• Published 12th Mar 2022
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Rainbow Dash Around the World - MagicS



Rainbow Dash continues her flight around the world.

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Leaving a Lot Up to Chance Here

Rainbow Dash looked back and forth at the ponies surrounding her, many of them gawking at her in disbelief.

“Well don’t all of you clap for me at once,” she snorted.

Brass Hoof frowned. “I don’t think we’ll be leaving this up to an outsider like you who only recently-”

“That’s why.” Rainbow Dash strongly glared at her. “It’s because I’m an outsider that I should be the one doing this. All of you, every last one of you, deserves to be able to see your home go back to normal. I’m just some pony who came in out of nowhere looking for an adventure. Let me be the one to take the big risks here.” She raised a hoof to her chest and took a deep breath as she looked at the other resistance ponies. “You’ve all been suffering here in this country for how long now? You deserve to be able to relax and let somepony else help you out. Let me carry the weight.”

“You may have proved yourself capable but I don’t think I trust you enough for this, Rainbow Dash,” Brass Hoof said.

“It’s not your choice though,” Red Wing cut in, sharply glancing at her. “It’s mine.”

Brass Hoof frowned and looked like she was about to say something, but she closed her mouth and looked at the floor. “Yes, sir.”

Red Wing looked at Rainbow Dash before turning his attention to the rest of his subordinates. “The rest of you can leave us now, get a good night’s rest. It’s likely we’ll have more to discuss in the morning.”

The ponies were a bit uncertain, but after a second they filed on out of the third floor and went towards the stairs. A few ponies Rainbow Dash knew better, like Tango and Blitz, gave her a nod or uncertain look as they left. After they were all gone it was just Rainbow along with Red Wing, Brass Hoof, and Star Petal.

“Are you fully aware of what you’re volunteering for?” Red Wing asked her.

“Nope,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “But that’s just part of the fun.”

Red Wing narrowed his eyes, not in a joking mood. “The getting captured part is easy. Who knows what Vox will do to you in that dungeon, especially after you in particular have repeatedly crossed her. And unfortunately I don’t have any advice on how you’ll manage to free yourself—that part’s up to you.”

There was also the fact Vox had said she was special and Dreamweaver might be interested in her. In what way Rainbow Dash had no idea but she wasn’t going to mention that to the resistance leaders anyways.

“If that’s the case then how are you supposed to know when I’ve found the crystal and you can come attack the castle or whatever anyways?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Star Petal?” Red Wing glanced over at her.

The unicorn levitated something out in front of Rainbow Dash’s face. It was a yellow crystal ball, the same kind that she had seen Red Wing break earlier.

“This is called a Locator Crystal. When you break it it sends a signal to its master crystal, alerting it to the fact its been broken and where exactly it happened. As soon as you find the location of the crystal that’s powering the barrier, you’ll break the locator and that will be our signal to attack. If you break it while you’re at the same location of the other crystal, then great, if not you can meet up with us in the main atrium of the castle and tell us where it is when we come to attack,” Red Wing explained.

“Wait, so...” Rainbow Dash pinched between her eyes. “I’m going to be stuck in a dungeon—with no clue right now how to get out—and then when I somehow do I need to somehow sneak through the castle without getting caught and find this crystal? While there are probably a ton of guards and Inquisitors around. And when I’m in who knows what condition after being in the dungeon. This is a bad plan.”

“I’m aware that-”

Rainbow Dash held up a blue hoof and cut him off, grinning in his face. “Fortunately for you, I like bad plans.”

Brass Hoof scoffed and Star Petal looked uncertain, but Red Wing smirked.

“Well, that helps us out then.”

“Uhh… I do still have a couple more questions though,” Rainbow Dash said. “If I’m getting myself captured, and they’re taking me down to a dungeon or whatever, how in the hay am I going to take that crystal ball with me?”

“We’re going to teach you how to swallow and regurgitate it at will,” Red Wing said.

“Oh. That sounds fun.”

“You’ll get used to it but it might take a little while before you’ve mastered being able to do it,” Brass Hoof told her.

Rainbow Dash dragged a hoof down her face. “Alright, so that’s not going to be a fun part. I had something else I was wondering about though. If you’re still so outnumbered that you can’t just directly attack the castle, how is any of that going to change just by me knowing where the crystal is? If I break the locator thing and you guys just charge on into the castle won’t it end kind of badly?”

“Why do you think we brought the rest of the powder kegs with us?” Red Wing asked.

“Uh, you lost me,” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at him.

“We’re going to make a distraction in the city and draw out most of the guards and Inquisitors to it,” Red Wing explained. “We’ll make them think we’re starting an actual armed revolution in the city instead of secretly infiltrating the castle itself. Their forces will be split up and as soon as we see that we’ll enter the castle and find you and then the crystal.”

“So what exactly are you going to do with those powder kegs? Cause I’m a little bit concerned,” Rainbow said.

Red Wing let out the smallest bit of mirthful laughter. “I appreciate the concern but there’s nothing to worry about. This is our home and we’d never hurt our fellow ponies. We’re making sure to do this as peacefully as possible… which I know sounds a little hypocritical, but it’s true. We don’t want to do any damage that we can avoid.”

