//------------------------------// // Skeleton // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// Now she reached a rather unfortunate spot in this underground cave. A crossroads. And she had absolutely nothing to go on when it came to deciding which direction to go in. Both paths looked pretty much the same to her so Rainbow Dash did what anypony would do in a situation like this: close her eyes and spin around a couple of times to decide which way to go. Left. “Works for me,” Rainbow shrugged and started walking down the path going to her left. She was going to have to remember just which path to go back down if she ended up backtracking, especially if there were more crossroads and branching paths in the future. Her hooves echoed against the hard rock ground of the cave, each click annoying her further with nothing else to drown out the sound of them. She wasn’t sure how much distance she had traveled in these caves but she definitely hadn’t made much progress in the direction she wanted since it was mostly a bunch of winding back and forth. If she was going to be the first pony to fly all the way around the world she’d need to make a better pace once she got out of these frozen northern lands. Her first experience with this side of the world wasn’t going too well. If she could just get to a place where she could fly for real again… She couldn’t wait. She couldn’t wait to be flying over green forests, blue rivers, fields of flowers, rolling hills. Warm places. Rainbow Dash just couldn’t wait. But first she had to get out of this cave and then out of this seemingly endless and inhospitable snowscape. Which was all looking less easy by the second. She still didn’t have a good idea for how she would get out of this cave if she didn’t find another exit soon, and now if she had to walk back to the crevice it would waste so much more time. To take her mind off those annoying thoughts she started humming to herself and thinking about all the way more fun stuff she’d surely be doing later on on her adventure. While she was in the middle of that, she saw the path she was on opening up into a new chamber. Rainbow Dash stepped out into it and took a look around in the hopes she would find something here. She did, but it wasn’t what she expected. “Oh...” a grim frown made its way across Rainbow’s face as she spotted the ancient Reindeer skeleton lying in the middle of this small cave chamber. She slowly walked up to it—him judging by the antlers—and let out a deep breath. “Sorry dude, guess you went out the same way as your friends.” Unlike the others she had come across so far though he wasn’t preserved, probably due to a lack of ice and snow. However long ago he had passed away he eventually was reduced to nothing more than the bones Rainbow Dash was now looking at. But it wasn’t just his skeleton in this chamber either, all around him were numerous bags and other belongings, most long since decayed and unrecognizable to Dash but there was also what looked like the remainders of a tent. The poles that would normally hold up its frame looked like they had been smashed. “You fell down here too, didn’t you?” Rainbow Dash asked the skeleton. “And it looks like you were alone, wonder what happened to the rest of your party.” She shook her head. “Ugh, now I’m talking to skeletons… I need to get out of this place.” Rainbow Dash wished Pinkie Pie was here right now to lighten the mood, or any of her other friends for that matter. At the very least it looked like she had some things she could use thanks to everything this Reindeer had brought down here with him. Rainbow Dash felt bad for him but she didn’t want to waste anymore time down here so she quickly got around to checking out what she had on her hooves now. She grabbed the remnants of the tent and threw that off to the side—she knew what she was using to make a fire down here now—and started going through the various bags. One was full of old papers that completely disintegrated when she just tried touching them and another had a cracked magnifying glass and a broken compass. Not exactly useful tools for her. Rainbow Dash scowled as the next bag she grabbed fell apart like a wet sheet of paper in her hooves, spilling its contents all over the ground. Seed. She wasn’t sure what kind but she knew seeds when she saw them. It must’ve been the Reindeer’s food and it looked like he still had plenty left when he died. Rainbow glanced over at him, wondering if it was the cold that had gotten to him or if he just gave up. She then looked back down at the pile of seed on the ground and swallowed a lump in her throat. “Frozen and hundreds of years old… wonder if it’s still good to eat?” She grabbed up a hoofful and ate them up immediately. Maybe not the smartest move but more energy would do her good. Unfortunately it was like chewing on rocks with how frozen the tiny seeds were, and they were utterly tasteless. It took a bit of struggle but she managed to swallow them down anyways. But a drink of water would’ve really helped her right now. After eating her fill, Rainbow went over to the next bag, the largest one down here. It looked like a heavy backpack with numerous flaps and pockets in it. “Please let there be something useful in here,” Rainbow Dash said as she opened up the main flap on top. A wide smile spread across her face. “Oh yeah.” While the fire of yet another Reindeer tent burned in front of her, Rainbow Dash finally felt truly comfortable for the first time since coming out into this snowy place. That was thanks to the treasure she had found in this Reindeer’s discarded possessions. Her hooves were now fitted by warm woolly boots and a heavy feather jacket with a puffy hood was now wrapped around the rest of her body. Finally she was dressed for the occasion. With the clothes and the fire she had totally gotten rid of the ice and frost all over the rest of her body, it was just a shame that she still couldn’t fly out of the crevice. But another tool she had found in the bag would help with that. Rainbow Dash turned the old hatchet around in her hooves, it was rusted over almost its entire surface and she wouldn’t be surprised if it broke after a few uses. But it would still help her a lot for climbing her way out of the crevice. She still hadn’t found any other way out of these caves so back there was looking like her only choice. Besides the hatchet she had also found an even more rusted hoof saw, its teeth so dull that they might as well have been square. She glanced at the Reindeer, unsure of how with all these things he couldn’t make it out of here or last long enough to use up all that food. Maybe the cold and isolation got to him in more ways than one. Well Rainbow Dash certainly didn’t plan on letting that happen to her. Once the fire burned itself out she was going to take the tools she had discovered and head back to the crevice. Rainbow Dash was going to get herself out of here. Right after she was done letting the fire warm her up.