//------------------------------// // Snow Griffons I // Story: Rainbow Dash's Unstoppable Ego // by MagicS //------------------------------// The peaks of these tall and thin mountains were covered in snow while strong winds whipped around them, making flight difficult for her or anyone else who might’ve been up at these altitudes. It was cloudy too with a number of peaks being totally obscured and others poking out above the lowest layer of clouds. The peaks themselves were narrow but not as much as Rainbow Dash would’ve initially thought back when she first spied the mountains. Instead of spears that tapered off into a thin tip the mountains were more like poles with a relatively flat peak that had a decent amount of room on them. Probably enough where you could even build a pretty large building on top of them. But who would want to do that? A blast of stronger wind buffeted Rainbow Dash and she found herself dusted with a layer of snow. “Tch,” she clicked her tongue and shook the snow off her while navigating around the nearest mountains. Right and left she flew between the relatively thin but overall still massive pillars of stone. “Instead of a mountain range its like a forest.” Things were foggy too, down below and ahead she could only see a couple of mountains in the distance before the rest were all obscured by fog. The ground itself was completely invisible due to an impenetrable wall of fog. She was thinking of heading down and checking out the ground and what might be down there but for all she knew it was so foggy she wouldn’t be able to see anything. Not like the ground was going anywhere so she could check it out later, for now she’d stick around the peaks where she could actually see things. Wind tugging and pushing at her was starting to get annoying up here though. Random currents kept blowing into her face every time she rounded another mountain. For maybe the thousandth time she really wished she had some goggles for her eyes so she didn’t have to squeeze them shut or try to block the wind with her hooves all the time. At least it wasn’t doing something like hailing, raining, or even snowing too bad, so it wasn’t as close to as difficult flying here as it had been in that gigantic storm she had gone through earlier in her journey. Some average winds were no big deal, just annoying. A loud screech going through the mountains caught Rainbow Dash’s attention and she looked to her right to see a large hawk flying from an outcropping on one of the mountains and diving to the fog below. So there were at least animals here, that was one plus for her. It meant there had to be food and water and a higher chance of other creatures somewhere around too. Rainbow Dash flew closer to the mountain the hawk had gone from and saw a number of nests all built on various lone rocks and secluded areas of it. Some were empty but others had hawks currently resting in them. With her sharp eyes, Rainbow Dash even saw some eggs in the nests. It brought a smile to her face, though not as much as it would have Fluttershy’s. She always thought hawks were cool animals, not as cool as tortoises but still really cool. There were probably a lot more in these mountains too and there had to be plenty of prey for them at the same time. Seeing that one hawk dive to the ground, Rainbow Dash was willing to bet there was a forest or at least some sort of place where mice and squirrels and stuff lived. Maybe she should go through the fog right now to check it out? Nah, she still wanted to look up here around the peaks first. She caught a lucky breeze this time that was coming in from behind and she let herself glide with it past another mountain that actually had some trees growing on it. Their powerful roots dug into and cracked the stone around them, turning most of the face of the mountain into a mess of radiating cracks and fissures. Rock slide city if even a little bit of force was applied to the right point. Considering the shape of these mountains a lot of them were probably in a pretty precarious situation. She wouldn’t be surprised if some ended up naturally collapsing. With her eyes she tried to pick out if any of these trees had fruit or nuts or something growing on them but she didn’t see any. Would’ve been nice to have a snack but she wasn’t actually hungry yet so it wasn’t a huge deal. Rainbow Dash shrugged and flapped her wings to gain a little more altitude, high enough where she was over most of the peaks again instead of flying between the mountains. A lot of the ones further into the range were higher though, Rainbow Dash craned her neck up to check them out but they were either surrounded by clouds or shot through them completely. Rainbow would have to fly above the first layer of clouds to see everything if she felt like it. Instead she landed on one of the nearby peaks and took a look around. The snow atop the peak was more akin to a layer of ice painted over it and the whole peak itself was about wide enough you could’ve built two houses side by side. You could do some decent ice-skating up here too. Rainbow Dash lightly tapped her hoof against the ice and it didn’t even crack. Like so much of the snow and ice in the True North it was the kind that never melted or changed even as the seasons did thanks to how