Rainbow Dash Around the World

by MagicS

Cold Again

Rainbow Dash flew south.

Compared to when she first went north at the start of her journey—she was well-prepared for the colder weather that the arctic and south pole would bring. She had bought all this stuff at a few stops, and a few ships, before reaching Southern Light. Though she knew from experience she could handle the cold she didn’t really want to be flying through an icy wasteland with nothing to warm her body up.

She had enough of that. What was left to prove?

And finally she had some goggles for the first time in forever too. Those were going to be a huge help dealing with the cool breeze and when it started snowing. Rainbow Dash knew there was something especially awesome about recklessly heading into danger not knowing what was coming and just dealing with it like that, buuuut she had to admit at the same time that being prepared was pretty nice too. In its own way. Considering her body wasn’t quite as acclimated to the cold anymore, the heavy coat and boots were going to be especially nice. Despite how thick and insulating they were she could already feel the coldness in the air.

This was going to be the first truly cold place she had been since getting out of the True North.

She wasn’t looking forward to being that cold again. Even though she still probably hated the desert more than really cold places, she didn’t like them either. Almost freezing to death will do that to you.

For now, trying to ignore the small bits of cold seeping through her heavy jacket, Rainbow Dash looked down at the deep blue ocean. There hadn’t been any other islands or rocks since leaving Southern Light but she assumed she’d at least see a few before the glaciers, icebergs, and shore of the south pole appeared. Thanks to still being over water this was at least a fairly different view than she had when flying through the True North. Eventually it would all be white and boring. Even on the horizon already it was cloudy and nothing but cold and muted colors.

Continuing to look at the water she wondered what kind of fish and other animals would be swimming down there now. Did sharks like nearly freezing water or did they hate? Things like sea turtles couldn’t live here, right? She probably should have paid more attention to Fluttershy. The water at the moment was too dark to actually see into anyways, a whale would have to breach its surface entirely for Rainbow Dash to be able to see it at all. Nope, the only animals she had around were a few seabirds. It was a nice feeling to casually fly around with the birds again—it had been so long since solo flight was her main method of travel.

The cold wasn’t the only thing she was starting to feel right now either. She hadn’t eaten yet today. Though she had plenty of dried food and bread, that didn’t take up much space, she was rationing it since she really had no idea when she’d be able to find food again. Her four saddlebags were full of food and it was time for her to have a small snack to keep her energy levels up.

Rationing didn’t mean starving yourself when you still had a lot of sky to cover. She needed to stay healthy too.

She was going to wait for a second longer though. If she found a small island or rock to land on she would rest there and eat. And if not, in a few minutes she’d make a cloud to sit on instead.

It was supposed to be only a day or two until the south pole if she remembered correctly. At some point she’d likely need to make a cloud bed to sleep in unless she got lucky. Never before on her journey around the world had she been flying over some place where she couldn’t land for so long. Ocean travel actually was kind of harrowing in that way. She wondered what she would have done if she never stumbled upon Daylight, Senax, and Gilbert back at Malkonrik?

A smile twitched up her face but she quickly suppressed it. She didn’t want to reminisce right now because she knew where that would lead—and the tears would freeze to her face in these temperatures.

She didn’t need that.

A few more minutes of travel and Rainbow Dash did actually find what she needed. A small cluster of rocks jutted out of the deep ocean water, not a comfortable place to rest but it was enough for her to set down on and have a bite to eat before taking off again. She had to imagine if the weather was worse then the waves would be smashing up and over these rocks, but with how mild things were that wasn’t a problem.

Rainbow Dash went down and landed in the middle of the rocks, briefly stretching her wings out wide before drawing them back inside the heavy jacket. She stretched her hooves a bit as well—it felt awkward to wear boots like these all the time but the warmth was worth it. Her tail whipped about behind her for a second before she reached up to pull her hood back and let her mane out as well.

“There we go… was starting to get a little itchy.”

She could feel the cold air through her mane and around her face more easily now but getting to toss her mane around and scratch her neck was a nice consolation. Lastly she pulled up her goggles too and let them rest on her forehead before reaching into one of her bags and pulling out her meal for the day.

Hardtack.

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Well it’s not like I was expecting gourmet meals and apple cider everyday.”

She bit into the hardtack and took as big of a bite as she could. Chewing was an exercise all in its own. It’s too bad the hardtack was so convenient and easy to carry. She had some dried fruit with her too, among other things, but she figured it would be better to save that for when she really needed an extra kick. There were some regular rolls and bits of bread that she would need to eat in the next couple of days before they went stale too.

Chowing down on the hardtack took a bit longer than she expected since eating it was such a chore. When she was almost done a cold breeze blew across the rocks and Rainbow Dash shivered.

She clicked her tongue and tossed the rest of the hardtack into her mouth, chewing it roughly while pulling her goggles back down over her eyes and putting her hood up. If it was already getting this cold she really wasn’t looking forward to what came next. As long as she kept moving though it wouldn’t be so bad. She knew that from the True North. And the south pole—to her knowledge—wasn’t as magical or crazy of a place.

Rainbow Dash gulped down the last of the hardtack and took another brief stretch before extending her wings once more. A single flap carried her up into the sky and she resumed her flight to the south pole.

Comments

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Great chapter!

For now, trying to ignore the small bits of cold seeping through her heavy jacket, Rainbow Dash looked down at the deep blue ocean. There hadn’t been any other islands or rocks since leaving Southern Light but she assumed she’d at least see a few before the glaciers, icebergs, and shore of the north pole appeared. Thanks to still being over water this was at least a fairly different view than she had when flying through the True North. Eventually it would all be white and boring. Even on the horizon already it was cloudy and nothing but cold and muted colors.

south pole

[redmar]

I wonder what she'll see at the South Pole. Maybe she'll meet penguins.