“We are blowing up some buildings. There’s no avoiding that,” Brass Hoof said. “But they’re going to be emptied beforehand, and we’ll make sure there aren’t any ponies around that can be hurt either.”

“At the same time a fake—but loud—riot will sprout up. That will get the attention of the Queen and her forces. As somepony who personally knows the Queen, I can almost guarantee that she’ll overreact and be very frightened about what’s going on in her capitol,” Red Wing said. “And once we have found the crystal, Star Petal here will destroy it.” He glanced over to her. “She’s confident in her magical knowledge and ability that she can deal with the troublesome artifact.”

“The barrier is practically invincible, so the crystal itself must be the weak point. A strong enough magical attack should be able to destroy it,” Star Petal said, smiling to Rainbow Dash.

“I’m still hearing a lot of shoulds and maybes with this plan...” Rainbow Dash grimaced and rubbed the back of her neck.

“It’s not foolproof or guaranteed. We all know that,” Red Wing sighed. “But it’s the best we can do right now.”

“There’s still one other major issue with the plan I need to bring up,” Rainbow said.

“And that is?” Red Wing raised an eyebrow at her.

“What if I can’t get free?” Rainbow Dash asked him. She looked briefly at Brass Hoof and Star Petal as well. “What if I’m trapped in that dungeon and I never find a way out for a really long time? I could be stuck there for weeks, or months, and never come close to finding where the crystal is or freeing myself. What are you all going to do then?”

Red Wing frowned, a concerned look coming over his face as he gazed down at the floor. “We considered that it was likely going to take a while for whichever pony entered the castle to free themselves. Or that they would possibly never be able to escape the dungeon at all. In that case we are willing to wait. We know the danger and the difficulty involved in this mission. And if necessary, you can break the crystal while still trapped if you think there’s no chance for you.”

“I don’t like the idea of giving up. How long are you really willing to wait?” Rainbow asked.

“A month or two perhaps. We spent a lot of time sitting around in Gentle Creek already, biding our time and doing nothing. Returning to that now here in the capitol isn’t impossible. However… ponies are getting antsy and tension is high. Living here, living under this sky, it’s slowly breaking everypony. Even us. We can’t wait forever, Rainbow Dash,” Red Wing said.

Rainbow Dash ground her jaw back and forth and furrowed her brow. “What if I asked you to?”

“What?”

“If I asked you to wait for me. No matter how long it took for you to get the signal that I broke that crystal, if I asked you to wait, would you?”

“Ponies are suffering every day we sit around like this. We can’t just ignore that,” Brass Hoof angrily interjected.

“And they’ll suffer even more if your whole plan fails because you acted too soon,” Rainbow Dash glared at her. “Just have faith in me. That’s what I’m asking. I know that’s a tall order and we haven’t known each other for long, but it’s the right thing to do here. Don’t attack the castle or give up until I break the locator crystal. If you want to return hope to Hoofica, you need to have some of it yourselves.”

“How can you expect us to just listen to your vanity like this? Why should I trust you? What makes you so special?” Brass Hoof huffed and stepped forward to nearly butt heads with Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash defiantly stared right into her eyes. “I’m awesome. That’s what makes me special.”

Brass Hoof narrowed her eyes but she had nothing left to say. She looked over at Red Wing to see what he thought about all of this.

“I believe… that if we’re going to do this, we should do it right. We’ll wait until we’ve gotten your signal, Rainbow Dash. I’ll trust you for this.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Thanks, dude.

While Brass Hoof didn’t look totally happy with the decision, she accepted it. “If that’s your decision, Captain.”

“It is,” he nodded.

“The rest of the resistance will gladly follow your decision as well, sir,” Star Petal reassured him.

“Heh, well if we’re all in agreement then let’s get ready to do this thing!” Rainbow flapped her wings excitedly and hovered in the room.

“You might want to calm down for just a moment. You still need to learn how to regurgitate the Locator Crystal and carry it in your stomach. That’s going to take some time,” Red Wing told her.

“Oh yeah...” Rainbow Dash deflated and dropped back to the floor. “Is there any trick for learning that as fast as possible?”

“Not unless you want to screw up and accidentally not be able to regurgitate it. I don’t think you want to go through that,” Brass Hoof snorted.

Rainbow Dash turned green. “That’s uh, that’s a really good point...”

“It will take us some time to prepare everything else anyways. And you might want to talk with the rest of the resistance. Depending on how long it takes you to actually get free and find the barrier crystal, I think we want to have everything in place and ready before you even get captured. Even as just a precaution. We want to be prepared,” Red Wing said.

“Makes sense,” Rainbow nodded. “But seriously, however long it takes me to get that crystal swallowing perfect, I can’t wait to go and make a huge scene at that castle. I’ll give them an attack to remember. The Queen, Dreamweaver, Vox? I’m gonna call those losers out and even if I’m supposed to be captured you can bet I’m seriously going to make them work for it.” A smirk once again tugged up her lips. “This is gonna be a blast.”

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