//------------------------------// // Journey Begins // Story: Rainbow Dash's Unstoppable Ego // by MagicS //------------------------------// “Twilight, I’m sooooo bored.” “Yes, Rainbow Dash, I heard you the first time.” In the library of the Castle of Friendship there were currently two ponies and one dragon spending their time. The two residents of the castle busy working on Twilight’s latest experimental reorganizing of her books to see if the new system was slightly more efficient and logical than her current one while their blue guest lazily lied on top of the library’s table, her wings fully splayed out and her hooves falling over the sides. “And furthermore-” Twilight Sparkle continued as she looked over at her friend with an unamused expression on her face. “I don’t see the reason why you needed to come here just to tell me that. Spike and I are busy right now.” Rainbow Dash stuck up her head and frowned at Twilight. “I came here because I was bored and I was hoping that maybe there would be something to do.” Twilight paused in her work for a second while Spike continued to stack up books on the shelves above them, the small dragon shaking his head as he listened to Rainbow Dash. The Princess of Friendship thought as she rubbed her chin and her eyes roamed off to the side. “Well if you want you can help Spike and I do this? Reorganizing everything in my library takes quite a bit of time and your help would be greatly appreciated.” “Ugh!” Rainbow Dash groaned and threw her head back, bonking it against the table. “I don’t want something like that to do!” Her love of the Daring Do series didn’t have anything to do with making her enjoy books in the way Twilight did. “But reorganizing books is fun! Think of it like this-” “Twilight, just stop,” Spike cut in. “That’s not going to convince anybody. And definitely not Rainbow Dash.” “Seriously, egghead. Starlight isn’t even here to help you out with this. It’s not the kind of fun I’m looking for here. And I use the word “fun” very loosely,” Rainbow Dash said as she stared up at the ceiling. “Okay,” the slightly miffed Twilight Sparkle started. “Well just what are you looking for?” Rainbow Dash sighed and flapped her wings to fly up above the table, putting her hooves behind her head and essentially reclining in midair. “It’s just like… nothing has happened lately! We used to go on adventures and do cool stuff all the time but it’s totally been ages since I got to do anything like that. I’m bored! I need to go out and do something awesome!” “Haven’t you had enough awesomeness in your life?” Twilight raised an eyebrow at her. Rainbow Dash just looked down and scowled at her. The purple alicorn rolled her eyes. “Right, stupid question. I forgot that enough awesomeness for ten ponies is nothing to you.” “That’s right,” Rainbow Dash nodded, missing the jab. “Aren’t the Wonderbolts doing anything right now?” Spike asked. “Not really, we’re planning for tryouts. I was thinking of taking a vacation if something cool came up,” Rainbow shrugged. “But there’s nothing?” “Nothing!” Rainbow Dash threw her legs up in defeat and floated back down to the ground, plopping herself into one of the library’s chairs. “Like, can’t a monster attack Ponyville again or something? Or some evil villain can try to take over Equestria for the tenth time?” “Don’t wish for something like that,” Twilight admonished her. “Knowing us it’ll actually happen.” Rainbow Dash smirked at her and wiped her hooves together. “And then we save the day, no big deal.” “No. No, it is a big deal. And I have to deal with a lot more stuff after the fact than you do. Being a Princess and all.” “Oh come on. Twilight. Are you seriously saying you’d rather sit all cooped up in here and sort books instead of fighting… I dunno, Discord’s long lost brother Terror?” Rainbow Dash flitted out of the chair to get right in front of Twilight’s face, wiggling her eyebrows in question at the alicorn. Twilight, unsurprisingly, furrowed her brow at Rainbow Dash as she monotonously responded. “Yes. I can safely say I’d rather organize books than do that.” “Laaaame!”The loud exclamation from Rainbow Dash caused a few books to shake from the reverberation in the library, earning her a pair of scowls from the alicorn and the dragon. “Er, sorry.” “Rainbow Dash, you know that most of the time I love your company. But if you could please let Spike and I finish up here, that would be swell. Maybe we can talk again tomorrow? Or maybe one of our other friends has an idea for an adventure that you’d like,” Twilight Sparkle said through a fairly forced smile. The