Rainbow Dash Around the World

by MagicS

Giraffe Glade III

The ceiling of the Poetry Hall was high for her standards but for the giraffes it was only a couple of feet over their heads. Rainbow Dash hovered beside the head of He Whose Neck Is Long as he sat near the back. Probably because he knew Rainbow might be distracting to the other giraffes here. The hall had a small stage at the very front and nothing more than very simple wooden benches running down the rest of its length. It was a good thing her wings weren’t tired, sitting down and trying to see anything would be a pain.

“The poetry reciting will start soon,” He Whose Neck Is Long told her. “It should carry on well into the night.”

“Well… into… the night?” Rainbow Dash paled.

He nodded. “Yes. We speak slowly and deliberately so the full weight of every word can be pronounced and felt when it comes to our poetry recitations. And with the large number of giraffes here today, the entire recital will take quite a few hours.”

If I could switch places with… literally any of my friends right now, I would. Rainbow thought to herself. Extra funny if it was Applejack.

She looked around at the other giraffes and saw that most of them hadn’t so much as been glancing or stealing looks at her. She supposed a pegasus wasn’t too uncommon of a sight for them if they had plenty of travelers and traders come through here. And like always, they were all stony and blank-faced, not really looking excited at all for the upcoming poetry.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “So are your poetry recitals always quiet like this? Should I not applaud or anything?”

“You may applaud if you so wish,” he answered. Although he didn’t say if he would be applauding.

“Alright then,” Rainbow said and then waited while floating around his head for the actual poetry stuff to start. Not that she was especially looking forward to that.

Still, these giraffes were pretty polite and “friendly” enough. It definitely wouldn’t sit right with her or her friends if she was rude to them. It was pretty clear they were willing to be helpful to her, and they were very open. At the very least, Twilight would enjoy hearing all about giraffe culture. That egghead was so going to owe her for all the new stuff Rainbow Dash was going to be able to tell her about once she got back home.

“The first poet is getting ready,” He Whose Neck Is Long suddenly said.

Rainbow Dash looked and saw a giraffe on stage, everyone else in the hall had gotten even quieter in the meantime. She herself was not quite excited or full of anticipation, but perhaps wondering how exactly this would go. The giraffe took center stage and cleared his throat before slowly looking out across the entire hall of giraffes.

“Thank you for coming here today. This one hopes you enjoy this one’s poetry,” the giraffe said and took a deep breath.

“Giraffe, giraffe, walking through the grass. Giraffe, giraffe, his neck long. Leaves, leaves, acacia leaves. Tasty, tasty, on the tree.”

Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped and she gaped at the performance in pure disbelief.

“Giraffe, giraffe, walking through the trees. Giraffe, giraffe, his neck short. Leaves, leaves, acacia leaves. Tasty, tasty, on the tree.”

“Giraffe, giraffe, walking through the grass. Giraffe, giraffe, her neck close. Giraffe, giraffe, two walking together.”

“Giraffe, giraffe, walking through the trees. Giraffe, giraffe, his neck short. Leaves, leaves, acacia leaves. Tasty, tasty, on the tree.”

The poet then bowed his head slightly. “Thank you for listening.”

Rainbow Dash blinked.

No one applauded.

“A somber poem. Did you enjoy it?” He Whose Neck Is Long asked her.

“I… um… it was interesting?” She responded.

He nodded. “Yes. There will be many more coming. This one is sure you will enjoy quite a few more.”

Rainbow Dash blankly stared up at the stage as the first giraffe poet left and the next one came up. It was going to be a very long afternoon.

Comments

[TheCommunistDog]

Well.. Great poem!

In today’s chapter: We hear a really great poem.

[redmar]

Rainbow is not going to enjoy this poetry session much.

[RoboRed]

...Giraffes are weird.