//------------------------------// // Peak Performance // Story: Rainbow Dash's Unstoppable Ego // by MagicS //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash began her ascent by gliding in close to the surface of the mountain, intentionally keeping herself low enough so she had to dart in-between some of the jagged rock formations and trees that shot up all over the foot of the mountain. It made for a more fun flight than just smoothly going above it all as she flew directly up the huge mountain. She liked to imagine herself going through an obstacle course or putting on some kind of Wonderbolts show while she was traversing the southern face of Mt. Everhoof. In hindsight she should’ve asked Twilight just how many ponies actually had made it to the top of the mountain, it would be awesome if she turned out to be the first. Or at least, like, the first Equestrian to make it to the top. “If I am I’m totally gonna have Twilight throw a party for me when I get back,” she grinned. And then another even more excellent thought struck her. “Oh! Wait! If I’m the first they’re gonna have to write about me in books, awesome! I’m already gonna be written about as the greatest Wonderbolt ever and the pony that helped save Equestria like, a hundred times, but now everyone in the future is going to learn about another way I’m awesome. Yes!” She pumped her hoof. Although she was getting a bit ahead of herself, Rainbow Dash couldn’t bother to think about that. The excitement that the future promised far outweighing any present thing that needed to be dealt with first. Although her actual “climb” up the mountain should be plenty exciting too. Regardless if she was really the first to make it to the peak or not. She strongly shot her way further up the mountain to leave the little foothills behind, still not even a quarter of the way up it even though at max speed she could ostensibly make it to the top in no time flat. Unless the weather she was warned about stopped her. But now she was flying up the ice and snow covered rocks of the mountain proper. Icicles hung from any overhangs, dangerous things that threatened to fall off with the slightest jostling, she had to be careful the further up she went. The fall wind coming down on her was also making things much colder than they had been when she was flying to the mountain, even with her constant movement doing its best to warm her up. Better than if she was walking on the mountain, if that was the case she’d be going so slow she’d need to be covered in heavy clothes and boots. She could already picture her hoof getting stuck to the ice if she touched down on the mountain. Like this her natural body heat and beating heart still saved her from any of that obnoxious stuff. And the fact that she was flying circumvented so many other things, it was really the gift that would keep on giving on this adventure, she knew it. “This is so great,” she said to herself as she flew up higher and higher parallel to the mountain. The gigantic form of Mt. Everhoof was still taking up all of her field of view and was so wide that it almost looked like a flat wall of rock but as she made it closer to the midsection she could start to see where it curved. Wanting to get as much out of the mountain as possible, Rainbow Dash started zigzagging to make sure she wasn’t missing anything cool, like a cave or something that might’ve been made by any ponies that had challenged the mountain before her or had lived on it. She lightly bit down on her tongue as she thought about what she would do if she did actually find a dark and mysterious cave. Explore it? That would be pretty adventurous. It might slow down her mountain climb but if it was dangerous that made it all worth it. What if there was a Bug Bear or something else slumbering inside it? Then she’d have to fight it off while still flying all the way to the peak, that would’ve been the perfect intense start to her journey. Rainbow Dash nodded to herself, deciding that’s exactly what she would do if she saw a cave. She could already picture it, a deep and dark cave with huge fang-like icicles hanging over its mouth. Yeah, that was the extra excitement she wanted on this mountain flight. “Speaking of extra excitement though… if I had someone to race up this mountain then it would be even better,” Rainbow Dash imagined challenging Spitfire, or even Lightning Dust wherever she was, to a race to see which one of them could fly up to the peak first. That would leave no time for caves or any sort of other detour and it would give her an excuse to just go all out and fly like her life depended on it. A rival to beat motivated her like nothing else. If it was a race she would’ve already made it to the summit, leaving nothing but a blurry rainbow streak in the sky. Didn’t matter who or what she might’ve been up against, she was the fastest flier in all of Equestria. A race up the tallest mountain in Equestria would just be another way to prove that. Perhaps subconsciously Rainbow Dash began speeding up on her way to the peak. Maybe