• Published 3rd Jun 2014
  • 25,035 Views, 27,964 Comments

Piercing the Heavens - Calm Wind



Sequel to Flying Sky-High. A lot has happened, but now Rainbow Dash finally has a chance to fulfill her dream and become a Wonderbolt. As the process begins, will her relationship with Soarin be a blessing? Or will it be a curse?

  • ...
66
 27,964
 25,035

PreviousChapters Next
Chapter 108: What Do You Fight For?

(Important note: For those who have not seen my recent blogs, i made a small change to the scene between Spitfire and 'fake Wave Chill' because i mishandled it, conveying rape when thats exactly what i was trying to avoid. It was a very subtle change, and has not messed with story events at all. I basically took the implied sex out of the scene. It was choice i felt necessary because the way i had it may have messed up how i wanted things to go in the future. It was not a panic choice, it was not influenced by comments. It was my choice. For more information please see these blogs: Making a change, Not as bad as i thought, and Just to Clarify.)

MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind

Chapter 108: What Do You Fight For?


Soarin’s eyes shifted between Spitfire and the Shadowbolts floating before them, checking occasionally on the ones hovering behind. They were caught in a trap, completely flanked, and the cover of the blizzard blown away by crystal magic in the middle of the snowy northern mountain ranges.

Soarin had no doubt that they were on their own. Rapidfire’s ploy had the whole compound in disarray as well as distracting the Renegades outside of it. They were down one pony compared to the Shadowbolts… but upon closer inspection… they may be down two.

“Spitfire…” Soarin said her name quietly as she continued to edge backwards towards him. She was shaking, her hooves still clamped over her mouth as she stared at Rapidfire. Soarin gritted his teeth, knowing exactly what had her so shocked.

His suspicions about something being off with Wave Chill were true, proving that he had developed some sort of sixth sense towards danger with his magic, however… ‘Wave’ and Spitfire had shown up to the meeting, clearly after having a personal, intimate night… only now… it looked like Spitfire had not spent the night with Wave Chill at all…

Rapidfire had tricked her for his own pleasure… how… utterly… typical.

Some things never changed, it seemed. Soarin had never once respected Rapidfire for the way he acted and the way he treated mares… but even he felt that Rapidfire would never stoop so low. But this… Rapidfire had crossed a line that he could never step back over… Spitfire was clearly in shock and disbelief, realizing she had been deceived in a moment of intimacy and how she let it happen on top of it. Soarin was going to make sure Rapidfire regretted it.

He fixed his eyes on Rapidfire, concentrating and taking in his surroundings to make sure he didn’t lose track of the Shadowbolts. He wanted to know where Wave was. They had made sweeps of the compound while Rapidfire was with Spitfire and found nothing suspicious, which suggested Wave had either been removed from the compound, captured… or worse.

And if… it was the latter… Soarin would personally bury Rapidfire with all the power he could muster.

“Rrrrggghhhhh…”

Soarin’s eyes widened as a low growl escaped Spitfire’s throat.

Not good.

Spitfire being shocked and frozen was one thing… Spitfire acting on anger in this situation would be worse.

“Well?” Rapidfire spoke up, as he turned to face Blade. He crossed his arms and gave Blade a satisfied smirk. Blade lifted an eyebrow before snorting.

“What? Are you expecting a hug or a pat on the back or something?” he said sarcastically, quickly turning Rapidfire’s smirk into a scowl.

“What the hell is with you guys?” he spat at Blade, who only looked away and shook his head.

“Shut your trap,” he ordered.

Rapidfire flattened his brow and scoffed.

“Pardon me for succeeding where you guys failed…” he flinched as Blade reached towards him and grabbed the neck of his suit, hooking it in the spandex, and yanking Rapidfire towards him with it, nearly pressing his nose into Rapidfire’s face as he glared at him sternly.

“Watch your mouth, you worthless runt,” he hissed as he let go and shoved Rapidfire back. “Now get out of our way and STAY out of it.”

Soarin watched curiously as Rapidfire was more or less disrespected and told to go sit down while they handled things. He had already noticed that Rapidfire held only a single crystal, implying he was of lower rank… but what was he seeing here? Unfortunately, he didn’t have much time to think about it.

“You…” Spitfire continued to growl as she removed her hooves from over her mouth held them down at her sides as they shook. “You… BASTARD!

“Spitfire, don’t—” Soarin tried to reach for her… but he was too late. Spitfire’s whole body was tensed, her muscles flexing taught, pushing all her strength into her wings as she roared out in rage and fired from her spot towards the Shadowbolts, aiming directly towards Rapidfire. “SPITFIRE!” Soarin yelled as he reached out, but she was already out of his reach.

“Hmph…” Blade grunted as Spitfire careened towards them. “MOON! TAKE HER!”

“AAHHHH!!!” Spitfire suddenly yelped in pain as she came to a full, abrupt stop, her head whiplashing forward painfully as pink sparks encircled her hooves, chest, head, and flank. She was yanked right back towards the Wonderbolts.

“Look out!” Soarin yelled, the four of them moving aside as Spitfire shot right by them and halted five yards in front of Moon.

Moon’s crystals were glowing brightly around him as he held his arms outstretched, pink sparks similar to those holding Spitfire crackling and popping around his hooves. He shifted his hooves slightly to the right, causing Spitfire to turn around and face him. She gritted her teeth, grunting in pain as the sparks of magic stung her body.

“Spitty!” Fleetfoot yelled as she pumped her wings and shot towards them, but Moon shifted his eyes towards Fleetfoot. They glowed pink before a thin, spherical veil of similar shaded light surrounded both him and Spitfire. Fleetfoot slammed against it, bouncing right off and tumbling backwards. “What the hell?” she remarked as she regained control of her flight and shook her head out.

“Fleetfoot! Get back here!” Soarin yelled to her. She immediately complied, realizing Spitfire was caught.

“RRRRRRGGGHH!!!” Spitfire’s eyes snapped open, filled with pure anger as she began to pull and tug at the magical bonds that held her in place.

“HRGH!” Moon grunted, the magic flickering in his arms as he focused and held his ground.

“Having trouble there, Moon?” Witch asked slyly as she hovered by, passing right through the magic barrier around them as if it wasn’t even there. Moon shook his head.

“She is… INCREDIBLY strong! I have never seen anypony manage movement while I’m holding them… but I can handle her,” he said calmly, not even glancing at Witch as she smirked at Spitfire.

“Impressive… but still caught like a fly in a web,” she giggled slyly before passing out of the barrier and retaking her spot beside Trance.

“Dammit…” Soarin growled as he, Fleetfoot, Descent, and Silver all positioned themselves back to back with enough space for their wings to keep them afloat.

“Great…” Fleetfoot sighed. “We’re outnumbered… and they have our strongest tied down.”

“We were foolish…” Descent spoke up as he shook his head. “Played, sent into disarray, and led right into a trap.”

“We can take them,” Silver spoke up confidently, causing them all to glance at him briefly. Descent scoffed.

“Don’t be overconfident now,” he warned. “We’ve only just begun the magic deflection training, they still outclass you.”

“ExCUSE me?” Silver fired right back with an annoyed tone. “Do you even know who you’re talking to here? We may not have your fancy deflection techniques mastered yet, but we’re Wonderbolts, heavily trained special forces. We learn from our mistakes, and I’ll be damned if I let one of these punks push me around again.” He turned and refocused on the Shadowbolts that had flanked them. “You aren’t defeated the first time you lose to an opponent… only if you lose to them again.”

Descent exhaled through his nose, shaking his head as he kept his eyes on Blade.

“If you say so,” he said with a clear lack of confidence.

“Silver’s right,” Soarin spoke up with a smirk. “They have us outnumbered, but they don’t have the surprise factor they did last time, plus we know how they fight now. That should even the playing field.”

“Just don’t get yourselves killed,” Descent grunted.

“I call not being the one who fights two at a time,” Fleetfoot said sarcastically as she remained tense and ready to fight at moment’s notice.

They all refocused, putting up guards as the Shadowbolts shifted towards them, each brandishing their signature magic. Ruin and Trance’s crystals produced the small, similar magic spheres they both used, Trance’s remaining in perfect orbit around him as Ruin’s danced all about his body erratically. Witch’s crystals floated above her as her tiny, needle-like bolts of magic began forming over her head as Moon continued to hold Spitfire in place to the best of his telekinetic abilities.

Rapidfire tried to move up beside Blade and Ruin, but Blade’s crystals activated and he cut off his path, barring Rapidfire’s way with his magic sword.

“I told you to stay out of our way,” Blade reminded him harshly. Rapidfire glared at Blade, bearing his teeth as he growled.

“I have a score to settle with Soarin,” Rapidfire replied, demanding to be let through. Blade turned his head and narrowed his eyes at him.

“And I don’t give a damn. Now do as I say before my sword ends up through your chest,” he threatened before moving the sword and pointing it in Descent’s direction.

Rapidfire growled quietly as he backed away, but his eyes remained on Soarin.

Soarin met Rapidfire’s eyes with his as his old ‘friend’ was once again treated like trash by his commander. He had seen that look in Rapidfire’s eyes in the past. It screamed of him plotting to disobey orders, but for the time being, it looked like they might be granted the boon of even numbers.

“It looks like our favorite deserter is being forced to the sidelines,” Soarin pointed out to the others as they remained at the ready. “Good, they’re evening the odds for us.”

“Then we should make the first move,” Silver suggested as his eyes shifted between Trance and Witch.

“I agree,” Soarin said with a nod. “They always attack us first. We should give them a taste of their own medicine. Name your marks.”

“Blade is mine,” Descent immediately decided. “Get in my way and I’ll make you regret it.”

“Sheesh,” Fleetfoot shrugged. “I was really hoping to fight him, I guess you can though,” she said sarcastically as Soarin glanced at all available targets. His eyes landed on Trance, the small dark blue stallion with the out of control, teal mane.

“I’ll take the little guy,” Soarin said as he shifted to face Trance. “If I can take him down fast I can get to freeing Spitfire.”

“Don’t judge Trance by his small stature,” Descent spoke up as he and Soarin now floated back to back. “Or his immaturity…” he added as Trance floated in a reclined position while brushing a hoof through his large mane. “He’s just as dangerous as the others.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Soarin acknowledged with a nod. To his left, Silver glanced over his shoulder and back forward between Witch and Ruin. He scrunched his face when he saw the creepy smile on Ruin’s face.

“I’ll take the mare,” he said as he focused on Witch.

“I’ll take the—darn…” Fleetfoot sighed as she turned and looked at Ruin, cringing as her eyes met his. “I guess I have the weirdo… as usual…”

With all of their targets set, and ready to make the first move, Soarin focused all of his attention on Trance.

“On my signal, make your moves and push the pressure. We’ll see how they handle being on the defensive for once. All set?” They all gave brief verbal cues since they were all locked on their targets. Soarin narrowed his eyes into a glare towards Trance. “GO!”

The four fired from their spot towards their opponents.


Descent was the first to reach his target, having already been edging forward before Soarin gave the command to attack. As Soarin predicted, the Shadowbolts were clearly not expecting the Wonderbolts to make the first move. Blade flinched, but held his ground as Rapidfire and Ruin both backed away from him.

“HRRRAAAAH!” Descent yelled as he pulled back a hoof, ready to strike. Blade remained composed, crossing his sword over his body to meet Descent with a strong horizontal slash. Descent shifted his other hoof up and batted the sword aside as Blade swung, but Blade used the momentum from the deflection to spin right into another slash. Descent was forced to turn and slam his forearm against the flat edge of the sword as he punched, decreasing the strength of the blow. Blade caught it with his free hoof, and the two were deadlocked, holding each other in place, struggling in midair as they glared and growled into each other’s faces.

“Taking the initiative this time?” Blade said as he tried with all his might to gain the upper hoof. Descent didn’t jeer back… he had something else in mind.

