Piercing the Heavens

by Calm Wind

Chapter 118: Kick Reason to the Curb

MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind

Chapter 118: Kick Reason to the Curb

---

“Get back here!” Devil yelled as he kept pace behind Silver. Silver continued to grimace and wince, his wings feeling stiffer every beat. He looked back at Devil behind him, counting the fourth time Devil had tried to chase him.

“Rgghh…” Silver grunted as he saw Devil forming the large magic globes around him. Silver forced his body left, twisting away as the globes appeared around him and exploded. He felt the force of the explosion, but avoided any damage. He sharply looked over his shoulder. “You sure like throwing your balls around!” he jeered. “But you may want to make them smaller! Exaggeration is just another way of lying to yourself!”

“Oh you think you’re real funny, don’t you?!” Devil growled as he continued pursuit.

Silver hated this. The encounter earlier in the morning against Trance and Witch and the current scenario had proven that some of the commanders weren’t quite as fearsome as the others. Devil fell into the category of those he could probably handle pretty easily… that is, if his body wasn’t slowly going numb. He was already straining himself just to keep flying. It was times like these Silver wished he was twenty years younger. His younger self could have pounded Devil flat in seconds.

“Hup!” Silver pulled up hard as two globes exploded in front of him. He could probably do the same now… if his body would start cooperating. He had been relying on other Wonderbolts flying around in the dogfight to back him up. He wasn’t sure how much longer he would last, but he would definitely keep going until he couldn’t move if he had to.

“Yo! Sil-dog!” Air Mach’s voice came from above. Silver flattened his brow as Air Mach formed up beside him. “Do I gotta bail you out again?!” he asked with a smirk as the two pitched right to avoid more explosions. Silver shot him a flat look as they evened out.

“Are you following me or something?” he asked calmly as they continued to fly away from Devil.

“Just keeping an eye on our old hard-ass!” he reached to jab Silver on the shoulder, but Silver reached out and stopped him.

“Yeah, yeah,” Silver snorted. “Yes, I could use some help.”

“Aw yeah!” Air Mach was about to break off, but Silver continued.

“And if you call me ‘Sil-Dog’ again, I’ll smash those silly glasses of yours into sharp, jagged pieces and force feed them to you through your ass… understand?”

“Yes sir!” Air Mach replied full of gusto before putting on the brakes and ramming himself backwards into Devil. The two grappled and shot away from Silver.

Silver just shook his head while rolling his eyes.

“I swear, nothing fazes that dense—” Silver’s eyes widened as a large beam of magic, one much larger than the basic beam fired by the magic crystals, appeared in his peripheral vision. “RRRAAAGH!” Silver roared painfully as he forced his wings up, pushing him down as the large beam shot overhead, coming within an inch of his head as he pulled his wings down. Silver lost control, plummeting towards the ground for a few moments before straightening his wings and finding balance, catching himself in a glide well before he was in danger of crashing. “What the hell was that?!” he called out as he looked in the direction of the attack. “Oh…”

Silver blinked as he saw something in the distance, fast approaching from the direction of the Shadowbolt fortress. It wasn’t long before he recognized something.

“Those are… hell’s bells, there’s five of them!” he growled. Five of those smaller ships. He had helped bring down two of them when they escaped Canterlot. The Shadowbolts sure took their time bringing out their toys… why did they wait until now?

But then Silver realized something was amiss. The ships were firing, but they were not aiming their forward cannons at the dogfight. They were moving and angling towards something. Silver turned towards them and squinted, trying to see if he could make out anything else. As he moved a little closer… he noticed something in front of the ships. Then his ears stood up and his jaw dropped when realization hit.

The ships were chasing after a group of ponies… Despite the Shadowbolt uniforms all had familiar colors, especially one rainbow mane… and the two in front were carrying one of his very own squadmates.

“It’s them!” Silver said out loud to himself. “They have Wave!” he exclaimed as he quickly turned and looked back towards the swarm. “Captain! CAPTAIN!” he yelled as he looked around, eager for them to begin phase four of their plan. Silver had had his doubts, and was worried sick about the ponies in the fortress, particularly Dash… but they had made it out!

But… where was Spitfire? Silver willingly entered the thick of the dogfight, the cacophony of Wonderbolts and Renegades flying around and lightly engaging the Shadowbolts still going strong. But Spitfire was nowhere to be found.

Silver quickly came to the conclusion that he wasn’t going to find her, and instead of wasting more time trying, he found the next best option.

“Commander!” Silver yelled as he approached Fleetfoot. She was currently holding a Shadowbolt around the neck and giving her a rough noogie. “Commander Fleetfoot!” he yelled.

Fleetfoot looked up and blinked as Silver approached, she tossed the mare downward.

“What’s up, old fart?” she asked cheerfully. Silver grunted, trying to ignore that he was getting a lot of the elder slang over the past few hours. He stayed on task, quickly pointing towards the ships in the distance.

“It’s our infiltration team!” he exclaimed, prompting Fleetfoot to follow his hoof and gasp when she spotted them. “They made it out! And they have Wave! We’ve got to help them get away from those monstrosities and make our exit!”

“Holy shit!” Fleetfoot bounced in midair as a smile appeared on their face. “Quick! Where’s Spitfire?!” she asked while looking around.

“Hell if I know! That’s why I came to you! I can’t find her!” Silver explained as Fleetfoot slowly realized she couldn’t find Spitfire either. “You have to rally the Wonderbolts and get moving!”

“Eh?!” Fleetfoot gritted her teeth. “Me?!”

“Yes, you!” Silver growled.

“B-but…” Fleetfoot frantically looked back and forth. Silver grunted, knowing exactly what was going on. Fleetfoot preferred to pass orders and decision making to Spitfire and Soarin. She picked a hell of a time to seize up. But luckily for her, Silver knew the whistle commands. “Forget it, I’ll do it!” he yelled while pointing at her. “Find Blazetail and Flashwind and tell them we’re ready for blizzard re-entry! GO!” Silver ordered.

Fleetfoot didn’t argue. She nodded and turned, locking onto Blazetail and Flashwind nearby before moving towards them.

Silver turned around and began gliding around the swarm of pegasi, putting his hooves to his lips and making several three-tones whistling patterns. Wonderbolt heads and ears turned as Silver’s whistling met their ears, the disciplined Wonderbolts quickly diverting and shifting the moment they acknowledged the sound commands.

Silver kept his eyes peeled, watching as the Wonderbolts and the former Wonderbolt Renegades started veering off and shooting back towards the blizzard. Every Wonderbolt made sure to follow close behind a Renegade, knowing that they were key in navigating the artificial blizzard. With the first command in place, Silver moved on to his second course of action.

He veered down towards the retreating Wonderbolts and called out to them.

“Squads one through seven! Form up on me!” he yelled down before searching out some of his former comrades. “Steady! Comet! Cannon! Pixie! Fairy! With me, now!” he added. The selected Renegades broke off as Bomber, Valkyrie, Blazetail, and Flashwind stayed with the main group, leading the rest of the force back into the blizzard, hoping to shake off the Shadowbolts pursuing.

Silver looked back and forth as his squad along with the rest he called up rose into formation with him. Squads four, five, and six formed a three squad formation nearby. Squad Seven pulled up behind him. Storm Front, Lead Runner, Point Dex, and Macho Savage following right with Blaze and High Winds. Silver looked to his left to see Fleetfoot, Air Mach, and Calm Wind form up.

He furrowed his brow as he noticed Spitfire was still gone. Not that he was really worried about her. She was more than capable of handling herself, but what the hell was she doing?

“Yo! Silver!” Cannon Ball’s voice came from up above. Silver glanced up to see his chosen Renegades all lined up. “What’s the plan?!” he asked, drawing the attention of everypony else as Silver looked back down and nodded.

“We have few options in engaging their smaller crafts!” Silver began. “They are equipped with magical shielding and the circumstances Valkyrie, Bomber, and I used to bring them down before are not present! So we’ll have to lose them in the blizzard! Our top priority is securing Wave Chill and getting him in the clear! The rest of us will split up and force the ships to disperse. There are five of them and we have five renegades. Each Renegade will be responsible for leading a group of Wonderbolts back to the compound! If we can draw one ship away with each group, it will be easier to lose them!”

They all yelped in surprise as a large burst wave of magic shot past them. It missed horribly, but it forced all of them to look over their shoulders.

They were being pursued as they headed towards the ships. Devil, Shadow, and Angel were closing in behind them with several more Shadowbolts following.

“Keep going!” Silver ordered. “Execute the plan! We can lose them the same way we lose the ships! WONDERBOLTS! GO! GO! GO!”

---

“Damn!” Dash swore as she barely managed to avoid another blast from the Falcons following behind. She looked over her shoulder as she and Squall remained spread out from the group. They, along with everypony not of the Streak family name were doing their best to try and draw the fire of the Falcons away from Wave Chill. They had tried to break away, but the Falcons were working together, using their cannons to control the Wonderbolt trajectory and not allowing them to make any significant course changes. If it were only one, it would have been easy to confuse the pilot and go beyond the machine’s range of motion… but five? That was a different story.

“Just make it to the blizzard!” Fire yelled back at all of them. “That’s our best chance to lose them!”

Dash hoped so, because right now they were not making much progress. It was already a lucky break that none of them had taken a hit yet. The cannons were slow and it was easy to tell when they would fire, but they definitely packed a punch and continued firing, giving them no real chance to counterattack. Besides, Playbitz had already tried attacking one of them and bounced right off of a magic shield. Thankfully Shine and Swift were able to help him upright before he got blasted. They had to run. They weren’t going to get through those shields.

“HEY!” Surprise suddenly exclaimed while pointing upward. “The cavalry is here!”

Dash and Squall both looked up, Dash’s expression quickly turning into a relieved smile as she spotted Silver flying down from above, leading a large group of high tier elite Wonderbolts and a few Renegades.

“Yes!” Fire Streak yelled as he also took notice.

Silver veered off with the Renegades as the rest of the Wonderbolts charged down at the Falcons. They didn’t dive head on. They purposely made glancing, distracting blows against the Falcon shields as they passed by. The ships lurched slightly, the pilots trying to make out what was happening as the new targets entered their view.

Silver dropped down and formed up beside Fire and Lightning Streak as the Renegades flew just overhead.

“Am I glad to see you!” Fire said happily as Silver ignored him and looked over Wave. Fire noticed immediately. “He’s… hurt, but alive. We need to get him to Bliss immediately.”

“I agree,” Silver nodded while looking back. The Wonderbolts had disengaged the Falcons and were catching up. The Falcons would be back at them soon and the Shadowbolts following behind would be joining them shortly. “We need to get Wave out of here!” Silver exclaimed. “It will be easier to deal with these jackasses if we’re not worrying about him!” he yelled as they looked forward. They were nearing the edge of the blizzard. Once inside they would have some cover, but he wasn’t about to bet simply having lower visibility was going to break them free.

“We’ll take him!” Shine Struck’s voice came from behind Silver. Silver perked up and turned, looking towards Shine as she shifted forward with Squad Zero, now complete with Calm back among them. “The problem has been carrying him, right? Calm’s big enough to carry Wave on his back! We can speed up and meet you guys back at the compound!”

Silver narrowed his eyes at them. Shine Struck had a point. While he wasn’t sure if handing off Wave to their experimental squad was the best course of action… what other choice did they have? His worry faded though… when he saw a determined look in Shine Struck’s eyes. A look filled with the desire to succeed. He had seen that look before from Rainbow Dash. The two mares were similar in many ways, and seeing similar confidence from Shine swayed Silver. He had to trust them. He was the one who found and chose Shine for the Zero Project after all.

“Hop to it!” Silver gave a nod of approval. “Comet!” he yelled up to the Renegades. Comet quickly dropped down beside them as Calm shifted beneath Wave. Silver watched as Swift and Playbitz helped the Streak twins lower Wave onto Calm’s back. Wave groaned and grimaced as they moved him, but he was eventually lying comfortably between Calm’s wings. Silver turned back to Comet and pointed. “I need you to lead Squad Zero back to the compound! Do EVERYTHING you can to stay out of sight! Take a long detour if you have to!” Silver looked back for a moment as they kept moving forward.

“Will do!” Comet nodded. “Alright you guys follow—”

“Wait!” Silver stopped him. “I’ve got an idea! WONDERBOLTS!” Silver called out, drawing all eyes to him. “SCATTER BURST MANEUVER!”

“Huh?” Shine Struck blinked as she took up a position to hold Wave steady on Calm’s back. “Whoa!” her eyes widened as every single Wonderbolt suddenly flew towards them and all packed together as closely as possible without their wings clashing.

“Yipe!” Dash yelped as she and Squall were pulled along by Misty and Surprise, leading them in. Surprise winked at Dash.

“When Silver says ‘burst’—“ she started explaining.

“BURST!” Silver yelled out.

“Oops!” Surprise winced and turned away from Dash. “JUST GO ANYWHERE!” she yelled while flailing her arms.

Dash did as she was told, choosing a direction and following behind the first Wonderbolt she trusted the most… being Silver Lining. The Wonderbolt squads fired in all directions, breaking rank and file, even mixing up across squads. They ended up forming into four random groups, each with a Renegade leading them. Silver timed the order perfectly just as they were reaching the blizzard’s edge. They went in all directions, forcing the Shadowbolts and Falcons in pursuit to choose targets. Dash found herself mixed in with Squall, Storm Front, Silver, Fleetfoot and Air Mach. Steady Wing flew in front of them, ready to direct them through the blizzard.

The Falcons broke off, each of them being trailed by a few Shadowbolts as they went after each group… except for Squad Zero.

Dash glanced down as she kept pace, watching as Comet led Squad Zero down below. Wave was resting on Calm’s back with Shine Struck gently pressing her hooves to Wave to keep him steady. They picked up speed and made it into the blizzard with no Falcon or Shadowbolts chasing them. After a brief look around, it appeared that none of the Shadowbolts saw them dip down either.

“Yes!” Dash cheered to herself. “Wave is clear!” she proclaimed. However, Silver’s gaze looking over his shoulder at her, quickly brought back to the situation.

“He’s clear… but it looks like we’re not,” he stated. Dash looked over her shoulder as they entered the blizzard and a few moments after they entered the lower visibility, not one, but two Falcons appeared behind them in pursuit. To make matters worse… three Shadowbolts appeared between the Falcons.

Shadow, Devil, and Angel… with a small group of five lower ranks following behind.

“Two Falcons and three commanders…” Silver grumbled. “Just our luck.”

“Look out!” Fleetfoot yelled as their pursuers closed in.

The Falcons began firing, forcing the Wonderbolts to pitch, turn and react. Steady Wing grunted in frustration as he tried to keep his trajectory through the blizzard.

“Steady! We need to shake these guys!” Silver yelled as he formed up beside him. Steady Wing shook his head.

“I’m doing the best I can Silver! If we go any faster, I won’t be able to navigate!” he explained as they forged through the swirling snowfall.

Silver looked back as the Wonderbolts kept dodging and the commanders kept approaching. He could see them powering up their crystals as the Wonderbolts kept looking to Silver for what to do next. But in the end… it was his apprentice that made the call.

“We have to engage them then!” Dash yelled, drawing attention to herself. “They’re just gonna keep shooting at us if we don’t!”

They all looked towards Silver, then Fleetfoot. Fleetfoot just shrugged.

“She has a point, we have to do something to throw them off or else we’ll just take them right back to the compound!” Fleetfoot yelled. Silver huffed and nodded.

“It’s better than nothing!” Silver shifted back to Steady Wing. “Keep moving! We’re gonna try to keep them off of you!”

“Right!” Steady nodded as he kept forging forward.

“NOW WE’RE TALKING!” Air Mach yelled as he and Fleetfoot pitch hard upward and looped back around. Dash joined up with Squall, Storm flanking her other side. Dash was having slight difficulty seeing without her mask or goggles, but it was hard to miss dark purple uniforms in a white backdrop. Silver pulled up right below her.

