//------------------------------// // Villains // Story: Mare Do Well: As The Sky Falls // by ShadeJak //------------------------------// “Griffons coming!” Soarin warned as the factory doors opened and a bunch of griffons spilled out. “Ready?” Spitfire asked Mare Do Well. “Like always!” Mare Do Well said. Picking up speed, the young superheroine and her idols flew straight at the griffon guards to engage them. The griffons spread their claws and prepared for hoof-to-claw and the fight began. The Wonderbolts fought hard, striking with their hooves and weaving about avoiding attacks. The griffons had the advantage in brute strength but the Wonderbolts had speed and skill at their side. Mare Do Well herself moved through the violent melee, remembering the warning about the bomb and attempting to reach the door. A griffon suddenly tacked her from above before she could get to it, sending them both to the cloudy ground. Mare Do Well struggled with him for a moment, grunting as he punched her, but blocking the next blow with her hoof and striking him in the face, causing him to fall off her. “Come on!” Rainbow Dash called, straightening her hat and taking flight once more. Spitfire and Soarin looked back at their teammates who were still fending off other griffons. “Don’t worry about us!” Rapidfire said. “Captain, help free those ponies! We got this!” Fleetfoot shouted with a smirk, decking another griffon. With a nod, Spitfire gestured for Soarin to follow and they joined the costumed pegasus into the waiting factory. ~ At the entrance, Mare Do Well and the two Wonderbolts captured another griffon, and after a few beatings, he confessed to the ponies being held in the weather storage. Mare Do Well smirked, recalling the first crime she fought in Cloudsdale there, and lead the way, plowing through any resistance. “Just up ahead!” Mare Do Well shouted, spotting the door to weather storage. Busting out the two griffons guarding it, Mare Do Well pushed the switch, causing the door to open. Entering, she let out a sigh of relief as she looked inside. There was her dad, the others from the academy, several sky guards, weatherponies, and some civilian ponies who’d not evacuated in time. “Dashie…?” Blitz mouthed. “Dad! You’re alright!” Rainbow flew over and gave him a hug while Spitfire and Soarin flew over to chew away the ropes, and soon the pegasi were free. Rainbow slid her mask up and gave her dad a sheepish smile. “I guess I got a lot to explain, huh?” She asked. “Yeah, kinda. But now’s not really the time. Razorbeak’s already got the bomb set up.” Blitz explained. “We’re on it, but the Wonderbolts are gonna need a little help dealing with all these griffons.” Soarin answered. “Well, I think you can count on us for that!” Cloudchaser said with a smirk as she stood up. “I’m all for it.” Thunderlane said, clapping his forehooves together. Spitfire grinned. “Now that’s what I’m looking for, cadets. Everypony, let’s all work together here and kick some griffon butt so we can take back this city!” “YEEAAAHHH!!” the muscular white pegasus next to Cloudchaser shouted with a flex of his foreleg. Invigorated, the captured sky guards and civilians spread their wings as well, ready to fight. “Dad, any idea where the bomb is? Did any of Razorbeak’s guys say anything about it?” Rainbow Dash asked, sliding the mask back into place. “One of ‘em said something about it being on the floor above us.” He answered, causing his daughter to shudder. Storm control, storms were made there, and it being right above weather storage, if a bomb took both floors out simultaneously, a chain reaction would follow that’d be catastrophic for Equestria. “Got it!” The costumed pegasus answered. “I’m gonna go after the bomb and see if I can get it out of the city, you help the others handle the griffons and get the weatherponies together to try to get these storm clouds surrounding the city under control.” She gave her dad another hug. “I love you, dad…” She said, smiling under the mask. “You make it back, got it?” Blitz asked, managing a smile as he returned the hug but still worrying he may not see his daughter again. “Aw come on, dad! It’s me, I’ll make it back. Piece of cake!” Rainbow said with a laugh, and she flew off down the halls. “Well, you heard the superhero. Let’s go!” Blitz said, and with that, the team flew off in the other direction to engage the griffons once more, now with far better odds. ~ Galloping up the stairs, Mare Do Well moved as fast as she could. Storm storage wasn’t too far away, just another catwalk or two, and a left turn and she’d be there. Spreading her