“How did you overcome them?” – sincerely wondered Sweetie Belle.
“You roared at them? Or breathed with fire?” – Scootaloo asked, - “Or roared and breathed with fire?”
“Ehm… Second variant is closer to the truth.” – Spike answered faltering.
“You burned them?” – Sweetie exclaimed.
“No, no! Although they were wolves, I couldn’t force myself to do this. But to char them a little – yes.”
“Wow.”
“I bet it was awesome!” – Scootaloo exclaimed.
“Well, not so impressive – just few flames, that’s all.” – little dragon answered.
“Ah must say that Ah didn’t hope that help will come.” – Apple Bloom sighed.
“At that moment only I was there. I couldn’t do otherwise.” – Spike said.
“Ya might get hurt!”
“Ponies never leave each other in trouble! Even in the desperate situations!”
Crusaders smiled and exclaimed:
“Thank you! Thank you so much!” – and junior librarian appeared to be burried under grateful foals.
“You’re welcome…” – he spelled in muffled voice.
Fillies let him go, and they all stood up.
“Excuse me, but… Ah didn’t expect such resoluteness from ya.” – Apple Bloom quietly spelled.
“You know, I also didn’t.” – Spike answered, scratching his head.
“Then why you were th…” – Sweetie only started to ask, when fillies and dragon felt strong gust of wind, and bright figure swept over them, having left rainbow trace.
Flabbergasted, they stood still for a couple of seconds. Then Scootaloo, who was the first one that came to life and that realized what have just happened, joyfully exclaimed:
“Go Rainbow Dash!”
Pegasus, having heard the filly, smiled, waved her and her friends and began to do aerobatics. Barrel roll, sharp turn, spin… Exclamations of admiration came from the ground again and again, and not only from Crusaders and Spike. Glad Rainbow Dash, having made few more turns, landed near the spectators and bowed:
“Thank you! Thank you!”
“Wow! It was amazing!” – exclaimed Scootaloo and ran to her.
“I try to do my best.” – Rainbow answered and patted fiilly’s mane, - “If I’m Wonderbolt now, then I have to keep myself in good shape.”
“Oh! Oh! Can you do some more tricks?”
“More tricks? Well… Then tomorrow I surely won’t have any strength for training!”
“But you are Rainbow Dash!”
Pegasus hesitated a little. Apple Bloom exchanged glances with Sweetie Belle and addressed to rainbow pony:
“Maybe for an encore?”
“Encore?”
Gathered ponies at first surprised, but then supported the offering.
“Well, for encore…” – Rainbow spelled, - “Then watch! Sharp turn at stunning speed!”
She flapped her wings and soared into the sky. Having reached approximaely three hudred steps height, she began to accelerate. Rapid beating of strong wings did its work – she quickly gathered speed. Soon she rushed faster than diving falcon. One more minute, and she will be ready.
Rainbow Dash focused and already started to calculate the maneuver, when suddenly big gray shade swept past her, having approached rather closely. Almost knocked off pegasus lost coordination for a moment. She hardly managed not to fall down. The shadow, in turn, having rounded the town with loud noise of dissecting air, landed, or to be precise, hit the groud of one town street and, having plowed it for twenty steps at least, finally stopped.
After it all ponies could see that it was stalwart pegasus with argent coat, lead-colored mane and tail and brown with streaks eyes and bird figure as cutie mark. He had small bag made from denim. Total look was brute, quiet impressive – as befits pegasuses-stallions. But his appearance made ponyvillers to shiver: muscles on his back, especially near the wings, were just tremendous bulks. Pegasuses that were at the South Pole and lands what lays near it had to resist extremely powerful katabatic winds almost every time when they needed to move from station to station and even around one base – although they flew rarely, as it was dangerous – returned home with relief muscles. But this guy seemed to live at those lands all his life.
“Hey! What the heck?” – shouted Rainbow that landed near.
“I beg your pardon.” – stallion answered, - “I didn’t want to hit you.”
