//------------------------------// // Call to Adventure // Story: Rainbow Dash's Unstoppable Ego // by MagicS //------------------------------// Flying through a wasteland was a strange mix of boring and intense. Previously, Rainbow Dash got a decent night of rest at the checkpoint. It was certainly a far warmer place to stay the night than where she had spent the last couple. There were even actual beds too. And they were very large, yak-sized, beds so she had a ton of room and really thick blankets to use. All in all it ended with her wrapped up on top of the bed like a cat seeking warmth, the pegasus intending to rejuvenate herself as much as possible. Her wing felt much better even before she drifted off to sleep and was perfectly healed upon awakening. Rainbow Dash quickly tore the bandages off and trotted to Archibald’s office the moment she woke up. The yak was happy to be rid of her but not for the reason. He still saw what he was doing as a betrayal of his duty but he couldn’t deny Rainbow Dash’s capability and determination any longer. If she really wanted to go to the True North he wasn’t going to stop her. In any way. Archibald didn’t have anymore words for her as he gave her the map showing the route to the northern checkpoint, it was a silent exchange and the yak stoically went back to work as normal the moment Rainbow Dash flew in a hurry right out of his office. She wasted absolutely no time looking over that map for where she needed to go through the wasteland, the day had just begun and she was going to make the most of it. No time would be wasted on dillydallying or looking around, she was getting to the northern checkpoint today. And then her true adventure could begin. She could feel it. Hear it. This is what she had been waiting for and driving towards ever since she left Ponyville just a few days before. Her excited heartbeat was telling her all she needed to know, this was the real deal. Rainbow Dash could hardly wait for it at all. She was going to make sure this big adventure would put all her others to shame and she wasn’t going to return home until she was totally satisfied. This was something she could brag and talk about for ages. That’s what this adventure was going to be! Her meandering and zig-zagging flight through the wasteland was the first part of her real adventure now. At times there was nothing for her to see, below her on the ground was dry and cracked dirt where nothing grew or moved, just as William had said. Except for directly below her. The thin strip of land that she flew over, that 1,000 years ago the yaks traveled over, was a green oasis in the wasteland. There was nothing it could be except for magic, so out of place it was. It twisted like a snake across the wasteland from south to north or north to south depending on your perspective. Rainbow Dash could actually see things like trees, bushes, and flowers growing from it, something that would’ve been out of place in the rest of the north, not just this wasteland. There was probably all sorts of fruit and seed down there to eat if she ever got hungry. Checking it out may be worth it but she still didn’t want to slow down her flight to the northern checkpoint. The weather facing her as she flew was also nonexistent, no wind seemed to come down the thin corridor she flew on. Meanwhile to her sides she could see the occasional tornado or storm raging across the wastes. Moving in such a way that if she was anywhere else she would’ve been concerned that they would come her way and overtake where she was. But instead they never touched the green strip. Some of the tornadoes would get so close that Rainbow Dash could practically touch them and yet they never roamed over the grass down there and the wind from them felt far more subdued than it should have considering how close they were. Rainbow Dash was used to strange weather every now and then but this was still new to her. Just as she had seen earlier when she was flying down the river to the southern checkpoint it would’ve been difficult to get through the wasteland unscathed if she wasn’t using the yak’s path. Unfortunately when there wasn’t anything like freak weather going on around her she really didn’t have anything else to do or look at because the wasteland was so empty and the green bridge through it below her didn’t have much to look at after about five minutes worth of flying either. So Rainbow Dash flapped her wings hard and sped through this portion of her journey as best she could. She couldn’t quite see what was at the end of the wasteland just yet, the stale air creating something of a blurry haze almost like how the hot air would make things shimmer in the distance in a desert. She made sure to always keep in the airspace directly above the green path, fearing that the instant she left it some kind of crazy weather or something would kick up and whisk her away deeper into the wasteland. It made her have to constantly turn and slow down but it was better than getting lost or stuck out here. She knew this place was just waiting for her to make a mistake and then all of a sudden a storm would come out of nowhere and she’d be getting pelted by hail and forced to dodge lightning bolts. Maybe the north wanted to keep others out. Or in. Maybe that’s what this wasteland was about. Rainbow Dash shook her head, she didn’t care about stuff like that. Worrying? What did that word even mean? And she wasn’t out here to study either. She wanted adventure. The far from home pegasus started humming as she flew, doing anything to occupy herself as she easily made her way north. Humming and singing to herself was probably gonna become another favorite pastime of hers with how much flying on her own she was going to be doing up here. “I’m awesome, take caution, watch out for me...” She softly sang a tune she had just made up on the spot, putting in new lyrics whenever she felt like it, anything that hyped her up more. With a grin she kept flying hard to the end of the wasteland. An end that was now approaching. The further she flew the more that haze in the distance began to lift and she could see what actually awaited her at the end of the wastelands. She thought it was more mountains at first but as she got closer she realized she was wrong. It was indeed rock but instead of individual mountains it was like a single cliff or rockface that rose sheer out of the ground and high into the sky, almost like a raised plateau or wall of rock. It was snowy on top too, showing the signs of the True North that she had expected. Despite its height she could easily fly above it but if the map Archibald had given her was correct there should be another checkpoint on or right behind that rock wall. And there must be some kind of narrow path through it that the wasteland oasis started from as well. With the end of this