far north they were and how high in the sky it was. Rainbow Dash took the short time up here to give her wings a slight rest and she walked over to the side of the peak and looked down. Pretty much just a straight drop that wasn’t really obscured by anything because of how narrow the mountains were. No outcroppings or cliffs got in her way of seeing to the fog covered ground. These really were more like gigantic rock pillars than regular mountains. She yawned and then winced as a gust of wind blew into her face. “Ugh, enough messing around. Time to get through this mountain range if there isn’t anything else here,” Rainbow said to herself and extended her wings. She didn’t blast off from the peak but basically fell off and let herself be carried by the wind for a while. That quickly changed before she let herself descend though, Rainbow Dash sharply lifted up and angled higher and higher. Her wings propelled her to the top of the mountain range and then some, the pegasus not quitting until she touched the clouds. It was much colder even with just a little extra altitude and Rainbow Dash quickly found herself being dusted with snow and frost. And of course because clouds are just water, when Rainbow Dash passed through the first one it made her fur slightly wet before freezing. Good thing she was already blue or the cold would’ve turned her that color anyways. She didn’t like this obnoxious weather though and now she couldn’t even see how much higher she needed to go until she broke through the cloud layer. What a pain with how cold it was and the sorry state she was in with frost caking around her eyes and over the feathers of her wings. At least she knew she wasn’t going to suddenly hit something. That didn’t stop her from shivering and grumbling to herself about the cold, just as she had done an innumerable amount of times on this journey already. Grumbling was one of her talents. Now she liked to think she was relaxed and cool enough to not be as big a complainer as Twilight, Rarity, and Starlight could be, but honestly she just got annoyed too easily. Especially since she didn’t really get to have as many pleasant naps as she wanted when she was out on adventure. And even with her getting “used” to the cold that still didn’t mean she enjoyed it or liked being covered in frost. Maybe she should’ve flown east or west back at the start to try and hit someplace tropical. Had to be more enjoyable than this. “But that wouldn’t be as much of a challenge probably,” Rainbow thought. And a big challenge was the whole point. So bring on the storms, bring on the cold, and bring on the mountains and deserts of snow. Rainbow Dash could take it even if she wasn’t planning to stop complaining about it anytime soon. Since she wanted to get above these clouds already she decided to speed up and put some more strength into her wings, shooting up through the clouds before she even really had the chance to get wet from them. Her eyes narrowed as the wind tugged at her. This was higher than she thought the first layer of clouds would go. Did any of the mountains actually go this high or were the obscured peaks she had seen earlier totally stuck in the middle of the clouds? Looks like she was gonna be mistaken about at least one thing no matter what. With a frustrated spurt of energy, Rainbow Dash pushed herself through the last little piece of cloud to emerge into open sky. She popped out of the white pillows and stopped in-between those fluffy clouds that blanketed the lower portion of the sky and the much higher vapor like clouds above. “Wooh,” she said and took a moment to stretch. “What do we got up here then?” Rainbow Dash looked north and her eyes immediately widened. “Oh.” Ahead of her a couple dozen of the tallest mountains poked out of the first layer of the clouds with her. But the peaks of these mountains weren’t bare or just covered in ice. Castles and mansions were built atop them. Every last one had some kind of stone structure built up on top of them, with some being only about the size of a large house back in Ponyville while others rivaled Twilight’s castle. However as Rainbow Dash peered on she saw there weren’t just things built on the very peak but also along the sides. More buildings and structures were built either on the cliff faces or into them, some of them going down quite a distance, and possibly doubling or tripling the size of the structures in total. “Who the hay lives up here?” Rainbow Dash asked herself and rubbed the top of her head with a puzzled hoof. The buildings were still harsh looking, all constructed in dark stone and wood gathered from across the mountain range no doubt. Snow and ice covered many of their features although it looked like most of the roofs and some other spots were bare of it. Which meant there were probably creatures up here that tended to and cleaned these buildings. Which likely meant they were inhabited as well. “Okay, okay, things are finally looking up again,” Rainbow Dash grinned and started flying towards the mountains and the buildings atop them. “It’s kind of like a city all in its own. Never seen a city like this though.” The more she looked the more she noticed that none of the mountains had any sort of bridges connecting them to each other. Flight would’ve