, naps don’t count when it doesn’t feel lazy. We didn’t have anything to not-do when we were in there.” Rainbow Dash shrugged and accepted her saddlebags back from Fluttershy, carrying them by herself the short distance over to the little campsite-place Rarity had picked out. A miniature mountain on the slope, the tiny wall-like cliff promised some shelter from the sun that crept across the cauldron, illuminating all in its path. When Rarity had their tarp up overhead and blankets were laid down for comfort, it was already as hot as any summer’s day in Ponyville, though a fair bit windier.

“How about you?” asked Fluttershy, turning to Rarity.

“How about me what?” Rarity replied, rooting around in her saddlebags until finally she found her comb, beginning the slow and meticulous process of returning her mane to something resembling normal. Maybe it’d work, Dash thought. It was a little less humid up here.

“You’re okay holding on?” Fluttershy asked. “You don’t get tired or uncomfortable?”

Rarity chuckled, dragging her comb through her mane once, then flicking wet off it. “It’s not comfortable, no,” she said with a bemused grin in Dash’s general direction. “You’re hardly plush, darling, with all that bone and, well...” she said.

“You can say it,” Dash said, grinning wide. She flexed a wing and held out a foreleg, striking her best pose. “You mean I’m all muscle and awesome.”

Rarity stared deadpan at her. “Yes, yes, your physique is impressive—”

“Gonna frame that sentence and put it on my wall,” Dash said in a sing-song voice, prancing over Fluttershy, bumping into her side. “You hear that? Your girlfriend has impressive physique. How about that?”

Fluttershy broke into a loud fit of laughter, and Rainbow Dash nuzzled into the short, stiff mane at the back of her mane, laughing along. When Dash pulled back, Rarity shook her head and chuckled as well.

“At any rate,” said Rarity, “to answer Fluttershy, if you’ll let me finish, I’m doing well enough holding on, even if that is all I’m doing. This particular labour is on the two of you, not me. Like I said, you’ll tell me if I can help in any way.”

Rainbow Dash wrapped a wing around Fluttershy’s side, lightly rubbing at her barrel with her primaries, silent for a second. She waited, half expecting Rarity to go on, to say something self-deprecating, to complain that she couldn’t do more, or that she felt useless—but Rarity neither said anything, nor looked like she wanted to do so. The unicorn pulled a little bit of blanket around her body and attended her mane, smiling faintly as she did, clearly done with the subject.

Dash smiled at the sight, too. Even if Rarity had gone on to put herself down, she knew that right now, both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy stood ready to remind their friend of how important she was. Dash just knew that if she spoke up, Fluttershy was with her. Rainbow Dash let go of her girlfriend and walked over to the blanket, taking a seat and leaning back against the stone. Fluttershy, for her part, unpacked her book and started leafing through the pages, humming to herself.

---

Rainbow Dash managed a nap, at least. A short one, but a nap nevertheless, proving that she still had the ability to fall asleep anywhere, at any time. She woke up to much the same scene as before, Rarity now working away at her tail with her scissors, trimming and cutting while Fluttershy read her book. The sun hung overhead, kept back by the tarp more than the rock at this point, but despite all the heat, Dash didn’t quite melt into a dripping puddle like yesterday.

Nothing much to do except to look around, and looking at things that didn’t move wasn’t Dash’s favourite. They were too far away from the jungle to make out detail, though she knew the great leaves would be swaying in the wind that blew over the cauldron. From here she saw only the topside of a canopy as unmoving as the mountains. A few clouds hung low over the treetops, but even the sun’s slow journey seemed interesting by comparison. And so, Dash found herself watching Rarity and Fluttershy, instead.

Rarity seemed content with her work, her scissors’ movements quick and precise. On Dash’s other side, Fluttershy shifted a little every time she turned a page, but was otherwise still as she studied the pictures and words intently, devouring the book with voracity worthy of Twilight on any day of the week.

Privately, Dash wished Fluttershy would move again. Really move. The thought filled her with excitement. As hard as today’s flight had been, she couldn’t forget the sheer joy of flying alongside Fluttershy, and the anticipation of doing so again. She wondered if she herself would’ve kept flying half as long if she couldn’t watch Fluttershy’s wings in motion. Fluttershy’s body was as toned as it had never been before, wing muscles more defined, her legs less soft. While it was hardly Rainbow Dash’s business, and she didn’t mind either way, right now she wanted Fluttershy to fly, fly, and never stop. Who knew how far Fluttershy could fly and what she could do?

Dash blinked, her thoughts hitching on that one point. They were trying to figure out how to fly over the mountains, but nopony had come up with any ideas yet. While Rarity and Fluttershy rested, Dash stared at the solution.

“So, the problem is that I can’t carry Rarity forever,” said Dash, shuffling her wings.

“I think we’ve established that, yes,” said Rarity, looking up.

“And that we probably can’t land up there. Not safely,” Dash continued, frowning at the lameness of that word.

Fluttershy marked the page in her book and closed it. She shuffled back a little, out of the sunlight that threatened to spill in from their front now. “Even if we find somewhere that looks flat, we can’t tell if it’s safe. If we can just get past the pass, you might be able to glide all the way down,” she said. “But not if you’re already tired.”

“Can’t glide forever when you’re cramping,” Dash agreed, nodding quickly. “Not down from this place, if it’s as high up as we think it is.”

“Plus, we don’t even know what’s on the other side,” Rarity added, putting her scissors down. “I trust Fluttershy’s judgment on where we are in general, and this is clearly east—I can see the sun moving to set there as it should—but there could be nothing beyond.”

“It could be more mountains,” said Fluttershy. “Or the sea. We might have to climb even further, or even go back. We really don’t know.”

“Yep!” said Dash. “So we need to be in control. We need to get up there fresh and ready to face whatever, all without landing. I’m thinking… can you carry Rarity? You’re in great shape.”

Fluttershy chewed on her bottom lip, only the barest concession to the compliment in the form of a feather-light blush while she thought. In the end, she nodded. “I could, of course, but I’m not as strong as you are. I couldn’t carry her nearly as far as you, I’m sorry. Maybe I could take all three of our saddlebags instead, but I don’t know how long I can even do that.”

“You’re not getting it. I’m not asking you to carry her all the time, just for a little bit,” said Dash, grinning as she thought. “Come on, I don’t know about you, but if we just hang in the air for a bit, that’s almost as good as a nap for me. I just need you to take over while I rest up.”

“I feel like I’m missing something here,” said Rarity, her head nearly perfectly sideways in an imitation of Pinkie Pie. “How does this solve our problem? If we land to switch—”

“We don’t,” Dash said, grinning. “We do it mid-air.”

Rarity scoffed. “You propose I leap from one of you onto the other?” she asked. “Rainbow, dear, I think you’ve lost your mind.”

“Nope,” said Dash, grinning wider still. “Because I think I know how we’re gonna do it. There’s gonna be no leaping. No jumping. You’re just gonna walk over. Scoot, really. We’ll be right next to each other. It’ll be easy.” Fluttershy’s ears wilted, a sure sign that she caught on to Dash’s intention. Rainbow Dash grabbed her with a wing and gave her a tug. “We’ll match our wing-beats. It’s called synch-flapping, but I’ve got an idea on know how to take it one step further.”

“Just regular synch-flapping is very dangerous,” said Fluttershy, her face set in a permanent grimace like she’d just stubbed her wing. “I… um, maybe we can come up with another idea? A better idea?”

Rainbow Dash got up, shrugging, stretching her neck out and shuffling her wings again to try to relieve some of the budding energy. “Sure! Whatcha got?” she asked.

Fluttershy licked her lips, mute. Rarity packed away her tools.

“When you say dangerous, what exactly do you mean?” Rarity asked. “How does this work? I refuse to believe it’ll be as easy as that. I’m supposedly going to stroll from one of you to the other? And why is Fluttershy worried? What could go wrong?”

“Eh, I mean, worst case, we crash, but that’s the worst case with anything flying,” said Dash, rolling her eyes. “Synch flapping is like—uh, Fluttershy, wing me,” she said, waiting for Fluttershy to spread her left wing. She stepped away from her rather reluctant demonstration aide, spreading her own right wing to match, far enough away that they didn’t touch. “Okay, now, just sort of… pretend at flapping, slowly.”