“Don’t engage the ships! Focus on the Shadowbolts! And whatever you do, keep moving forward! If you lose sight of Steady, you’re lost in the blizzard!”

“Aye!” Dash acknowledged him as Silver pushed himself to join Air Mach and Fleet. Dash squinted as she locked onto Steady. They had to keep up with him while fighting the Shadowbolts… this was going to be rough.

“We better stay together,” Storm spoke up as they shifted back, grabbing Dash and Squall’s attention. “Let them handle the commanders, keep the lower ranks off their backs.”

“If one of them gets in my way I’m punching them into next week,” Squall stated firmly. Storm smirked across Dash at Squall.

“Fair enough,” Storm nodded.

“Here they come!” Dash alerted them.

They took evasive maneuvers as several magic beams from both the Shadowbolts and Falcons started firing in their direction.

---

Silver scrunched his face as he watched a majority of the attacks head towards Dash, Squall, and Storm, but he, Fleetfoot, and Air Mach had drawn the big dogs away.

“Call your targets!” Silver ordered, at this point just ignoring the chain of command in favor of keeping the situation under control. He wasn’t going to trust Fleetfoot or Air Mach with giving orders anyway.

“I’ll take the guy who thinks he’s got balls!” Air Mach called out while pointing back at Devil. “I’ll show him some REAL balls!”

“You do that…” Silver shook his head as Air Mach shifted back, aiming for Devil.

“YOU AGAIN?!” Devil reacted as Silver and Fleetfoot glanced at each other. Fleetfoot looked at Silver carefully. She could see him straining himself. She looked back at Shadow and Angel. She remembered Shadow was fairly easy to handle with her predictable attacks. She didn’t know a thing about Angel and she didn’t want to put an unknown on Silver. She made up her mind quickly.

“I’ll take the pretty one!” Fleetfoot decided as she carefully veered off.

Silver didn’t actually hear what she said, he was paying closer attention to a very sharp pain that was suddenly pinching him right beneath his left wing. He blinked when he saw Fleetfoot break formation, turning to see her heading towards Angel. Silver sucked it up and looked back at Shadow, getting ready to dodge her attacks. He had to draw her focus. Her burst wave attack had a long range. She could easily hit Steady if he didn’t—

“ARGH!” Silver grunted as the pain cause his wing to twitch and seize up for a moment. He looked away from Shadow, glaring at his wing as he forced it out. A loud POP sounded from it before he regained control. He felt like a wreck. He was getting sick of playing it safe, but he didn’t have much of a choice, he would have to elude Shadow more than he fought. He had to preserve himself just in case a greater emergency arose that called for him to fight.

With his wing sorted out, he refocused on Shadow…

But the brief moment he spent handling his wing… proved to be costly.

Shadow wasn’t aiming at him. Her crystals were directed below him. His eyes widened with alarm.

“STEADY!” Silver yelled down at Steady Wing. “WATCH OU—”

Shadow fired her burst wave, concentrating it into a wide cylinder as it shot down below Silver, zipped passed Dash, Squall, and Storm, and careened towards Steady Wing.

“What?!” Steady glanced over his shoulder, only to get completely blindsided by the incoming magic burst. “ARGH!” Steady cried out in pain as the intense pulse of magic rushed over him, hitting him full force. He was blown off course and sent tumbling to the ground. He struggled and flailed as he tried to find his balance, but was fruitless in the attempt.

“Shit!” Silver yelled as the rest slowly became aware of what just happened. Silver dove down, chasing after Steady in hopes of catching him before a painful crash.

They were taking action specifically to keep them off Steady… and the first thing Silver did was let a Shadowbolt commander take an open pot shot at him. Curse his pain and battered body, it distracted him long enough for him to fail one of his old friends.

Silver picked up speed, gliding down and reaching Steady just in time, but it wasn’t a clean catch, more of a collision.

“Gah!” the two of them grunted as Silver tried to break his fall, but in the end he only softened the crash as the two struck the snow covered ground and bounced twice before sliding to a stop.

“Silver!” Dash yelled out as she broke away from the Shadowbolts and pitched down.

“Everypony down!” Fleetfoot yelled out, stopping her movements towards Angel. “Quickly!” she reinforced as she, Air Mach, Squall, and Storm all took maneuvers that allowed them to aim towards Silver and Steady.

“Rgghh…” Silver groaned as he rolled onto his stomach. His eyes opening as he heard Steady groaning as well. Silver looked up to see smoke rising from one of Steady’s wings.

“Ow… ah…” Steady hissed and gritted his teeth. It looked like his wing took most of the force from Shadow’s concentrated attack.

“Dammit… I’m sorry Steady…” Silver growled.

“I’ll… be up… ARGH!” Steady tried to roll over, but the moment the ground touched his toasted wing, he only cringed and groaned in pain.

The rest of the Wonderbolts all landed around the two of them, quickly turning and facing up into the blizzard. The wind blew loosely, the rush of snowfall swirling in the air. The visibility wasn’t the best, but they could clearly see the situation they were in.

Dash bit her lip as she looked back and forth, Storm and Squall sharing her anxiety as the enemy loomed overhead.

Angel hovered directly above them, Devil and Shadow flanking him and the five other Shadowbolts right behind. The two Falcons were circling at low altitude around them.

“Well damn…” Fleetfoot growled as she surveyed the situation. “This sure turned out well.”

“What do we do?” Dash asked her as she refused to take her eyes off the Shadowbolts.

“I…” Fleetfoot shook her head. “I don’t know. Fighting them wouldn’t be very smart, but with Steady injured and disoriented… we won’t be able to navigate, not to mention if we tried carrying him it would slow us down.”

Dash gulped. Silver was punching himself for letting Steady get hurt, and Fleetfoot had no ideas on what to do… this was not good. Just when everything seemed to be working in their favor, they hit a brick wall right before the finish.

“Hmmm…”

Everypony blinked and turned to look at Air Mach. He was looking directly up at the Shadowbolts with a serious look on his face as if deep in thought.

“HMMMMMMMMMMMM…” he hummed again while tapping one of his back hooves up and down in the snow.

“Dare I ask if you have an idea?” Fleetfoot asked as the Shadowbolts continued to loom, their crystals beginning to float and glow around them as if ready to attack and the Falcons coming about, aiming at them.

“You know what?!” Air Mach suddenly smiled and stood up on his hind legs, pointing fiercely up at the Shadowbolts. “I’ve decided I’m not gonna tolerate this anymore!”

“Uh…” Fleetfoot lifted an eyebrow as Silver finally turned his attention away from Steady Wing. Air Mach pulled his hooves down and clenched them tightly.

“I’m all about a straight up fight… and straight up fights have to be fair!” he yelled before shifting and pointing directly at the Falcon on the left. “So… I’m gonna take that one for myself!”

Everypony stared flatly at him as they glanced between Air Mach and the Falcon he had ‘chosen.’

“Excuse me. WHAT?!” Fleetfoot furrowed her brow while reaching both of her hooves out towards him in disbelief.

“You heard me!” Air Mach’s grin grew wider as a glint of light blinked off the edge of his glasses… despite there being no such light source around capable of creating the effect. “I’m taking that ship! That one right there!” he proclaimed loudly.

He even had the Shadowbolts giving him looks now, Devil and Shadow both looking towards him blankly. Angel didn’t react at all as the Falcons pulled up side by side and hovered in place.

“Air Mach…” Fleetfoot groaned. “There’s a time and place to be an idiot. This is NOT either! Please shut up and think seriously!”

“I resent that, Fleet!” he turned and aimed his ridiculous pointing gesture at her. “I AM thinking seriously!”

“APPARENTLY NOT!” Fleetfoot screamed back at him, full of frustration. “Be reasonable, you dumbass! They have shields! You’re not getting through those! It’s impossible to just punch through it!”

Air Mach turned away from her and scoffed.

“Reason?! HAH!” He pounded his chest. “I don’t have time for reason!” He glanced at Fleetfoot. “Impossible? PUH-LEASE! That word isn’t in my thesaurus!”

“Dictionary…” Silver grumbled to himself as he was one motion away from slamming his own hoof to his face.

Air Mach turned back and pointed at the Falcon again.

“Go beyond the impossible and kick reason to the curb! That’s how Animak rolls!” he yelled out as he planted his hooves and leaned back.

“AIR MACH!” Fleetfoot reached towards him, but she was too late.

“I DON’T HAVE TIME TO ARGUE! I’M GONNA PILOT THAT THING!”

Air Mach fired from his spot, aiming right for the Falcon on the right. Angel didn’t even look at him, but Devil and Shadow both turned, their crystals glowing. Shadow fired her energy wave with Devil following up with his globes. Air Mach dipped beneath the wave and flew headlong into the globes, zipping past them before he could get caught in the explosions. He twisted, navigating through a barrage of eyebeams that came from the lower ranked Shadowbolts, never once taking his eyes off the Falcon.

“TIME TO TAKE THI—” Air Mach was cut off as he bounced right off the Falcon’s shield. “OH! GONNA PLAY IT THAT WAY, HUH?!” Air Mach yelled out, the lower ranking Shadowbolts and the other Falcon all turning towards him as he went at the shield, punching it several times before he was forced to disengage, dodging fire from both Falcons and the Shadowbolts.

Shadow and Devil were about to assist, but—

“Stop,” Angel spoke up calmly, his voice low and smooth with little sign of emotion. Devil and Shadow both froze in place. “If they want to waste their time with a moron, let them… we have more important targets to worry about,” he continued. Shadow quickly turned and faced the Wonderbolts again, but Devil hesitated, growling as he glared towards Air Mach. “Devil,” Angel spoke again. “Do I have to repeat myself?”

“I…” Devil suddenly cringed before turning back to face the Wonderbolts. “No.”

“I thought not,” said Angel as he scanned over the Wonderbolts.

Fleetfoot was growling at Air Mach as she watched him flail about, trying to get into a Falcon when he literally had no visible way to do so.

“He’s such an idiot!” She pressed her hooves into the snow, opening her wings. “We gotta help him, he’s gonna get himself killed!”

“Wait!” Silver stood up from Steady and grabbed Fleetfoot’s shoulder. “I don’t disagree, but look…” he pointed at Air Mach. Despite his lack of success, his ridiculous maneuvers and attempts to break through a Falcon shield… he had the lower ranking Shadowbolts and the two Falcons focusing completely on him. “We have an opportunity here,” Silver explained. “Air Mach isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but he’s tough. I’m willing to bet he’s gonna last a while. We’ve got to take the fight to the Shadowbolts while we can.” He shifted his eyes between Devil and Shadow. “I don’t know about the pretty colt in the center, but the other two I know we can take on.”

Fleetfoot looked back towards the Shadowbolts as their crystals began to glow.

“Might as well make the most of it…” she acknowledged. “Same targets?”

“Same targets,” Silver nodded.

“Just be careful,” Fleetfoot nodded at Silver. “And don’t tell me you’ll be just fine, I can tell you’re hurting.”

“I’ll be just fine,” Silver replied in defiance, earning a snort from Fleetfoot.

“Dash,” Silver glanced back at her, Storm, and Squall. “You three handle Devil. I’m confident you three can bring him down.”

“Are you going to be alright?” Dash quickly asked.

“Don’t you start with me too,” Silver furrowed his brow at her. He blinked and looked up, Shadow and Devil were charging. “Go!”

Silver quickly pushed away, putting distance between him and where Steady lay to avoid hurting him further.

Dash, Storm, and Squall quickly did the same, drawing Devil away.

But Fleetfoot remained still, standing in front of Steady as Angel simply hovered above her. Fleetfoot kept glancing back and forth between Angel and Steady.

Something was unsettling about the way he was simply waiting. As if he wanted her to make the first move. Fleetfoot found herself conflicted. Should she attack or should she try to move Steady?

“Rgh… Fleet… Foot!” Steady suddenly spoke. Fleetfoot’s ears stood up as she glanced back at Steady. “Be… careful!” he groaned. “Angel… is… unpredictable and dangerous! If you see his crystals… activate… back off! Don’t try to deflect or take the attack!” he huffed and puffed as his wing continued to twitch.

Fleetfoot looked up at Angel, biting her lip, hesitating.

“I’ll keep that in mind…” Fleetfoot gulped. “Now stop talking, save your strength, we’re gonna need your help as soon as we can.” She tapped Steady on the shoulder.

“Well?” Angel finally spoke, not even flinching as Silver shot by in front of him. Shadow’s magic wave passing in front of his nose right after.

“Well what?” Fleetfoot asked as she stepped away from Steady and placed her hooves firmly in the snow.

“Are you going to let me kill you up here or do I have to come down there and do it?” he asked with a perfectly straight face, making Fleetfoot grimace and then glare.

“Aren’t you full of yourself…?” Fleetfoot grumbled to herself. “We’ll see how confident you are after I yank that pretty hair of yours right out of your head…” she kept saying under her breath.

Keeping Steady’s warning in mind, she pulled back and launched herself towards Angel. He made no visible reaction when she started moving, and continued to remain completely still in the air as she closed in.

At the last moment she feigned a punch and with a quick wing beat, shifted herself all the way around behind him, aiming the punch to the back of his head. Angel, without looking, simply shifted left. Her punch flew over his shoulder, but she used the momentum to flip over the top, ball up her hooves and slam them down towards his head. He just shifted again. She spun and bucked her legs back, again, just a shift.

Fleetfoot bounced up into the air and looked down at him, blinking. Angel looked up at her, lifting an eyebrow.

“Are we fighting yet or what?” Angel asked, his voice still completely calm despite the snarky comment.

Something wasn’t right, how was she missing him? She saw Starry trade a few hits with him.

She launched towards him again, throwing precise, fast punches. But again and again, Angel only shifted and shifted, dodging each punch by the thinnest margin. Fleetfoot gritted her teeth as she kept up the attack, but after hitting nothing but air for half a minute she pulled back. Angel continued to stare, emotionless.

“Am I punching at air or something?!” she yelled towards him.

“Yes,” Angel’s voice suddenly came from behind her. Her eyes widened as the Angel she was attacking flickered and disappeared. She tried turning around to defend herself but took a heavy blow to her side.

“GAH!” Fleetfoot grunted as she tumbled, but quickly threw out her wings and leveled out. She blocked as Angel rammed into her, giving her no time to mount an attack. Angel pushed her closer and closer to the ground, but at the last moment, Fleetfoot forced her body to the left, spinning away from him and pitching back up. Angel touched to the ground and slid to a stop with very graceful control, looking back up at her. “Cheap moves…” Fleetfoot growled, feeling stupid for trying to wail on an image, or a clone… whatever it was. She locked her eyes on Angel’s crystals, which were following him, but he was not using them.

He didn’t make any moves towards her, he just reached up a hoof and beckoned her to come at him. She gladly obliged, rushing down towards him and throwing a punch. Angel reached up, grabbing her hoof, but the force pushed him back through the snow. Fleetfoot kept pumping her wings as she threw her other hoof forward, forcing Angel to bring up his other hoof and block the second as well. Fleetfoot drove him backwards, his hooves skidding and digging through the snow covered ground.

“HM!” Angel suddenly grunted, releasing his back hooves from the ground for a moment before jamming them into the ground and repositioning his body.

“WHOA!” Fleetfoot found herself tipping up, her motion carrying her in that direction as Angel swung his arms upward, letting go of her as he did. Fleetfoot tumbled upward, but again quickly found her balance, turning and blocking before Angel could attack her. They locked hooves in the air, Angel still giving her a blank stare.

“Not bad…” Angel commented as the two struggled.

Fleetfoot was now very glad that she chose Angel as her target. This guy was good… really good… and he hadn’t even used his crystals yet. With Silver struggling, he wouldn’t have fared well. It was also interesting to see the skill gap again. She had handled Shadow just fine, and Devil was around the same level. But she had gotten absolutely destroyed by Ruin… and struggled against Void. Now Angel proved to also be heavily skilled.

Yet even here she was feeling more confident than she had with Ruin. Ruin wasn’t this strong… but Ruin’s movements and use of his powers were much different. Here… she felt like she had a chance.

