//------------------------------//
// Overstorm III 
// Story: Rainbow Dash's Unstoppable Ego 
// by MagicS 
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Rainbow Dash pulled herself along the rocky ground after being smashed into it by the wind. She had come to a sliding stop at the bottom of the canyon she had been traveling through earlier. The powerful northern wind eventually let up and dropped her here, when she fell she still carried quite a bit of momentum with her and she skipped off the rocks a couple of times before grinding to a halt. Now when she stood up on her aching and bruised hooves she had to shake her head and wings a few times to get all the dust, bits of hail, and small rocks out.  

She felt terrible.

And angry.

Since going north and into the dead center of the storm had completely failed she was walking back to the big chain right now. The one good thing she had going for her was that being back at the bottom of this canyon meant the wind wasn’t very strong. It was still blowing against her but it was more like a particularly rough breeze right now. It wasn’t bearing down on her with force like if she had been flying up a bit higher or still going north instead of south.  

She couldn’t see the chain yet but at least she knew that wasn’t going anywhere. Even though she wasn’t holding out much hope for finding anything useful about it it was her only option to explore right now. Maybe she missed something around the base where it started descending into the ground. Or maybe she wouldn’t have as much trouble flying to the top of it as she thought she would. Unfortunately she was still having to take her time getting back there with how roughly she was messed up after the ill-fated flight north. And her condition now might mean that getting up the chain would be impossible even if it hadn’t been earlier.

Rainbow Dash frowned, she didn’t want to get that pessimistic just yet.

So on she walked over the uneven rocks. Sometimes they poked at her hooves and she stumbled over them or she had to hop over a bigger one. It was almost like the bottom of the canyon was a garbage dump for rocks. It was pretty annoying she had to crawl over all this instead of being able to walk on some soft dirt or something. Why’d the ground have to be so uneven? It was a hassle with how tired and beat up she already was. There was never a stable place to put her hooves down and she had to be careful not to slip and fall or that her hoof wouldn’t slide between a couple of rocks and get cut on an edge or stuck. Rocks fell and slid down into new piles when she disturbed their place, not caring about their loud tumbling echoing off the canyon walls.

All she wanted was to keep on moving until she could see that chain again. It shouldn’t take too long but the winds and clouds were obscuring her vision even in the canyon like this. That chain should easily stick out but it was like Rainbow Dash had to get through the morning fog to see it. She knew it wouldn’t be much farther though with the distance she had traveled.

“Stupid rocks...” Rainbow grumbled to herself in annoyance to pass the time. It’s not like she had anything else to do. She kicked one down the side of a small pile she was walking on and listened to it clatter all the way down.

With the wind from the hurricane still blowing over the canyon, Rainbow Dash kept her eyes peeled at the back of the canyon for the chain. This portion of her journey was getting to be a huge bother and it might just be a fool’s errand but it’s still what she was doing. At least the wind had dried her off even if she was still cold from the rain and hail. She didn’t like how her mane kept getting blown in her face but whatever. Rainbow Dash managed to not shiver from the cold anymore either, far used to it and worse. It was just a mild and constant discomfort instead.

The pony forced her way back and back through the canyon without even bothering to keep track of the time. It was probably late by now but Dash didn’t care. It wouldn’t matter until she actually had some food and sleep.  

And finally, a shape was coming into view in the distance. Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes to peer through the clouds and wind and saw the dark silhouette of the huge metal chain shooting up from the back-center of the canyon.

“Finally,” she muttered.

Now that she could actually see it she decided to hurry up and extended her wings to fly up over the rocky bottom of the canyon. Ignoring the pain from that she beat them a few times to get some altitude and glided onward to the chain. Still keeping fairly low in the canyon to avoid the heavier wind it was easy for her to fly like this and get to the chain faster.  

But then Dash saw something new that made her come to a screeching halt. There was something at the bottom of the canyon maybe a hundred feet away from the chain. She must not have noticed it when she first flew over it because it was pressed up against the flat side of a large rock that obscured it from the south.  

A metal hatch. Built right on top of a large pipe that went down through the rocks and likely into the ground below.  

“Okay, that’s a little more promising,” Rainbow Dash said and flew down to the hatch. A bronze wheel stood on top of it for opening it up and the hinges were on the side facing the rock so that when the hatch opened it wouldn’t be fighting against the wind. Rainbow Dash tapped the top of the hatch with her hoof and heard a hollow reverberation come back at her. “Well alright, looks like it isn’t blocked off or anything. Hope it isn’t locked.”

She grasped the wheel with her hooves and tried to rotate it clockwise but it wouldn’t budge one bit. It didn’t look rusted or anything so either Rainbow Dash wasn’t strong enough to move it or it rotated in the other direction. She really hoped for the latter. It would be embarrassing if she couldn’t get this thing open just because she didn’t have Applejack’s freakish strength or something. Especially since unlike the chain she definitely knew this hatch and pipe had to lead somewhere.

