Rainbow Dash's Unstoppable Ego

by MagicS

No Strings Attached

Two days after leaving, Rainbow Dash flew over a frozen landscape… again. After leaving the mammoth city she had spent so much time in, this was a sight she hadn’t really seen in a long time. Nothing but rolling hills of snow were beneath her, with freezing winds blowing across them. She had entered yet another desolate area of the True North.

And she had to wonder if her biggest adventures were already behind her.

I mean just thinking about it; what she had done in the mammoth city and then in the Eternal Pegasus Empire before that, could anything else compare? She really, really, hoped so. It was difficult to conceive of fighting someone even stronger than Karkona though, since his strength and toughness even surpassed Blizzard’s by a wide margin. What kinds of other monsters and villains were up here for her? There had to be something grand again, another big adventure that would leave her fully satisfied. And if she still wasn’t she’d keep going and going until she was.

It wasn’t even the fights that made her think she might have had her greatest moments already either. She completely changed around an ancient civilzation, she turned those pegasi’s lives on their heads. And then when she got to the mammoths she did the exact opposite but it was just as important to keep them from going back down the wrong path. Even her little tryst in the huge storm was a relatively big deal.

So what more was there up in the True North?

“Maybe… do I just go home?” Dash thought for a moment, slowing down and looking back over her shoulder. She had already been heading north since leaving the mammoths but it wouldn’t take long to go back south past the city. But did she really want to? Defeating Karkona in battle definitely left her way more satisfied than how she beat Blizzard—and then she got to knock his block off for real right after too. It certainly couldn’t be denied that she had already had an epic adventure.

Rainbow Dash slowly grinned and turned to look back north. “Nope, it’s been fun but it still hasn’t been enough for me. I’m still going!”

Her mind made up, she flapped her wings hard and zoomed off towards the horizon and whatever her next destination might be.

---

The following morning brought her to a new world entirely.

Ice Valley. She had flown past some mountains after waking and came out into a huge country of ice and stone canyons that split the ground for miles upon miles in every direction. Some of the canyons were hundred of feet wide while others only a few dozen across. It was all part of a mountain range that in sheer size was probably only rivaled by the Yaket Range to the south.

The city known as Ice Valley was built into the massive chasms of the glaciers and mountains, showing Rainbow Dash a kind of city unlike any other she had seen so far in her life. The name though… she had had the luck of flying past a mountain road directly south of the city proper with a huge billboard on it that read the city’s name, and something about that name was familiar but she couldn’t remember where she had heard it.

“Meh, whatever.” Rainbow Dash shrugged and flew over the city, taking in all the sights she could.

It looked like in the walls of the canyons there were homes, apartments, whatever you want to call them, built right in and going up and down from the very bottom to the very top. On the surface above the canyons there were a lot of buildings too and she even saw a number that lied at the bottom floor of some canyons. When they weren’t just completely covered in ice that is. The structures all had a modern look to them, metal and cement being the primary building material, and it reminded her a lot of Manehattan and—less kindly—Klugetown. It just seemed to stretch on and on with no planning too. One canyon would lead into another, which would have several more branching canyons and crevices, and all the walls were just as covered in levels of apartments and offices as anywhere else in the sprawling city. Lots of bridges, catwalks, ropeways, and wires stretched the distance between the sides of the canyon at all levels to allow easy travel from any spot to another.

“How am I even going to find or keep track of anything in this place?” Dash asked herself.

She eventually came to a spot where no mountains stood directly north or south of the canyon, allowing anyone to freely look out into the great expanses beyond the area Ice Valley was built in. The ground surface in this place was flat and had a lot of buildings on top of it that were bustling with creatures around them. Rainbow Dash shrugged and figured this was as good a place as any to set down and try to find her way around here.

As she got closer she noticed that there weren’t just ponies or any one type of creature wandering around—there was a majority of ponies but there were also griffons, reindeer, snow-colored wolves that reminded Dash of the Frost Wolves, moose, and some guys that looked kind of like short and fat bears. Rainbow Dash didn’t know what they were at all. Either way everyone was peacefully walking or flying around together, something which made her happy to see. So far in the True North she hadn’t seen any places like this where you could find all sorts of different creatures together. It was just like how Equestria was now.

No one really took any extra notice of her coming down either, so they must’ve been used to travelers or thought she was just any random pony who already lived here and was flying in. Thinking about the billboard she thought they probably did get a lot of travelers and saw it as normal. And were likely just as welcoming.

