Rainbow Dash's Unstoppable Ego

by MagicS

Snow Griffons III

Her eyes shot open the following morning but all she saw was darkness. Confusion reigned for but a split-second until she remembered she had wrapped herself up in the blankets on the bed. Rainbow Dash groaned and slowly began the process of extricating herself from the linens, not enjoying the sudden decrease in temperature. That wad of comfort had been pretty nice to sleep in.

“What am I even going to do today?” Rainbow groggily asked herself and then yawned.

After getting all the blankets off she immediately hopped down to the stone floor of her room and winced at the cold that assaulted her hooves. She wasn’t super hungry thanks to the huge dinner she had yesterday but she still wanted something for breakfast so Dash figured she’d hit those kitchens first. It would be a minor adventure actually figuring out where everything is in this castle. She stretched her legs, her wings, and her back until she heard a nice pop and sighed in relief, then made her way out the door of her room. Of course she made sure to close it back up so as little cold as possible could get in.

“Okay, time to find those kitchens,” Rainbow said as she headed down the spiraling stone staircase that led up and down the tower. She wondered if there were more rooms like hers if she kept going up or if it just led to the roof. She could check it out later.

Rainbow Dash got back down to the main floor of the castle that the dining room was on and started floating down hallways, either following her nose or looking for someone who could give her directions. No servants (or any of those teenagers) were spotted just yet though so she kept wandering about on her home. This castle couldn’t actually have that much floorspace unless there were a ton of basement levels so it shouldn’t be too hard for her to find her way.

Each time she entered a new room she took a sniff to see if she could smell any food that would lead her to the kitchens. It was time for breakfast by now wasn’t it? Even if it wasn’t time for Galia and the others to eat there should still be servants preparing it by now. Rainbow Dash learned that kind of stuff thanks to Rarity and her time spent in Canterlot.

Her nose eventually took her to a stairwell that went down from the main floor. Coming out of it she entered a torch lit hallway with several doors on each side of it and noise coming from the end. Rainbow Dash floated down it until she got to the end, where it branched to the left and right. To the right it looked like more doors but to the left she saw a larger open room with numerous griffon servants running about it. It smelled good too.

“Bingo,” Rainbow Dash grinned and went left.

The room was a large kitchen, clean, with lots of long tables, sinks, pantries and ovens all along the walls. The griffons in here were working on cooking things for their lords and Dash watched as one of them pulled a tray of pastries out of a nearby oven. Yum. There were other things like salads and plain bread being prepared as well, nothing as lavish as what she had at the dinner last night.

They all hadn’t noticed her floating there yet, they were too busy. “Uh, hey?” Rainbow Dash said, waving at them to try and get their attention.

Some of the servants stopped and saw her. Remembering she was their lords’ important guest they stopped what they were doing.

“Okay you guys don’t need to do anything like that,” Rainbow Dash raised her hooves up and awkwardly smiled at them. “Can I just have one of those pastry things you made?”

“Of course, honored guest,” one of the chefs said and grabbed the whole tray of pastries before carrying it over to her.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes but grabbed one anyways. “It’s just Rainbow Dash, but thanks.”

“It’s our pleasure to aid you in any way you need while you stay here,” the chef bowed and took the tray back.

“Good to hear I guess,” Rainbow Dash shrugged while floating back out of the kitchen and taking a bite out of the pastry. It was very warm and fluffy on the inside with a flaky outside. “Not bad.”

If this was going to be her normal breakfast during her stay here she wasn’t going to complain. Now she could eat on the go while she looked around the rest of the castle. But where was she going to check out next? She still didn’t really have a real plan or idea for what she wanted to do or see. Unlike a few other places on her journey there wasn’t an obvious problem to solve or villain to beat up either. So unless something suddenly came up, like an evil ice dragon or something randomly attacking the mountains, she might just end up meandering around for a day or two.

She went back up the stairs to the main floor of the castle since it didn’t seem like anything major was down here. Once she got out and finished the last bite of her pastry she groaned in frustration. “Ugh, why didn’t I ask them where the library and stuff actually was?”

Rainbow Dash ended up lazily flying about the castle after that, occasionally looking out windows and seeing if she could find any of those hidden patios Galia had mentioned. All she saw was a single small balcony that overlooked the courtyard so far though. If Galia, Greely, or those kids were awake she hadn’t come across any of them yet. Normally Dash would’ve slept in for a long time too but when she had a place to explore and a possible adventure to go on she didn’t really have a problem getting out of bed.

