“You're friggin' kidding me,” Rainbow Dash spoke clearly and distinctly. “You mean to say you've never had oats alfredo?!”
Her hooves trotted over sand and gravel.
“It's not simply an Equestrian delicacy! At least, I'm pretty sure it isn't!” Rainbow Dash smirked, tilting her head towards the south in order to protect her face from westward winds carrying dirt and grit. “All you need is the right ingredients and just the right amount of spices!”
She stumbled once, bracing herself against a heated gust of air. Curtains of sediment flew over the dunes, pelting her. She had thrown a blanket over her flank, shoulder, and satchels—like a poncho. After the downdraft was over, she continued eastward, scaling a dune as she trotted lonesomely across the rolling, yellow landscape.
“Well, no, I've never made it myself, Ebon. But I've seen it done! Can't you just... I dunno... hijack my head with your changeling powers and figure it out?”
She slid momentarily, but caught her weight, allowing her body to shift smoothly down the east face of the dune. Once she reached an even plain of gravel, she caught her breath and shuffled on ahead.
“Yeah. Sure. Another time. But don't you let me forget.” Her teeth showed beneath grinning lips. “Josho's starving, I'm sure.”
Rainbow Dash traversed a winding ravine. Deep in the cleft of rocks, she was protected from the elements. Waves of sand and dust blew a dozen feet above her, sending a persistent ghostly howl through the echoing trench.
“And the way she talks... that squeaky pitch in her voice. Y'know... melodic and not annoying? You've got the same tone.”
Rainbow turned right and then left to follow the serpentine curvature of the stone walls.
“Pffft! Yeah! Heheh...” Her lips curved. “About the only thing you don't do like her is bounce around every time you need to move from Point A to Point B.”
Rainbow's ears twitched as she trotted forward.
“I'm not kidding! You two could practically be twins! If... y'know... if you had a bit more pink in you.” Rainbow Dash stifled a giggle. “It's the strangest thing, cuz I never once thought Pinkie as... uhhh... I-I mean I never once looked at her and thought... th-thought...”
The gulped, a few beads of sweat forming along her temple.
“You know what? Let's talk about something else. How about you, Zaid? You got anything?”
Dead silence.
“Mrmmf...” Rainbow rolled his eyes. “Eagle Eye, you know what to do.”
Grunting, Rainbow Dash pulled herself up over a jagged ridge of gravel-laden rocks. She almost slipped on the loose material. With the use of her wings, she was able to brace herself and roll onto an even cliff-face.
She wheezed for breath, wincing from the stabbing press of her belongings into her flank. Staring up at the fading yellow sky, she waved a hoof and wheezed.
“Just... just a moment, Pilate. Please... if you don't... kaff kaff... mind...” She winced, rolling over and lying on her blue tummy. “Frickin' zebra...”
She remained still, allowing the blood to circulate through her worn body. The mare's eyes closed as she relished in the brief bout of comfortable coolness that segued the blistering day into chilling night.
Eventually, a bitter wind blew at her ears. They folded back as a grimace stretched across her face.
When she opened her eyes, they were pooled with tears. She winced... then winced harder.
“Ahem...” Swallowing a lump down her throat, she blinked her eyes dry. “I... I-I'm sorry...” She slowly pushed herself up, one wobbly leg after another. “You... uh... you don't have to be quiet...”
She sniffled, waving a hoof as she scooted awkwardly onto all fours.
“Just... j-just tell me more about... uh... smart stuff...” She bit her lip. “No. No, on second thought, let... let me t-tell you about something smart I once did.” Rainbow froze in place, eyes twirling about. Her muzzle hung blankly. “...dang it... uhm...” Holding her breath, she shuffled forward at a sluggish pace, rounding the crest of jagged stone jutting out of the sandy desert. “...okay... uh... this one time... uhhh... I saved my friend Rarity and three Wonderbolts all in one fell swoop.” A nervous chuckle. “Okay, so maybe the only thing smart about it was how I chose not to let them go kersplat against the surface of Equestria while I was doing my super awesome air show...”
