Rainbow's Lonesome Road

by Centurion Pike-Wall

Desert

Void was burning up. That shouldn't be a surprise; she was in a desert after all, and she was hot back on the farm. But back then, she had access to a decent amount of food and, more importantly, water. Now, she had a canteen, some bread, and a few apple chips. She would have to conserve. Not for long of course, as Attaistown was closer then Appleousa, and that took only about a day and a half to reach.

For now though, she would have to conserve. She may also want to travel at night. She had been told not to by Plow. She said that was when all of the predators were out. It would also take longer to reach her destination. But she decided it was worth the risk; she could conserve water and food this way. So, when she found a cave a few miles from the burning farm, she took off her Pith hat, placed it on the ground, and laid her head on it. However, she could simply not fall asleep. so, she just laid there for hours.

Her thoughts drifted from subject to subject, fast as she could fly-Oh. Right. She couldn't. In fact, what was left for her? Her old home was closed to her, and her new one was torched. The creatures that had helped her were dead, or Faust knows where. She had to her name, a dirty, bloodstained knife and a looted satchel of stuff that would be useless in a few days. Why continue on? Why not just, end her pain?

No. She couldn't think like that. She had to press on. She couldn't just give up and die. She i-WAS rainbow dash! If her friends hadn't screwed her, she could have been a wonderbolt! She was the most awesome pony that had ever been born! Well, maybe that wasn't true, but that kind of exaggeration helped her. She wouldn't let this, this, Desert, kill her.

With new found resolve, she righted herself, gazing hard into the shimmering air. "You hear me!? You ain't gonna kill me! My name is Void Danger Streak, and I ain't gonna just lay down and die! I will beat you! And I will laugh in your face as I wipe my flank on you!!"

The deserts response? A sandstorm heading right for her cave. "Oh come on!"

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Fortunately, there was a nook in the back of the cave. Tucking herself into it, she did manage to get some sleep. When she woke, she saw a massive pile of sand in front of the cave, and a fine layer of it covering the floor. Shaking out her bag and cloak, she climbed over the pile and into the dark desert air. The air was cold, approaching that of late fall. A cold wind shot an equally cold wall of sand into her face. Simply pulling down her goggles over her eyes solved the problem though. Wrapping the cloak, she began to look around.

The same rocks. The same dunes. The same cacti. Even the same wind-blown walls of sand. All of it was the same, but just smothered in a shroud of darkness. She pulled out her map, using the light of Luna's moon to see the markings on the piece of paper. She knew she had to go south about another 45 miles, before turning east and going another 12 miles. She then realized a very important problem; she had no compass. And without one, she had no way on knowing where she was going. She felt helpless at this point, when hope, quite literally, hit her in the face.

A bright light shined down on her face, causing her to lower the map so she could cover eyes with her hoof. Even through her goggles, the light was blinding! It faded after a few seconds, and when she looked up to see what blinded her, she was a bright star. She remembered from a survival course she took, that that was the North Star. And since that was north..... "Then that, " she said, turning around and pointing directly away from the star, "Must be south."

She began to walk along, moving at a steady pace. She hoped to get quite far before morning. She knew that the sun got hottest around noon, so she wanted to be out of the sun at that point, and only traveling during night and the cooler points in the day. She keep up her steady pace, however her hooves soon began to ache. The only reason that it hadn't taken so long to get to Appleousa was because it was relatively flat, and she had another long to help bear the load. Here, dunes and large rocks obscured her view, making a simple and smooth progress impossible. She was soon much more tired then she had been while moving along to Appleousa, despite having a smaller cargo to haul. She knew she could be there in a few hours if she could fly, but now, all she could do was slog along.

Eventually, the sun came up, shining a bright light that tried once again to blind her. She was prepared however, and just proceeded on, her goggles blocking out the sun. The air once again became soupy, ripples of air distorting her sight, even behind her goggles. After a certain point, the heat became unbearable, forcing her to seek shelter from it. Her salvation from the heat came in the form of a indent in the sandy earth; A cave.

She slipped inside, careful not to knock any rocks loose, in case something called this cave home. She set down her satchel and, drawing her knife, moved toward the back of the cave. Even after she lifted up her tinted goggles, she could barely see. Silently Praying she wouldn't accidentally run into one of the creatures she had been told inhabited this desert, she moved on. Eventually, she reached the back end of the cave, finding that it opened up into a massive cavern.

The good news was the cave was empty of stuff that could kill her. The bad news? Inside the cavern, sitting atop a massive pile of gems and gold, sat a dragon. It was very similar to the one she and the others had to move from that mountain a while back. However, instead of red and gold scales, this ones were a deep purple and light indigo. She (Void guessed it was a she) appeared to be lightly sleeping, maybe if Void could back up slowly....

Suddenly it sat up, stretched, and looked DIRECTLY at her. It yawned, and said in a scratchy yet distinctly female voice, "Hello, there, pony. Might I ask what you are doing in my cave?"

