"For real? You never saw a single one before me?"
Pilate and Bellesmith both shook their heads. "Mmmm-mmmm..."
"But, like, you heard of them before, right?"
"Only in legend," Pilate said. "It's just like we knew that alicorns existed."
"And evidently they still do," Belle added.
"True." The zebra nodded as they gradually trotted into an open clearing in the bushes. "But just as with alicorns, pegasi have not been witnessed in Ledomare for several ages."
"I wonder why that is?" Rainbow Dash remarked, shrugging as she hovered along. "And, y'know, this goes for most of the lands I've visited since I set out from Equestria."
"Uh huh..."
"It's like nopony's ever seen or heard of a winged pony before. I mean... heh..." Rainbow Dash smirked. "I don't mind the attention and dropping a few jaws here or there..."
"A few...?" Belle remarked with a raised eyebrow.
"Okay, a lot of jaws!"
"Heeheehee..."
"But I also kind of always wanted to wow ponies by... y'know... by being me. There's more to me than just being a pegasus."
"You're just a really fast, colorful pegasus." Belle flippantly uttered.
Pilate leaned in. "I'll have to believe you on the 'colorful' part."
"Oh hush."
"Pegasi have always kept to themselves, I guess," Rainbow Dash said with a shrug. "I just kind of thought we would have branched out in the world more."
"Right..."
"Most of our major cities are built to be moved around via the winds. So, I'd think that there'd be a major cloud community of pegasi hanging out somewhere in the world, shooting the breeze, keeping it real..."
"You mean like the lost city of Stratopolis?"
"Stratopolis is a myth," Rainbow Dash droned.
"Maybe there's something about pegasi in general," Bellesmith said. "Something that makes them rare... hard to find..."
"Or—heck—maybe when I reach the end of the world, I'll see a whole bunch of them all gathered together, running a super cool empire that runs on radicalness and awesome!"
"Or maybe they're just endangered," Pilate mused.
"Pilate!"
"What? I'm just being realistic!"
"Hey, I'm cool with that too." Rainbow Dash shrugged and smiled. "I don't mind being one of a kind, so long as ponies admire me for more than my wings."
"The way you speak, you make it sound like you want to make a huge impression on the world, Rainbow," Belle said, amusedly.
"Hey! Some things can't be helped." Rainbow Dash rubbed her blue tummy. "Lunch, on the other hoof, is another story."
"I'm inclined to agree," Belle said. She paused in her tracks and gestured towards the sunlit space between thick clusters of trees. "This seems like a nice place for a rest before we approach nightfall."
"We only have so many loaves of bread left, beloved," Pilate said in a neutral tone. "Wouldn't it be best if we conserved a bit?"
"I think I've got the right solution!" Rainbow Dash grinned, hovering low beside her friends. "I saw some fruit trees about twenty minutes back."
"Fruit?"
"At least I think I did." Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin, then brightened. "Tell you what, I'll speed on over there and come back lickety-split! Should be nice to bite into something sweet for once after all that stale bread."
"Hey, it's the stale bread you had us steal, remember!"
"Right! And I'm gonna make it up to ya! Just sit down, have a breather, and I'll be back before you can quote the Ledomaritan Pledge of Allegiance or whatcrap."
"But... uhm... we don't have a Pledge of—"
"Just sit your stupid flanks down! Goddess!" Rainbow Dash blurred away.
"Careful!" Belle shouted after her as she and Pilate squatted in the warming sunlight. "Don't fly too high! Keep using the foliage as cover!"
"I'll look both ways before crossing the forest too! Yeesh!" And Rainbow Dash was gone in a flurry of chuckles.
"You know..." Pilate began—
"Yes, yes..." Belle sighed. "So help me if I worry about her all the time."
"I think it's charming," Pilate said. "But I doubt she would."
"Perhaps it's karma, Pilate."
"In what way?"
"Rainbow's done nothing but worry about us for so long." Belle smiled as she brushed an errant leaf or two out of the zebra's mane. "Don't you think it's about time she let it rest?"
ahh yes karma, one thing i never get on reddit
...and then something happens~
2011256 im suspecting the fleet, or a couple more "flying unicorn scouts" will show up while dash makes that lunch break
Interesting... One part in particular really makes me worried for Dash, though:
Seriously. I don't know whether Dash just doesn't remember, but something is going to happen with that. I can feel it. Perhaps she'll get recaptured and Pilate and Belle will have to go rescue her or something. Hmm...
I wonder what thing that is not fruit Dash will find? Plot devices? I hope so.
2011291
Fruit bats!
My conspiracy theory on this is still alive and kicking! Thanks, I was almost starting to doubt myself.
Face it Stratoplis is too consistent to be a myth, and ponies always know about it, whereas knowledge on Equestria is getting slimmer and slimmer.
2011343 24.media.tumblr.com/50beb71aaafe39630ee0ee3fcd7d7e40/tumblr_mfp6yv7r1c1rd23b5o1_500.jpg
A pegasus empire? Sounds familiar to me.
And Dash flies away for a few moments...
