A Dash of Shyness

by TM2 Dinobot

Chapter VIII

Chapter VIII

The thunder rolled far too long overhead. Claw and his companions reared back, trying to figure out where this stranger had come from. She looked like death warmed over, eyes blazing like fire, mane in her face. She snorted hot breath into the cold night air, giving her the countenance of a dragon. Her wings spread, almost filling the entire alley. Blue hair mingled with pink feathers in the wind. She was no filly, and would not be taken so easily.

“Who, the hay, are you?” Claw managed to sound calmer than his two companions. Dash had to give him that.

Firefly didn’t bother answering. Dash was sure her mother was going to say something dramatic, like ‘I’m the dark place in your heart.’ Or ‘I am the night.’ Or even the classic ‘Your worst nightmare.’ But her mother remained silent, breath dragging through clenched teeth, knees locked as if to keep herself from passing out. Feathers and horse hair continued to waft through the wind long after they should have stopped. Firefly didn't smell like, the scent of antiseptic and bile hanging around her. The color of sick.

The brilliant silence stretched from intimidating into awkward, indicating weakness. When Firefly finally spoke Rainbow Dash barely recognized her own mother’s voice.

“You’ve got five seconds… to leave. Then I’m… taking you down.” she rasped.

Claw smiled. He knew that look. She was broken. “How do you intend to do that, my dear? You can barely stand by the looks of it.”

“Looks can… be deceiving. First… I’m going to break his jaw.” She looked right. “Then I’m going to break his legs.” She looked left. “And after that… if you’re still here… I’m going to tear your throat out.”

Claw’s smile disappeared. “Kill her.”

The attack went more or less how Firefly had planned it. She took the stallion on her right entirely by surprise. Spinning round she bucked hard, landing a kick that shattered his jaw, sending him scampering. Next she got ready to snap the second twin's legs. Unfortunately that was where the similarities to her plan stopped. The remaining two Sky Hawks tackled her, pinning her to the ground.

Dash watched, torn. Her mother was losing a fight! Dash had never wanted to join into anything so badly in her entire life. Yet, brash as she may have been, even she had to recognize when she was in over her head. Besides, she had Fluttershy to watch out for. No, those were lies. Rainbow Dash was right and truly terrified. This was life at its ugliest; how could she even stand in the face of it?

When she saw Claw poised to slice a chunk out of her mother, Dash changed her mind. Gunning her wings with everything she had left Dash slammed into the blue stallion, knocking both of the gang members over. That gave Firefly enough time to struggle to her own feet and snap the foreleg of Claw’s remaining wingman.

“Dash! Get back!” Firefly ordered. She shouldn’t have turned her back.

It was an image Rainbow Dash would never forget as long as she lived. Claw went airborne, red wings slapping the air, black as night. He raised a claw, polished hoof glinting in the street lamps. He tore at Firefly’s wings and haunches while her back was turned. Blood; so much blood. The pink Pegasi screamed a long, harsh bray. That would haunt Dash’s dreams for years to come. If she hadn’t been watching it with her own magenta eyes, she wouldn’t have even recognized it as a sound from an animal, let alone her own mother.

Firefly collapsed with the weight of the stallion on top of her. Claw repositioned himself like a tiger, digging in even further. Firefly moaned and screamed, trying to right herself but spraying blood with every movement, even as some splattered across Rainbow Dash’s face.

The world stopped for Rainbow Dash. With a hyper-extended sense of reality, she thought she could sense everything at once. From behind her came Fluttershy’s stifled sobs as the yellow filly buried her head in the snow. The warm blood tickled as it rolled down Dash’s face even as it stained the snow burgundy, pooling beneath her mother’s fallen body. Claw’s breathing enraged hissing, the rasping of hooves on slate; a dark, violent sound that lent itself well to his persona. And lastly Dash could hear herself screaming, the sound reaching her though a deep, long haze.

She tried to move but her body just had no more left to give. Even her legs failed her in Dash’s greatest hour of need. She though for sure she must be crying, but nothing was happening; no tears would come.

That horrible moment stretched on forever. Firefly stopped whimpering. Claw never stopped attacking. The angry spurts of blood had turned into a steady stream and then to a slow trickle. As Claw raised his hoof for the final death blow a lone snowflake garnered Dash’s attention. It drifted through the air listlessly, searching in vain for a place where it belonged. Rainbow Dash could almost feel comradery with the tiny partial of ice. Her own place in a world gone mad. Deciding to give it a push, she breathed gently out, winter breath condensing and melting the flake even at it soared upwards, winking out of sight.

Or was that into sight? The white speck flew towards her, growing larger with every heartbeat. In fact, Dash wasn’t even sure that was snow. Straining her eyes, she recognized the rainbow colored military cut mane. That wasn’t a snowflake! That was her--

“DADDY!” Dash screamed.

