//------------------------------// // Day 8: Part 6 // Story: Prototype: Black Rain // by Fuberrari //------------------------------// "Eat me?" said the transformed Lord Seth with a chuckle that turned into a roaring laugh. "Little filly, best not to bite off more than you CAN CHEW!" With a quick twirl, Lord Seth swung his spike covered tail at Rainbow Dash. She reared up, and using an added push with a flap of her wings, launched herself into a back-flip. The spikes on Lord Seth's tail barely missed her, slashing through the air just beneath her chin. Lord Seth yanked on his spiked tail, swinging it around behind him and over his head to have it smash straight down toward the pegasus. Rainbow Dash landed on the ground and quickly skipped to the right, avoiding the lethal looking mass as it crashed into the ground, leaving a small crater where it landed. "Pfft! Missed!" taunted Rainbow Dash, blowing a raspberry at the hulk-ed up griffin. "Big talks for a FLY!" Lord Seth lunged forward, claws extended, each with five razor-sharp talons ready to carve the pegasus into pieces. Rainbow Dash jumped over his first wild swipe cleanly. Her attempt to duck under his second swipe didn't go as smoothly. Rainbow Dash saw several rainbow colored strain of hair drifting down past her vision. One of those knife-like talons had gotten close enough to shave off the tip of her mane. Oh! You're going to pay for that! growled Rainbow Dash. With Lord Seth over her thanks to his lunge, Rainbow Dash ran forward. Her clawed wings swept back and dug themselves into Lord Seth's underbelly. "ARGH!" screamed Lord Seth in pain as her claws tore their way through the thick flesh, leaving two long and messy gashes down the full length of the griffin's gut before ripping themselves out near the base of his tail with a shower of blood and gore. She turned and skidded to a stop near the fortress end of the bridge to see the carnage she had inflicted on the griffin lord. Which, as it turned out, wasn't much. As she watched, the pair of horrific wound in Lord Seth's underside were sealing up rapidly like a closing zipper. By the time the huffing griffin managed to turn around to face her, the wounds had disappeared as if they weren't even there in the first place. The only hint that she even wounded him was the pained grimace in his feature and his rage filled glare. "Great..." breathed Rainbow Dash in annoyance. "You BITCH!" roar the dragon-sized griffin before rearing up. His wings flared out. "Take this!" shouted Lord Seth as he drove his wings toward the pegasus. Dozens, if not hundreds, of spiny bone-spears shot out from his wings. "Whoa!" Rainbow Dash vaulted to action, twisting and flipping around as she tried to avoid all the projectiles flying towards her. Nearly all the spears missed their mark, shattering or embedding themselves in the grounds around her. Although "nearly" was not all of it. "Gah..." yelped Rainbow Dash. One of the spine-covered bone spear found its mark, driving itself straight through her left knee. With her teeth, she grabbed onto the spear and yanked. "HNG!" grunted Rainbow Dash as she pulled on the spear. The serrated edge tore at her flesh as it came out, sending white-hot pain through her. But in-spite of that, she persisted. Finally, the bone spear was free, and the pain quickly subsided as the jagged wound closed by itself. Rainbow Dash glared at Lord Seth, who was smirking at her, before spitting the bone spike away. "Ooh... it is ON!" Rainbow Dash launched herself into a gallop toward the still leering griffin. Lord Seth, likewise, charged at her. They met near the middle of the bridge, where Lord Seth made the first move. He turned his head sideways, and opened his dagger-teeth lined beak to snap at the pegasus. Rainbow Dash reacted quickly, launching herself off the ground right as the beaks snapped shut. There's a was a loud crunch as Rainbow Dash saw a few teeth flew out from the griffin's beak. She landed on Lord Seth's back, and dug her wings in. "GET OFF ME!" roared Lord Seth as he started to thrash around. "Eh... how about NO!?" replied Rainbow Dash as she proceeded to dig into the bulky griffin's back. Blood and flesh sprayed out all over the place as she tore into the griffin below. Yet, despite the ferocity of her attack, the wounds were healing just about as fast as she could inflict them. Well... he can't... keep this... up... forever... thought Rainbow Dash as she continued her assault while Lord Seth continued to thrash and scream. Then, with a mighty flap of his wings, Lord Seth took to the air. He spun and rolled, trying to shake off the raging pegasus on his back. But Rainbow Dash's wings held firm as they continued to open one wound after another. "Keep trying! You can't get me off!" shouted Rainbow Dash. "Nothing you can do can..." That was when Rainbow Dash noticed