The imposing mountain was less than ten minutes away now and Rainbow Dash could hardly even wait that long for it. Snowy winds already buffeted her as she made her approach but just like she had told herself earlier it was nothing she couldn’t handle. Things had indeed gotten noticeably colder once she left the airspace of the Crystal Empire in her flight north and they would probably get colder still the further and further she traveled. But if she could handle her flight and climb up Mt. Everhoof and the assuredly chilly time that would be then anything else should be nothing more than a piece of cake for her too.
Looking down it was but snow and snow and snow beneath her as far as the eyes could see. Just another thing that made her grateful for being a pegasus. Rainbow Dash couldn’t even imagine trudging through that. The slow walking, the glacial pace, nothing but white snowdrifts to look at in every direction, she’d go insane. Getting to fly gave her so much more freedom. So much more fun, so much more to look at unless she was caught in a storm or something. Oh yeah, she was happy for those beating wings on her sides.
There was supposedly a river and a forest here but it must’ve all been covered up by the snow of winter and only peaked out during the warmer seasons. Rainbow Dash didn’t mind not seeing it though, if you’ve seen one forest you’ve seen em all, right? And it’s not like any other forest could have the sort of adventure or danger like the Everfree either.
Rainbow Dash started lackadaisically looping and corkscrewing through the air in an effort to entertain herself on the way towards the mountain, giving herself a steady and almost lazy route. It wasn’t going anywhere and she didn’t want to push her wings just yet. Not like she thought it was going to be difficult to get up there but she didn’t want to waste all the energy she had just gotten from a big meal when she knew she was going to be doing a ton more stuff right behind the mountain.
She flapped up on top of a low-flying cloud and stamped down on it, causing a spray of snow to rain down from the cloud. It was carried in a breeze down south, towards the Crystal Empire, before she lost sight of it completely and jumped over to another cloud and another, repeating the process.
“You can’t spell adventure without fun,” Rainbow Dash laughed as she flew through the middle of a cloud, getting a covering of snowflakes across her spread wings that quickly fluttered off with the next flap.
If she was Rarity she probably would’ve thought the shimmering crystals in the cool air looked pretty.
Another breeze coming in from the east buffeted her but Rainbow Dash decided to flow along with it, letting herself glide along with the wind since with her proximity to the mountains she could afford to come in a little less straight than true north. And it saved on more energy.
The pegasus turned over in midair and floated on her back like she was on an inner tube going down a leisurely river. Resting and flying at the same time, definitely a Rainbow Dash kind of thing to do. Her wings only produced the absolute bare minimum of movement and directional control, otherwise she was as still as if she was asleep.
She was pretty darn proud of herself for being such a skilled flier that even the frozen north wasn’t a big deal for her at all. If this is what the weather was normally like then going up and beyond the mountain should be a breeze.
Which technically wasn’t what she actually wanted. Oh sure, getting to relax and take things easy on her flight to the mountain was nice but she really hoped there would be some stronger weather or something to make this more difficult. She wanted to be satisfied by this adventure and that means not being able to just effortlessly waltz through it all. If Mt. Everhoof wasn’t as tough an obstacle as she hoped it would be super disappointing. If it wasn’t as dangerous or whatever as Cadance had said she’d just have to rely on the rest of her adventure to fulfill her needs.
Rainbow Dash was probably only about a minute away from reaching the mountain now, already she was passing over land that steadily rose up to a plateau. Huge slabs of buried rock lied beneath the snow and dirt that formed the unseen basements and supports of all mountains. Like icebergs there was so much more to them than you could see with your eyes.
The blue pegasus started humming to herself as she flipped around and began to take her flying a little more seriously again. Ignoring the wind that was carrying her and getting back on track for her first goal.
A smirk appeared on her face as she puffed an errant lock of mane out of her eyes. “Now that’s what I call a mountain.”
Ahead of her the other mountains of the Yaket Range rose up too, but none of them could hold a candle to Mt. Everhoof in the slightest.
It was almost intimidating, almost, as it rose up to pierce the sky higher than any mountain she had ever seen. The base of the mountain was so wide that going a full circle around it would’ve been a quest all on its own. And the peak more than high enough where it wouldn’t be uncommon to see it obscured by clouds on some days. Not today though, despite the cold weather and presence of some snowy clouds, Rainbow Dash could clearly see the jagged and snow-capped peak in all its glory. Waiting for her.
She could see groups of trees growing up some parts of it and there were enough ledges, ridges, and flat portions where you could build plenty of buildings. Enough to make a city like Canterlot really if you wanted to. But no one really lived up here. Too remote, too cold, for anything more than a couple nomads or travelers to frequent the area. Maybe the yaks would put a city on it one day?
Now that she was up here and staring at it it really hit her that this was indeed the top of Equestria. So few ponies from her home had been here and even fewer were going to see the sights she would get to see from on top of it. This was just one more thing about her that was going to be special. Hitting the border and going beyond it just for the excitement and curiosity to see what was there and more.
That was the adventure she wanted. That pure adventure.
But she could think about that later, after she had actually made it up the mountain.
The thing is though, did she fly up now and just get level with it and fly straight towards the peak like that? Or did she go low down to the base of the mountain and fly up it like she was really climbing Mt. Everhoof? If she wanted to get to the peak it was obvious which way would be easier. But where was the fun in that? An adventure wasn’t supposed to be easy, she wanted a challenge! She wanted to do something tough and different.
So Rainbow Dash was going to do what an earth pony or unicorn would have to: start from the bottom.
She dipped in the air and made her descent nearly to ground level, not actually touching her hooves down but still only floating and hovering slightly above the snowy and rocky terrain. There were dots of strong and tall evergreen trees here and there at this lower section of the mountain too, but many of them were buried in the snow. If it was a different season the mountain would probably be more than a bit greener and more inviting. Although she kind of wanted it as uninviting as possible since that made the conquering even more impressive.
From where she was staying now the mountain loomed over her even more, blocking out her vision of anything else. A cold and threatening peak that didn’t want any ponies climbing it. That’s what this desolate mountain told her. The only thing it was missing was storm clouds and a sudden lightning bolt piercing the sky with a bear’s roar of thunder. The mostly clear sky just wasn’t really doing it for her right now.
Once more she had to thank herself for her wings. It would have taken days to climb this thing and she’d have to carry a bunch of tools and stuff with her otherwise. So lame.
A harsh blast of wind suddenly came down from the mountain, actually blowing Rainbow Dash back and forcing her to cover her face with her hooves while her wings beat heavily to keep her from being carried away completely. As soon as the wind stopped, Rainbow Dash shook her body to get all the snow off that had come down on her too. Maybe that was the mountain telling her to not take it so lightly?
If so it had failed. Rainbow Dash grinned up at Mt. Everhoof and cracked her neck.
“Okay, time to be awesome.”