Rainbow Dash's Unstoppable Ego

by MagicS

Determination

“Fight me.”

“Excuse me?”

Rainbow Dash had barged back into the office of Chief Archibald and slammed her hooves onto his very large desk, staring him dead in the face. Gilbert, Daylight, and Senax had all followed her and were now watching this rather amusing scene unfold. Archibald was nonplussed about the rainbow-maned pegasus’ reappearance in his office and the three onlookers wouldn’t have been surprised if he completely ignored her after this. While for Rainbow Dash this was an obnoxious roadblock on her adventure it was quickly becoming an amusing pit-stop for the others.

“You heard me. Let’s fight,” Rainbow Dash repeated.

Archibald rose a single eyebrow to her challenge but otherwise didn’t move from his seat. “Why would I want to do that? I would ask you to vacate my office again but I doubt you’d leave me be so peacefully.”

“You’re right about that!” Rainbow Dash slammed her hooves down again. “And the reason I want to fight you is because I’m going to prove to you that I’m ready and strong enough for the north.”

The honey-colored yak sighed. “I didn’t ask for your reason to challenge me to a fight. I had already assumed it would be silly. I asked why I would want to engage with you in such a thing. There’s no reason I can think of.”

But instead of being annoyed at his words, this time Rainbow Dash just grinned.

“Buddy, if you fight me right now and beat me I’ll leave. But if you refuse to fight? I’ll be here every day annoying you until you do. I’ll fly around outside your office, I’ll kick clouds in front of the sunlight, I’ll make silly faces at your workers, and I’ll keep doing that for ages. Better not underestimate how stubborn I can be when I’m not getting my way.”

Gilbert chuckled from behind them while Daylight Gleam good-naturedly rolled her eyes and Senax also giggled along.

“Hrmph,” Archibald snorted. “A fight between us would accomplish nothing, pony.”

“Because yaks are strong right? Yaks best at fighting and a pony from Equestria like me could never beat you and that’s why I should stay out of the north?” Rainbow Dash sarcastically asked him, an eyebrow raised mockingly.

“That’s exactly right. No pony could beat a yak in a fight,” Archibald responded. And although his voice was even and lacking emotion it still came off as rather snide to Rainbow Dash.

“Then why don’t you fight me and prove it? Unless-” Rainbow Dash got a devilish smile on her lips as she brought a hoof to her mouth, narrowing her eyes at him. “You’re actually scared.”

Archibald scowled at her, pushing his chair from his desk and standing up. “What did you just say?”

“I said-” Rainbow Dash flew right into his face. “That you’re scared to fight me. I mean if it’s so easy for a yak to beat a pony then why wouldn’t you do it and get me out of your hair? Unless you’re actually a scaredy-cat coward who knows he’ll lose and doesn’t want to give me the directions to the north. Come on dude, I’m trying to prove that I’m right but it seems to me that you’re way too scared to do the same thing.”

“As an impartial observer I believe Rainbow Dash has a point,” Gilbert chimed in with an obnoxious grin splitting his beak.

Perhaps that was the tipping point because it caused Archibald to grunt in annoyance and gingerly lift the small hat from his head and place it on his desk. The big yak glared at the griffon before returning his gaze to Rainbow Dash and snorting a big puff of air out of his nose. “I didn’t want to hurt you for some meaningless reason, but if you’re that intent on it then so be it. I will show you that yaks are best at fighting.”

---

“Yak ceremonial wrestling ring is prepared!”

Out in back of the checkpoint building the snow had been cleared from the ground to reveal a dirt circle ringed by numerous large stones that Rainbow Dash and Archibald now stood inside. Archibald had his other workers get it prepared while the yaks from the boat watched and the three passengers waited with Rainbow Dash as she stretched. Now the two combatants were preparing to face off with each other, Archibald had removed his suit but otherwise looked completely unconcerned. Rainbow Dash was lazily floating a few feet off the ground, also likely trying to annoy her opponent with her carefree attitude. She lifted a blue hoof to her mouth and yawned deeply while Archibald frowned.