something approaching rapidly from above. She looked up, and saw the ceiling coming toward her. "... on the other hoof... that wo..." her sentence was cut short when Lord Seth slammed his back, and its passenger, into the cavern ceiling. Chunks of rocks and debris filled her mouth she was ground against the jagged rock like cheese against a cheese grater. Thankfully, it merely lasted but a few seconds. Rainbow Dash popped free, having been effectively scrapped off Lord Seth's back, and tumbled down and away from the griffin. A short fall later, Rainbow Dash regained controlled flight. "Bleh..." sounded Rainbow Dash after spitting out the accumulated debris. The stinging in her back was quickly fading as her impressive healing ability regrew the missing skin in a swarming mass of black tendrils. She looked around, and located Lord Seth. The griffin was coming around and appeared to be no worse for wear. In fact, as impossible as it may seem, Lord Seth looked even more murderous than ever. "Okay... this is going to take a while." groaned Rainbow Dash as she flew off for another tangle with the lord of Blackwings. ===================================================================== We're... out... the words echoed through Fluttershy's mind as she stopped at the edge of the plateau just outside the entrance to the Blackwing's base. The sun was higher in the sky, high enough to peek over the mountain top behind her and light up the rocky slope of the volcano. In the distance, she could see the several flapping shapes receding away. Blackwings who took the smarter option of escaping instead of fighting. "... free.... Free... WE ARE FREE!" cried a griffin behind, soon joined by others. A stream of griffins began to file past her and down the rocky slope. Some of them, however, stopped by Fluttershy. "Thank you, thank you so much!" Fluttershy found herself surrounded by a small crowd of griffins, all eager to express their gratitude. Some simply thanked her with a slight bow before moving to let another griffin take their place. Others took her hoof and shook them while babbling out words of gratefulness. A few threw themselves around her neck, sobbing as they blabbered on words of thanks. Fluttershy tried to maintain a forced smile, but the packed crowd around her was starting to become unbearable for the normally shy pegasus. A sense of panic began to grow within the pegasus as her eyes flicked this way and that, trying to find a place to escape from the crowd. "Fluttershy!" a familiar voice washed away the nervous feelings. The crowd around her parted, revealing Applejack trotting toward her from the cave entrance. "Hiya Fluttershy!" next came Pinkie, bouncing her way out. "Applejack! Pinkie Pie!" Fluttershy gasped when she saw the next pony that came out. "Twilight!" "Hi Flutter..." Twilight didn't get to finish her greeting when Fluttershy pounced on her, squeezing her into a bear hug. "You're okay! You're okay!" "Uh... Fluttershy?" came Applejack's concerned voice. "I was so worried!" "Fluttershy?" "I don't know what I would do if you're dead!" "She will be if you don't let go!" Fluttershy became aware of a strange gurgling sound next to her head and something tapping against her forelegs with growing urgency. She also noticed that Twilight's eyes were nearly bulging out. And as impossible as it may appear, her face was starting to turn blue. Fluttershy quickly released her unicorn friend from her death grip. Twilight Sparkle gasped in return as she rapidly drew in precious air by the lungful. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" "That's... alright..." Twilight Sparkle coughed a few time before drawing in one, long, steady breath in and out. "I'm okay." "Oh, thank goodness." said Fluttershy in relief. "Say, where's Rainbow Dash?" asked Applejack, looking around. "She went to save Gilda's dad." answered Fluttershy. "Gilda?" voiced a surprised Twilight. "Wasn't she that mean griffin who's a jerk to you all?" "Yep! But she's not like that anymore," started Pinkie Pie. "She actually pretty nice." "Hey!" a sudden outburst from the entrance caught their attention. The four ponies turned to see Gilda poking her head up out of the crowd. It took her less than a second to locate where the ponies were. "Pinkie Pie!" "See! She don't call me Stinky Pie anymore!" Gilda pulled herself out of the griffin crowd and ran to them, followed by a slightly larger griffin that they guessed was her dad. When she stopped in front of them, she was panting as if she just ran a marathon. "What's wrong? Where's Rainbow Dash?" asked an alarmed Fluttershy. "Rainbow Dash!... trapped!... in trouble!..." ===================================================================== "STOP RUNNING YOU LITTLE VERMIN!" roared Lord Seth as he continued his aerial pursuit. "What? Too fat and slow to keep up?" taunted