“Blade… listen to me,” he said in a serious tone as they continued to grapple. “You don’t know what’s happening to you.”

“What?” Blade blinked, lifting an eyebrow and looking at Descent as if he didn’t even recognize him. “What are you playing at?”

“Blade, the crystals are going to destroy you, you have to stop using them!” Descent voiced his concern.

“This is a new one…” Blade scoffed as he pushed off and the two broke apart. “Do I hear you pleading?”

“You know where I stand, Blade!” Descent yelled as the two charged at each other again. Descent caught Blade’s sword between his hooves, tossing it off before ramming Blade in the chest.

“URGH!” Blade grunted as he was forced back. “You stand between the Shadowbolts and our goals!” he yelled as he charged forward, swiping down over Descent’s head. Descent knocked the sword aside with a flick of his wrist and grabbed Blade by the shoulder, but before he could throw him, Blade shifted to gain leverage and lock them in place again.

“I stand between the Shadowbolts and what will ultimately destroy them!” Descent yelled as the two struggled. “You don’t know what that fake power is doing to you! I have seen the result! You must fight it!”

“Quit preaching your lies!” Blade yelled as they ripped apart. Blade charged, throwing a flurry of swings at Descent. Descent ducked and dodged as he hovered backwards, looking for an opportunity to attack. “You left us behind, you shunned what has made us strong, you ignored our goals and are a traitor! Nothing you say is convincing to me and it shall remain that way!” Blade yelled as he put his left hoof over his right. The crystals spread out, encircling both of his hooves and causing the sword to grow larger. “I will not be swayed like those you’ve already tainted!” He swung the sword down furiously.

Descent reached up, clapping his hooves on the flat edges of the sword, but he was forced downward, grunting as he held strong.

“Then you are a fool!” Descent growled as he stared down Blade while holding the sword. “And you’ll only die like one!”


“What the…?!” Fleetfoot blinked as Ruin had completely disappeared before she could get halfway to him.

“Well, well, welly, helloey, there!” a creepy voice came from over her shoulder.

“AH!” Fleetfoot yelped as she looked to her left to see the profile of Ruin’s face, his smile so wide it almost engulfed his cheeks.

“Lovely day today, isn’t it? HEEEEHAHAHA!” Ruin cackled as he pushed his hooves against Fleetfoot’s back.

“Oof!” she yelped as she twisted upside down to face him. “OH JEEZE!” she yelped before flapping her wings hard, pushing herself downward as the small spheres of magic darted towards her, coming from every direction. She used her well-known speed and agility to shift and turn, dodging the spheres as she grew closer and closer to the ground. She wasn’t about to trust her magic deflection abilities. Of all the lead squad members, she had been the slowest at getting the basics down.

“Dance, DANCE!” Ruin called as he dove after her. “DANCE FOR ME! HAHAHA!” He laughed maniacally as he continued to whip the small blasts of magic towards her in inconsistent arcs and patterns.

“This guy has a few screws loose!” Fleetfoot said to herself as she turned to take forward control of her flight, but the moment she faced away, he was somehow right in front of her, flying backwards casually. “GAH!” she yelped as she tried to pull up, but he followed right with her. “OOF!” she grunted as he reached up and grappled his arms with hers, pulling her body into his… gently?

“Hmmm…” He licked his lips as he and Fleetfoot stared at each other less than an inch apart. Fleetfoot was leaning her neck back as far as she could in disgust. “My, aren’t you quite the looker?” he snickered. “It would be a shame if that pretty face got a little scuffed up, WAH-TAH!” he swung his head forward, but Fleetfoot yanked herself free to the right, avoiding the headbutt to the face, but instead taking it to the chest.

“GRH!” she grunted, coughing once as she regained control of her flight and looked up towards him. But in his place was a volley of magic spheres that shot towards her. With no time to move, she shielded herself, but at the last second they pulled back and flew around her. “Huh?” she blinked as she looked up over her arms.

“Oh, come on,” Ruin’s voice came from behind her. “It was more fun watching you try to dodge them all!” he said with a goofy tone as Fleetfoot turned around and glared at him.

“Sheesh… this guy is more random than Surprise…” she shook her head out and focused. She knew how to handle Surprise, which meant she could handle this guy too.

“Surprise? That’s a Wonderbolt mare, right?” His voice came from behind her again. She blinked and he was gone from before her as if his voice traveled to the spot before he actually did. “You say she’s like me?!” he grabbed Fleetfoot from behind and held her in place before she could shift away again. “You must introduce us sometime, I’d GLADLY drop my pants for her,” he said while brushing a hoof through Fleetfoot’s mane.

“GOD, STOP IT!” Fleetfoot yelled as she reached back and flung Ruin over her head.

“BUT I WANNA PLAY!” he yelled giddily as his spinning body unleashed an enormous cloud of his small magic spheres that flew at her in strange coiling pathways.

“Oh man…” Fleetfoot yelped as she turned and began out-flying the spheres.


Silver fixed his eyes on Witch as she thrust her arms forward, launching her signature barrage of tiny magic bolts at him.

“HRM!” Silver grunted, forcing his wings to cooperate and pushing himself to his limits as he sped up, avoiding the barrage of magic as he angled towards the ground.

Silver was unfamiliar with Witch’s preferred method of attack, having only faced Devil’s full attacks in a previous encounter the Shadowbolts, but he wasn’t going to hesitate.

He had heard enough descriptions of the rest of the commanders to know what Witch was all about. Now he just had to best her.

He dipped all the way down to the ground, gliding along the snowy mountain side with as much speed as he could muster as he put all of his strength into outrunning Witch’s magic. He barely managed to keep ahead of the bolts as they thundered along the ground behind him.

He flapped his wings no matter how hard it was or how much it hurt. He was determined to best any opponent that was thrown at him. Witch was holding herself in place as she followed his movements, making it clear to him that he wouldn’t be able to get close without exposing himself to some harm.

However, Silver was not phased, after all, those who used techniques that kept themselves in place and held their opponents on the run tended to be meek and fragile when the fight was up close and personal. He could read Witch as he remained on the run, she never made one move to intercept or attack on her own, keeping him a good distance from her.

“I smell a pansy-ass…” Silver said to himself as a smirk grew on his lips. “Shadowbolt magic, huh?” He forced his body to keep up as he continued to outfly her attack. “Let’s see how tough it really is!”

Silver glanced at the barrage of magic following him and purposely slowed down just enough to stick a back hoof into the stream of rapid magic bolts.

They exploded against his hoof, but nothing more than small explosions that were barely strong enough to bruise. Silver had long become numb to meager pain. He barely felt more than a small sting.

Silver lifted an eyebrow as he angled up and glided directly over the snow covered mountain side. He looked skyward, training his eyes on Witch again as his smirk grew into a confident smile. This would be a cinch.

“Come on, you old stallion! Is this the best you can do?” Witch yelled down at him.

She had no idea who she was dealing with. What a perfect opportunity to scare the living daylights out of an enemy. Silver, after feeling the force behind her attack, knew that Witch’s magic was not nearly strong enough to break his iron will and determination.

Silver had been slowly getting the hang of the magic deflection… he had been watching his own student figure it out, for Celestia’s sake. But while he couldn’t hope to replicate Rainbow Dash’s incredible knack for picking up on the techniques of others… and trying to block every bit of magic here was a bit silly… he could still show this Shadowbolt… just how strong the Wonderbolts were.

Silver chuckled as he glided along the ground.

“Oh, I’ve got more…” he said quietly to himself as he glided down towards the mountain. “You want a piece of a Wonderbolt?” Silver slammed his hooves down into the snow before blatantly propelling himself directly towards Witch.

“What?!” Witch’s eyes widened in surprise as Silver willingly turned into her barrage of magic.

Silver charged forward, Witch’s magic bolts striking and exploding against his body, but they were weak. They did little to slow Silver down as he careened towards his target. He grunted and winced as he was battered, his body feeling the constant stings of the tiny explosions, but like hell he was going to let these piddly attacks slow him down.

“STAY BACK!” Witch yelled as she tried to pour more power into her stream of magic bolts, but Silver was too steadfast. Even with a slight increase in force, Silver ploughed right through it, growing closer and closer as Witch began to panic.

Silver grinned as he pushed on. Small little attacks would never slow him down. Quantity over quality? Please, he’d break down any challenger who thought such a method could defeat him.

“Urgh, argh… ah!” Silver grunted as the magic bolts pelted him, but he held himself steady and continued to beat his old wings again and again and again as Witch failed over and over to keep him away.

“AH!” Witch yelled out in horror and released her magic, her mouth agape and her eyes wide beneath her goggles as Silver finally made it directly in front of her. Silver pulled his hoof back and glared into the eyes of Witch as she stared at Silver in unexpected terror.

“I’ve got plenty! Have a taste!” Silver yelled as he thrust his hoof directly into Witch’s face.


“Oh! I get the big rhino?!” Trance bounced up and down in place, the magic spheres orbiting around him faster as he smiled giddily at Soarin approaching. “This is going to be so much fun!”

Soarin didn’t pay attention to Trance’s behavior as he beat his powerful wings and shot towards the small stallion. Descent said to not underestimate Trance, but Soarin was still in the mindset that he could overpower him quickly. He had to, because the moment he was done with him, he’d turn to help break Spitfire free.

There was no need to hold anything back. Soarin had magic at his disposal as well as his great physical strength. From his point of view, he had the advantage, and he would make use of it.

Soarin scrunched his face as he pushed magic through his body to the horn, causing it to glow blue as streaks of blue light appeared from his eyes as well.

“I’m truly honored!” Trance chuckled as he spun in a circle, the sphere’s spinning with him. “LET’S TANGO!” he yelled as he stopped and whipped himself in the other direction.

“Whoa!” Soarin’s eyes widened as all the spheres fired from around Trance’s body and all homed in on him before taking a synchronized angle to rapidly strike him on at a time. “HRM!” Soarin grunted as he angled his wings and did an inline twist to his left. All of the spheres shot past him, leaving him untouched. Soarin quickly focused and whipped his head forward, sending a concentrated beam right back at Trance.

“Ooh! Pretty colors!” Trance joked as he leaned back and let the beam pass right over his head.

“Damn!” Soarin cursed as he shifted his angle and sped directly towards Trance. “Huh?” The wing tips of Soarin’s feathers twitched and he looked over his shoulder. “What?!”

The spheres that had missed him had made a full U-turn and were heading right back at him. Soarin turned quickly mid-flight to face the incoming surprise, but the moment he turned…

“AH!” Soarin grunted as he felt a force drive directly into his back that was amplified from moving in the opposite direction he was.

“The big rhino isn’t very smart!” Trance chuckled as Soarin’s momentum came to a halt. He exhaled as he tried to regain himself. Trance wasn’t very strong, but combining the kick with Soarin’s opposite movement was enough to throw him off balance… and…

“RGH!” Soarin grunted in pain as the first two magic spheres caught him, exploding on his chest. He quickly threw up his hooves to block as the remaining eight started exploding against him one by one. After the fifth, Soarin’s horn began to glow. “RAH!” Soarin shouted out as a shield encircled him and blasted outwards from his body. The remaining five spheres struck it and exploded. It also slammed into Trance behind him, sending him tumbling back.

“Oooo!” Trance smiled as he rounded himself upright. “The rhino has a few magical tricks of his own! How delightful!”

“This guy’s weird…” Soarin growled as he turned around and released the shield.

“Let’s do it again!” Trance laughed as he spun in a circle, his crystals glowing and creating ten more spheres.

Soarin didn’t charge this time. It was clear that Trance was tricky, relying on feints and deception to get his hits in, causing his opponent to focus on two targets. It wasn’t the first time he had fought an opponent like this.