Rarity sat back, one brow arched, watching. Dash flapped her own right wing, gesturing. “See, we’re two pegasi flying. If we step close—” Dash said, taking a sideways step towards Fluttershy, the other pegasus wincing when their wings collided, Dash’s faster wing-beats batting her feathers against Fluttershy’s in the least dramatic collision in history. Feathers swatted feathers, and Fluttershy folded her ears and smiled sheepishly.

“Sorry,” Fluttershy said, shaking her head. “Um, so, that’s a lot worse when it happens in the air. We’d fall. That’s why pegasi practice keeping minimum distance two wingspans apart.”

“Yeah,” said Dash, nodding. She stepped aside again. “Synch-flapping is like… c’mon, go again,” she said, waiting for Fluttershy to start moving her wing again. She moved her own wing to match this time, struggling a little to keep it moving as slowly as Fluttershy did. Fluttershy’s wing went down, hers went down. Hers went up, and then Fluttershy’s wing went up. She stepped closer to Fluttershy, their wings sharing the space without trouble—except for Fluttershy’s larger wings tickling her side on the updraft, making her giggle.

“Like that!” said Dash, grinning. “Sharing space! The Wonderbolts used to practice it, but they stopped because it’s not cool unless you know how hard it is. It doesn’t make for a good show for most ponies, so they haven’t done anything needing synch-flapping in years.”

“And it’s dangerous,” said Fluttershy.

“Yeah, yeah, okay, and Canterlot decided something about safety regulations I guess,” Dash admitted with a grunt. “But come on, if they really wanted to do it, they would find a loophole or something, like they do with the Cumulus Crash.”

Rarity nodded with an appreciative smile. “Alright, well, as wonderful as this particular piece of esoteric information is, I don’t exactly see how that helps, dear.”

Dash shrugged. “Nah, you’re right. It’s just something I think is cool because it’s hard. I’ve been trying to get Fluttershy to do it with me for ages.”

Fluttershy tucked her wing away. “Sorry. It’s just… well, we could get hurt.”

“Yep!” said Dash. “But yeah. That doesn’t help. I’ll tell you what helps. Wing out again!”

“Um, okay?” said Fluttershy, spreading her wing.

“Cool. Okay, now, flap—both wings this time, come on,” said Dash, waiting for Fluttershy to repeat the slow, mock-flying motions, stepping in close, in synch, until they were no further apart than the length of Fluttershy’s wing. “Great. Now, everytime we flap down, I’m gonna count down from three, okay? On go, you fold your right, uh, no wait, you fold your left wing, okay?”

“Okay?” said Fluttershy, blinking. Rarity watched with interest, and Fluttershy just stared at Rainbow Dash, her wings forgotten until Dash started counting.

“Three,” said Dash.

“Oh. Oh, okay, right,” said Fluttershy.

“Two, one.”

Still flapping, still in synch.

“Go,” Dash shouted. When Fluttershy folded her left wing, she folded her own right wing, kicking off sideways to launch herself into Fluttershy, colliding side to side. Fluttershy yelped in surprise and fell over, the two pegasi falling over in a feathery heap. Rainbow Dash laughed even before they hit the ground, and Rarity walked over to lend a hoof, helping a very confused Fluttershy up.

“Very impressive, I can see how that’s going to help us cross the mountains,” Rarity remarked.

Rainbow Dash chuckled and brushed some rock-dust off Fluttershy’s side as she stood. “So, what we’re actually doing, is we keep flapping the outer wings and push against each other, flying with one wing each. We’ll have to fly hard and match the lift, but we’ll be side to side, shoulder to shoulder!”

“Oh,” said Fluttershy, her eyes going wide. “That… that sounds even more dangerous. That’s… I’ve never even heard anything like it.”

“And I don’t expect that moving from one of you to the other, even then, is going to be easy,” said Rarity, narrowing her eyes.

“That’s why we’ll need lots of practice, and we’ve got all—uh, half day!” said Dash, grinning wide.

“Really, really dangerous,” said Fluttershy, her ears pinned to her head still. “Rainbow Dash, I don’t know if this is such a good idea.”

“It’s a great idea, we just have to get really good at it,” said Dash, still laughing. “C’mon!”

“If I make a mistake—”

“Then I’ll catch Rarity and we just abort and fly back down.”

Fluttershy frowned. “If you fall—”

“Then you’ll catch me, and we’ll be fine.”

“If both—”

“Then you or I will get control, grab the other two somehow and we’ll be fine,” said Dash, fixing Fluttershy with a firm look. “You can do this. We can do this. We’ll just need to practice a bit.” Because she believed in Fluttershy, and she believed in herself. She knew they could pull it off, and she knew that part of Fluttershy wanted to try. Fluttershy swallowed, pawed at the ground and barely seemed to breathe, but she hadn’t said no. She wavered, but she didn’t flee.

“We’re gonna crash a lot trying to practice this,” said Fluttershy, sighing, and finally smiling faintly.

“Yep. We are,” said Dash, grinning again.

“Honestly, I don’t understand where you get all these ideas of yours,” Rarity commented, shaking her head.

“Are you kidding me? I spend half my day thinking of stunts and stuff to do,” said Dash, laughing. “Come on, let’s get those blankets over here so we have somewhere soft to crash.”

She spent half her days dreaming up crazy stunts, and every time she thought of one that needed two ponies, ever since she’d met Fluttershy and made her first and best pegasus friend, she spent the other half wishing she could convince Fluttershy to join her for just one of them. Rainbow Dash flexed her wings.

---

Rainbow Dash hit the ground side-first again, hard. At least she hit the blankets this time. It was a lot more comfortable to crash when Rarity stacked the blankets double and stood below, ready to shift them underneath them as they fell.

Well, as comfortable as crashing could ever get. Just flying in the ridiculous heat of the cauldron was punishing enough, so the minute-long break whenever she went down was almost welcome. Dash groaned and rolled over on her other side. Almost.

“Oh goodness, I’m so sorry! Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked. She sounded genuinely worried each time. She was genuinely worried each time. Dash held up a hoof and laughed.

“I’m okay,” she replied, but Fluttershy landed at her side all the same.

Synching up their flaps was hard. Rainbow Dash couldn’t just slow down to match Fluttershy, nor could Fluttershy simply speed up; they wouldn’t stay level for long. They both had to switch speeds, then match and touch all in one smooth motion. So far, Dash’s slightly smaller bulk meant that when things went wrong, she was the one who took the hit.

They both tried their best every time. This wasn’t all on Dash. They both had to ace this. Rainbow Dash got up and shuffled her wings, grinning despite herself. The pain from the crash was nothing. Fluttershy was ready to go again, and so was she.

---

“Keep at it!” said Rainbow Dash. “Keep steady, push back!”

“I am keeping steady!” Fluttershy snapped as they sunk towards the ground. “If we don’t push back equally hard, we’ll fall!”

“Well, we’re sinking. Push back like, I don’t know, thirty percent harder!”

“I can’t flap in percentages!” Fluttershy shouted. The pegasi cast long shadows across the foot of the mountain, shadows that slowly rose up to meet them. Still they sunk.

“Then flap twice as hard or something!” Dash suggested, laughing at Fluttershy’s expression—and then they both fell, failing to match each other’s pushes. Rarity rushed to shift the blankets even though they were barely above the ground.

---

“Okay, now,” said Dash. She had herself angled towards Fluttershy as much as she could. Two wings did the work of four. She felt Rarity loosen her grip. “Too slow, c’mon, hurry up!” Dash said.

“I’m trying my best, dear,” said Rarity, and Dash could hear her nervously eyeing the ground below—two pony-lengths down with all of the peril of falling off a dinner table. The unicorn’s forelegs let go of her neck, and Dash grunted when Rarity stepped onto her back, struggling to keep balance. “Okay. Good, now get your forelegs around Fluttershy’s neck, yeah, like that.”

“I got her,” said Fluttershy. “I think.” She dipped a little lower with the extra weight, but the two pegasi worked together to compensate. Dash felt Rarity’s hindlegs scrabble for purchase against her flank.

“Ow,” said Dash as a hoof scraped along her side.

“I’m awfully sorry, but this isn’t very easy at all,” said Rarity.

“It’s fine, just… when you’re moving over, make sure you don’t—don’t touch the wing, don’t—”

---

“You know, you don’t have to bandage a bruise, but that’s just my opinion,” said Rainbow Dash, nibbling on dry bread between sips of water.