Rainbow Dash as she continue to circle just out of reach of the incensed griffin lord. Lord Seth growled. With another powerful beat of his wings, he sent another swarm of bone spikes at the pegasus. However, at this distance, Rainbow Dash had more than enough time to dodge out of the way. "Missed! AGAIN!" "RAGH! STOP MOVING PEST!" "Aim better! Idiot!" despite her flippant attitude, Rainbow Dash was beginning to feel annoyed that she's not getting anywhere. Sure, the fat-ass griffin can't touch her if she paid attention. But at the same time, she couldn't deal any lasting damage to the griffin. Every wounds she inflicted against the dragon-sized griffin disappeared almost as fast as she could make them. Her effort did manage to keep the giant griffin consistently pissed off. Gotta keep trying... Rainbow Dash banked around after getting some distance on the griffin. A powerful beat of her wing sent her flying straight at Lord Seth, who watched her with predatory glares. When they're nearly snout to beak, Rainbow Dash spun into a barrel roll, deftly flying under Lord Seth attempt to catch her with his two claws. She completed her roll flying straight up between Lord Seth's forelegs. "EAT THIS!" shouted Rainbow Dash as her foreleg smashed into Lord Seth's lower beak. She was rewarded with a satisfying crack as his head snapped backward. Rainbow Dash looked back while continuing her trajectory upward, watching the dazed griffin shaking his head to clear his star filled eyes. With a quick adjustment to her wings and tail, Rainbow Dash reversed her upward trajectory and zoomed down toward the dazed griffin. In the fraction of second before her hooves touched the griffin's back, her wings morphed into two sets of bony claws. A sharp jab downward buried her clawed wings into the griffin's back. Rainbow Dash galloped down the length of Lord Seth's back, tearing out two long gashes just as she had done before. It took the griffin a few seconds to respond to the pain with a blood curdling scream. By then, Rainbow Dash was already jumping off his back. She took a backward glance, and was once more annoyed at the rapidly healing wound on the griffin. "Just how many time do I have to..." Rainbow Dash turned her attention back to where she was going. "... oh... SHOOT!" It took her claws just a second to revert back to flight capable wings. But that second was already too long. The spiked mass on the griffin's flailing tail slammed into her, sending her spinning through the air and down toward the lava lake below. Crap! Crap! Crap! Rainbow Dash struggled to recover from the spin. Within seconds she regained control and pulled up sharply. HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! repeated Rainbow Dash as she leveled off just a few dozen feet off of bubbling surface. She continued to pull up and soon reached comparatively more tolerable air above. Rainbow Dash took a quick look over herself. She found some singed hair around her hooves, and tail, but otherwise nothing seriously looking. "Whew, that was close! Let's not try that again..." a light-bulb went off in Rainbow Dash's head as she took another look at the bubbling lava below. She grinned. "... Actually..." Rainbow Dash flew back up to the same height as Lord Seth. "Hey! Care for a round two!?" she shouted. Instead of giving chase, Lord Seth merely hovered there. His massive wings maintain a constant beat as he eyed her with rage tempered by a dose of suspicion. "What? Scared of a little pony?" added Rainbow Dash in a taunt. "Guess the big griffin is just a big chicken then." The pegasus bent her foreleg to her side and made a flapping gesture like a chicken. "BAWK! BAWK! BAWK!" "I WILL TEAR YOU TO PIECES!" thundered Lord Seth, surging toward the pegasus with his giant wings. "Too easy..." muttered Rainbow Dash with a grin. She led the griffin in wide laps around the cavern, flying just far away enough to avoid any attempt by the griffin to strike at her, yet close enough to continue taunting. "COME BACK HERE!" roared Lord Seth. "You should try harder to catch up!" hollered Rainbow Dash, leisurely flying on her back. "When I get my claws on you..." "IF you get your claws on me!" "... I'm going to rip your wings off..." "Aw! You like my wings that much? Thanks!" "... then I'm going to TEAR OFF YOUR LIMBS! ONE BY ONE!" "Huh, never peg you as someone with a foot fetish." "KEEP LAUGHING! I'LL ENJOY KILLING YOU!" "In that case, you need to talk less and fly." "YOU NEED TO SHUT UP AND DIE!" The two spiraled around each other for a good couple of minutes, rising higher and higher as they went. Before long, they were almost touching the ceiling of the cavern. It was then that Rainbow Dash decided to move on to phase two of her plan. "You know what? I'm going to give you a break and... well..." a quick shift in the pattern of her wing beats