wings as she ran to the top of the stairs, the pegasus flew forward, gaining speed. As she made a left turn, two griffons arrived, only to get hoofed and bucked to the ground. “I REALLY don’t have time, guys!” Mare Do Well hissed, stomping down on one for good measure and moving on. Finally, she reached the door. Taking a few breaths, she hit the switch with her hoof and the doors slid open. Storm control was a vast chamber, not the size weather storage boasted but still very close. An open space surrounded by several glass tubes that funnelled the clouds and water to mix them together and form rainclouds, and a powerful pair of dynamos that helped make some into thunderstorms stood up above, crackling with electrical energy. At the end of the long bridge was a blinking device, about crate-sized. Standing in front of it, however, facing away from her, was none other then Razorbeak himself. “I can’t say I’m glad to see you back. I guess some ponies just can’t take getting lost as an answer, can they?” The masked griffon leader mused with a bitter laugh as he suddenly turned, the gauntlet on his claw firing a blast of lightning that struck Mare Do Well dead-on and sent her tumbling backward. Rainbow Dash grunted in pain, thankful for the durable material of the costume and a pegasus’ heightened resistance to lightning. “Sorry, Razorbeak, but I don’t get lost easily.” She said, getting back up. “How about we settle for dropping dead then?!” The griffon demanded with a laugh, firing another blast, but this time the pegasus was ready and flew straight up into the air, the bolt of lightning dancing along the wall behind her as she moved to avoid its direction. Razorbeak immediately took to the air and flew straight at her, talons spread as he let out a shriek. Mare Do Well in turn flew right at him, hooves aimed straight out, and the two impacted against one-another. Razorbeak grabbed Mare Do Well’s foreleg with one claw and punched her with the other, the pegasus jerked her head, then raised one hind leg up to kick him off, sending him backward but not loosening his grip, causing them both to falter in the air. “Pathetic trick like that doesn’t always work, Dash!” Razorbeak snarled, doing a backflip in the air and flinging Mare Do Well towards one of the cloud tubes. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings as hard as she could, turning herself to slow down and not crash into them. Too much punishment would set their contents loose. Managing to slow down enough, she rebounded off the tube and flew straight back at Razorbeak, who weaved to the side and swing his talons at her, but the mare arced herself in time to avoid having her face clawed off, but in the process her hat was sliced and fell from her head down to the depths below. Guess I got something else to apologize to Rarity for… she thought to herself. If I make it through this… ~ Outside, the Wonderbolts began to fall back as more griffons continued their assault, some of them had begun flinging explosives their way, stopping them from getting closer. “Great, now what?” Rapidfire muttered. “You say thanks for the cavalry!” Soarin’s voice announced from the factory doors. The griffons turned, dumbfounded when they saw that numbers were no longer vastly in their favor as Soarin, Spitfire, and the freed pegasi all stood at the doors, fighting stances ready. “Aw feathers…” One griffon said, and the pegasus reinforcements were soon upon them. The other Wonderbolts quickly rejoined the fight, and the griffons struggled to use their grenades to hold them back, only to realize they’d exhausted most of them moments ago and resumed hoof-to-claw. Blitz charged one, knocking him in the chest with his hoof, taking a scratch to his side but ignoring it, rearing backward in the air and slamming his hooves into the griffon’s face and causing him to fall. Spitfire was quickly beset by three griffons, and after bucking one backward, the other two lunged upon her, but Soarin quickly came to her aid, delivering a blow to one and Spitfire having only one left to put her attention on quickly subjected the next griffon to a spinning attack as she swooped around him, then charged him, knocking him into another unsuspecting avian foe. Lime Jelly and Thunderlane found themselves back to back, two griffons trading blows with them rather evenly before finally getting some quick hits that distracted the thugs for a second. “NOW!” Lime Jelly ordered, interlocking her left foreleg with Thunderlane’s right, and they flapped their wings to do a high-speed spin, kicking the griffons backward before they could