Rainbow Dash Around the World

by MagicS


Eagle Eyed Discovery

Between the various rocky mountains Rainbow Dash flew over was a land of rocky canyons and crags that tore apart the surface of the earth. Nowhere was there even the hint of even ground. It was hotter here too now despite the altitude being a little higher, the ground below just reflected most of the heat so Rainbow almost felt like she was being baked from both sides. It probably wasn’t as hot as she thought but her body had yet to readjust to normal temperatures after being in the snow for so long. She couldn’t imagine how badly she’d handle a desert now.

It didn’t take long before the glare of the sun started coming in from her side—Celestia was starting to lower the sun.

“Hmm...” Rainbow Dash looked down at her cherries and then at the mountains below. “Maybe I should find somewhere to stop for the night? Doesn’t look like I’m getting through here in one day… could speed up but I might miss something.”

That was always the essence of it. She could have flown at her full, dazzling speed above everything, but she might miss something or someplace interesting or cool. And the purpose of her journey wasn’t just to fly around the world now but to have a really awesome time doing it. What kind of adventures would she miss if she was just a rainbow blur in the sky the whole time?

She deftly moved her bundle of cherries around and grabbed one to snack on. While chewing on that she checked out the mountains some more to see if maybe there was a spring tucked away somewhere. She wasn’t really tired yet or anything but she already had food and didn’t need to go around looking for anything else so if she saw a good place to land for the night she might as well take it. Considering her day started out on the other side of the northern walls she had already made a ton of progress anyways. Rainbow just hoped that tomorrow she’d finally find some life—pony life or something more than animals at least—and maybe some kind of town or settlement or something unnatural to show she was going the right way. Just a sign or even an abandoned house would be enough. There were plenty of those she came across in the north too.

It would all have to wait until tomorrow by the looks of it though. There just wasn’t anything in the mountains below her yet. Nothing unnatural at least.

The rocky mountains had an orange makeup to them, something exaggerated even more by the sunlight hitting them. Rainbow Dash had no idea what kind of stone made up mountains like these (she wasn’t Maud) but she did recall seeing similar stuff a long time ago when her and her friends all went to Appleloosa. These two places probably couldn’t be any farther apart though.

Rainbow soon grinned as she saw what she was looking for and dove sharply down to one of the mountains.


A blue ball of pony jumped into the small spring nestled on the side of the mountain and sprayed waves of water in every direction. Rainbow’s soaked mane and head then broke the surface of the water a second later as she breathed deeply to fill her lungs. “Ahhhhh~”

It was just about getting dark now and where Rainbow was most of the remaining sunlight was already blocked by rocks. She had spotted this little spring and thought it looked perfect thanks to it having some covered areas that would protect her from the wind and other elements when she decided to sleep. Her bounty of cherries was already piled up under the shadow of a rock jutting out over the water and some of the ground next to it.

It wasn’t a Five-Star hotel but Rainbow had slept in way rougher places before. And now she was getting a bath first too, what’s there to complain about?

“So much better,” Rainbow Dash said as she stepped out of the water and shook all over to dry herself off. Then reaching behind her and wringing out her tail.

Finding herself to be sufficiently dry she went over to her cherries and took a seat. Three ripe fruits went right into her mouth and three pits were spat out several feet away onto the ground. Rainbow Dash thought about checking out this mountain more or walking out right around the spring but knew she wouldn’t find anything anyways so decided not to. Despite it not even really being night yet, now that she stopped it’s like her fatigue was catching up to her all at once. She had woken up early in the first place and had done a lot. Not her busiest or most exhausting day by a long shot but she could use some rest for sure.

Like this she could wake up early tomorrow, right as dawn struck, and get the most out of the day. With that thought in her head, Rainbow Dash curled up on the ground and shut her eyes, waiting for sleep.


The next morning she left a pile of cherry pits behind at the spring and took to the sky while the sun was still just barely rising. Maybe she shouldn’t have eaten all of them but she wanted to have max energy for today. As if to undercut that idea, a big yawn came over her and Rainbow had to rub her eyes to get them back into focus. Seems like no matter how much she slept she wasn’t much of an early riser.

It was more of the same she saw below her in this early sunlight. The mountains didn’t offer much else. They were, however, getting bigger and the land between them was becoming far less broken. Not that it mattered to her since she could fly but it did make her think she was entering an area that would be easier for other ponies and creatures to travel through.

Which is why she was keeping an extra sharp eye out for such a thing or anything unusual. Any paths, any roads, any structures of any sort. If they were there she wasn’t going to miss them.

Rainbow Dash flapped her gums in boredom. “Come on, something, anything, I’m tired of just looking around!”

The pegasus still glided over some more empty mountains with nothing yet to show for it. The orange rocks beneath her lied dormant in the same spots they had for probably hundreds of years. A warm breeze was running through the sky and at least that was something Rainbow Dash could enjoy. Up ahead was a series of taller peaks than the average for the mountain range and Rainbow Dash sped up a little bit to check them out.

She fought the urge to do any loops or twirls for fun so she could focus on the ground. Her eyes scanned the first tall peak like a hawk looking for unassuming prey, the orange rock practically glowing in the sunlight. She saw movement but it turned out to be nothing more than a mountain goat. A good find if she was Fluttershy but not what she was looking for.

Rainbow was about to fly to the next peak when she saw something halfway up the mountain along its backside. It was so suddenly jarring that she jerked to a stop in midair.

There was a large circular platform carved out of the mountain, like an artificial summit or landing pad almost. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at it and quickly jetted right down to it. Her hooves landed with a clack on smoothly carved stone and she folded her wings in. The platform was easily a couple hundred feet wide with a stone railing around the edge to keep anyone from falling if they were on it. You could’ve fit a lot of ponies out here at once. What Rainbow Dash didn’t see though was a way up or down it from outside. There was no path or anything leading up it from the mountain. Her eyes glanced around to see if there was anything else and she finally found it nestled into the side of the mountain. A door.

“Oh,” Rainbow Dash blinked and walked over to it. “That makes more sense.”

When she approached she noticed the door was entirely covered in dust, probably unopened for ages, and it was made of a dull gray metal. It had the remnants of faded and chipped away brown paint on it except for the middle where Rainbow Dash could barely make out a “C” that had been painted in red. There was no simple handle or knob on it, instead a metal curtain looked like it descended from the top of the door and went flush up against the ground, not even offering the slightest of openings.

“Well this is great,” Rainbow frowned and knocked on the door, hearing a reverberating echo beyond it as she did so. “Hello? Anybody back there? Open up the door!”

Nothing. She pressed her ear up against the door to try and hear if anything was moving back there but it was totally silent. Whatever was built inside this mountain it didn’t seem like it was occupied right now, or at least not close to the door. For all she knew it could’ve been an open elevator shaft right behind this thing anyways.

Rainbow Dash sighed and pulled away, pacing around the platform. “Okay so I found something but I can’t get in… now what?”

She looked towards the other mountains around her and nodded. “Maybe there are more of these around here? Yeah, there have to be.”

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and took to the sky again, flying off to the next nearest mountain.