The pegasus looked around the ring for a moment and stared at Archibald. “You guys just had this lying around?”

“Yes,” Archibald grunted without further elaboration. “If you can make me give up or knock me out of this ring then you win.” He strongly stomped his front hooves on the ground. “But you will soon find that to be impossible. I will smash you, annoying pony!”

“Try it,” Dash glared at him.

“Taking any bets on who’s going to win?” Gilbert whispered to Daylight and Senax while they stood by the other yaks outside the ring.

Daylight scoffed. “I wouldn’t want to get in a fight with a yak. That being said… Rainbow Dash seems like quite the pony. I think she’s kind of nuts for doing this but if she can pull it off it’ll be impressive.” The white unicorn shrugged. “What about you, Senax?”

“I just hope no one gets hurt,” the merpony bit her lip. “Shouldn’t there be a peaceful solution to this?”

“That yak seems determined to not let Rainbow Dash know about the way north so I doubt it,” Gilbert shook his head.

“Yep, sometimes all you can do is fight,” Daylight said.

Archibald and Rainbow Dash were still sizing each other up, neither of them had made to attack the other one just yet. The yak was confident in his strength and was sure the pony wouldn’t be able to hurt him or force him from the ring while Rainbow Dash knew without a doubt that she could fly circles around him. The problem for her was if she could actually budge him. Archibald might have just been planning to let her tire herself out trying to win and then he could just smack her once when she was exhausted and that would be it. There wasn’t a time limit or anything though and she had enough energy in her for ten ponies. If this guy was expecting an easy victory he was in for a rude awakening. Rainbow Dash knew she was strong and awesome, she just needed to convince this guy by whooping his butt.

The way he squared himself against her with his head bowed low and his legs braced against the ground showed he was ready for anything she might do though. Archibald may have been a suit-wearing desk jockey but he was still a yak that knew how to fight. She couldn’t underestimate him either.

Archibald was obviously waiting for her to make the first move now, his unblinking eyes boring holes into her.

What he didn’t expect was that when she made her first move he wouldn’t be able to see it at all.

In a blur Rainbow Dash disappeared and before Archibald could process anything else he felt her slam into his side. The yak actually stumbled as she knocked hooves first into his right side before he buckled down and shrugged her off, Rainbow Dash flitting away to the center of the ring and flying over it, out of reach of him if he attempted to grab or jump for her. He stared at her in shock of her speed. Obviously he knew the flying pony would be faster than he was but he didn’t expect her to be that fast. And she had the force and momentum to move him too.

He wasn’t about to admit that he might have been mistaken though.

“Very well, so you can fly fast. But I’m still standing,” Archibald glared at her.

Rainbow Dash grinned. “And I’m still flying.”

“Bad thing this isn’t a flying contest,” he mocked.

She didn’t let her anger blind her though, Rainbow Dash started flying circles around him quickly, creating a rainbow looking vortex around the yak. Archibald held his ground inside the maelstrom despite the wind fraying his fur and kicking up dirt all around him. The yak knew he still had the advantage on defense.

“What’s a little wind supposed to do? If you wanted to get dirt in my fur you could’ve just thrown some at me!” He yelled out to the vortex, unsure of where Dash actually was in it.

A blue blur shot out from the vortex and slammed into him before disappearing just as quickly. The yak shook his head to regain his senses right before he was hit again, and then again and again. Rainbow Dash kept shooting like a lightning bolt into the yak. Blitzing him and striking out with a hoof or shoulder check each time she flew past, too fast for him to react. The yak grit his teeth and tried to wait her out, individually nothing she did was actually hurting him but it was starting to get annoying. And especially frustrating since he couldn’t do anything in retaliation.

“Can you see what’s going on at all?” Gilbert asked from outside the ring, the rainbow vortex obscuring everything.

“Nope,” Daylight shook her head. The white unicorn wore a flummoxed expression on her face at seeing her fellow pony’s speed.

Back in the ring, Archibald had finally had enough.

