Parkways and Treelines

by Fiddlesticks

Old Bird Baths and Worn-Out Paths

In the sea of buildings and roads, there was a tiny island of greenery. The city’s park sat nestled safely between the maze of skyscrapers and towers, sticking out like an artist at a science convention.

To Rainbow Dash it offered a nice break in her peripheral vision. She was tired of scoping landscapes and searching for sanctuaries, so it was a great relief for her to find this sapphire lotus in a field of dead flowers.

The fresh smell of life was all around her. The blooming flowers brought a glowing radiance to the world, basking underneath the midday sun. It was a picture perfect day, one that every single artist in the world could ever hope to have.

Rainbow trotted down the path, feeling the grass shift and give underneath her hooves and twitching slightly as a bit of pollen hit her nose. She could almost hear the chirping of birds and the laughter of foals, as they ran down the fields with colorful kites streaming behind them.

Clouds dotted the sky like paints across a canvas, reminding her of rainy day dreams and stray bits of sunlight, flowing through her window. She missed seeing the elderly ponies sitting on benches and feeding the birds, while foals ran and played around them. And she missed the weekend picnickers, and the birthday parties they threw by the basketball courts, and the peaceful feeling in the air.

A cool breeze blew through her mane, chilling her to the bone. She stepped off of the grass and onto the pavement, noticing some stray chalk drawings on the floor. They appeared to be the work of a foal, including drawings of what appeared to be either Nightmare Moon or a talking pie. She chuckled at the crude drawing of the dark pony, shaking her head at the foal’s imagination.

Trees of green and brown dotted the path besides her, their leaves lost like whispers in the wind. Looking to her right, she saw a small lake sprawling across the park, it's clear blue waters shining in the sunlight.

She remembered flying low over the water, on a clear weekend morning. Her feathers skimmed the surface, making small ripples and spraying water everywhere. The sun was light on her back and barely slowed her down, and she relished the cool feeling of water splashing against her chest.

Rainbow sped up her pace a bit, trotting down the concrete path that cut through the grass. She closed her eyes and took a breath, relishing in the smell of freshly mowed grass and flowers. In her mind she pictured a group of joggers passing her on the right, music pounding from their headphones as they ran.

Stray leaves crunched underneath her hooves as she carried on, bringing back memories of crisp fall evenings and chilly winter nights. To her right was an old marble birdbath, sitting in the middle of the field like a lighthouse in a sea of green.

A few water fountains were also mounted on the side, the kinds that gave mothers nightmares due to how dirty they were. Rainbow pushed the button and watched as a few squirts of water arched into the air before landing in the basin and flowing down the drain.

Rainbow never was one to take long walks in the park, but over the years she grew to like them. They gave her a chance to clear her mind and catch her breath, especially after she learned the value of slowing down for a second.

It was funny, she realized, that even though she was the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria, she still couldn’t out-fly time. It didn’t wait for anyone and it didn’t care that she wasn’t ready: it just passed her by like a train in the night.

Up ahead of her was a rusted playground of plastic and metal. The colors were dulled and faded from years under the sun, and the swing set chains were rusted from rain and wear. But the foals didn’t care how old or ugly it was. Maybe because they saw it for what it really was.

There was a thought. It had been a very long time since Rainbow had seen the world through playground eyes, when everything was veiled in a shroud of innocence. And though she did see the shadows through her veil, she thought they were far away and harmless. Just mindless shapes lurking outside her window. Things that could never hurt her. How wrong she was.

Rainbow glanced to her right to see a familiar form sitting on a park bench, book in hoof. Twilight Sparkle glanced up to meet Rainbow’s eyes and waved. “Oh, hi Rainbow!”

“Hey, Twilight,” Rainbow said, sighing with relief as she trotted over to her old friend. “What’re you reading?”