“Yes, dear. That is, in fact, just your opinion,” was all Rarity said in reply while Fluttershy did her work, wrapping the cloth around Rarity’s foreleg to the best of her ability. Fluttershy had made a poultice with a few of the medicinal herbs they’d stuffed her ohron with all the way back in Vauhorn.

“There,” said Fluttershy, smiling at Rarity. She nuzzled the unicorn affectionately, then sat down between the two to grab something to eat herself. They’d moved their little camp to the other side of the shade-giving rock now that the sun descended behind the mountains they tried to climb, resting up after their fourth successful swap in a row.

“I think we’ve pretty much got it,” Dash declared, feeling a swell of satisfaction at that. Show me Wonderbolts who figured this out in a day. I dare you. She’d work with Fluttershy instead, any day of the week.

“Quite honestly, I’d rather take my risk with the mountain than ‘practice’ any more,” Rarity huffed.

“You’re going to be okay, aren’t you?” Fluttershy asked, tilting her head. “It wasn’t that bad.”

Rarity rolled her eyes and waved a leg. “By all means, you may think me dramatic and perhaps I am, but I’ll leave as much of the flying as possible to you two, if you don’t mind. I’ve gained a new appreciation for your skill in the air, though, I will say that. Both of you.” She smiled at that and shook her head, going back to her food.

Dash butted her head against Fluttershy’s. While she was glad Rarity was okay, and happy that they’d aced this trick, she was even happier for Rarity’s words. You two. By the end of their practice session, Fluttershy was as invested into figuring the trick out as Dash had been, and now her girlfriend seemed to glow with the same sort of satisfaction that Dash did, scuffed, bruised, and smiling as she ate. Rainbow Dash ground her snout against the back of Fluttershy’s mane, where it was at its shortest. Fluttershy giggled and pushed back a little.

“We really should grab a little nap before we fly,” said Fluttershy. “Even if this works out, we’ll be flying a lot, and we need to be well rested.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Dash said.

Fluttershy looked at her, mouth half open for a second. Clearly she meant to say more, but she turned to Rarity when she spoke.

“It’d be nice if you could do the Ephydoeran body magic spell on me before we fly, too,” said Fluttershy.

“What?” Dash snapped, wide awake now. “No way! That spell hurt you!”

Rarity pursed her lips, putting the rest of the food away.

“It didn’t hurt me, it made me tired afterwards,” said Fluttershy, shaking her head. “Other than that, I just had a headache. I can handle a headache, but I don’t know that I can fly with two sets of saddlebags all the way, especially if I’m going to take Rarity for even a little bit. I could barely hold her up while we were practicing.”

“No. Just… just no,” said Dash, shaking her head resolutely. “There’s no way—”

Fluttershy frowned at her. “Rainbow Dash, it’s not really just your decision, and we don’t really have a choice, either.”

There was steel in Fluttershy’s voice, and she was right. Dash deflated a little and did the minimum requisite muzzle-movement to sketch a nod. “Yeah, okay, but—”

Fluttershy shook her head. “I don’t think there are any buts, I’m sorry.” She turned to Rarity again. “Do you think you can do it?”

Rarity nodded. “I think so. I still feel bad for last time, but I’m fairly sure I should be able to control it a little better and not go quite as… overboard as then—if you’re sure.”

Fluttershy nodded. “I’m sure.”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t do much but shrug and nod as well. Fluttershy had made up her mind, and she was probably right. The more she thought about it, the less frustrating it was, and the more awesome it became. Fluttershy had brushed aside Rainbow Dash’s protests like they were nothing.

Fluttershy looked back to Rainbow Dash with a tremulous and uncertain expression on her face, with hesitance that was more Fluttershy than anything else, all the resolve suddenly spent. Dash nuzzled in under her jaw, and Fluttershy’s smile grew ten sizes, the other pegasus leaning in to touch their foreheads together.

Minutes later, the three ponies lay atop their blankets. The sun spent its last offering of daylight heading for the eastern peaks while they tried to catch some rest.

---

Rainbow Dash didn’t really wake up, because she had never fallen asleep. She stirred when Rarity did, leaving behind some half-formed day-dreams of seeing Princess Luna and asking her a bunch of questions. Perhaps of having Princess Luna declare her the most awesome dreamer ever, and Princess Celestia giving Fluttershy a prize for coolest body tackle of jerkface toy maker ever? Whatever she’d ‘dreamt’ exactly, it faded quickly, and she knew they weren’t dreams so much as flights of fancy and sleepy, silly thoughts. She stood and let out a great yawn.

“Mm, morning,” Fluttershy muttered, rubbing at her eyes. She reached out to run a hoof through her mane, but missed, clearly forgetting that she had a lot less of it. Dash chuckled. At least somepony had managed to fall asleep. Dash trotted a few steps up the slope and turned. The sun had set behind the mountains just now, a orange-red backlight heralding a precipitous temperature drop to come—but there was another light, too. Far ahead and to the left, somewhere south-west, Dash spotted another glimmer, a fainter second sun nestled in the jungle, flickering. She squinted. No. Not in the jungle. In the grey-brown space between the jungle and the foot of the southwestern mountains, in the opposite direction of where they had travelled.

“Something amiss, dear?” Rarity asked, glancing up at her, unpacking some of their food.

“I dunno. There’s a light over there,” she said, pointing, but even as she watched, the yellowish blot of brightness spread and faded. Rarity walked up to her and followed Dash’s hoof, and Fluttershy yawned again as she stood, but they were too late to catch it.

“Seems to have gone, now,” said Rarity, shaking her head.

“Yeah,” said Dash, shrugging. “Breakfast?”

“Breakfast,” Fluttershy muttered in return.

The three ponies ate in relative silence, munching on bread that Rainbow Dash was rapidly getting tired of. Sure, the Vauhornites knew how to make bread that didn’t spoil for a long time, but she longed for the fresh, fruit-filled phela-bread instead. Or perhaps just fruit. Somewhere down below, there had to be fruit. They were even running low on water, now, but it was hard to be too worried about drinking water when she could always see some cloudstuff over the cauldron, and with so much snow above. When Rarity packed away the blanket and put on a heavy scarf, Dash spotted another half-full bag of water in her saddlebags, too. For some reason, Rarity left her own saddlebags open.

“Now, let’s see about this magic, shall we?” Rarity asked. “I’ll do it on each of you, then?”

Rainbow Dash felt her snout crinkle of its own accord. “I didn’t say anything about that.”

Rarity shrugged. “If we agree that it’s safe enough to use it for one of you, and if we trust that this works out well, I don’t see why not. Especially if the plan is to have you carry me most of the time.” She glanced eastwards, to where the climb got steeper and steeper until it hit a wall and a V-shaped pass that Dash still couldn’t really believe existed. If it turned out somepony had painted the mountains on the horizon and that they were unreachable, she’d believe it.

“Okay,” said Dash. “I guess that makes sense.”

“It didn’t hurt at all,” said Fluttershy smiling at her.

“Pf, that’s not what I’m worried about,” said Dash, rolling her eyes. “I just—I didn’t think about it, that’s all. Come on. Let’s get to it!”

Rarity smiled and nodded, stepping up to Fluttershy, who shuffled her wings nervously. The unicorn’s horn dimmed from her usual light, reduced to a blue flickering flame Dash recognised from the last time Rarity had pulled off the body-magic spell Khyrast had taught her. Rarity closed her eyes.

“Hmf, this is strange,” Rarity muttered.

“What?” Dash asked.

“Nothing much,” Rarity replied, shaking her head slightly, though still she looked vaguely displeased. “It’s… just a little harder to find this magic right now, that’s all.”

“You have to find it?” Dash asked, cocking her head. “What, you lost the magic like a pair of shoes?”

“Not exactly,” said Rarity with a soft snort. “I just thought this would be easier now that I know how to do it.”

“Your horn looks a lot like the last time you managed to cast the spell,” Fluttershy offered, smiling at her. Rarity clenched her eyes shut tighter, and the glow intensified by the barest amount.

“I’m on the right track, as it were,” Rarity retorted, grimacing. “But somehow, this was a lot easier when I didn’t have all my magic. I doubt I can make it half as strong as last time even if I want to.”

