Rainbow Dash's Unstoppable Ego

by MagicS

Backside

There was an easy way and a hard way to fly up to the peak. Just like there was now an easy way and a hard way to get down the mountain. And since she had already conquered Mt. Everhoof this seemed like the perfect time for a self-imposed challenge to make things a little more exciting on her descent.

“I’m gonna climb down this mountain and no using my wings unless I absolutely have to!” Rainbow Dash shouted into the high air before hopping off the top boulder onto the ledge right below it.

Going up the southern face of the mountain was accomplished by her wings, and going down the northern face would be accomplished by her hooves. Doubly awesome.

Snow crunched under her hooves as she jumped down to the next step. Rainbow Dash made sure she was jumping to a safe spot that had actual rock under it each time, she really didn’t want to land on a snow or ice shelf only for the whole thing to slide or fall out from under her. With her wings and quick reaction speed she’d probably be okay but she didn’t want to chance getting carried away. Boy was that snow cold on her hooves though! She had done a really good job of ignoring or simply warming herself up when it came to the cold but now she was having those issues she had just earlier thanked herself for being able to avoid because she was a pegasus.

The adrenaline from making it to the top had kept the chilliness of the mountain peak away for a minute but now that she was traveling down it and that high had worn off the cold air that surrounded her was making itself very, very, known. Being at the top and looking down now the mountain looked a lot taller too, Rainbow Dash was giving herself a bit of a long trip by hopping down it.

A dangerous trip too. Her jump down one level sent a slight tremor through the rocks that was just strong enough to dislodge a number of sharp icicles around and above her, sending them slicing through the snow or shattering on the rocks.

“Yeesh, gotta watch out for that.”

She was counting this traveling down the backside of the mountain as her first real challenge on this adventure that wasn’t in Equestria so she really wanted to give it her all and not take any shortcuts. Once she got to the foot of the mountain she could start flying over the forested valley below.

It was a surprise to her of how green that valley still was, frosty, yes, but not covered or buried in snow like much of the landscape on the Equestrian side of the mountain. It’s like the weather and climate magically changed a bit when you left the border of Equestria. Which honestly shouldn’t surprise her that much. Clouds covered most of the sky on this side of the mountain too, giving everything below a dimmer and more dreary look than the side she had just come up. Add to that that it was getting later in the day so the amount of light was naturally going down to begin with. She may need to hurry it up a little if she wanted off this mountain before nightfall.

Hurrying though was just the kind of thing that could get her in trouble. Rainbow was confident in her physical abilities even if they didn’t relate to flying but she knew she still wasn’t quite as strong or as coordinated on the ground as she was in the air. Trying to rush things could get her hurt and she really didn’t want to break her rule of not using her wings unless there was no other alternative.

Rainbow Dash started humming to herself again to pass the time and take her mind off the cold and the slower process. She imagined being cheered on and congratulated by everyone for making it to the top of Mt. Everhoof, her humming taking the place of the imaginary band performing for her.

“Thank you, thank you, yes I know I’m awesome,” she began saying to herself. Rainbow Dash grinned at the thought of Applejack having to admit she just did something amazing that there was no way she could do. That sweet victory alone would’ve made things worth it.

The further she got down the mountain the more areas there were to travel on, more room as well and she didn’t have to worry as much as accidentally tumbling down a sheer cliff anymore. A lot of the mountain now had an easy enough incline and road to further below where she could just walk. There were some treacherous looking ice and rock bridges as well as some dangerous holes and crevasses she needed to be careful of but for the most part she was able to turn her run down the mountain into an easy stroll. Her wings weren’t just the gift that kept on giving but the great shape she kept her whole body in.

Rainbow Dash decided to have some fun and actually slid down a slope on her hooves, the snow slick enough where it was easy for her. A couple of moguls and rocks popped up here and there that she maneuvered around. Her hooves were getting a little cold from this so she kind of wished she had a board but that was really the only issue.

“I thought climbing a mountain was supposed to be tough? Am I really just this awesome?” Rainbow Dash grinned as she torpedoed on down.

By the time she had made it more than halfway down the mountain a lot of trees were starting to pop up around her now and she ran out of snow to slide on, returning to running, walking, and jumping over rocks. She even saw some animals, squirrels mostly, scurrying about in this lightly forested area. The pine trees made a great home for them and even though Dash was no animal expert (despite her closeness to Fluttershy) she had to figure they led a pretty peaceful life free of most predators on such a remote mountainside.

She wouldn’t admit this as she kept moving but the backside of the mountain looked way, way, easier to traverse than the southern face of it she had flown up. And so what if it was? She was still a pegasus literally walking down the tallest mountain in all of Equestria! Maybe even all the world. That was awesome and nothing nobody else said could change her mind about it.

The blue Wonderbolt with an amazingly inflated ego was still up about a quarter of the way on the mountain though. It would be a decent amount of time before she hit ground level and she couldn’t exactly tell from up here how much easier the rest of the descent would be. But with a larger and wider area the further down she went there would probably be plenty of different paths or routes to take.

And if there were she was going to pick out the most dangerous looking path on purpose.

The climb down the mountain had been too uneventful for her tastes. Well, maybe uneventful was the wrong word, not challenging enough. This was supposed to be a challenge and here she was being even more awesome than she thought she was; having no problem getting down off Mt. Everhoof without having to use her wings.

This adventure was supposed to satisfy her! She couldn’t be satisfied by an easy adventure!

There weren’t even any monsters or Ursa Minors up here or anything. Come on!

“Argh!” Rainbow Dash growled as she frowned, leaping down a broken series of boulders.

Some of them had a slippery coating of ice on them that made her be careful with how she touched down on them and with how much force, but her light hooves and agility made it less than no hazard at all.

Even the weather that had previously been a pain to her when she was trying to reach the peak had abated ever since she started coming down the backside. The cloud coverage was still thick and dreary above the valley but it wasn’t especially cold or windy.

“Lame! There better be way cooler stuff in the north from here on out!” The disappointed pegasus shouted as she hopped off a snow drift onto a ridge that looked like it led all the way to the mountain’s base from where she was. So long as she didn’t tumble off one side of it this was going to be her road to the bottom. And unfortunately for her once again there was absolutely no danger of that happening what with how wide the ridge was. There was barely even any snow or ice on it to make it more slippery or hide a dangerously loose spot!

While she walked down the ridge she couldn’t help but feel annoyed at how she didn’t have to use her wings once the whole time. Yeah that was the challenge but she was hoping something would be dangerous or tough enough where she would be forced to use them. It ended up putting Rainbow Dash in a foul mood as the day calmly switched to evening.

Comments

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Great story so far!