Rainbow Dash Around the World

by MagicS


The Last of the Ice Dragons

The burning fire of the dome behind her was long gone. Not that she could tell, with the heavy snow falling all around her, Rainbow Dash could barely see anything in any direction. The wind whipped at her clothes and threatened to smother the fire on the torch she carried as well. Almost certain doom would become certain doom if that happened. She couldn’t fly or survive for long in this cold without any source of fire. Even with this fire she still could hardly do anything.

Rainbow Dash only knew that she was heading south right now. That was the only thing in her head, to keep on moving. Whatever mountains she may have passed by during her walk through this blinding blizzard were irrelevant. It didn’t matter if she was atop a glacier, about to fall down another crevice, or had to climb up a huge mountain of snow right in front of her. Rainbow Dash was moving forward.

“I… am not… going down here,” her eyes were narrowed as she tried to spy anything, anything at all, in front of her. It was the middle of the day, she knew that much from her own sense of time, but it might as well have been night with how little she could see.

Nothing, this is nothing. Rainbow Dash thought to herself. It was her mantra to keep going through the unnatural cold that she could feel inside her soul.

She knew the other side of the world had to hold so many awesome adventures for her if she could just get past this frozen snowscape of death.

Rainbow Dash shivered.

Rainbow Dash walked.

Rainbow Dash shivered.

Rainbow Dash walked.

Her torch was going out but she never stopped. The thought never even went through her mind. She believed in herself, and believed she had the power to overcome anything. There had been so many obstacles on this journey so far and yet Rainbow Dash had persevered past them all. It would be the same here too.

The wind pushed against her, threatening to drown her face in snow and doing its best to halt her progress. It was difficult to walk like this through the heavy snow while carrying her torch in the first place. Her hoofsteps were slow and plodding and the deep snow on the ground didn’t seem to want her to be able to pull her hoof back out every time she stepped into it. The boots, the heavy jacket, it all felt like frozen ice clasped around her body.

Rainbow Dash looked around to try and see anything but it was all just howling winds and swirling snow. Nothing was visible more than five feet away from her.

“You think this scares me?!” She yelled to the blizzard. “Nothing scares me!”

The flame of her torch finally disappeared in the wind. Rainbow Dash threw the useless hunk of wood away and kept on walking. She could feel ice crawling all over her, trying to freeze her in place and make her even worse than what those foxes had become. All the while snow just swirled around her like Rainbow was in the apex of the blizzard itself.

Rainbow Dash just growled and stood her ground. “Did you hear me?! I told you this doesn’t scare me! I’m Rainbow Dash!”

“Rainbow Dash, eh? You’re a rather peculiar creature, I must admit.”

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash looked up at the sudden voice coming from above. A huge shadow was descending down through the blizzard, coming through the snow and winds like they and the insane cold were nothing. Rainbow Dash gawked up at the shape as it came into focus—huge wings were outlined against the fog, along with a long, slender, neck and an even longer tail. The closer it got the more defined it was to her, gigantic claws at the ends of its limbs, spikes running all over its body, and glowing blue eyes that were trained right on her.

“It can’t be...” Rainbow Dash was dumbstruck as the creature finally reached the snowy ground. The winds and snowfall around her lessened significantly thanks to the large creature blocking most of it from reaching Rainbow Dash with its wings.

“A pleasure to meet you, Rainbow Dash,” the massive blue dragon said to her. In a distinctly male voice.

“You’re… a dragon? A dragon all the way up here? Living somewhere cold?” Rainbow Dash rubbed her head.

The dragon tilted his head curiously, as Rainbow Dash got a closer look now she saw that his jaw was full of teeth longer than she was and he could’ve easily swallowed a bear whole. He wasn’t the biggest dragon she had ever seen or heard of but he was still pretty darn impressive. And the shadowed spikes she had seen silhouetted earlier rose all over his back and the bony spines of his wings like weeds.

“You know what I am? I’m surprised, I have no idea what you are,” the dragon said.

“Of course I know what you are. Who the hay doesn’t know what a dragon is?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “But then how do you not know what ponies are?”