“No more!” The great yak flexed his muscles and jumped, smashing down onto the ground and actually sending out a shockwave that made the ground rumble and blew away the wind. “Yaks smash!”

Rainbow Dash was knocked from her flight and tumbled onto the ground, rolling end over end but still staying inside the ring. “Woah!”

“There you are!” Archibald yelled and jumped high into the air.

“Uh oh,” Dash gulped as she looked up at the large yak falling right towards her. He didn’t expect her speed and she didn’t expect him to be able to jump like that.

She quickly got out of the way and flew up right before he landed, his heavy body hitting the ground with a thud and cratering his landing point. Even a few of those watching the match stumbled because of that. Archibald was slow to pull himself out of the dirt so Rainbow Dash took the opportunity to jump on his back, repeatedly stomping on him and kicking him to keep him down. The yak grunted at her assault but didn’t look hurt even as she laid into him with her rapid-fire kicks.

“Yaks are sturdy, pony!” He yelled and reared up, intending to knock her off him.

She hung on like she was riding a raging bull though, reaching down and grasping Archibald by the horns. “Tell me something I don’t know!”

“Let go!” Archibald shouted at being treated this way, running and bucking around the ring to try to free himself of the blue pegasus.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t about to do that though even with the yak pounding across the ground and smashing holes into the dirt with the force of his steps. She held onto his horns and tried to yank him one way but the yak was strong enough to always overcome her pulling and turn his head the way he wanted. He shook his head fiercely to get her off but Rainbow Dash wasn’t swayed either, she had decided to take a page out of Applejack’s book for this fight.

“Fine, have it your way then!” Archibald was fed up with her insolence and started to roll over, intending to flatten Rainbow Dash beneath him if she didn’t get off his back.

With a grunt she let go and jumped off of him right as the yak tumbled onto the ground, rolling end over end like a steamroller. Rainbow Dash winced as she watched from above, he really would’ve turned her into a pancake if she didn’t get off at the last second. Archibald eventually stopped his rolling and looked up at the flying pony from his flattened patch who was still staying out of reach.

And for once, the yak grinned. “Flying up there so far away… are you scared?”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed. “No way.”

“Then come down here and fight me!” Archibald sneered.

She was happy to oblige him this time. Again the yak felt it before he saw the rainbow blur smash into his chest, and then again in his side, his back, the top of his head. But the more and more Rainbow Dash hit him the more he was sure that she couldn’t beat him. And the more and more frustrated Rainbow Dash got, seeing him just take all the punishment she was dishing out. Archibald kept up his grin as she pummeled him relentlessly. The force behind each blow was getting steadily weaker. He was right, she was going to tire before he did.

“Gahahaha, you call this a fight?!” He mocked her. “Why don’t you try doing something that will hurt, pony!”

“Tch,” Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue. “Alright then.”

On the next flyby instead of hitting his head or body she went low and put all her strength into striking his front-right knee. The yaks eyes widened in surprise as a lance of pain went up him and he felt his leg buckle. With a deep exhalation he fell to the dirt, his left front leg the only thing supporting his weight and making him quite unbalanced. Rainbow Dash then came back like a lightning bolt and hit there too, causing Archibald to fall forward and smack his face into the ground.

“Hey buddy.”

Archibald looked up to see Rainbow Dash smugly flying above him, again just out of reach.

“I wanted to prove I was strong to you and could beat you up any way I wanted. But if you want me to keep hitting you where you’re weakest just say so. I could’ve been doing that from the start,” she grinned and folded her arms behind her head.

A vein throbbed on the yak’s forehead as he glowered at her and stood up. Her strikes may have knocked him down but it was hardly enough to keep him that way. “I could tell that you’ve been slowing down by the way you’ve been hitting me. You’re tiring, and you still can’t win.”

“Oh yeah? My awesomeness says otherwise.”

