//------------------------------// // North Pole IX // Story: Rainbow Dash's Unstoppable Ego // by MagicS //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash ran. She ran so hard she was panting and sweating as she pushed her limbs almost harder than she ever had before. Her wings were kept pinned at her sides by rope so she couldn’t even accidentally use them if she wanted to. Down at her ankles she was wearing special weighted bracelets to get even more out of her work out. She didn’t often do this kind of strength-training but she might as well go all out for this tournament. And if you could combine endurance with muscle building all in one exercise then that was pretty nice for her. She had been running for hours and hours at this point, since before the crystal sun had even lit up again this morning. And she wasn’t even close to stopping since she planned to run around the entire plateau. That was her exercise for the day, to make a complete circuit around the entirety of Nogt. She had been running close to the edge that fell off into the World Drain this entire time, pushing herself to run faster and harder. It was maybe a little dangerous what with her wings bound and all but that only made it more exciting too. Every now and then she passed by some Reindeer who owned farms out here or just lived near the edges of the plateau in quiet solitude compared to the more bustling areas. She would wave and say hi before darting off again to work those legs of hers. It was quiet out here on the outskirts with only a few buildings near the edge and not too many trees either. She had found a problem when she encountered one of the “rivers” and had to go upstream looking for a bridge before she could get past it. That had happened a couple more times since then and she knew it was gonna keep happening. Rainbow Dash started whistling to herself as her hooves crunched over the frosty grass with each bound. It was a beautiful and warm day and here she was outside training through it so she could kick butt easier. Pretty nice way to spend it in her opinion. Not as nice as getting on a cloud and sleeping through it but she had something awesome to do instead so that was pretty good. Her hooves were finally starting to feel a little heavy but in Rainbow Dash’s mind that was a good thing. She’d keep going until it felt like she was dragging along cinder-blocks. That just meant the weights around her ankles were working cause normally she’d never start to feel like this from just a normal run. No pain no gain, she’d even go for a swim again after she got back from this run. She found herself approaching a field of flowers that practically grew right up to the treacherous edge of the plateau. Rainbow Dash saw a number of Reindeer walking through it, picking out flowers and putting them in baskets. She wanted to keep going in a straight line but that would end up with her trampling through a lot of the flowers so instead she’d have to find a pathway through the field. Rainbow Dash ended up going down quite a ways before finally finding an open spot and then running through the field. It was suddenly so much more colorful all around her because of this, and it smelled great. Now this was the kind of thing that made a run worth it. One of the things about flying was that she was usually too high up when she did it to really smell much of anything aside from smoke sometimes. Down on the ground she was close enough to so many things that she could really experience them with more than just her eyes like she was used to. As she zoomed by a Reindeer carrying a full basket of flowers she heard a startled “Oh my!” and waved back at the Reindeer with a grin on her face. Then she kept on going with the wind from her sprinting body rustling the sea of flowers around her. Once she got out of the field of flowers she angled herself back to getting out close to the edge and came across a pair of Reindeer kicking a ball back and forth with one another. Father and son if she had to guess. Really made her heart yearn for some good ol’ fashioned fun like that too but she still had her adventuring to do. Rainbow Dash waved at them too as she ran by in a blur and was happy to see them doing their best to wave back. She hoped some of the random Reindeer she was running across out here would come watch the tournament. It would be awesome if they saw her fight and recognized her as that crazy pony running around the edge of the plateau. The crunching grass underneath her hooves soon gave way to dirt as Rainbow Dash entered a new area of the city that she hadn’t been anywhere near before. A rocky and uneven terrain, it wasn’t exactly suited for running through but Rainbow Dash decided she could just add something else to her exercise. With a grin she started running through, over, and around the rocks, jumping off some, running up others only to slide down the backside of them. The weights clattered each time she landed hard back on the ground only for her to take off at a dead sprint again. Here there didn’t seem to be any other Reindeer, Rainbow Dash looked towards the center of Nogt and saw a number of large boulders and cliffs separating this last zone of rocks and dirt from the populated areas. So it was her place and her place alone to run around in. As she saw a boulder about the size of a watermelon lying half-buried in the dirt she idly thought that she should’ve put something on her back too. Like a backpack full of rocks to make this running really tough. Rainbow Dash ran up a lopsided boulder and jumped off it once she got to the top, galloping again the moment her hooves hit the dirt. To her complete obliviousness she didn’t notice that she had jumped over a Reindeer sleeping on the other side of that boulder. And to his obliviousness, the sounds of her running and hitting the ground didn’t wake him up at all. Rainbow Dash was sweating quite a bit now, the light from the crystal sun felt hotter to her as she ran over this dirt ground compared to the frosted grass. Maybe that magical chill that kept the grass like that kept things cooler too and now that she was off it the powerful rays of heat from the crystal were beating down on her unimpeded. She was definitely going to be taking a dip in the pool when she got back to the living center. And then a nice shower after that. But for now she was still on an adrenaline rush and the sweat was just another sign that the workout was going well. She’d keep running until she made the whole circuit or she flat out collapsed trying. That’s what it meant to push yourself. And she was having a lot of fun pushing this body of hers and being the best athlete possible. She started to envision that she was in a race to pump herself even more. An imaginary crowd cheering for her and an imaginary opponent for her to beat and rub their nose in it. Competing always brought out the most from her—it brought her to 110%. Sometimes she could get a little too competitive according to some, not like she believed that, but she knew that either way if she had something to really win it was like she was somehow able to be even more awesome than normal. The only thing that could make her stronger than when she was competing was when she was protecting her friends. And it didn’t seem like anything like that was gonna pop up here. Rainbow Dash sprinted out of the rocky area and back out onto the grass, the cool feeling beneath her hooves returning and washing a pleasurable wave over her body. Her limbs were still tired and heavy but her strength wasn’t anywhere close to fading. After flying for most of her journey, and most of her life in general, it was like her legs were saying that it was finally their turn and they didn’t want to be overshadowed. Up ahead she saw another river but this one was much thinner than the previous at this point. And Rainbow Dash got a devilishly dumb but awesome idea in her head. Charging up she ran even faster towards the edge of the river, biting her lip and keeping her head low to negate wind resistance. As soon as her hooves hit right at the start of the flowing blue “liquid ice” she leaped with all of her strength to the other side. Airborne for a decent second she could feel the weights around her ankles trying to pull her down and make her fail the jump. And with the weights, her body already being pushed this hard, and the river’s current, she might be washed out over the side if she didn’t have the distance she thought she could get. Not that she didn’t have full confidence in herself. Confidence that was well placed when she landed safely on the other side and kept running and running. Two Reindeer kids who were playing catch nearby had seen her make the jump, and they watched as she continued to laugh and whistle in celebration while running by.