A haze ran deep through the forest, a mix of morning dew and high atmosphere concocting a soothing mist below the foliage. Rainbow Dash could clearly spot the gentle opacity sprawling out for miles in every direction, peeking through canopy and seeping down small cliffs scattered throughout the seemingly endless mountain range. Dawn had broken, and with it, silence; birds sang openly to the morning breeze, a familiar sound but an alien song to the misplaced pegasus. Still, the tranquility was not lost to her; she’d spent just under half a week in this environment, taking her time to appreciate the sights, sounds, and the plethora of fresh flowers it provided. After travelling through the veritable desert of the previous ocean, it was a godsend. Rainbow Dash had found her welcome reprieve, and was savouring all she could.
She breathed in… and out. Then she did it again. And again. And again, and again, and-
NNNEEEEOOOOOWWWW!
BZZZ-BZZZT!
W-W-WOOOOOOOOSH!
Blue feathers fell free as tail hairs were singed. She could feel the heat and air distortion as a flurry of projectiles flew past her diving figure, which was her cue to corkscrew and take off in as sharp a left as she could muster. Two sleek and massive aircrafts mimicked, although with less maneuverability. They were both a muddled green in color, with sharp angles and slants designed to cut through the air and achieve maximum speed in a pursuit, Rainbow noted as she took a moment's breather from a distance. She could easily afford to; their turn rate and acceleration were vastly inferior to her own, and she knew it. In two seconds she could be flying beneath the trees and presumably lose them within half a minute. But these were undeniably advanced machines, and their sheer destructive capabilities were clear. What were they doing out here in a forest, attacking an innocent traveller without a word of warning? She didn’t see any signs, what if somepony else were to make the same mistake?
The roaring grew closer, and Rainbow had a decision to make. She could always just fly away, assume she was intruding on some holy ground and book it to the next continent. Pretend she never saw anything, there were probably signs on the roads. After all, it seemed air travel was extremely rare in this world. What’s the point in unnecessary, stupid risk? Because after all…
She wasn’t the type to shy away from a challenge.
Taking a deep breath out of a now smirking muzzle, she flapped her wings with a resounding CLAP, just as the buzzing began again. Moments later, she was being tailed by the twin jets, with a deafening mix of bullets and engines. Zigging, zagging, and most importantly, zooping, she dodged oncoming fire through expert prediction of positioning as she ascended into even higher altitudes. Far sooner than Rainbow had hoped, one of the pair had broken off to grant the other unobstructed sightlines and either reposition itself or to go get help. Considering the technology, she assumed the former. So with a flick of her feathers and with no small strain on her wings, she began climbing straight up towards the open sky, and the remaining pursuer followed suit. She’d have to be quick about this one to deal with the next.
She strained to stay inconsistent despite her slowing speed, growing ever more worried about the possibility of taking a hit. Near the ground, a wound to her wing could be healed, given time. But this high up…
Another burst went off a foot to her left. No time to think about it. But she didn’t have long to wait, anyways. Just as she was about to level out from exhaustion, she saw the plane give first, and begin to angle away. Just as she had hoped. A backflip, one last burst of effort from her wings, and she soared straight at the thing, colliding with four hooves and sliding down its length before coming to a stop at the front of a vessel. It was only as she was splayed across the nose of the plane that she could tell there was a glass encased cockpit occupying the front. It was also the only time she could tell tell what was occupying it; an apparently stunned and wide eyed “person,” like the others she’d seen, jumping in place with its forearms in front of its face. She could see her blinking expression in its darkened visor as it lowered its hands slowly, and the two stared at each other for what must have been three seconds. Both seemed unsure how to proceed; she had made it on board, but hadn’t planned what to do next.
Its mouth was moving, but she couldn’t hear a thing. Small statements, single words, and despite sharing eye contact, Rainbow knew it wasn’t meant for her. She could feel the wind blowing her mane into a frenzy and kicking her tail up along her side as the jet meandered at an even pace, even with the horizon. Everything was relatively still. It glanced down, if only for a second. She looked. Various glowing buttons lined the interior, and a jumbo joystick like on one of those Neighntendo systems occupied the center. Realization struck as she looked back up to see its hand stop in place, moved inches from its previous position on its lap. She slowly shook her head.