“What?!” Claw looked backwards.

That was his mistake. Unbalancing himself, Firefly bucked with everything she had, dislodging the bandit. While her foe was in the air, Firefly threw herself back, shielding the girls. That was the last thing Dash saw as Skystriker plowed into his wife’s attacker.

The skirmish was quick yet brutal. Skystriker, an ex-Royal Guard, was not a slouch in a fight. Claw, while younger and less experienced, had the upper hoof when it came to weaponry. Dash shut her eyes tight against the sounds of two stallions tearing one another one into submission. The air filled with screams and hooves and froth, followed all too quickly with the iron smell of blood, and the unmistakable snapping of bones.

When the snow finally settled, Skystriker stood victorious. He had several deep lacerations across his chest, his sleek periwinkle pelt bruised and matted, stained with blood. But he was alive. Claw was not. Standing with his variegation tail flapping in the wind, Dash had never been more proud to be her father’s daughter. What was left of Claw lay inside the building conjoining the alley, having broken through an entire wall in their fight.

“Daddy!” Rainbow Dash rushed up to nuzzle her father. Skystriker stopped her with a glare.

“Wait on the street.”

“Yes sir.” Dash stopped herself from saluting.

She’d always been her daddy’s filly, but something in his voice wasn’t right. Dash hung her head but quickly obeyed, her tail dragging behind. Fluttershy followed close on her hooves, not wanting to be left by her friend. The pair waited under the streetlamp for what seemed like an eternity, slowly freezing again. Her father's two friends didn't even look at the fillies when they arrived.

Dash found herself trembling, but not from the cold. She’d come as close to death as she ever had, but this wasn’t the same as skydiving. She hadn’t been in control and it frightened her. Fluttershy stopped crying but the same, unstoppable shake gripped her as well. At least they shivered together.

Soon the pair sat down together beneath the lamp. Fluttershy was still crying, and Dash allowed her friend to dry her eyes with her scarf. She was too scared and cold and tired to remember her hunger.

After waiting far, far too long, almost entire minutes, the adults finally emerged from the alley. Sky Striker came first, his fellow soldiers carrying Firefly's body between them. She was unconscious and pale as the dawn. With a word from Skystriker the two stallions took off at a run, rushing downtown. Dash hadn't even gotten to check on her mother!

“Let’s go.” Skystriker ordered again, turning towards the hospital.

The sight of Firefly’s visage paled Rainbow Dash visibly. It had been weeks since she’d last seen her mother, and she appeared much gaunter than Dash remembered. Her once powerful legs were withered and scraggly; her beautiful wings, once so wonderfully interlaced them with her husband’s, now barely supported her as she had flown to protect her daughter.

Skystriker had seen better days, that was for sure. He had nasty gouges on his chest and legs, along with a bite mark on his wing. Yet for a stallion that had once protected and served Princess Celestia herself he seemed incredibly worried. What was the matter? He'd beaten Claw. Dash's mother and father had saved them. Now everything would be okay. Right?

As Fluttershy and Dash fell in step behind her father, the brash Pegasi was in for another shock. The blood trailing from her mother left a brilliant trail of red, a stark contrast to the pure white snow it stained. Yet, the thing that demanded her attention, even as she stepped through snow drenched with her mother’s blood, was the feathers. Dozens of feathers floated behind Firefly, like a wedding train of pink. They were various sizes, some ranging from full length flight appendages to the downy t fur, barely eyelash length. And they weren’t alone. A puff of wind drifted by, plucking up fallen strands of hair from Firefly’s blue mane and tail, as if they were nothing more than pussywillows on a spring day.

For her entire life, Dash had tried to emulate her mother’s footsteps. Now as she very literally walked in her mother’s presence, she wondered what the feeling was that gnawed at the pit of her very core.

Author's Note:

OOC: Alright, I did a lot of research (more than I feel comfortable admitting) on the old MLP G1 and G2 series. I simply could not find a suitable father for Rainbow Dash. Now, before you start branding me a heretic for creating a quasi-important fan character... He's not. His name is Sky Striker. You know, the white F-14 Tom Cat with blue and red stripes from GI Joe. Readjusted slightly to be his canon appearance. I figured if Transformers and GI Joe are kissing cousins, then MLP is their annoying next door neighbor, and they wouldn't mind if I let her borrow their toys, so to speak. ;) So, yes, not a pony. However, probably the next best thing. I do hope you'll forgive me. Also, please forgive me for not enough Fluttershy in this chapter. Possibly next chapter as well. I'm so sorry. I'll make it up to y'all somehow!

Comments

[DarkSonicTrail]

I figured if Transformers and GI Joe are kissing cousins, then MLP is their annoying next door neighbor, and they wouldn't mind if I let her borrow their toys, so to speak. ;)

I Somehow found this stupidly clever.