//------------------------------// // Rainbow Dash Sets a Trap // Story: Utaan // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// Inside the hollow of a partially-collapsed shipwreck, Rainbow Dash, Ariel, and Enix huddled along with other nightblooded sarosians. With well-timed motions, the group laid down yet another strip of densely-packed explosives encased in lunar dust. "Mrmmfff..." Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth, sweating. The sound of thunder and crashing waves echoed through the splintery spaces leading outside. "Just how big of a bang is this stuff gonna make?" "That depends." Enix dropped the last layer of moon rock and hovered in place. She turned, bearing a brief, scarred smile in Rainbow's direction. "The Blood of Luna must have a well-tempered scale of explosives. Ywm?" Rainbow smirked, wiping her brow. "I've had my fair share of booms and kapows over the past two years or so. Yeah." "If I'm not mistaken, the purpose of this is to surprise and confuse our enemy," Enix remarked. "If we truly wanted to eradicate them, we would be using far more ordinance—which would also require more moon rocks." Rainbow nodded. "Whatever gets them freaked out to the point that they feel like they're surrounded." Ariel glanced out the nearest hole and spoke to those inside. "We're getting a signal from the other wreck! They've set the other explosives!" "Good." Enix gestured outside the wreck. She took wing—followed swiftly by her subordinates. Rainbow and Ariel flew out along with her. They joined another group, and soon all of the ponies were hovering above a narrow strait passing through two jutting chunks of rock bespeckled with the splintery remnants of shipwrecks. "There should be equal charges inside each location now," Enix said, pointing at the two wrecks against the rocks. "If timed just right, then both explosives should go off simultaneously. It'll be a truly fear-inducing blast." Her slitted eyes narrowed. "The concussive blast alone might deaffen ponies." "Here's a question," Rainbow Dash said, raising a hoof in the gloomy air. She spoke above the thunder: "How exactly are we gonna... y'know... light these charges?" "Will one of us have to squat on the rocks beside the charges and say the magic word?" Ariel asked. Enix shook her head. "Far be it from that." She gestured. "There's a special combination of runic commands that I've yet to teach you." Her velvety brow furrowed. "It charges a projectile that—when fired from afar—will carry the same runic command over a long distance and affect other runes by proximity." "So..." Rainbow Dash squinted. "It's like literally launching your voice." "Affirmative." Enix nodded. "It is essentially the combination of three charges: the explosive command, a propulsive command to carry it, and a proximity command to spread the enchantment." Rainbow whistled. "Guess I've got my work cut out for me." "I can easily order my warriors to launch the runes," Enix said. "It will require two ponies firing two runic discharges." "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Rainbow said. She pointed at the twin wrecks beneath her. "So long as we can get this crud to overwhelm the buttheads when they get here." "I have full confidence that we can implement it." "There's still... uh... s-something of a problem," Ariel said with a nervous smile. When the others looked at her, she stammered, "How do we expect the Rohbreddenites to actually sail through this obvious trap of a strait beneath us?" "For any of this to work, it's going to depend on me." Rainbow Dash paced across the top deck of the Princess Stardust. The Herald sat before her, listening intently. "It's been a long time since the angry zealots of 'Verlaxion' saw me," Rainbow Dash said. She shrugged in mid-trot. "Odds are a bunch of them have never even met me before. This will have been their first opportunity to avenge their fallen Queen." "So..." Bard glanced at Wildcard, then back at Rainbow. "They're gonna need a little incentive." Rainbow scuffled to a stop, staring at him. "They're going to need me to get all up in their grill." She glanced aside at Remna. "I gotta make them mad." Remna nodded. "Prey upon their emotions." "Righto." Rainbow shuffled about once more. "If they see me... hear me... and get the general whiff of my badflankish bravado... then I just might be able to drain any residual tactical intelligence from their psyche." "Is this gonna involve what I asked about earlier?" Ariel asked. Rainbow nodded. "We've got a plan to draw their ships through a particular point in the edgeside shallows." She pointed east at two specific promontories of rock. "If we can somehow get them to pass through that strait, then we can blow up a pair of gigantic charges that will set the ocean on fire and—hopefully—scare the ever-living petticoats out of them." "Sounds difficult," Flynn said. "I sure hope that this entire plan doesn't depend on a fireworks show." "Oh. Definitely not. But think about it!" Rainbow smirked briefly. "If they find themselves stuck in the shallows, surrounded by explosions and flames and shipwrecks, then it just might be the kind of shock that will stun them completely out of their offense." "But before that..." Logan's eyes narrowed. "It sounds like you're going to have to pull double-time. After all... once they see you, they're going to flip their shit." "Fact of the matter is that we gotta help Bleak's Plummet get away unseen," Rainbow said. "According to Enix, Bleak's Plummet can't move long distances underwater for a while without having to surface. Something to do with recharging the mana runes... or whatever." She cleared her throat and gestured. "Point is, for Bleak's Plummet to successfully pass under the little armada, it's gotta wait until the last second." "Yeah, we know that part," Logan said. "But then..." Rainbow Dash continued, trotting closer to the group. "As it's passing under the Rohbreddenites, it's still gonna be at risk. I mean..." Her eyes narrowed. "These dudes are gonna be super angry... but if they're Frostknife's finest, then they're gonna be smart... at least for a little while." "No doubt they'll be searrching forr sarrosian submerrsibles," Kepler said. "Totally." Rainbow looked at the group. "And I doubt Bleak's Plummet will be able to go deep enough to avoid their detection. Sooooooo..." Rainbow took a deep breath. "I gotta make my grand entrance at the precise time that the armada passes over it." She swallowed. "Hopefully... that'll be enough to shake them out of the moment and they'll switch gears completely." "They'll be honed in on your ass," Logan said. "Righto. They're out here on one mission," Rainbow Dash explained. "I intend to give them what they came for—albeit dangling on the end of a long, crooked stick." "Don't you think that presents a nasty problem, though, Rainbow?" Ariel remarked. "Let it out, girl." Ariel sighed. "The moment you show your silly head, they're gonna be thirsting for blood." She gulped. "They're all fliers, right? What's gonna stop them from just taking off and spearing you in mid-air? Never mind their armada?" Rainbow took a raspy breath. "Well—" "And don't you dare say 'I'll just outrun those melon fudges!'" Ariel planted her hooves on her hips, huffing. "We're at the edge of the world. This is as serious as it'll ever get!" "I think the lovestricken mortal is missing the point," Remna interjected. "All that the Austraeoh has to do is appear. Will the warriors come to vanquish her give chase?" She nodded her violet head. "Of course they will. That is not only something that we can predict... but something we must exploit." "How?" Flynn squinted his one good eye. "We're talking about over a hundred of super pissed-off pegasi and griffons. They'll shred Rainbow Dash apart in a second." "Then we must orchestrate a way to make her disappear," Remna said. She turned to face the pegasus in question. "And construct a trap in the air much like the one being planned at sea level." "What kind of a trap, exactly?" Bard asked. Rainbow tapped her chin in thought. She looked up... up... Dark clouds hung overhead. Rainbow's ears twitched. She smiled.