“Shall I make the first move this time?” Trance twirled his hooves in the air as he bounced his eyebrows. Soarin took a moment to examine the spheres… they weren’t the same as the beams they were using to train deflection, but they moved like them. Trance’s attacks were in a straight line, not moving erratically. It would make them easy to focus on one by one.

“Dash… it’s time I took a page from your book,” Soarin chuckled to himself as he tried to recall what he had seen her do. She had picked up the magic deflection easily, and while he had struggled, he felt she had shown him enough to give it a go here. It took too much focus to use his magic, Trance would just deceive him again. “Give me your best shot, munchkin!” he beckoned to Trance.

“WHAT?!” Trance suddenly glared, his happy demeanor fading completely. “WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!?! I’LL KILL YOU!

Soarin blinked as Trance called forth several more spheres.

“Whoops… guess I struck a soft spot,” Soarin nervously smirked as the amount of magic he’d been dealing with suddenly tripled because of his big mouth.

Trance spun in three circles, firing three sets of ten spheres each in a straight line towards him. They weren’t perfectly lined up, but they never strayed from their course.

Soarin put all of his attention on the first sphere as he pumped his wings and propelled himself forward. He put his hooves up and met the first sphere head-on, swiping his hoof at it with the best timing he could manage, flicking the wrist upon impact.

“AH!” Soarin winced as about a third of the magic dissipated, the rest exploding against his arm. He didn’t give up, focusing on the next the best he could, the blasts were about five yards apart, so he didn’t have much time, but he would do it!

The second blast deflected, only a little bit exploding.

The third, he completely whiffed, but kept moving.

The fourth, he dodged because he had no time to concentrate.

It was sloppy, but his current path kept Trance in his vision. He knew the moment he took his eyes away, he’d be blindsided again, so it was this or nothing.

Not a single attempt was perfect, and Soarin took a few nasty hits, but he eventually got to Trance, who went from glaring to staring wide eyed as Soarin appeared right in front of him, and grabbed hold of him.

“Don’t think I’m falling for it again!” Soarin yelled as he pulled Trance around and held him out in front. All the magic that had gone undeterred, just like last time, had U-turned and was heading back at them. Trance flailed and yelped for a moment, unable to redirect his own magic in time before it began striking him.

“Ow! Ow! Ow! No fair!” he yelled as Soarin held Trance into his own attack. After this, he’d take a dive, drive this little guy right into the dirt and then go help Spitfire. “AYEYEEEEYEEE!” Trance yelped as the last sphere hit him.

“Going down!” Soarin spun and readied to dive, but the moment he turned… a pair of hooves jammed into his side really hard. “AUGH!” Soarin cried out in pain, dropping Trance and grabbing his side as he leveled his wings to hover. He coughed once as he turned to see his attacker. “Son of a…” Soarin growled as he glared.

Rapidfire was hovering beside Trance as he dusted himself off.

“Hmph…” Trance looked Rapidfire up and down flatly.

“You’re welcome,” Rapidfire said while narrowing his eyes.

“Meh…” Trance shrugged.

“Soarin’s too strong, let me help,” Rapidfire requested as Trance shrugged again.

“Fine, sure, I’m getting bored anyway. Just don’t blame me if you end up on Blade’s sword,” Trance said, seemingly not caring about Rapidfire getting involved, even though Blade had clearly ordered Rapidfire not to intervene.

“Damn…” Soarin gritted his teeth as his eyes darted between Rapidfire and Trance, their crystals hovering around them. His horn alighted with the blue magic again, though now he wasn’t quite sure how he was going to handle this. As if one fighter with deceptive tactics wasn’t enough… Rapidfire was a master of deception. Soarin could only imagine what kind of techniques he could use now with a crystal on his side, even if it was only one compared to the commanders’ three.

Soarin gulped as he pondered what to do. He had gone from creating an advantage to gaining just the opposite. With the rest occupied, he’d have to fight both Rapidfire and Trance at the same time, definitely not favorable odds, and not what he was hoping for. He needed to finish this up and help Spitfire, but now the task didn’t look quite so doable.

He readied himself as Trance and Rapidfire started moving towards him, Trances spheres encircling him as pulses of pink light shined from Rapidfire, creating what looked like split images of himself that remained close to his body. They were moments away from attack.

But then Soarin’s ears perked up as he glanced towards the sky.

Something was shooting down from above with tremendous speed. The form and motion looked similar to Fleetfoot’s Silver arrow technique… but it couldn’t have been Fleetfoot. Not only was Fleetfoot busy fighting Ruin, but the form also looked a bit… off. That and it looked like whoever was coming down from above was also having a hard time controlling their trajectory.

A similar move… but unrefined… only one pony came to mind, and his suspicion was completely confirmed when he noticed a rainbow colored trail streaking behind them.

“Dammit…” Soarin shook his head in frustration, but smirked at the same time. “You always find a way to be part of the action… don’t you?”

“HEY RAPID-DOUCHE!” Rainbow Dash yelled from above as she drew near… which was probably a bad idea, since both Trance and Rapidfire looked up at her the moment she yelled. Soarin winced, knowing that despite the speed she was going, they’d both definitely have time to react with the distance she had left to cover.

But maybe that wasn’t her intention. In an instant, Soarin realized Trance and Rapidfire had both focused on her, giving him a clear shot. He already had his magic built up too.

Trance fired his magic spheres towards Dash with Rapidfire following, shooting a dual beam of pink magic from his eyes.

Soarin kept his focus, trusting Dash’s abilities to take care of herself as he poured more and more magic into his horn.

“WHOA!” Dash yelped, combining Matteo’s Air Burst and Twister’s Spiral Turn to make quick trajectory shifts while maintaining her speed. She dodged all of the incoming spheres and used her hooves to deflect the magic beams from Rapidfire. Still not perfect and hard to execute while she was moving, but she actually managed knock most of Rapidfire’s magic aside.

She glanced to her right as she drew closer and closer, eyeing Soarin. He was doing exactly what she hoped he would do. He was making use of her distraction. She flattened her body and shot down purposely moving right past Trance and Rapidfire.

“GET ‘EM, SOARIN!” she yelled as she pulled up and tried to slow down… but landed with a loud yelp and POOF as she went headfirst into a large snowdrift on the mountain side.

“RAAAH!” Soarin whipped his head forward, releasing the magic from his horn violently. The beam was wide and fast, easily large enough to tag both Trance and Rapidfire. The two Shadowbolts turned and stared wide eyed as the beam hurled towards them… and it engulfed them both.

“Augh…” Soarin winced, his head throbbing as the magic ceased. Maybe that was a bit much, but the good thing was that he got them…

“That was close!”

Or… he didn’t… Because that was definitely Trance’s voice.

Soarin growled as he looked up, seeing Rapidfire and Trance high above him. Rapidfire has his hoof placed on Trance’s shoulder. Trance reached up and swatted it off, earning a glare from Rapidfire, but Trance ignored him, brushing a hoof through his mane suavely.

“Quick teleports are convenient, I’ll have to learn that sometime!” he commented as if not acknowledging Rapidfire’s abilities at all.

Soarin glanced down as a gasp for air and feminine nicker came from right below him. Dash had popped out of the snow and was shaking her mane off.

“Aw… they dodged it?” she huffed as she spread her wings and lifted herself up, hovering beside Soarin.

Despite Soarin not being too happy about her being there and in danger, his minor headache completely vanished the moment she was beside him, as usual. He didn’t like having to worry about her, but having her here did come with its advantages. But still…

“Don’t give me that look,” Dash caught his stern eyes and wasted no time in firing right back. “If you thought I was gonna let you out of my sight with what’s on the line for us—” she said as she tapped a hoof over her heart— “Then you don’t know me,” she finished with a wink.

“Heh…” Soarin chuckled. “I suppose you’re right,” he acknowledged as he held out a hoof. “I’ll let Spitfire do the scolding later… right now… I could really use some help.”

Dash turned with him to face Trance and Rapidfire as the two lowered themselves to be level with them. She kept her eyes locked on the two for a moment before glancing around to take in the rest of her surroundings. Descent was fighting Blade, Silver was fighting Witch, Fleetfoot was fighting Ruin, and Spitfire was being held by Moon.

“Where’s Wave Chill?” she asked Soarin obliviously. Soarin made a small head motion forward.

“That wasn’t Wave…” Soarin said with a low growl. Dash blinked, looking towards the two Shadowbolts, her eyes landing on Rapidfire.

“Oh…” she said as her eyes widened. “Oh god… and they…did they?” She looked over at Spitfire, her mouth agape.

“I don’t know… and I don’t know what happened to Wave either… but I plan to beat it out of them… slowly,” Soarin stated firmly as he pounded his hooves together and snorted, his nostrils flaring as he kept his eyes on Rapidfire.

Dash took a moment to examine Soarin’s face, and the way he was glaring at Rapidfire.

They had two enemies before them. Trance, a Shadowbolt commander, and Rapidfire, apparently a low ranking Shadowbolt. All logic in this situation pointed to Soarin taking on Trance while she handled their former, undesirable comrade. However… that seemed wrong to her.

There was a lot of tension passing in between Soarin and Rapidfire. This was an old rivalry, no matter what rank they both held. Not only that, but Soarin was a stallion who valued the wellbeing of his friends, and those he loved. Wave Chill was missing in action, and Spitfire would definitely be emotionally hurt after this… and Soarin wanted to give the pony responsible a straight-up beat-down.

This was going to be difficult, but after seeing Trance’s attacks, Dash felt she’d be able to take him on with her magic deflection. Soarin needed to fight Rapidfire, plain and simple.

“Soarin,” Dash spoke up, drawing only a subtle glance from him. “I’ll handle the commander.”

“Wait, what?!” Soarin’s eyes widened as he managed to tear his glare away from Rapidfire. “Dash, that…” he trailed off as she turned and looked at him sternly.

“I know what you’re gonna say… but I know you want to tear Rapidfire apart for this. And if he’s the one who posed as Wave Chill, I bet he also knows where Wave is right now too. I know you want to make him squeal and spill the info, don't try telling me you don’t.”

Soarin’s expression went blank as he glanced at Rapidfire and Trance again. Rapidfire looked angry with something Trance was saying as Trance only laughed heartily.

“Well… you would definitely be right there,” Soarin admitted. Dash had read him back to front. “But…” he glanced at Trance.

“Hey,” Dash quickly re-caught his attention. “This guy only throws magic spheres, right?” she lifted an eyebrow. “Who was teaching you the key parts of magic deflection?” she reminded him with a wink.

“Point taken,” Soarin smirked as he looked back at Rapidfire. “Alright, I’ll leave Trance to you… and I’ll give Rapidfire a few punches to the gut for you, how does that sound?”

“Not a few, several.” Dash chuckled as she turned and faced Trance. “I’ll draw this guy’s attention and lead him away.”

“Call him a munchkin,” Soarin suddenly suggested. Dash blinked and glanced at him.

“Why?”

“Trust me.” Soarin smirked. “That’ll get him to go after you.”

Dash shrugged and took a deep breath.

“Here goes…” Dash gave Soarin a light punch to the shoulder. “No dying. I don’t want you dragging me down,” she said in a lighthearted manner… even though that was what would happen if one of them did.

“Me? Die?” Soarin chuckled. “Who the hell do you think—?”

“A dummy,” Dash cut him off with a wink before turning to face Trance. “Let’s do this!” She shot forward, rising up as Trance and Rapidfire both locked on her. “HEY! YOU! MUNCHKIN FACE!” she yelled, immediately earning a surprised glare from Trance. “Yeah! I’m talking to you short-stuff! How’s the weather at three inches?!”

WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!” Trance immediately took to the air, leaving Rapidfire behind.

“Whoa… that worked too well…” Dash quickly turned and pumped her wings to create some distance, giving Soarin plenty of room to fight Rapidfire.

And with that… Soarin and Rapidfire were left alone.

