Rainbow Dash Around the World

by MagicS

Arondel, Vissidia

By just about an hour or two after sunrise the next morning, Rainbow Dash and Wish had already left the Russo family farm and were heading south towards the town of Arondel in the northern reaches of Vissidia. Wish was still in a funk that even Rainbow Dash was able to notice. Rainbow did plan on talking to her about it, but not until they arrived in Arondel and took care of some other business. And had found a place to stay for the next few days. Everything they had learned about Vissidia made it seem like a good place to take a vacation for a little bit. And Wish needed a break even more than Rainbow Dash did.

To speed things up, Rainbow Dash was flying with Wish on her back once more. The trip to their first real settlement of this springtime country would be a short one.

“You doing good back there?” Rainbow Dash asked Wish.

“Yes,” Wish answered as her mane whipped around. “The weather is really nice here.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. That was certainly true. If this was normal for Vissidia then it probably had the nicest weather and temperate climate of most anywhere she had ever traveled. Like spring in Ponyville, it was just perfect outside. Not too hot, not too cold, no heavy winds or other weather phenomena going on, perfect weather to farm in, perfect to fly in, perfect to lay out on the grass doing nothing in. Below them the world was either green grass, ocean blue ponds, or beautiful fields of flowers.

With the distance Farello had given them and the rate that Rainbow Dash flew at, she suspected they’d come across Arondel fairly quickly. It was probably going to be just as pretty as the flowery lands around it. Rainbow figured it wasn’t going to be a place that gave her the usual adventure she wanted, but that was fine. For once that’s not what she was really looking for.

A couple of times on the short flight, she almost tried talking to Wish again. About anything. But each time she stopped herself before she did. There was just an awkwardness about the entire situation and Wish clearly didn’t want to talk.

Thankfully it wasn’t much longer that the rolling green lands of Vissidia partially gave away to a small town in the distance. The buildings spread out in a careless manner, no true streets existed anywhere, and the buildings were mostly small cottages or at the most two-story wooden constructions with thatch roofs. Chimneys poked out of most roofs with light trails of smoke leading away from some of them, and a few farms and barns existed to the east and west of the town. There did seem to be a small square in the middle of town but even then it was just a big dirt square. And of course, completely unsurprisingly, there were gardens full of flowers absolutely everywhere. Every single cottage probably had flowers or plants of some kind growing around them. Some even had vines crawling straight up their walls or trees growing right next to and over them. It was a town of nature just like Vissidia was a country of one.

“It’s so pretty here...” Wish said.

It made Rainbow Dash smile to hear that. At least the filly could still speak without being prompted to first. Despite the funk she was in she was still just a normal kid.

Rainbow Dash continued to look at Arondel and noticed that there were already a lot of ponies out and about, yet it still didn’t look busy. That wasn’t the right word. No one was in a rush or anything, there were kids running around and playing but that just made it look all the more peaceful. It was a subdued, not frantic, sort of activity going through the town. It seemed like something was going on in the square too, tables and banners going from building to building criss-crossed over it.

“Hmm...” Rainbow Dash decided it was probably best to drop down now and walk into town, since she didn’t really have an idea of where to go. Like that she could just talk to whoever she ran into. “I’m going to land now, you ready to walk?”

“Yep,” Wish nodded.

It just took a second for Rainbow to come down and land on the soft ground. Wish hopped off her back and together the two started walking into town. A number of locals had already seen them coming and were waving and smiling in their direction, it was certainly a warm enough welcome. Rainbow Dash noticed that there was an assortment of earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi among them. It wasn’t just an earth pony town, so Vissidia probably had plenty of all three tribes living in it. A lot of the mares here were also wearing pretty dresses, and had flowers decorating their manes, while the stallions wore blue jeans and overalls with flat-top black hats.

Rainbow Dash waved and smiled back to any pony who said hello while Wish stayed close to her legs. She had become shier ever since they left the desert.

“Hello there!” A friendly looking young mare said to Rainbow Dash, walking from the garden of her cottage to greet them. “Always nice to see an unfamiliar face, where might the two of you be from?”