“Damn, you almost knocked me off!”
“I apologize one more time. I got used to fly quickly, but still from time to time have some problems with distance calculation.”
“If so, then reduce the speed!”
“It’s difficult to overcome the habit, and I have to maintain the reputation.”
“What reputation?” – wondered ponyvillers together with Rainbow Dash.
“The reputation of the fastest pegasus in Equestria.”
“Listen,” – Rainbow said, - “indeed, you have no equal on the part of rushing ahead, I admit it. But on the part of speed… Everypony knows that Wonderbolts are the fastest pegasuses!”
The stallion just grinned:
“Wonderbolts… Just big name and nothing more. Real aces have no need in such stuff.”
Rainbow was stung by his words: say such things about greatest masters of flight in the history? No, this is more than just impudence and arrogance. She quietly growled and angrily looked at him. Irritation and anger began to prevail over her.
“They always win Equestria Competitions and World Championships!” – she exclaimed.
“Dozen of wonderbolts and cadets competed with me on bet and lost.” – he answered proudly.
“And who the heck are you?”
“My name is Century Falcon.”
“Well, Century Falcon, if you ar so cool then beat the best cadet of whole Academy!” – Rainbow exclaimed and, having taken wing, grinned.
“You?” – stallion wondered, paused, thought: “Jeez… Situation in Academy is even worse than I expected…” and continued, - “If so, then I agree! I don’t think that it would be hard.”
“You are only spouting. Prove it! Now!”
“You know, I don’t want to waste my time on ordinary cadet.”
“Yeah? Well then come on a bet!”
“A bet?” – he grinned.
“Rainbow, please, don’t do it! It’s not worth it!” – Scootaloo said.
Other Crusaders supported her.
“Scoot, it’s not the best time.” – Rainbow Dash told her and turned to the opponent, - “So, do you agree?”
“Me? I always agree for a bet!”
“Well then…”
“Wait!” – he raised his front leg, - “Just took off and fly? No way! Bet becomes real only when there is a thing to bet!”
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s make a deal: who will lose, will pay to the winner.”
Rainbow raised her eyebrow.
“Really? Well in that case what can you offer me?”
“I made a lot of bets and won every one.” – Century Falcon answered, - “I have sources… So, if you will win, you get five hundred bits.”
Stallion took a paper from his bag and shower it to Rainbow. She came closer and looked at it. It was check of Central Manehattan bank for five hundred bits, signed by him. Surprise appeared on pony’s face. Century Falcon grinned and put it back in the bag. Where were five other similar ones.
“I see…” – she spelled.
“I’m not lying.” – stallion said, - “And if you’ll lose, then I take your cadet uniform and all your awards!”
Gathered ponies gasped. This impudence only made Rainbow angrier.
“What do you allow yourself?” – she exclaimed.
“I already have couple ones.” – Century Falcon answered complacently, - “And I’ll be glad to get third one! It will be my precious.”
Rainbow growled and satrted to shout. Stallion continued to grin and snap. Other ponies tried to separate them, but pegausues had already entered into rage, so just drove them away.
Spike looked at this with horror. He understood: the fastest pegasus in Ponyville has not so many chances. She might reach greater speed, but she won’t be able to maintain it for a long time, and Century Falcon, in turn, seemed to be able for this. Simply put, Rainbow will probably lose.
It’s necessary to resolve the situation, and quickly as possible. Forcing himself to think feverishly, little dragon created a plan. But when he finished, the arguing between the pegasuses approached its end. He had to hurry.
As inconspicuous as possible, he made his way through the crowd and hided in the nearest back alley. There were several windows, but it’s possible to not worry – all eyes were fixed on the arguing ponies. Spike sighed and gave command to start the transformation.
In a minute he finished, and he rushed back. And he came just in time.
“Deal?!” – shouted Rainbow.
“Deal!” – barked Century Falcon.