Rapidfire looked back towards Soarin as Trance was led away and snorted.

“Satisfied now?” he asked as he slowly moved towards Soarin.

“Not nearly enough,” Soarin snorted as he too started hovering forward.

The two kept their eyes locked, old grudges and wounds flaring forth as they started a slow descent towards the snow covered ground below.

Battles were raging around them. Stray shots from Trance flew nearby, Fleetfoot and Ruin zipped past them overhead. Witch crashed to the ground a few yards away before picking up and taking back to the air as Silver pursued, the sounds of Descent deflecting Blade’s sword echoed out throughout the mountains, and Soarin could still see Spitfire being held by Moon.

“I won’t be satisfied until I know what you’ve done with Wave… and I’ve given you a good beat-down for what you’ve done to Spitfire,” Soarin growled as the two landed in the snow, standing less than fifteen yards apart.

“And what exactly did I do to Spitfire?” Rapidfire asked in a snide tone.

“You know damn well what you did to Spitfire,” Soarin growled, knowing full well that Rapidfire was egging him on… just like old times. “You’ve done some despicable things, Rapidfire… but this takes the cake.”

“You’re making it sound like I forced myself on her,” Rapidfire scoffed. “Please Soarin, even I have standards…” A snide grin grew on his face. “But it was definitely fun to make her think I was Wave… never thought I’d see that side of her, she really knows how to make out hard. Finally got my hooves on her body too… damn it’s nice.” His smile grew as he saw Soarin’s face fill with more and more anger. “I buttered her up and she didn’t hesitate for a second to follow after me during my little distraction. You idiots are too easy to predict,” he kept going, knowing he had Soarin on the brink of going nuts. “You wanna know why I didn’t do it? I prefer the mare knows it’s me before sex. It’s much more satisfying when they melt under my moves, say my name, and plead for me to give it to them… but hell, if I had gone for it… I’d have given her a better ride than that pussy-hooved Chiller ever would have managed.”

“You deceived her and took advantage of her!” Soarin stomped a hoof on the ground, his eyes starting to glow blue as he growled and ground his teeth together. He was filled with rage. Rapidfire may have stopped short of completely violating her… but it was still more than enough to warrant being beaten to a pulp. To Soarin, playing with his best friend’s emotions in such an extreme manner was just as bad as causing her physical harm.

“It’s not my fault she couldn’t see through it,” Rapidfire remained calm despite Soarin’s emotional escalation, his smirk still present and taunting. “I don’t know what she sees in that stiff goody four-hooves anyway. I bet if she spent some more personal time with me she’d be BEGGING for it from me instead!”

“You haven’t changed at all,” Soarin huffed, the horn beginning to glow as well. “Deep down, some part of me thought you’d learn a lesson or two after the stunt you pulled after the royal ball, but I don’t know why the hell I even bothered.”

DON’T act like you understand me!” Rapidfire suddenly snapped back, his crystal glowing and a pink aura slowly growing around him. “You don’t, the Wonderbolts didn’t, my parents didn’t, my friends didn’t… NOPONY does!” The pink aura flared out, small crackles and pops of pink magic shooting from it. “All of you and your rules… All of you and your orders… Your own personal goals… it’s all you care about. I’m not a part of your story!” he yelled as his aura grew larger.

Soarin narrowed his eyes, the glow around his eyes and horn growing as well. It was an unexpected outburst from Rapidfire, but he wasn’t going to let it distract him.

“Keep your ‘reasons’ to yourself!” Soarin shot back as he set his hooves and the blue aura of his magic flared out to match Rapidfire’s. “All I know is that you’re hurting my friends, and you’re going to pay for it!”

“SHUT UP!” Rapidfire yelled as he launched himself forward.

“BRING IT!” Soarin yelled as he fired forward as well.


Descent grunted and struggled as he clasped the flat edges of Blade’s sword. Blade was pushing the offense harder than ever before, but he still couldn’t break through Descent’s defenses.

“Give it up, Blade!” he urged. “Surrender and listen to me!”

“I don’t know what’s gotten into you,” Blade shook his head as he continued to try and press the sword down. “Surrender?! Listen?! It’s like you don’t know who you’re talking to! I won’t be deceived!”

“Well, you certainly aren’t going to best me!” Descent pushed back, forcing the sword away before pulling back and throwing a punch right into Blade’s face.

“GRH!” Blade grimaced as he spun around and sliced at Descent’s neck. Descent knocked it away and advanced, but he quickly noticed two of Blade’s crystals glowing brighter.

Two bright flashes shined beside him, and two clones shot out from Blade’s sides. They darted around Descent, their eyes glowing bright pink.

Descent quickly turned and planted a hard punch to both of their faces, right in the forehead between the eyes. The clones immediately burst into a blast of pink light.

“Your damn clones aren’t going to save you either!” Descent yelled as he turned back around to see five more clones in front of him, all charging. “What did you just say about deception?!” Descent hovered backwards, punching each one in the precise weak point one by one, until the fourth suddenly drew a sword.

“Why don’t you ask yourself?!” the fourth clone yelled, proving that it wasn’t a clone at all and in fact, Blade himself. Descent barely leaned back in time to avoid the swipe as the clone behind Blade fired it’s eyebeams over Blade’s shoulder. Descent barely brought up a hoof in time to deflect it, but the force sent him tumbling.

“WHY BLADE?!” Descent pleaded as he regained control and glared back up. “Why won’t you look inside yourself and see what you are doing?!”

“Because I know what I’m doing!” Blade yelled right back as he fell towards Descent with several clones behind him.


“Ah… ha…” Fleetfoot winced as she pushed herself up out of the snow.

“You know…” Ruin hovered down beside her as she struggled to stand. “There are times I wonder about the choices ponies make in life…”

“HRG!” Fleetfoot whipped herself around and leapt at Ruin, but she shifted and several of the energy balls fired out from behind him. Fleetfoot turned and managed to poorly deflect two, but the other three struck her right in the chest, knocking her over into the snow.

“We make a choice and it has an impact. Big, small… drastic, or insignificant… EVERYTHING has a purpose and consequence…” Ruin continued as he did slow pirouettes in midair. “Life is all about choices… that’s what everypony says anyway…” He evened out and rested his chin on his hooves as Fleetfoot sat up in the snow and glared at him. Ruin reached up a hoof and flicked a single magic sphere towards her. It hit her in the face and knocked her right back into the snow.

“Oof!” She grunted as her body pressed itself a little deeper into the fluffy drift.

“It’s funny because… I never really give a damn about choices…” Ruin snickered as he flicked on other sphere at Fleetfoot as she was down, not allowing her to get up. “Why try to make sense of things? Why worry about what impact your choices have? Honestly, why give a damn at all?” His snicker turned into a chuckle.

“RAH!” Fleetfoot growled as she exploded out from the snow drift and launched towards him. The moment her vision was clear however, Ruin was completely gone from her sight. She flinched when she felt something on her back.

“Everything is a hell of a lot more fun when it’s senseless!” He drove his hoof down over Fleetfoot’s head, forcing it into the snow as she yelped and dragged through it. “What’s the point of putting sense to anything? It just makes everything BORING! AAAAAAAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” he cackled as he continued to drive Fleetfoot’s face through the snow.


“Yikes! Whoa!” Dash yelped as she remained on the run, flying along the mountainside as Trance’s magic spheres crashed and exploded down around her.

“ARE YOU LAUGHING NOW?!” Trance was still enraged at Dash’s comments apparently. She tried to turn and get a look at his attack pattern, but she was forced to turn right back around and focus on running.

“Shoot!” Dash gritted her teeth as she barely avoided every sphere that landed around her. Maybe she was in over her head. She wasn’t a top tier elite Wonderbolt… and she was taking on one of the strongest amongst their enemies. She wanted to fight back, but she was worried one false move would end in pain… lots of it.

She glanced to her left as she shot along the ground, catching a glimpse of Silver fighting Witch.

It was completely the opposite of her scenario. Silver had Witch on the run… and he was charging headlong into her attacks, taking them on with grit and strength. It seemed that Witch didn’t have an answer for him, her magic abilities not being of a pure strength nature. Silver was able to deduce her weakness and exploit it. He didn’t even need to use the magic deflection, which was probably okay by him because Silver had struggled to get it right.

Something about seeing her mentor press the enemy while she ran… lit a fire in her heart. She may not have the experience, the raw power, or the ability of a high tier elite… but it was time to prove that Silver’s faith in her was well placed. She could do this!

First she needed to get a good look at how Trance was attacking, and she wouldn’t get that with her back turned. She had to pick up speed, but she wasn’t sure attempting the Sonic Blast-off was a good idea. Not only was she in motion, but the ground was covered with snow, most likely slippery as a result. She was also still not quite fully confident in her ability to execute it without fail. She had been pretty consistent with it recently, but the past few times she had used it were in situations where a failed attempt could have been easily recovered and made up for. She couldn’t afford any slips here, the margin of error and consequences of a botched attempt were too dangerous… but she knew another technique that could help her.

She fixed her eyes on the ground less than a yard beneath her and suddenly dropped, spacing her hooves, both front and back, slightly off-kilter. The moment her right hooves touched the snow covered ground, she struck it hard and rapidly with her lefts, using both sets of hooves to activate and double the power of Storm Front’s Surface Tap technique.

Dash tensed her body as she launched upward, quickly turning around and getting a good look before Trance could adjust the trajectory of his projectiles.

It was brief, but she saw it. He was firing them in small arcs that went no further from the center of their trajectory than half a yard. It made them slightly difficult to zero in on, but they literally did not stray from their path.

“Yipe!” Dash yelped as Trance turned his attack towards her. Dash quickly combined the Spiral Turn and the Air Burst to propel herself further skyward just in time to retake a lead ahead of the attacks. Now she was on the run in the air, but she felt she could find an opportunity to attack at some point—

“OW!” Dash yelped as an explosion erupted on her back. She flailed for a moment and looked over her shoulder quickly to see that the spheres missing her were turning around? Not good… not good at all. Now she was caught between spheres being thrown at her, and those coming from behind.

To hell with it. Running was clearly not getting her anywhere. She had to take a chance. If Silver was pressing the offense, so would she… even if it seemed like a long shot for her.

“Here goes everything!” she fixed her eyes on Trance and dove directly into the incoming spheres as the others followed behind her. Trance stopped moving as he saw her turn towards him, smirking.

“Oh, I LOVE when my targets have a death wish!” he chuckled as he spun around and around, flinging more and more spheres in her direction.

Focus Dash…

Remember…

YOU CAN DEFLECT THEIR MAGIC!

Dash recalled her training, also running her thoughts through what Flashwind had shown her directly.

She put up her hooves…

“Whhhhoooooaaaaaaa!!!!!” Dash voiced her uncertainty as she began swatting the blasts aside. She barely had any time at all to focus on each blast. Most of her swings were purely instinctive, moving at the first tiny glimpse of the next sphere every time. A few of them missed her, colliding with some of the spheres following behind, which only intensified the moment as explosions rang out behind her.

“What, what, what?!” Trance’s smirk slowly disappeared as Dash grew closer and closer. She wasn’t even keeping track of where Trance was. She was focusing entirely on swatting aside the blasts.

“Yikes, yikes, yikes, yikes, YIIIIIIIKES!!!!!” Dash continued to panic a little as she felt like she was barely managing. But she was doing it… she was getting closer!

“FORGET THIS!” Trance growled, his crystals glowing brightly. Four clones of himself appeared around him, their eyes already glowing and ready to fire. “EAT PINK!” he yelled as the clones fired their eyebeams while he increased the rate he was firing the spheres.

Dash swatted one more aside… and then one struck her in the shoulder.

She had only an instant to think as she was suddenly faced with a barrage of magic she couldn’t hope to avoid or deflect.

