Green grasslands criss-crossed by small rivers and dirt roads made up the landscape below Rainbow Dash as she continued to fly south. It was another healthy part of this side of the world, with plenty of wildlife down there to enjoy it. The sun was coming in nice and warm from the east, the absolute perfect temperature for just flying out on a good day. If the rest of the places she was traveling through were as pleasant like this she could probably relax and fly on her back the whole way. It was like flying out around Ponyville in the spring. Perfect, just perfect.
She knew that it couldn’t be far now until she reached “Hoofica”. Or at least whatever was left behind after the country supposedly vanished.
Cart had said it was just south of where the giraffe’s lived and Rainbow Dash had shot through that piece of land like lightning.
There wasn’t a single bit of apprehension or worry in her mind. Only pure excitement. Everything he had said, everything he warned her about, and how he tried to convince her to go around Hoofica, it just made her more enthusiastic about making a beeline south. That place, whatever was up with it, was screaming “Adventure” to her. She could feel it in her bones. A brand new grand adventure had to be right around the corner.
And it was another opportunity to not screw things up.
Rainbow Dash bit her lip, her mind momentarily flashing to thoughts of Barnaby and Anathema. She had done a good job in the desert, as best she could at least, but she knew she could still help more ponies out there. She knew there was good for her to do. Supernova had been stopped, Shining Diamond had been stopped, two fewer menaces in the world. Even then it wasn’t enough, not to satisfy her desire for adventure and excitement and not to make up for her past failures in her mind. Not yet. There was definitely more out there and she was going to do it all while being awesome too.
Her eyes caught something that stuck out down below on one of the dirt roads. A few somethings. Rainbow Dash looked closer from her position high in the sky and noticed it was a wagon train moving from southeast to north. Not expecting to see anyone or anything else out here, she got pretty curious about who they were and why they were here. And maybe they knew a little more about what was coming up ahead for her.
Rainbow Dash shrugged and figured she’d bite the bullet, probably not in danger of losing any real time if she just went down to talk to them. So off she flew in a steep dive straight towards the unsuspecting wagon train.
She stopped down right in front of the first wagon, being pulled by two earth ponies while a griffon sat on the driver’s seat right behind them, and waved. “Yo.”
The startled ponies came to a screeching halt and the griffon rocked back on his seat while all the other wagons slowed down and stopped behind the first one. Rainbow Dash heard some confused and annoyed mumbling coming from back there and winced.
“W-Who are you, a bandit?” The griffon on the wagon asked while the two earth ponies uncertainly glared up at her.
“What? No!” Rainbow Dash swiftly shook her head. “I’m just traveling through the area and saw your wagons. I didn’t think anybody else would be out here after what I heard about what was going on just south of here, so I was curious. And a little bored.”
“Really?” The suspicious griffon narrowed his eyes and looked left and right as if trying to see if there was anybody else around. He scoffed after not seeing anyone. “Well either way you’re interrupting business of the Aux-Lemm Corporation, we need to get these wagons back to Red Sand Pass. So out of our way already!”
“You guys are from the Aux-Lemm corporation? You know a pony named Cart D’Evron?” Rainbow asked.
The two earth ponies looked surprised and the griffon’s features softened as well.
“Cart is an old companion of mine,” the griffon said, still mildly suspicious. “You’ve met him?”
“Sure have,” Rainbow said.
The griffon rubbed his chin in consideration before bringing a couple of claws up to his beak and whistling sharply. “We’re stopping for five minutes!” He yelled back at the wagons behind him and patted the seat next to him on the wagon. “Come up here, we can talk.”
“Sweet!” Rainbow grinned and came up to sit by him.
“So you’re coming north from the Great Camel Desert then? My name is Lucas by the way,” the griffon said and offered her a talon.
“Rainbow Dash,” she told him and shook it. “And yep, I’m on a looong trip, met Cart back up at One Hump Oasis. Cool dude. I’m just flying south now and when I saw you guys kind of coming from the south I wanted to ask if you really knew anything about what was coming up ahead for me.”
“Flying… south? Not directly south are you? I’m sure Cart and any others you’ve talked to have told you about what’s happened,” Lucas said, a concerned frown on his face.
“Yeah, Hoofica vanishing and all that,” Rainbow shrugged. “Don’t worry, I’m kind of an adventurer, I can handle myself. Do you know how far away it is, or if there’s anything else out here?”
Lucas sighed. “I would like to try and convince you not to go there at all… we aren’t coming back from anywhere near Hoofica. We took the eastern pass down all the way to Vissidia and are coming back from there. Our wagons are full of fruits and vegetables from their country, enchanted by unicorns to not spoil before we get back to the desert. Seriously, if you want to travel south you should go back down the route we took. Don’t go to Hoofica.”
Rainbow Dash just laughed. “Dude, every single time someone tells me not to do something it just makes me want to do it more. I know I can’t prove it to you or anything, but believe me, I’ve been through a lot of stuff and have been to a ton of dangerous places. I’ll be okay.”
“Well alright,” the griffon shrugged. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you or anything. Let me at least give you some extra advice though.”
“Yeah?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at him.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been there, or directly south of this point personally, in a long while but I doubt it’s actually changed. The lands are going to start getting a lot drier and rocky, so you’ll want to have something to eat and drink before you travel any further. Though since you can fly you’ll be able to make the trip pretty fast anyways. And then if you keep going south you’ll hit a small hole in the wall town in the mountains south of here. Some pony pioneers went and settled there years and years ago, practically right outside the borders of Hoofica. They were the ones who first alerted everybody else about the country up and vanishing. Just keep your eyes open while you’re flying and I’m sure you’ll see them,” Lucas reclined in his seat and looked south. “After that… it’s Hoofica.”
Rainbow Dash looked south too and felt the excited smile grow on her face. “Thanks, dude. You’ve been a big help.
“Yeah...” Lucas sighed and reached into the wagon behind him, pulling out a small canteen and tossing it to her. “Here, have a sip.
She grinned at him. “Thanks again.”
Lucas watched as she took a big sip and wiped a few drops of water from her mouth before hoofing the canteen back to him and flying off the wagon. A few flaps of her wings and she was floating right above him.
“Good luck selling your fruit and stuff! Bye!” Rainbow smiled and flew off, going true south.
One of the earth ponies pulling the wagon watched her go and looked back at Lucas. “Is she going to be okay?”
“I really hope so,” Lucas said, the blue body of Rainbow Dash already disappearing into the distance.