//------------------------------// // Redwood Forests and Rocky Roads // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash sat slumped against a tree in the middle of the night. It was pretty cold in the forest and a fire probably would’ve done her some good, but she didn’t have any rocks or really anything to contain it with and she didn’t want to accidentally burn the forest down. So for now she was just shivering in the chilly night and completely unable to get to sleep. At least there weren’t any bears, or Ursa Minors, out to give her trouble. That’s the least of what she needed right now. She looked up at the sky through the canopy of redwoods and saw a few clouds floating under the bright full moon. A cloud bed would probably be much more cozy and comfortable right now but Rainbow Dash was too apathetic to bother. When she got tired enough she’d curl up in the roots of this tree and sleep like that. If she woke up a shivering mess then whatever, no big deal. “Hoo, hoo~” The hooting of an owl reached her ears, Rainbow looked up into the branches of the trees around her but she couldn’t spot it. “Hope you’re having a better night than I am,” Rainbow mumbled. There were probably lots of other owls and small critters in the forest, most of which would keep their distance from her. A breeze blew through the trees and Rainbow Dash shivered, wrapping her hooves and wings around her body. Already she was regretting letting this malaise she was in make her make stupid decisions. Extra punishment for letting herself get into such a funk and depression in the first place. She should’ve been more active, working harder to get over it or deal with it better. Crying and mourning was one thing, falling into this slothful mode was another. This wasn’t about being contemplative anymore it was about her simply being unable to move past it. Oh she really wished she had a fire and some food right now. At some point she had fallen asleep and she woke up to a bank of fog rolling through the forest. Seemed like it was just barely past dawn, a lot of moisture was in the air along with that same kind of early morning chilliness. She shivered herself awake before she had even opened her eyes and stood up from the base of the redwood tree she had slept by. In truth it was hardly the worst sleep she had gotten or the most uncomfortable she had been upon waking, but it wasn’t great either. With nothing else to do, Rainbow Dash resumed her walk south through the forest. Despite the fog and the early hour, it was still fairly bright out and Rainbow Dash could see far into the forest. It was nice to not be snow blind at least. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a rabbit dart from tree to tree, something that would normally elicit at least a small smile from her but just did nothing now. After a few more feet of walking, Rainbow Dash sneezed. Rubbing her nose she frowned down at the ground. “Great, just great, wonder if I’m coming down with something now?” She looked up at the sky she could still just barely see through the branches and needles. “Wouldn’t be a surprise...” Her physical condition would just match her mood then. Still, Rainbow wasn’t the type to just stand around and sneeze or worry about being sick. She had places to go after all. Even if she didn’t really know what might come after Pinetree Warren or how long she’d stay in a small village like that to begin with. It would probably help her out to be around some new ponies with new faces and new friends to make. Weird how much she tried to avoid slow, relaxing, boring places on this adventure normally but that’s what she was craving now. Just a place where she could sit down, eat a nice dinner with a friendly family of ponies, and catch up with herself for a day or two before moving on. She just needed to channel that part of her that loved naps and being lazy when there wasn’t anything cool to do. Because for the moment it made her cringe when she thought of adventure. It felt selfish. It felt like she wasn’t considering at all what had happened, and she knew it was wrong to just say “Oh well, time to go be awesome somewhere else!” without really taking into account how serious things could be. And without giving respect or thinking enough about the ponies she had failed. “Ugh,” Rainbow Dash shook her head and kept walking along. “Stupid feelings. I’ll find a way to deal with this my own way.” Considering how much she was used to brushing things off or talking it out with her friends, she really didn’t know how to deal with this all alone right now. Before she had even noticed it, her hooves came to a slight gap in the forest where the ground had changed beneath her. No longer dirt and grass but gravel made up the ground and it went in a long path heading northeast and southwest before disappearing down a curve in both directions. She had found a road. Rainbow Dash kicked a few loose pieces of gravel by her hooves, it was impossible to tell when the last pony or vehicle had traveled down here, and she wasn’t sure if she should start traveling down it either. According to the maps, Pinetree Warren existed directly south of the mountain she had come out of. And if there was any obstruction that this road was made to circumvent it wouldn’t really matter since Rainbow Dash had wings. Walking down it would probably just be an inconvenience that made her trip take even longer. Wondering if there were any other roads like this though, Rainbow Dash used her wings for the first time today and flew high up above the redwoods. The fog had more or less lifted by this point and Rainbow Dash was able to spot a few gray lines etched out in the forest that indicated more roads. It seems they roamed all over the forest and hills now, probably going to Pinetree Warren, those other places Rainbow had seen on the map in the library, and maybe all the way up to Oreville or even as far as the Weeping Mountain. No matter which one she looked at though she didn’t see any ponies traveling down them at the moment. This part of the world was rather quiet—barren might have been the better word. And since she still wasn’t in the mood to fly that much and had gotten all the information she needed, Rainbow Dash descended back down to the forest floor. She stretched her hooves and body when she landed, some soreness from her poor sleep still with her, and started walking again. The forest that existed past the road was full of overgrown grass and shrubs and she kept a lookout for anything edible once again. If need be she could just eat the grass but she really wanted something a little more filling and tasty. After another hour of walking her hooves had gotten tired and Rainbow Dash decided to take a short break. “Wonder if this place has a name?” Rainbow idly thought as she looked around at the tall redwoods. Some of their trunks were considerably thick and the tallest might have gotten close to 300 feet. “Everfree Forest, Whitetail Woods, Hayseed Swamp… The Big Dumb Forest?” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and got back to walking after less than five minutes. She would never consider herself a forest pony at all but she had sure been in a lot of them in her life. Not so many on this adventure but that was already changing after she came to this side of the world. And she’d probably be in this one, or at least in a foresty area, for a good while longer. She just couldn’t think of a good reason to hurry up yet.