After ending up back in the dining room she had been in last night she took a different route and came to an empty and quiet hallway with a single door halfway down it. Since she hadn’t been here before she decided to check it out. It didn’t look like just someplace for servants to go or anything either. Rainbow Dash made it to the door and pulled it open before fluttering inside and taking a look around.

“Well there’s one thing off my list,” she said as she looked over the library.

In terms of size it was maybe double Twilight’s in area but the ceiling was much lower and the shelves not as big either. Still a decent collection of books along with some tables and chairs mixed in among the shelves. While Dash looked over the shelves though she didn’t see anything that signified what kinds of books they were holding. Nothing that read “fiction” or “non-fiction” or any genres or anything like that. She wasn’t even sure if any of the books were alphabetized. She grabbed a random book off the nearest shelf and looked at the cover: “Oral History of Gendar, Fourth Leader of House Stormwing”.

“Oral History? But that’s-” Rainbow Dash said before shaking her head. “Whatever.”

She put the book back on the shelf and resumed looking around the rest of the library. It was very cramped in here with the shelves all placed closely together and the light being fairly weak—it almost functioned like a maze. Rainbow Dash found herself yawning again, maybe not totally awake yet, as her eyes glanced up and down the spines of the books she flew past. If she saw something with a cool title like “The Legend of the Pirate Griffon!” she’d grab it but so far nothing looked like that type of book.

“Come on, isn’t there anything like Daring Do in here? What do you griffons read for fun?” She huffed.

“As Galia would say, reading shouldn’t be for fun. It should be for learning,” a voice behind the shelf she was looking through said.

Rainbow Dash perked up and flew over the top of the bookshelf to see who it was. “Oh, hey.”

It was one of the teenage griffons of House Stormwing. One of the guys, though she didn’t know which aside from he wasn’t the main one she had been talking to yesterday. He sat at a table with a book open before him. Only thing was is that the pages were blank.

“Hey as well,” the griffon nodded. “What is this Daring Do you speak of by the way? Sounds quite adventurous.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Daring Do is an awesome book series about a pony adventurer who finds ancient treasures, fends off monsters, and outwits other unsavory ponies. And she’s a pegasus just like me!”

“I see… that certainly does sound like a fun story to read. Unfortunately you’ll find nothing of the sort in here. Some of the histories of our ancestors are interesting and rather adventurous but I doubt they would satisfy you. After all you must’ve seen quite a lot just on your journey up here from that Equestria place you say you come from,” he said.

“You bet,” Rainbow Dash said and dropped down to sit across from him. “So you guys don’t have books like that at all?”

He shook his head. “Learning materials, history books, journals, nothing besides that really.”

“Pretty lame. One of my friends might think that was okay but I like books that are cool. No offense,” she said.

“None taken,” he shrugged and looked down at the blank book he had.

“Uh… so whatcha got there?” Rainbow Dash asked him.

“My hobby,” the griffon said, not looking back up at her.

“Uhh...”

He sighed, probably sensing she was gonna keep poking and prodding at him until he gave a better answer. “Galia and the others may see no need or have no interest in fun adventure stories or romantic tales, but I don’t share those sentiments. I’m trying to write a story of my own. My own fiction.” He picked up the book and flipped a few pages back, showing that he had actually wrote down quite a lot in it already, he was just currently looking at a blank page. “Unfortunately at the moment I can’t think of anything. I’m stuck.”

Rainbow Dash’s face lit up as he told his story. “Oh, that’s actually pretty cool though! You’re really trying to write your own adventure story?”

“I am,” he nodded.

“Well good luck, what have you got so far? I mean, with all the stuff I’ve read and all the extra awesome stuff I’ve done maybe you can bounce some ideas off of me?” Rainbow Dash suggested.

He paused and rubbed a talon under his beak. “I’ve never had anyone else to talk to about this… maybe that would be helpful.”

“Cool, so what’s your name then by the way?” Rainbow asked as she stuck a hoof out towards him.

He gingerly accepted and shook it. “Glenn.”

“You’re not as much of a jerk as I would’ve thought from meeting you guys yesterday,” Rainbow told him.

“I imagine. That’s more or less how it is with House members like us though. We trade barbs and insults with the other Houses every day. It’s practically a sport to see who can come up with the most creative insult, so being abrasive and rude is second nature to all of us when it comes to outsiders,” Glenn said.