She shut her eyes and gritted her teeth… but kept pumping her wings as she got absolutely peppered with the magical attacks.

“AH! ARGH! AHHHH!” Dash yelped and screamed as she was hit again and again and again.

“YES! TAKE IT! YOU CAN’T MESS WITH ME! I’LL… WHAT?!” Trance’s eyes widened in shock…

Dash burst right through his outrageous cacophony of attacks. She removed her hooves from over her face, glaring at Trance and bearing her teeth. She was covered in singe marks, bruises, and her nose was bleeding, but she charged as if she felt nothing.

YOUR TURN TO TAKE IT!” Dash yelled.

With her opportunity well in hoof, she pulled back and began absolutely unloading hard punches into Trance. To the gut, to the face, across the jaw, to the chest, in the ribs… she pounded and pounded and pounded as he grunted and coughed. She followed up by grabbing him around the neck, swinging him around and using him to swat each of his clones in the face right where Descent mentioned their weak point. All of the clones burst, and Dash ended her assault by releasing Trance and giving him a hard double buck to the back, sending him hurling forward and into the snow, his face dragging through it.

“Ahhh…” Dash exhaled painfully and fell to the ground the moment after the kick. She had made it through and got to throw several licks to a Shadowbolt commander… but damn, did it hurt… Her whole body stung after taking on the magic. There was definitely more oomph behind Trance’s attacks than Witch… because not even Silver would have gotten out of that one unfazed.

She pushed the pain aside, forcing herself up and wiping the blood from her nose as she frantically looked around for Trance’s crystals. She had knocked him down, but from past experience she knew that the Shadowbolts weren’t truly down until the crystals were dealt with… there was a pang of reluctance in her heart, knowing what destroying their crystals and likely cutting them off from more would do to them, but it was that or they would get right back up.

Unfortunately, the crystals had fallen into the snow… and before she could find them, they suddenly shot up from a few yards away and zipped towards Trance.

“Damn!” Dash cursed as the crystals found where Trance lay.

“You…” Trance growled as the crystals glowed, hovering over him. “You… BITCH…” he slowly rose, turning around and glaring at Dash as his goggles slipped off his face, the strap completely snapped and both lenses cracked as they plopped in the snow before him. Pink streams of light were rising from his eyes and the corner of his mouth as his body emitted a pink shine. His nose was bent. It looked like Dash had broken it with one of her blows across his face. It seemed he wasn’t very sturdy, as his small stature suggested, but he was definitely angry now…

Dash grunted as the pain from her charge worked its way back across her nerves, grimacing as she whipped blood slowly oozing from her nose again. She got a chance… and it was a lucky one, but her failure to find the crystals quickly led to this. He had taken her hits, but was back up and clearly ready to give her hell… what was she going to do now?

“AAAAAAIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!!!!” A scream suddenly came from above. Dash’s eyes widened as Witch suddenly fell down from above, tumbling uncontrollably through the air and crashing RIGHT into Trance roughly. The two were forced into the snow, painfully sliding to a halt.

“Good lord… what the hell are you doing here?” A very familiar and very welcome voice came from behind Dash. She glanced to her left as Silver Lining landed beside her, giving her a look of complete disapproval. “Sometimes I wonder how you haven’t gotten yourself killed yet.”

“I came here to save YOUR ass,” Dash shot right back with a confident smirk, despite the pain. She grunted and lowered herself to the ground slightly. Silver’s eyes remained narrowed for a few moments before a smile curled on his lips. He glanced at Trance as he struggled to push Witch off of him. Silver took note of Trance’s broken nose and his painful movements.

“Heh…” Silver chuckled as his smile grew. “Stubborn to the bone and with a punch to back it up… You know how to make this old stallion proud... now on your hooves!” he yelled down to Dash as he turned to face the Shadowbolts.

“Grgh…” Dash grunted as she pushed herself up, realizing Silver wanted to team up. She would never pass up a chance, no matter how much it hurt.

“We’ve got them on the ropes,” Silver nodded as the Shadowbolts picked themselves up out of the snow and stood at the ready. “Let’s take them down!”

“Yes sir!” Dash grinned as she and Silver charged.


Soarin looked all around, firing beams of magic in every directions as several images of Rapidfire zipped around him.

“HOLD STILL!” he yelled as he fired a beam that struck and split two illusions.

“I’m not giving you any chances this time!” Rapidfire yelled as he drove his hooves into Soarin’s back.

“GAH!” Soarin cried out as he lurched forward, having taken more than one blow to the back thus far. Soarin turned and swiped a hoof out, but it went right through Rapidfire, the image dissipating. “Dammit…” Soarin watched as several more Rapidfire’s appeared in pink flashes.

This wasn’t like the commanders, these were clones. They had no physical presence, flickering and disappearing the moment Soarin touched them, but they were all identical. There was no way to tell them apart from the real Rapidfire. The commander clones all had a distinct pink glow that shone from their eyes.

Soarin charged forward, punching through several images as he tried to find the real target, but the every time he attacked one, two more would appear. They all flew in circles around him, randomly charging but none of them actually touching them as they either disappeared or his hooves went right through them.

“AH!” Soarin put his hooves up as they all suddenly disappeared and Rapidfire tried to slam his hooves down over Soarin’s head. The force caused them both to plummet to the ground as they struggled against one another.

In a way, Rapidfire’s new techniques reminded Soarin of how he used to fight using cloud doubles… only those took a moment for Rapidfire to create. These magic images appeared instantly and were perfect.

“Sooner or later you’re ALL going to acknowledge me!” Rapidfire yelled in Soarin’s face.

“I’d rather land plot first on a castle spire!” Soarin snapped back as Rapidfire’s eyes began to glow brightly. Soarin ducked as magic beams fired from Rapidfire’s goggles. Soarin’s head movement placed the horn directly in front of Rapidfire’s face. “You like magic?!” Soarin yelled as the horn glowed brightly and jettisoned a strong blast, point blank.

“AHH!” Rapidfire yelped as his head whipped backwards, his grip releasing from Soarin as a trail of smoke followed him as he fell. Soarin turned down, ready to follow up, but Rapidfire suddenly vanished in a flash of pink light.

“What the—?!” Soarin blinked as a similar flash came from his right. Rapidfire shot out of it and drove a hoof right into Soarin’s cheek. Soarin grunted as his body followed the motion of the blow, spinning out, and barely regaining control in time as Rapidfire charged right at him. He disappeared in another flash right before reaching Soarin. Determined not to be fooled again, Soarin waited for the first sign of another flash. It came from his right. He quickly turned and punched at Rapidfire as he shot out, but his hoof went through him. Before Soarin could recheck his surroundings, Rapidfire thrust up from below, ramming his shoulder into Soarin’s stomach. “OOF!” Soarin grunted, but quickly clamped his hooves around Rapidfire.

“RGH!” Rapidfire struggled to get free as Soarin shifted his grip and began spinning Rapidfire around, letting go after a good deal of momentum had been built up. However, the moment Soarin let go, Rapidfire teleported again, appearing behind Soairn, but keeping his momentum as he drove his hooves into Soarin’s back… again. Soarin turned, seeing two Rapidfires, but as he fired a wide magic wave, they both vanished.

“WILL YOU STOP?! FIGHT ME LIKE A STALLION!” Soarin yelled as he looked around.

“What, will that make you feel better?!” Rapidfire yelled out as he charged from behind. Soarin turned and guarded as they clashed, the two growling and snarling at each other as Rapidfire kept pushing him. “Screw playing fair! This isn’t a sparring match! This is combat! We don’t have to follow any damn rules!”

“Then you’re a damn coward!” Soarin yelled as he managed to turn them around and pumped his wings as he angled Rapidfire towards the ground. “And you always have been!”

“OH YEAH!?” Rapidfire disappeared and reappeared directly behind Soarin, hooking his arms under his, turning the fall control right back around to him. They were on a slow, steady descent towards the snow covered mountainside, but moving at an incredible speed. “You don’t know anything!” Rapidfire yelled into Soairn’s ear as they drew closer and closer.

Right before Soarin’s body began skimming through the snow, he thrust his head backwards, jamming the back of his head directly into Rapidfire’s nose. The two split apart and both crash landed painfully, bouncing through the snow. As they struggled to stop themselves.

Soarin got his hooves to the ground and propelled himself back upward, Rapidfire doing the same as they both went directly at one another and exchanged punches to the face, sending them both back in the opposite direction. But being both bigger and stronger than Rapidfire, Soarin didn’t take quite as hard of a hit, nor did he fly back half as far. Rapidfire bounced once in the snow again before disappearing and reappearing right in front of Soarin. Soarin threw his hooves up to block as he planted his back hooves firmly in the snow, but the punch went through him, flickering and disappearing. Soarin frantically looked around, but Rapidfire was actually right behind the image. Soarin barely noticed in time, blocking in the same direction as Rapidfire’s hoof met his arms. The force caused Soarin’s back hooves to skid through the snow, kicking up drifts and tossing chunks in all directions as Rapidfire beat his wings and pushed him further back.

This didn’t make sense…

It didn’t make sense at all.

Rapidfire was dangerous and incredibly skilled… he was pushing Soarin hard, forcing him to go all out… but he was a low ranking Shadowbolt? Not only that, but Blade clearly didn’t think highly of him at all. In fact, Blade treated him like dirt, pushing him around and telling him to stay out of their way before the fight. With how much pressure Rapidfire was putting on him, and how Soarin observed two commanders struggling against Wonderbolts that ranked below him… why was Rapidfire not of higher rank? His manipulation of the magic crystal was both effective and efficient, and he was keeping a top tier elite Wonderbolt on the tip of his hooves. Rapidfire was a lead squad Wonderbolt as well before he left for the Shadowbolts…

As the two continued to growl and push against one another… as they glared into each other’s eyes, part of Soarin couldn’t help but wonder what was going on in Rapidfire’s head. Was there more to this than met the eye?


Dash and Silver crossed back and forth in the air, calling out to each other as they landed punch after punch into the foreheads of incoming clones of Trance and Witch.

“TO THE LEFT!” Silver yelled as Dash turned left and struck a clone of Witch in the face, destroying it. Dash looked up as she shifted back.

“ABOVE!” she yelled. Silver turned and thrust a hoof up, landing a punch in the gut of a Trance clone before striking the other hoof between the eyes.

“Incoming!” Silver yelled as Dash turned to hover side by side. A volley of magic spheres from the real Trance hurled towards them. They took turns, shifting back and forth, deflecting or blocking one and letting the other take on the next so they’d have plenty of time to focus on each one.

“She’s firing!” Dash yelled as she eyed Witch above them.

“Let’s take it low!” Silver called out, grabbing Dash as he dove down. Dash quickly took control and the two flew side by side, angling up and gliding along the ground as Witch’s barrage thundered down to the snow behind them.

Dash felt so silly.

This was a serious situation. They were fighting very dangerous enemies… but she was fighting side by side with Silver and the two were working together perfectly.

It felt…

So…

AWESOME…

“Focus, Dash!” Silver yelled as Dash felt a hard yank on her hoof.

“Whoa!” Dash yelped as he pulled her out of the way of an incoming attack from Trance. The two kept up their pace as their opponents tried to keep their distance.

“Listen up, Dash!” Silver spoke up as they continued side by side. There was a little bit of discomfort in his expression, most likely from strain. Dash could see it clear as day, but as long as he kept flying she would. “We can take these two down easily, but we’ve got to work together!”

“What do you have in mind?!” Dash asked as they veered hard to the left to avoid incoming spheres.

“These two are nothing if we get up close and personal! If we can flank them and force them together we can—” Silver was cut off and they came to an abrupt halt as ten clones, five of Trance and five of Witch, appeared around them in a bright flash of light. Before Dash could react in any way. Silver suddenly grabbed her by the arm. “I know, it’s a good plan, remember what I said to do.”