Void gulped, then replied, "I-I'm NOT a thief, if that's what your wondering! It-its just...Really hot outside, and the cave-"

The dragon once more yawned, then said sleepily, "That is all I need. If you don't steal anything, then you may stay in the cave, little pony. It is hot in this desert, and I do allow travelers to use the cave. That is why it is so easy to spot. You may stay until nightfall."

"Thank you, Ms....."

"Blister."

With that, Void went back up to her supplies. She was quite thirsty, and so allowed herself a small sip to quench it. Soon, the minutes turned to hours, and the moon appeared once more on the horizon. So, she hoisted herself out of the cave, relocated the North Star, and proceeded on her way.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

About 3 days later

Things were not looking too good for Void. Most of her food was gone, and she had little water left. Like she suspected, it did take longer for her to travel by night and the cooler parts of the day did eat up more supplies. She supplemented her bread and apples with a few cacti she had judged to be safe to eat. Since she hadn't gotten sick, she guessed she was right. Other then that, she had been unable to find anymore food and, much more importantly, water. She had once thought she saw an oasis, but it was just a mirage.

One piece of good news surfaced during her trek. After about 2 days of walking, she had found a landmark on the map. The devils spire. It was just a massive, spiral shaped piece of weathered rock sticking out of the desert sand. But it was important, as it marked the point where she was to turn east. Waiting for the sun to come up, when it did, she began to walk toward it. Being careful not to look up too high, she once more went on her way.

The problem from here was much more serious. She was often unable to find shade from the merciless sun, and so was forced to just press on. Her water was disappearing much faster as well. Not just from her consumption, but from evaporation when the cork was off. Even if it was only for a few seconds, she could still feel precious water leak out of the leather and metal canister. As such, she tried to use as little as possible, both to last as long as possible, and to make sure she could haves something to potentially use to fill up if she found more.

As she walked, her thoughts drifted. Namely as to why this Hellhole existed in the first place. If Celestia was so benevolent, why did her sun cause this place to be so uninhabitable? What was the point of this place, if not to serve as a Useless piece of land, to keep her ponies contained? Actually, the more dash thought, the more her theory seemed to make sense. The frozen north and the southern desert, both of which could only really be caused by the sun (Either too much or too little), kept the Equestrians isolated from the hardships of those places.

Her mind was ripped from these thoughts, when the sand began to shift under her hooves. Suddenly, several holes opened around her, Diamond Dogs popping out of each. These ones were vastly different from Shepard. These ones were wiry, wore armor and had spears. The leader was a small mutt, wearing a leather jerkin and had a club grasped in his paw. In all, there were only three. The one with the club and jerkin, and the two with spears and crude plate.

"Heh heh heh. What do we have here? A pony, all on her lonesome. Easy pickin's. Now, kindly hand over any and all valuables. and we may, I don't know, let you live." the leader growled out. The other two dogs laughed stupidly, like this was the funniest joke in the world.

Void replied, "I don't have anything of value. The most expensive thing I have is this knife."

The leader growled at this. "Well, if we can't get anything from you, we'll just sell you to somebody willing to pay. I hear Verko in Klugetown pays quite a lot for ponies. Get her, boys!"

Comments

[Tunefulsubset72]

I can't help but blame the elements for this

[Speedy Silverstreak]

9051627
I thought this story established that back when Dash was blasted into the log saw by Twilight?

[Centurion Pike-Wall]

9051724
No, this was established when they considered using memory erasal as a means to keep the main 6 together.

[Speedy Silverstreak]

9051725
Okay

[Stevanater]

Man that desert must really hate rainbow o and equestrian

[Mocha Star]

1) good story and plot. Missing world building, but I like the idea.

2) GET AN EDITOR.

3) GET AN EDITOR.

4) use [HR ] instead of thirty '+' because they read in TTS. Literally every '+' used is read. Sometimes thrice a chapter.

5) Have I mentioned that you need an editor? Because hearing Rainbow deal with bodily functions, because misspelling a word, is laughable.

6) keep writing, overlooking the above, this is a good story.
👍🏽

[Mocha Star]

9047362
Don't change a story to please your readers. Stick to what you're doing or it'll run off on you and crash.
I'm speaking from experience, just do you and take the comments just as that; comments.

[Centurion Pike-Wall]

9052007
I was planning on doing just that. I do need an editor, but am currently working on that. Thank you for your support of this story.

[Mocha Star]

9052037
I forgot and just remembered. Use ponyisms, like buck, feather, etc.
Using asterisks to blank a word is just... Don't do it unless it's part of an actual sentence or reference.

[Centurion Pike-Wall]

9051999
Dealing with number 5 of your list, exactly where is that? Both for me to fix it and for me to laugh at it.

[Mocha Star]

9052051
I don't recall each where, but it was within the last few chapters.

Also

have 2 alicorns

don't use numbers unless they're part of an address, phone, or id. Otherwise, write the numbers out.

[Texus]

The frozen north and the southern desert, both of which could only really be caused by the sun (Either too much or too little), kept the Equestrians isolated from the hardships of those places.

I love this theory and I really hope something like that happens, that Tempest and her defeat Celestia even if they maybe also defeat the storm king in the end.

I just got it in my head that they join each other later.