“...and so I told her I was game. I mean... a race? Pffft... please...” Rainbow Dash laid out her blankets beneath the sand-stained tent and curled up next to a fire. Starlight bathed her as she curled up against the threadbare fabric. “I could outrun hawks and prairie falcons in my sleep. Still can. Just... y'know... need a good headwind.”
She sighed out her nostrils, then closed her eyes.
Seconds later, she blinked at the night-drenched desert.
“Hmmm? Well, of course I won. Well... I'm pretty sure I won. I mean, I vaguely recall seeing my shoulder roll over the finishing line while I was... errrr... punching and kicking her at the end there... eheheh...”
She slicked her mane back and rolled up to face the stars.
“Yeah. Okay. I was a poor sport. But, y'know, she wasn't exactly a saint either. We wanted so... so badly to prove that we were the better, faster pony that we almost friggin' ruined the Running of the Leaves. But in the end, we realized it didn't matter. None of it mattered. None of the glares... none of the name-calling... none of the anger...”
Her voice trailed off. She stared blankly into darkness until the barest hint of a smile trailed along her muzzle.
“You could have outrun us both. Why? Because you're so hardcore, Roarke. You don't let silly stuff like feelings and ego faze you. Well... you used to be unfazed. Heheh... but... but I guess that all changed, huh?”
She fluffed her mane and tilted her head about coyly.
“Well... I like to think that the nasty parts went away, while only the good ones stayed. I mean... I-I can at least be proud of that, can't I?”
Silence.
Rainbow giggled, rolling over to her side as she curled up under the blanket.
“Yeah... yeah, I know. Her too. Though she'd never admit it. I always found that stubbornness so silly. So... sexy. So...”
Rainbow's smile hung precariously off a panting breath. Eventually, it bent, warped, ripping apart into a pained grimace.
She clenched her eyes shut before the tears could flow freely.
“I love you...”
She sniffled, her voice squeaking inwardly.
“I... love you...” She hugged herself, shivering under the blanket. “I love you... I love you... I l-love you...” She shook so hard that the only solution was covering her face with a pair of limbs. Only then could she collapse completely.
Rainbow's sobs formed a tiny, echoing bubble in the middle of oblivion.
hey look i time-traveled into the future! because I'm in ch. 168 of odrsjot! lolsies!!
Man, I can't catch a break even when I'm not there.
Anyway, I wonder how far can Rainbow's mind go before she absolutely loses it.
Damn, this is really depressing, how much of this book is left? 21 chapters at this point, I hope I can even hold out that long the way this is going.
Rainbow Dash, stop talking to yourself. You're wasting your hydration, especially in a place like the Grand Choke. But it's your only retreat from the loneliness...
And now I have caught up. It is not a happy occasion as I hoped it would be, however, but it is sombre and sorrowful. For I have stopped in a time of grief, left to patiently and miserably wait for the resolution with no assurance of the things to come.
5721687
-Spirit
5723553 inb4 the ponies in whatever that other country is are scared half to death by insane RD
Yeah....shes bat shit crazy.
...
...D-Damn it... This hit me harder than I expected...
5723553
I'm sure it'll be better to be abused in absence than joining the ranks of characters- Cold Canter, Sam Rose, Enforcer Evans, Arcanista and Azira, Captain Filta, etc., that we'll never hear about again.
At the rate Dash is going, she will near drown because she will have to refuse the existance of the ocean when she reaches it.
Two cross countr trips with stayovers in a week is making me alost as weirded out, and I havent evn done the secnd trip yet.
Wonder if Ill be capable of typing Friday, never mind Thursday night.
Ill have to go, the walls are trying to turn into Escher Bamboo again.
5723536 Hey, get back to your chapter! No time travel! Bad!
I hope something happens soon.
I'm not sure I can take 20 chapters of Rainbow talking to herself crazily.
I can't take all of these feels!
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5723553 community.ebay.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/42205i0416BA2350774DB8?v=mpbl-1
5723536 Oh look. A time traveler from Lerris.Say hi to Shell for me.
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5723553 *whaps Zaid upside the head*
*cries a little when I can't hear Zaid's retort because he isn't actually there*
*Thwack*
But still. . .