“HUP!” Fleetfoot inhaled as she forced Angel off of her, putting a little bit of distance between them. The two backed off… but Fleetfoot feigned her backward motion, turning a backward flap into a forward one at the last second, propelling her forward. Angel’s eyes opened a tiny bit wider for a moment as Fleetfoot closed the gap instantly and started throwing rapid punches. Angel reached up and blocked the first three, but the fourth got by his guard, he tipped his head to the right, barely dodging a head-on strike, but Fleetfoot’s hoof still caught the edge of his cheek.

Fleetfoot backed off as she connected the punch, Angel’s head whipping to the side as the force of the blow pushed him back slightly.

He slowly turned his head back towards her, his face still mostly devoid of emotion except for a very small hint of a glare and frown.

“What? Did I ruin your makeup? Pretty face got a boo-boo?” Fleetfoot taunted as she sneered, feeling confident. Angel was good, but she wasn’t a lead squad Wonderbolt for nothing.

Without a word, Angel’s crystals began to glow. Fleetfoot’s eyes widened.

“Aw crap…” she winced, taking Steady Wing’s advice to heart as she immediately started backing off.

Angel’s crystals bunched around his right hoof, much like Blade’s, only instead of creating a sword, his whole right arm began to glow. He crossed his arm over his chest before roughly swiping it outward.

“AH!” Fleetfoot yelped as a thin, wide blade of pink magic erupted from his arm, careening towards her so fast that it was already halfway towards her in the blink of an eye. Fleetfoot pushed herself back and leaned backwards, the flat magic blade zipping over her. A few stray strands of her mane got caught in the attack, slicing them clean off. Fleetfoot dropped down and leveled out while staring wide eyed at Angel, the small end strands of her mane floating down past her. “Oh man… that’s… not cool,” Fleetfoot cringed as she saw Angel’s magic building again. He swiped his arm multiple times, sending several thin blades of magic shooting towards her.

“Crap, crap, crap, CRAP!” she yelled as she turned and pumped her wings, moving as fast as she could to avoid the incoming deadly magic attacks.

---

“Keep moving! Keep moving!” Storm Front yelled as he flew along, flanked by Dash and Squall. Devil’s globes were exploding behind them, the three feeling the blasts but escaping injury.

“You can’t run forever!” Devil yelled as he followed behind them, his crystals glowing endlessly as they created more and more globes that edged towards the three Wonderbolts.

Dash glanced up as she followed with Storm. Without goggles, she was forced to squint against the icy winds and whirling, light snowfall, but there was still enough visibility for her. They were gliding at the lowest altitude, giving her a full view of the other three conflicts going on. Fleetfoot was currently running from Angel, Silver was simply avoiding Shadow… and grimacing a lot. And Air Mach was…well, still flailing about like a yeti after eating a bowl of lightning while stroking an intense urge to disrespect its surroundings. But as Silver said, Air Mach was keeping the Falcons and the lower Shadowbolts completely occupied. Any attempt by them to subdue him was met with ridiculous posing, monologuing, and harder flailing. It wasn’t pretty, but it was working.

“WHOA! SPLIT UP!” Storm suddenly yelled, bringing Dash back down to earth as she broke away from Storm and Squall.

“You don’t have to order us around!” Squall snapped as he and Storm flew side by side, shifting back right to avoid more globes.

“I apologize for watching out for you!” Storm fired back while giving him a flat look.

“I don’t need—” Squall was cut off as Storm reached out and shoved Squall, the two pushed apart, narrowly avoiding a globe that had risen up right in front of them. They both twisted away from the explosion, meeting up again as they arced around. Dash dropped down right between them and reached her hooves out towards both of them.

“Not the time, guys!” she berated them both. “Focus! We need to turn the hurt on this guy so we can help Fleet and Silver!”

Squall and Storm forced themselves to focus on Dash, both nodding in agreement.

“Ideas?” Storm asked as they kept flying in wide circles. Dash looked behind them at Devil.

“The way this guy just kept launching these things randomly, I get the feeling he has tunnel vision! If one of us can distract him, the other two can flank him! Maybe we can take him out with one heavy hit!” she suggested.

“Fine by me!” Squall answered before Storm could. “Who’s gonna be the bait?”

“You, because you asked!” Dash quickly decided, earning a flat look from Squall. Dash shook her head. “Just get his attention so Storm and I can loop around and double deck him!”

“GO!” Storm pointed. Squall didn’t hesitate. He wanted to get a few licks in anyway.

Squall broke off from Storm and Dash, doing a hard U-turn and aiming straight for Devil as Dash and Storm pitched up and took a wider arc around in opposite directions. Squall glared towards Devil, pumping his wings and picking up speed as Devil’s globes started popping up on the ground all around him.

“Finally!” Devil sneered as he locked onto Squall, pushing his glowing hooves inward. “Come on! Give me your best!” he taunted, sounding very overconfident.

Squall pitched and turned, twisted and tumbled as the globes kept popping up from the ground and exploding. He felt the shock of each one, but forged forward, determined to close in and give the smiling yellow bastard a hoof through the face.

Unfortunately, his chances grew slimmer as he drew closer. Squall gritted his teeth pushing himself as hard as he could to stay focused and react, but moved his hooves closer together slowly, the collection of globes popping up from the ground growing more and more dense.

“DAMN!” Squall yelled as he was forced to pull up and curl up to shield himself as several of the explosions caught him. “AUGH!” he grunted as he was thrown backward, growling to himself as he heard Devil laughing triumphantly. Squall peeked out from between his arms, staring towards Devil as he failed to notice Dash and Storm careening towards him outside of his view.

“I’LL HIT HIM HIGH! HIT HIM LOW, STORM!” Dash yelled. Devil’s eyes widened, realizing all too late that he was being attacked. Storm and Dash throttled Devil from opposite sides, tackling him both low and high while grabbing onto him.

“GRAAAHH!!!!” Devil cried out in pain as his body was painfully forced in two different directions, the motion quickly forcing him out of his hover. Dash and Storm both let go, flinging in opposite directions as their momentums drastically shifted. “RRRGHHH!!!!” Devil grunted, his wings flapping wildly as he tried to prevent himself from crashing. He barely managed to even himself out right before his hooves struck the snow covered ground, landing roughly with his body still awkwardly bent. He continued to grunt and gasp as several loud CRICKS came from his back, several nerves pinched by the awkward, painful division of directional force the simultaneous hit had caused. “YOU! AUGH!” His legs shuddered as the pain coursed through him, “I’ll… AH!” he continued to struggle, his head looking up sharply… and seeing Squall standing right in front of him.

“Shut up,” Squall talked down to Devil’s as he took his stance. “HOOOOORYAAAA!” he shouted his battle cry as he unloaded two hard, rapid blows into Devil’s face, the first smashing his nose, the second striking his forehead. Devil’s head whipped backwards as the blow pushed him right off his hooves.

Squall felt very content, feeling the need to give a Shadowbolt what for after what Blade had done to his face. It almost felt too good.

But he quickly realized he should have probably kept pressing his attack. Devil bounced right up, a pink aura glowing around him as he snarled at Squall, his eyes alight with anger behind his goggles.

“I WILL NOT…!” his aura flared up and his crystals brightened. “BE DISRESPECTED BY LOW RANKING INSECTS!”

“Squall, MOVE!” Dash yelled as she and Storm backed off. Squall’s eyes widened and he kicked off the snow as the ground between him and Devil lit up. Several globes bounced up from the concentrated line of light, causing a wave of explosions that careened towards him. Squall found himself on the run, pushing his wings to the limit to avoid being caught in the blasts closing in behind.

Storm Front broke away from Dash, seeing an opportunity to strike while Devil’s focus was on Squall. He hoped to catch Devil not looking again, but as he closed in, Devil’s head turned sharply over his shoulder and glared up at Storm, the intense, pink glow seeping from behind his goggles.

“Whoa!” Storm yelped, pulling up as a second wave of exploding globes began moving towards him as well. He pitched hard to the right, steering away and trying his best not to overlap flight paths with Squall.

“YOU ARE ALL NOTHING!” Devil roared out, the glow around him growing even larger as his crystals shined brighter and brighter.

“What the?!” Dash perked up as globes started appearing behind her as well even though she hadn’t attacked him.

“ARGH! AHHH!” Devil began to grunt and cough, a trail of saliva dripping down the corner of his mouth. It sounded like he was in pain.

“DEVIL!” Shadow’s voice suddenly came from nearby. Dash looked up to see Shadow stop midflight. “STOP! DON’T PUSH THE CRYSTALS TOO HARD!” she yelled with a very frantic tone in her voice.

“I WILL NOT BE DISGRACED!” Devil shouted as his aura began to grow.

“NO! YOU’LL—” Shadow was cut off and forced to throw up a shield as Silver rushed at her and threw a heavy punch. She, along with her shield were sent flying backwards. Silver grunted, his body visibly shivering before he followed after her.

---

“Hmph…” Angel suddenly stopped mid-charge towards Fleetfoot. Fleetfoot blinked, putting her guard down briefly as she watched him curiously. Angel slowly looked towards Devil shaking his head slowly. “What a fool… Give a weakling power and he’s quick to abuse it through pure emotion alone.”

Fleetfoot looked towards Devil, watching as the pink magic swirled and flared around him like an inferno with his crystals glowing incredibly bright. Apparently overusing the crystals was a bad thing… as if that wasn’t already clear by what happened to Nightshade a while back. However, she found it interesting that Angel didn’t seem to care.

“You don’t look too worried about your friend blowing himself up…” she spoke, feeling unusually calm in Angel’s presence. It was probably on the fact that he wasn't Ruin alone.

“Why should I be?” Angel said so easily. “Devil is an entitled whiner. He’s always barked much harder than he bites. If he kills himself, more crystals for the ones who actually deserve of them.”

Fleetfoot furrowed her brow. It was disturbing how… straight faced Angel remained as he spoke so cruelly.

“You don’t even care that he’s one of your own? Not even the slightest bit?” Fleetfoot pressed, remaining alert in case Angel charged again.

“There is no need to feel anything, especially for those who pale in comparison,” he said smoothly. “There are few among the Shadowbolts who deserve my respect… the rest of them mean absolutely nothing to me.”

Fleetfoot’s ears folded backwards as she gritted her teeth in disgust.

“That’s… sad,” she said, shaking her head. “I could never live like that.”

“Then you are weak,” Angel’s arm began to glow again. “And you will die.”

“Shit…” Fleetfoot cursed as she quickly pumped her wings, pushing herself down before Angel even began his motions. She didn’t look back, she knew the flying blades were coming. Like Shadow, Angel’s attacks only moved in a straight line, but unlike Shadow’s burst wave of magic… Angel’s blades were lightning fast, traveling from his arm to his intended target in less than a second.

She kept moving, flying faster and faster without moving too far from the immediate area, but her focus on staying ahead of the attacks kept her from seeing she was playing right into Angel’s hooves… literally.

“GAH!” Fleetfoot gasped as she slammed right into Angel unintentionally. He grunted, but caught her, spun her around, and put her in a choke-hold with one arm, using the other to hold her arms flat to her body. Her wings swung and flailed, but they had no effect towards breaking her free.

“Flying around aimlessly, picking fights you can’t win, you may be good, but in the end the Wonderbolts are nothing more than amateurs who call themselves soldiers,” Angel spoke smoothly as Fleetfoot continued to fight his grip. “It’s easy to simply train and call yourself a soldier, but a soldier is not a warrior by default… Warrior is a title you earn.”

Fleetfoot growled as she opened her eyes and looked out towards the rest of the action. She didn’t see much because the absurd scuffle between Air Mach, the low ranking Shadowbolts, and the two Falcons took up the full length of her vision.

She watched as Air Mach continued to pull off and try the most absurd and ridiculous maneuvers, continuously fall on his face, and blunder again and again… only to keep getting right back up. His cape had been ripped free of his suit and his specialty goggles were smashed from a blow to the face, but he held strong. In fact, he pulled a pair of his signature sunglasses out of… somewhere and put them on to replace his goggles in the midst of fighting, claiming he was unstoppable… and so far he was proving it.

Yet, here she was, taking hits from an uptight pretty boy that loved to hear himself talk… She scrunched her nose and squinted as his long mane strands started brushing in front of her face from the wind.

Screw it… if Air Mach could use unorthodox tactics… then she could too!

“Struggling is pointless, accept your…” Angel paused and blinked as Fleetfoot started growling and reaching her neck out. “What are you doing?” he asked, his tone still never changing.

“RRRRRNNNNAAAAAH!” Fleetfoot gave one hard effort… and bit down on his mane. Angel’s eyes widened as Fleetfoot managed to catch a large portion of it and thrust her head downward, causing a hard, painful yank on his head.

“Ah!” Angel yelped, his arms releasing Fleetfoot in reaction to the sudden lurch that nearly pulled him down. As Fleetfoot got free, she reached around, grabbed the end of his mane in her hooves and sneered at him.

“Nice mane!” Fleetfoot yanked on his mane, pulling him towards her before she let it extend and started spinning him… by the mane. “But it’s not—” she swung him faster and faster as he continued to grunt painfully— “As hot as mine!” she yelled as aimed him at the ground and let go.

Angel plummeted to the ground, a rough collision looking all too likely, but at the last moment, he spun around and threw out his wings, causing a loud FWOOMP as a burst of air smacked against the ground and blew the snow below him apart and up into the air. He looked up at Fleet, his face changing ever so little into the slightly angered, slightly glaring expression he wore after she landed her punch before. Both of his arms lit up with pink magic the moment he locked his eyes on her.

Fleetfoot yelped and backed away as Angel fired several smaller blades towards her. He threw them in a cone-like pattern, preventing her from making any attempts to start moving and use her speed again. She was forced to duck and dodge desperately, not willing to allow any of the razor sharp projectiles to hit her.

Angel crossed his arms and swung them both at the same time causing a larger blade with four points, shaped like an X to fly towards her. Her eyes widened, not expecting it after every one before it had been flat. She was forced to break focus and duck backwards while spinning away…

But the end point of one of the blades, caught her forearm. It dug into her suit, and lightly into her skin ss it whipped by.

“AHHHH! AHHH!!!!!” Fleetfoot cried out as she tumbled towards the ground. She evened out and slammed to the ground, quickly reaching her other hoof over to her arm, breath hissing through her teeth as she winced and shut her eyes tight. She shuddered at the intense stinging sensation, slowly forcing her eyes open as she looked down at her arm. Her suit along her forearm had been cut cleanly as if sliced by fine, sharpened blade. Her fur and skin had been lightly slit open as if it was the worst paper cut she had ever felt. Blood began to seep from the wound seconds after she looked at it. She quickly closed her eyes again, grabbing her torn suit and pulling the loose fabric over the wound to stop the bleeding and shield it from the cold. “Hnnnnggg…” she groaned as her nerves around the area felt like they were on fire.

What a deadly attack. If getting nicked by the very edge of the flying blades hurt this much and cut so finely… If she were to take a hit head on…

Fleetfoot suddenly realized just how dangerous Angel was. If not for her agility, she could easily be in pieces right now. This was a different kind of fear than with Ruin. Ruin, she just felt helpless, Angel? This guy would kill her in an instant if she didn’t stay on her game!

But as she held her arm and looked towards Angel, he wasn’t looking at her. He was staring into the distance, into the thick of the blizzard where visibility eventually disappeared. His ears were moving back and forth and he was tipping his head as if he was listening for something.

Fleetfoot didn’t bother to wonder what had him distracted, all she knew was just that. He was distracted. She needed to address her wound, so she grabbed the ripped portion of her sleeve and tore it off, wrapping it around the nasty cut.

---

“I’ll turn you all to dust! You will not best me!” Devil yelled, his voice echoing as the magic around him flared brighter and more intensely than any other time the Wonderbolts had seen it. It was as if he was pushing himself and his crystals incredibly hard, and based on Shadow’s brief moment of worry… it was something that could end poorly for him. But whether or not he hurt himself didn’t mean a thing… if Dash, Storm, and Squall couldn’t get away from his intensified attacks.