She was probably about the same age as Rainbow Dash or maybe a year or two older at most. Her face was bright and full of freckles with her coat being a shiny lime-green and her mane an earthy brown fitting her earth pony nature. Like most mares here she was wearing a flowing and lacy white dress while a crown of flowers was placed around her head and woven right into her mane.

“Guess you saw us fly in?” Rainbow Dash said to her and lifted a hoof for a hoofshake. “We’re from pretty far away, not from Vissidia.”

Her eyes lit up even brighter. “Not from Vissidia?! Well then you came to Arondel at the perfect time! Our Harvest Festival starts up tomorrow!”

“Uhhh, that a big deal here?” Rainbow asked.

“Sure is! There aint no better time to visit Arondel than now,” the mare enthusiastically nodded. “My name’s Rosalie by the way, what about the two of you?”

“I’m Rainbow Dash.”

“Wish.”

“Well those are definitely a couple foreign names. You wouldn’t happen to be from the Great Camel Desert? Or did you start down south from the swamps and make your way up here?” Rosalie asked.

“Not exactly-” Rainbow Dash started.

“I’m from Hoofica,” Wish bluntly stated, not feeling like beating around the bush.

“Hoofica?” Rosalie’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “But all the caravans and travelers we’ve had through here for months have been telling us that the whole country vanished. What happened to it?”

Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck. “Now that’s a bit of a long story… and I kind of wanted to first tell it to whoever was in charge here and get some other business taken care of. You have a mayor, right? Is it possible for me to see them?”

“We do have a mayor, she goes by the name of Charlotte and… she might be busy getting the festival ready but I think you’ll still be able to talk to her. Is it serious? Did something really bad happen in Hoofica?” Rosalie asked.

“Yeah but don’t worry about it. It’s all over now, things are okay in Hoofica again, I promise,” Rainbow Dash reassured her. “Er… but if it isn’t too much trouble… can you show me to where I can find the mayor?”

“Of course it aint too much trouble! Let me show you through town and we’ll find the mayor!” Rosalie grabbed Rainbow Dash by the hoof and pretty much dragged her along while Wish followed to keep up.

“Later on I can introduce you to my friends and neighbors and everybody else too!” Rosalie happily exclaimed.

“G-Great,” Rainbow Dash said as both she and Wish struggled to match the mare’s excited pace.

It didn’t take long before they were pulled into the busy town square and Rainbow Dash and Wish got to see what the ponies were up to in their preparations for the Harvest Festival. A lot of ponies were busy making decorative wreathes of flowers and twigs and hanging them up everywhere, while others were setting up long wooden tables throughout the square. Groups of fillies were going around throwing flowers, bits of straw, and sawdust all over the ground to cover up the simple dirt. It looked like it was going to be a fun place to be tomorrow. If it was a harvest festival they had to have plenty of food too, right? Lots of other ponies here saw Rosalie guiding them and gave both her and the two of them some happy waves and hellos.

Even through the large crowd, Rosalie knew exactly where she was going and soon she had pulled Rainbow Dash and Wish out to a group of ponies standing in front of one of the larger buildings of Arondel, built at the east edge of the square. They were all mostly older ponies and they seemed to be discussing something. One mare in the middle was a pink unicorn, just on the cusp of being called elderly, with lines on her face and her coat fading slightly, along with a greying mane. They didn’t notice Rosalie, Rainbow, and Wish approaching until Rosalie spoke up.

“Mayor Charlotte!” The enthusiastic young mare said.

The mayor looked over and smiled at her when she realized who it was. “Rosalie! Good to see you this morning, what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

“We have guests!” Rosalie giggled and practically swung Rainbow Dash out in front of her while Wish also stumbled to stand right by the side of the pegasus. “These two come from beyond Vissidia!” She smiled at Rainbow Dash and Wish. “Go ahead and introduce yourselves.”

“Heh,” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at Rosalie’s antics before smiling at the mayor. “My name is Rainbow Dash, I’m from a far away country called Equestria.”

“I’m Wish. And I’m from Hoofica,” Wish told them.

The mayor and the other ponies looked surprised to hear that.

“You’re from Hoofica? But there hasn’t been a visitor from Hoofica in almost a year,” Mayor Charlotte said.

“Well there’s one now,” Wish shrugged.