“Wait!..” – loud voice resounded over the square.
Pegasuses, who already got prepared to start, turned. Third winged pony appeared from the crowd. He was tall, had beige coat, brown-black mane and tail and dark gray eyes. Picture of tornado was his citie mark. He was tousled, and it seemed that there were several features of albatrosses and, at the same time, swifts in his look. Contracted, paying no attention on others, he approached the wranglers.
“It’s not the way to do business, dudes.” – he said.
“What?” – growled Rainbow.
“Who the hay are you?” – stalloin exclaimed.
“I’m Vortex.” – answered masked Spike, - “But it doesn’t matter now…”
“Yeah, it does not matter!” – Century Falcon barked, - “So get out of here!”
“Actually, I wanted to speak to you.”
Stallion got surprised.
“Yep, to you.” – continued Spike, now the pegasus, - “You see, this bet isn’t fair.”
Gathered ponies shuddered – they didn’t expect such thing.
“What do you mean?” – snorted Falcon.
“Well, firstly, your opponent is a girl. And, secondly, she flies like a pheasant.”
“WHAAAT???” – Rainbow lost her temper.
Not paying any attention to this – yes, it was rude and very insulting for a pegasus, but it was necessary – Spike continued:
“So choose rival of your level.”
“If you are such one!” – Century Falcon grinned.
“I know a lot of ponies who studied in and graduated from Wonderbolt Academy. I compete with them before and during the studuing and their practice, and they all lost to me. I could also become a cadet, but I’m too lazy to study.”
“What are you talking about?” – Rainbow Dash snorted.
“Hoves off!” – changed dragon bellowed at her.
“What? It’s our arguing!”
“No longer yours!!!”
His thunderous voice forced all gathered to stand still. Falcon shuddered. Rainbow effaced herself.
“So what we talked about…” – Spike continued without any change in expression, - “Oh, yes… The arguing… So do you accept the challenge?”
“Dammit, yes! But what you can offer?”
“What can I offer? I have almost nothing right now, so it’s not the variant. So I offer next: if you will win you clip them…”
And beige pegasus spread his wings, which appeared to be rather big – about one-third bigger than average pegasus have. Crowd gasped, Falcon dropped his jaw – they couldn’t believe that pegasus can decide to do such thing.
“Are you serious?” – arget stallion exclaimed.
“More than serious.” – Spike answered, - “And what about you… If I win, you will leave this town and never again show yourself in it and its surroundings!”
“And that’s all?”
“Yeah. And that is not enough?”
“It doesn’t sound serious.”
“You just aren’t stallion enough!”
“What?”
“Yep, not stallion enough!”
“You… I’ll blow your head off!”
“Will you? Come on! Now you’re just keep saying bullshit.”
“What do you allow yourself?” – couple ponies in venerable age exclaimed.
“If you don’t like it, then don’t listen!” – Spike shouted at them. If Twilight knew that he read those books about criminalsand gangs of Equestria… He would get universal scale going-over for sure.
Venerable ponies stood silent.
“One lap around the town and finish at this place. Agree?” – dragon continued, addressung to his opponent.
“Yes.” – he growled.
“Are you ready?”
“Gh-hr-r-ready!”
“Then let’s go!”
And both pegasuses, having raised cloud of dust, rushed forward. They incredibly quickly gained altitude and gathered speed – spectators had to make efforts to follow them.
They all laid out in full, furiously flapping their wings. Bigger span made the task easier for Spike, as he needed to do less flaps. But Century Falcon flapped almost like dragonfly, opponent’s wingspan wasn’t big problem for him – he could easily get ahead. But Spike, straining all the nanites of shift-suit, kept the pace.
In thirty seconds they passed the midpoint of their route, and they only continued to accelerate. Falcon rushed forward without paying any attention to surroundings – real winged Juggernaut. Spike hadn’t such ability, so he needed to calculate the way which allowed him to keep up with opponent and round the clouds.
