Flying through a snowstorm had its positives. Namely she felt it made her tougher and better equipped for the rest of the True North, which would inevitably just get colder and colder. And make her a better flier in general, cause if you toughen and strengthen yourself up by flying through stuff like this a lot you’ll be even better when flying through calm and clear skies. Like weight training or resistance training or whatever.
It had its downsides too though. The biggest one right now being that the snow was falling so heavily and harshly that she couldn’t see in front of her. And that it was cold enough that despite trying to keep herself warm by constantly moving and flapping her wings she was still getting frost on her feathers and mane. If she didn’t find somewhere to take shelter from this—ugh, blizzard—she’d freeze. And that’d be a really embarrassing end to her journey.
It was annoying. This wasn’t even the first time she had to do this or got stuck for a while because of bad weather. But, well, what else could she really expect? She knew the True North would be like this and not everyday would be a fun adventure or something. There were probably gonna be quite a few more days like this in the future where she just had to wait for a snowstorm to pass or something.
So Rainbow Dash did the only sensible thing she could and flew down low, ending with her hunkering in a ditch after removing some of the snow from it to make room for herself. Not a very pleasant “shelter” but it would have to do. She supposed she could make an igloo again but that felt like too much work right now. Instead she just packed up some of the snow like a wall beside her in the direction the wind was blowing, that worked decently.
And now it was just her and her mind stuck with nothing to do but think.
Not her favorite thing in the world to do.
Considering how much time she had just spent in another storm, and how much further north she would’ve liked to have gone by now, this snowstorm was especially bothersome. She wanted her next big adventure, her next action, the next moment where ponies would be cheering her name and celebrating her. Even her work helping Dust Bunny and the others, while unequivocally heroic, was hardly enough. She needed that epic moment where she was facing down evil and saving the world!
Closest she had come to that was her victory over Blizzard but Rainbow Dash wasn’t satisfied with that for a number of reasons she had already mulled over. If only she could face a real villain up here sometime soon and stop them with her own two hooves. Really make a difference for some ponies and the whole world. What Blizzard was doing just wasn’t awesome enough for her.
Rainbow Dash nodded to herself, someday she’d have her own Tirek and defeat them.
She kind of hoped too that she’d get to see another big civilization or city soon again. A place she could really visit and explore that wasn’t freshly destroyed or looked over by a tyrant, she wanted to see what a normal city was like up here that wasn’t in imminent danger. Since she hadn’t really been able to enjoy anything like that. The tunnel ponies had their real home destroyed before she got there and the whole time she spent in their tunnels and up in the lab was used on finding a way out of the storm. And the pegasus city she didn’t have the sort of freedom she wanted either. She wanted to be able to look around, have fun, and do anything she wanted. While also at the same time finding an epic adventure and villain to defeat. So maybe she was asking for a lot.
Maybe she just wanted somewhere she could be herself for a while and then save the world? Autonomy or something. She had heard Twilight use that word before. Not being stuck and feeling boxed in or controlled like her previous adventures up here.
Rainbow Dash shifted in her little ditch, lifting up a wing to wipe off some snow that had collected on her back. She wondered how long she had been up here now? It was only a few days that she spent in the tunnels and up in the lab, not even remotely as long as she spent in the Empire. She really should have done a better job at keeping track of the days. Oh well. Hopefully her friends weren’t worried about her or anything. Nah, they knew better than to be worried about her. Except for maybe Twilight since worrying was like—her favorite sport or something. And Fluttershy who was just Fluttershy.
It brought a smile to her face to think about her friends though. Even in the cold up here it made her feel better. Thinking of the other ponies she had helped made that smile wider too, and even the short meeting with Leopold the yak was a fun memory. The True North wasn’t so bad all things considered, just a little less connected. And she had done a good job of improving it already if she had to say so. Even though something like that wasn’t her explicit goal, it just kind of happened.
And to think that other obnoxious checkpoint yak thought she wasn’t prepared for this place. She was proving him wrong everyday. With the way things were going she bet by the time she was done with her adventure the whole True North would be just as nice and friendly as Equestria. Maybe ponies and other creatures from up here would even start coming to Twilight’s school?
And it would all be thanks to her. That was something that she would have no problem admitting to inflating her already oversized ego.
But hey, was she wrong to feel that way? She certainly didn’t think so. If you’re awesome, why not own it? Wise words to live by.
Rainbow Dash found herself starting to get a little more sleepy as the snowstorm raged around her. The blizzard. Just that word reminded her of that jerk. It was annoying to think that guy was chasing after her, and probably still doing that even after getting blown away by the giant pegasus. He’d probably find her again at some point and she’d have to deal with him for real. As for that absurdly huge pegasus she hoped he was doing well. It was kind of sad, but maybe this time he can at least find a quiet place where he isn’t causing problems for other ponies.
This has been kind of a weird adventure for her too now that she thought of it. Not Discord weird, but weird weird.
Well, as long as it kept being awesome and got even more awesome she’d be more than happy with it.
Rainbow Dash figured it was fine to sleep now. It’s not like things were going to get colder. She used her wings and hooves to pack up a lot of the snow around her and make something of a box, not an insulated igloo but at least something that would keep her snug and still stopped the wind from reaching her body directly.
She took a big yawn and curled up, wrapping her tail and wings around her body to make herself as warm as possible. Tomorrow morning she’d get flying as quickly as possible and look for the next fun thing.
Like she had been feeling since the start of her journey, she knew the next big adventure was right around the corner.
There was someone watching her.
There was someone who felt her coming closer and closer.