She disappeared so fast she left an after-image behind and the yak felt both of his back legs struck at the same time, causing him to fall over backwards with a pained yelp. She then came around the front and flew into his exposed stomach elbow first. All of her weight and all the power she could muster was behind her with this attack. Archibald had the wind knocked out of him and despite his great strength and weight was actually pushed back, sliding across the dirt several inches.

It wasn’t exactly what Rainbow Dash wanted though. She had fully intended to bowl him over and throw him out of the ring. But as she peeked past his large bulk the edge of the ring was still several feet away.

“Not quite.”

Rainbow Dash looked up at the yak’s face. Unfortunately she was now very much within his reach.

Archibald swung a hoof out at her right as Rainbow Dash jumped away from him, but this time she was a fraction of a second too slow and his hoof clipped her wing, knocking her off-balance and making her fall to the dirt. Her wing felt sprained and the feathers awkwardly clumped when she hit the ground. Even a glancing hit from a yak was dangerous. She had to bite her lip as she stood up, really not happy about the situation she now found herself in. The one benefit for her right now was that Archibald had seen fit not to press his advantage.

The yak instead caught his breath and took the time to gloat. “And now what do you expect to do, pony?”

Rainbow Dash frowned, standing up straight and taking a few steps back to create some distance between her and the yak. Flying would be limited if not outright out of the question for the rest of this fight. Still, that bruised wing didn’t mean her ego was bruised.

“I was thinking I’d still win this fight. That’s what.”

The honey yak’s throbbing vein came back as he glowered at Rainbow Dash. “You just don’t know when to quit! Fine then, yak shall smash pony!” Archibald lowered his head and got in charging formation at Rainbow Dash, preparing to run her down where she stood. “If pony so tough, then stand there and try to stop me!”

“Please tell me she’s not actually going to let him goad her into that?” Daylight gulped as she watched.

“You’re on, pal!” Rainbow Dash yelled back at him and braced herself.

“I believe she is,” Gilbert said.

“Rargh!” Archibald yelled, fully getting pumped up from the fight, and charged at Rainbow Dash. His horns were lowered and aimed right at her as he galloped, his huge and strong hooves throwing up dirt behind him and causing the ground to shake like a train was coming through.

The blue pegasus wasn’t worried in the slightest. When Archibald barreled into her, Rainbow Dash grabbed his horns and dug her back hooves only slightly into the ground to avoid most of the force from the yak. If she had tried to just outright stop him she would’ve been crushed so she had to ease into it and try to put the brakes on gradually. Like this she didn’t get carried away or knocked down, much to Archibald’s annoyance, and the yak kept running to try and throw her under him.

But finally Rainbow Dash reached the spot she wanted.

With a grin, the rainbow-maned pony dug her hooves in completely and spread her wings fully for as much drag as possible. She didn’t try to negate his momentum or stop his running altogether. No, she needed to use that for herself. All she was trying to do right now was give herself some leverage. And the exact moment her hooves dug in she had that.

Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and sucked in air through her nostrils, drawing up all the strength she had in her relatively small pony body.

And she lifted.

Using Archibald’s own momentum against him she arched her back and used her dug in hooves like a pivot to lift him over her head while she held onto his horns. Doing it like this the yak was pretty much doing the real heavy-lifting, essentially carrying himself over her.

“Waaah!” Archibald yelled in surprise and confusion as he suddenly found himself airborne.

Rainbow Dash finished the motion, dropping the yak right onto his back in a suplex. It felt and sounded like a meteor had just hit the ground and all the spectators winced at the heavy hit. The blue pony let go of his horns and stood up, panting, that really took a lot of energy out of her. Her wing was still sore and all of her legs were wobbling but she was still proud to see that she could stand.

“Was that supposed to be enough to stop me?”

Rainbow Dash turned around to see the angry eyes of Archibald staring at her from his upside-down position. The yak was hurt but again she hadn’t landed a crippling blow. He was preparing to get up and finish her tired self off.

But Rainbow Dash wasn’t worried. She just grinned and pointed at something next to Archibald. “Hey pal, you might want to take a look around.”

Realization of where he was suddenly came to the yak and he looked around in a panic. “No, no!”