Few more seconds – and only quarter of the route had to be overcame. But there was one great obstacle: huge cloud ridge near the very finish. To round it would be difficult, and move through will slow him down. Century Falcon noticed that his rival was worrying and began to flitter even more strongly. He started to became the leader.
Spike was already about to make final push, when one good idea came to him. He grinned and began to gain altitude. Argent pegasus looked at him, thought: “What a fool…” and rushed to the finish.
The rounding was already finished – only homestretch remained. Gray stallion became obvious leader. He turned and prepared to pierce through the ridge. Spike turned a second later. At such speeds that difference meant unambiguous defeat, and this despite the fact that little dragon was a three hundred steps above. But he wasn’t going to give up: at the very moment of turn he dodged and, having made few powerful flaps, rushed down. He began to nosedive. The trick that Falcon should use, allowed him to accelerate in half or even more. When argent pegausus entered the clouds, Spike dived under them. He had to flew only steps above the roofs, but he did it. As result when Century Falcon apeared from the cloud ridge, Spike was ahead of him. And in two seconds he crossed the finish line. Although slowdown was rather bad – to do it he rolled head over heels over whole square – but, nonetheless, he won
.
Century Falcon dropeed his jaw and almost dropped own wings. His face warped, he couldn’t believe that he lost.
Struck dumb, he awkwardly landed.
Meanwhile Spike stood up and, having shook off, approached his opponent.
“We had a deal.” – he grinned, - “Get out!”
Falcon, continuing to stand with opened mouth, only blinked.
“Do I need to repeat it?” – Spike bellowed.
Roar made peegasus to come to his senses. He perplexedly nodded, took off and soon was out of sight.
“That’s better.” – dragon smiled.
And now the second phase should begin.
“Hey, you!” – Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
As he had expected.
“What?” – Spike turned.
“Don’t you mind to make another lap?” – pony said. She was smart pony, so now she rightly judged that now, when opponent got tired, she got a chance. And her jaunty character did the rest – she decided to challenge.
“And I thought that you flew away.”
“I never run away from ones like you.”
“Brave act. But senseless. I have no want to compete with you.”
“Why? Are you afraid to lose to pheasant?”
Everything went like clockwork. Now the only thing to do was necessary to play the role properly.
“Me? I’m not afraid.” – he answered in irritaed voice.
“Then why you are standing there? Let's solve it once and for all!”
“Agree!”
They took the starting positions, casted grinning glances at each other and soared in the air.
The second race was as stressful as first one. Rainbow bended over, it was hard to keep up with her – after all, she’s the youngest flyer that broke the sound barrier. Yes, using shift-suit Spike could just switch the effect of air resistance off and reach speed of Mach ten or even more, but it would seem, to put it mildly, implausible. So he flew parallel to her, from time to time getting ahead or behind.
Spectators were shivered with worrying, some ones started to bite their hoves and soon noticeably reduced them – they were on a par! First quarter of route, half of it, two-thirds… Their hearts pounded, their knees trembled.
Flyers reached the homestretch. Century Falcon broke cloud ridge, so there were no obstacles now for them. Rainbow Dash turned to her opponent, smiled and… accelerated again, significantly accelerated. Spike and spectators gasped. Remembering that “Running of the Leaves” marathon, she made every effort only closer to the finish. For a couple of moments dragon was in stupor – agree, revealing of hidded reserves in such moments is very surprising – but, having shaken his head, he came to his senses and rushed follow the rainbow pony. He almost caught her up, but he didn’t accelerate more – the aim is reached…
Rainbow and Spike swept over the heads of gathered ponies and crossed the finish line. Bearer of the element of loyalty won with mimimum disruption. Glad and grinning, she landed. Spike got down to the ground near her.
“So, what will you say now?” – panting, but with pride, she asked.
“Well, you win, I admit it.” – dragon sighed.
“If so, then I’m faster than you, Vortex, and Century Falcon?”
