//------------------------------// // Not Used to the Heat Anymore // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// There was currently an issue Rainbow Dash was dealing with. She had overestimated how well she would be able to handle the heat of the south. It wasn’t even the desert yet and Rainbow Dash was already dying from the temperature of the arid plains and the hot sun overhead. She was flying over a dry, yellow grasslands that the green fields behind her to the north had turned into. Only small streams of water snaked through the low plains, barely enough to keep the grass alive. The earth below the grass was a dry brown, cracked, with pebbles strewn about and holes made by prairie dogs dotting it. She didn’t see any plants besides dried out shrubs that didn’t even reach shoulder height. There wasn’t a breeze to be found and the sun was just baking her from above. She was sweating and panting like crazy and the worst part was she knew it wasn’t even that hot out compared to how the actual desert would be. This should feel normal to her but her tolerance for heat had been completely shot. She knew she had had hotter days back in Ponyville. The way this was going, despite her wanting to quickly get through here and reach the desert already, she’d have to find a place to stop and cool down. Maybe there would be some more water up ahead. The empty sky told her that she certainly couldn’t hope for any rain. It was just so dry. The driest sort of heat imaginable. What she would’ve given to have a hat like Applejack’s right now. Or even something girlier that Rarity would wear. It’s not like there was anything to take her mind off the heat either. Here she was, out flying, and there was nothing around but a boring featureless plain of tall yellow grass. Without a traveling companion, game to play, or anything to look at, the oppressive heat just got to her more and more. The only thing around her that she saw that was enjoying the heat was a lizard out basking on a rock. Rainbow was considering stopping flying and setting down to walk, but in the end she still wanted to travel as fast as she could. She just wouldn’t overexert herself and pass out from heat stroke. So weird that she had struggled through the cold so much—worried about getting frozen—and now she had to deal with the exact opposite. The air shimmered in the distance, she hoped that meant she was at least getting close to the actual desert. Her mouth was starting to become dry and dehydrated, with her tongue losing all of its moisture. The bottom of her hooves were becoming as dry and cracked as the dirt she was flying over as well. Somehow she didn’t think things were going to be changing anytime soon. Unless she was allowed to jump into one of the supposed oases that existed in the desert, she was probably going to have to deal with being dried out and burnt out. If there was just a cloud or something to block the sun for a little while… but of course she couldn’t expect to be so lucky. “Celestia please, please, can’t your turn down the temperature at least a little?” Rainbow Dash asked up to the sky. Out of curiosity, she decided to ask Twilight if Celestia actually could do that the next time she saw her. No matter what though, she clearly wasn’t getting any relief today. It was still the middle of the afternoon too so she had a lot of time left to fly today before it got dark and she would consider stopping. The arid plain around her probably became the exact opposite at night—extremely cold. Much like she knew the desert did. That at least she was definitely still going to be able to handle a bit better, not like it could get as cold as the True North anyways. It was just how this part of the world and environments like deserts worked, nastily hot during the day, and nastily cold during the night. Swinging from one extreme to the other. Rainbow Dash didn’t know how or why things worked like that, they just did. Maybe by the end of this journey she’d be immune to any kind of extreme temperature. Would be helpful for other trips considering some of the crazy places the Cutie Map and her other adventures had taken her. Rainbow Dash flapped her dried gums as she flew on and wiped the sweat away from her brow. That might’ve been the last bit of moisture left in her body. Now she felt more like a dried up old leaf than a pony. How did Applejack work in the hot sun all the time like this? No, she knew that it still wasn’t that bad out. It was still mainly that her tolerance for hot weather was ruined. Once she got to the desert it would be the true test. At least she wasn’t hungry and she wasn’t dying of thirst just yet. The water and wildflowers she had eaten earlier were helping her out there. No matter where she looked she didn’t see anything else that looked edible though. Not unless she wanted to suddenly become carnivorous. Water on the other hoof would surprisingly be a little easier for her to find thanks to all the little streams, but it might not be the best water to drink. She’d have to take what she could get whether she liked it or not at this point. She didn’t need to dry out anymore than she already was. Rainbow wasn’t even in the mood to do any loops or anything fun while she was flying since the heat was being such a pain. Why exhaust herself even more? If there were clouds out she could’ve turned onto her back and cloud gazed as she flew south. But instead she had nothing. Nothing but a wide plain spreading out in every direction. Wood Chips and Wheatie had said that the desert was colossal in size, totally dwarfing the forests to the north. Did that include this plain that existed between them? If it didn’t, Rainbow wouldn’t be surprised to spend well over a month flying through the desert, especially since it was going to be the type of place she couldn’t just recklessly push herself through. Even back in the north, she could at least eat snow. You couldn’t do that with sand. Same with making a temporary shelter to protect herself from the elements. Rainbow Dash frowned. The more she thought about it, traveling through a desert, alone, with no supplies and no local currency, might be a lot worse than traveling through the snowscape of the north had been. It was quite possibly even more desolate, empty, harsh, and unforgiving than the snowy lands of the north. And she was going into it woefully, and knowingly, unprepared. And she knew that the locals weren’t going to like her very much. “Maybe I’m going to need to stop in One Hump Oasis or whatever for more than just a day or two...” Rainbow grimaced. She’d have plenty of time to think about that as the sun continued to beat down on her, with no signs of civilization yet in sight.