“WHAT?! WHOA!!!!!” Dash yelped as Silver yanked her towards him, latching both hooves to her as he began to swing her around. “AHHHH!!!” Dash yelped as he spun her, her back hooves crashing into the faces of the clones and destroying them as if Silver was using her as a living flail. Dash continued to yelp and shriek as Silver swung her around and around, destroying the rest of the clones before making one final spin and flinging her towards Witch.

“Keep up the good work!” he yelled as he turned and fired towards Trance.

Dash quickly took control of her flight, making use of the insane momentum Silver’s throw had given her to take an arcing path towards Witch, who failed to track Dash with her barrage of magic bolts. Dash made a mental note to punch Silver across the face for surprising her and using her as a weapon before focusing on her target.

Witch couldn’t keep up with Dash’s movements as she grew closer and closer, visibly panicking when she realized Dash was gaining ground. She aimed to get behind Witch before pressing an assault and forcing her towards Trance, since that was the one actual part of Silver’s plan she fully registered before he whipped her around like a ragdoll.

“AH!” Witch yelped as Dash shot right past her and thrust her wings out to brake. She came to a halt and pumped her wings, ramming her shoulder into Witch’s side before she could fully turn. Dash pushed her off and kept pressuring her, forcing Witch to back away and guard herself as Dash continued to shove her forward again and again.

She glanced up to see Silver wailing on Trance… it just wasn’t the little guy’s day, getting throttled in the face several times by two different ponies.

As Silver ordered, the two of them drew closer and closer as they forced their enemies together. Eventually Trance and Witch were less than a yard away, and…

“CROSS!” Silver yelled out as he disengaged Trance, shot past him, and began to wind up a full motion punch. Dash didn’t say a word, she saw exactly what Silver was doing, and using her knowledge of synchronized movements from the Streak twins, she copied his movements on the spot, launching by Witch while winding up a full motion punch of her own.

Dash and Silver passed right beside each other… and unloaded their crushing blows into the faces of the two Shadowbolts, Dash hitting Trance and Silver hitting Witch. The two Shadowbolts took the attacks head on while moving in the opposite direction of the force, causing them to whiplash backwards, Witch’s goggles shattering and ripping from her face before the two ran directly into each other and fell limply to the ground. Their crystals fell with them, landing softly in the snow as their owners landed roughly beside them.

“See? Told you it was a good plan!” Silver said with a snide wink. Dash just stared flatly at him, but he didn’t look at her long enough to notice. “Now hold them down! Don’t let them regain control of their crystals!”

Dash quickly dropped the look, remembering she failed to take her opportunity against Trance earlier. The crystals were already picking themselves up out of the snow. She dropped down and grabbed Witch as she struggled to stand, putting her in a headlock before forcing her head to the ground. The crystals shook, flickered, and fell back into the snow. Witch struggled beneath Dash, but she wasn’t nearly as strong. As the crystals started to rise again, Dash simply gave Witch another thump of the head against the snow. Did it feel a little cruel? Yes, but she saw Macho Savage do this back in the engine room of the compound, and if they let them refocus, they’d just get right back up.

“Good work,” Silver’s voice caught Dash’s attention. She looked up to see him simply sitting beside Trance, holding his face against the snow as the little Shadowbolt flailed. He let up for a moment to let Trance get a breath of air, but before his crystals could even react, he pushed his head right back down. “We just iced two of their commanders…” Silver smirked at her. “And… even though you’re still just a recruit, you came through when we needed you.” He winked again. “I definitely picked the right student.”

“Heh… oh, stop it you,” Dash chuckled as she pushed Witch down again. She exhaled as her adrenaline rush began to fade a little, and the sting of pain around her body returned. She winced a little, but didn’t let it break her focus. She was sure Silver was feeling it too, but as usual, he wasn’t showing it.

Dash glanced towards the other fights still going on, specifically the crazy fight going on between Soarin and Rapidfire. Descent and Blade were still deadlocked and yelling at each other… and Dash couldn’t see where Fleetfoot had gone. Spitfire was still being held by Moon, but it was clear he was struggling to hold her in place. Spitfire was growling and yelling fiercely as she tried to break free.

“Stay down,” Silver suddenly ordered. Dash looked towards him with concern, but also looked at Witch pinned below her. “I know you want to help… I do too, but we’ll have to place our faith in them. If we get up, these two will just be right back in the game.”

As much as it pained Dash to sit there and watch instead of help, Silver was right. She just had to have faith.


“Will you shut up already?! I’m not bending to your words!” Blade yelled as he swiped his sword about. Descent backed away, dodging and deflecting several times before rushing forward and purposely putting them in another deadlock. The crystals around his hoof crackled and flicked as Descent pressed his hooves to the sword.

“So you’ll bend to your own self-inflicted demise, but you will not hear out an old friend?!” Descent yelled as the two butted heads.

“You are NOT my friend!” Blade yelled as he forced Descent forward. “You revoked that privilege when you betrayed us all!”

“Tell me, Blade…” Descent took a quieter tone as the two remained locked. “When you look around you… do you still see the Shadowbolts?”

Blade’s eyes widened slightly.

“Do you still see your family?” Descent continued. “Do you still care for them as brothers and sisters?!”

Blade gritted his teeth and looked away briefly, but before he could refocus he caught a glimpse of both Trance and Witch, defeated and held to the ground.

“What?!” Blade verbally reacted as he blinked. The two pushed off and Descent glanced down to see what Blade had seen.

“Hmph… why so surprised?” Descent asked as the two locked glares again. “You may have surprised the Wonderbolts and caught them off guard with your magic and tricks… but did you really think such a highly regarded group wouldn’t learn from their encounters?” Descent glanced around. “You underestimated them… bringing so few along. I don’t know what your intentions were with such few numbers, but you should have known better… or were you just blindly following orders… not thinking of the consequences?”

“Rgghhh…” Blade growled as he looked around again. Trance and Witch were down, but he also saw Moon still keeping Spitfire held, and Ruin having no trouble at all against Fleetfoot. He held up his sword and pointed it at Descent. “The battle is not yet lost… Witch and Trance are careless.”

“Yet they were named commanders?” Descent lifted an eyebrow. “Just how much control do you really have, Blade?”

“I swear I will cut you down if you don’t shut up!” Blade growled.

“Like you’ve been trying already?!” Descent barked towards him. “Take off those goggles and open your damn eyes, Blade!”

“NO!” Blade yelled as he rushed forward again. “NO! NO! NO!


“It’s a little depressing when you think about it…” Ruin was reclining in the snow, right on top of a battered and beaten Fleetfoot. No matter what she tried, she couldn’t follow Ruin’s movements or land a single hit. He had bested her seemingly effortlessly despite her being a lead squad Wonderbolt. “Conflicts, I mean…” Ruin rocked back and forth on his side as he turned and grabbed Fleetfoot’s mane, pulling her head up gently.

“Gah… ah…” she panted and gasped in pain.

“Both sides think they are right and nothing will change their minds.” He released a heavy sigh as he reached a hoof out and examined it before blowing off some snow that had collected on it. “But at the end of the conflict, somepony has to be wrong… and they are forced to conform… or be shunned.”

“Rgh…” Fleetfoot tried to stand up, but he had her firmly pinned, despite looking lackadaisical.

“And I find that sickening to be honest,” he growled as he pressed Fleetfoot’s head into the snow. “To be told you’re wrong without a way to defend yourself… to have your very thoughts revoked… cast aside as if you’re not even supposed to exist.”

“AH!” Fleetfoot gasped for air as he let her head up. He leaned down and bounced his eyebrows at her.

“But honestly, what do I know?” he chuckled as he twirled his hooves above his head. “I couldn’t care less after all… I just want to see everypony SQUIRM…” He shoved Fleetfoot’s head back into the snow. “HHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” he cackled as she writhed beneath him. “Oh? Oh dear…”

Ruin suddenly leapt off of Fleetfoot as something very large shot by, slamming to the ground nearby and skidding to a halt. Ruin looked up and around him, chuckling to himself as his eyes narrowed upward, his cheekbones scrunching his face around his nose.

“Lookie, lookie here! I feel so popular!” he cooed.

Matteo turned from his landing zone and quickly stepped up, standing over Fleetfoot protectively. Overhead, Storm Front, Squall, Little Star, and the Renegade scout, Astral Bolt all hovered down. Storm turned to Astral as they descended.

“Astral go and warn the…” he trailed off as Astral had already turned and rocketed back towards the blizzard in the distance as fast as his creaky wings could take him. “Efficient,” Storm commented as he and the rest of Squad Foxtrot landed in front of Matteo, eyeing Ruin as the Shadowbolt licked his lips.

“I’m sure making lots of new friends today… and friendship is magic, they say! HAHAHA!!!!” Ruin tipped his head back as he laughed uncontrollably.

“The hell is up with this guy?” Squall scrunched his face as he watched Ruin.

Matteo stepped up beside Storm as the two surveyed their surroundings. Matteo’s eyes found Dash and Silver first, noticing they were busy holding down Shadowbolts. Dash had noticed them and was waving, but had to quickly refocus on her ‘prisoner.’

Storm, of course, immediately spotted the fight between Descent and Blade going on overhead. He forced himself to remain still, trusting his father’s abilities. Descent clearly had it under control. He also saw Soarin and Rapidfire fighting nearby, their movements hard to discern with all the magic flashing around them.

They had already seen Spitfire and Moon upon arrival, but with the shield of magic encircling the two, it was obvious they couldn’t do anything to help. Either way, Fleetfoot was in need of assistance the most, and they had arrived in time.

“Having fun admiring the views?” Ruin slurred his words creepily at them as he tipped over and reclined on his side. “You’d better entertain me soon… or I’ll have to take matters into my own hooves.”

“I’d say you’re losing this battle,” Matteo huffed back at Ruin, his stoic demeanor unaffected by Ruin’s creepy air. “You’ve two comrades down, and soon Astral will bring the whole force out here against you. I don’t see any backup coming your way.”

“PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Ruin burst out laughing as he keeled over and fell completely into the snow. He continued laughing as he started making a snow angel. Storm, Squall, Matteo, and Star all reclined their necks backwards while glancing at each other. “You know…” Ruin’s voice suddenly came from behind them. They all turned and took battle stances as Ruin popped out of the snow behind them. “I think you should all take a good look below you…” he pointed to the battered Fleetfoot that Matteo was still standing over protectively. “Now take a good look at this beautiful image of a stallion.” He pointed to himself while rubbing his hoof around his chest. “Not a scratch on me… after taking down one of your best… Heh… haha… I mean, do I really have to spell this out for you? Do I have to do the math? C-A-T spells four? Two plus two equals cat? You think throwing a few weaklings at me is going to make aaaaaaaaaany difference?”

“Star,” Storm spoke up. “I want you to look after Fleetfoot.”

“But…” Star blinked as she looked at Squall and Matteo.

“That’s an order,” Storm said firmly as Matteo stepped away from Fleetfoot.

“Y-yes… sir…” Star said reluctantly, not wanting to be on the sidelines while her friends engaged a very dangerous enemy, but Storm was a superior officer and they couldn’t leave Fleetfoot unattended.

Star bent down and slipped her body beneath Fleetfoot’s chest, helping her stand up and move slowly as Storm, Matteo, and Squall all stood at the ready, facing Ruin.

“Too long, I’m bored,” Ruin said casually as he suddenly disappeared and popped out of the snow directly in front of them. “PUNCH ME IN THE FAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!” he yelled with his eyes wide, nearly breaking free from the diameter of his goggle lenses.

Without hesitation, both Matteo and Squall lunged forward, throwing punches towards Ruin as hard as they could.

“WHOOPSIE!” Ruin chuckled as he ducked and the two fell forward, Squall’s and Matteo’s arms crossing as they fell into each other. “PAH!” Ruin yelled as he fired four spheres backwards. They wiggled and wobbled as they arced around and launched towards Matteo.