The three flew in wide circles around Devil, trying their best to outrun the trails of exploding globes that followed behind them. No matter what they did, they couldn’t shake them. Dash made several attempts to move towards Devil, but each time she tried, Devil would repel her with a combination of magical shockwaves and more globes popping up to block her path.

“We have to do something!” Storm yelled as he flew by Dash. “We can’t keep this up forever! AGH!” Storm cried out as a globe rose up in front of him and exploded. He managed to veer away, but caught a good portion of it. “DAMN!” he cursed as he dipped down and double tapped his hooves against the snow, executing his signature Surface Tap to propel himself upward and create more distance. Dash only briefly glanced up at Storm before quickly looking down and pitching hard to the left. She and Squall nearly ran directly into each other as they both turned and formed up side by side.

The two glanced at each other before both looking towards Devil. Dash, desperate to try anything, spoke up.

“Squall, if I give you a boost, do you think you can punch him really hard?!” she asked, Squall glancing at her.

“The first felt really good, so sure, why not?” he replied quickly as the two turned and angled towards Devil.

“Alright! Let’s do it!” Dash yelled, shifting herself behind Squall carefully, doing her best not to run into him or get caught in the multiple explosions following behind them. “Ready?!”

“Ready!” Squall yelled back to her. Dash focused on Squall’s back hooves as he extended them towards her. Dash put up her hooves similar to Squall’s martial arts stance. She decided to do a little combination work, readying the strike while also planning her strike to work like Storm Front’s Surface Tap.

“HRAH!” Dash yelled out as she struck her hooves against Squall’s rapidly striking them like Storm’s movements. The impact propelled Squall forward… much faster than he was expecting, but he locked his eyes on Devil. Devil tried to generate globes to block Squall, but they didn’t explode fast enough, Squall zipping by them as he readied his hooves. Squall shot through every attempt to stop him and gritted his teeth as he readied to give Devil another piece of his mind.

But right before Squall threw the punch, Devil roared, his crystals emitting strong pulses that smashed against Squall.

“GHRG!” Squall grunted as his forward motion was completely stopped.

“YOU ARE NOTHING!” Devil yelled out, another large shockwave bursting from around his body. Squall shielded himself as the wave floored him, sending him flying backwards before hitting the snow and tumbling to a stop.

“Damn!” Squall grunted as he tried to push himself up, but the shock from the hit had him disoriented. Dash gasped as she saw Devil focus on Squall, the globes following both her and Storm ceasing. Squall was defenseless!

“DIE!” Devil yelled out as his aura and crystals flared, sending the full power of his previously spread out attacks towards Squall. A bright line of pink light extended along the ground towards Squall. Globes began rising up from the light, but instead of exploding, they started combining together, growing into a large, single globe as is shot towards Squall. It was densely packed with energy, pulsating and flashing brightly.

“SQUALL!”

“DAMN!”

Storm and Dash both turned and fired towards Squall in hopes of moving him, but there was no way they’d make it in time… and Squall was still struggling to get up. The massive pink globe moved closer and closer and closer, less than five yards away when it began to flicker and…

Squall’s eyes grew wide as the force from the explosion slammed against him… followed by a little body being thrown into his chest. He was thrown backwards, flying several yards away.

Little Star had come in out of nowhere… and taken the hit.

Dash and Storm both gasped, confused and alarmed at the sudden appearance of Little Star. Their questions about what she was doing there quickly set aside by the horror of her using herself as a living shield to save Squall.

Squall crashed into the snow, shutting his eyes and grunting as he roughly hit the ground, but the moment he slid to a stop, he opened his eyes and nearly all the breath escaped his lungs.

“STAR!!!!” he cried out as he sat upright and grabbed her. She lay limply in his arms, a whole side of her suit blown away by the blast, including a shattered lens of her goggles. “STAR! STAAAAAARRR!!!!” Squall frantically yelled, but got no response.

Dash and Storm quickly landed nearby, but instead of checking on Star they turned to face Devil… who looked like he was ready to aim another volley of globes.

They glanced at each other, gritting their teeth as they looked back and forth between Squall and Devil. What could they do here?

“Incoming!” Storm yelled as he pointed at Devil. Devil had already sent another set of globes towards them, popping them up from the ground in a line, exploding. Dash and Storm got ready to take the attack head-on to shield the two behind them… but then something very large slammed down in front of them.

“HRM!” Matteo grunted as he reached up and crossed his arms in front of him while digging his back paws into the snow. The spheres reached them and exploded, Matteo holding himself firm, taking the smaller attacks without flinching.

“MATTY!” Dash yelled out, her face lighting up as Matteo shielded them all effectively. As Devil’s attack ceased, Matteo looked over his shoulder and simply gave a nod. Dash decided to save any questions for later. Both he and Little Star had disobeyed orders, but it proved to be a boon in this moment where things had gone awfully awry. Matteo narrowed his eyes when he saw Squall holding Little Star.

“Let’s not put Star’s sacrifice to waste…” he said calmly as he cracked his talons. Dash looked over her shoulder, gritting her teeth at the sight of Star, Squall holding her and staring at her while… shaking? Dash wasn’t about to tell Squall to drop her and help, so instead she stepped up beside Matteo with Storm.

“I’ll fly in front,” Matteo suggested. “You two follow behind and break off to strike once close enough!”

“You got it!” Storm acknowledged as Dash also nodded in response.

Matteo leapt up and pumped his large wings, sending him towards Devil. Devil growled, pounding his hooves to the ground as he called upon the same attack, multiple smaller globes popping up in Matteo’s path. Instead of just letting them hit, Matteo reached up his talons and did his best to deflect as many as he could in his path. He still hadn’t picked up the magic deflection techniques that well, but he had figured it out enough to divert some of the damage and explosions, giving Dash and Storm a smooth flight behind him.

“HRGH!” Matteo grunted as he kept pushing forward, more spheres hitting him than he was deflecting, but it was nothing. He kept pushing and pushing forward. Devil noticed this and began intensifying the attack, focusing everything on Matteo. As Matteo began to slow, he glanced back at Storm and Dash. “NOW!”

“Go!” Dash yelled at Storm as the two split up and shot outward, arcing around and shooting towards Devil at opposite angles. They didn’t have time to flank him this time, but they charged headlong at him with the intent to knock him out completely. Matteo was blown backwards as he took on the rapid attacks, but he had succeeded.

“AH!” Devil perked up as Dash and Storm pulled back their hooves. At the last second, he threw up a shield. Dash and Storm drove their hooves into the shield. It hurt, the shield’s surface solid, but the two didn’t pull back, they pushed, trying to penetrate the shield… hoping it was possible. “BACK OFF!” Devil yelled, his crystals flaring and emitting powerful shockwaves that forced the two of them away from him.

“Dammit!” Dash yelled as she and Storm eventually evened out and came to a halt near where Matteo stood. “These stupid crystals are so unfair!” she complained while growling.

“How are we supposed to get through?” Storm shook his head. “Since he went wild, it’s just one obstacle after another!”

The three all contemplated how else they could penetrate the crystal defenses that Devil continuously bolstered. They had to think fast, because he was slowly approaching them. Though his power output was clearly taking its toll. His breathing was harsh, his steps were heavy, and his face kept wincing and scrunching in pain. All of those things sharply contrasted with the intense bursts of energy coming from the crystals and around his body, his eyes glowing incredibly bright. Perhaps Shadow’s worry was part of what they were looking at. His power seemed to increase exponentially, but at what cost?

“Rgggghhh…” a growl came from behind them. They all looked over their shoulder at Squall.

He was still shaking, he was still holding Little Star, and his mane was blocking his eyes as his head remained tipped down towards her. His mouth slowly opened, revealing his teeth grinding so hard together than they could almost hear them from where they stood. Squall sharply looked up towards Devil, his eyes filled with pure rage. He slowly lowered Star down and gently placed her on the ground in the snow before standing up and planting his hooves, focusing all of his anger towards Devil.

“RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!” Squall whipped his head back, yelling up into the sky before he looked back down and fired from his spot, shooting right past Dash, Storm, and Matteo.

“SQUALL! WAIT!” Dash readied to follow after him, but Matteo grabbed her by the shoulder. Dash glared up at him, but Matteo shook his head before making a quick head motion back towards Star.

“YOU CAN’T BEAT ME!” Devil yelled as Squall approached, his aura intensifying and the globes popping up from the ground. Squall ignored him, flying headlong into the incoming attacks. Squall twisted and shifted while swinging his hooves out wildly. He didn’t care if he managed to deflect a globe or if his attack made it explode right in his face, he kept moving forward.

“HRRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!” Squall kept growling as the explosions ripped and tore at his Shadowbolt suit, his goggles blowing to pieces and flying from his head as his mask shredded and exposed his face and scar.

“DAMMIT!” Devil yelled, throwing up his personal shield as Squall pierced through his attacks and shifted into his stance.

“HOOORRRYAA!” Squall yelled out, rapidly striking the shield. Devil shifted backwards from the attack, but the shield held. “HOOOORRYYAAA! RAH! RAAAAAH!!!!” Squall yelled out over and over as he continued delivering attack after attack, pounding punches and kicks into the shield non-stop.

“Give it up!” Devil yelled, snarling through his aura and shield. “You can’t get through!” He flinched as Squall snarled right back, headbutting the shield twice. He paused after the second, his glare fierce and a trickle of blood coming from his forehead, sliding past the scar and onto his nose alongside tears that were lightly dripping from his eyes. Squall roared out retaking his stance.

“RAAHH! RAAAAHHH!!!!!! HRRRAAAAAAHHH!!!!!” Squall threw more attacks, punches, kicks, everything he could. He unloaded every bit of strength he had into Devil’s shield. Every punch made loud, screeching CRACKLE as sparks of magic bounced from the shield.

“AH!” Devil yelped as he was forced down, his legs shaking as the shield began to pulse and buckle. Squall didn’t let up, he kept hitting the shield over and over and over again, his joints in his hooves began making harsh cracking noises, a few stains of blood made their way onto his fetlocks. “NO!” Devil yelled out as the shield began flickering and bending as Squall stuck it. His crystals began to flash, small waves of energy rushing out of them as they blinked.

Squall jumped up and pulled back his right hoof, gritting his teeth and crunching his face into the fiercest glare he could muster. Devil’s eyes widened as he looked up at Squall above him.

“HHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!” Squall roared out as he pushed his wings back and punched downward.

His hoof struck the shield, shattering the top portion of it. His hoof went right through and crashed directly into Devil’s face with so much force that the blow snapped his goggles right off his face, the lenses breaking into small shards. Squall pushed Devil’s head right down, smashing it against the ground, Squall’s hoof against it the whole way until it was buried against the snow.

Devil’s aura faded, his crystals ceased glowing and fell into the snow beside him.

Squall stumbled backwards, falling down onto his plot a few yards away, panting and wheezing as he leaned forward. His hooves stung like mad, his eyes fixed on the ground between them as a gentle drip of tears and blood stained the snow below. Squall shook his head, a slight whimper coming from the back of his throat.

“D—dammit…” he sniffled. “Damn it all…”

“Hgn…” a tiny grunt from behind him made his ears stand up. He looked up and spun around as quickly as his pain allowed him.

His eyes landed on Little Star, resting in Dash’s arms. She was twitching, stirring painfully…

But… she was alive.

Squall ignored all of the pain in his front hooves, galloping back over.

“Star!” he yelled as he approached, skidding to a halt and looking her over. Star’s eyes slowly opened, but remained squinted as she glanced up at Dash, then turned and looked at Squall. Every little bit she moved made her cringe, the half of her body exposed by her blown apart suit looking painfully bruised, but thankfully only a little cooked. She breathed steadily, but slowly.

“Oh…” her lips curled into a weak smile. “Good… I made it in time,” she said as she saw Squall looking her over with worry. She cringed and turned back, shutting her eyes as she quivered in Dash’s arms before passing out.

Squall released an incredibly long sigh of relief as he fell flat on his stomach, his chin resting in the snow.

Dash smiled at the two of them, thankful that despite all the punishment they had taken, they were both very much alive.

“That was something,” Storm commented as they found a moment of respite. Matteo nodded.

“Indeed,” he added. “And admirable.”

“Rgghhh… gaaahhh…. AHHH…” Devil’s groans caught their attention, Dash, Matteo, and Storm all turned and looked towards the fallen Shadowbolt. His crystals were flickering… and shaking.

“DEVIL!” Shadow suddenly yelled from above, landing beside him and looking him over frantically. “NO! YOU IDIOT!” she yelled as she backed away.

“AAHHH!!!” Devil cried out.

Shadow watched in horror as Devil’s crystals… one by one… began to crack, and eventually shatter.

Dash gasped, staring wide eyed towards Devil as she remembered all too well what happened to Witch and Trance.

“GAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!” Devil cried out into the air as his body, from the hooves up, slowly began to crackle and solidify, his entire body engulfed into a crystal formation. Shadow backed away, her mouth hung ajar as a looming silence grew over the immediate area. Shadow looked away as the crystal form of Devil began to crack… and then shattered, disintegrating into bits of pink dust that caught the wind and blew away.

Shadow slammed her eyes shut and bared her teeth, a growl growing louder from her throat as she looked up at the Dash and the rest.

“YOU!” she roared. “I’LL KILL YOU AL—”

“No.”

Dash’s eyes widened as Angel suddenly landed next to Shadow and grabbed her by the shoulder.

Silver and Fleetfoot both glided over and hovered nearby, wondering what their opponents were doing.

“LET GO OF ME, ANGEL!” Shadow snapped at him. “THEY KILLED DEVIL!”

“Devil killed himself,” Angel said calmly. “And he deserved it for being a fool.”

Shadow intensified her glare at Angel, but she remained silent as if she knew saying anything… or trying anything in defiance would be pointless.

“We’re leaving,” Angel suddenly said, Shadow’s eyes widening.

“WHAT?!” she stared at him in disbelief. “WHY?!”

“I said, we’re leaving. Question me, and you’ll end up just like Devil,” he repeated while adding a threat. Shadow flinched, leaning away from him slightly before looking down and shuddering. She suddenly looked over Angel’s shoulder.

“What about—”

“Leave them,” Angel cut her off. “I’m not going to waste my time corralling them.”

“But—”

“NOW,” Angel’s voice became slightly stern if only for a moment, causing Shadow to flinch.

“Dammit…” she forced herself to turn away and take off as Angel looked up at Fleetfoot and Silver for a moment. She turned and followed behind, the two of them eventually disappearing into the blizzard.

“Hey!” Fleetfoot was about to follow, but Silver shifted in front of her.

“Hold up there,” he shook his head. “Save it for another day, I don’t know why they left, but I’m not about to waste the free fly out of here,” he said while glancing down at Dash and the others. “Let’s go make sure everypony is alright, gather up Steady Wing and get back home.”

Fleetfoot sighed and nodded.

“Yeah… that sounds good,” she agreed as the two turned and glided down towards Foxtrot and Storm.

As they approached, Silver narrowed his eyes at Matteo and Little Star.

“What exactly are you doing here?” Silver asked Matteo as he and Fleetfoot landed. Matteo hung his head.

“I apologize for disobeying orders,” he quickly gave in.

“Hey, Matty, shut it,” Dash quickly took over, drawing both their attention as she held onto Star. Silver lifted an eyebrow as he glanced at her. “If Matty and Star didn’t show up, we’d probably be dead, or getting killed right now,” Dash explained. “So I’m willing to bet it was a good idea, even if they did go against orders.”

Silver huffed, but then smiled.

“I suppose we can let it slide,” he said as Fleetfoot approached, taking a moment to examine Squall sprawled out in the snow before looking towards Star.

“She okay?” Fleetfoot asked. Dash nodded.

“She took a hard hit for Squall, but she’s fine. Might want to get her back soon though, she could use some medical attention,” Dash said while looking Star over as well.

“Well then,” Silver spoke up as he looked between all of them. “We should get move—”

He paused and blinked, his expression going blank. Fleetfoot and the rest all looked towards him.