Archibald’s big body lay half out of the ring of stones, the suplex having just carried him over it and onto some of the separating rocks. His shock and disbelief was palpable and the other yaks who had been watching the fight were murmuring in surprise as well.

“I think that means I win, right?” It was impossible for Rainbow Dash to keep the smug out of her voice or the grin off her face.

The Chief of the checkpoint was red in the face, his hooves shaking with rage, it looked like he was a volcano about to blow… until his anger vanished and he let out a heavy sigh, falling limp on the ground and gazing up at Rainbow again in his upside-down way.

“Yes, you win.”

---

Rainbow Dash and Archibald stood alone in his office, the other yaks that worked for the Chief were standing outside it and making sure there weren’t any eavesdroppers this time. The yak held Rainbow Dash in a long and unwavering stare which she returned. Neither wanted to give the other the satisfaction of blinking or breaking away first. The fight may have been over but these too were still at each other’s throats.

Finally the yak’s patience lost to Rainbow’s stubbornness and he rolled his eyes, turning away and walking behind his desk.

“You may have won the fight, but I don’t recall ever promising to tell you the way to the northern checkpoint just because of that,” Archibald said.

“Come on, dude!” Rainbow Dash flew up, wincing slightly from her wing, and landed on his desk. “You know what that was about and I think I proved that I’m way tougher than you thought!”

Archibald sighed. “Yes, you have. But I still think what you’re doing is foolish in more ways than one.”

“It’s my choice,” she glared at him.

“I don’t think you quite understand what you could be getting yourself into… but I can respect your decision now at least,” Archibald answered with a heavy look on his face. “You beat me fair and square, I’ll honor your desire. If a pony is strong enough to beat a yak in a fight that’s the least I can do for you.” He reached a hoof to a drawer under his desk and pulled out a fresh piece of paper and pencil. “I will draw you a map to the north checkpoint. However with your wing hurt I suggest staying the night here, since even flying it will take you a full day to get through the wasteland.”

Rainbow Dash tested her wing, moving it up and down and ruffling the feathers to try and get them to all look right. There was a tenderness to be sure.

“Yeah fine,” she sighed. “Ugh, I really hate having to wait for stuff!”

She left his office and met back up with Daylight, Gilbert, and Senax, who had briefly gone onto their boat to grab a first aid kit for her wing. The four of them now once again sat outside the cafe drinking coffee. This time Rainbow Dash was in a far brighter mood.

“You guys didn’t have to do this, it’ll be fine with a little rest,” Rainbow Dash said as she flexed her injured wing with newly applied gauze and ointment on it.

“That’s what a first aid kit is meant for,” Gilbert shrugged. “And besides, you made this little detour amazingly entertaining, it’s the least we could do before our boat leaves.”

“Which is soon just so you know. Last chance to take up our offer?” Daylight asked.

Rainbow Dash smiled and shook her head. “Thanks but the answer’s still no. I’m heading north.”

“Good luck on your journey. It really does sound dangerous so I hope you’re careful,” Senax told her.

“Careful? You just saw what I can do—hay, you didn’t see half of what I can do. I’ll be fine,” Dash kicked back and put her hooves behind her head.

“That ego of yours is something else,” Daylight grinned. “But I guess you’re not just blowing smoke when you say something like that. Too bad we’re parting so soon but maybe we’ll see each other again someday out there. It’s a big world but not that big.”

Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement. “Yeah, that’d be pretty cool.”

The four only had a minute longer to converse before the captain of the yak boat came in and announced they would be leaving soon. The passengers bound for Griffonstone and the waters far beyond made their farewells to Rainbow Dash and left her as the only pony in the southern wasteland checkpoint. The blue pegasus immediately found herself bored and resorted to her favorite “activity” to pass the time until she was ready to head to the northern checkpoint: napping.

Comments

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Great chapter!

[Dashie04]

What, no? I haven’t been distracted.

Anyways, I really likes the fight in this chapter.

[redmar]

This was a great chapter and the wrestling match was well done.