Fluttershy held up one of her hooves, staring at it with obvious trepidation as it started to glow, just like the wings on her back. “I don’t know that we need even half of what you did last time. It was really, really scary. Less than half is okay.”

“Don’t think you need to magic our hooves anyway,” Dash said, reaching out to touch Fluttershy’s blue-tinted hooves. She felt nothing out of the ordinary. “We just need our wings.”

Rarity turned to Rainbow Dash without looking, and now Dash felt a warmth spreading throughout her body. A strange heat suffusing her entire being.

“I’m not ‘doing’ your hooves or your wings,” Rarity said, speaking through teeth clenched with effort. “I don’t know why they glow, but it’s completely irrelevant, I think.”

“Didn’t the peryton have to keep using the magic, anyway?” Dash asked. She lifted a hoof off the ground to inspect it, to see if she could tell if anything was out of place, and her hoof, her leg, her entire body felt light. Moving took even less effort than usual. Finally Rarity’s horn-glow faded, immediately replaced with her usual light, the unicorn opening her eyes once more to smile.

“I believe their antlers kept glowing, and I couldn’t tell you why,” said Rarity.

“It lasted for hours when you did it on me,” Fluttershy said, flexing her wings and stretching her legs out. Dash could tell she felt the same as she. Light.

“Maybe you’re just better at magic than they are,” Dash suggested, grinning. “I feel really great. Thanks!”

Rarity helped Fluttershy into her saddlebags, levitating her ohron about her neck and securing its strap. “I am glad, but I doubt it,” she said. “Doing this spell is terribly hard for me, and to be honest, I feel exhausted, like I’ve spent hours doing magic exercises. The peryton seemed to perform it with no effort at all.” She slumped a little even as she spoke, though whether it was out of genuine tiredness or for dramatic effect, Dash couldn’t tell.

“Why didn’t you cast the spell on yourself, too?” Dash asked, slipping into her own saddlebags. Rarity walked up to hers, but made no move to put them on.

“I tried just now,” she said, retrieving her scissors. “That’s one of the things I found odd. I can’t, for whatever reason.”

“Oh,” said Dash, frowning. “Maybe it doesn’t work if you don’t have wings?”

Rarity snipped her scissors in the air a few time, staring at them. “Hm? No, I doubt that is the case, either. Again, the spell has nothing to do with wings or hooves or what-have-you. It’s about me or not me, as far as I can tell. I’ll have to discuss it with Twilight when we get back. No doubt she will have some insight.”

“I bet she would love to hear about it,” said Fluttershy, smiling.

“Yeah. And, speaking of getting back? Let’s get going with that,” said Dash.

Rarity nodded. “Let us,” she said, looking over her own back, bundling her tail tight.

“Yeah? So, get on!” said Dash, chuckling. She bent down low.

Snip. Rarity’s tail fell away, the purple coils she’d spent hours coddling cut so short they didn’t even reach her hock. They’d mentioned Twilight, and now Rarity’s tail looked like the shortest, tiniest version of Twilight’s tail Dash had ever seen. Fluttershy gasped. Rainbow Dash didn’t know what to do except stare.

“Rarity!” said Fluttershy. “Your tail—”

“Is extra weight we can’t afford if we’re going to cross these mountains,” Rarity said. “I should have done this sooner, and as you said about your own mane, it’ll grow back. This is hardly the first time I’ve cut my tail in times of dire need.” She levitated out some cloth—Rainbow Dash vaguely recognised the dress she’d worn in… was it Stagrum?

“The cotton dresses weigh more than the silk, so I’ll leave them behind as well, I think, but the rest either doesn’t weigh much, or is sorely needed,” Rarity concluded. “Do either of you have anything you wish to leave behind?”

Fluttershy glanced at her back. “I… think the only thing I could leave behind is the book, but I don’t know. Twilight said it was rare.”

“I’ve just got water and some food,” said Dash. “Maybe some of our gems? Oh, and that jar of candy we got from Neisos and the gang, but, uh—”

“I wouldn’t give up those sweets for anything in the world right now,” said Rarity, shaking her head and smiling. “Don’t worry about it, either of you. This isn’t a call for everypony to sacrifice something, I just thought I’d ask.”

Dash still stared at Rarity’s tail. What was left of it, anyway. Honestly, though it looked weird and she doubted she’d get used to it, Rarity’s thinking was sound. They’d need every advantage they could get, and if the weight saved was minimal, long tails were terrible for drag, and it would weigh more when wet. As much as Rainbow Dash loved her own tail, she’d always wondered if she should cut it shorter.

“Would you cut mine, too, please?”

Except, that wasn’t her voice. That was Fluttershy. Dash didn’t even have the capacity to be surprised any more—in the best way possible. She gave Fluttershy’s tail a long, fond look, from base to the singed tip.

“Yeah, and mine,” Dash said. Like she was gonna be left behind. She looked at Fluttershy, and Fluttershy looked back at her, the two of them equally surprised, perhaps, but what could they say? Protest? Try to convince the other to back down? She caught Fluttershy glancing at Dash’s rainbow-coloured tail, nibbling her lip, and then smiling at her. Dash smiled back.

---

They ate up the ground. They flew and they soared, ever going up and up, first in the fading light, then under moonlight. At first, only the valley had lain in shadow, but now the sky had lost its colour too, and Rarity had to maintain a strong light to let the ponies see the rocky ground below. Whenever Dash could make out something more interesting than flat stone ahead, she marked it and counted the seconds until they passed it. Big boulder. Thirty-one. Thirty-two. Done. Another rock joined the growing pile of things that were behind—and increasingly, below.

She’d kept her mane, partly because they didn’t want to get bogged down doing proper mane-styling and such, losing their window to fly to time spent on appearances. Mostly, though, she didn’t want to give up her mane because Fluttershy had been the one to cut it last time, and she enjoyed that fact. Dash looked over at Fluttershy, the magic sheathing her wings leaving faint glimmers in her wake just like Dash’s own, a trails replacing the way their tails usually followed them. Now Fluttershy’s tail was short enough to bob and bounce with every wingbeat. Just like Dash’s.

Rarity had even cut her own mane shorter while she waited for Dash and Fluttershy to get used to their own shorter tails. Rainbow Dash’s mane was the longest of them all now, and Dash couldn’t get past that fact. When she looked at Fluttershy, or glanced over her own back at Rarity or her own tail, she barely recognised them at all, these three strange, short-haired ponies who madly climbed the mountain. In place of flowing hair, a snippet of Rarity’s winter scarf billowed in the wind.

Dash pushed on. They were all in good spirits. The heat had gone, the moonlight shone down upon them, and whatever weight they saved by cutting manes and tails was probably nothing compared to the help Rarity’s spell gave them—but it energised Dash all the same. When she looked back, the treeline lay far in the distance, the jungle shrinking until the entire cauldron felt like a smaller thing than the mountain they climbed.

And climb they did. Like Pinkie Pie’s late night baking, the ingredients changed on the fly. From one part up to three parts forward, they’d gone to two parts up to three parts forward. Or one to… math. They were flying a lot more up now, was the point. The valley of the pass up ahead wasn’t nearly as steep as if they had chased the peaks themselves, but they still needed to get up past the snow. Still she had to crane her neck to see their target.

“I feel a little bad for leaving those dresses behind,” Fluttershy called. As of late, the wind had picked up. They had to raise their voices a little to be heard.

“Honestly, they weren’t my best work,” Rarity responded, shifting her grip on Dash a little. “If you truly liked the designs, I think I have the plans somewhere. I can make a new one.”

“No, I mean throwing away things in the valley—the Cauldron. We’re probably the first ponies to come here, maybe ever, and we littered,” Fluttershy replied.

“Hmf. Well, when I say they weren’t my best work,” said Rarity, her voice a little more prim, “I don’t mean that I think they can ever be called garbage, no matter where they are put.”

“Wait, wait,” said Dash between breaths, laughing. “So if you put those in a garbage bin, that’s a storage closet now, instead?”

Rarity chuckled. “Not quite my point. Regardless, we left behind so much hair, that might be called littering, too.”

“Oh, no,” said Fluttershy, shaking her head. “Birds can use hair for nests. There will be some wonderful birds’ nests down there, soon.”

“I can’t tell if that’s lame or awesome,” Dash admitted. “But I guess if some bird’s gonna use my tail-hairs to build a house—yeah, okay, I’ve decided. That’s awesome.”