been the only way to travel between them. Or magic too she supposed. But it was probably flying creatures like herself that called this mountain city their home. Rainbow Dash didn’t see anybody out in the sky just yet though, even though it was the middle of the day. Maybe they just didn’t have a reason for leaving their homes. Even though Dash preferred her cloud city of Cloudsdale to anything else this place wouldn’t have been too bad to live at either. If it was further south and not so cold. But being high up like this where the only way to get anywhere else is by flying? Yeah, she definitely liked that. Forgetting about those thoughts for now, Rainbow Dash glided closer to one of the larger castles. It was the biggest one that was closest to her so she decided it would be where she landed. The castle might not have been able to compare in size or splendor to Canterlot castle but it looked pretty cool to Dash too. Far more angular with sharply upturned points wherever the roof hit a corner with a number of square towers shooting up from it and crenelated walls all across the lower portions. Most interesting of all there was a staircase that came down from a set of huge wooden doors in the middle of the castle that just led down to… nowhere. The steps went right to the edge of the mountain and then just stopped. Anywhere else and Rainbow Dash would’ve thought it was a joke or construction error but for this castle she knew it was intentional. Anyone flying in could land on those steps and walk up easy peasy. It was the same for anyone leaving the castle, they could just walk down to the last step and then jump off into the sky. “Cool,” Rainbow Dash said and angled herself down to land on those steps. The stone wasn’t as slick as she expected it to be. Instead of any dangerous ice coating it it was actually dry, probably the result of some kind of cleaning or maintenance earlier today. The walls of the castle around her also protected her from any wind that might’ve blown her or anyone else off the steps. Rainbow Dash briefly looked up to her right and left at the outer castle walls that went around the whole peak before she started walking up the steps to what she supposed was the main entrance. Still nobody around but her though. It was quiet aside from the sound of the wind around the mountain peaks. Almost enough to make her think she had been wrong about anybody living here. When she got close to the top of the stairs she was able to get a better look at the huge wooden doors. They were big, not mammoth sized, but big the same way Twilight’s castle’s doors were. There wasn’t any kind of opening or slot for whoever was on the inside to look out of, nor did she see any kind of locking mechanism. Just two large rings of black iron on each side of the door for pulling it open. Well so long as it wasn’t locked from the inside, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t have a problem with opening it up. She shrugged and went to the left side of the door and grasped the large ring. Heavy of course but still easy for a pony like her to pull it. The wood didn’t creak or groan either so it was probably used to this. When Rainbow had enough room she slipped inside the door and took a look around. As it turned out she wasn’t inside. Technically. She actually found herself inside a small courtyard built on the other side of the door and the outer walls. It must’ve been too obscured by the rest of the castle and walls while she was flying towards it for her to see. A stone path leading directly from the door to the actual doors of the castle was present while to the left and right of the path there was grass. Genuine green grass. It was actually kind of weird to see. Rainbow Dash had to walk over and touch it and the dirt underneath it with her hoof a few times just to make sure it was real. “Wow, how’d they even do this?” She tilted her head at it before shrugging and getting back on path. The front door that led to the castle’s indoors looked much the same as the courtyard doors. She walked over to them while her hooves clicked along the stone. Until she sensed the presence of others. Rainbow Dash didn’t pause but she did slow down slightly and her ears perked up. She could hear creatures flying down through the air above her, they were intentionally trying to keep quiet but she had managed to pick them out. If they thought they could get the drop on her they were mistaken and if they tried to attack her she’d be ready. At first she kept walking towards the door, the ones flying over her not changing their speed or making any aggressive motions, but once she touched the iron ring that would let her open the door they finally descended for real. She stood there and let them drop in a half circle around her, surrounding her from behind. “That’s far enough, pony.” Rainbow Dash turned at the voice and saw some very familiar creatures. “There are griffons this far north?” She said as she looked around at the six that surrounded her. They looked just like the griffons she knew from Griffonstone except for how they were colored. While a lot of griffons, like her friend Gilda, had white feathers around their heads, these guys were white all over. Their feathers were like snow with only some black or gray dots across