counter. Cloudchaser fell to the cloud surface after a lucky blow from a griffon knocked her from the air. She’d done well till now, and realized she may have been tiring out. The griffon landed before her, sneering as he grabbed her by the neck, raising his free claw back and preparing a finishing blow, when he was suddenly tapped on the shoulder. Turning, the griffon was promptly decked in the face, then headbutted hard by a massive assailant, putting him out for the count. “YEEEAAAHHH!!!!” The muscular white pegasus standing over the fallen griffon shouted, causing a few other griffons to back off and earning a smirk from Cloudchaser. “Best wingpony ever.” She said, getting back up and preparing to resume the fight. ~ Interlocked in battle, Razorbeak and Mare Do Well continued to trade and block eachother’s attacks. Finally, Razorbeak got a hit in, dazing Mare Do Well. While the pegasus attempted to shake it off, however, the griffon terrorist grabbed her by the face and yanked her mask off, then dive-bombed her into the bridge, holding her down. “Under the mask, you’re still the same pony you always were, Rainbow Dash. Why did you even waste your time and life coming back to try and stop me?!” Razorbeak demanded, leaning in as his eyes narrowed hatefully at the pegasus. “If you can’t figure that out, then you don’t know me nearly as well as you think!” Rainbow Dash answered, turning her head and biting Razorbeak’s foreleg. The griffon cried out in pain, and the distraction allowed Rainbow Dash the chance to buck him in the chest, sending him off her and tumbling across the bridge. The griffon began to stand, but before he could, he was immediately knocked down again by the now-airborne Rainbow Dash, who immediately pinned him against the wall with one hoof then hit him repeatedly in the face with her other. “What in Tartarus is your problem, anyway, Razorbeak?! What’s your deal with Equestria? Why go through all this?!” She demanded, hitting him over and over again, causing the mask to fracture and dent up. Finally, one well-placed, fully-powered strike smashed the mask in, and the pegasus grabbed him with her forelegs and did an airspin, sending him tumbling again. The griffon shook, but he was laughing. “You really wanna know, Rainbow Dash?” The griffon asked, laughing louder. His voice, however, sounded different, due to the damage the mask had sustained it seemed to frequently be changing between the low, gravelly tone Rainbow Dash was used to hearing from him, and a higher, slightly raspy one that sounded vaguely familiar to her. The griffon reached behind his mask, pulling something loose, and then dug his claws under the neckline, pulling it off and flinging it to the side. Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened in horror when she saw the face of the unmasked Razorbeak. “GILDA?!” The griffoness let out a sinister laugh. “Well, the heroes usually create their own worst enemies, don’t they, Dash?” She asked, spreading her wings and taking to the air, now at the same altitude as Rainbow was. “I’m surprised you even remember me, after how quickly you decided to trade up for those lame ponies!” She explained, her eyes wide with a crazed glee. “You can still apologize for humiliating and betraying me, if you want… not that it’s gonna do you any good, It’ll just be so much sweeter knowing you were sorry when I kill you!” As soon as the words left her mouth, Gilda charged right at Rainbow Dash, faster and more erratic then before, slashing with her claws and even whipping her tail at her. Rainbow Dash struggled to avoid the attacks, but the fatigue from the fights and the shock that her own former best friend had been masterminding this plot was already a lot to take in. “I’ve been wanting to make you suffer for the longest time! You being Mare Do Well was just a huge perk.” Gilda shouted, grabbing Rainbow Dash’s cape, then turning in the air to fling her into a wall, then flew right at her. “So when my dad croaked and left me a nice inheritance, I used it to make up an alter-ego who could pay off and talk a buncha wannabe activist griffons looking for a little fame into helping out.” She explained as she hovered in the air, watching Rainbow Dash slide down to the bridge floor. “The changelings, well, after some last blown attempt to get a little love, they were getting pretty desperate. Promised I’d bring them the Wonderbolts and anypony who survived Cloudsdale getting destroyed! I wanted to bring your home city down so you’d spend the rest of your life feeling the worst kind of failure imaginable, one you’d NEVER live with