Fluttershy laughed and nodded, the two pegasi splitting up for a moment to fly around a spear of rock that thrust out from the mountainside, rejoining again to climb on. The wind shifted, blowing head-on.

“Do you want me to take over?” Fluttershy asked.

“Nah, I’m good,” said Dash, though despite the cold of the evening, she was aware she’d worked up a good sweat. The glow of Rarity’s magic still surrounded her, but fighting the growing wind took its toll. Was the glow around her hooves a little more faint? “Actually,” she added. “Yeah, d’you wanna switch? I think you need to redo the spell, too, Rarity.”

“This is about as high up as we can land safely, at any rate,” said Rarity, peering over Dash’s side. “We may as well take a break, whether you’re switching or not. I’ve been wanting to ask about a chance to put on some more clothes.”

“You should’ve said something sooner,” Dash replied. She looked ahead, squinting. Maybe Rarity was right about landing, too. They were getting ever closer to the snow, and it was getting really steep. Landing in blindingly white snow knowing that the mountains were nearly a sheer drop would be a no-go. “But alright, I hear you. Maybe we should take a break, too. Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy nodded quickly, and after looking about, pointed to their north, along the dark slope. Rarity’s light didn’t do much good that far away, but Dash saw the little crag she pointed to. “We can stop there.”

“Alright, let’s do it,” Dash replied. She angled herself towards the dark stony claw sticking out of the rock, finally getting to glide, her first taste of descending rather than climbing for the first time in hours. She touched down all too soon, not just tired, but weirded out by all the buildup from all the climbing and still being able to put her hooves on the ground. She rustled her wings, delighting in the way the magical glow shimmered.

Without a word, Rarity grabbed both sets of saddlebags from Fluttershy’s back and led them to the opposite side of the crag, balancing precariously on the steep incline. Here, Rarity found ground that could almost be called flat by the generous, and the ever harsher wind broke against the cliff behind them.

“Food,” said Rarity, placing one of the few remaining wraps of bread on the blanket, next to Fluttershy. Her magic surrounded Rainbow Dash’s saddlebags, and the last water-bag hovered out. “And water. And while you eat and drink, I need to find find some way to stay warm.” Rarity shivered.

“You could put on one of the dresses you made,” Fluttershy suggested, nibbling on some of the bread.

“Mm, the only dresses that had any warmth were the cotton dresses, and those were the ones I left behind for their weight,” said Rarity, looking particularly sour. “I’m embarrassed I didn’t think of that.”

“It gets colder the higher we get,” Dash said, grabbing a sip of water. “And it’s night. It’s gonna get a lot worse.” She frowned. “You’re gonna be okay, right?”

Rarity nodding, rifling through her saddlebags. “I’m trying to decide on exactly that, dear. I suppose part of me thought I could use a blanket in a pinch, but now I realise they’ll get in your way. The blankets could get tangled with your wings when we switch places mid-air.”

“If we can… not do that, that’d be great,” said Fluttershy, nodding. “But we can’t have you freeze, either. You need to tell us if we should just fly back down.” She leaned down to bite onto the blanket on which they sat, draping one end about Rarity’s body. Rarity smiled at her, nuzzling Fluttershy affectionately.

“Can’t you just wear more scarves?” Dash asked, tapping the ground as she thought. “We have a bunch of them.”

“Or maybe you could wrap the blanket really tight with one of the scarves?” Fluttershy suggested.

Rarity blinked. “I don’t think… hm, I have a better idea, actually,” she said, grabbing her scissors once more. Rainbow Dash frowned.

“You’re not going to cut your mane and wear it or something stupid like that, right?” Dash asked.

Rarity chuckled, levitating out the smaller, yellow blanket they’d gotten from the Stagrumite traders near Vauhorn. She shook her head. “No, dear, I am going to make a horrid dress out of one of our blankets. One that won’t get in the way. I have needles and thread, and that’s all I need for this—you don’t mind, I hope? That’s one less blanket for us.”

Fluttershy shook her head quickly. “We don’t have much choice, and you’re the one who’s coldest at night.”

“Yeah, and I don’t think anypony would be happy if we get back to Equestria with a Rarity-cicle. Ici—oh, whatever. You know what I mean.”

Rarity smiled and nodded, grabbing a quick drink of water before wiping her mouth and getting to work. “This will take a minute, but not much more.”

“Sure,” said Dash, stretching her wings out. With Rarity’s magic fading, a soft ache set in, but she didn’t feel all that tired anymore, she just needed a quick rest. She didn’t think she’d pass out like Fluttershy had done a few nights back, anyway. The last of the light clinging to her wings and hooves disappeared even as she watched, and Fluttershy’s glow had almost disappeared completely—and, just as she sat back and took a deep breath, she realised there was another glow in sight.

The light had drained from the Cauldron long ago. Rainbow Dash had flown with Rarity’s shining horn behind her, the strong light blotting out and making the stars indistinct. Now the unicorn sat off to the side, cutting and stitching away under a fainter light made for work, and the stars came back into view. Rarity’s was not the only brightness in the great jungle valley, however.

Far below and across the jungle, a jungle the size of which Rainbow Dash still didn’t understand, a yellow light shone many times brighter than the last time Dash had seen—if it was indeed the same light.

“You see that now?” Dash asked when she felt Fluttershy sit down at her side. They traded wings to warm each other without a word.

“I see it,” said Fluttershy, squinting. “What is it?”

“No idea. I saw it yesterday, too,” said Dash. “Whatever it is, that’s not the same place it was back then. I think it’s moved. You don’t think it’s a forest fire or something?” Dash asked, shuffling a little closer to her girlfriend.

“I don’t think so, no,” said Fluttershy, shaking her head. “The jungle is too wet to really burn. If not, the little glare beasts would’ve done a lot more damage, and the burnt strips we saw should have started a bigger fire. Maybe it’s the Yelgadar creature that Odasthan talked about?”

“Maybe,” said Rainbow Dash. “If it’s just a really big fire chicken, but… yeah I dunno.”

“It reminds me of the lights we saw from the hill outside the Grove,” said Fluttershy, rubbing her wing slowly up and down Dash’s back. Rainbow Dash leaned into it.

“Heh. Yeah. It’s not the same colour, though. I think that light was blue.”

Fluttershy nodded. “Light can change colour for a lot of reasons—but I don’t really know either,” she said, giggling softly. “I’m just thinking out loud. It’s very pretty, though.”

“Yeah,” said Dash. Nothing more to add to that. It was pretty, and it was the only thing that stood out in the valley except for an errant few clouds barely visible in the darkness. “Rarity, you done with the dress yet? It’s gonna be cold up here no matter what time of day it is, so we wanna get a move on.”

“For a lack of sequins or any other tools to make this look remotely presentable, yes, I suppose I am,” Rarity declared. Dash looked over to find the unicorn dressed up in a thick vest-and-dress, two layers of yellow cotton covering as much of her body as possible. Presently, she scribbled in her journal without even looking up whilst simultaneously affixing a simple button to the vest with needle and thread. Dash guffawed at the dress that looked like a second layer of coat-fur more than anything.

“Wow,” said Dash. “Just… wow.”

“Um, it looks very functional,” said Fluttershy.

“We will never speak of this,” said Rarity, putting her quill away and giving them a grim look. “Let me grab a quick bite to eat, see if I can’t do this spell again, and then we’re ready to go, but when we make it out of here, you will swear that we found this ‘dress’ under a rock.”

“Sure. Under a rock,” said Dash, chuckling and spreading her wings. She could almost taste the snow up ahead. They were nearly there. Or, nearly nearly there, and she felt great.

---

Tired. She felt tired, so very tired. There were a lot of ways to be tired, weary, tuckered and whatever else, and right now, she checked all the boxes. Rainbow Dash blinked and held a foreleg in front, warding against the wind. An errant few snowflakes whirled by. She put her head down, her ears forced back by the howling gale more than her frustration and exhaustion.

“Rainbow Dash! Are you alright?”

Fluttershy’s voice drifted past as if it came from far away, but she was nearly close enough to touch. Rarity’s hooves were tight around Dash’s chest.

“I’m fine!” Dash replied. “Rarity? You holding on there, girl?”

“I’m cold and achey,” Rarity yelled, a little too loud with her muzzle just by Dash’s ears. “But I can still feel my hooves! You two must be freezing!”