“Ponies? I see, that’s what you are. I see,” the dragon nodded and a hearty chuckle emerged from his throat. “I have never seen your kind before in my life, I’m afraid. There’s never been a creature like you up here in these snowy mountains before. Me and my kin were the only ones for a long, long time. Others occasionally traveled through—or tried to—but we were the only ones who made this place our home. As I’m sure you realized from seeing the remains of those other creatures, it’s not a place most can live in.”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Yeah, I kind of got that.” She then frowned up at the big dragon as she realized something. “Were you… watching me?”

The dragon nodded. “I was. So very few things of interest come through here, I was curious. Well, not at first admittedly.” He chuckled.

“What do you mean?”

“I thought you were just going to die before a day had even passed so I didn’t bother paying any attention to you at first. Only when you kept somehow pushing on despite the cold eating away at you did I truly become interested in you, Rainbow Dash.”

Now that struck a nerve. “So you’ve just been flying around getting your kicks when you could’ve helped me?! I’ve been alone, barely making it through here, and all this time there was some big dragon who lives here and could’ve flown on down and at least given me some encouragement?!”

“I suppose you have the right to be angry, I’ve never bothered to show myself in front of the other creatures that have fallen victim to the cold. Though I could indeed have helped them as well,” the dragon stared off into the distance.

Rainbow Dash stomped a hoof down. “Then why didn’t you?!”

The dragon’s eyes looked back down at Rainbow Dash and he lowered his head so his chin was nearly touching the snow. “Apathy I suppose. But you surprised me. Your tenacity, your determination, how you’ve managed to survive so far despite being woefully unprepared for my home. You are a peculiar one, as I said. A creature I’ve never seen before that tries to shout down a deadly blizzard after marching her way through the snow and mountains far further than she should have ever been able to? I’ve never been so curious and interested in one of you travelers before.”

“Well thanks for helping, but that’s all I’m thanking you for,” Rainbow Dash glared at him.

The dragon was silent for a moment before raising its head and sitting back on its haunches, its huge wings still brought up like shields to protect Rainbow Dash. “Well I don’t blame you for your… displeasure at my behavior. I have lived a long time and seen many die. Perhaps I have become accustomed to it. Seeing small creatures like yourself who suffer and die so easily from the cold, I simply haven’t found it in me to care about your lives… until you.”

Rainbow Dash grit her teeth in anger, she would’ve spat on the snowy ground too if she could. “You’re awful.”

“Hm,” the dragon stared down at her and brought one claw up to his chin, stroking it. “Do you have any idea how old I am?”

“Well you’re a really big dragon so I’m guessing pretty old. Why?”

“Do you have any idea how long dragons like me have lived up here?”

“Of course not, duh.”

The dragon chuckled once more, finding amusement in Rainbow Dash’s answers and her lack of fear despite his size and how she was just previously on the brink of death thanks to the blizzard. “For thousands and thousands of years, we Ice Dragons called this place our home. I grew up alongside hundreds of my fellow dragons as we roamed these lands of ice and freezing cold. I myself have lived for well over one thousand of those years, flying where I desired, roosting on the highest peaks one could find, playing and competing with my brethren to see which of us was the biggest and strongest. I still remember those times fondly. But now those are little more than memories.”

Rainbow Dash frowned, a sinking feeling making itself known in her gut. “What happened? Where are all your friends now?”

“They died. Slowly over the years, the once great flock of dragons that lived here began to die off and there was nothing any of us could do,” the large dragon sighed. “My home is now a graveyard for my brothers and sisters as well, just as much as for any travelers like the ones you came across. My name is Raalzeron, and I am the last of the Ice Dragons and very soon there will be none of us left at all.”

“Look… I’m really sorry about all that, but-”

“I am not making an excuse for myself, Rainbow Dash,” Raalzeron smiled down at her. “I am merely explaining to you why I have become… detached. And used to death. A malaise has infested me for hundreds of years since the death of my last brother, a malaise of apathy and depression. Seeing little creatures like those white-furred ones and the antlered ones stirred nothing in my heart. You as well didn’t either, until I saw how hard you fought for survival. Curiosity, amusement… no, I do not think these were truly the things that made me come down and help you like I have. You have given me a new perspective, Rainbow Dash. Just from simply living like you have you have shown me something amazing.”

