Write what you want or what you should? Introducing the Shadowbolt. · 4:46pm Jul 14th, 2013
I got a little stuck on the Quorum Sensing sequel -- which is due for a new title, truth be told -- and I wasn't in the mood to write anything with mind control, which at the moment means I didn't want to write that CMC/Octavia sleepover thing (minor spoiler) or the thing I know a few people are waiting anxiously for (another blog post is due for that one, I have some things to say on the topic). I also didn't want to start any new fics, because... well, got a lot of projects as is, not to mention the demand for sequels only adding to my 'to do' list and never letting me diminish it, even with finished stories.
So I didn't get to writing what I should. Honestly, the news of my thesis may have saddled me (heh, saddled ^^) with a bit of writer's block. I'm also seriously demotivated to work on the animation thing, hoping that clears up.
That said, I did manage to write something; another chapter for the eventual Flight Camp sequel, or rather the last part of the chapter. And I figured, since I'm going to be using a different writing style for it, why not post it up as another preview? Hope you enjoy. (Whimper won't show up until later in the story, but he is in it, rest assured.)
Chapter 1: Hurricane Incoming! The Shadowbolt Strikes!
Derpy Hooves was doing her rounds through Ponyville, checking the last letter to be delivered. While it would normally have sat idle in the post office for another day, she prided herself in speedy delivery at all times, even if it was brought in quite late. And since Rainbow Dash hadn’t responded at the door and the letter was marked ‘urgent’, there she was looking for the rainbow-maned mare.
“Um, has anyone seen Rainbow Dash?” she asked the ponies passing her by.
“I think she went up to Sweet Apple Acres,” Golden Harvest answered.
A shiver ran up the mailmare’s spine.
Derpy perked her ears towards a building behind her. She turned slowly, leaving Golden Harvest a bit confused.
“Are you okay, Derpy?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Derpy lied, turning back to her friend. “Thanks for the info.”
With a swift flap of the wing, the mailmare was off. She stole a glance towards the ground, before manoeuvring towards a cloud to shield herself from sight.
“Okay, Derpy, just keep it together,” she told herself, closing her eyes and concentrating on the air around her fur. There was something following her, she was sure of it. She couldn’t tell how long, but it had given itself away when she’d asked about Rainbow Dash.
There was nothing behind her, though. Nothing was following her now, she didn’t feel watched. But she knew she was, she’d felt it very clearly just then. Derpy sighed and held the letter in her hoof, looking out towards Sweet Apple Acres. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this. ”
Rainbow Dash let off a little sigh of relief when the last basket of apples was harvested, as did her friends. In this remote part of the orchard, there weren’t any barns nearby to stock the fruits in. This meant it was a lot less work to simply harvest them all in one go instead of hauling batches one at a time, which wasn’t possible without calling in outside help.
“Thanks for the help, y’all,” Applejack started, “I really appreciate it.”
“It’s nothing, dear,” Rarity offered, setting down her own basket on the ground, “we were glad to help.”
Twilight was about to add something, but the arrival of a grey mailmare distracted her.
“Urgent message for Rainbow Dash,” Derpy said, handing the letter over.
Rainbow Dash shivered for a reason she couldn’t immediately place. She opened the letter. She read it, gulped, then turned to her blonde friend. "Derpy, did anypony follow you here?”
Derpy bit her lip. “Someone might have. I don’t know for sure, though. I tried to lay low, but I just couldn’t tell.”
“What’s the matter, Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked.
“It’s okay. But you’d better get out of here, Derpy. This is going to get ugly.”
“Alright. But are you going to be okay? You still need to clear up the storm front this afternoon, right?” the blonde mare inquired.
Twilight narrowed her eyes at the exchange. “Rainbow, you’re starting to scare us.”
“I knew this was coming. I just didn’t think it’d be today.”
“They’ll probably be putting up the signs in Ponyville by now, if it is that time of the year again. Good luck, anyway,” Derpy Hooves offered.
And with that, she was off, leaving Rainbow to stare at the letter. Pinkie Pie leaned over to check what it said.
