Rainbow Dash Around the World

by MagicS

Too Fast to Chase

In the dark sky of Hoofica, a pegasus wobbled on a crash course straight into the forest just a short distance southwest of Yellow Daisy Hamlet. She flew like a drunken bird with a broken wing. And not only that, it had gotten dark enough to where she couldn’t easily make out the trees at the speed she was going and with how panicked her flying had gotten.

Rainbow Dash clipped a few treetops and smashed into several branches as she fell into the forest—her pained wings not working right. It was all she could do to not plant her head directly into the ground.

Instead she just collided with it at an angle, digging out a huge trench in the wet soil as she finally came to a stop.

“Urgh… darn it,” Rainbow Dash grunted as she picked herself up and looked at her twitching wings.

The Head Inquisitor had hurt them a little worse than Rainbow Dash first realized. It wasn’t until she had taken flight out of the village that she noticed she wasn’t going to be able to fly properly for much longer. She had only barely been able to make it to the forest before the pain had become too much. Rainbow Dash groaned in discomfort as she reached back with a hoof and felt both wings in turn.

Not broken, and it didn’t feel like any muscles had been torn. It was more likely the bones were sprained and the muscles pulled slightly. So not terrible but something that should still probably keep her from flying for a few days.

Rainbow Dash sat down and sighed, staring up at the dark sky through the trees. “Great.”

She could hide out here for a few days and then try flying to Glamour Heights City when her wings were feeling better or she could try walking there right now. And still probably end up taking longer to get there. At the very least she was pretty sure the Inquisitors didn’t know where she had gone to. And it still put a bit of a smile on her face to think abut how she had decked that chain psycho. While thunder began to rumble even harder overhead, Rainbow Dash came to a decision. It was lame but she was going to have to hide out here until she could fly again.

---

“And who—please tell me who—thought it was a good idea to let that criminal go? And even worse, thought that I needed help? Please tell me?” Vox said as she pulled on a chain tightly wrapped around the throat of one of her fellow Inquisitors.

It was the stallion who had ordered the temporary retreat. His eyes were starting to bulge out and his hooves uselessly fought to pry Vox away.

She sadistically grinned at him and pulled tighter on the chain. “Was it you? Was it you? I think so!”

Snap!

At the sickening sound, the stallion went limp and Vox relaxed her grip, letting his body fall to the ground.

“Oops,” she blinked and started giggling. “I think I broke him.”

On the side of the road, Dotted Easel threw up.

The other Inquisitors were just as queasy and frightened but Vox only rolled her eyes.

“Get over it. The question now is what do we do about that pegasus? We can’t let a pony like her do whatever she wants in Hoofica. She’ll clearly just cause more problems. We don’t need that sort of free-spirited disruption,” Vox smiled. “So, any suggestions for tracking her down? I advise you to please offer one as quickly as possible or you might end up like our good friend here. Because I am really in a bad mood right now.”

Most of the other Inquisitors were frozen in shock—but one raised a shaking hoof.

“I… have an idea,” a panting and sunken-eyed Dotted Easel said. “It’s simple… but smart. I think it will work.”

Vox tilted her head in amusement. “Really now? Well let’s hear it.”

---

Four days later, Rainbow Dash had reached the skies just outside Glamour Heights City. Her wings were still sore, especially around the sockets, and she couldn’t force anything extreme out of them but at least she was capable of flight. This city was quite a bit different looking from the other towns she had been to so far in Hoofica. It didn’t quite have what she would call skyscrapers but there were some stone buildings and towers ten or more stories high. A lot of them were clustered close together and there seemed to be a separate area entirely for the houses of ponies off on the eastern side of the city. Roads aplenty weaved through the small metropolis and with her vantage point she could see things like parks, outdoor theaters, and other larger buildings that could have been any number of things. Meanwhile just south of the city flowed a river, going southwest at a gentle pace.

A lot of ponies were going to be living here, and maybe some of them could actually help her out. Or at the very least be happy to see her. But she still needed some solid directions to the capitol. A country as big as this, she couldn’t just aimlessly fly south and hope she’d find it.

To give her wings some rest and make it easier for her to find a place like a bar or something where ponies might still congregate, Rainbow Dash flew down to the streets of Glamour Heights City. She didn’t drop herself off on one of the main streets, instead choosing a smaller side street that didn’t look busy. That combined with the darkness Hoofica was bathed in and Rainbow Dash was pretty sure nopony would’ve seen her arrive.

“Really hope none of those Inquisitors are here either,” Rainbow Dash muttered. Unlike the little roads and streets out in the smaller towns, the one she was standing on now was cobblestone.

She sighed. “Of course they might have a big head start on me… and ways to contact each other far away. Ugh. Wouldn’t mind beating up that one again though. If I could take care of those Inquisitors for good I bet it’d do this place a lot of good. But I probably can’t solve all that out here… don’t even know how many of them there are.”