“As if!” Dash shouted, laughing. “We’re pegasi. We’re made for this stuff!” She grinned at Fluttershy until Fluttershy smiled back, and the two ponies’ wings carried them on, forward, upwards.

All a load of hooey, of course. An exaggeration at best, but she’d yank out each and every one of her primaries before she admitted it.

Dash had started getting worried long ago, before the mountain walls begun closing in. She grit her teeth and flapped her wings twice as hard when a gust slammed against her. The wind hit Fluttershy even worse because of her larger wings, and she floundered before she righted herself again. They were pegasi, sure, and Dash had flown in worse weather than this—but not for this long. She could force her way through a tornado if she had to, but to fly against a gale for hours on end was something else.

She thought they’d gained the pass when they entered the mountains proper, but she’d been wrong. The walls rose up around them, and the mountain pass remained ever ahead, as though more snow and rock sprang out of nowhere in between them and their target to deny their passage.

Another blast of air threatened to send Rainbow Dash right into Fluttershy. She packed her wings up for a split second and Rarity let out a short-lived scream as Dash ducked underneath Fluttershy and came up on the other side instead. She couldn’t even tell if they were moving forwards any more.

“How about you?” Dash shouted.

“What?” Fluttershy replied.

“Forgot to ask how you are doing!” Dash added, trying to muster a laugh. “You having fun yet?”

Fluttershy didn’t get a chance to immediately reply. The next wind carried with it a puff of powdery snow, and Fluttershy grimaced, turning her head sideways and pulling up her legs as though she was afraid of hitting the ground, but from what Dash could see, they were far above the ground. Or maybe they were right above it, actually. She couldn’t tell. White on white, everything below was snow. Her wings ached worse now.

“We need to switch!” Rainbow Dash said.

No answer.

“Fluttershy!” Dash tried again. “Switch!”

Fluttershy slowed down. At least that proved they had been moving before. Unless they were moving backwards, now. Whatever the case, Fluttershy didn’t manage to stop completely. Rainbow Dash tried to hover nearby, but they were buffeted by the winds all the time, shifted around at the mercy of the currents.

“What?” asked Fluttershy.

“She needs you to take over!” Rarity yelled. “Do your synchronised flapping thing!”

Fluttershy covered the side of her face with a hoof, her short mane frost-tipped and standing out straight in the wind. She squinted while Dash flew up to her side as best as she could. “We can’t. Not in this wind!” said Fluttershy.

“We have to!” Dash said. Now that she’d admitted she didn’t have much more to give, her wings protested with every beat. Hovering was a little easier, but it was only a question of time. She brought herself up alongside Fluttershy, now hovering three wingspans apart, now five—now two. Fluttershy turned and backed off, shaking her head quickly.

“It’s not going to work! Even if we touch, we can’t hold together for even a second!”

“We have to switch, or we have to land!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “I’m gonna drop soon!”

“We can’t land here, there’s no land,” Rarity said, her voice nearly completely lost to the wind.

“Then we have to try!” Dash said. Rarity’s forelegs gripped Dash tight, icy cold hooves touching her chest as Dash was forced back again, trying to keep steady.

“No!” said Fluttershy. “We can’t ‘just try’. We’ll put all three of us in danger!”

Dash felt her heart split and sink, pieces of heart-stuff seeking the bottoms of her hooves. She looked behind her. They’d come so far. She saw a deep valley covered in white, a funnel leading to what looked like an almost gentle slope of rock, and far beyond, green-brown whatever. The cauldron they’d worked so hard to leave was little but a blurry mush at this distance.

“We have—”

“We have to go back,” Fluttershy shouted, her glare intense. “If you say you’re tired, that means you’re tired, and this is too dangerous! We can’t just take the risk or try harder! Not this time!”

“Let’s go back while we still can,” said Rarity, barely louder than her usual speaking voice, her head resting on top of Dash’s. “Rainbow, she’s right.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t need Rarity to tell her that. She had known that the moment Fluttershy first protested the maneuver. She knew when she heard the hardness in Fluttershy’s voice. Of course Fluttershy was right, and they couldn’t afford to argue anyway. Now more than ever, they needed to stick together and agree on a course of action. She swallowed and took an ice cold breath, then nodded.

“Okay, let’s abort!” Dash shouted. She held out a foreleg and made a circling motion. “Fluttershy! Stay on my side. Not behind, not in front, we need to keep in view of each other!”

---

Sailing down from the mountains took longer than Dash expected. Only the snowy valleyscape zoomed by quickly, and they spent more time trying to control their speed and manage the push from the backdraft than anything else. At least that gave Dash’s wings a little relief. At the edge of the snow, barely pausing for long enough to touch down, Dash took their saddlebags while Fluttershy took on Rarity, and the sun rose ahead of them while they continued their descent. Sunlight crept down the mountain slope, chasing them, catching up to them.

Idly, Dash wondered if anyone had ever given names to the two mountains they tried and failed to pass through. Sure, the peryton called the mountain range the Bow, and the strange serpent had called the entire place the Cauldron, but the names didn’t fit. They were simple names, too short and too small to hold everything they had seen in the space of a few days. The giant mountains deserved names of their own.

“Do you think the peryton ever tried to fly across these mountains?” Dash asked. “D’you think anyone ever has?” The wind tugged at her mane, but now that they flew a little faster, she noticed the lack of a familiar tug on her tail from the drag. Weird.

“I don’t know,” said Fluttershy, smiling at her. “Why?” She flew close. Closer than was safe, honestly, but after what they’d just attempted, and with all the practice flying in synch, even Fluttershy didn’t seem to mind. There might as well be no wind at all now compared to the mountain pass, and they were just gliding anyway.

“Dunno, just thinking,” said Dash, looking down below. Nothing but rock. They were a little further north than their earlier ascent. Rarity had briefly mentioned considering looking for the dresses they left behind, but it wasn’t so much a needle-in-a-haystack situation so much as a needle on a hay farm.

Fluttershy took the initiative to circle and shed a little more height, and Dash joined her maneuver. Unless they wanted to follow the mountain’s slope and speed down at supersonic speeds—a vote Dash lost—they had to circle in place or dive to surrender their height every now and then, especially if they wanted to keep the option of landing for breaks, drinks, or switching who carried what. This time, Fluttershy seemed content to keep Rarity on her back, even with the magic around their wings finally fading.

“Surely you had something in mind,” said Rarity when Fluttershy pulled up alongside Dash again. “No thoughts on our little failed climb?” She stared at Dash, searching.

“Nah,” said Dash, shrugging. “Or, I guess I’m still thinking about it. Gimmie a minute. Anyway, where’re we going?”

“Good question,” Rarity replied, casting her eyes ahead. They were taking longer to get back to the treeline than Dash would’ve liked, but they still undid their earlier work a lot faster than they’d climbed it.

“We have food for a few days, don’t we?” said Fluttershy with a glance over her back. “We could try going further north to look for another place to cross before we head down to the jungle to get food and water, but I don’t think trying that same pass again is going to work. It’s too narrow, it’s like a funnel for the wind.”

“If you say we can’t pass there, I believe you,” said Rarity. “That whole ordeal was more than a little frightening. As for food, I think we have two more days of bread, yes. If we find water, we could be fine for a little longer.”

“Alright,” said Dash, turning in the air, pulling a lazy barrel roll. “So, why are we going down?”

“We need water anyway, and we couldn’t have slept up where it’s cold all the time. Rarity would get frostbite or worse.”

“Right,” said Dash, nodding quickly. “Think we’re far enough down? Didn’t we see another pass further up north the last time we checked before we started climbing, anyway?”

“There were at least two good places to cross,” said Fluttershy, smiling and nodding as well, perking up. “Rarity, can you still do the body magic spell?”

“It’s not getting weaker, it’s simply not ever quite as strong as it was while we were imprisoned—so, that’s a yes,” Rarity confirmed. “I could do that every day for as long as we need as long as I’m not expected to walk a lot the same day. It is exhausting.”

“And your wings are okay?” Fluttershy asked, turning to Rainbow Dash.

“I’m fine,” said Dash. She grinned. For once, calling it quits at the right moment worked out. She tilted her head right, prompting Fluttershy to turn. “We’re all good to go, so let’s stop going down and start going north! Keep an eye out for water and we’ll give this another try. Second time’s the charm!”

