Rainbow Dash's Unstoppable Ego

by MagicS

Oasis

Rainbow Dash was cold.

She had long left the artificially warmer clouds and airspace of the former pegasus empire and now she had to start contending with the naturally cold north again. Snow fell from the sky and caked the grounds beneath her while harsh winds made her shiver all over. She wasn’t sure exactly how far she had gotten in the time since resuming her journey but she could tell from the position of the sun and moon when they were visible that she had at least gotten back on course and was headed directly north once again. No more diagonal flying, if she kept up the direction she was going in now she’d hit the north pole at some point.

And hit whatever new adventures waited for her on the way. She had been right that civilizations existed up here and there had to be even more the further she went. Her senses hadn’t failed her yet.

Getting used to this cold again was really annoying though and she was in another area that didn’t really have anything to look at or do in it again. Just endless expanses of snowy hills and wind whipping about above them. There was but one mountain she saw in the distance, a moderately tall but wide and powerful looking one with numerous ridges and peaks running up it. Slightly off-center to where she was going but if she saw anything interesting on it when she passed by it wouldn’t hurt to check it out at least.

A gust of wind blew in from the east and a bit of frost came with it, covering her right side. She had to shake to get it off of her. “Ugh, I don’t miss this.”

If the snow and wind picked up she’d have to worry about becoming snow blind but for now with the sun still out she could see pretty well. See a bunch of whiteness. It was so dull even with the sun helping her out, the light was weak and the air had a fogginess to it that cast a blur over everywhere around her. It made the landscape look like twilight had come an hour or two early. She would’ve said it was kind of pretty if she cared about stuff like that.

But that wasn’t cool so she didn’t.

Instead since she didn’t have anything external to entertain herself with she started humming and rolling around in the air while she flew straight on. It was a good exercise to see if she could maintain her position and not get disoriented, something useful for a stunt flier like herself. Occasionally you might find yourself tumbling through the sky and telling which direction was up or how close you were to the ground can get really difficult. So practicing like this helped. The thing was she was such a good flier with such amazing senses and instincts that it was super easy for her, doing it like this was like a reflex for her, she could do it in her sleep. It was funny to think of how she used to crash so often even not that long ago. But nowadays her flying skills more than matched the raw speed and power she had.

Rainbow Dash flipped upright and yawned. She was just about passing the mountain she had seen and she wanted to check it out when she flew on by.

Glancing to her left and looking down at the summit and the various valleys and cliffs contained in the mountain she didn’t expect to see anything. She was very wrong about that.

“What the?” Rainbow Dash stopped and looked down at the back of the mountain with a completely befuddled expression. In a small crook on its backside there was a patch of green. Not just a little bit of pine trees or something either, but green like healthy grass and plants on a spring day in Equestria. She blinked a few times to make sure she wasn’t seeing things and flew in closer.

Well unless it was a mirage or she was dreaming she hadn’t been mistaken. Nestled on the back of the mountain was a small area full of green grass, fruit trees, flowers, and even a steaming pond that must’ve been a hot spring. Rainbow Dash was flabbergasted. Especially when she got in even closer and the air around her suddenly became warm. She blinked and flew backwards. Cold. Flew forwards. Warm. It’s like there was some kind of magical pocket here for this spot to exist in.

“This doesn’t make any sense whatsoever,” Rainbow Dash said as she let herself fall down to the grass. It felt really good beneath her hooves and the scent of all the flowers around wafted into her nose. She shrugged. “Oh well, I aint complaining.”

Rainbow Dash checked out the trees ringing this little tropical area. Apples, peaches, bananas, cherries, oranges, lemons, it was crazy. There were just as many bushes overflowing with strawberries and raspberries too. She walked over to the pond and looked down into it, her face reflected off the perfectly blue water. Steam was rising from it and she tested the temperature by dipping one of her hooves in.

“Woah, it’s just like the spa back in Ponyville!” She smiled.

Without even a shrug she jumped right in, soaking herself down to the bone. “Ahh, that’s the stuff.” She whipped her wet mane around and let it fall all over her face while the warm water cascaded down her. Closing her eyes she relaxed against the edge of the pond. “If only Aloe and Lotus were here to give me a hooficure...” Her eyes snapped open and she blushed, looking around as if to make sure there wasn’t anyone spying on her. “I didn’t say that! I didn’t just admit that!”

Only the hushed rustling of leaves reached her ears. Seems no one heard her. Good.

It was very doubtful that anyone else was around anyways. She decided to relax some more and stretch her wings and legs, bringing her hooves up behind her head and reclining while she bathed in the warm waters. All the aches, pains, exhaustion, and soreness in her muscles started to get washed away. This was what she needed more than anything.

“I should just stay here for the rest of the day,” Dash said to herself. She turned her head and glanced at the nearest apple tree. “Definitely.”

She kept up her soak for almost another hour, even napping briefly, before she finally got out and dried herself off. Flying over to the apple tree she had spotted she plucked a nice red one right off the branch and sunk her teeth into it. Not surprisingly it couldn’t compare to something Applejack might’ve grown but it was still a darn good apple. And she still had the bananas and everything else to try too. With how warm it was she bet she could sleep right in the middle of the grass and feel great, but not before she had her fill of fruit. If she had a bag she could take plenty with her when she left but oh well. She’d just have to enjoy this place as much as she could for the brief time she was here.

Dash finished eating her apple and spat the core onto the ground. Instead of eating some more right now she flew over the flower beds to check them out. “Geez, this place really is like a luxurious spa. Rarity would love it.” Rainbow Dash wasn’t willing to admit out loud how much she loved it.

The blue pegasus spent a good deal of time lounging around, eating whatever she felt like, and enjoying the warmth of the magical spot even as the sun lowered and day turned to evening and then to night. She must’ve been lucky to find this place. Sleeping here instead of taking the time to make another igloo or finding some rocks to camp out in that protected her from the wind was great. With another yawn she curled up on the grass, not even bothering with covering herself with some leaves or something since the air was so pleasant. In only a few minutes she drifted off to sleep, dreaming of eating more delicious fruit.

Comments

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Great chapter!

[silvadel]

"Ancient Traps lie in wait, unsprung, and thirsting for blood," from darkest dungeon is what I am thinking here. Places like that tend to be guarded or be traps.