Rainbow Dash flew over the last dredges of the Great Camel Desert on her journey south. A journey finally renewed after helping Daring Do and Miss Valentine stop Shining Diamond. She was happy for it though, those adventures were once again practically the reason she was doing this in the first place. But now she was back on her way, traveling south without distraction.
Three days ago it had been that Lorg the dragon carried her on his back away from Camelback and to the southern oasis of Broken Hoof. He had been slightly more agreeable to helping Rainbow Dash than Shining Diamond’s minions since she was part of the group that rescued him. After that it was a day of recuperation and she was off to the skies again.
She was not going to miss the desert. The sand. The heat. None of it.
“I can’t believe I miss snow,” Rainbow Dash blinked as the sudden realization dawned on her. “I really can’t.”
Her mood had improved considerably though compared to when she had first entered the Great Camel Desert. While the fight with Supernova had perturbed her, the success and survival of her friends filled her with hope and satisfaction. That was proof. Proof that she wasn’t wrong to come here, proof that she was needed and could help while traveling on her journey.
And it was because of that that she just felt so… relaxed. And happy. For the first time in a long time she could just happily fly over the world.
A smile broke out on her face as she looked at the horizon. “Sometimes, life is really awesome.”
The hot desert sand that covered an entire country eventually gave way to a yellow, dry, grassland. It was still hot and desolate but at least different from rolling sand dunes stretching everywhere. Rainbow Dash would take it. It showed she was making good progress and since it was fairly early in the day she could travel across a great deal more of these grasses before stopping. Squinting her eyes she was fairly sure she saw trees in the distance, so this place wasn’t just a complete wasteland of dry grass and heat. Maybe. Maybe there was water somewhere too? At least she had moderately gotten used to the desert heat after all that time, so the harsh sun above her now wasn’t so terrible.
Clouds were still an uncommon feature of the sky here, there wasn’t much to look at above or below where she was flying yet. No animals that she could see so far. Not much color aside from yellow. It would probably remain like that until she actually got to those trees.
For not the first time, Rainbow wished she was the kind of pony who could really appreciate quiet landscapes and pure nature like this. If she had a poet’s heart maybe she could really find some beauty here or come up with something special to say about it all. But while she didn’t hate the quiet world of nature or anything, it didn’t really do anything for her either. She knew that if she spent a whole day just flying over stuff like this she’d get bored.
Flips, dips, dives, corkscrews, she took the opportunity to do them all just to shake off the monotony of flying straight ahead. She was in a good enough mood to goof around anyways. It’s not like there was anything specifically for her to fly towards either.
What was south of the desert? Cart D’Evron had told her some things. Giraffes, a huge kingdom that had vanished or something, and then some really nice place with lots of farms and flowers or whatever. She’d have to see it for herself. At least one of those things sounded like it could give her another big adventure.
He had really warned her to not keep going directly south after the giraffe’s homes. Saying to go east or west instead.
Rainbow was definitely thankful for his kindness, but the warnings just made her more excited.
She wondered how he and his company were doing? Seemed like he was leading a pretty steady life, maybe he would even reap the rewards of the Crystal Sea. She hoped so, he helped her out back there when he really had no reason to. Well, if he did suddenly find himself wealthier, she could consider that as paying him and his company back.
After less than an hour, the grasses beneath her started to gain a little more color. It wasn’t a spectacular change but it was something. Things were more green now and small amounts of water were visible, dotting the land. Just simple watering holes. What really caught her attention were the large trees that she could now see and fly around directly. Hugely thick trunks, possibly thicker than any other tree she had seen, with flowering branches and green canopies only at the very top. They stood out in the grasslands like sentinels, far taller than anything else.
“Wow,” Rainbow Dash said as she flew towards a nearby one and checked it out. She searched around its leaves and—aha! Found fruit nestled inside. Safe to eat? She’d take her chances.
Pulling one of the fruits off the tree was easy. Opening the dry outer shell was not. She flew down to the ground and found a rock, pounding the fruit on it until it finally opened up and she could get at the good stuff inside. Rainbow took a hoofful of the seeds and pulp from inside it and ate it with nary a second thought.
She chewed for a while and swallowed it down, shrugging. “Decent.”
After that she flew back up to the top of the tree, it was probably close to a hundred feet tall, and took a big look south. Things got greener and greener the further she could see, with more trees not just like these huge monsters in the distance. Hills too to the east and west, and she was certain she saw some birds flying around as well.
“Somewhere new, huh?” Rainbow Dash grinned. “I’d say I’m making pretty good progress.”
She flapped her wings and took off south at faster speed. Traveling around the world didn’t stop.