“What?” Fleet asked while tipping her head.

“I’m feeling like we’re forgetting something…” Silver said as he continued to blink.

They all flinched as a loud explosion came from close by, followed by lots of yelling, hooting, and hollering.

They all looked at each other with wide eyes.

“AIR MACH!”

---

“OOF!” Air Mach grunted as he hit the snow hard and tumbled to a stop. He popped right back up, his body and suit covered in sweat as he panted. He smiled wide and pounded his chest. “Is that all ya got, wimps!?” He pointed towards the five Shadowbolts and the two Falcons that were all aimed and flying right at him. “I’m not even breaking a sweat!” he proclaimed, striking a pose as sweat whipped around off his body. “Whoop!” he launched upward, avoiding cannonfire from the Falcons as it peppered the ground towards him.

He blew raspberries at the Falcons as he ascended, but then inadvertently flew directly into the middle of the five Shadowbolts who surrounded him.

“Oh? Five against one? Again? Alright! Gimme your best!” he beckoned them as their crystals began to glow, but none of them got a chance to use them. Dash, Storm, Fleetfoot, Silver, and Matteo all shot down from above, clashing with one Shadowbolt each. Dash and Storm’s targets both turned and grappled with them, but Matteo, Fleetfoot and Silver all caught their targets off-guard, pushing them all the way to the ground roughly and knocking them out with the the initial strong blow and crash.

“Hey! Dumbass!” Fleetfoot growled towards Air Mach as he turned and faced the Falcons, the two ships coming about. “Good job staying alive, but come on! We have an escape window!” she yelled as Matteo and Silver broke off to assist Dash and Silver.

“Yo!” Air Mach glanced over his shoulder at Fleetfoot. “What’s all this about running away?! I still gotta take one of these things for myself!”

“Forget it!” Fleetfoot yelled as she flew up and grabbed his arm. “Face it, Air Mach! There’s no way to get through those shields!” she tried to reason with him, but he yanked his arm free.

“Sorry! Too busy kicking reason to the curb!” he tipped his glasses up and winked before shooting towards the Falcons, gliding low along the ground. The ships tipped and their cannons fired, shooting rapid bursts of powerful pink magic to the ground. Air Mach laughed as he pitched left and right, weaving past the incoming blasts as they struck the ground and kicked up snow all around him.

Fleetfoot backed off as the blasts zipped by her, shaking her head while tugging on her mane.

“My god, he’s going to kill himself and Spitfire is gonna blame it on me!” Fleetfoot grumbled loudly.

“Actually,” Dash flew up, breaking away from Matteo as he grabbed hold of their Shadowbolt and drove him to the ground. “The shields aren’t completely impenetrable!” she pointed back towards where Squall was waiting with Star and Steady Wing. “Squall was able to punch through Devil’s shield after hitting it repeatedly as hard as he could! He almost broke his hooves, but he did get through it!”

Fleetfoot’s eyes widened as she listened, Silver and Storm floating up as well, having taken care of their Shadowbolt.

“She’s right, it’s possible,” Silver nodded. “When these things chased us before, Bomber, Val, and I dropped an avalanche on them. The constant pressure eventually broke through their shields.”

They were all forced to back away and shield themselves as Air Mach shot by, blasts from the Falcons chasing him thundering to the ground and blasting snow in their faces. They all broke apart, spreading out in different directions. Silver and Fleetfoot remained together as Storm and Dash broke away to join up with Matteo.

“But can we do enough?! These things are huge! Devil was just a single pony… plus you used an avalanche!” she couldn’t stop doubting the possibility.

“HA! GOT YOU!” Air Mach’s voice caught their attention. They looked over to see he had landed on the shield of one of the Falcons and struggled to remain stationary as the pilot began making sharp maneuvers to try and shake him off. The other Falcon followed right behind as if trying to line up a shot to knock him off.

Air Mach ducked as the following Falcon fired, sliding down the front of the shield and latching to it as he looked into the cockpit. A Shadowbolt stallion in the pilot seat glared back at him, yanking on the arm levers as he tried to toss Air Mach aside. Air Mach held firm sneering into the cockpit.

“HEY! YOU!” he yelled, not even sure if they could hear him from inside or not. “AND YOU! AND YOU! YOU TOO!” he pointed at the other three Shadowbolts inside who were not looking at him. “It’s time to fork this thing over! If you don’t I’m gonna come in and take it myself!” he proclaimed before clambering back up on top of the shield. “OH YEAH! TIME TO BREAK IN!” he yelled as he began punching the shield over and over again, having little effect.

“AIR MACH!” Fleetfoot yelled in his direction while swinging her arms about. “Give it up already—” She stopped abruptly, her eyes widening as Silver suddenly took off, flying towards the Falcon.

He landed right beside Air Mach and started striking the shield as well. Air Mach looked up and smiled.

“Yea-ha! Give it everything!” he encouraged while pointing at him dramatically. Silver turned and glared at him.

“Shut up, quit posing, and start punching!” Silver ordered.

“Yes sir!” Air Mach agreed as he went back to it. Their hooves kept bouncing off the shield, but they didn’t let up, even as the Falcon kept swaying and lurching. The other Falcon was moving right behind it, but the pilot seemed hesitant to fire in fear of hitting his fellow Falcon instead of the Wonderbolts.

“SILVER, HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!” Fleetfoot gawked towards them. She flinched as Dash, Matteo, and Storm all shot past her, all shooting towards the Falcon, most likely to join them.

Fleetfoot stared blankly as the three landed beside Air Mach and Silver, joining the two of them in striking the shield. The Falcon started taking hard turns, pitching and swaying hard, but the five held on tight, determined to break through.

“Dammit…” Fleetfoot sighed before smirking. “You know…” she pumped her wings and started flying towards them. “Sometimes that idiot just gets on my nerves…” she focused and shot towards the Falcon, shooting past it and aiming for the other Falcon following behind. The pilot clearly reacted, pulling up and aiming the cannons towards Fleetfoot. “That’s right! Over here!” she yelled as she pitched and flew over it, bracing herself against the wind from its propellers as the Falcon turned about and began firing. The blasts were large, but easy to predict.

She looped around and pitched downward, forcing the pilot to keep following her movements until she flew right beneath it. The cannon fire hit the ground very close to the Falcon itself. The kicked up snow crashed against the shield, semi-blinding the pilot for a moment and forcing him to turn about.

With the other Falcon distracted for a moment, Fleetfoot shot towards her fellow Wonderbolts, who were bashing their hooves and talons endlessly against the shield. The shield was flickering, but holding in place.

“Room for one more?!” Fleetfoot called out as she avoided the propellers and slammed to the shield beside Air Mach.

“Now we’re talkin! GIVE IT ALL YOU’VE GOT!” Air Mach yelled out. With all six of them hitting the shield over and over again, the Falcon actually began to buckle in its flight path, the shield flickering harder. “YEAH! KEEP IT UP!” Air Mach yelled.

The six of them all roared out in a synchronized battle cry as they hit the shield again and again and again and again…

Then the shield started to bend.

“GO! GO! GO!” Silver yelled out in encouragement as they kept striking it. “We’re almost got it!” he yelled. They kept hitting it as Matteo suddenly leapt up off the shield and forced his large wings down hard. His Air Burst technique propelled him upward with a BANG before he turned back down and used it again. He shot down towards the shield with both of his talons balled up and pulled back. Silver and Dash looked up, seeing Matteo going for the crushing blow. The two of them, without planning it, both wound up to use the Full Motion Strike, timing it up with Matteo’s plunge.

“RAAAAAH!” the three of them all yelled, Matteo, Dash, and Silver all striking the shield close together at the same time.

With a loud, crackling CRASH… The shield blew to pieces.

“Whoa!” Fleetfoot yelped as they all fell through and landed against the dorsal hull of the Falcon. The destruction of the shield caused the Falcon to dip down and bounce against the snow, but they all held on tight.

“Over here!” Matteo yelled as he reached and grabbed a handle attached to a hatch. He yanked it, forcing it open with a loud snap.

“Don’t mind if I do!” Air Mach leapt up and plunged head first into the Falcon. “D’oh!” he grunted as he crashed, landing face first on the floor of the interior. The four Shadowbolts inside flinched as the new arrive literally dropped in. “Ha! Perfect landing!” Air Mach stood up and pounded his chest. He glanced back and forth. It was a small interior, not much room, but had four stations in it. There was a pilot’s seat with two other seats flanking it, facing control panels. There was a fourth station facing what looked like some sort of core with a large pink crystal floating in it. It all looked really high tech, like nothing Air Mach had ever seen before.

He didn’t get much of a chance to take it all in though, because the two Shadowbolts from the side stations immediately abandoned their posts and rushed at him. He reached out as they grabbed at him, struggling with both of them at the same time. The third manning the crystal turned to help, but Matteo’s right talons suddenly reached down from above, grabbed the Shadowbolt by the head and yanked him out with a yelp, the crystal under his control smacking against the top of the core before dropping.

“Sorry!” Air Mach sneered as he struggled with the other two. “I ain’t got time for hugs!” he pushed them off and began wildly swinging his arms around with no real form or function. The two Shadowbolts were forced to shield themselves as he simply threw random blows. Matteo reached in again, grabbing one of them and yanking them out. Air Mach caught on, grabbing the third and pushing her towards the hatch. “Have another, Big Bird!” he yelled, Matteo reaching in and grabbing the mare as well.

Air Mach rushed towards the pilot seat, reaching around and putting the stallion at the controls into a headlock.

“Time to give it up, pal!” Air Mach yelled. The Shadowbolt stallion gasped as Air Mach held him by the neck, instinctively pulling back on the two levers. The Falcon tipped up and started climbing higher.

Outside, the rest of the Wonderbolts stumbled and quickly took flight as the Falcon tipped upward to avoid getting struck by the propellers. They had to anyway to engage the Shadowbolts Matteo had thrown out of the Falcon.

The Falcon kept climbing as Air Mach struggled inside with the pilot. Eventually, he simply yanked the stallion completely out of the chair.

“I GUESS WE GOTTA DO IT THE HARD WAY!” Air Mach yelled as he held onto the stallion, his back hooves slipping backwards against the floor. He fixed his eyes on the open hatch as they slid, winding up and chucking the stallion right out of the Falcon. The stallion yelped, barely missing the propellers as he flailed through the air.

“Yeah!” Air Mach cheered as the Falcon began to even out. He leapt forward and plopped right down into the seat. He didn’t bother trying to figure out what did what, he simply stuck his arms forward, grabbing the lever controls. “Alright, let’s see what this thing’s got!”

He pulled back and pushed his arms forward…

But the levers barely budged a loud, painful clicking and cracking sound coming from them as if they were being forced against power locks.

“What the?!” Air Mach gritted his teeth as he tried to pull and jerk the levers, but they barely moved as if they were being held in place. “What gives?!”

Loud beeping noises started blaring around him, several red lights flashing from the control panels. Air Mach glanced around at all the systems going nuts, looking back forward as the Falcon began to tip downward… and fall.

“COME ON!” Air Mach yelled as he continued to try and push and pull the levers. “COME ON! LISTEN TO ME!”

---

“Air Mach!” Fleetfoot yelled as the group outside forced the Shadowbolts from the Falcon to retreat. Everypony looked up to watch as the Falcon started falling like a rock, losing all the altitude gained while Air Mach was struggling with the pilot.

They all gasped as the other Falcon suddenly rushed past them… and started firing on its falling counterpart. The magic blasts struck Air Mach’s Falcon, causing it to spin and lurch out of control as it fell.

“NO!” Fleetfoot yelled as she looked back at the rest and pointed. “We have to help him!”

“GO! GO! GO!” Silver ordered as he took off with the rest following behind. “Dash! You and Storm try to get that Falcon’s attention!” he pointed. “Fleetfoot, Matteo, with me! We gotta get him out of there!”

---

“GAH! AUGH!” Air Mach flinched and grunted as the entire Falcon shook, peppered by the magic cannons of the other. Every shock and accompanied explosion hit him with nasty whiplash. He barely had any moments in between to get his bearings and see straight.

“WHY WON’T YOU LISTEN TO ME?!” he yelled at the controls as he kept trying to pull at them. “WHY THE HELL AREN’T YOU MOVING?! AUGH!” he yelped as the Falcon was struck again, throwing him forward against the cockpit shield. His face hit the glass, knocking his sunglasses off. “DAMMIT!” he cursed as he pushed away from the glass and looked back into the rest of the interior again.

His eyes widened as they landed on the pink crystal sitting in the back. Through all the red lights and the ear wrenching beeping, it suddenly made sense.

The crystal… it was no longer floating in the contraption fixed to the back, its glow completely faded as well. Without the power of the crystal, or somepony controlling it… was the Falcon doomed to fall to the ground as if its wings were clipped?

Air Mach refused to believe it.

“NO!” he snarled, turning around and sitting back into the seat, fixing his eyes forward through the cockpit shield as the approaching view of the snow covered ground spiraled out of control in front of him. “I WON’T GIVE UP! THERE’S GOTTA BE A WAY!”

---

“DAMN!” Silver cursed as he was forced to pull up. The cannons firing from the other Falcon were preventing him, Fleetfoot, and Matteo from getting close. He glanced back as he took a wide arc around, seeing Dash and Storm. They were on top of the Falcon’s shield, punching at it and flying around it, but the pilot was not taking the bait. The cannons remained focused on Air Mach, firing non-stop.

Without a shield around it, Air Mach’s Falcon began taking heavy hits, large chunks of the hull being ripped and torn apart, exposing the machinery of the propellers. At this point Silver wasn’t sure what would kill Air Mach first, a crash landing or the other Falcon peppering him to shreds.

“What is he doing?!” Fleetfoot yelled as she formed up next to Silver. “AIR MACH! GIVE IT UP! GET OUT OF THERE! She yelled desperately towards the Falcon.

But Air Mach remained inside.

It seemed like a lost cause…

“Above us!” Matteo suddenly called out as he came about and formed up with Silver and Fleetfoot.

They all looked up into the sky.

A purple streak was shooting down towards the Falcon.

---

“I REFUSE!” Air Mach yelled while growling. “I REFUSE TO GIVE UP!” he kept trying to convince himself as the ship continued to shudder and lurch from the cannon fire. “RRRAAAAAGGGHHHH!!!!!” he growled while gripping the levers as hard as he could, now only seconds away from crashing…

But then his ears perked up as a loud BANG sounded out from behind him. It sounded like it was from inside?

Air Mach turned his head, looking over his shoulders with wide eyes.

Starry Skies was standing behind him, frantically looking around. She glanced at him for only a brief moment before her eyes landed on the fixture in the back, specifically on the crystal lying lifelessly in the compartment.

Starry shut her eyes and gritted her teeth, tensing her whole body. Her eyes shot open and she reached for the crystal.

“RRRRGGGHHHAAAAAA!!!!!” she cried out as she grabbed the crystal, a bright light erupting from its surface as she clasped her hooves around it. “RRRGHHH!! NGRRAAAAA!” she continued to groan loudly as she lifted the crystal up and forced it back into place within the core.

The beeping noises stopped, the red lights around the interior ceased blinking, and several loud whirring and buzzing noises came from within the Falcon. Air Mach quickly turned around as he felt the levers loosen in his grip. A smile quickly spread across his lips.

“YEEEAAAAAAAHHHH-HAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!” he yelled out as he pulled back hard on the levers.

The Falcon regained control of its balance and pulled up. Air Mach and Starry braced themselves as the bottom of the fuselage bounced and skidded along the snow before turning up and shooting back skyward.

“HA!” Air Mach’s grin kept growing, his body covered with goosebumps as the Falcon finally responded to his movements. “THAT’S RIGHT! IT’S MINE NOW!”

---

“Was that Starry Skies?!” Fleetfoot yelled out in disbelief.

“More incoming!” Matteo yelled out, pointing up as Descent, Lightning Dust, and a small group of Shadowbolt Renegades appeared in the distance.