“Try awesome,” Rainbow smirked.

“Heh, awesome then,” Raalzeron smirked back before his face became much more somber. “I have been merely waiting around for death to claim me as well for a long time. And I did not help any of the other travelers who came through here, because of their small, short lives I knew death was inevitable for them at an even quicker pace than my own, no matter what I did to help them in the moment. I simply… did not care. And I know that was wrong. I always did, but simply had no desire or ability to change. Seeing death and knowing of its constant approach changed me from the dragon I was when my friends were still around.”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip as she thought about what the Ice Dragon had told her. She couldn’t really fathom what a life like his was like. Having lived so long and seeing all your friends dying one by one? Rainbow knew that if she was in that situation she wouldn’t handle it well either, or stay the same pony she was. And living alone for so long, not being able to connect with anyone. She shuddered at the thought. She didn’t forgive Raalzeron for not helping or even caring to change or do anything in the past, but she felt bad for him too.

“I guess you’ve been through a lot too. More than most other creatures I’ve met have,” Rainbow Dash said to him. “You’re right it’s not a good excuse or anything, it doesn’t excuse anything, cause I’ve known ponies and other creatures even older than you who have still tried to be their best and most awesome every day. But… I don’t blame you for getting depressed. So sorry, about everything.”

“Perhaps now we can get off on the right wing. Since I would like to make at least a small part of my mistakes up to you,” Raalzeron said.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him. “How?”

“Do not be panicked,” Raalzeron said and leaned toward her, opening up his mouth.

“Uhhh...” Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but take a small step back as a blue light emerged from the back of his throat.

A blast of blue “fire” came from the dragon, smothering Rainbow Dash. She squeezed her eyes shut and expected to be burned alive but realized she didn’t feel anything. Including cold. Rainbow Dash tentatively opened her eyes up and saw herself surrounded by the blue flames, with snowflakes? Somehow dancing inside them. Whatever this blue fire was, it swirled unnaturally around her, covering her completely, before wisps of it flew out towards her body. Rainbow Dash merely watched in amazement as the blue flames entered through her clothes and into her body, filling her with warmth as if she was flying around outside of Ponyville, or even somewhere tropical.

Soon it was all finished and the flames disappeared, having entered Rainbow Dash completely and done whatever it was they were doing.

Rainbow Dash looked up at him. “What did you do?”

Raalzeron grinned and folded his long arms and claws in front of his chest. “I have given you some of my magic and essence. The cold will no longer affect you, for a time.” He pointed at her. “Take off your clothes and see for yourself.”

Rainbow Dash glanced down at her winter clothes clad body and realized that with how she was feeling she probably didn’t need them anymore if he was telling the truth. With a happy smirk on her face she practically threw the clothes off, dropping her bag as well. To her amazement, all the frost and icicles she had expected to be clinging to her body were gone and even her wings were no longer frozen over.

“This is awesome!” Rainbow Dash flexed her whole body and flapped her wings a few times, she ran a hoof through her mane and tail, they felt just like normal.

“I’m glad you approve. And you’re heading south, right?” Raalzeron asked.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Rainbow Dash said while looking over her body some more. “No offense but I think I’ve had more than enough of snow. I kind of want to get out of here and get back on track when it comes to adventuring. From what you’ve said it doesn’t seem like I’m going to find anything else in this part of the world.”

“In that case I can help you further.”

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash glanced at him.

Raalzeron lowered his head to the ground and beckoned Rainbow Dash forth, rolling up his eyes to look up at the top of his head. “Hop on, I’ll take you to exactly where you need to go.”

Rainbow Dash stared open-mouthed at him for a moment before she smiled. “Guess I can add “Riding a dragon” to my list of awesome stuff I’ll have done on my adventure.”