As she walked down the block of stone buildings her eyes caught sight of plenty of those obnoxious posters. A city like this probably had hundreds—if not thousands—of them plastered around. She couldn’t stand having to look at Vox’s face that much.

Besides the posters, most of the buildings and stores she passed on the street were closed up completely. The city was quickly becoming a more miserable looking place than the towns were. The few places that didn’t look locked up or abandoned certainly didn’t have any “Welcome” or “Open” signs out in front either. And one of the only ponies she saw out was some old stallion sweeping up trash.

This whole country looked like it was dying and nopony was doing anything about it.

A city shouldn’t feel like a cemetery.

She figured she could go to the residential parts of the city and start knocking on doors if it came down to it. But she still really wanted to find more ponies around here first. That took her up and down more streets and while she did start to see more ponies they weren’t exactly ones who looked like they were in any condition to talk. Lots were slumped over against buildings, or on the curb, or in the gutter, with a pungent odor and unkempt appearance to them.

Only a few gave her a look as she passed by—and they weren’t kind looks.

“I know I shouldn’t blame ponies here for this but seriously, it’s more negative than Far Rock and Yellow Daisy were,” Rainbow muttered as she went on by.

She was going more towards the center of the city now and at the very least she was starting to see some open doors and ponies outside who weren’t just vagabonds. A tall building loomed overhead and Rainbow had half a mind to go explore it and see what it was—right up until she passed by the front door and saw a heavy padlock and chain on it. The whole place was locked up and abandoned.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Your Queen really has lost her mind, hasn’t she?”

There was one place she passed that actually had some liveliness to it, a storefront that had a lot of tables outside it. At one point it might’ve been an actual restaurant but right now all she saw were ponies there drinking glasses of water and eating the most meager rations of oats. Rainbow Dash was thinking of going in and maybe talking to the owner, or sitting down and trying to make conversation with some of the ponies at the tables. However, something concerning changed her mind about that and set her ill at ease.

She was getting looks. Different kinds of looks than just some annoyed or naturally angry ones given to a stranger.

Suspicious glares. Eyes widening out of recognition. Ponies leaning over to their tablemates and talking to them in hushed voices as soon as they saw Rainbow Dash.

“Okaaay?” Rainbow Dash quietly whispered to herself. If anything, this was not the sort of welcoming she was expecting from these ponies here. Why did it seem like they recognized her? Instead of going to talk to any of them, she slowly backed away and turned around, walking the other direction. She tried to appear nonchalant but she kept her ears perked up to see if she could hear anything they might be saying or tell if any of them were getting up and walking after her.

Thankfully it seemed like they were just letting her be, but that was still a pretty weird experience.

"There something I don’t know about going on in this city?” Rainbow asked herself as she went down another street.

She now found herself at a fairly wide open plaza that was near the middle of Glamour Heights. At one point it probably would’ve been a popular destination, full of ponies, but now there was practically nothing. Even the large fountain in the middle of the plaza had been turned off and was empty. Rainbow saw a couple of ponies walking around aimlessly and a couple of groups of younger stallions—teenagers—milling about, but that was mostly it. A bustling city plaza was reduced to this. The only thing of note were a few random signboards put up that had the same usual posters on them.

As Rainbow Dash walked over to the central fountain just to gather her thoughts for a moment, a startlingly familiar sensation came over her. She was being watched. Stared at. Ponies were talking about her in hushed voices.

Rainbow Dash looked around discreetly and saw that all of the lone ponies and the small groups had noticed her and had their attention focused fully on her.

Now this was just getting creepy.

Torn between ignoring it and turning around and shouting, Rainbow Dash walked by one of the signboards. And paused. There was too much color on the poster hung up on it.

With her mouth halfway open in shock and realization, Rainbow turned and looked at the poster. On it was a simplistic and fairly unflattering (but still accurate) painting of herself. Below her painting were the words “WANTED CRIMINAL: RAINBOW DASH”, heading things off. And below that was the promise of a reward and favor from the Inquisitors if anypony helped capture her… and the threat of horrible punishment if anypony was caught helping or associating with her.

“Ohhh… okay. Yeah, that explains some stuff,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“There she is! Just like we said!” A loud shout came from behind her.

Rainbow Dash wheeled around to see a group of ponies had just come around the same corner she entered the plaza from. A number of them were ponies from that restaurant or whatever, but there were new ones mixed in as well. Ponies wearing armor. Guards or soldiers of some type. Not Inquisitors but still probably just as problematic for Rainbow Dash right now.

“Aw geez,” Rainbow grimaced. “Look all of you, I don’t want any trouble and I’m really here to help you. Those Inquisitors are-”

“Get her before she gets away! Somepony alert the Inquisitors that she’s in town!” An old mare said.

“They’re over on the west side of the city, I’ll go get them!” One of the armored guards said and started running off.

“That aint good...” Rainbow Dash frowned. Sounded like the Inquisitors had anticipated where she would go next. Were these posters all over this city? Worse—were they possibly already being set up elsewhere in Hoofica too?