“We’re not clear yet!” Silver called out as Dash and Storm disengaged and joined them. “Air Mach and Starry are still in danger!” he yelled while pointing at the two Falcons.

Air Mach had gained control, but the other Falcon was still following behind and continuing its barrage. They were both climbing skyward, but Air Mach’s Falcon suddenly cut its engines and sharply turned all the way around while floating up into the air.

---

“WHOA!” Air Mach yelled as he almost fell out of the pilot seat. “These are some sensitive controls!” he smirked while reaching down, picking his glasses up off the floor and slamming them back over his eyes. He stared right through the cockpit window at the other falcon, still climbing after him as his simply floated up in weightlessness. “ALRIGHT! I’m sick of being pushed around! Time to—”

“OH MY GOD! SHUT UP AND DO SOMETHING BEFORE WE GET KILLED!” Starry barked at him as she continued to grimace, holding the crystal in place.

“Heh! I like your enthusiasm!” Air Mach replied, grabbing the levers. “Now, I wonder how I fire the—” his hoof slipped and squeezed the lever handles. Pink flashes erupted in front of them as the cannons on the front of the Falcon fired, sending two blasts down towards the other Falcon. They exploded against the shield, forcing the Falcon out of its flight path. “HEY! THAT WORKS! LET’S DANCE!”

Air Mach forced the levers forward, his body pressing into the seat as the engines fired and shot them straight down towards the other Falcon. As they approached, it turned and began firing on Air Mach.

“HA! I AIN’T SCARED OF YOU!” Air Mach yelled as he twisted his hooves, causing the Falcon to twist hard to the right. Starry yelped, grabbing onto the side of the core before she was thrown away from it. “WHO THE HELL…” Air Mach called out as he leaned forward, glaring towards the other Falcon. “DO YOU THINK I AM?!” He squeezed his hooves down on the handles as hard as he could.

---

Dash, Silver, and the rest all watched in awe as Air Mach’s Falcon spun and fired an intense barrage of pink magic bursts, countering the other Falcon climbing towards it. The blasts shot both up and down, some of them colliding as the attacks met. But Air Mach’s twisting seemed to cause a displacement, several more of his blasts getting through and striking the other Falcon’s shield as it flew through the explosions. The other Falcon was pushed out of its course, tipping down to the point where its cannons were no longer facing Air Mach.

The Falcon’s shield flickered and buckled under the continuous pressure, the whole machine forced down into a tailspin. Air Mach didn’t let up, peppering his target non-stop until the Falcon’s shield broke less than a yard from the ground. The whole thing crashed roughly to the ground, loud creaks and snaps echoing throughout the mountains as the wings bent and the propellers snapped. The Falcon dragged through the snow, leaving several, smashed pieces of itself in its wake before coming to a stop, the whirring and buzzing of its engines slowing fading.

Moments later, the hatch opened and the four Shadowbolts inside shot out, immediately turning and flying away desperately into the blizzard.

“Should we—?!” Dash started inching forward, but Silver stopped her.

“No, let them go,” he said while releasing a heavy sigh, all of them ducking down slightly as Air Mach’s Falcon pulled up and shot overhead. They all turned and watched as the Falcon slowed down and began to fly in wide circles. Very faint cheering could be heard from inside, likely from Air Mach. “I think we’ve had enough… and it looks like we came out with a little prize as well,” Silver added while shaking his head and smiling. “I gotta admit… that was one hell of a ballsy move by Air Mach, but if there’s one thing I like about the dumbass, it’s that he never backs down.”

“And gives us heart attacks in the process,” Fleetfoot added as let her body hang limply, but remained hovering.

They all looked up as Descent and Lightning Dust approached with their small force.

Silver smirked as Lightning Dust broke off towards the Falcon.

“I wonder what happened to ‘not being a part of it?’” he recalled Descent’s unwillingness to help them. “This ought to be good,” he said as he, Dash, and the rest all landed.

Descent pitched down and landed near them with his followers and surveyed the area, his eyes landing on the Falcon for a few moments as Lightning Dust hopped inside.

“Well, well, well…” Silver began, causing Descent to flatten his brow immediately. “Look who decided to show up after all.”

“Spare me,” Descent said with a grunt. “I already survived a full range of taunts from your captain.”

“Hm?” Silver blinked. “Spitfire is with you?” he asked. Descent glanced over his shoulders as Spitfire suddenly came into view through the thick of the blizzard, a few Shadowbolt Renegades guiding her along.

“We found her trying to navigate the blizzard herself,” Descent explained. “Apparently she ignored her own retreat plan in favor of throwing more punches.”

“Heh…” Silver chuckled as Spitfire approached. She looked like she had been in a fight, her suit sporting small rips and tears here and there. As she landed, Silver saluted. “Captain, nice of you to—” Silver stopped as she trotted right past him and moved towards Dash.

Dash was watching Matteo and Storm as they helped Steady Wing and Squall, who was holding onto Little Star. She blinked when a hoof suddenly roughly grabbed her shoulder.

“Whoa!” Dash yelped as was forcefully spun around, her eyes widening as she stared directly into the very stern eyes of Spitfire.

“Did you get Wave out?” she asked as she nearly pressed her nose to Dash’s.

“Yikes, Captain I—”

“DID. YOU. GET. WAVE. OUT?!” she asked while pushing against Dash, nearly forcing her all the way down into the snow. Silver quickly turned and trotted up to her.

“Captain,” Silver spoke up as he reached between the two of them and pushed them apart. “You can rest easy, Squad Zero and Comet managed to sneak away from the action without being pursued. I ordered them to stay out of sight and take no risks on their way back. So relax, Wave is safe.”

Spitfire stared at Silver for a few moments before letting go of Rainbow Dash, taking a very long, deep breath, and falling back onto her plot while exhaling.

“Then we did it,” she smiled. “We really did it.”

Dash smiled as she saw the relief pour over Spitfire. The whole operation was one hell of a gamble. Spitfire had shown confidence throughout, but Dash was more than certain Spitfire was incredibly nervous from start to finish.

“Why didn’t you follow the retreat plans?” Silver asked her out of curiosity. Spitfire looked up at him and smirked.

“I was busy beating the tar out of Blade,” she said as she stood back up. “I admit… I had a bit of pent up anger after everything that’s happened recently… I may have gone a little far,” she winked.

“As long as you didn’t kill him,” Descent grunted from behind them. “I’d rather you not interfere in my grudges.”

“Oh, relax,” Spitfire rolled her eyes as she and Silver came together with Descent. “I made sure he could fly back at least,” she joked while winking.

“That’s not funny…” Descent grunted. “Should we find a way to save them, I’d appreciate it if they were alive to BE saved.”

Dash’s ears perked up and she bit her lip as Descent mentioned the Shadowbolts… well… ‘being alive.’

“I’m getting mixed messages here,” Spitfire tipped her head at Descent. “Either you want to kill Blade or hug him, but I don’t think you can do both.”

“Dammit, you know what I mean…” Descent snorted. “Blade is an old friend led astray.”

“Um…”

They all turned to Dash as she stepped forward. Dash swallowed, looking directly at Descent.

“Might as well get this out of the way,” Dash said, stepping past Spitfire and Silver, looking firmly into Descent’s eyes as he listened with curiosity. “Devil is dead,” she said seriously. Descent’s eyes opened slightly, but there wasn’t much of a reaction besides that. “I can’t really say we killed him though… he pushed his magic really far, and after we managed to stop him, his crystals shattered. Then the same thing happened to him that happened to Trance and Witch.”

There was a long pause as Spitfire and Silver both turned to look at Descent as well. Descent sighed, looking down for a moment and shaking his head.

“Devil too, huh?” he said as he looked back up. “So reckless abandon and pushing the crystals too far also causes an untimely demise…” he paused, then snorted. “Devil always had more pride than he could handle… barking loudly for respect and leadership when he never could get the better of those ranked above him. It’s no wonder he fell prey to the crystals, greed for power is a dangerous thing.”

Dash, Spitfire, and Silver all looked between each other as Descent turned away and looked towards the Falcon.

“Come on,” he said calmly. “We’ve achieved victory and stolen one of their toys on top of it, let’s head back.”

Before any of them could reply, Descent spread his wings and lifted off.

“Let him be,” Spitfire declared quickly. “Let’s make sure we’ve got everypony…” she paused, looking around as she saw Matteo and Storm helping Squall, Fleetfoot now supporting Steady Wing. “Let’s get them up and into the flying thing-a-majig,” she suggested, referring to Steady, Squall, and Little Star as she pointed at the Falcon. “It’s been a long day. Let’s get home before the sun sets so we can rest and figure out what to do about Soarin next.”

They all nodded in agreement, everypony taking off to join up with the rest… and curious to get a good look at the newly acquired Falcon.

Dash felt a wave of relief wash over her as well. A ‘long day’ was putting it lightly. A false attack, chasing a disguised Rapidfire, fighting Shadowbolts, Soarin disappearing, depression turned into a rally cry, a fake show, fortress infiltration, running from and stealing a Falcon… Dash could easily mark it down as the craziest day of her life.

But in the end, they managed to get Wave back… but was it without cost?

Dash frowned as they flew towards the Falcon.

“Where is Twister?” Matteo asked as they flew, making Dash cringe. “I don’t like that look…” Matteo added as Dash shook her head.

“I’ll explain later…” she said somberly, glancing at Squall as he rode on Matteo’s back, gripping Little Star tightly. She sighed, looking back forward.

The day was won for the Wonderbolts… but Twister was gone, and they still had no idea where Soarin was. Spitfire could put one of her worries to rest, but Dash’s were still unfulfilled.

---

Air Mach looked up as gentle THUMPS sounded against the top of the Falcon. Shortly after, Spitfire and Fleetfoot dropped inside from the hatch and looked around.

“Whoa…” Fleetfoot blinked as she glanced about before turning and helping lower Steady Wing, Squall, and Little Star into the Falcon as well. She directed them over to the empty chairs to let them rest. All of them too tired, or not conscious enough in Star’s case to take in and react to the Falcon.

“This is something…” Spitfire commented as she looked towards Air Mach.

“Pretty cool stuff, huh?” Air Mach glanced over his shoulder and flexed his arm. “I got tired of them having all the cool gadgets, so I took one!”

“Heh…” Spitfire chuckled, having already gotten a quick rundown of what happened from Fleetfoot. “Good work Air Mach, but… really. Next time, don’t be so reckless.”

“No can do boss!” Air Mach replied before sitting back down and looking over the controls. Spitfire shook her head, but did so smiling. She was excited that Air Mach had somehow managed to pull off the capture a Falcon. The Shadowbolts had used all manner of unknown and complicated technology against them. This was an unexpected boon. If they could get this thing back to Rivet, he may be able to reverse engineer some of it and find ways to bolster their own recently discovered technology.

“Hgggnnn…” a fatigued grunt came from behind them. Spitfire and Fleetfoot both turned to Starry Skies, who was still clutching the crystal that was powering the craft. Lightning Dust was standing beside her with a hoof on her back, offering encouragement and the presence of a comrade. The two Wonderbolts cringed as they watched Starry willingly expose herself to the crystal. Starry had used the crystals in the past, but after denouncing them and then seeing what they were capable of, there was no doubt Starry had staved off her own fears in order to ensure their success.

“Starry… are you gonna be okay?” Fleetfoot asked as she stepped up beside her and Lightning Dust.

“I’m… fine…” Starry grunted, beads of sweat dripping down her face. “I’ve handled these… before… and it’s just one,” she gasped, her head bobbing down. Lightning Dust winced and crouched down, but Starry shook her head. “Just get us back to the compound… I’ll manage until then.”

Lightning Dust looked up at the Wonderbolts, worry written all over her face.

Spitfire caught on, recognizing that Starry was likely downplaying how much she was straining herself. Spitfire quickly turned to Air Mach.

“Air Mach, you have the controls figured out?” she asked.

“Wanna ask the ship I shot down?” he laughed to himself. Spitfire rolled her eyes.

“Well, keep it up, and follow behind us when we get moving,” she ordered. Spitfire reached up and rapped her hoof against the ceiling.

A moment later, Dash popped her head in and looked around.

“Wow!” she reacted when she saw the interior, but Spitfire cleared her throat.

“Dash, focus,” Spitfire ordered, quickly commanding Dash’s attention. “Tell Descent to lead on, we need to get this thing back quickly,” she ordered.

“Yes ma’am!” Dash saluted before pulling her head back up.

“I’ll go too,” Lightning Dust pulled away from Starry as she subtly kept her eyes on Spitfire. Spitfire narrowed her eyes at her.

“Have something to say to me?” Spitfire asked harshly.

“N-no…” Dust flinched before hopping up and going through the hatch rather hastily.

---

Dash braced herself against the wind from the propellers, standing on the dorsal hull of the Falcon with Silver and Storm as she waved to Descent. Descent nodded and started giving orders to his Renegades, the cavalry moving soon after. Dash’s ears perked up as she heard the clambering of hooves behind her. She looked back as the Falcon began moving behind the group, spotting Lightning Dust as she joined them on top of the Falcon. She looked distraught.

“Everything alright, Dust?” Dash asked her as Lightning Dust sighed.

“No… I still can’t look her in the eye…” she said as sat down on the hull. Dash glanced at the hatch before putting two and two together.

“Oh… Spitfire?” she asked, earning a nod from Lightning Dust. Dash looked away, really not sure what to say to her. She knew Lightning Dust regretted what she had done to Spitfire… but Dash would openly admit she wouldn’t know how to approach this either.

“Give her time,” Silver suddenly spoke up from behind them. Both Dash and Dust turned and looked towards Silver, who was standing on the front of the Falcon, just behind the cockpit shield, staring forward with his mane blowing in the wind. Storm glanced between Silver and the mares shifting backwards to move out of the way. “Keep showing her you regret what you did and she’ll eventually come around.”

“How did you…?” Lightning Dust trailed off as she tipped her head.

“I ain’t blind,” Silver said as he remained facing forward. “I’ve seen the way Spitfire glares at you,” he explained as Storm continued to shift away from him. “You’re on our side now. A lot of us have been putting aside differences. Spitfire is a reasonable mare, she’ll do the same.”

Lightning Dust looked down and thought about it as Storm finally shifted all the way over to Dash. Dash lifted an eyebrow at him.

“Storm,” she chuckled quietly. “What are you doing?”

Storm cleared his throat and put on a weak smile.

“I felt like I was ruining the moment,” he said goofily.

“What?” Dash tipped her head. Storm pointed at Silver.

“See how badass he looks standing on the front of this thing with his mane catching the wind like that? I felt like I was cramping his style,” Storm ended with a smirk. Dash puffed her cheeks out as she tried not to laugh.

“Now you are ruining the moment!” Dash said in a hushed tone as she jabbed him in the shoulder. Storm pushed her back playfully before taking a breath and sighing.

“So… what did happen to Twister?” Storm asked, his tone turning serious. Dash’s ears flopped down, the light hearted air instantly gone from atop the Falcon. She looked up into the blizzard as they rode, following behind Descent and the Renegades. Almost every part of her wished she had had a chance to help Twister… the rest of her wanted to believe that Twister would be just fine… which was probably why she kept delaying talking about it.

But even with his seemingly impossible way of doing things… could Twister possibly escape the Shadowbolts… much less Ruin all by himself? The whole operation was to save Wave… who was a very important member to the Wonderbolts, the risk was justified… but…

Twister was a very important member of her squad… and a friend, regardless of how weird he was. Their hopes of getting out without losing anypony had failed.

“He—”

WHAM

Dash, Storm, and Lightning Dust suddenly all yelped and flinched as the loud sound came from below the Falcon, followed by it lurching and bouncing upwards a bit.

“THE HELL WAS THAT?!” Air Mach’s voice came from inside the cockpit. Silver was around and moving towards the three the moment the sudden jolt had occurred, all four of them glancing around to see if they had hit anything, or if Air Mach had accidentally skipped the Falcon’s underbelly against a drift. But they were flying at least twenty yards off the ground. Then what was…

“HEY! YO!” A gruff voice came from below the Falcon. “Who said you could just up and take one of our Falcons?!”