part of her adventure in sight, Rainbow Dash felt renewed vigor flowing through her veins. She blasted off with greater speed than normal towards the rocks, leaving a rainbow trail in the shape of a snake in the air over the oasis. It wasn’t even evening yet and she had already made great time through the wastes. There was still plenty of the day ahead of her. “It’s not just a song, I really am the most awesome!” She shouted as she came to a stop right before the cliffs. Just as she suspected there was a small passage that cut right through the crag from top to bottom. Narrower even than the strip of green through the wastelands,, no more than a few yaks would’ve been able to walk side by side through it. Rainbow Dash hovered to about midway up the cliffs and grinned before flying inside. The pony was too excited for words at what she would see on the other end. Snowflakes drifted down from the top of the rocks the further in she went and the temperature dropped expectedly as well until it almost felt like she was flying through a fridge. The rock to her sides started to become frosted over and her body shivered a bit at the sudden changes. Yet she still kept flying towards the light at the end of the passage. She already knew the True North would be cold and she already knew she could handle it. “Let’s see it...” Rainbow Dash murmured as she broke through to the end and into the light. She floated there for a second, quiet, as more snow fell around her and cold winds blew. Slowly she stopped the flapping of her wings and allowed herself to descend to the bottom of the cliffs, where her hooves lightly touched down on the freshly fallen snow that covered the ground. The very first time she touched the ground of the True North. “Wow,” Rainbow Dash said as she pulled in her wings and looked out at the vast expanse before her. A white landscape of snow and ice fields, huge mountains in every direction, massive columns of clouds that went into the atmosphere, a tundra just in front of her of frozen plants and dirt, rolling hills of snow. All of it for miles and miles ahead. A breathtaking northern landscape even for Rainbow Dash. A truly wild world brimming with unknown adventure. In the foggy distance directly north dozens of black and white fangs shot up from the ground. With a nod, Rainbow Dash accepted that range of mountains as her next destination. Directly north she would go. “Ahem. How did you get up here?” Rainbow Dash’s head whipped around at the surprising voice to see a yak standing behind her. Behind him stood a small shack built right up against the rock wall that looked to be on the verge of falling apart. The yak was bundled up in warm blankets and had an inquisitive but not reproachful or suspicious look on his face. “Is this the northern checkpoint?” Rainbow Dash asked, raising an eyebrow at him. “Gehahaha,” the yak suddenly bellowed at her disbelieving question. “It is indeed. Obviously you were expecting something a little more, but this is all that’s needed. I’m surprised you know about this though, you must’ve convinced whoever the current chief is that he can let you up here.” “You could put it like that,” she sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. “Uhhh, so what’s your name dude? I’m Rainbow Dash.” “Leopold! A pleasure to meet you, Rainbow Dash,” the Chief of the northern checkpoint warmly smiled. “You too. But I’m not gonna stay for long, sorry. Really want to get my adventure started,” she shrugged. “I don’t mind. I wouldn’t have accepted this posting if I couldn’t deal with being on my own. Gehahaha!” The yak laughed in good humor again. “Well, I won’t delay you. You obviously know the possible danger of what you’re doing. It’s not my duty to stop you. Clearly you’re quite the pony to get this far anyways, good luck on your “adventure” as you put it.” “Thanks, you’re a lot cooler than the other checkpoint yak,” Rainbow Dash grinned and flew up a bit, preparing to leave. The blanketed yak shrugged. “Yaks best at being relaxed too.” “Guess so,” Dash snickered and flew up higher, waving goodbye to the yak. “Bye!” And she zoomed off with him waving goodbye as well, the yak soon becoming nothing more than a speck behind her. There was probably a lot she could have learned from him. A lot the two of them could have talked about that it was almost a waste to just leave the northern checkpoint so soon without saying anything. But the call was too great to ignore. Here she was. The True North. She couldn’t help but grin wider as she speedily headed to the mountains. “This is going to be awesome.” Far, far to the north of where Rainbow Dash had just emerged from, there was a city. Built into the canyons and crevasses of a glacier-filled mountain range, it was a massive city home to thousands of ponies and other creatures. Their homes and other buildings coming right out of the canyon walls with bridges and ropeways connecting them, birds couriered messages from side to side and place to place, huge smokestacks rose from the tops of the walls and platforms jutted out at every level of the canyons for ponies to walk on and survey the rest of their city from. But none of that was really important right now. On one of those platforms a lone mare stood, wearing nothing but a small smile on her face as she stared across the way at one of the walls of buildings and apartments built onto the north side of one of the canyons. Her mind devoid of thought as lights flickered on and off, ponies and griffons and reindeer walked in and out from balconies, and glancing below to the bottom of the canyon she could stare deep into the icy crevasses that still others dug deep into, drilling and picking out ice to sell above. It seemed like a day the same as any other in this city to her. Until a light was switched on in her head. No, until a firework went off—no not even that, a brilliant explosion occurred in her mind. The mare’s ears perked up while her eyes widened and she whirled around in surprise, the smile momentarily left off of her face as she looked to the south, trying to see past the buildings and canyon that still stood far above her viewing platform. She stood stock still, not even a puff of air coming from her mouth in a betrayal of breath. The mare stayed facing to the south as she slowly closed her eyes and bowed her head, the images of a bright light, brighter than any star in the night sky, piercing through the darkness of her mind and shooting straight towards her filled the mare. “What is that?” A fiery warmth like the sun began to spread through her veins as she opened her eyes and lifted her head, the smile reappearing with a twinkling glint in her eyes to accompany it. “A light; a bright light full of warmth and life that shines in the darkness. And coming this way. I don’t know what you are, but I’m waiting for you.”