“URGH!” Matteo grunted as he brought up his large wing to block them, the magic exploding against them and knocking several feathers loose. Squall backed off to set himself as Storm rushed forward in his place. He jammed his front hooves to the ground in rapid succession to use the Surface Tap and spring over the top of Ruin. With him and Squall flanking Ruin, they both charged.

“Is it humid today?” Ruin asked nonchalantly as he disappeared and reappeared behind Squall with all of his fur puffed up beneath his suit. “OH GOD, IT’S HUMID!

“GAH!” Squall yelped, as he tried to shake Ruin off. Storm leapt up and dove at Ruin, but Ruin suddenly dropped off Squall, grabbed him by the arm, and threw him into Storm. The two tumbled to a halt as Matteo jumped up, beating his wings hard to use his Air Burst and propel directly up to Ruin.

“BOY, ARE YOU FAT!” Ruin yelled as he suddenly popped out of Matteo’s feathers.

“BLAST IT!” Matteo didn’t hesitate, willingly driving his body into the ground in hopes of getting Ruin caught in the collision. “OOF!” He grunted, and felt nothing smash between him and the cold ground as he skidded through the snow.

“ABOVE US!” Storm yelled as he and Squall looked up.

“CATCH!” Ruin laughed as he flailed his arms about, sending magic spheres in all directions with no clear path or target. Storm and Matteo were forced to shield themselves with Star doing her best to keep Fleetfoot from harm not too far away.

“RGGGGHHH!!!!” Squall growled as he managed to deflect a wayward sphere before leaping up and preparing to use his rapid strikes. “HOOORRRYAA—”

He cut himself off, his eyes widening as Ruin appeared behind him and leaned his chin on Squall’s shoulder.

“Nice scar! It makes you look EXTRA gloomy!” Ruin teased. Squall reached up and grabbed Ruin by the head, pulling him over his shoulder with the intention of throwing him down. “Whoopsie DAISY!” Ruin yelled out as he turned the momentum on Squall, flinging him right over HIS shoulder the moment Squall followed through. Squall crashed right into Matteo, who fell against Storm, causing them to all collapse in a heap. They all struggled to get up, but Ruin was in the pile with them! “Snowcone, anypony?” he offered, bouncing his eyebrows before throwing his hooves out to create a shockwave of magic that threw all three of them into the air. “HOO! HOO! HAA! HAA! WAHAHA!” he hooted and hollered as he followed up by launching multiple hooffulls of spheres up into the air.

“GUYS!” Star yelled out in horror as she watched them get peppered in the air before all falling limply around Ruin.

“Huh, really I wasn’t expecting much, but jeez…” Ruin shrugged while reclining back down in the snow. “Well, come on, try to get up while I observe myself…” he taunted while pulling a mirror out of nowhere and examining his face, making duck faces at his reflection.


“NO!” Dash yelled out as she watched, but the moment she started moving—

“DASH! STAND DOWN!” Silver yelled to her, causing her to freeze in place.

“But…!” she looked between him and her friends.

“THAT’S AN ORDER! DO NOT LET THAT SHADOWBOLT UP!” Silver barked at her. Dash shook her head.

“That Shadowbolt is hurting them!” she spoke the obvious, but Silver just glared sternly.

“That Shadowbolt also took down FLEETFOOT,” he reminded her. “He’s clearly much more dangerous than these two! If you jump at him, you’ll go down and let your captive up!”

Dash bit her lip as she glared towards Ruin as he taunted the hurting Matteo, Storm, and Squall. What could she do?!

But… she didn’t have to do anything.


“Can’t… keep… track of him…” Matteo grunted as he struggled to stand up, spheres of magic whirling around above each of them, knocking them back down each time they tried to get up.

“How is he moving like that…?” Storm wondered out loud as he was smacked back down.

“GRGH!” Squall was struck by two blasts to the back. He was stuffed back into the snow and glared as he pulled his face back out. “This guy…ARGH!” Squall winced as he was hit again. “He’s worse than Twister!”

“WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” a sudden noise that sounded like a siren came from above.

“What the everlasting f—” Ruin blinked and looked up. Something green was shooting towards him. “WHOA!”

Ruin stepped aside to allow whatever was falling towards him to avoid a hard impact…

But with a loud TING… Twister landed softly in front of Ruin, in a ballet dancer pose on the tip of his hooves as if he hadn’t just fallen several hundred yards through the air.

“Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii there!” Twister bent over backwards, looking into Ruin’s eyes as Ruin stared blankly at him. He reached up and grabbed Ruin’s goggles, pulling them way back before letting go. Ruin ducked, his goggles launching off the top of his head and falling into the snow behind him.

“Twister?!” Star called out as she saw him appear. “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!” she fumed, but Twister was suddenly right beside her.

“BRUH, I’VE BEEN HERE THE WHOLE TIME!” he said as he put her in a headlock and gave her a soft noogie. “Now…” he dropped her in the snow and zipped over to Squall, grabbing him by the ears and yanking him over.

“Ow! Ow!” Squall yelped as Twister tugged on his ears.

“Watch my buddies!” Twister asked of Star as his smile went past the boundaries of his face. He leapt back over and dragged Storm by the tail over as well. “So I can…”

He stopped in front of Matteo, scratching his head. He took a deep breath with his hooves in front of his face, closing his mouth around them both while blowing hard. The muscles in his arms and upper body inflated to comical proportions (with his legs remaining skinny). He hoisted Matteo up into the air over his head and carried the incredulous large griffon over to the others, tossing him to the ground in a way that made Matteo land face first in the snow, his legs kicking as muffled swears came from within.

“BEAT UP THIS GIRLY-STALLION,” Twister said in a strangely deep voice with an accent. A valve suddenly popped on his back and his body deflated back down to normal with a long FWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Ruin’s eye twitched as he watched Twister saunter back up to him before a wide sneer appeared on his face.

“Oh, I like this guy already!” Ruin chuckled as he and Twister sneered at each other.

“Guys…” Star stuffed herself beneath Squall’s wing, just peeking her little head out to see Twister and Ruin. “I’m scared… this is gonna be weird…”

“SO!” Ruin slid up to Twister with his head turned slightly, biting his lower lip with wide eyes. “You think you’re pretty good, huh?”

Twister mirrored the action, sliding right up to meet Ruin halfway, also turning his head and biting his lower lip.

“Oh, I’m the best!” Twister replied as the two continued to give each other the exact same silly look.

They remained like that for several moments, never looking away, changing expression, or blinking. Until suddenly…

PAH!” Ruin chucked a snowball into Twister’s face. “HAHAHAHAHA! GOTCHA!” Ruin cackled, but the snow instantaneously melted and dripped off of Twister’s face, save for a snow monocle, moustache, and cigar.

“I say, good sir! I do believe the game is ahoof!” Twister bounced his eyebrows as the snow cigar spontaneously combusted and burned down to a nub. A shadow appeared over Ruin.

“Eh?” Ruin looked up and a giant pile of snow fell down from above, landing over the top of him with a loud PLOP.

“SNOW DAY!” Twister yelled as he put on a hat and scarf before grabbing a snow shovel and zipping around the mound of snow faster than anypony else could follow. He shaved the pile down until just a snow sculpture of a pony remained.

“Blah!” Ruin’s head suddenly popped out of the snow pony head as he shook his head vigorously. Before he could even glare, Twister jammed lumps of coal over his eyes and shoved a carrot in his mouth.

“Hmm…” Twister backed up and scratched his chin as Ruin began to growl. “Meh, two out of ten, would not snow pony again!” He zipped around Ruin and smacked him in the back of the head with the shovel, forcing the coal and carrot off of Ruin’s face.

“Heh… hehahahaha!” Ruin laughed out as his head disappeared into the snow pony… and the whole thing fell into a pile. “You’re good!” he appeared behind Twister, grabbed him and tossed him into the air. “But you’re all show!” Ruin threw his arms out, firing several of his spheres in random directions. They all wiggled and waggled on their paths before shooting towards Twister. They collided with him in midair, sphere after sphere, explosion after explosion.

“Zero out of ten, seen better fireworks in a popcorn machine,” Twister suddenly said from beside Ruin.

“GAH!” Ruin shifted away as his crystals flared. Twister hopped back and forth on his hooves, zigzagging towards Ruin slowly. “So! You wanna play that way, do ya?” Ruin sneered. In the blink of an eye he was behind Twister. “Gotcha!”

“Nope!” Twister said from behind him. Ruin flattened his brow and appeared behind Twister again.

“Gotcha!”

“Nope!” Twister again, managed to get behind him right after. Ruin scrounged his face, steam blowing out of his ears like a tea kettle.

“GOTCHA!”

“NOPE!”

“GOTCHA!”

“NOPE!”

“GOTCHA!”

“NOPE!”

They kept shifting behind each other, the two slowly moving out of sight of everypony else as they kept shifting and shifting and shifting repeatedly.

Squall, Storm, Matteo, and Little Star all stared blankly as they disappeared for a minute until…

“GOTCHA!”

“NOPE!”

“GOTCHA”

“NOPE!”

They had turned around and came back the other direction.

“GRAAAAAH! Okay! You’ve got some skill!” Ruin growled while getting into Twister’s face. Twister tipped forward and pressed his chest against Ruin’s causing a long, squeaky fart to sound out and a blast of air to rush against Ruin’s chin. Ruin took a step back and grabbed the whoopee cushion off of Twister’s chest, turning it around with the intention of releasing the rest of the air back at Twister.

Twister took a deep breath and blew into the open end of the cushion, inflating it way past its capacity until it exploded. Ruin flinched and backed up, only to see Twister right back in his face, puffing his cheeks out and sticking his tongue out. Ruin lifted an eyebrow, smirking.

He quickly copied Twister’s face. They stayed that way for a brief moment before Twister changed his face, biting his upper lip and making his eyes go in opposite directions. Ruin copied. Twister made fish lips with narrowed eyes. Ruin copied. Twister opened his mouth wide, turning his head to the side while blinking his eyes unevenly. Ruin copied.

The game of copycat continued, Twister making faces faster and faster, and Ruin keeping up with his many strange facial expressions. It got to a point where they barely kept one face for a second, but Twister started repeating faces in a fixed pattern that went around and around a dozen times.

Twister then pulled away and disappeared into the snow, but Ruin kept on making the faces as if still trying to keep up. The others all watched with blank expressions as Ruin continued to make the faces to nopony.

After several cycles of Ruin making the weird faces, Twister’s head popped up out of the snow along with a sign that read ‘Silly, isn’t he?’ with a squiggly arrow that eventually pointed at Ruin and the squiggles of the arrow were arranged in a way that spelled the word ‘butt.’ Ruin froze the moment the sign came into view and completely flattened his expression as he glanced at Twister.

“You sly, crazy bastard…” Ruin said ironically before smiling again. “I admit I’m impressed, but can you keep it up?!”

Off to the side, Squall pressed his hooves to the side of his head.

“I’m seriously losing ALL of my brain cells watching this…” he groaned.

“I mean… He’s literally doing nothing productive…” Storm commented as Twister and Ruin began another round of silly pranks on each other. “But…” he turned and looked down as Star helped Fleetfoot stand up again. “If Twister can keep him occupied until backup arrives… all the better.”

“That pony…” Fleetfoot spoke up, drawing all of their attention.

“Commander, take it easy,” Star encouraged, but flinched as Fleetfoot reached and clutched Star tightly, shaking. “He’s… not normal… he’s… dangerous… I…” Fleetfoot slammed her eyes shut. “I don’t know…”

The rest all glanced between each other, unnerved by how weak and scared the commander Fleetfoot looked when describing Ruin.