“And that’s why we’re here,” Rainbow Dash said. “If it’s possible, could I talk to you about some things? Maybe somewhere a little quieter? There’s a lot to go over when it comes to Hoofica and… truth be told most ponies aren’t going to want to hear about it. Some bad stuff went down there.”

The mayor and the other ponies she was with shared a few uncertain looks with each other before the mayor nodded to Rainbow Dash. “You can come into my office if you would like. Whatever it is, if it pertains to Hoofica I must know.”

---

“T-That… is all of that true?” The horrified mayor of Arondel asked as Rainbow Dash finished telling her about what had gone on in the kingdom of Hoofica. She had grown pale and beside her a woozy looking Rosalie swayed about on her hooves.

“I think I’m going to be sick...” the earth pony mare said.

“I told you you didn’t have to listen in too,” Rainbow Dash sighed. “And yeah, unfortunately it’s all true. But it’s over now. That’s the good part. Hoofica is finally fixing itself and getting back on its hooves.”

Rainbow Dash briefly glanced over at Wish, who was sitting on a chair next to her. She hadn’t mentioned how Wish was directly involved with things, for obvious reasons, and the filly hadn’t spoken up about any of it either. Wish’s eyes remained downcast, peering at some knot in the wooden floorboards.

“Did you come to Vissidia just to tell us that? I-It’s good knowing that Hoofica has returned and things should be getting back to normal at least,” Charlotte said.

“Well, not really, I was coming here anyways but when I thought about it I kind of realized there was something I really needed to do. Something else to help Hoofica,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Something to help?” Charlotte repeated.

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yeah. You see, I first heard about Vissidia a long ways back from a pony called Cart D’Evron, who worked for the Aux-Lemm Corporation. You guys sell food and trade with them a lot, right? You grow a ton of food down here in Vissida, right?”

“Of course. Vegetables, fruit, dairy and grain products, everything. We’re farmers, the entire country is.” Mayor Charlotte said.

“You grow enough food to feed a whole kingdom?”

“And then some,” she nodded.

“That’s what I wanted to hear,” Rainbow Dash smiled. “Before Hoofica vanished and everybody got cut off. Did you trade with them?”

Charlotte nodded some more. “Yes, we traded and exported year round. Usually caravans from the Aux-Lemm Corporation were our intermediaries.”

“Then what I wanted to ask you—the entire country of Vissidia—is simple. I want you to get all the extra food you have and take it up to Hoofica. Half or more of their crops have been burned and destroyed, the whole kingdom is miserable, they need the help. Just giving them some extra food will go a long way. And I think Vissidia is in position to do that. I know it’s a big request, and you’re just the mayor of one town, but if you could contact the governor and tell them about all this I would super appreciate it. Hoofica still needs whatever good can come their way,” Rainbow Dash said.

“And if our neighbors to the north are in trouble then we would gladly help them,” Charlotte said. “You are right that as just a single mayor I can’t make this sort of decision on my own, but I will send message by carrier hawk to Verbansk immediately. Vissidia has the extra food, and the ponies, that can help restore Hoofica. I can assure you that we will not simply ignore this.”

Rainbow Dash sighed in relief and sat back, putting a hoof around Wish’s shoulders. “That’s… that’s good. That’s a big load off of my back. Good to know most places in the world are still mostly made of nice ponies.”

“Indeed. And please, I recommend you and the young filly stay for our Harvest Festival. From the sounds of things it seems like you deserve to rest for a few days,” Charlotte said.

“They can stay with me!” An already rejuvenated Rosalie said with a happy smile on her face. “I have plenty of room.”

“Works for me,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. Things always seemed to turn out well enough like this. “What about you, Wish?”

“I’m fine with that,” Wish shrugged as well.

“Great! Let me take you back to my place right now!” Rosalie said and once more grabbed Rainbow Dash (and Wish too this time) and swiftly pulled them out of their chairs. Like a whirlwind she shot out of the mayor’s office with them in tow.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash bit her lip. There was still something wrong with Wish and she knew it.

Comments

[TheCommunistDog]

D

In today’s chapter: Dash and wish arrives at a new town where they finally tells somepony what happened to Hoofica

[redmar]

At least Hoofica is getting help. I wonder what's going with Wish though.