“Matthias Unidostres. His work on how diseases can affect society are profound, though his theories aren’t completely correct,” Twilight replied as she closed her book and set it aside. “But I’m guessing you’re not here to talk about that.” She tapped the spot next to her, and Rainbow sat down on the bench.

Rainbow nodded, taking a deep breath of the crisp autumn air. She felt the wind move around her and felt like a stone in a river, as the water parted ways and split themselves against her body. “Guess not.”

Twilight shrugged. “Alright. What did you need?”

She thought about that for a second. “I don’t know… closure?”

“You know I can’t give you that, Rainbow. Not now, anyways. You have to find that yourself,” Twilight responded softly.

“I know. Worth a shot, though,” Rainbow muttered. “Look, Twi… how’d you do it? I mean, I just look at all of you girls and I just… I can’t. I can’t do it.”

Twilight put a hoof on Rainbow’s back and smiled. “Well, that doesn’t make you any weaker, Rainbow. You know that.”

The park around them was quiet, yet the silence spoke volumes. Sitting there on that bench, Rainbow felt chills run down her spine, yet her heart seemed to burn brightly.

It was a while before Twilight spoke again. “You know, Rainbow, I once read something that I found really interesting. Without some lows, there are no highs. Without some ends, there are no beginnings. It’s really quite powerful if you think about it.”

Rainbow frowned. “I don’t get it.”

“Well, think of it this way. We only have our highs in life if we have our lows, and we can only start something new if something old ends. It’s a philosophical idea more than anything, but I think it really does apply to life, more so than we know sometimes.”

“But, like, what does that mean? That life just works like that?”

Twilight laughed. “Well, yes, and no. Think of it this way, Rainbow: sometimes, our best moments come from our worst ones. I know that this is hard for you right now, and believe me, it’s hard for me too. But we’ll get through it.”

A few stray leaves floated by their bench, bouncing up and down in the wind. Rainbow glanced up and saw a kite flying through the sky, trying desperately to be free. “But… so much has changed,” Rainbow whispered. “And everything is over now.”

“Time changes everything, Rainbow,” Twilight replied. “And I don’t think everything is over, per say. Things might be different, sure, but it’s not really the same as being over.” She locked eyes with Rainbow. “Your journey isn’t over, Rainbow. You’ve got a little more to go.”

“You really think so?” asked Rainbow.

“I’m sure of it.”

Rainbow smiled, feeling a little bit better. “Thanks, Twi. I guess your egghead tricks worked on me after all.”

They shared a laugh at that, and Twilight stood up. “It’s getting late, Rainbow. You better get going now.” The two friends exchanged a hug, and Rainbow closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

When she opened them she was alone again, yet this didn’t surprise her. She glanced at the bench to see that Twilight’s book was still there. Rainbow opened the cover and read the text to herself.

“There are no ends, just grays and half-lives.”

She laughed and took to the air.

Comments

[ScopingLandscape]

And we're back at it, y'all. The next installment to this intriguing little storyline.

I have been thinking about why, exactly, do our names pop up in these stories, and so far, none has satisfactorily explained the reasonings.

Since, from the last story's comments, we can infer that there will be many more installments to come, it would stand to reason that the whole thing is not about the Main 6, specifically. But then, we're left in a bit of a bind, since... we don't know who's going to be next. And so, we cannot make any predictions.

And it appears that RainyDaydream is correct, after all. Going to the park is a chance for you to slow down, and lost in your thoughts.

My worry aside, there are some references I can spot from reading the story. This time, I'll divide the references up into two main parts, the followers, and the references to other works. Let's begin.
Followers:

sticking out like an artist at a science convention.

She was tired of scoping landscapes

so it was a great relief for her to find this sapphire lotus in a field of dead flowers

It was a picture perfect day, one that every single artist in the world could ever hope to have.

reminding her of rainy day dreams and stray bits of sunlight, flowing through her window

drawings of what appeared to be either Nightmare Moon or a talking pie

the crude drawing of the dark pony

Matthias Unidostres. His work on how diseases can affect society are profound, though his theories aren’t completely correct,

Sadly, I cannot find any references to other works, either real-life, or on this site, so if you can find something, I'd put it in, and I'll be real appreciative of y'all.