All four of them stiffened, their eyes widening in alarm at the sudden, new voice.

“If I came into your yard…” the voice continued as a loud CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP came from the hull as if somepony was climbing up the bottom. “And stole your garden hose…”

All of them sharply turned to the left wing as Shadowbolt Commander Sin pulled himself up onto the top of the Falcon, a wide sneer spread across his face.

“You probably wouldn’t be okay with that! Wouldn’t ya?!” he finished as he planted his hooves on the hull and stared them down.

Dash, Dust, and Storm all stared in shock, wondering how Sin managed to both follow and sneak up on them, but Silver didn’t hesitate for a second. He turned and whistled loudly, alerting the rest of the group.

In seconds, Descent had redirected his Renegades and all of them were flying around the Falcon. Descent himself glided down and landed on the hull, glaring and growling at Sin.

“Well, well…” Descent began as he and Sin exchanged glares of varying emotion. “You’re either just as idiotically brash as I remember… or you have an extreme death wish, Sin…”

“Hey, come on…” Sin lifted an eyebrow, his smile remaining as he glanced around at all the Wonderbolts and Renegades surrounding him. “Who said my buddies got to have all the fun? I’m here to get my fill!”

“What’s going on out here?!” Spitfire suddenly popped up from the hatch, her eyes immediately fixing on Sin. She was up and on the hull, in a ready stance in seconds with Fleetfoot popping up and looking around right after.

“I think you’re biting off way more than you can chew, as usual,” Descent growled at Sin. “Look around you, idiot! You’re heavily outnumbered, not to mention you’re looking at the captain of both the Wonderbolts and the Renegades!”

Sin didn’t budge an inch. He just kept smiling as he looked around at all the eyes fixed on him.

“If the odds are stacked against me…” he looked back down right at Spitfire and Descent. “Then I ain’t gotta play fair!” he stated as his three crystals began to glow.

“I’m warning you, Sin!” Descent growled. “Get lost or we’ll make you regret it!”

“Now… why the hell would I do that…?” Sin’s hooves began to slide towards the edge of the Falcon. His crystals focused their energy around his front arms. “When…”

Everypony blinked in surprise as Sin suddenly tipped off the edge of the Falcon and dove down towards the ground.

“I CAN RAISE HELL?!” he yelled out as he pulled his two magically imbued arms back.

Descent gasped before frantically turning to everypony else.

“EVERYPONY! BRACE YOURSELVES!” he yelled.

“HYYYYYRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” Sin roared out as he punched his hooves forward into the snow as he crashed to the ground, the magic discharging from his hooves as he did.

An incredibly loud FWOOM echoed throughout the mountain range as the impact of Sin’s strike and the discharge of magic caused an absolutely massive blast of snow, easily fifty yards from end to end, to fire up from the ground, propelled by Sins magic as if a powerful bomb had exploded beneath it.

“AH!” Dash yelped as the snow rushed up from the ground, pummeling both the bottom of the Falcon and crashing against Matteo, Storm, and the Renegades flying around it. Silver, Descent, Spitfire, Storm, and Lightning Dust were all forced down against the hull of the Falcon as it lurched upward, all of them grunting and yelping as Fleetfoot fell right back into the hatch while swearing.

Dash struggled to hold on, her hooves slipping slightly against the smooth hull of the Falcon as the snow kept shooting up and falling down at the same time, literally blinding all of them while also forcing the Falcon to tip and sway violently. It was like Sin had caused a blizzard that went UP, and then came back down all at the same time.

“WHO WANTS SOME OF THIS?!” Sin’s voice came from above as he suddenly slammed down onto the top of the Falcon. The landing forced the Falcon to tip back down roughly, causing all on top to slip and slide some more. Spitfire and Descent slid right off the edge, plummeting down as they continued to be battered by the tremendous blast of snow.

Rainbow Dash managed to set her hooves and hold on, looking up to see that Sin was standing right in front of her with his back turned to her. She quickly pushed herself to her hooves and steadied herself. With the element of surprise on her side, she stepped forward, pulling a hoof back to strike.

But the moment she threw the punch, Sin’s wings twitched.

He turned around and grabbed Dash by the arm, lifting an eyebrow at her as he smiled.

“We have a winner!” he chanted before clamping his hoof tightly around Dash’s arm. His grip was so powerful that it made Dash cringe painfully. She had little time to focus on the pain though… because no sooner did he clamp on, did he yank her around.

“OW!” Dash yelped as Sin swung her in a circle.

“Aaaaaand…” he gritted his teeth and whipped her around one more time. “GO!” he yelled out as he roared and let go, effectively LAUNCHING Rainbow Dash.

“AHHHH!!!!” she cried out as she flung away from the Falcon, half terrified, half in pure disbelief at how hard Sin had thrown her. She was moving so fast that she couldn’t even straighten out her wings to regain control!

“Haha! YEAH!” Sin took off and shot after Rainbow Dash, following her path as she shot through the rushing snow and disappeared into the blizzard.

“RAINBOW DASH!” Silver yelled, just barely managing to focus and find his hooves. He saw the whole exchange between Sin and Dash. Silver’s body was still aching and beaten up, but the moment he saw Dash get launched, he found the will to force himself into action. Everypony else was still scrambling against the aftermath of Sin’s ground strike, but Silver didn’t have time to wait for help. Before Sin could disappear from view, he locked on, forced his wings into flight, and pushed his way through the rushing snow, determined to not let Sin get away with his student.

---

“RGH! AH!” Dash grunted and yelped as she continued to careen uncontrollably through the air. She had never moved so fast before without being in control, the amount of wind resistance mixed with her speed rendered any attempt to take control completely useless.

She kept flying and flying and flying while tumbling, hoping to Celestia that she didn’t hit anything. Luck would have it that she was in the clear, at least from smashing into anything. She braced herself as her trajectory turned down and she hit the snow.

She grunted and gasped as she bounced roughly several times before she hit the ground and dragged through the snow for several more yards before coming to a halt.

“Owwww…” she cringed and shuddered as she rolled over and tried to get to her hooves. She shivered as she looked up, surrounded by the artificial blizzard with no idea how far she had been thrown. Her eyes widened as a silhouette appeared in the distance… eventually becoming fully visible.

“Now this is more like it!” Sin chuckled as he glided down and landed a few yards from Dash. “You were the first to attack me… so you get the honor of fighting me one on one!” he said with confidence.

Dash gritted her teeth, forcing herself to stand strong and face Sin.

“Great…” Dash mumbled as she stared towards him. Just when she thought she was in the clear. She had had just about enough Shadowbolts for one day. A surprise turncoat, a crazy bastard, a power-thirsty time bomb, and now this pumped up oaf.

She definitely couldn’t run. She didn’t know where to go, and she wasn’t sure if she could outfly him. While Sin’s incredibly muscular build made him look like more of a power stallion than a speed one… the last thing she wanted to do was turn her back and get knocked out through underestimating him.

Plus…

“Ngrh…” Dash’s legs shuddered. She was still feeling a little sore from her Sonic Blast-off stunt in the Shadowbolt hanger. Without the use of the Sonic Blast-off, she didn’t trust she could simply lose him.

She had to fight.

“Hey, hey! Come on! What’s the hold-up?” Sin asked while holding a hoof out. “Let’s do this!”

Dash blinked, not quite sure what to make of him. Sin showed no signs of attacking. He wanted her to attack.

Dash swallowed and glared, setting her hooves. She didn’t know the extent of Sin’s abilities… she had no idea where he stood amongst the rest of the Shadowbolt commanders. That little snow explosion stunt was impressive, but Devil’s magic appeared impressive as well. In the end they had bested Devil… with help, but they beat him. Which meant if Sin was on a similar level, then maybe she had a chance… maybe.

She wouldn’t know unless she tried. And as Silver once made clear to her: Never be afraid of your opponent.

He wanted her to move first? Fine… she would do just that!

Dash spread her wings, ignoring the soreness in her arms and legs as she took off, rushing directly at Sin. Sin made no moves as she approached. His crystals remained still, stacked on his back with no sign of activity.

If he was really that confident, then Dash was going to give him a punch to the face he’d never forget. She twisted her body, pulling her right hoof back. She recalled Silver’s movements, turning her body in small subtle, smooth motions into a full wind up to use Silver’s full motion strike. She’d make use of every bit of power her body and strength could generate.

Sin still didn’t move.

Dash whipped her body around, delivering the punch directly into Sin’s face as hard as she could, every bit of motion and momentum transferred directly between his eyes.

But… Sin’s body didn’t budge an inch. His hooves slid back slightly in the snow, but otherwise… his body remained upright, just as it had before being hit.

Dash instantly felt an incredible rush of pain shoot through her arm, traveling all the way up her nerves and into her body.

“AH! AHHH!!!! OW!” she cried out, yelping as she pulled her hoof back, all feeling gone from it. It felt like she had literally punched a sheet of metal. As she gasped and panted, she looked up at Sin with wide eyes.

Sin wore a look of disappointment, releasing a sharp sigh from his nose.

“Man… really? That’s it?” he asked while lifting an eyebrow. “That’s too bad,” he said as he lifted up a hoof. “You got my hopes up when you had the guts to attack me…” His chest and arm muscles flexed and tensed, bulging as veins popped up from them, visible even with his suit covering his body. “Guess I picked a boring one.”

Dash had no time to move, and even if she did, with the pain in her body she wouldn’t have gotten far.

All she saw was Sin’s hoof… followed by an impact… followed by her laying on the ground, on her stomach at least twenty yards away from him. The time between seeing his hoof in her face and lying in the snow felt like it didn’t exist, like it had never happened.

She blinked several times as she tried to pick her head up, but it took her several seconds just to lift her neck. And the moment she stopped, she couldn’t keep her head steady. Her vision was blurry, her head felt lighter than air, and everything looked like it was tipping back and forth.

Her cheek felt swollen, her eyelids fluttering, and she felt short of breath. She couldn’t even remember if she had gotten hit or not. The moment Sin’s hoof connected with her face, the next instant she was down, completely disoriented, and completely devoid of any strength.

“Yep…” Sin’s voice caused her ears to lazily turn. “Definitely a boring one…”

Dash slowly turned her head and looked towards Sin’s voice, her head swaying and her eyes unable to focus. She saw the blurry image of Sin… or two of him as he walked towards her.

But then Sin stopped and looked up.

Dash was slow to react as a pony suddenly landed in front of her, but she couldn’t tip her head up. She was having enough trouble keeping her neck upright alone. Did somepony come to help?

“You son of a bitch…” a familiar voice caught Dash’s ears, one that brought her comfort as she struggled to think straight. “If you lay one more hoof on her… I’m gonna beat your face in till that ugly tattoo of yours runs away to your ass.”

“S-Silver…?” Dash sputtered, her voice quiet, cracking, and stuttering as she failed to focus.

The voice and the sharp words… It was definitely Silver.

Silver stood protectively in front of Dash, his hooves firmly planted in the snow as he glared towards Sin.

A silence hung over the two of them for a moment.

“You got through my snow blast, huh?” Sin chuckled. “Not bad… not bad at all, maybe you can—” Sin suddenly stopped abruptly mid-sentence, his smile disappearing. Silver lifted an eyebrow as Sin stared blankly at him.

“What?” Silver asked, his sharp tone remaining constant. Sin suddenly shook his head, gasped, and his jaw dropped.

“Whoa! Whoa! HOLD UP!” he said as he pushed up his goggles, staring wide eyed at Silver. “You!” he blinked, a look of shock on his face. “You’re Silver Lining! The Iron Horse!”

“You want my autograph or something?” Silver snorted while scowling.

“Hot DAMN! Now this is more like it!” Sin suddenly smiled, nearly bouncing on his hooves.

“What the hell are you going on about?” Silver growled, remaining firm as Sin seemed to bubble over with excitement.

“Can I fight you?!” Sin asked giddily. Silver’s expression went blank for a moment before hardening back up.

“Son, you’ve already brought that upon yourself,” Silver grunted while stealing a quick glance at Dash, still struggling to see straight behind him.

“I’ve always wanted to fight you!” Sin beamed. “You’re a freaking legend! One of the toughest ponies to ever live!” He pulled his goggles off and threw them to the snow. “This is the best! This is what I live for, man!” His excitement only seemed to build more and more as he reached up and ripped the hood mask of his flight suit clean off, tearing it at the neck and tossing it aside.

“What an idiot…” Silver grumbled as Sin continued to look at Silver with the excitement of a colt opening birthday gifts. Silver stayed focused, ready for a fight, but then he blinked when Sin’s crystals came together and landed gently in his hoof. Sin reached down and jammed the crystals into the snow, tapping them as he let go. A small shield appeared over the top of the crystals. He took a step away from them and stood at the ready, cracking his hooves back and forth. “What are you doing?” Silver asked while glancing between Sin and his crystals. Sin briefly looked at his crystals before shrugging.

“As if I’d let those things ruin this opportunity!” he said with a wide smile. “I mean… the crystals are cool and all, but nothing, and I mean NOTHING... beats a good old-fashioned brawl! And hell, if I’m gonna take on the one and only Iron Horse, I’m gonna do it fair and square with my bare hooves!”

Silver remained silent, staring at Sin curiously as he willingly set aside the crystals, treating the encounter more like a boxing match than a battle of life and death. While unexpected, Silver wasn’t about to protest. If anything, Sin’s willingness to not use the crystals helped Silver’s chances.

Silver was, after all, not in the best shape at the moment. It had been a long, rough day on his old body. His pain killers had helped, but they could only do so much for his worn out bones and muscles. He wasn’t about to show any wear or tear to an enemy staring him down though.

He glanced back at Dash, the sight of her down and knocked nearly senseless angered him more every time he looked at her. The wisest course of action would be to scoop her up and run, but with how his body was feeling, that was out of the question. There was no way around it. He had to fight.

And fight he would. Silver would stand strong, protect Rainbow Dash, and defeat Sin no matter what the cost, even if he fell apart in the process.

“Alright, son…” Silver exhaled, pulling off his goggles and tossing them aside. “You want to fight me that badly?” He reached up and slowly removed his mask, whipping his mane back and forth. “I enjoy a good scrap myself…” He cracked his neck back and forth. “Just don’t cry if you get hurt.” Silver set his hooves in the snow, his nostrils flaring as a puff of mist billowed from them into the cold air.

Sin looked like he was about to burst. His eyes were wide, his breathing was fast, and his muscles continuously twitching and tensing.

“Come on!” Sin beckoned. “I wanna see how you earned that awesome nickname!”

---To Be Continued---

Author's Note:

Art by: Foxenawolf

Oh dear... Time for a hard-nosed, iron pony brawl... but will Silver's body hold up?

But lets rewind for a moment, Looks like another Shadowbolt has fallen... this time Devil. Another drawback of the crystals, pushing them too hard leads to the crystals shattering, which we all know leads to being dust in the wind.

However it seems there is still a bit of the Shadowbolt power hierarchy preserved, even among the commanders. Despite having removed Devil from the playing field... it would appear he was one of the lesser contenders. Angel on the otherhoof... has proven to be quite dangerous, and one of high respect/authority by how quickly Devil and Shadow fell in line. It makes you wonder what the atmosphere is like within the Shadowbolt ranks... especially when it seems like some care, while others are in it for themselves... or to control... who knows?

Poor Little Star... Zipping in there like a bat out of hell to protect Squall. Well... if Squall's reaction is any indication, he's going to have a really hard time denying that he values her now!

And hell YEAH Air Mach has commandeered a Falcon! With the painful help of Starry Skies of course... this will be a boon for them indeed

Speaking of the Falcons, i've got a great example to help everyone picture what they look like. Think Stealth Bomber:

Imagine one of these with a propeller on each side, right at the point where the wings extend outward. Also imagine it being a little less flat in the middle with a larger cockpit window.

And by the way...

This...

Was totally intentional

Comments

[Nightglimmer22]

Little Star had come in out of nowhere… and taken the hit.

