“You know I really would’ve appreciated if you could’ve told me beforehand that there was another desert south of Hoofica,” Rainbow Dash said to Wish as the two of them walked through a wide sea of sand.
“Well I didn’t know. I’ve never been out of Hoofica before,” Wish shrugged and frowned at her.
“Great education you got in school...” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
Four days it had taken for them to fly from the middle of Hoofica to the southern border, stopping occasionally for food and sleep and saying hello to new ponies. While also spreading the news about what had happened and reassuring the ponies of Hoofica that yes—it was safe to start smiling and be happy again. It had been a nice trip, an easy trip that they both needed, but now it was time to move on. The relaxed days were likely ending soon as Rainbow Dash, and Wish with her, entered the next leg of her adventure. And unfortunately that meant traveling through a desert for now.
Rainbow looked out across the desert, seeing nothing but sand and sloping sand dunes in the distance. “Great… just great.” She looked back down at the filly and raised an eyebrow. “So these are your first steps out of the country, huh?”
“Yeah,” Wish nodded.
“How’s it feel?”
“I dunno. Doesn’t really feel special or anything to be honest,” Wish shrugged. “I think it probably would’ve been really amazing to me… but now I guess I don’t really care.”
Rainbow Dash patted her head. “You’re still dealing with a lot of stuff. I’m sure eventually you’ll get that excited feeling back. I’ll help you with that too if you need it.”
“Mm,” Wish noncommittally nodded.
At least she isn’t crying or just totally depressed anymore. Rainbow Dash bit her lip as she thought that. There was obviously a lot Wish was still dealing with internally, and probably trying to ignore. But Rainbow really wasn’t any kind of therapist or had any idea of how to help the filly deal with those issues. Her answer was “time”. Time and being there to support her if Wish asked or obviously needed it. That was all she could do right now.
The good news was, Rainbow Dash had spent the last few days chowing down to excess at any place they stopped and she was more or less back to normal. Being out in the fresh air, getting some good exercise, sleeping in nice beds, it had all gone a long ways to fixing her health and body. No longer were her ribs visible and her mane and coat lacking in luster.
Now at least they were going into this with full stomachs. She was a little worried when it came to Wish’s ability to travel like this, but the filly hadn’t complained about anything yet and Rainbow Dash could always just easily carry her if she got tired of walking.
In fact the only reason they were walking right now and not flying was because Rainbow wanted to give Wish something to do. Make her get a little exercise and not let her get bored so her mind wanders. She didn’t need to be trapped in her own head right now.
“Okay, let’s get moving. Let’s get to the top of those dunes at least and see what else is out here,” Rainbow Dash said, pointing to the sand dunes ahead.
There was no way this place could be as big as the Great Camel Desert at least. No way. It thankfully also wasn’t as hot as that northern desert so that was a plus. The sand was warm but not scorching and the sun wasn’t a harsh killer on her back. Traveling through it wouldn’t be so terrible as her last tryst with a desert. Probably just boring.
It was all just sand after all. More boring sand.
Another key difference though was how white this sand was compared to the more yellow-orange sand of the Great Camel Desert. Whatever this desert was, its sand was almost as white as snow.
“I think I really don’t like deserts,” Wish said as she trudged through the sand. “But maybe I can finally get my Cutie Mark in desert exploring or something.”
Rainbow Dash snorted. “Fat chance of that. You don’t need to worry so much about not having a Cutie Mark anyways.”
“Easy to say for the pony who already has hers.”
“Heh, seriously, it’s not like you’re older than normal for getting your mark or anything. I bet most foals your age don’t have their Cutie Mark. You’re what, six or something, right?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at her.
Wish frowned and glared up at her. “I’m eight!”
“Oh, big difference,” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
“It is!” Wish said in annoyance.
As they kept walking along, Rainbow Dash got a devilish look on her face. “Hmm… I guess if you’re really not just a little kid anymore, then you wouldn’t like it at all if I did this!”
She quickly jumped over to the filly and grabbed her before tossing her into the air, then catching her on the way down and tossing her up again.
“Waah! Rainbow Dash!” Wish cried out in surprise and nervousness as Rainbow tossed her up. “What are you doing?!”
“Having fun with a little kid!” Rainbow Dash laughed as she threw Wish up again and again, darting over the sand and catching her each time.
“W-W-Well stop it!”
“Really?” Rainbow Dash grinned. “I guess maybe I should. This is the kind of thing a four year old would enjoy, not a big and mature eight year old like you. You’re too old for this, huh?”
“Yes! Now put me down!”
Rainbow Dash threw her up even higher one last time and pretended she wasn’t going to grab her before she hit the sand—when at the last moment she reached out and safely caught her. She grinned at the filly and raised an eyebrow. “Well? Did you have fun?”
Wish angrily glared at her… before her expression changed at the honest smirk on Rainbow Dash’s face. A small smile crawled up Wish’s lips and she started giggling at the pegasus.
“You’re dumb.”
“You can say that again,” Rainbow Dash laughed and put Wish back down on the sand. “And you’re a kid. Don’t feel so bad about it. You don’t need to grow up so fast, you can still act your age and have fun doing silly stuff like this. You’re never a kid again. And you definitely don’t need to try forcing that Cutie Mark to appear—believe me—it’ll come when it comes. So just relax some more, just relax and let me treat you like a kid. I’m a dumb adult but I’m still an adult, I at least know a thing or two.”
Wish snorted. “Fine. I know I’m not that old or anything...”
“Yeah, and be happy for that. Now come on and walk with me, let’s see what else is going on in this desert,” Rainbow said and took the two of them closer to the sand dunes she had spotted earlier.
“I’m going to guess sand,” Wish said.
“Well… probably,” Rainbow Dash sighed.
The two of them took about ten minutes to crest the nearest sand dune and get a look out at the rest of the desert. As expected, it was just more sand in every direction, didn’t look like the desert was ending anytime soon. A cactus or something would’ve been nice but instead the two of them spent their time looking at white sand with no obstruction. She knew that further south there was something called the “Green Divide” according to Cart D’Evron but she didn’t know how far exactly it was. After that it was the country of Vissidia, which hopefully was a lot nicer than Hoofica had been.
“Go figure,” Rainbow Dash shook her head. She motioned to Wish to get on her back. “Hop on, kid. Let’s speed things up.”
“Alright,” Wish said and jumped on. “Do you even really know where we’re going next?”
“Sort of.”
“Sort of?”
“I know what’s south, but I don’t know how far, or where exactly to go. Or much about what’s there at all aside from the name.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“Yeah, yeah… I know what I’m doing.”
Rainbow Dash didn’t fly away with her for the moment, but instead continued to walk. It was just at a faster pace than Wish could manage with her shorter legs. She started whistling after a minute, and a smile came to her face when she heard Wish join in.