“What is goin’ on, Rainbow Dash? What’s so important about that letter? Is it the Wonderbolts?” Applejack inquired.
“No. It’s worse,” she replied.
“What does the letter say, darling?” Rarity inquired.
Pinkie Pie shrugged, citing the only two words used to convey its message.
“Hurricane incoming.”
The figure lurked in the treeline, waiting for Derpy to depart. He hadn’t counted on the rest of the Elements of Harmony to be there, but it wasn’t a big surprise. He could handle the Elements. It was Derpy he didn’t want to have to deal with.
Oh, Dashie, of all the towns you could’ve lived in, you had to live in one with a pony like that as the mailmare.
He didn’t move as he felt the grey mare’s senses expand to him. She was good, he had to give her that much. She didn’t spot him, though. No pony ever did. Rainbow Dash didn’t even bother following suit. She just stared at the letter and seemed to resign herself to her fate.
Gettin’ sloppy, Rainbow Dash.
The stallion kept his grin suppressed when the mailmare finally departed. A little more time, make sure she was well and proper gone and then…
Showtime.
“Hurricane incoming? What does that mean?” Twilight asked.
“You remember Whimper from Flight Camp?” Rainbow asked.
“That was the larger one you spoke of, yes? The one with a talent for fighting?” Rarity tried.
“Sort of,” Rainbow explained. “He’d suffered a trauma. Because of that, he had this weird condition that made his mind and body work differently. And it gave him some problems. I never told you how I knew, but… I have the same thing. I don’t think in words, I’ve got stronger instincts, and my body’s, well… overcharged. But I never got past a certain limit, so I’m still kind of normal.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Twilight asked.
“There’s one guy I know who has what Whimper has, in the final stages of it. He’s the one who gave it to me. He’s the reason I am the way I am. Imagine me, squared.”
Thunder sounded in the distance. Clouds were converging on the apple orchard, a vast darkness swirling and congealing above the six friends. The clouds themselves began to roar.
“I am the terror that flaps through the night! I am the strand of hair that you never get in order!” a deep, male voiced called out. Rarity quickly checked her own mane at the threat, concerned. “I am –“ A rotten apple launched into the cloud interrupted that call.
“Interrupting!” Rainbow Dash yelled at the cloud. “You can’t just show up here and not let me explain.”
A peal of thunder went through the cloud, accompanied by more of that booming voice that seemed to come from everywhere at once. “Mind your manners, Rainbow Dash.”
“Rainbow, who is that? Who’s in that cloud?” Twilight asked.
“No one you know. Just somepony I know. He’s here to fight me,” Rainbow Dash admitted.
“What?” the other Elements of Harmony exclaimed, confused.
Fluttershy started shaking. Rainbow Dash put a comforting hoof on her shoulder, that immediately calmed her down.
Up above, the silhouette of a pegasus stallion descended from its dark concealing cloud. His mane and tail were an obsidian black, with little flecks of black falling off like ash. His wings, ears, and the tip of his muzzle were air superiority blue, the most intimidating shade of blue known to ponydom. But the rest of him was covered. His eyes were hidden behind yellow visors, his body was covered by a uniform that was purple over his midsection and black over his face and hooves, with little yellow streaks of lightning in between.
The costume rang a few alarm bells in the minds of Rainbow Dash’s friends. Twilight suddenly recalled a little something the pegasus had mentioned at Flight Camp. “Wait, is that the Ashen Blizzard? But he’s –“
“A Shadowbolt. And it is him; the strongest warrior in Equestria. The single shadow to the light of all the Wonderbolts,” Rainbow Dash explained as she slowly took off. “It’s a long story.”
“Rainbow Dash!” the stallion boomed, right on cue. He seemed to speak with a slight Southern drawl, too. “I challenge you to a fight, by the ancient rules of combat. One on one, my skills against yours. Do you accept?”
“I-I don’t know, Rainbow Dash,” Pinkie Pie started, “this guy doesn’t look like he’s just playing around.”