imagining a phantom race or wanting to set a fast “record” on how long it took her to fly up Mt. Everhoof. She was past the midway point now thanks to her increased speed and the relatively clear skies allowed her to keep her eyes zeroed in on that peak. The wind had started to grow harsher though, it wasn’t just the wind coming directly down the face of the mountain anymore but strong currents billowing around it in every direction, defying typical weather and logic. “Is this what Cadance was talking about?” Rainbow Dash frowned as a series of strong breezes from the east and west faces of the mountain threatened to blow her off track. Some of the few clouds in the sky had now gathered together above her and took on a darker appearance. Was this going to be like the Everfree where the weather truly had a mind of its own? Her question seemed to be answered with a yes as snow and hail started to fall from the clouds directly onto her and making her flight up far more difficult than it just had been. “Tch, this is nothing!” She yelled and buzzed her wings faster than a hummingbird, flying up like a rainbow lightning bolt to the clouds. She was well practiced when it came to dealing with the weather, if she could just get to the clouds she could beat them away and change or break past the wind too. No simple wind coming down or around a mountain could beat the hurricane that Rainbow Dash could bring forth with her flying. Despite the hail and snow now pouring on her she continued to fly up, her eyes sharp enough and her reflexes quick enough where she could even dodge a lot of what was coming at her. The hail was only barely at the size of cherry pits, nothing she would admit could hurt her. It was more problematic for her that the wind and snow was blowing into her eyes. If her vision was marred that made everything else far more difficult. Rainbow Dash kept a hoof in front of her face to at least keep the wind from blowing too hard right into her eyes but it didn’t stop the powder of snow from coating her if she didn’t shake it off fast enough. She grit her teeth and made an extra powerful flap of her wings to come right up into the middle of the clouds that were raining on her. Immediately she kicked and punch the cold weather clouds, her hooves finding them much more solid than if she wasn’t a pegasus. How many hundreds or even thousands of clouds had she worked with in her life? She didn’t keep track, she wasn’t Twilight, but these were no different. As long as it wasn’t a magical cotton candy cloud, Rainbow Dash was pretty sure she could handle any of them. She blasted through the top of the clouds and then dove back into and around them like she was tying an invisible knot together. And with her speed the rainbow tail she left behind as she flew practically made it look like there was something binding the clouds together. That was until Rainbow Dash tightened up her flying and the rainbow “rope” cut the clouds into harmless pieces. Too small to carry on with their snow and hail, they dissipated in the wind while Rainbow Dash laughed in victory. The blue pegasus looked back up at the peak of Mt. Everhoof, the spearhead top of the mountain close at hoof now. With another small grin she decided there was nothing else worth waiting for, at a speed just under what she would need to make a Sonic Rainboom, Rainbow Dash zoomed to the top. “Yes!” She shouted as she touched down on the top. The first time she came into actual contact with the mountain. The Element of Loyalty stood on a large boulder that jutted out of the peak of Mt. Everhoof, folding and resting her wings by her sides as she took her first glimpse of the northern lands that lied beyond the mountain. “Cool,” Rainbow Dash said as she gazed as far as she could across the new world unknown to nearly all to the south. Immediately below Mt. Everhoof was a large valley containing a deep-green forest that ran west as far as Rainbow Dash could see, slightly north of this valley were more mountains of the Yaket Range that made up its northern border, she couldn’t see what might be directly under those mountains but at least at some point beyond that it looked like the land turned into a flat tundra that stretched for miles north until she couldn’t see anything past the fog and clouds. To the east she could see the valley and mountains going for a long ways but also was able to make out the edge of the ocean as it rose north, she knew from maps that the ocean that separated Equestria from the Griffon Lands came all the way up here and then went a little inwards but she had no idea what its full shape was like. She took a spin around and looked south too, getting to spy the Crystal Empire from up here. It technically wasn’t the top of the world or anything but it might as well have been. And Rainbow Dash was really proud of making it up here. Figuring an awesome pony like herself didn’t need much rest she unfurled her wings and turned back around, getting ready for the descent and the true start to her adventure as she left Equestria behind.