stopped her in midair. "... take a break!" If Lord Seth had doubts about Rainbow Dash's motives, he didn't show it. Instead, he made a beeline toward the pegasus with his claws outstretched. Hunger filled his eyes as he watched his razor sharp talon inching closer and closer to the maddening grinning pegasus. "GOTCHA!" Lord Seth closed his claws around the pegasus. But instead of feeling the squishiness of a pony in between his claws, he felt... nothing. "Huh?" He opened his claws, and found it empty. "See ya!" Lord Seth looked down and saw Rainbow Dash falling away with a smirk. With a frustrated roar, he dove after the falling pegasus. "Way too easy..." Rainbow Dash turned around. Her wings buzzed beside her as she sped up her dive. The heated air whipping past her grew hotter and hotter as she head straight down toward the basin of fire. She kept a glance back, watching the griffin's every move. 800 feet above the burning lake... Lord Seth continued his wrathful glare as he slowly closed the distance between him and the pegasus. 600 feet... Lord Seth appeared to have doubts as Rainbow Dash continued her rapid descend toward the burning lake. 400 feet... Lord Seth began to show fear as he slowed just a tiny bit. Almost... 200 feet... "Gr... RAGH!" with a frustrated roar, Lord Seth ended his dive and began to pull up, not wanting to splash down into the molten rock below. Unfortunately for him, Rainbow Dash had no intention of letting the griffin lord get away. NOW! Rainbow Dash flared her wings out and pulled up under Lord Seth as sharp as equinely possible. She shot toward dragon sized griffin who, in his haste to avoid plowing into the lava lake below, didn't see her coming. It was, however, impossible to ignore the pegasus when she plowed into the griffin. More specifically, Rainbow Dash crashed into Lord Seth's left wing and quickly wrapped her hooves around his wing arm. The sudden imbalance sent the griffin lord into an uncontrolled spin back down toward the molten rocks below. His head turned to her with wide-eyed shock. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" screeched Lord Seth in alarm as he struggled to right himself despite the additional weight. Rainbow Dash wasn't going to have any of that. "Three guesses!" Rainbow Dash flapped her wings hard as she forcefully yanked the griffin's wing in random direction, thwarting Lord Seth's attempt to regain control of his flight. "First two don't count!" "STOP! STOP!" cried Lord Seth. His uncontrolled spin soon turned to an uncontrolled tumble. The world spun around them as they fell. To Rainbow Dash, it was almost reminiscent of the Dizzitron from the Wonderbolt Academy. Only the result of failure was being cooked alive in molten rock, which, admittedly, sounded better than abject humiliation. Of course, the similarity to the Dizzitron also meant that she knew how to handle it. She locked her sight on the glowing field beneath her, craning and twisting her neck to force herself to look down. Even if Rainbow Dash never realized it, nor would she admit it if she did, her mind was running through a multitude of mathematical equations baked into her brain through years of practicing stunts. In this very instant, the wind blowing past her told her how fast she was going. Her eyes measured the exact distance to burning death below. With those information, she instinctively calculated the exact time to her, and her victim's fiery plunge. She had also determined, from countless past samples of her stunts, the exact moment she must pull up to avoid the fate she was about to deliver her victim's too. That moment came seconds later. Rainbow Dash gave one final yank on the griffin's wing before letting go. Her wings flared out as wide as she could, trading her vertical speed for horizontal movement. A few more seconds later, there was a splash behind her, followed by Lord Seth's scream rising another octave and decibel. Rainbow Dash didn't turn to look since she was preoccupied with her current... situation, for she quickly realized that she made one very crucial mistake. Rainbow Dash had made the decision on when to pull up based on the simple fact that she didn't want to go swimming in lava. She had forgotten, and had NOT take into account, that said lava was ten times hotter than boiling water. GAH! BURNING! BURNING! BURNING! Rainbow Dash screamed mentally, and it wasn't an exaggeration. Bright amber fell of her as her mane, fur, tail, and feather began to singe and burn. The only reason she could still fly with her feather burning off was thanks to her impressive healing ability at replacing burnt feather on the fly. She flapped her wings frantically, trying to get away from the inferno she was in. To her immense relief, the air around her began to cool as she gained altitude. Rainbow Dash gave her wings a few more flaps before