“Ngh!” Rainbow Dash grit her teeth as she pulled the wheel in the other direction. She was getting red in the face and the muscles and tendons in her front legs burned but eventually she managed to make it turn slightly, it let out an agonized squeak and grinding noise as if it hadn’t been turned in ages. Which it probably hadn’t been. The loud grind didn’t let up as she twisted the wheel more and more, waiting to hear any kind of unlocking sound from inside the hatch. “Come on!”

It took a full rotation of the wheel before it finally became looser and Rainbow Dash was able to turn it easier. A few more times after that she finally heard something shift and unlatch inside and the entire hatch jolted slightly with a hiss of air escaping from the less than paper thin seam between the door and the pipe.  

“Awesome,” Dash grinned and lifted the hatch up by the wheel. It leaned back on its hinges and sat there at a slightly higher than 90 degree angle so it wouldn’t accidentally fall back down on its own. Good developer foresight. There was a handle on the underside of the hatch too that Rainbow Dash assumed was used to pull it back closed and lock it.  

She peaked her head over the side and looked down into the pipe. It was a long way down but there was a faint light at the bottom and a ladder bolted into the side that looked like it went the whole way. Not that she needed anything like that with her wings. She still had no idea what this thing was though. Just like the chain she wondered what possible purpose this thing had or where it led to. At least the light down there meant there was something else and somewhere to go. It looked kind of like the entrance to a sewer the likes of which Dash had seen back in places like Manehattan and Canterlot, but she doubted any sewer went that deep and even if it did why would there be a sewer out here? Well, just looking at it wasn’t going to get her anywhere, she had to go down the pipe herself.

Actually though… it looked like she was going to have to use the rungs of the ladder. The pipe was more than wide enough for a pony to climb up and down but not enough for her wings to be extended while doing so. Dang. It was still a lot better than nothing so Dash decided to bite the bullet and began her descent using the long ladder.

“This better be worth it...” Rainbow Dash sighed as she went in and closed the pipe and took step after step after step down the rungs. More than once she wishes she could teleport herself like Twilight or Starlight. Or if she was Spike’s size she could’ve still flown down.

That was all just wishful thinking though and despite how tired and worn out her body was Rainbow Dash had to go down all the way on her own power. The pipe went at least one hundred feet down, maybe two, now that she was traveling down it and could tell. Whoever built this wanted to make sure it was stable and that whatever weather was going on up top wouldn’t be felt in the slightest. Maybe it wasn’t a sewer but some kind of mine? Or shelter? That was a lot more likely, especially if it was built after this storm started.

And whoever built it might not have even been ponies, could’ve been anything, they might not even be here anymore. Rainbow Dash let her mind wander cause it’s not like she had anything else to do as she went down the ladder.

Finally as she got down to the light she noticed that the pipe dropped off in a much bigger room with the ladder continuing down until it stopped on the floor. Once she got to where the pipe opened up she hopped off the ladder and onto the metal floor and looked around. A circular room with a single door on the side in the opposite direction of the chain, a light fixture encased in a metal cage sat on top of the door, casting its white light across the room. Like the hatch above, the door had another wheel smack in the center that would probably open it up. She swore that if this one was locked…

“Ugh, again?” Rainbow Dash complained and walked over to the door, grabbing the wheel and turning it in the same way she turned the other one. Thankfully this wheel was far more agreeable and smoother, it didn’t grind or squeak, in fact it turned as if someone had practically just greased it. “Nice.” Rainbow grinned and turned it until it stopped and she heard a click from the door, it popped open slightly on its own and Rainbow Dash pulled on it to open it up, the heavy metal door swinging into the room.  

The blue pegasus stepped over the mantle of the door frame and into the next room with a smile, pulling the door back shut behind her and taking another look around this new room.

A pony was standing right in front of her, clutching a broom and frozen in total surprise. Rainbow Dash too froze up, utterly taken off guard by this. The light brown earth pony mare had a wavy orange mane and tail and it looked like she had just been busy sweeping right as Rainbow Dash suddenly opened up that door and interrupted her. The basket of other cleaning supplies sitting next to the mare gave more proof to that hypothesis.  

“Uhhh, hi?” Rainbow Dash awkwardly grinned and waved hello.

The earth pony raised an eyebrow at her and slightly relaxed. “Hi… who are you? Where did you come from and how did you get here?”

Rainbow Dash lifted a hoof and rubbed the back of her neck. “Well my name’s Rainbow Dash and the rest of that is kind of a long story. What is this place?” She checked out the appearance of the rest of the room, a long and square hallway that was well lit by a few lights placed every teen feet or so on the ceiling.  

“Sorry, I’m just a little surprised to see someone come from up there,” the earth pony responded. “This is a tunnel system that was built for the ponies of these mountains to live in after the storm started up. I’m assuming it’s as violent as ever up there?”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Oh yeah, so how-” Her sentence was interrupted as a loud growl came from her stomach. Rainbow Dash’s face slowly turned red in embarrassment and she bashfully pawed at the floor. “Err… do you have any food down here?”

The mare wasn’t bothered at all and gave an amused laugh and grin. “I hope you like beets and spinach.”