//------------------------------//
// First Night 
// Story: Rainbow Dash's Unstoppable Ego 
// by MagicS 
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At the foot of the mountains, Rainbow Dash started to make an igloo out of the snow. Not something she was used to doing but how hard could it be? She was awesome. It was just going to be a temporary thing for this one night, no bigger than what was needed to hold her inside. Her hooves were freezing though just a few seconds after she started moving and digging through the snow. At least her wings gave her two more appendages that she could use for this whenever her hooves got tired or too cold to move right.  

This is not how she wanted to be spending her time on what was supposed to be her big adventure.  

It had been several days now since she first set off from Ponyville, and to be be honest she had already done quite a bit by the standards of a normal pony. She visited the Crystal Empire, got to eat with Princess Cadance and her family, flew up Mt. Everhoof, climbed down it, met some cool yaks doing something she had no idea that yaks did. Then she even saw some reindeer, flew up a big river, saw a ton of sea lions, then met that jerk Archibald.  

Yeah, already that was a lot and she wasn’t even really getting into the details with it.

But it wasn’t really what she wanted and it certainly wasn’t enough. Part of her was thinking that maybe she should have taken Daylight’s offer and gone with her, Gilbert, and Senax out to the Grand Ocean or whatever they called it. At least then she wouldn’t be so cold. That would’ve felt like quitting though or giving up before she started… she really wanted to discover the True North and the adventures up here. It had to be awesome. Why would there be a huge magical wasteland separating things and the yaks being so secretive and defensive about it if there wasn’t an awesome adventure up here waiting for her?

The wind suddenly picked up around her, sending a wave of chills through her body. Rainbow Dash doubled her efforts to build the walls of her igloo before she got too cold and froze over. Frost caked her mane and tail already and she knew ice would soon be glistening over the feathers of her wings unless she did something about this.  

It took another half hour but she finished her rudimentary igloo and nestled inside it. It was cold. But there was really nothing she could do about that and at least it protected her from the wind. The blue pegasus curled up in a ball, her wings and tail tucked in to give her the most warmth possible as she hugged her legs close to her body. She looked far more vulnerable than she ever wanted to be and would be super embarrassed if anyone, especially Fluttershy or Applejack, saw her like this.

And speaking of those two… what were they up to now? It was that big animal or whatever that Applejack took care of for Fluttershy back in Ponyville that practically started this whole thing. Maybe if Rainbow Dash had gotten to fight it she would’ve been momentarily satisfied enough that things would’ve turned out differently and the idea to fly up here would’ve never popped into her head. And what about Twilight? If she actually knew about the north Rainbow Dash may have lost interest in flying up here and might have chosen somewhere else to go. Like the east or west. In fact, wasn’t there a whole place on their maps called the “Undiscovered West”? That would’ve probably made a good place to go for adventures.

Maybe in the future.

But thanks to this trail of thought Rainbow Dash peeked an eye open despite the fact she was trying to sleep, her mind now occupied by thoughts of her friends back in Ponyville.  

Probably should’ve at least said goodbye to all of them or something. She idly thought.  

Applejack… well she was probably spending her days farming like normal. Wouldn’t be any surprises there. Rarity was probably either making dresses herself or working on expanding her business into another city. Didn’t she mention wanting to set up shop in Cloudsdale? Somehow. Fluttershy seemed to be taking care of more animals day by day, Pinkie Pie… Celestia only knows what she’s up to on any given day. And Twilight had Princess stuff to do. Or Headmistress stuff now. Or wrangling in Starlight and Spike stuff. How did that Alicorn not lose her head by now?

Rainbow Dash realized she missed them already.

And Scootaloo is probably doing something with the Crusaders right now… In the past Rainbow Dash would’ve been more concerned about her little buddy but Scoots had grown up and matured quite a bit lately. The three of them were still just fillies bur Rainbow Dash never saw the need to get as crazy and overprotective with them as Applejack and Rarity sometimes did.

But she still missed Scoots and her crazy antics too.  

The rainbow-maned pegasus shifted around in her snowy abode, thinking about what it would be like if someone else or all of her friends together were here on this adventure with her. Pff, Twilight could’ve just teleported to the top of Mt. Everhoof and Pinkie Pie or Fluttershy would’ve just made friends with Archibald and no one would’ve had to fight him in the first place. Applejack would probably be way better at finding food and stuff and making something like this igloo… and Rarity would’ve at least attempted to fix things between Shining Armor and Cadance.

Rainbow Dash couldn’t hold back a snicker about that last one.

Twilight though… she really would’ve loved learning about and discovering all this stuff. She’d be so much more into it than Rainbow Dash was. Every new thing, every individual mountain, she’d want to learn as much as possible about it. Probably would’ve brought supplies for making a map of the True North too, that egghead. Hmm, actually now that she thought about it everyone except Applejack would probably be a lot more interested in other stuff up here than just adventure. Fluttershy would want to see new animals, Rarity would want to see what kinds of clothes creatures wore, and Pinkie Pie would just want to make friends with everyone.  

Rainbow Dash was just looking to kick butt and have fun. Maybe there was something else cool up here that she’d really get interested in but for the most part all that was on her mind was the adventure side of things. Maybe she should have brought a journal or something though, now she’d just have to tell Twilight everything that happened by mouth. Oh well, she loved talking about herself and her escapades.

That was something she could look forward to whenever she actually ended this journey and got back; Twilight writing a book about the “Amazing Adventures of Rainbow Dash”! It would definitely be a best seller. How could it not be? Like, anything with her name on it would automatically be a best seller. Hero of Equestria, star Wonderbolt, best friends with the Princess of Friendship, the only pony who could perform Sonic Rainbooms, all of her stuff flew off the shelves because who in their right mind wouldn’t want something related to a pony as awesome as her?

Those pleasant thoughts helped her drift off to sleep. The cold no longer a problem for the pegasus dreaming sweet dreams of adoration and fame after conquering the True North and the adventures out here.