“He’s not. Don’t worry, I know what to do. Just don’t step in. Whatever you do, don’t step in. If you do, you become a target. I can’t fight to protect both me and you. And nothing you do is going to work on this guy. Do you promise to let this go?”
Reluctantly, Applejack nodded. Then Fluttershy, though she had to suppress a tear at the imposing spectacle in the sky. Pinkie Pie followed, then a grimacing Rarity. Twilight was the last one to agree. “If this guy’s anything like Whimper, that means he can dodge spells, right?”
“Not all the time. He can turn that sense on and off, and it takes a lot of concentration to keep up, but you don’t wanna risk it. It’s my fight,” Rainbow Dash assured.
“But he is stronger than you, isn't he? He could kill you.”
“He won’t. Just promise you won’t step in.”
“I promise, if you promise to be careful. I don’t like this, Rainbow. You can feel the anger and hate in the air, it’s turning cold like a blizzard down here. It’ll be worse up close.”
“Don’t worry,” Rainbow Dash assured as she flew up to the Shadowbolt’s height, “I’ve been waiting a long time to do this.”
“Well?” the stallion asked, grinning wickedly.
“I accept,” Rainbow Dash replied. “We fight by the same rules as before. Last one standing wins.”
“There’s a good girl,” the stallion replied.
Derpy trotted through the streets of Ponyville, looking for something to calm herself down. She briefly considered a little trip to Sugarcube Corner, but she feared not even muffins would help in this situation. The dark cloud over Sweet Apple Acres confirmed her suspicion. Maybe if she had a friend over to share the muffins with, that’d help. She smiled to herself as the full consequences of it sunk in. She turned towards Sugarcube Corner and, upon entering, got to a table for two, ordered a pair of muffins and put one of them outside with a note on it.
“I see you. I see everything.”
A few passers-by gave the setup an odd look, but Derpy merely went inside and relaxed with her own little treat. She’d hardly taken a bite before a resigned grunt greeted her from the entrance.
Mister and Missus Cake regarded the stranger in their store. Derpy didn’t so much as bat an eyelid.
“How did you know?” the stranger asked.
“Your master gave you away,” Derpy replied.
“Remind me to hurt him for that,” the new arrival started, before joining Derpy with the muffin she’d placed on the windowsill.
“You might have to pick a card and get in line for that, actually.”
The two pegasi squared off in the skies, one’s gaze focused intently on her opponent, the other’s hidden behind a visor.
“Alright, then, let’s get danger-“ the Shadowbolt started, before disappearing just as Rainbow Dash lunged. “You know, it’s really rude to interrupt a guy in the middle of a catch phrase.”
Another flash, another rainbow trail, and this time she made contact, her right hoof extended in a hook that the Shadowbolt blocked. “You know, it’s rude to keep talking in the middle of a fight,” she retorted.
She disengaged with a flap, he flew up into his concealing cloud. Taking a deep breath in and steadying the urge to shiver, she followed him.
Down below, Rainbow Dash’s friends gasped as the sky erupted with thunderclaps. Lightning went one way, a rainbow trail went the other, and every so often they’d see a glimpse of their friend locked in arms with the Shadowbolt.
“Who is she fighting?” Rarity asked.
“The Ashen Blizzard,” Twilight explained. “Rainbow Dash said he was the strongest warrior in Equestria, that his real name was a secret. I guess she knows him personally.”
“Why are they fighting?” Fluttershy asked, covering her head with her hooves as the air above them was littered with black and rainbow-coloured streaks.
They saw the Shadowbolt duck into his concealing cloud again, then a rainbow trail started cutting into it, shrinking the camouflage and eventually getting another shot in at the stallion inside. The two traded blows, each punching and kicking at a pace that the naked eye could barely follow up close, let alone from afar.
With one fell swipe of the hoof, she blew up what remained of the cloud, sending a great wind over the orchard. The skies cleared, and only their friend and the Shadowbolt remained contrasted against the clear blue.
“My, my, Rainbow, you have gotten a bit better. Time was you spent hours peckin’ away to get me out in the open.”
“Stop messing around,” she replied. “You’re holding back, I can tell.”