“Don’t walk tall! You’re lucky that first flight exhausted me.”
“But I still won!”
“Yes, it’s so. I admit that I lost.” – he bowed, - “You’ll never see me again.”
He bowed again and, having turned, want away. Soon he disappeared behind the nearest buildings. And Rainbow Dash screamed with joy. Cusaders and other ponies began to cogratulate her.
Spike meanwhile, having sneaked into lane, changed himself back and returned to the square.
“Where have you been?” – exlaimed Scootaloo that noticed the little dragon, - “You missed everything!”
“Excuse me, but I worried so much that I got stomach ache.” – Spike answered, - “And what exactly did I miss?”
“Ya can’t even imagine!” – Apple Bloom exclaimed, - “Rainbow and that boastful stallion were ready to start when second stranger appeared…”
“We have never seen him before!” – Sweetie Belle interrupted together with few other ponies.
“Yeah!” – continued Apple Bloom, - “So he interrupted, cursed them and everyone and then overcame that argent one!”
“And after this Rainbow overcame him!” – Scootaloo exclaimed.
“I would say that I won, having made efforts.” – Dash preciesd.
“Who cares?! You won!”
“Exactly!”
Rainbow and Scootaloo exclaimed together and hugged each other.
“Well… I missed all best parts!..” – sighed Spike.
“Sorry, pal, but such thing happens!” – said Rainbow to him, having hugged.
“I understand… But I’m very happy for you!”
“Thanks!”
They rejoiced at her victory for a long time. Little dragon was told what happened and how the flights were. Spike attentively listened, and when they finished, sighed with relief and smiled: his plan worked, and he remained beyond any suspicions. Just perfect…
Ponies congratulated Rainbow Dash once more and applauded, she thanked everypony again and bowed. Clapping soon ended, and ponies began to return to their business, continuing to speak about the event.
It was incredible day.
“You found it?” – asked worrying captain.
“Well, not exactly…” – navigator answered after short pause.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s shift-suit signal, no doubts. But we are detecting only short flashes and glimpses. They didn’t allow to determine the exact location. Most of the time the signal is suppressed.”
“Suppressed? By what? Can you say for sure?”
“Hyperscan detected five extremely powerful energy sources near the crash site. Three of them have radius of influence about one hundred and twenty kilometers. Radiuses of other two are about seventy five kilometers.”
“Hundred kilometers? 7.9. level culture couldn’t buid so powerful reactors!”
“And here’s the catch. This is not the reacors – all indirect signs shows that it’s lifeforms. They are akiras*”.
“What???”
“Such conclusion can be made even on the ground that they are regularly moving. Over short distances, but rather randomly.”
“Great… I can understand how akira with ten-kilometer radius can exist, but hundred-kilometer radius? This is something unimaginable.”
“Unimaginable? In that case look here, captain…”
Navigator displayed another dataset. Captain looked at it and… got startled as never before in his life. His face warped.
“We had similar expressions when we saw it.” – navigator muttered, - “Yes, it’s so. Hyperscan clearly shows that several millions there could become such akiras.”
“Well I’ll be damned…” – finally captain said something.
“That’ s what happens if civilisation develops in AZ, full of magic! And one more thing… Ehm… Cap’n, it’s not all the news.”
“And what else did you find?”
“Um…”
“The signature what we detected surely belongs to shift-siut beacons, we checked it more than once.” – mechanic broke in, - “But acording to it someone has put the suit on.”
“P-put on?”
“We can’t say exactly, but… It seems necessary to count on the worst.”
“Dammit!”
“Things become more and more great!” – pilot muttered.
“Okay then…” – captain sighed, - “Keep wathcing. If you determite something for sure – call me.”
“Yes, sir.” – answered the crew.
Captain nodded to them and went to his cabin. Someone probaly is wearing shift-suit now, and there are monster akiras near the host. “We’re in very big trouble.” – he thought.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
* – Yep, it’s in honor of that anime. Why not?