There's not gonna be an extremely inconvenient coincidence related to some sort of bounty, right?
Right?
Sort of as an adjunct to the idea of symbolism, it's important to point out how much perspective changes throughout this part of the series. What once was a solitary journey, Austreaoh, is now a shared one, Eljunbyro. So, along with pairs and dependence, the narrative that once was rigid is now fluid; where the story was once a pegasus and her thoughts, it is now a pegasus, her thoughts, companions, and stalkers.
So Rainbow Dash is going to go out looking for fruit. Will it count if she comes back with Eagle Eye, instead?
Thinking on it some more, a million dollars is going to fall into my lap tomorrow. Something good...
I wonder why Dash didn't just grab the fruit when she saw it 20 minutes ago.
I get the oddest feeling that you're going to be wrong one.of these days, Dash. Just you wait.
So far as I can tell, you pledge allegiance to Ledomare by being born. At least, that's the way it seems.
There's definitely something going on in this chapter that will be important to the plot later, and it's not just the fruit. Stratopolis has been referenced and denounced too many times to not appear sometime, whether referentially or physically. I'd imagine two scenarios: one being that it is still alive, but hanging on only by the barest threads of its culture (a la Atlantis).
And the second option warrants nothing less than a classic Rod Serling voiceover:
And so the tragic tale of Stratopolis ends: a city, lost to time, now forever lost to the ages. A once-great empire in the clouds, withering away, slowly, vacantly, becoming nothing more than the myth it was believed to be. A myth whose conclusion drifts ever eastward, into the realm of the Twilight Zone.
You know, this set up seems almost too obvious. I'm going to bet on Rainbow simply getting back with the fruit...and THEN something will happen.
Something wicked this way comes.
Also Stratopolis. The Chekov's gun is cocked and loaded.
And Then Everybody Got Captured.
Personally, I think the awol guys are watching.
I Dunno... It's Difficult to tell what's going to happen, just because there are at least four obvious possibilities, and at least three ways this could go horribly wrong. (Seven if that fork is a dangerous crossbreed.)
Advantages of living in Australia: When I wake up, there's a new chapter.
Disadvantages of living in Australia: you guys have all already posted.
This is Australia...
I'm going to laugh when this is just another chapter without any real action.
Although I suppose they might bump into that gang of runaway ponies from a chapter or two ago.
2011452 Shameless self-promotion? Tsk, tsk...
GETTING BECAUSE KARMA AND ALL
....I'm not funny
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
So we get a little bit more character development here, and I'd just like to say that I like what Imploding is doing with it. Unlike Austraeoh, Dash has been interacting with other ponies (Belle, Pilate) on a consistent basis, which means that we get to see a lot more of her character. Imploding does a very good job using the travelers' interactions with one another to show off their characters. So props to him. Anyways, in this chapter, we get a line from Belle at the end about how it's about time Dash got some rest. This is very true and gives me a feeling that it will play into the plot later on. Specifically, when Imploding inevitably trolls us, kills off Belle and Pilate in the most epic, depressing way and nukes us with his/her feel cannons. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
My prediction: Dash comes back to either find that either Belle and Pilate have been approached by Eagle Eye and Co. Or they have been taken by said group, or something else happens......
She might have fruit though.....
Onwards!
okay mom.
Crap's gonna happen while Dash is gone. The fruity plot device demands it! Belle acting as Dash's mom is pretty cute, and I, like a ton of others probably, have a feeling that pegasi are gonna play a bigger role in the future...
Stratopolis keeps getting mentioned,
So much about Stratopolis It couldn't be a myth. In fact, I think it'll show up later. Like, way later. Also, plot device for finding something other than fruit trees.
I love how motherly Belle is. It fits the Disney princess version of her, too. XD
Fuck, this Eljunbryo marathon is killing me
I'm only halfway through Live In Pompeii and I want to sleep
But I must carry on
I'm finally breaking past the 2 year mark
And I need to continue on
5523180 I hope you had luck making your way through the rest.
Now that she mentions it, I am intrigued by the lack of winged equines in this story.
Huh, that is kind of odd that pegasi are so rare. Maybe they're all to the west?
I have a feeling that Stratopolis is not a myth.
Probably.
6344919
Yeah at this point I am expecting that stratopolis flew over the edge and are fighting demons on the dark side of world
6508685 I like the way you think.
I have a feeling that Stratopolis will be a little more than just a running gag.
"Jaws all on the floor, like frigging Rainbow Dash just walked in the door."
Aaaand you've now officially brought this up often enough to convince me she's wrong.
Belle is best overprotective mother
You keep saying that, and eventually you'll bump face first into it.
It's always when she leaves for ten seconds that shit happens
Maybe Stratopolis is the giant city build right on the edge of the lands before we get to the other side. Luna mentioned something like that right at the edge of the world, right?
Or maybe that city on the edge of the world is just where all the Pegasus ponies live now, regardless of if Stratopolis is real or not?
heheheheheheheheheh.
Oh no, she’s talking about The Enclave! Run for your life!
...
I couldn't resist.
Poly subtext crusaders, wooo!