Profile doesn't seem to have an update.
Blog post: "until the sky burned in a million shade" - "in your eyes I saw myself"

Again, if you can find anything, please don't hesitate to either reply to me, or DM me on here.

Your friend,
Scoping Landscape

[mushroompone]

Yay, new stuff!!!

Here's what I caught (besides the follower refs that 10276425 outlined):

“Matthias Unidostres. His work on how diseases can affect society are profound, though his theories aren’t completely correct,” Twilight replied as she closed her book and set it aside. “But I’m guessing you’re not here to talk about that.” She tapped the spot next to her, and Rainbow sat down on the bench.

I remember a reader of the previous installment theorizing that this series was somehow related to the pandemic, and this seems to be a callout to that theory! I'm not sure what exactly Fiddlesticks means by "not completely correct", but it sounds like a shutdown of that. It was definitely a good theory, though!

Another thing that stood out to me in this installment was the line that Rainbow reads from the book Twilight was reading:

There are no ends, just grays and half-lives

On a hunch, I googled it and found this song, which contains the line as a lyric. As far as I can tell, this song isn't a reference to any followers, so I have to imagine this is a message directly from Fiddlesticks to us, the readers.

I HIGHLY recommend actually listening to the song, because I think its tone and lyrics pair really really wonderfully with the written series we have here, but I'll give you the gist of it here:

The singer, EDEN, is mourning a relationship that no longer exists. The title of the song (forever//over) highlights the dichotomy of the way the relationship is (over) and the way it feels to him (permanent). The lyric Fiddlesticks chose, especially, is important to this thought... that things never really end, just dwindle to almost-nothingness in the periphery of our lives. The other italicized line (Without some lows, there are no highs. Without some ends, there are no beginnings.) is actually also lifted directly from this song's lyrics. This song is a huge and direct hint to us, and I'm going to try to do some close listens to it to see what else I can catch that may be relevant.

(seriously, go listen to this song, gang)

EDIT: Found another EDEN lyric!! The new bio/textbox reads: "You came out of the blue, or was it blue-gray?", which comes from this song. Going to go back and look for more of these in the older installments!

To Fiddlesticks: thank you for writing this. The mystery is fun, but the writing is the core of this beautiful story you've built.

[Sapphire Lotus]

I love this latest entry, and these stories are the ones that make me wish I was into writing. I love all the little details you put into the story. To be honest, I would have missed them if not for the comments, but I am one to read to enjoy it, less to analyze it (had enough of that in school ). Again, great writing, and I hope to see more in the future!

[Dashie04]

It turned out that ‘eighth’ actually does mean ‘June eighth’, so that seems resolved.

I’ve been thinking about these stories, and in between my accusations of misogyny (just accusations) on the WoF Wikia and my recent vacation, I’ve been eagerly waiting this installment.

I can’t really say anything about the book that 10276604 hasn’t said before me. So instead I’ll mention a couple theories about this story I had.

So, I thought about it a little bit, and one of the biggest ideas throughout this series is change. Rainbow Dash doesn’t want to change for whatever reason, but her friends already have.

So, I’ve taken note of Fiddlesticks’ bio updates and whatnot. Now, not all of them have been particularly happy. The second and third one come to mind. So, I’m wondering if Rainbow Dash is somehow an intricate metaphor for a depressed person. I don’t know if Fiddlesticks is talking about themselves here, but no matter how much you try to get through to a depressed person, it takes several tries and several people to break through.

I thought that was one of the more interesting theories I had.

My other theory is kind of silly, it’s a staff writer going incognito and writing these fantastic stories about Pony Life to try and get through to the show audience that yes, this is changing, but it might not be that bad.