yourself over. Which reminds me…” She reached into the pouch of her belt and drew out a small device, pressing a switch on it. Suddenly, the bomb at the end of the bridge began to tick. “Tick tock, Dash. Gonna quit and split, or spend the last few minutes you got left accepting a little failure as the sky falls?” The griffoness asked. Rainbow Dash stood up, glaring. “Gilda, don’t you remember one of the biggest things about me?” She asked. “What, your lame little loyalty thing? Not that I remember you showing it towards me!” Gilda sneered. “No, Gilda. That I. HATE. LOSING!” Rainbow Dash shouted, flying straight at Gilda, striking her in the chest and causing enough impact for her to crash into the wall and fall from the bridge. Soon as Gilda started falling, Rainbow Dash then rushed straight to the bomb, scooping it up in her forehooves and flying up towards a skyroof, busting through it. ~ Outside, the pegasi exchanged hoofbumps, standing over the defeated griffons. “Great job, everypony. We all okay?” Spitfire asked. A few of them looked worse for wear, but otherwise good. “Alright, wonderbolts and weatherponies, come with me, we’re gonna deal with these storm clouds. Everypony else, get these griffons tied up.” “Sure thing.” A guard said as the weatherponies, the wonderbolts, and cadets took to the air again. Out of the corner of his eye, Blitz noticed a figure up on the massive globe that was part of the weather factory’s roof… ~ Rainbow Dash took a moment, laying the bomb beside her on the globetop while she took a few breaths. The storm clouds swirled about but seemed to be showing signs of weakening. Looking about, she noticed the Wonderbolts and the weatherponies had already started working on breaking down the storm, it’d make getting this thing out of here way easier. Glancing at the clock on the bomb, she saw it had only a minute left. “Great… just what I needed to see…” As she prepared to grab up the bomb again, however, a blast of lightning surged down, barely missing her. “Going somewhere, Dash?” Gilda taunted, hovering in the air as she raised up her claw, electricity crackling around the gauntlet she wore, then swooped down, flying around the pegasus and causing a brief cyclone that caused Rainbow to spin and fall on her face. Just as she attempted to stand, the griffoness backhanded her hard, sending her tumbling backward. Laughing and looking over at the bomb that now rested between them, Gilda approached, a murderous gleam in her eyes as she drew closer. “Not a lotta time, wanna go out with a bang together?” She asked. Rainbow Dash got back up, the bomb stood between her and the griffoness. One last idea came to her. It was crazy, possibly going to cost both their lives, but it just might work. “Sounds good to me!” Rainbow Dash said, her cocky smile back as she suddenly flew full-force at the bomb, then collided into Gilda before she could even react, and soon all three were flying from the roof at high speed. Gilda struggled, but the force of Rainbow’s air-speed velocity made it impossible to move around it to get to Rainbow Dash. “Dash! Are you crazy?! You’ll kill us both!” The griffoness protested. “If that’s what it takes to save everypony…” Rainbow said, picking up speed as they flew through the dying storm clouds, and out into the open sky. Color and light slowly began to swirl around the pegasus as Gilda’s eyes widened, looking at the clock as its final few seconds began to tick down. Reaching around, the griffoness aimed her claw at Rainbow Dash, charging up electrical energy for one last, desperate attack as the last three seconds passed. The sonic rainboom and the explosion that accompanied it could be seen by everypony in Manehattan and Cloudsdale. ~ “Dashie!” Blitz cried out, immediately flying from the clouds as they finished dissolving apart and towards where the explosion had gone off as fast as he could, he could see a shape get blown into the air by the shock of the explosion and began to fall towards the sea. Come on wings… he said to himself, moving faster and faster as he sped towards his falling daughter. Fastest weatherpony in Cloudsdale, he would not fail, not when his daughter, who had saved them all, now needed to be saved. Not this time. Rainbow Dash’s fall came to an abrupt halt as she fell into her father’s forelegs, barely avoiding missing her. Slowing down and hovering in the air, cradling his pride and joy, Blitz looked down at his unconscious daughter. “Dashie… I’m so proud of you…” He said softly, Rainbow Dash barely breathing, but still clinging to life as her father flew her towards Manehattan.