Rainbow Dash plopped down on a wide cross-street between a number of buildings on the south side of the canyon. Her hooves clacked against the metal surface that covered the ground—no natural stone or dirt streets here, it looked to all be covered with a thin sheet of blue steel.

“Nice,” Rainbow said as she looked around. The creatures that lived here were going every which way and that up and down the streets and Dash had no idea which direction to go in first.

Especially since she didn’t even really know where she wanted to go first or what she was even looking for. All the other places she had been to so far in the True North she had been guided through at the beginning and had someone around to tell her about the place. Not so with Ice Valley. The total freedom and lack of knowledge made it daunting with how big and crazy the place was. Who did she talk to? What did she do? Where did she get a bite to eat?

Actually, that last one was a clear goal, wasn’t it? So she might as well figure it out first.

Rainbow Dash looked around and saw a tan earth pony who was walking kind of slowly and leisurely down the street going east along the canyons. He didn’t look particularly busy so she figured he’d be a good pony to ask for directions and stuff.

“Hey!” She flew over and put a hoof on his shoulder to get his attention and stop him.

The stallion looked surprised and cocked his head at her while the stream of ponies and other creatures continued to go on around them. “Yes? What is it?”

“Sorry to bother you but I’m new here, do you know where I can find someplace to eat? And maybe a place to stay too?” She asked.

“Oh, well I think so,” a small but friendly smile appeared on his face. “So you’re new to Ice Valley? I know it can be a bit confusing here, we always have travelers and tourists coming in and asking for directions.”

“Guilty,” Rainbow Dash grinned.

“Well you’re in a little luck at least. There’s a good hotel on this side of the canyon that also provides food for its lodgers,” he turned around and pointed west. “You keep going down this street and you almost can’t miss it. It’s a blue three-story building with a black roof built on the surface level. There’s a banner that says “Hotel” on it right in front of it too. Since you can fly I think you’ll find it alright, but if you follow the street you just need to remember to take a left at the Wolverine Pub, and then another quick right down Street 11-D. Just pay attention to the signs.”

“Thanks, pal!” Rainbow Dash said and gave a quick wave goodbye.

“Don’t mention it! Have a nice stay,” he replied, and the two went off on their separate ways.

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and flew up a little, not above the buildings but enough to be over the heads of anyone walking. Now she could figure out the layout of the place and where she needed to go while also making sure she could easily talk to anybody. Just like that pony said it was pretty easy for her to follow the way and get to the hotel. The streets all had designations that were up on signposts whenever you got to a corner—and this street led directly to a large building with a crude sign on it called “Wolverinez”. Which Rainbow Dash could only assume made it the Wolverine Pub too.

She had no idea what a wolverine was but she saw a number of those small bear-looking creatures walking into the pub and figured that’s what they were. It was as good a guess as any.

So now she went left and then kept her eyes open for a sign saying 11-D on it, which came up as quickly as the pony said it would. With a grin, Rainbow Dash headed right down that street and with her superior view she saw right down the way to the hotel that pony had described.

“He was right, that was easy! Place better have plenty of rooms though,” Dash said as she sped up her flight a little.

There weren’t as many creatures on this street and the buildings that bordered it looked like small business and offices to her. Most of them all built on top of each other in a type of conformity that the rest of the city didn’t share. The big hotel was at the end of the street after it opened up in a circular roundabout for easy travel and Rainbow Dash spied the white banner with red lettering that said hotel being stood up between two wooden posts. The front doors were open and she saw a few creatures standing around outside them, some going in and out, including a griffon carrying a large suitcase.

Rainbow Dash made it to the end of the street and dropped down to the metal ground again, walking up to the front doors right as the griffon was preparing to take off. Her eyes caught a glimpse of the suitcase he was carrying that was embossed with: Gazoo & Garfunkel's Trinkets And Treasures.

“Not staying here one minute longer,” he grumbled with a frown and didn’t even bother sending Rainbow Dash a glance, just walked by her and when he had the space he unfurled his wings and took off into the sky.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at the receding form of the griffon. “Wonder what his problem was?”

Ignoring that for now she stepped up to the door and walked inside the hotel. The insides were brightly lit and the floors were polished mahogany with purple carpets laid over them, directly in front of her was a desk with a friendly looking unicorn mare sitting behind it and a board for keyrings and another wall taken up by mail slots. To the right of the front desk was a wall taken up by a large bulletin board with all kinds of posters and stuff on it while to the left a hallway led into the interior of the building and a staircase at the back that Rainbow Dash could see. There was also an open lobby to the left of Rainbow Dash with a number of tables and chairs and a few creatures sitting around, she spied two reindeer playing what looked like some variant of chess at one of the tables.