Now, of course, this series will end with Rainbow Dash accepting change, because it wouldn’t make a good story otherwise. So, it will end on a happy note, I just don’t know what.

[Pins-N-Needles]

this is a very fascinating mystery that i am very happy to have stumbled across... this story, in a whole, is obviously very deliberate in how vague it is about truth and metaphor, which i think obviously plays to its strength, and its very fascinating to dissect. others have already given elaborate takes and studies of the content of these stories, and ill admit i am not too skilled at coming up with theories or seeing through intricate metaphors, so ill simply say what i believe this to be and evolve my theory as time goes on

this story is both literal and metaphorical, even in the context of the story itself. it is a literal story of a world entirely abandoned, leaving rainbow behind, but it seems rainbow (for some reason or another) either chose to stay behind or was forgotten behind unintentionally. this could literally mean something like an all-consuming death, but for some reason, i doubt it. i think this is where the metaphorical part comes in. i think mushroompone has probably said this more in-detail and i got this idea from their comments, but i think this is a story about what happens when a story comes to an end, and the only people left to care about it are its followers.

eventually, things are forgotten. notice how technologically advanced this world is compared to fim as we see it in canon: highways, cars, turn signals and airports. rainbow and her friends have grown and been forgotten by the world for the most part, with their achievements little more than a footnote in history, and rainbow doesn't want to accept that, so she got stuck behind/chose to stay behind when everyone else moved on

that's my analysis, at least, and i cant wait to see how this wonderful mystery develops

[Dashie04]

10277628
That’s a pretty solid theory.

[mushroompone]

10277628
Wow, that's such a beautiful way to put it!! Honestly, I hadn't considered the story to be meta in this way (a stories about stories... and about the fickleness of fimfiction fame), but that is a brilliant analysis!

Happy to have you along for the ride! It seems like there may be quite a bit more coming for us... make sure you join the group that Fiddlesticks made, too-- it's just as much a part of the case, it seems!

[dark-pony]

An observation on the followers: (at least for one)
Dark-Pony (that's me :-) ) and Fiddlesticks know that most of you might not is, that I'm a new follower. I started following on "Runways and Airplanes". You see I gravitate to Fluttershy stories. I'm always on Fluttershy's landing page. So if that story never happened then I wouldn't have followed and this story would have been altered and I wouldn't be part of it.

[DawnOfsnow]

Another great one! And It seems like things are looking better for our favorite rainbow Pegasus - she was much less sad in this chapter, and there were a some smiles shared. Plus Twi is awesome at giving adviceI really liked this one - it was adorable!

[Dashie04]

“Rainbow heard a whisper calling her name.”

Now, does that mean these are all things she’s seeing after Horizons and Stormclouds, as many others have said, a final test perhaps? That whisper seems to be trying to lead her in the right direction.

I also love that instead of Rainbow Dash’s hair loosing pigment and going white, her hair darkens until it (presumably) goes black. Also, Rainbow Dash is definitely aged in these visions or throwbacks, she’s getting a little slower, her hair’s darkenening.

[DawnOfsnow]

Aw, that one was bittersweet for me. Thinking of Dashie getting a little older, and all.
Weren’t her and Fluttershy just headed somewhere? Annnd now she’s just chilling in the park with Twilight? It’s stuff like that that makes me think that this is what Spitfire was talking about back in “Horizons and Storm clouds”, like Dashite said. Plus the “500-word-things” all seem unconnected. They could all be taking place in the same week, or months from each other for all we know.
Oh! And I’m glad Starlight got name- dropped, since, we haven’t seen her in this series.
And does anybody have any guesses for what’s gonna happen after all the “500-word-thinga-mees?” (Gotta find a better name for those) it could end like that, but I wonder if we’ll get an epilogue, or just a chapter not shrouded in mystery...

[Pete100]

Although I could probably understand why twilight is at the park, because it’s a nice a quiet place to read, I would expect her to be in a library because she gives off introvert vibes.