“No…”
It glanced down, back to her.
“Nuh uh. No. No, no, no. No.”
An inch.
“No!”
It lunged, grasping the stick and pushing it all the way forward.
They instantly nosedived, the noise picking up as engines worked overdrive, and seconds later the entire craft began to corkscrew one way, slow down, and then the other. Rainbow was tossed back and forth, a pendulum attached only by her forelegs hugging grip on the smooth front of the thing. Her body flipped with the momentum, stuck upside down with her head pointed to the nose, her grasp on the cone giving way. Her loyalty pendant loudly clanked against the glass, but was almost inaudible next to the rushing wind and screaming engines. Then it hit her.
With nothing left to do, she spread her wings with the wind, with her back still to the plane, and began making adjustments. She’d only have one shot at this. So when the plane slowed its corkscrew roll to shake the other way… she let go. Just as fast, she angled her wings and was flipped upright with the plane in half a second, and the other half was spent positioning her hooves for-
THUNK!
She collided with the front of the cockpit, her legs instantly clamouring to reacquire a grip with the easier surface. After finally, LUCKILY coming to a stop, she could see her impact didn’t leave a scratch against the clear surface, but she wasn’t the least bit surprised. Instead, she went right to work with her hoof, using the other five appendages to slow her slide just long enough for her to reach to her neck and rub the pendant. Almost instantly, the cockpit lit up with amplified crimson light, nearly blinding Rainbow herself with the reflection against the shiny interior. She look away, and only then realized just how long they’d been falling. With twin fins slicing the air behind her, letting go wasn’t much of an option. Still, she could feel her legs give way as she slid halfway down the glass, and with no way to kick off the thing-
She was suddenly in the air, flying off in a different direction completely, trying to scream but incapable of doing so with the air knocked out of her. She felt herself pressed up against whatever had struck her, sailing with it until it suddenly lurched, almost throwing her off completely. If she had any sense left in her, she would’ve let go and taken to the open air, but the thrashing had left her completely disoriented. So, she instead opted to hold on for her dear pony life and to wait for the world to stop spinning. The object tumbled, spinning, eventually began to fall with gravity, but Rainbow couldn’t move. Eventually, she realized it was… slowing, not plummeting, and the twisting was coming to a stop. She unburrowed her face, looked over her shoulder and opened her eyes to a sea of green. She heard wooshing air against canvas and the distant roar of engines, and a second later, a large explosion went off somewhere beneath her.
She flinched in unison with her seat. She stopped. She became aware of heavy breathing. She looked in front of her, and then up. She saw it, and it saw her. Because she was sat squarely in its lap, clinging to its stomach while it clung to her with nearly equal fearful vigor, in an almost cartoonish display of comedic happenstance. She instantly untangled herself from its hands, kicking it in the gut as she took off and rounded about to kick him across the visor. It had little real effect against the giant, but it made it yell… something. Something Grazian, from the sound of it, in a masculine voice. This didn’t stop her from getting in its relatively enormous face and butting helmet with furry skull.
“HEY! You com-pren-dey, mister? I need you to tell your buds back home something for me, alright? So listen close, or turn on your soundstone, or whatever. DON'T,” she accentuated the word with a hard kick to the helmet, “mess with me, or anypony else just minding their own friggin’ business. DON’T come after me, and make sure your friend over there gets the memo. And DON’T…” a harder kick “...get off the ground again, or I’ll PERSONALLY fly back here to make sure it happens. Capiche?”
“Migug-ui seupai sseulegi, doneoldeu teuleompeuui jiog-e daehan jongyeong, dangsin-ui nalaneun dangsin nala jeonche-ui bi muljilhwa doen sichedeullo igeos-eul daedab hal geos-igo, gimjeong-eun-eun igeos-euljijihaji anh-eul geos-ida!”
“...Yeah, ok. I’m gone.” And with that, Rainbow pushed off the parachuting chair, flying west to meet her next competitor, and beyond that, the western horizon.