“Come on everypony, get her or else the Inquisitors will come after us!” Another pony shouted and the whole mob now charged at Rainbow Dash. The other ponies and groups already in the plaza came after her as well.

“Tch,” Rainbow clicked her tongue and flapped her wings. She couldn’t go full force shooting out of here just yet so instead she kept low, flying over the stone slabs of the plaza and going towards a street that no ponies were nearby. Even if she couldn’t fly at her normal speeds she was certainly faster than any random pony here.

The bigger problem was that now she had to abruptly leave again—totally unable to get what she wanted here.

Rainbow Dash swiftly flew around another building and then darted into an alleyway before coming to a stop.

“I came here to help these ponies… can I really just run again?” Rainbow Dash kicked an empty can. “I don’t know how to help them though. Aside from getting to the Queen and fixing all this at the source.” She looked up past the roofs of the tall buildings at the dark clouds. Her first big city in the kingdom and it was turning into a bust. Idly she looked back down at the ground and started pacing around, thinking about what to do with the ponies here. “They’re not going to listen and I’m definitely not fighting them. Ugh, this is so lame!”

“You’re also very much outnumbered.”

Rainbow Dash clenched her jaw and looked back up. Along the ledges of the buildings around the alley, a number of white-suited Inquisitors stood, peering down at her. Including Head Inquisitor Vox with a happy grin on her face.

“Hi there,” the Head Inquisitor waved down at her.

Rainbow Dash spat and glared at her. “Sup.”

“I figured I should let you know in person, but there’s nowhere that’s going to be safe for you to go in all of Hoofica,” Vox said.

“Then I’ll just make somewhere safe,” Rainbow Dash defiantly said.

“Oh please, try it,” Vox licked her lips.

She then disappeared in a static red burst of magic and reappeared on the ground right in front of Rainbow Dash. Her chain shot from her sleeve at Rainbow’s face but Rainbow managed to sidestep to safety. However this time it wasn’t a one on one fight. From above she heard several Inquisitors leaving their perches. Pegasi. While at the same time a beam of bright white light came shooting down at her from a unicorn.

Rainbow hopped away from it but ended up with Vox’s chain wrapped around her defenseless left hoof. With a hard yank, Vox pulled her and slammed her into the wall of one of the buildings right as the pegasi Inquisitors landed on her.

“Leave her conscious! I want to talk with her,” Vox snickered as Rainbow Dash was dogpiled.

At the bottom of four other pegasi, Rainbow Dash felt a writhing mass of hooves and wings trying to beat her down and grab her. She was forced to the ground as the full weight of the other ponies was brought onto her back and she couldn’t fight back as well thanks to the chain wrapped around her hoof. And her wings probably still shouldn’t be pushed too hard.

Probably.

“Hnnnghh!” Rainbow Dash grunted and tried to push up against the Inquisitors trying to beat her down and keep her pinned.

“Just stay down so we don’t have to hurt you!” The voice of some other mare Inquisitor shouted at Rainbow Dash.

A grin tugged up the edges of Rainbow Dash’s lips. “Nope.”

Vox’s eyes widened as the four other Inquisitors were suddenly tossed away and a powerful whirlwind came from where Rainbow Dash was. A few flaps of her wings and Rainbow Dash took to the air, smugly grinning at Vox. In an instant her chain was torn out of her grip as the blue pegasus shot up like a missile into the sky, the full power of her wings being put on display.

Slowly, Vox started to grin too as she saw the pegasus angling to the south. “Do what you want for now. We’ll find you again soon, every Inquisitor and guard in Hoofica has already gotten word and knows what you look like. Oh this is turning out to be so, so fun.”

---

Rainbow Dash’s wings seized up as she left the airspace of Glamour Heights City, a sharp pain shooting through the both of them.

“Crud, crud, crud...” she had put way too much power into them too quickly. They still weren’t fully healed yet and now she was dealing with the fallout of her decision.

Which meant falling at a dangerous pace towards the ground again. Except this time it was even worse, her wings weren’t responding at all and she could barely angle herself or slow down as she flew from hundreds of feet in the air. No matter how she tried to move her wings or flap them all she felt was a sharp pain that made her stop.

There was nothing she could do to avoid this crash landing. Rainbow Dash grimaced and looked down at the ground for something to save her—somewhere she could land safely.

There was a river.

“Aw dang...” Rainbow Dash sighed and shifted in the air as best she could towards the flowing river.

Comments

[TheCommunistDog]

It just ain’t Vox’s day.

In today’s chapter: Rainbow arrives at a new city before being ambushed and almost captured by Vox

[redmar]

Despite the situation I think it was wrong of Dotted Easel to suggest something to Vox. When it comes to a crazy psychopath as her staying beneath notice is the best. Helping Vox isn't going to do anything good. Rainbow still hasn't had much succes unfortunately.

[RoboRed]

So that's how they got her. Vox set one thing in motion and they just wore her down after that.
Doesn't answer that yellow crystal yet, though.