“Well that explains some things...”

“Since you’re our guest now though there’s no reason to be that way anymore. I doubt the others will really care enough to bother you either,” Glenn said.

“Good, cause I was pretty close to punching your brother in the face,” Rainbow said and punched her hooves together.

Glenn snorted. “That would’ve been quite the sight to see.”

“Seriously,” Rainbow nodded a few times and then moved over around the table to another chair so she could sit next to Glenn. “Alright, so why don’t you tell me what you’re writing?”

“Well it’s about a griffon that’s the heir to a very powerful and prestigious House who falls in love with the sister of the heir to a rival House. The two of them face all sorts of adversity as they try and find a way to make their relationship work. Eventually it’s supposed to end with a duel between the main character and his rival but I’m having trouble making the rest of the story come to life and fill it up with enough meaningful events to make it worth reading in the first place. Never having experienced romance in my life either I’m not sure how realistic the relationship I’m writing is,” Glenn sighed. “I’ve hit a complete stall after the protagonist is forbidden by his parents to meet with her again and I can’t think of a good enough idea to circumvent this. His love as well is being kept in her House’s castle and isn’t allowed to go out.”

“Hmm… you can’t have him sneak out somehow?” Rainbow suggested.

“No I was considering that but it still doesn’t change how he wouldn’t be able to meet up with her again if she’s also trapped inside by her family,” Glenn leaned back on his chair. “Since our protagonist is the heir to his House his parents can’t just lock him away but that’s not the same for his love. And logically her parents would do something like this as punishment, I don’t want to do something illogical just to make the plot move forward.”

“Huh, I get what you mean. It’s not really satisfying when something just comes out of the blue and resolves the plot or whatever. Especially when it doesn’t even make sense,” Rainbow Dash folded her hooves in front of her chest and thunk.

“So I’m in a bit of a predicament without even being halfway through the story,” Glenn mused.

“Well I’m sure we can think of something to get the plot moving again without it seeming too stupid at least,” Rainbow said. “Is the love interest totally locked in her room or is she just forbidden to leave the castle?”

“She can go about the castle but she’s under watch the whole time,” Glenn told her.

“Okay, okay, I think I’m getting an idea here...” Rainbow Dash grinned and rubbed her chin.

Glenn raised an eyebrow at her. “What?”

“These Houses are big and important right? And rich? From what I know about rich creatures they really like to flaunt their wealth and status. So why not have the House the love interest is part of throw a big party? Like a dance, or ball or whatever? That’ll give an excuse for the girl to be out and doing stuff where others can see and meet with her.”

“Yes that’s true but the protagonist still wouldn’t be able to do anything. Even if he snuck out to the party the other House wouldn’t let him in,” Glenn said.

“Only if they recognize him,” Rainbow winked.

Glenn seemed confused for a second before he caught on and a grin twisted up his beak. “A disguise. Yes I see, that’s quite the dashing and daring move. Our protagonist disguises himself back home in some manner, sneaks out under the beaks of his parents, and flies to the other House while their ball is going on all just to meet with the one he loves again.”

“Right? Maybe he can be found out and it’ll lead to like—I dunno, another fight or more drama or something. Or he can just get away with a promise to return again or something. I’m more an action type, my friend Rarity would have better advice for when it comes to the romance stuff. Even though she’s been single forever,” Rainbow said.

“You don’t need to be so concerned, actually this idea helps me out quite a bit already. Even if it doesn’t pan out completely it will be good for me to be able to write something at least,” Glenn said. “Yes, I can see it coming together now...” he trailed off and picked up a quill, dipping it in a little bottle of ink and starting to write out the first few lines of this new story event on the formerly blank pages of his book.

Rainbow Dash smiled and playfully hoof bumped him on the shoulder. “Good for you, dude. Even if I can’t find an adventure book here to read at least I can help make one I guess.”

Glenn chuckled and nodded at her. “Yes, thank you for this.”

“I think I’m gonna go to the bathhouse now,” Rainbow said. “Honestly was thinking of doing that first thing when I woke up but I guess I got sidetracked.” She flapped her wings and got up from the chair, almost turning around before stopping and looking back at Glenn with a frown. “Uhh… can you tell me how to get to the bathhouse first?”

Comments

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Great chapter!