//------------------------------//
// Chapter 143: Kibitzer 
// Story: Piercing the Heavens 
// by Calm Wind 
//------------------------------//

MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind

Chapter 143: Kibitzer





Within seconds of spotting Ruin, everypony whipped around and set their hooves firmly in defensive positions. All but two of them were not in any fighting condition whatsoever, but their Wonderbolt instincts kicked in as they scrambled. Soarin and Macho Savage placed themselves in the front of the pack, pushing Misty Fly back behind them as they stood defensively between Ruin and their weary comrades. Calm Wind had quickly grabbed Fleetfoot and Shine, doing his best to not squeeze Fleetfoot too hard as he moved them around to keep them behind the rest.

“That was quite a performance!” Ruin commented as he continued to float in the air. “Such a good show, I definitely got my bits’ worth!” He stretched out and flipped over so he was ‘lying’ on his stomach. “Really, I have to admit, your battle plan was brilliant,” he complimented as he flipped a hoof around. “This ship is vastly inferior to ours by every measure, but you made do with what was available. And that stunt you pulled at the end? That was a killer finale!” He snickered as he twisted around a few times before shifting again so he was facing away from them and looking out the window. “I can only imagine what my fellow Shadowbolts are thinking right now! I bet their heads are spinning trying to figure out how they got beaten so soundly… And those thestrals!” He turned back over and shifted slightly towards them, making them all flinch. “I was wondering how you were going to use them… Oh, I loved it… the look on Void’s face was priceless! OH HO HO!!!!!” He turned over and grabbed his stomach while cackling. 

He continued to laugh for several seconds as everypony else remained completely silent and tense.

“Oh ho… ho ha… ha ho ho ho…” He turned his eyes towards them all, scoffing. “Oh, you’re all so cute… Relax, already,” he flipped a hoof towards them as he slowly lowered his hooves to the floor and leaned against the wall, crossing a front hoof over the other as he stood in calm repose. 





“If I was here to fight, I would have already attacked you,” he said casually as he looked off towards the front of the bridge. A few of the Wonderbolts blinked and glanced back and forth, but Soarin stomped a hoof hard against the floor.

“Nice try, FREAK!” Soarin yelled, refusing to break focus and internally screaming at himself for getting too comfortable and letting something like this happen. He was sure Spitfire was thinking the same thing. “How the hell did you get in?!”

“Why, the same way everypony else does!” he rolled his eyes and shrugged without dropping his wide smile. His crystals came to life and eight spheres appeared around him. Everypony gasped and readied themselves… but the spheres suddenly all morphed into miniature doors that started opening and closing. “Doors aren’t very complicated. It’s easy, you put your hoof on the door and push if it goes in, or you grab the handle and pull if it opens out. Take notes, this will be on the test! OH HO HO!” He threw his head back and placed a hoof over his eyes as he laughed again briefly. “Ahhhhhhhh I’m so witty…” he claimed with a sigh as his crystals calmed down and the little doors vanished. He replaced his hoof on the floor crossed over the other and looked back out at all of them. “What, seriously?” he huffed quietly as he examined their body language. “Come on, I told you I’m not here to fight…” He tipped his head down a little, pursed his lips into an exaggerated pout and gave made wide puppy dog eyes. “I’m hurt… You let Moon walk around in here all he wants! Why so much love for him, but none for little old me?”





“We don’t LET Moon do anything!” Spitfire suddenly blurted out as she pushed her way in between Soarin and Savage, the two of them parting slightly to let her stomp forward and glare towards Ruin. “And pardon ME… for not having much LOVE…” Her words were harsh, sharp, and intense as a loud snarl began escaping her throat, her nose wrinkled up as her eyes narrowed into a fierce glare. “For the one who tortured a stallion who is very important to me and infected him with some freakish crystal disease!!!!!” she yelled, her voice steadily rising all throughout.

Ruin blinked when she mentioned Wave. His smile vanished for a moment as he turned his head to the side and tapped a hoof to his chin. 





“Oh…. That’s right…” his lips curled back into a smile as his pupil slowly moved back over to Spitfire. 





“That was my doing, wasn’t it?” He sneered as a taunting tone slithered its way through his words.

“YOU SON OF A—” Spitfire lurched forward, but Soarin quickly reached out and grabbed her, anticipating her move.