Wonderbolt crossed her forelegs in front of her and scoffed. “Pff, yeah fine. It’s Ponyville, there’s probably gonna be something crazy happening here sooner or later.” Without a second to spare she blasted out of the library and out of the castle, leaving a whirlwind of books and papers and an agitated Twilight Sparkle behind her. Rubbing her forehead in annoyance while Spike began to clean up, Twilight muttered under her breath. “Again, please do not hope for that.” Despite her speedy exit, Rainbow Dash soon found herself lacking in enthusiasm as she glided over Ponyville. It looked so normal and quiet down there. Not what she wanted at all. A normal day was going to be even more boring and worse than it already was with how she was feeling right now. With a groan, she made herself a tiny cloud to rest on and decided she might as well take a nap for a bit instead. If Pinkie Pie, or Rarity, or someone else had something fun going on she could ask them once she woke up. In fact it was such a pleasant day outside that the light breeze, the quiet murmurings from below, and the warmth of the sun on her back, lulled her to sleep almost immediately. She didn’t dream about fighting Changelings anymore for obvious reasons, instead the marauders of her dream were a mixture of dragons, monsters from the Everfree, and those beasts that made up the bulk of the Storm King’s forces. Anyone watching her sleep would’ve noticed the pleased smirk on her face as Rainbow Dash crushed her opposition and beat up all the monsters coming at her in her dreams. If only that dream was real. The sudden roar of a great beast made Rainbow Dash’s eyes snap open, waking her from her wonderful nap and dream. Perhaps her prayers were answered. Another roar that seemed to shake the air itself around her caused Rainbow Dash to smile wildly and hop up onto her hooves. “That sounds like a monster attack to me!” Rainbow Dash bent her head down to listen for the next roar so she could find where the monster or hopefully rampaging wild animal was coming from. A roar mixed with the screaming of a few ponies in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage and the edge of the Everfree Forest told her all she needed to know. “Yes!” Rainbow Dash pumped her hoof in excitement and flew off to confront whatever was attacking Ponyville. More than excited at the prospect of a fight and the praise and exaltation she’d get from everyone after single-handedly saving the day. She heard a screech from Fluttershy as she made her quick approach and could see other ponies running in the opposite direction. “Fear not everybody, Rainbow Dash is here!” She shouted over them in a dazzling display, finally impacting into the ground like a rainbow comet and skidding to a halt right in front of Fluttershy’s cottage. “Don’t worry, Fluttershy! I’m-” The words died in her throat as her jaw dropped at the scene in front of her. A large creature that looked like a cross between a crocodile and a boulder lied on its back, defeated. Its four legs were hog-tied together and Applejack stood on top of it, tugging the rope tighter to make sure the creature wasn’t going anywhere. Fluttershy lightly floated right over her, checking over the croco-rock thing to make sure it hadn’t been hurt too badly. “Oh come on!” Rainbow Dash shouted. Applejack and Fluttershy both looked over at her, now aware of her presence. The farm pony smiled at her close friend and rival. “Well hey there, RD. Don’t worry none about this fellow, I took care of him. Right place at the right time.” “Ughhhh!” Rainbow Dash groaned and flopped over backwards, lying spread eagle on the torn up ground. “No! Totally wrong time, Applejack! I wanted to fight that monster!” “Uh, why?” Applejack questioned her friend as she hopped off the croc with Fluttershy also coming to a confused landing next to her. Rainbow Dash jumped up and buzzed right over to them, jamming her nose right up against Applejack’s. “Because I’ve been super bored lately and I wanted an adventure or a monster to fight or something, geez! Why’d you have to take it out all on your own?” Much like Twilight, Applejack was unamused by Rainbow’s attitude and flatly stared back at her after pushing the pegasus away from her face. “I’d say it’s because I was more concerned about doing the right thing and helping my friend than letting you be a glory hound?” “Well that would’ve helped me!” “Um, just to be clear,” Fluttershy quietly spoke up between them. “The Boulderdile isn’t a monster. It’s a usually very calm animal you can find in various spots in Equestria. Just saying.” The