---

Until the sun finally shone down on them, they travelled by air, and when the sheer heat made flying impossible, magic or no magic, their hooves carried them on a little further before somepony—Dash couldn’t even remember who—brought up the fact that they had travelled all night. A nap was suggested, and everything was a blur of softly aching hooves and wings before Dash fell asleep. And then she woke. They moved on again, refreshed and ready. Even Rarity seemed eager to finally stretch her legs properly.

The rocky mountain slope wasn’t easy going at all, and the burning sunlight didn’t help, but now Rainbow Dash knew that they could not be stopped. What an odd sight they must make, Dash thought. She imagined Ponyville hiding around the next bend, the three ponies suddenly coming home to see all their friends. Manes and tails cut short, bruised and battered from their flight practice but sleek of body, laden with supplies and weird knick-knacks in saddlebags and ohron alike. Dash’s green wings, Fluttershy’s scar—and the little bit of soot on Rarity’s butt, stark grey against her otherwise brighter coat that she hadn’t noticed. Dash refused to tell her about it, and had Fluttershy sworn to secrecy, too. It was just too funny.

Around the next bend, they found only more rock, of course, but it didn’t seem so bad in the grand scheme of things. They moved as one, climbing, jumping, trotting more often than not. A sparkling brook let them refill their water supply, just enough to keep them going, but not too much to hurt their flying. Of course, some things never changed: No amount of insistence would convince Rarity that snakes were lovely, really, once you get to know them, and no, they don’t bite! Why would they bite ponies? Won’t you come say hi? Rarity? Please stop, they don’t have ears, but they can still feel the vibrations of your screaming, oh dear, Rainbow Dash, a little help, please?

Thus the day passed, and then they were in the air again. Flying. The glow far south and west of them appeared again that night a deeper orange, and in a new place still. They flew through most of the night.

“Whether that is this ‘Yelgadar’ or not, do you think whatever that light is can see us, too?” Rarity asked.

“Hm? What?” Dash asked. She sailed through the air at cruising speed. At some point, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had found a middle ground, agreeing on what made for an okay speed to fly at. That speed had gotten pretty close to Dash’s own usual speed when she wasn’t in a hurry.

“That glow in the distance,” said Rarity, reaching over Fluttershy’s side to point behind her left wing. “Do you think it’s someone, or something, who looks at us like we look at them?”

“Huh. You think they can see us?” Dash asked.

“We are the only light on this side of the mountains, as far as I can tell,” said Rarity, shrugging.

“I don’t know,” said Dash, smiling. “It’d be cool if they could. I don’t know if they’d see our wings and stuff, but your light’s pretty strong.”

“If the moonlight was a little less, maybe?” Fluttershy offered, and now her head, too, turned to watch the flickering light in the distance. Tonight more than ever did it look like a flame of sorts.

---

Still they moved. The sun rose, and with it came the daytime heat. Dash and Fluttershy touched down together, Rarity slid off Dash’s back, and they stretched, making sure everyone felt fine. After a quick snack and a drink, they carried on by hoof again without really discussing it. Though travelling here was never effortless, the decision to travel had become exactly that as they followed the grey strip that was the mountain slope, a broad strip wedged between the tall peaks and the jungle below, so vast that it might have been a nation unto itself.

They had spent half the day on the ground, high enough up the mountain now that the cold was a little more bearable to make up for the lack of cover from the sun, and now the second pass they’d marked came up on their right, a flatter low point in the mountains than the previous wedge. If the more generous cover of snow was anything to go by, it was higher up, too.

“I believe we’re close enough. Perhaps we should set up camp and rest until nightfall?” Rarity’s head was turned almost perfectly to the right, watching the mountain pass as well.

“Sounds good to me. Rocks up ahead?” Dash asked, pointing directly forward.

“I think that’ll be a nice place to sleep, yes,” Fluttershy agreed, jumping a crack in the ground. Rainbow Dash yawned at the promise of a nap, already anticipating a well deserved rest, but in truth, she’d also never felt better in her life. Rarity had the whole process of setting up their little camp down to perfection now. Before Dash and Fluttershy were out of their saddlebags, Rarity had the blanket shaken and laid down, the tarp propped up for shade with string and whatever was around. Rainbow Dash planted her butt on the relative softness of their trusty blanket and yawned again, stretching her wings out.

Their shelter faced the mountains ahead, even taller than last time. Maybe at some point earlier, she’d feel the need to give a pep talk, or just even regular old talk about what lay ahead, but she didn’t. Sure, it’d be scary, awesome, and a bunch of other things besides, but she could tell from the way Rarity glanced at the peaks while she wrote in her journal—and from the way Fluttershy didn’t bother looking at them—that they were all committed and ready for the task at hoof.

“It’ll be less windy,” said Fluttershy without even looking up. She smiled at Rainbow Dash, instead.

“Probably, yeah,” said Dash, nodding. “You were right about the last one. It was like a tunnel with a fan at the end. This is just gonna be regular windy. We can handle windy.”

“I’ll take Rarity until we get close, then we try switching once the wind picks up even just a little bit?” Fluttershy suggested.

“Sounds great,” said Rainbow Dash, grinning. She leaned against Fluttershy, and Fluttershy leaned back for a moment. They couldn’t fail.

---

They were falling. Rainbow Dash had never before been this high up, of this she was convinced. The jungle was a blotch of moonlit dark green so tiny she couldn’t imagine how one could ever get lost in it, and whenever she tried to think about that, she felt dizzy. The mountains ahead, and even more so the peaks to their sides, they all kept going up, cruelly stretching out of reach.

And they fell. Not all at once. Not always. Never falling to the ground. They fell whenever they thought they made progress. They’d never even switched who carried Rarity, the unicorn still clinging to Fluttershy’s back. The wind had never become an issue, but now they simply couldn’t get lift. Rainbow Dash failed to do the one thing at which she was better at than anypony. They failed to go up. The air felt thin, weak, and refused to give her any traction, like trying to swim in an empty pool when she could see the water.

Well, strictly speaking, she couldn’t see the air, but she could feel it. She knew there was air between her and the snow-covered pass above, between her and the immense drop below. She knew and felt it, but there just wasn’t enough of it.

Fluttershy yelped and dropped again, her glowing wings a blur in the night as she did her best to stabilise, evening out below Dash. Rainbow Dash flapped a little slower to join up with her. She didn’t dive. She’d made that mistake once already, and nearly paid dearly for it.

“We have to go up,” said Dash, pointlessly. Going forward right now meant flying into the mountain itself. They had to climb right here, but they couldn’t.

“It’s not working!” said Fluttershy, her wings straining to find purchase. She climbed a little, and then fell again, this time falling close enough to the mountain that she dislodged a little snow. Rainbow Dash felt her wings tiring already just from the sheer force she needed to use to keep aloft.

“Rarity! Can you give us more magic? Make our wings stronger?” Dash asked. She blinked and squinted. Everything was white. Too white, too bright. Her own voice sounded odd to her ears, distorted, hoarse. Thin and tinny.

“I can barely hold on,” said Rarity amidst deep breaths. “As it is. I can’t even think—” The cloth-wrapped unicorn took another gulp of air, “—about magic.”

“Rarity? Your grip is slipping, hold on!” said Fluttershy.

Rarity jerked to as if she’d been asleep and startled awake. Dash could hear her breath now. Her own ears twitched.

“We just need to get over this shelf!” said Dash, pointing ahead. “Trying harder works. That’s how we got over the last one. Come on!”

“You said that before the last shelf, too. We don’t know that this is the last one!” Fluttershy replied. “I don’t know if I can.”

“I know you can! Your wings are bigger, you get more lift if you work hard enough, come on! If you just get over the ridge, I can take Rarity for the glide!” said Dash. A light gust of wind pushed at her, pushed her down, enough to upset her balance. She grunted and righted herself, drawing level with Fluttershy.

“I’m already flapping as hard as I can,” said Fluttershy, shaking her head, ears bent.

“No you’re not! You can do better! Come on!” said Dash. “Just stop thinking about it and give it absolutely everything.” She’d pushed Fluttershy a lot lately. She’d pushed her hard, but she couldn’t afford not to. She had no choice.

“I am!” Fluttershy snapped.

“Try one more time!” Dash said. “On my mark! Two—”

“I can’t do it!” Fluttershy said, her lower lip trembling. “I’m tired!”