The Ashen Blizzard chuckled and shrugged.
“Maybe I am, Dashie, maybe I am. But what are you gonna do about it? You know you can’t hope to land a punch or a kick, not with both of us up in the air. And I know every single one of your tricks, too.”
Rainbow put up her forelegs and turned her hind quarters to a fighting stance, making a minimal target of her abdomen like a pro. Her opponent smirked.
“That’s better, girl, show me what you got. What’ll it be this time? That Filly Flash? Your old Buccaneer Blaze? Your Falling Leaf Kick?” He taunted. He opened his forelegs wide, then drew an X over his chest. “Come on. Hit me with your best shot.”
Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and hid the confident smirk that remark elicited.
You’re gonna regret saying that.
Rainbow disappeared in another multi-coloured flash. She flew circles around the Shadowbolt, fast enough to be invisible. With a little bit of steering, she made the circles go above and below him, going in a random pattern that left the stallion trapped in a sphere of colours.
“Come on now, Dashie, you know I don’t need eyes to track you. If you’re gonna do your fancy shmancy Falling Leaf Kick, I already know you’re plannin’ to hit me from behind, anyway. So what’s keepin’ ya?”
No response came, but the howling in the air of a pegasus going at extreme speeds. Down below, the gang of friends couldn’t believe the spectacle of colours unfolding, or guess what would happen next.
The Ashen Blizzard waited patiently.
Let’s see… she’s going to kick me in three, two, one…
No.
All around, he felt the winds crushing him down, keeping his forelegs and wings pinned to his sides. “There’s no way,” he stammered. “How?”
She whizzed past him, sending him hurtling down along with the pocket of air she’d trapped him in.
Rainbow smiled all the way.“You got careless. You can only dodge magic when you’re looking out for it. I told you I’d do it one day, and I’ve had a lot of time to practise.”
He barely had time to think of a response before the ground rushed up to meet him.
Rainbow Dash pulled up, her opponent didn’t. What followed was an explosion of grass and dirt, leaving a crater in the orchard that looked like the remains of an asteroid impact. Rainbow stood at its edge, the Shadowbolt lay in its centre. She heaved her head up and down, panting, he didn’t move at all.
“I did it. I DID IT!” she jumped up and pointed a hoof at her felled opponent. “You didn’t think I could do it, but I did it! I finally did it! Who’s laughing now?”
Twilight came running over to check the damage, her friends in tow.“What did you do to that guy?”
“He dropped his guard. He wasn’t keeping a close enough eye on what I was doing, so I made a little wind cage to hold him steady while I rammed him into the ground.”
“He doesn’t look so good, Dashie,” Pinkie Pie remarked.
“He’ll be fine, he’s had worse.”
“I don’t believe this, Rainbow. I can understand a little roughhousing, but you hurt the guy, you seriously hurt the guy,” Applejack started, sliding down into the crater.
Rainbow shrugged and started walking away. “Chillax, AJ. He knew the risk when he challenged me. And he had it coming.”
Fluttershy descended along with Applejack, checking the prone stallion’s condition. “I-I don’t think he’s breathing, Rainbow Dash.”
“Trust me, he’s fine.”
“Rainbow, I’m surprised at you,” Twilight started. “I thought you were just going to tell him off or incapacitate him, not brutally murder him.”
Rainbow Dash kept her back to her friends. “Really, guys, it’s fine. He’ll be back on his hooves in no –“ She was cut short by a dark figure jumping from behind her.
Fluttershy and Applejack didn’t even have time to gasp. Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie Pie froze in the instant it took the Shadowbolt to close the gap. In that instant, he put his foreleg around her neck.
Twilight’s mind reeled.
Cast a spell. Cast a spell, Twilight, before he kills your friend. No, no, no, don’t just stand there like a stunned rabbit, do something!
He’s got his foreleg on her throat. He’s going to kill her. He’s going to choke her. He’s going to snap her neck, he’s going to… give her a noogie?
Rainbow was laughing as the stallion playfully ruffled her mane with his free hoof. The other ponies could only stare in awe as the circled around.
“What just happened?” Rarity asked.
