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// The Ice Sentinel VIII 
// Story: Rainbow Dash's Unstoppable Ego 
// by MagicS 
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The top of the mountain was a mess of rocks that teetered on the point of collapse, pillars and archways that created a labyrinth of the summit, and thin but sharp peaks that did their best to shoot up straight at the sky as if in defiance of the fact that they were atop such a mere and unimpressive mountain even compared to the other relatively small piles of rock around them.

Rainbow Dash surveyed it all, a place like this would be a good place to fight that ice monster. She had speed and maneuverability on her side that would allow her to effortlessly fly around all these obstacles while her opponent would either get stuck or at the very least lose her for a moment. There were tons of loose rocks she could either throw at or hit the monster with so she wouldn’t fall victim to that numbing and draining sensation she got after hitting it directly so many times earlier. Yeah, she was sure this was where she wanted to fight it. She wasn’t sure how exactly she would beat it but there was nothing else to prepare for. She’d do something.

Running was still absolutely not an option.

The cawing of a bird reached her ears and Rainbow Dash looked over to see a hawk sitting atop a nest on a large rock. It was staring at her, wondering what the rainbow pony that had gotten up here wanted.

“Sorry, dude.” Rainbow Dash apologetically smiled at it. “Things are gonna get crazy up here in a minute.”

She hopped up a snow covered ledge that overlooked the southern face of the mountain. Down below she could see the forest the Ursa Minor and ice monster had chased her through earlier today. Was the monster still in there or had it gone lower on the mountain? Rainbow Dash couldn’t spot it so it was likely being obscured by the trees somewhere.  

The pony flicked her left wing and tossed the extra apple she had grabbed from the tree into her hooves, taking a big ol’ bite and savoring the taste. The juices ran down her mouth but that was nothing a quick lick of her tongue couldn’t fix. Finding those apples was a blessing, she may have not been a fanatic about the fruit like her good friend but she still loved apples. Eating them was like a taste of home and it was the first real meal she had had in the True North.  

There was a real energy in her body again despite the running and climbing and everything else she had to do since waking up on that cold slab of rock in the middle of a glacier of all things. She couldn’t quite explain it but Rainbow Dash just felt pumped. Ready. Excited. She had been forced to skulk away from that thing for too long and now it was payback time. With some real life and heat running through her body she was going to show that ice monster who was boss. Now atop this mountain she was becoming the predator. It was Rainbow Dash with the high ground, looking for her adversary and preparing to defeat it, not the prey that doesn’t even know what’s happening as the talons close around it. She was looking down on the ice monster and would be the one to start things soon.

Rainbow Dash finished eating her apple and tossed the core off the side of the mountain. Maybe some squirrels would find it and carry the seeds somewhere else or maybe the fallen core would lie undisturbed and grow into another tree taking root right in the side of the mountain. She started walking back and forth on her ledge, kicking some snow away with each step of her hooves, and looked up at the sky. The gray clouds rumbled softly above her. Not storming yet and not full of lightning like the black clouds still gathered around the taller mountain. They offered a place of refuge for her if things didn’t go well again, Rainbow Dash knew her speed and cloud-manipulating skills could allow her to easily lose the ice monster again. Either by creating a temporary cloud house to hide in or just zooming through at top speed while the ice monster lost sight of her.

But she didn’t want to have to do anything like that.  

The pony stopped her pacing and put her hooves at the tip of the ledge, looking down the mountain again with her teeth clenched and her brow furrowed. Where was it? Would it hear her? Yes, it definitely would. Rainbow Dash knew her voice would echo throughout the entire valley. The proud rainbow pegasus sucked a deep breath of air into her lungs and cupped her hooves to her mouth and-

“Hey you big stupid flying ice sculpture! I’m up here! Come and get me!” She shouted at the top of her lungs.

It felt like the entire mountain shook with the power of her challenge. The hawk that had been nesting right by angrily took to the sky after being startled and Rainbow Dash could see a number of other birds all across the mountain flying from their perches after she spooked them. She wouldn’t have been surprised if that yell of hers started an avalanche or two elsewhere with all the snow still on some of the mountains. It really was a Rainbow Dash sort of yell, and one she was quite proud of.

Now the only thing left to do was wait and see if that ice monster heard it and came flying to her.

She doubted she would have to wait long. Five seconds? Ten tops. But even a single minuscule second felt like an eternity passing by to her right now. With her muscles tense and more sweat she would continue to deny having rolling off of her in the cold climate of the mountain, Rainbow Dash’s anticipation and adrenaline in her veins was killing her. She couldn’t move. She stood on that ledge like a statue, waiting for the monster to respond first. Her wings twitched. Her eyes narrowed. Had even a second actually gone by? How fast was her heart beating?

In the back of her mind she realized that this truly was the exciting adventure she wanted up here. And she hoped she would be able to experience even more of it.

Where is it? Did it really not hear me? Rainbow Dash wondered as a single drop of sweat rolled from her temple.

“KRAAAAAOOOWWWW!”

“Guess not,” she grinned at the monster’s scream.

From the forest below it immediately shot up past the trees, the white figure zooming towards her and steadily becoming more recognizable as it beat its large wings and threw its talons towards her. The ice monster’s beak was snapping open and closed and the spear-tipped tail was stuck out straight behind it and ready to cut Rainbow Dash down when it got close. As opposed to Rainbow Dash’s eager excitement it was all fury. The only thing it wanted was to destroy its prey. It climbed up the mountain with relatively impressive speed, speed that seemed to gain more and more the closer it actually got to Rainbow Dash. Its glowing eyes could now perfectly make her out at the top of the mountain.

“Well hurry up already, slowpoke!” She shouted down at it again.

The ice monster spasmed and opened its beak wide to bray at her. “KREEEEEE!”

With one of its talons it reached to its back and yanked off one of the thin spikes on its spine, pulling back it launched the spike through the air straight at Rainbow Dash’s head.  The sharp whistling of the quickly traveling spike was familiar to her by now and she could’ve dodged it with her eyes closed.

So to show her confidence, she did.

Closing her eyes and with a simple tilt of her head the ice spike went flying right by and Rainbow Dash only grinned harder when she opened them back up to see the monster preparing more spikes to throw.

“Let’s do this,” the blue pegasus said as she unfurled her wings. Prepared to have her rematch with the monster and prove that she was more than ready for the True North. With a single flap she launched herself into the sky, floating above the lip of the mountain while the monster stormed towards her.