their bodies. Dash looked back and forth between the six, seeing an even number of girls and guys. They didn’t wear any sort of armor or had weapons so they probably weren’t soldiers or guards of the castle or anything like that either. “This is our home after all,” the same griffon spoke up. He was a male and one of the ones standing directly in front of her while a female griffon stood beside him, now that Rainbow was looking she noticed that all of them only looked to be teenagers. “What are you doing here? We’re not exactly interested in visitors from Ice Valley.” “I’m not from Ice Valley,” Rainbow Dash told him. Now that she thought of it though, she had seen that other griffon in Ice Valley, hadn’t she? So she knew some griffons lived up here but she had never seen a griffon city or community or anything. The only other griffon she remembered was that guy she had found with the crashed airship. What was his name again? “I’m from Equestria.” She ended up just telling them. He shrugged. “Never heard of it.” She frowned. “Well have you heard of Griffonstone?” “I’m rather fond of the name but no, I haven’t heard of that either. Have any of you?” The griffon asked his friends but they all shook their heads or responded in the negative in some other way. “Seriously?” Rainbow Dash looked between them all. “I thought that was where all griffons came from. Or something. I guess I don’t really know...” “Well regardless of where you are or where you think griffons live it doesn’t matter to us. You can be on your way,” he made a shooing motion with his talon. That attitude was starting to annoy her quite a bit. Not only was she wanting to ignore him out of spite but she had been flying around for a while now and finally had found something cool. She didn’t just want to have to leave. “Yeah, how about no? Maybe you don’t think it’s a big deal but I’ve flown like, halfway across the world, I bet someone here would want to talk to me.” “Seen one pony, seen em all,” another of the griffons to her side shrugged. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “I guarantee you’ve never seen a pony like me.” “If we’re talking about the obnoxious intensity of your hair then you would be correct at least,” the first griffon smirked at her. “You wanna fight?!” Rainbow Dash growled, stepping towards him in anger. “Are all ponies from this Equestria place so brash and violent?” The female griffon standing next to him laughed. “Grr!” Rainbow Dash felt a vein throbbing in her forehead. “Look, why don’t you all just-” She couldn’t finish her sentence as the door behind her was thrown open and it smacked her on the butt thanks to her proximity, knocking her to the ground. “What’s this racket out here?” A much louder voice came from inside the castle. Rainbow Dash winced and rubbed her butt while looking back at the new arrival. A larger and older female griffon, her snowy feathers were just beginning to gray and she wore a thick red muffler around her neck. When their eyes met the older griffon raised a single eyebrow at Rainbow Dash. “A pony?” She asked and then looked at the other griffons. “What’s she doing here? And are you kids back already?” “It was a short trip,” the male griffon said with a shrug. “Whatever,” the older lady cut him off before she glanced back at Rainbow Dash, who had stood back up and was appraising her as well. The griffon snorted a sharp breath out her beak and narrowed her eyes at Dash. “We don’t have any business with Ice Valley, you go back and-” “I’m not from Ice Valley,” Rainbow Dash repeated, clearly impatient. The griffon glared down at her, obviously not liking her tone or the fact that she was interrupted. “You’re one of those weird fire worshipers from the metal mountain then? That doesn’t have anything to do with us either, go away.” “No I’m not from there either!” Rainbow Dash angrily stomped a hoof on the stone. “I’m from Equestria and I’ve been flying north for months doing all kinds of awesome stuff and now I’m here!” “Equestria?” The griffon’s eyebrows shot up in surprise at the name. “You’ve heard about it?” Rainbow was surprised, her anger momentarily subsiding, raising an eyebrow of her own. “But of course, it’s right across the ocean from Griffonstone.” “Wha—but, these-” Rainbow Dash sputtered and gestured back at the teenage griffons. “They didn’t know about Equestria or Griffonstone at all!” The older female griffon looked up from Dash and glared out at the youngsters. “That’s because some kids don’t like reading or care to learn their history. Instead you all just goof off, you’re not fitting as members of House Stormwing!” While the teenage griffons either rolled their eyes or just ignored her, Rainbow Dash was hit with an immediate feeling of recognition. She remembered now, that other griffon’s name and what he had written in his journal. He had mentioned something about “Houses” and being heir to House Stormwing. Was this his home? Did he come all the way from up here originally? The adult griffon then frowned back at Rainbow Dash and sighed. “Look, even if you’re from Equestria we have no reason to entertain or accommodate you. We keep to ourselves for the most part and-” “Wait!” Rainbow Dash shot up a hoof and stared her hard in the eyes. “Did you know a guy named Gambien?”