“I’d guess they’re friends?” Fluttershy tried.
The pair of pegasi broke their odd equivalent of a hug, and the stallion’s face seemed to get stuck on ‘goofy smile’. “Fancy that, Rainbow, you’ve been holding out on me. That was a perfect Wind Cage, when did you learn to do that?”
“A couple of weeks ago. Princess Luna gave me some pointers back at the royal wedding.”
The Shadowbolt chuckled. “Remind me to properly thank her for that.”
“Excuse me, but what is happening here?” Twilight interrupted.
Rainbow smiled embarrassedly and put her hoof to her face. “Oh, right. Sorry, I meant to tell you guys, but –“
“You never told your friends about me?” the Shadowbolt asked. “I am shocked and appalled, Rainbow.”
“Would you believe it never came up? And take off that stupid disguise, it looks weird on you.”
Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, was physically shaking with anticipation. “Come on, Rainbow Dash, who is this guy and how do you know him?”
“It is not a disguise, Rainbow Dash: it is a glamour, and you know it.” The stallion ran a hoof through his hair and flicked his tail, shaking off the black flecks that seemed to perpetually spawn from the hairs. He took off his visor and folded the top part of his costume so his face was finally showing.
Five jaws dropped, and for a very specific reason.
The reason wasn’t that this pony, who could summon thunderclouds and survive a drop from atmospheric heights, had a look in his eye that told of old age but hardly any wrinkles to go along with them. It thus had very little to do with the fact that he looked a lot younger than he was.
The reason also wasn’t that the guy had blue in his mane. Nor was it that he had green in his tail. The yellow, red, and purple, also had nothing to do with their shock.
It was the fact that he had all these colours combined, in the same place as their friend.
A rainbow mane. The Ashen Blizzard, the most powerful warrior in Equestria, the Shadowbolt, had a rainbow mane.
“Everypony, meet Hurricane Hue, also known as the Ashen Blizzard. He’s the Combat Choreographer for the Canterlot Cultural Centre, the founder of the Nine Dragons style of fighting, the personal sparring partner for princess Celestia and princess Luna, the head of the Equestrian Warrior Society, and, well… “She wrapped a foreleg around his neck to hug him close. ”My dad.”
“Howdie,” the living legend greeted.
They all stared. Pinkie Pie had already fallen over, rigid like a mannequin.
Applejack was the first to break the reverie. “Okay, am I the only one who’s not surprised by this?”
Just wanted to comment about your mentioning of "the demand for sequels".
I tried doing that once. I wrote a one-shot that ended on a point I was very happy with, then the requests for "I want to see more X/Y/Z!" started pouring in practically instantly. I figured I'd try, just to satisfy all those readers (who were of a considerable number), and the result was... well, as far as I'm concerned, the worst thing I wrote since I graduated from high school. It was fun, in that I got to explore some more headcanon in that universe, but... it just didn't add anything to the story that wasn't already in the original one-shot, and, while the headcanon was fun, I had to force and struggle through actually writing it. The result was not pretty...
-and yet it turned out to be my second most popular story. Go figure, right?
Rainbow father is the most powerful pony. As Applejack said, “Okay, am I the only one who’s not surprised by this?” There where hints about in the story its self. Cant wait for this story to post now so write more.
interesting!! I want to read more! XD
Just reread this and have a question to ask so then. The Ashen Blizzard is based on Darkwing Duck And Rainbow Dash is like DW than because I can totally see that working for me than if that is the case.
1212325
Not based on DW, just has a few oneliners. He is actually based more on what I've read about certain martial arts masters. The story in itself will build more on the warrior aspect that was broached in the first fic, but it'll have Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle as the main characters, as well as Hue. More explanation to what exactly that 'warrior heart' thing is, who else has it (though you can probably guess) and how this affected Rainbow in her childhood. Expect Hue to bring a lot of comedy to the table, when all is said and done. Which will take a long time, given that the other things I'm supposed to write take priority.
So no, Hue is not based on Darkwing Duck in any way.
1212327
Ok thanks for clarifying that fact for me.