RD, you're starting to scare me. . ..
5723605
I know, right, its a tragedy. A true shame.
5723553
Before?
Isn't it a little bit late for that?
5723784
Oh, no.
The real problem starts when the voices turn on her.
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Seriously, guise, I'm okay!
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I think... reality caught up to her...
I'm not sure what was more heartbreaking. Her talking to herself like her friends are still around, or her crying in realization...
-Treachery and deceit, kingdom of conceit Yaerfaerda.
I keep making the same mistake.
I read these chapters in public and when I feel like I'm gonna cry, I slam my phone down and my friends asks if I'm okay.
"It's complicated."
She'll never understand.
Seriously though. Dash made time to slap Zaid. All is right.
I have no idea what to expect from the very end of this installment. There will have to be some kind of climax (I assume), and I further assume that it'll have to do with Rainbow finding the place marked by the symbol. But what waits for her there? Rainbow has been stripped of almost everything--her friends, her contact with Equestria, her means of survival, her flight, and now, to some extent, her very sanity. Just about the only thing she still has left is her loyalty.
The slate has been wiped virtually clean, and almost anything could happen.
5723793 I see someone else has experience with the shadows that hide in the deepest abyss within all of us...
5723951 Eh, based on her last hallucination, I'm pretty sure she already hit her climax this chapter. If you know what I mean.
5724029
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5724078
That looks as adorable as it is painful for RD to transform into that.
She knows she's alone, that's the sad part.
Hello darkness my old friend
Goddamn man, this is just heart-rending.
5723793 Now I fear that Dash will find the ghost of Shell in her mind, and he will torment her in her way across the desert. That would be a problem. And would make people curse the long-dead Prime Enforcer again.
5723553
Am I the only one who's a little disappointed we're missing out on all the terrible jokes? For the record, I'm pretty sure that one had something to do with Dash getting Choked up.
Laying it a little thick aren'tcha?
Still... there are some things that you have to lay tick if you want them to hit home. And it's not like you cantell Rainbow "Oh ok this is enough crazy for now go back to normal for a chapter or two". Even if having Rainbow mutter things as she walks would be better.
So I guess it's forgivable this time.
5724464
You are a terrible, terrible person and you made me laugh
5724078
5724154
She looks like she'd smile all sweetly and everything before ripping out your throat.
Dash es cray now. I crie errtim.
This is the worst. But if that is the case, what could possibly wait for her on the other side?
5723569
What shit crazy...?
Sure is, I bet IC misses Roarke commenter.
Okay, this is freaky-deaky. I finished this chapter and then had nothing else to read, so I started Ben-Hur. And the beginning chapter of Ben-Hur features a nameless man, alone, traveling on a camel into the empty desert, going eastward towards Arabia. And then this:
Wait what
How did he know
5724459
5724813 You're not being stubborn as a mule, are you?
I find it vaguely amusing that Equestria still has all the animal related sayings, despite the fact that most of them are pretty prejudicial.
5724813 Oh...uhh, well this is awkward, anyone know the P.C. term to use here?
5725216
They still have bats. And they're not sentient.
Why would your original statement be non-PC?
All Walk And No Friends Makes Rainbow A Dull Mare.
All Walk And No Friends Makes Rainbow A Dull Mare.
All Walk And No Friends Makes Rainbow A Dull Mare.
All Walk And No Friends Makes Rainbow A Dull Mare. All Walk And No Friends Makes Rainbow A Dull Mare. All Walk And No Friends Makes Rainbow A Dull Mare. AllWalkAndNoFriendsMakesRainbowADullMareAllWalkAndNoFriendsMakesRainbowADullMareAllWalkAndNoFriendsMakesRainbowADullMare
5725590 We was just kidding around since his avatar pic is a bat pony....er I mean Thesteral
It'll just take some time for her to remove herself from her emotions. The choke shall be a cleansing experience and then she shall finally be moving nowhere but East, not stopping for anything but pretty purple lights and awesome dance music!
5723793
Everyone's waiting for you.
Waiting throw rocks at you, spit on you, and make your life hell.
Who's "everyone"...?
Everyone you love.