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!

“STAR!!!!” he cried out as he sat upright and grabbed her. She lay limply in his arms, a whole side of her suit blown away by the blast, including a shattered lens of her goggles. “STAR! STAAAAAARRR!!!!” Squall frantically yelled, but got no response.

Whyyyyyyyy!!!!

[The Pony of Darkness]

That is a lot of words typed! Dose your fingers ever get tired?

[Light Spark]

Little star taking the hit how could you?!? Air Mach trying to get a jet to work.... not going to happen for a while. Spitfire screaming because she wanted to know where wave was Aw... she does care... and silver and sin battling it out can't wait to see how this'll turn out and last but not least where is twister i miss his crazy antics.....

[Nightglimmer22]

“You want my autograph or something?” Silver snorted while scowling.

Yes please!!!!!!

[Jim Hoxworth]

...I need my computer to respond properly... holy hell in a handbasket...

[Sylvian]

Damnit, Calm! I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO SILVER!

But, otherwise, this chapter was amazing! Poor Little Star! I gasped out loud when she got hit, and I saw that picture being drawn!

Also, Sin is... unsettling, and yet I can't help but like him xD he is giddy as a school kid with the chance to fight Silver! It's so funny!

Anyway, can't wait for next time, I hope it isn't too long of a wait!

[Witching Hour]

Oh gods... Animak...

Also, did you know there's a HUGE space between the text and the pic of "Little Star to the Rescue"? Because... Yeah... that gap is huge...

I'm left wondering when we're gonna see Spitty and Fleetfoot's reaction to FIre reporting about Dash's spasms mid-rescue...
s6.postimg.org/3s2x3n201/I_Have_A_Mighty_Need.gif

[WildStallion]

If Twister comes back alive, should do a chapter where he tells how he gotten back.

[Colorful Melody]

Damn dude, we have a lot to think about, and a lot to look forward to...

[Falsewarrior]

i knew it! you made that picture that way on purpose!

[HB_DS2013]

I've been outta the loop for awhile. I'm guessing that the Falcon is the equivalent of a Gunman. Also. the HMS Squall Star is ongoing. Calm, at the rate you're going, you're gonna surpass Fallout: Equestria and An Extended Vacation.

[BlabideeblahMLP]

I have so much to say about this chapter, from jokes to hate to anything, but I'll just shorten it down to "I'm so fucking wet."

[CowgirlVK]

Star will be fine... Dash will find Soarin... and Twister will save the day... in the meantime I'm going to fall off the cliff with that ending! Silver is not going to want to do anything tomorrow.

[harts fire]

wow love it.
now this is a chapter to go down in history, super good work at the hole team in the making of this masterpiece.

[Skye Mist]

Is it bad that throughout the entire chapter, I was smirking at the scenarios?

I do feel a bit piteous towards Shadow. I hope she doesn't end up like Trance, Witch, and Devil.She and Moon are the only ones I want to survive, although I do hope Shadow isn't just a less violent, female version of Devil. I mean, she did get pretty pissed at them when Devil shattered.

[Animak]

sweet chapter

[Those Kids In The Corner]

The encounter earlier in the morning against Trance and Witch and the current scenario had proven that some of the commanders weren’t quite as fearsome as the others.

Sweet jesus that feels like a month ago!

I probably read this wrong, but was Starry continuously using the crystal to direct its power to the falcon? If so, then who controls the crystals powering the fortress and its canons? Nightshade? No... I must have read that wrong.

[Hooper_Canson]

ah yes the ever so noble B-2 stealth bomber, one of the few planes that if you manage to see it (which is small btw)
you're basically dead, like really dead. Fantabulous chapter again mein freund

[soarin2323]

Haha, I initally thought Silver was Soarin when Rainbow Dash got punched by Sin. But that may have been too speedy of a recovery even for him.

[Aelflonra]

As a one with long hair, I kinda feel for Angel. It doesn't really hurt much to tug/yank a tuft, but it's hella unpleasant. To be honest, an unexpected hard yank would probably be more dangerous for one's neck. The less hairs you yank, the more it hurts, you know the physics of pressure divided by area it's applied to, right?

Adsf Little Star on that pic is not quite Little
I honestly thought it was Pixie or Fairy at first (don't remember their colors ).

It dug into her suit, and lightly into her skin. As it whipped by.

Why is this two sentences?

“SILVER HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!” Fleetfoot gawked towards them.

Comma after "SILVER"?

The third manning the crystal turned to help, but Matteo’s right talons suddenly reached down from above, grabbed the Shadowbolt by the head and yanked him out with a yelp, the crystal under his control smacking against the top of the core before dropping..

Two periods uh..

[Soaring Soarin]

Dash and Storm both gasped, confused and alarmed at the sudden appearance of Little Star. Their questions about what she was doing there quickly set aside by the horror of her using herself as a living shield to save Squall.
Squall crashed into the snow, shutting his eyes and grunting as he roughly hit the ground, but the moment he slid to a stop, he opened his eyes and nearly all the breath escaped his lungs.

“

She took a hard hit for Squall, but she’s fine. Might want to get her back soon though, she could use some medical attention,” Dash said while looking Star over as well.

*phew*

“Yeah!” Air Mach cheered as the Falcon began to even out. He leapt forward and plopped right down into the seat. He didn’t bother trying to figure out what did what, he simply stuck his arms forward, grabbing the lever controls. “Alright, let’s see what this thing’s got!”

He's not gonna fly that thing into nimbus and yell combine is he?

“Come on!” Sin beckoned. “I wanna see how you earned that awesome nickname!”

Kick his ass Silver!
i65.tinypic.com/ekomx5.jpg
i'm sorry i had too

Great chapter btw calm see you in the next one

[Jim Hoxworth]

OK, at my computer now.
I totally thought you killed Little Star for a second.

And Animak was fantastic in this chapter.

And Sin... Oh lordy, Sin...

[Soaring Soarin]

6917138 I would love to this fic surpass those only time will tell if it comes true...and calms crazy ass imagination

[boragath]

6917617 lol same

[HB_DS2013]

6917833 I'm surprised that he's not making his own book yet. Ah, who am I kiddin? Calm's got enough fuel to write a novel and then some.

[Kestrel]

6917662

While yes, it would hurt, unless a large amount of hair is grabbed, like all of it, there's only so much damage that pulling someone's hair can do. So unless you were pulling out someone's entire head of hair or something, the hair is going to snap first before there's any sort of whiplash damage to the neck. Sort of like pulling tape off of your skin. It'll hurt, yeah, but it's not going to pull a ton of your skin off, because your skin is a lot tougher than the adhesive on the tape.

[Easyglider]

How about this whole Imgur thing eh?
pbs.twimg.com/media/BbbTUB6CIAAASC1.jpg

Anyway.....

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Go beyond the impossible and kick reason to the curb! That’s how Animak rolls

Ah! Ah!! He said it!

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Little Star had come in out of nowhere… and taken the hit.

memecrunch.com/meme/3673B/drake-nah/image.png

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Sorry! Too busy kicking reason to the curb!

AHH!!! He said it again!!!!

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“Yeah!” Air Mach cheered as the Falcon began to even out. He leapt forward and plopped right down into the seat.

Remember when Chewie and the Ewoks took over that AT-ST?

oi64.tinypic.com/2wqsuax.jpg

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Dash’s ears perked up and she bit her lip as Descent mentioned the Shadowbolts… well… ‘being alive.’

Dash's face when
oi68.tinypic.com/eskacn.jpg

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“Wanna ask the ship I shot down?”

oi65.tinypic.com/1zzgpjt.jpg

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So this last part here is driving me right up the wall, because that damn picture of Sin reminds me of someone and I can NOT for the life of me think of who.

I want to say Chip Skylark from Fairly Odd Parents (remember that one? XD) but I know that's not it. And it's gonna drive me crazy

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

What I wonder is Why did Angel order a retreat? What did he know that made that seem like a good idea?

[Color Spark]

Note to self: one does NOT mess with Dash if her Wonderbolt Daddy Silver Lining is around

LITTLE SQUALL FOREVER!!!!

[jnzsblzs]

OK this is my least favourite side of PTH. THese boring ass over the top anime-esqe fightscenes. Half of the ponies goes supersayian and shout a lot and then beat up the other half, who in turn go supersayian and shout a lot, and in the end somepony maybe gets a broken feather or something as repercussion. I refuse to call pain as a repercussion in this universe as everypony just shakes it of as if it was not even there. I mean this Sin dude just directly took a fully wound up punch from RD who is not a bad fighter by any stretch of the imagination and then did not even flinch. And no, the fact that Silver does this on a regular basis does not make it any less idiotic. It just makes the world more coherent.

But this time at least the presence of the great animak counterbalanced the absurdness of the fight scene with his own idiocy making far less insufferable then it otherwise would have been.

And dont get me wrong Calm, I like PTH I like a great many thing about it, but the fight scenes are definitely not one of them.

[Aelflonra]

6917888 uh no, it may vary depending on hair length and strength and whatnot, but pulling as much as ~35% of one's hair would be enough for it not to snap (probably even less for ponies). Although it indeed sounds ridiculous now to think that yanking someone's hair down could do some damage to their neck now that i've slept and have my head Firm in place.
Nice comparsion to pulling tape off your skin, it's hella unpleasant too. It's actually probably even more painful than to yank a tuft of hair since every single hair on the skin will be be pulled out somewhat one by one. I remember some drama on tv ads like 12 years ago about women clearing the hair on their legs with some sort of tape and how to prevent the pain from it eh..

[Evi Nikol 62]

Oh God,wasn't THAT a great chapter
Although I have to say that when that happened:

“You son of a bitch…” a familiar voice caught Dash’s ears, one that brought her comfort as she struggled to think straight. “If you lay one more hoof on her…

I thought, that was Soarin

But yeah,REALLY great chapter,I loved it.Can't wait for the next one!!

Ps.Oh,I forgot XD Don't forget,you promised me da fluff

[Easyglider]

6918774 Oh my god could you imagine if that was Soarin

stream1.gifsoup.com/view4/20140711/5068463/bruh-o.gif

[Dusk_Writer]

“What? Did I ruin your makeup? Pretty face got a boo-boo?” Fleetfoot taunted as she sneered, feeling confident. Angel was good, but she wasn’t a lead squad Wonderbolt for nothing.

Yeeeaahh, not a good idea…

Squall’s eyes grew wide as the force from the explosion slammed against him… followed by a little body being thrown into his chest. He was thrown backwards, flying several yards away.

Little Star had come in out of nowhere… and taken the hit.

HUYGEYIGVDYVTDHGVDYGIDIYTVDTYIVDVTYVSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSHHHHIIIIIIPPPPSSSSSSSSSSS

“I’m feeling like we’re forgetting something…” Silver said as he continued to blink.

They all flinched as a loud explosion came from close by, followed by lots of yelling, hooting, and hollering.

They all looked at each other with wide eyes.

“AIR MACH!”

Truth be told, I forgot as well XD

“Spare me,” Descent said with a grunt. “I already survived a full range of taunts from your captain.”

Haha, of course XD

“Then we did it,” she smiled. “We really did it.”

…
Cam Wind: Haha, lol, just wait a sec.

“He—”

WHAM

…T_T

He glanced back at Dash, the sight of her down and knocked nearly senseless angered him more every time he looked at her. The wisest course of action would be to scoop her up and run, but with how his body was feeling, that was out of the question. There was no way around it. He had to fight.

And fight he would. Silver would stand strong, protect Rainbow Dash, and defeat Sin no matter what the cost, even if he fell apart in the process.

“Alright, son…” Silver exhaled, pulling off his goggles and tossing them aside. “You want to fight me that badly?” He reached up and slowly removed his mask, whipping his mane back and forth. “I enjoy a good scrap myself…” He cracked his neck back and forth. “Just don’t cry if you get hurt.” Silver set his hooves in the snow, his nostrils flaring as a puff of mist billowed from them into the cold air.

Sin looked like he was about to burst. His eyes were wide, his breathing was fast, and his muscles continuously twitching and tensing.

“Come on!” Sin beckoned. “I wanna see how you earned that awesome nickname!”

CAN'T. HANDLE. EPICNESS. AAAAAAAAAAAAAFFFFFFFFFFF—*ded*

---
This was on hell of a chapter! Though, the Soarin pain thing is still not there…

I don't think if Silver can fight against him. With the battered state of his body…I don't know. Not to mention, when Dash touched Sin, it sent her propelling backwards, so how could Silver punch him without the pain?
Sin himself seems like an interesting character, he knew Silver as the iron horse, so should be a fan. So, why the Shadowbolts?

[Goldfur]

Twenty thousand words, and they're still not out of the sh*t? Why do you torture them (and us) so?

Couple of errors I noticed although I wasn't trying to look for them:

before putting on the breaks

That should be "brakes".

managed to sneak away from the action without being perused

That should be "pursued".

[moonrose]

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUING CIFFHANGERS!!!!!

YAAAAAAAASSSS MORE LITTLE SQUALL!!! 100% yes. I'm so happy. HELP im having a fan attack in the middle of French class!!! Omigosh. PLEASE tell me the next chapter will have more littlesquall. Oh yeah and I hope silvers ok. WHATS UP WOTH SOARIN?!?

[Magical Shield]

This chapter was AWESOME!

did you know.... IM A POTATO!

By the way, i'd laugh if Dash totally got Sin back and Dash be like;

"YO get on yo ass and try to kick mine! Grey Lining be mine!"

[The Forgotten Comrade]

If the Shadowbolts were my soldiers, I'd be looking for a new army. Mentally unstable the lot of them, they are too willing to give up their advantages, blatant lack of care for their comrades and their willingness to engage goes hither and thither. The only use for them I see at this point is to just let them loose, letting them self destruct taking as much as they can with them and bring in a more stable force. The only one I think worth keeping is Ruin just so he can keep Twister busy.

*Opens the Minions'R'Us catalogue*

Just hope whoever is using the Shadowbolts has a backup army for when these fools fail.

[blastguard]

more suspence stored for the next chapter.i wonder what Sin has in store for Silver...

[Calm Wind]

6916847

DRAMATIC EFFEEEEEEEEEEEEECT! WRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Calm Wind]

6916890

Often

[Calm Wind]

6916908

One does not simply predict the future of Twister

[Calm Wind]

6916967

Sin is an interesting fellow, huh? xD

Seems to care more about brawling and causing hell than carrying out objectives

[Calm Wind]

6916971

Shameless dramatic tension building... yes the blank space was completely intentional

[Calm Wind]

6917001

oh god, the randomness i could put into that...

6917004

I always make sure the readers are left begging for more! Managing tension is crucial for long stories.

6917011

Guilty as charged!

6917138

I only made the controls that way for a blatant shout out to gurren lagann, the falcons are more like small aircrafts. Think a stealth bomber with propellers extending from the top.

6917190

GOOD

[Calm Wind]

6917253

still flailing about like a yeti after eating a bowl of lightning while stroking an intense urge to disrespect its surroundings

it's fun to come up with ridiculous ways to describe ridiculous characters

And yes, Sin seems like quite the goofball... well... dangerous goofball, huh? Less on the crazy side like Ruin, more on the self-satisfaction side. He just likes to punch things and get punched!

[Calm Wind]

6917266

You know men, always balancing the readers on the edge

And yes, Silver is going to be quite sore tomorrow if he makes it through this

[CowgirlVK]

6919770 Don't you DARE kill Silver! I'd never forgive you!

[Calm Wind]

6917319

Thanks!

6917378

It seems like there's a wide range of personalities among the commanders... some more desirable than others, i wonder how it will all pan out?

6917383

Thanks! Had a feeling you'd enjoy it

6917436

hahaha i know right? this has been a very long sequence in the story with literally only a day over multiple chapters.

As for the Falcons and the fortress... that depends on if they share the same mechanical and operating properties, doesn't it?

6917613

It always had such a cool design in my opinion. And sort of perfectly fit with the ideas i had for this so i thought why not?

And thanks!