“We have to get across! Dash shouted. “I believe in you! One!”

“I can’t!”

“Go! Let’s go, Fluttershy!”

And Fluttershy rose. She closed her eyes, her wings flapping faster, stronger. Of course she hadn’t given it her all. Fluttershy didn’t even believe her own lie, and watching the other pegasus draw more strength out of nowhere made Dash’s heart grow—and gave her own wings strength too. Dash put all she could into her own wings and followed even though she knew that a moment ago, the ridge ahead would be insurmountable to her. The two pegasi rose up, flying through the thinning air, needing three or four wing-strokes to get the effect of one. They flew up a ridge, there was a ledge in sight, and the pegasi gained on it. Two more seconds. One. And just like that, they were over.

Face to face with yet another ridge, just like the one they had climbed, and this time, Rainbow Dash could see another peak far in the distance behind the next ridge over, a dark starless outline against the night sky showing in no uncertain terms that they had a long way to go yet. Below, the white snow-cover was absolute. Nowhere to land in sight. Dash heard Fluttershy let out a shuddering breath, then a sniffle.

“I really,” said Rarity, breathing heavily, “am not… I’m not feeling very well.”

“We’re going back down!” Dash yelled. “Down, now! Come on, Fluttershy, follow me, we got this!”

---

At first, they’d descended too slowly. They soared from the middle of the mountains into the thin air far above even the freakishly high cloud layer that ringed the western mountaintops on the opposite side of the Cauldron. Dash couldn’t decide which was scarier or more strange: that they were so high up that the ground below hid behind a milky film, not just indistinct but unreal, or the fact that even this far up, the mountains that surrounded them were taller still, and she still didn’t feel free of their grasp. She felt crowded by the peaks and staggered by the emptiness below at the same time.

Too slow, though. Rarity had nearly lost her grip on Fluttershy, and only Dash’s quick reflexes saved the day. They were losing the unicorn to the altitude, and had to speed things up. The problem was that the thin mountain air was all too happy to let them go, and falling was too easy. Once they shed a little height, they were spat onto the snowless slopes too fast. Dash could break her own speed if she wanted to, sure, but Fluttershy carried more extra weight than she did.

“You with me?” Dash yelled over the rush of air, lazy night air that would otherwise be still now roared in her ears. “Try to angle your wings up a tiny bit!”

“I’m trying! It’s not working! If I go any harder they’ll break,” Fluttershy replied, her voice a panicked squeak. Dash caught something whisking away—or left behind, stationary where the ponies hurtled by. A feather torn off Fluttershy’s wings. She was definitely trying to stop.

“Hang on!” Dash shouted.

“I am hanging on!” Rarity screamed.

“I meant—well, both of you! Just wait a second!” Dash shot back. She moved herself a little closer to Fluttershy, but her wings were shifting about, constantly adjusting. If she touched one of Fluttershy’s wings now and upset her descent, that was it. A one-stop way to a very cruel crash. Thank-you and goodbye. Instead, she slowed just the tiniest bit, coming up behind Fluttershy. Thanks to their recent tail-cuts, she had to get closer than usual, but finally, she managed to bite on to Fluttershy’s tail. Once she had a good grip, she began putting her wings against the wind, gently at first.

It didn’t help much except to liberate her of a few feathers herself. Rainbow Dash hissed in pain as she felt a sting on her left wing, then her right. Worse, they were almost past the rocky slopes and showed no signs of stopping. While the slope gradually flattened out, a light cover of rain clouds obscured the treeline below. They were headed straight for the clouds, soon about to plunge into grey cloud-matter with no way of telling what lay below.

“I don’t suppose pegasi can see in the dark?” Rarity asked, her voice quavering. “Or perhaps through clouds? I never once thought to ask, but please tell me you can see through clouds!”

“We don’t have sonar! We’re not bats!” Fluttershy retorted.

“Good!” Rarity yelled. “I never wanted to see my own demise anyway!”

“Just hold on!” said Rainbow Dash, still trying her best to slow them down. Fluttershy’s forelegs punched through the clouds with a loud puff and the moisture of the rain slapped against Dash’s belly. Everything turned a flickering grey.

“Tree!” Rarity shrieked while Dash still tried to blink the wet away with Fluttershy’s tail in her face.

Comments

[Arkonfleight]

“Eh, naps don’t count when it doesn’t feel lazy. We didn’t have anything to not-do when we were in there.”

An important distinction.

[kits]

8626713
It's not loafing if you don't have responsibilities to avoid!

So dash.

[cosmofur]

Now after all this time the cover picture makes more sense. Nice foreshadowing.

[Elsaack]

Oh Celestia, do the mountains get taller when you try to go over them? I'd think pegasi could gauge the height of mountains. Particularly if they are so tall as to not have enough air to even fly right. That has to be above Himalayan size with no breaks or places to stop on a near shear face. That has to be some very capital "O" Old Magic. Looks like they might have to find that underground river they were taken through blind. Or try to kidnap someone to guide them out. Things are looking bad.

[Harwick]

A valiant and entertaining struggle to get out of this “cauldron”. I had to figure that it wouldn’t be easy to leave and get back to the mission.

I wondered about the possibility of riding a cloud over the mountains... yeah, Rarity can’t stand on them, but the Pegasi can and surely switching from one to the other would be easier while they’re perched on a cloud rather than flying... far less awesome though. I suppose any small and fluffy cloud could likely lose it’s moisture being pushed up the mountainside though.

[Posted]

Even worse than flying over the ocean for our duo, the horizon actually is coming up and trying to grab them. There might be some really crazy weather coming up soon with the hot, moist air butting up against the mountains.

[ConsciousHaze196]

This whole part is a cliffhanger. Maybe they should build a house or something.

[TasermonsPartner]

Not long after, some bread and dry water crammed down her throat,

Water comes dry now?

Huh, ya know, before I read this chapter, I don't think I ever noticed that Equestria's sun sets in the east, instead of the west! Thanks for pointing out what should've been an obvious quirk to a total ignoramus like me!

I guess Dash and Fluttershy were just going too fast to actually land on the clouds and instead punched through? Well, hopefully the clouds helped lower their momentum, at least.

[Alondro]

8627277 They cannot pass down the Stair, for the mountain works against them! There are fell voices in the wind!

They must try the Mines of Moria. (And Tirek, the Balrog waits for them.)

[Nadnerb]

I laughed a little at Fluttershy's not-bats joke.

But really now, the physics here, shouldn't they just be able to glide once they get back down to thicker air? Bank and come around again instead of plowing all the way back down into to the jungle? Excess speed should equal more lift, right? I mean yeah this is magically assisted flight for a species that doesn't have the wingspan to fly naturally, but it should still work roughly the same way?

Either way these are some bad ass mountains.

Here's a thought. Clouds apparently flow over the mountains, hence the weather on the other side. Maybe if they wait they can catch a ride. Can a unicorn sit on a pegasus that's standing on a cloud?

[Still Waters]

8700158
In this case the physics they're running afoul of isn't the lack of lift. It's their speed, they're going so quickly that their wings would end up giving them TOO much lift.

By which I mean, the slightest twitch translates into a huge amount of force, which 1) could cause them to lose control as they over-steer in one direction and perhaps over correct in the other, starting to tumble out of control. This is because, 2) The faster you go, the more lift your wings are generating. This is all well and good until you start to try and turn. Their wings and muscles are only used to handling so much force pushing or pulling on them, and once you hit certain speeds the force of lift you'd encounter when turning would be greater than what your body can handle. So a poorly done high-speed turn could sprain, break, or wrench those wings and cause a serious injury. Not something you want happening while flying, heh. X3

( It's a very similar concept to g-forces while turning at higher speeds.)

[PresentPerfect]

I'm very glad Fluttershy was concerned about them littering. :) I was also surprised to see Dash so cavalier about turning back from the first pass. Not even an internal complaint!

[hypervelocity]

“We don’t have sonar! We’re not bats !” Fluttershy retorted.

You sure about that Flutterbat?

Man, it's so nice to have everyone working together and on the same page. (Why do I have the feeling the minute they get to their final city they all go back to pre-Jail state?) And so only Dash is the one with a long mane.

I had also wondered how they would navigate the mountains, and it seems like they're hitting a proverbial wall. Let's see how they get around this one