Well she just wanted some food and a place to stay for the day so she walked towards the receptionist.

“Hello!” The receptionist greeted her with a peppy smile. She was a lime green pony with a yellow mane done in two ponytails hanging off the side of her head. “Are you looking for a place to stay?”

“Yep, and some food too,” Rainbow Dash replied with just as friendly of a smile.

“Well we offer breakfast and lunch to everyone staying at the hotel, it’s complementary. You’re too late for breakfast but if you book with us right now you’ll be able to have lunch in a few hours,” the receptionist told her.

“Awesome!” Dash’s exuberance soon turned to dismay though when a sudden realization hit her. “Er… I’m guessing that staying in a room here costs money?”

The smile on the receptionist’s face broke and she looked at Rainbow Dash with no small measure of confusion. “Um, yes?”

“Ugh,” Rainbow Dash facehoofed. “I don’t have any money.”

“Oh...”

“Yeah.”

The receptionist got a thoughtful look on her face as she bit her lip and scratched her head. “Well you know, the owner’s a really nice pony, I’m sure they’ll let you stay if you do some work or something to help around the hotel. I bet some kind of deal can be worked out, I’ll even buzz her in for you.” The receptionist smiled and moved her hoof under the front desk, there must’ve been a button there because Rainbow Dash heard a buzz go off down the hallway right past the front desk.

It sounded like a door she wasn’t able to see earlier opened up and the tell-tale sound of hooves walking over carpet reached their ears. Shortly after an extravagant looking mare rounded the corner, an even look on her face as she saw the receptionist and Rainbow Dash. She was older, possibly older than Rainbow Dash’s mom, with a white coat and a short cherry mane with a wavy style to it. The owner of the hotel wore a golden ball necklace and a face of makeup with a beauty mark below her right eye.

“Yes?” She came to a stop and asked. “I assume your buzzing has to do with this mare here?”

Despite the receptionist saying she was kind, the owner looked fairly stiff to Rainbow Dash. Her mouth was set in a firm line and her eyes regarded Rainbow Dash coolly.

“Mhm, she says she’d like to stay here but she doesn’t have any money...”

“Oh, I see,” the owner glanced over at Dash, who shrugged. Her eyes gave Rainbow Dash a once over but Dash didn’t know what she might be thinking. “And what would your name be?”

Rainbow Dash still managed to grin and put out a hoof in greeting. “It’s Rainbow Dash! Nice to meet you.”

“My name is Bouquet, and likewise.” The owner—Bouguet—now offered up a small smile but didn’t shake the hoof. “I don’t have a problem with providing a room for you, however, you’ll have to work to earn your keep. But you seem quite fit, I assume it won’t be a problem?”

“Heh, no problem at all,” Rainbow Dash unfurled and showed off her wings for emphasis.

Bouquet nodded. “Good.” Her eyes shifted over to the receptionist. “Give her a ground floor room close to the kitchens.”

“Yes ma’am,” the receptionist nodded and turned towards the board with all the keyrings, looking for the type she needed.

“Awesome, this is going pretty good so far,” Dash said to herself.

And she was so caught up in getting a room and eventually getting some food that she never took a second glance at the large wall with all the bulletins and posters tacked up on it. Some of the things on there were advertisements for businesses, or notices of events going on in the city, requests for jobs, other personal listings, etc. But besides those things there were a couple of other specific posters that had also been placed there, one in fact that had only gone up yesterday when a moose of the law had come in and posted it.

A missing person’s poster with a portrait of a robust griffon on it and vibrant red text below him that read:

MISSING: GAZOO

LAST SEEN IN SECTION BLUE LEVEL 3

IF YOU HAVE ANY KNOWLEDGE OF HIS WHEREABOUTS PLEASE CONTACT THE AUTHORITIES

Next to that poster was another, and another, and another… missing, missing, missing.

---

Someone had just realized she arrived here.

Comments

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Great chapter!

[superfun]

I get the feeling she's gonna find all of those missing ponies at some point

[StarzGecko]

For a moment I thought they were Care Bears

[redmar]

Rainbow will have to deal with whatever is causing those disappearances.