“Then I guess…” Matteo swallowed as he looked towards Twister and Ruin goofing off. “We’re fortunate Twister is keeping him entertained…”


“Enough…” Blade pushed away from Descent as he examined the battlefield again.

“Going to listen to me now?” Descent asked while hovering in place.

“Ha!” Blade scoffed. “Absolutely not… we are fighting a losing battle here. We took the chance with a small, hard to detect group and letting our little, annoying spy try it his way, but it’s clear it failed.”

“Hey!” Descent yelled as Blade retracted his sword and flew towards Soarin and Rapidfire. “Get back here!"

Blade fixed his eyes on Soarin and Rapidfire as the two grappled with each other in midair. They were both beat up and bruised, their battle easily the most brutal and action packed of any of the bouts that had occurred.

“What the—?!” Soarin turned and let go of Rapidfire, putting up his hooves to guard as Blade suddenly rammed him in the side. Soarin tumbled backwards, but quickly regained a hover as he looked between the two.

“Blade!” Rapidfire growled. “Butt out! This is—HURK!” Rapidfire was cut off as Blade grabbed him by the neck of his flight suit and pulled him forward, butting heads with him as he glared and snarled into Rapidfire’s face.

“We’re done here…” he said in an intimidating tone. “And if you disobey my orders ONE MORE TIME… I will kill you VERY slowly, making sure you feel every bit of pain possible before you die. UNDERSTAND?!

“Y-y…” Rapidfire stuttered, his eyes wide beneath his goggles. “Yes… Sir…” he barely managed to say as Blade let go of him. Blade turned, his crystals flickering as he threw his hooves out, covering them both with a shield. Descent ran directly into it, grunting as he bounced over it and almost ran into Soarin. Soarin grabbed him by the arm to help him regain himself.

“Blast it…” Descent grunted as he and Soarin floated side by side. “These damn shields.”

“They’re trying to get away?” Soarin asked as he looked around for the rest of the Shadowbolts. As he did, he noticed Trance and Witch were down. He turned back to Blade. “Leaving without your friends?”

“Hmph…” Blade scoffed, still protected by his shield. “They underestimated their opponents and have fallen. If they can’t even muster the strength to use their own crystals, then they have become useless.”

“Is that really what you feel?” Descent asked as he looked down at Trance and Witch. “Or is that your blind devotion to orders again?”

Blade and Descent glared at each other for a few moments, Soarin catching the vibe that something wasn’t quite right, but without the details, he had nothing. Blade simply grunted again before turning to his two comrades that were still up.

“RUIN! MOON! We’re done here!” he yelled to them. “Moon, make sure she’s held until we can get away, we don’t have the numbers to take her on.”

“RRRRRRRRRRRGH!” Spitfire growled as she glared at Moon like a wild beast. Moon was panting and sweating as he struggled to keep her in place. He shook his head slowly.

“Unbelievable…” he said to himself as he looked towards Blade and Rapidfire. “URGH!” he grunted as he poured more magic into his telekinesis. “How… how are you so strong? Nothing should be able to move in this!”

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH WAVE?!” Spitfire continued to pull and tug on the magic binds. “TELL ME! WHERE IS HE!? WHERE?! IS?! HE?! I SWEAR IF YOU’VE LAID A SINGLE HOOF ON HIM…!” she barked in pure anger, a tone of bloodlust in her voice towards anyone who may have brought harm to her lover. Moon watched her as she pulled and struggled in a mixture of rage and desperation. He looked down, closing his eyes as he kept her in place.

“Your friend… he’s…”

Moon was cut off as Ruin suddenly popped into the shield surrounding them and hoisted an arm over Moon’s shoulder.

“Oh, chill out you silly pony!” Ruin chuckled as he pointed to Spitfire. “He’s a Wonderbolt second commander! It would be such a waste if we right out killed him… We…” Ruin was cut off as a loud POOM came from outside the shield. Moon and Ruin looked to their right to see Twister with his body flat against the shield. He started breathing air to fog it up as if it were glass. “Right…” Ruin blinked before turning back to Spitfire.

“As I was saying… you don’t need to worry at all… for now,” he bounced his eyebrows as he hovered away from Moon and up to Spitfire. “We’ll be sure to keep him alive…” He placed a hoof on her chin, which she instantly bit at, but he pulled it away. “So we can TORTURE him…” the white of his eyes suddenly turned black, his pupils turning white and shrinking as he opened his eyes as wide as he could. Spitfire’s ears flopped down and her face was wrought with pure horror. “Squeeze ALL the information we can out of him…” Ruin’s smile widened into a very creepy grin. “And THEN… We’ll kill him… and I’ll be sure to be creative with it! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Ruin cackled as Moon shook his head.

“Ruin, I—”

“Let me guess,” Ruin was back beside Moon quickly. “You need help holding her down so we can get out of here?”

“Yes,” Moon nodded calmly.

WAH-TAH!” Ruin thrust his hooves towards Spitfire, his crystals shooting a magical discharge towards her that surrounded the telekinetic holds around Spitfire and made them grow thicker. “There! Now she won’t get out until we’re long gone!”

“Right…” Moon sighed as his crystals glowed and the shield retracted from around Spitfire and then moved with the two of them up towards Blade and Rapidfire, leaving Spitfire in place and shaking Twister off… but not before he drew a large plot in the fogged up portion with the words ‘Ruin’s fat ass’ next to it.

“Bah,” Ruin looked towards Twister. “I’ll be sure to not underestimate YOU next time, he said towards Twister as he comically tumbled to the ground much more than he should have been in a simple fall.

As the shield rose up and merged with the shield holding Blade and Rapidfire, Moon blinked, looking around until he say Trance and Witch being held down.

“Wait! Blade…” He pointed down. Blade shook his head.

“They were careless, we’re leaving,” Blade repeated. Moon folded his ears back.

“You can’t be serious…” Moon voiced his concern.

“I’m very serious,” Blade glared at him.

Soarin and Descent could both see it. Moon seemed different, expressing concern for his comrades and all around looking as if he was… displeased with their actions altogether. But he quickly caved once Blade made his intentions clear.

“So what are you going to do?” Descent spoke up as Blade, Rapidfire, Ruin, and Moon all hovered in the shield. “You’ll have to drop the shield to get away quickly. If you keep it up and move slowly, our reinforcements will arrive and easily catch you.”

“We’re not letting you get away! Not until you hand over Wave!” Soarin added.

“Hmph…” Blade shook his head. “I hate to break it to you, but your friend is already being held at our fortress. Probably the only good thing that came of this…” he said gruffly as he shot a glare back at Rapidfire. “So don’t expect to ever see him again.”

“Grgh…” Soarin growled, not quite sure what to say. If they really had Wave at their fortress already…

“As for our escape…” Blade shook his head. “If you think we don’t have escape maneuvers… then you’re just as guilty of underestimating us! NOW!”

As Blade gave the order, he, Ruin, and Moon all thrust their hooves out. The shield veil covering them pushed outward violently. Descent and Soarin both yelped in surprise, throwing their hooves up to protect themselves as the shield throttled against them HARD as if it were a shockwave with physical form. They were both knocked right out of the sky and sent falling towards the ground, tumbling out of control.

The Shadowbolts shed their shield and turned to leave, beating their wings hard to build up speed quickly.

But Soarin refused to let them go.

As he and Descent drew near the ground with a painful impact imminent, Soarin forced his body to turn so all four of his hooves angled to the ground. Descent crashed and bounced through the snow with painful grunts, but Soarin’s hooves slammed down, right in the position he wanted to be. He locked onto the retreating Shadowbolts and swiftly executed all of the movements to activate the Sonic Blast-off.

Kicking up an explosion of snow behind him, Soarin launched after them, breaking an aircone and emanating a sonic boom that was luckily mostly muffled with a loud POOF from the snow around him. He fired towards them at a tremendous speed. His horn was alight and his eyes glowing blue, causing a light blue streak to follow behind him.

The Shadowbolts were completely unaware he was approaching… and catching up at an alarming rate. He aimed right for Blade, figuring he was in command and the others wouldn’t be so willing to leave him.

Unfortunately, as he drew near… Rapidfire decided to look over his shoulder.

“LOOK OUT!” Rapidfire yelled, throwing himself towards Blade and ramming himself into Soarin right before he could deliver the knockout blow to Blade’s back. The rest of the Shadowbolts shifted aside in surprise as Rapidfire latched onto Soarin and was pulled along as Soarin’s disrupted trajectory forced him off target.

“GRRGH! GIVE IT UP!” Soarin yelled as he and Rapidfire locked arms, trying to overpower the other as they seared through the sky at outrageous speeds.

“I’LL NEVER LOSE TO YOU AGAIN!” Rapidfire yelled with hopeless determination as they fought for control.

Their struggle against each other caused their direction to change, moving in a wide arc all the way up into the sky, and all the way around until they were shooting back towards the mountains. As they grappled, they tried everything they could to get an edge. There was no technique and finesse, it was uncontrollable thrashing… and with their wings flapping together and gravity in general, their speed increased even further, adding to the speed generated by the Sonic Blast-off. They were moving so fast that Soarin could barely keep his eyes open with the wind blasting against him.

They were so focused on trying to overpower the other that neither of them realized they had broken through a second aircone with their combined wing power. They were traveling at dangerous speeds… while heading directly for a mountainside.


“No!” Moon stopped midflight, turning back towards Soarin and Rapidfire, but Blade circled around and caught him by the arm.

“Leave him,” Blade ordered. Moon gritted his teeth and glared.

“But he hasn’t told us the location of their compound yet!” Moon pointed out, but Blade only shook his head.

“I don’t care. We gave him his chance and look where it got us. We’ll do this our own way. I’m sick of that damn brat. Now MOVE!” Blade yelled as he threw Moon back in the right direction. Moon did as he was told, following Blade and Ruin as they got away.


“RRRRRGH!!!”

“GRRRRRHHHH!!!”

Soarin and Rapidfire didn’t look away from each other’s glares, completely sucked into their bitter rivalry. The past was flowing through their actions, dictating their focus, and not breaking free until the other was taken down.

Their lack of awareness for their surroundings, however, had them on a lethal collision course with a fast approaching mountainside.

Which grew closer…

And closer…

And closer…

Soarin’s horn began to glow… blips of yellow light appearing within the blue…


Rainbow Dash gasped as she watched the two fall so fast that they were a blur, like a comet with a blue, orange, and purple streak blazing behind it… She realized all too late that they weren’t pulling up.

“NO!” Dash yelled as she stood up from Witch. “NOOOOO!!!!”

“RAINBOW DASH!” Silver yelled as she saw her get up from her captive, but she only saw one thing, hearing nothing around her.

“SOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAARIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!”


Soarin and Rapidfire… crashed into the mountainside.

The impact echoed throughout the mountain range, causing the whole area to shake.

Enormous drifts of snow broke free from the icecap… and plummeted down.

The Wonderbolts all shielded themselves as the resulting shockwave from the impact finally hit them, followed by the avalanche striking the ground at the base of the mountain and causing stray bits of snow and ice to shoot up and batter against them.

As the chain reaction ceased, and the avalanche stopped short of harming any of them…

They looked up to see the snow had completely fallen along the mountain side… and a whole portion of the mountain itself had crumbled and collapsed…

There was no sign of Rapidfire… or Soarin…

---To Be Continued---

Author's Note:

Art in this chapter by Scootafail/Chiweee

Oh boy... this can't be good...

So Wave is captured and Soarin... oh dear oh dear...

But hey... it looks like the Wonderbolts have learned from their past encounter... and this has proven that The Shadowbolt commanders can be beaten...

Well... some of them... Ruin and Blade seem to be quite good regardless, but Witch and Trance didn't quite have the same oomph. Yet Rapidfire is clearly highly skilled, why does he rank lower?

Quite a lot up ahead for the Wonderbolts and Renegades...

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed! :eeyup:

PreviousChapters Next