shy pegasus finished as she pulled on her mane. Rainbow Dash groaned in annoyance some more and flew up a bit higher into the air. “Oh whatever. I just wanted something exciting to happen around here!” Without waiting for a response from her two friends, Rainbow Dash flew off again. Applejack shook her head as she watched the rainbow pony go. “That mare sometimes.” “Why did Ponyville and all of Equestria suddenly get so boring?” Rainbow Dash wondered as she flew through the clouds above town. “I mean seriously, how am I supposed to be awesome when the most exciting thing happening around here is Pinkie Pie sneaking chili powder into her cupcakes.” A hacking noise from below caused Rainbow Dash to roll her eyes. She looked out to the horizon, where Celestia was beginning to lower the sun. The sight annoyed her since all it meant was another day wasted. Another day of boredom where she wasn’t out on an adventure or kicking butt. Even the Cutie Map hadn’t called on her in ages. When the hay was she finally going to be able to go on another epic adventure? Back in the day she was always a thrill-seeker to begin with but now after all the super amazing things she’s done since becoming an Element of Harmony that stuff in the past just couldn’t compare. Rainbow Dash halted in midair and looked straight up into the slowly darkening sky. “Come on world, give me an adventure already.” It was like a sudden epiphany struck her. An errant ray of sunlight reflected across the darkening sky and brought Rainbow Dash’s annoyed attention to the far-off sight of Canterlot Castle where the Princess currently in charge of lowering the burning object resided. Canterlot. Just slightly north of Ponyville. And beyond Canterlot was the Crystal Empire. And beyond the Crystal Empire… was what? The magenta eyes of the pegasus widened. “I’ve been going at this all wrong. I shouldn’t be waiting for an adventure. I should be looking for one.” Twilight Sparkle and Spike meanwhile had just about finished their reorganization work for the day (thanks to Starlight choosing to take a long bath instead of helping them in the afternoon) and were preparing to get a late dinner started up in celebration. Everything was on the shelves exactly where it should be according to her new format. The Princess was merely giving everything a thrice-over before she called it a day. “TWIIIIIILIIIIIGHT!” “Oh no...” A rainbow lightning bolt blasted into her library, coming to a freeze right in front of her face while the shockwave from her arrival knocked over all the furniture and Spike in the library. “Ow,” the young dragon moaned from his prone position on the ground. “Nobody mind me, I’ll be alright.” Before Twilight could say anything, Rainbow Dash grabbed her by the shoulders and invaded her personal space enough that all she could see was the pegasus’ smiling face. “What’s north?” “What?” Twilight responded in confusion. “What’s north of the Crystal Empire?!” Rainbow Dash eagerly asked the egghead Princess. “Oh,” Twilight near instantly flipped to her lecture mode, a pleased smile appearing on her face as she coughed into her hoof so she could begin answering her friend to the fullest measure of her knowledge. “Well it depends. True north is Mt. Everhoof and the rest of the Yaket Range. To the northwest is of course Yakyakistan and to the northeast is the top of the griffon lands and then the domain of the Bug Bears. Why do you ask?” “And what’s beyond all that? What’s even further north?” Rainbow Dash demanded, ignoring Twilight’s own question. “Beyond Mt. Everhoof is mostly uninhabited as far as I know,” Twilight shrugged. “As far as you know?” Twilight smiled apologetically. “It’s not a very traveled place, especially by ponies. The yaks probably know about it the best. Pinkie Pie might know something too.” Rainbow Dash grinned. “Perfect.” “Perfect?” Twilight repeated as she raised an eyebrow at her friend. The showy blue pegasus let Twilight go and flapped her wings to rise above her. “Alright, Twilight. Sorry to give you such short notice but I’m gonna be gone for a while. Fun and adventure calls.” She saluted and sped off right back out of the library like a missile, leaving the confused and flustered Princess of Friendship in her wake. Rainbow Dash quickly made it back out of the castle, soaring high into the sky, high enough where she’d even glide above the peak of Canterlot Mountain, and looked to the far reaches of the north. A confident and exhilarated smirk was born on her face with the whole world before her. “Adventure, here I come.” And with a rainbow burst she was off.