crash landed on the bridge. She gasped, and then gagged as the stench of burnt flesh and hair assaulted her nose. She took a looks at her body, which was emitting a copious amount of smoke. Almost everything that could possibly burn were charred, with a few patches of fur still glowing a bit while they burn themselves out. Her blackened state didn't last long as masses of tendrils swarmed over her. Charred fur and flesh fell off as her body regenerated. In just seconds, Rainbow Dash found herself looking good as new. How she felt, however, was another matter. "Ugh... I don't feel too hot..." Rainbow Dash paused for a moment, before giving herself a chuckle. "... hot... he... good one Rainbow Dash..." Rainbow Dash looked around, and noted the absence of any living things other than herself. Beside the steady rumble of the churning lava lake beneath, she didn't hear anything else. "Guess that took care of him..." said Rainbow Dash. She turned around, and found herself standing by the steel gate that was trapping her within the sweltering cavern. "Now, how do I get out of..." Fate, it seems, decided to prove Rainbow Dash wrong. A roar suddenly echoed through the cavern, followed by what appeared to be a yellow glowing blob launching itself above the bridge before crash landing upon it. Rainbow Dash's eyes grew wider and wider as she realized what, or who, it was. "You... have... GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash. She couldn't believe her eyes. Lord Seth was lying in the middle of the bridge. Rainbow Dash could see that the griffin lord was seriously injured. His entire body was burned, some parts missing so much flesh that Rainbow Dash could see bones underneath. The feathers and skin on his wings were completely gone, leaving two bony appendages dangling from his back. Half of his face was gone, leaving behind only bleached white skull and beak. Yet, as impossible as it was, the griffin was alive and... recovering. Cooled pieces of volcanic rocks broke off as blood red tendrils crawled over Lord Seth's body. They bridged over missing gaps, reforming muscles and skins at frightening rate. Burnt skin and fur peeled away, replaced by pristine black coat. The bony remains of his wings were pulled into his body. Seconds after they disappeared, two blood-red, flesh covered limbs shot out at the exact same spot. White fur grew over the limb rapidly before the limbs unfurled into a pair of massive, white feathered wings. When the last bit of tendrils receded from Lord Seth's body, Rainbow Dash found herself facing a perfectly unharmed looking griffin lying in the middle of the bridge. "... no... way..." muttered Rainbow Dash as she took a step back out of shock. "I think..." spoke Lord Seth, still not making any effort of getting up, in a labored voice. "... I've under... estimated... you..." Rainbow Dash felt a small relief. It sounded like his swim in molten rock did managed to weaken him somewhat. I can still take him... Rainbow Dash's wings morphed to claws once more as she got into her fighting crouch. ... I think... "A good... warrior..." continued Lord Seth. "... and lord... knows when he's outmatched..." "So... you're giving up?" asked Rainbow Dash, watching the griffin's every move. "Heh... no." chuckled Lord Seth as he slowly stood up, prompting Rainbow Dash to tense up. "I meant... a good lord knows when he'll need... help." "Too bad you just ate all of your help." snarked Rainbow Dash. "Oh no, I haven't..." Lord Seth smirked at the pegasus. Without warning, he raised his head to the air and let out a deafening, hawk-like screech that made made Rainbow Dash's hair stand on end. The screech ended just seconds later, allowing the background hum and rumble of the churning lava to dominate once more. But their dominance didn't last long. What the... wondered Rainbow Dash when she heard distance screeches and squawks. Sounds that grew louder and louder as their source approached. Then, the castle gate behind Lord Seth exploded. Rainbow Dash went slack-jawed when hundreds of mutated griffin poured out from the gate. They quickly swarmed over the cavern like some sort of ominous cloud. By the time the castle was empty, the griffins flocked with such numbers that she couldn't even see the ceiling itself. Rainbow Dash turned her attention back to Lord Seth, who was sitting there with a wolfish grin. He raised his right claw and pointed one talon towards her. The instant he did that, all the mutated griffins went silent. Hundreds, probably a bit over a thousand, griffins hovered there as their beady eyes locked onto the pegasus. Rainbow Dash gulped and her ears folded back as she realized what's going to happen next. "Sic." uttered Lord Seth. The cacophony of screeches and squawks returned as close to a thousand mutated griffins descended upon Rainbow Dash. "Oh... snap..."