“SPITFIRE!” he yelled as she forced him forward slightly with her motion. His hooves skidded a few inches along the floor before he pushed down over her back to stop her. He was on edge too, but they couldn’t have Spitfire making any moves she’d regret. As he held her still, he could feel her body shaking, but it wasn’t from any soreness or pain. She was angry, seething… and it was no mystery why. Ruin was the one who infected Wave… she had every right to want to rip his head off.

“Oh, come on… COME ON!” Ruin cackled as he reached a hoof out and made beckoning motions. “Let her come at me!” he suggested as he shook with laughter. “It’s not like it would work… or solve anything.” His voice became slightly condescending as he pushed himself off the wall. He didn’t advance towards them at all, but the motion alone made half the ponies in the room flinch. “I don’t mean to toot my own horn here, but…” he reached a hoof up, exhaled on it twice and rubbed it gently against his chest. “None of you could land a hoof on me if you tried, and that’s even if you were all in fighting condition. I have to say, Nightshade sure did a number on you all!”

“Nice bluff, you skinny beanpole!” Soarin shot back as he continued to hold Spitfire steady. “If you’re so damn strong than cut the shit and prove it!”

“Oh, don’t tempt me…” Ruin immediately retorted smoothly while licking his lips.

“Soarin…” Dash quietly spoke up behind him. “He’s not bluffing…” she alerted him as Soarin blinked and tried to keep his glare steady. Fire Streak shifted up beside her subtly.

“Sir, she speaks the truth,” he supported Dash. “During our rescue operation he single hoofedly took us all down with seemingly little effort.

“Rgh…” Soarin reluctantly acknowledged them, gritting his teeth as his glare twitched slightly.

“He’s right you know,” Ruin pointed towards Fire Streak, both him and Dash flinching since Ruin somehow heard them despite their soft whispering. “Listen to those who’ve had some quality time with my hospitality… I can be very SWEET, but I’m told I follow with quite a SOUR aftertaste,” he said creepily while tipping his head down slightly and bouncing his eyebrows.

“Then…” Soarin grumbled as he fought for options. He felt like he was at the forefront with Spitfire still in his grip and not quite in a stable state to speak for them. “Why?” he asked simply, wondering the same thing everypony else was and afraid to ask. Unlike Moon, Ruin had already proven to be dangerous. So why was he not attacking them?

“Why would I?!” Ruin blurted out while rearing back and throwing his arms out to his sides. He took a step towards them, balancing perfectly on his back legs like a bipedal being, his signature cackle slipping through constant snickering. 





“I haven’t had this much fun…EVER!” He continued to giggle as he fell back down onto all four hooves. “You’re all such a great source of entertainment. It would be such a shame if it ended so soon. Have you ever heard of anypony that’s happy when their favorite show ends? I sure haven’t, so why would I willingly end my own? Come on, I’m not that crazy… but I might be close, OH HO HO!!!” He tipped over and fell on his side, holding his hooves up in the air as he kept his eyes on them and kept laughing.

Everypony just stared, stiff and uneasy as Ruin continued to completely control the air of the moment. He kept laughing, eventually grabbing his stomach and rocking back and forth for almost a minute as everypony continued to watch and wait for him to try something.

“Haaa… Hooo… Heee… Ho ho, ahem…” He cleared his throat, a pink glow surrounding him as he slowly rose up until he was casually standing upside-down on the ceiling. “Excuse me, I tend to get the chortles when I’m excited, but let’s be serious right now,” he said… while upside down. “I’m not about to RUIN my own fun. Besides, if I tried anything right now I doubt I’d be successful.”

Soarin blinked, tipping his head slightly as the rest had similar reactions, a wave of confusion sweeping over them.

“Yes, yes, yes, I know, I know…” said Ruin as he detached from the ceiling and slowly turned right side up while floating to the floor. “I just claimed I could kill you all easily, and really… I could, I want to be crystal clear about that,” he snickered as his crystals quickly orbited around his neck. “Alas… there’s just one problem…”

The moment he trailed off, everypony’s ears perked up at a loud noise. It sounded like loud scraping, as if something was being pushed along the metal floor. After looking around in several directions, everypony eventually found the source.

Behind them all… was a cardboard box. A cardboard box that was moving in very slow increments, a few inches at a time. It slowly shifted forward, inch by inch, pushing its way through the gathered Wonderbolts as they all stared down at it blankly. 

As it moved past them and started inching towards Ruin, Dash glanced around at all of them before sighing heavily and gently bumping her hoof against her face. She knew exactly what was in the box. Rather… who.

The box finally reached Ruin after two full minutes, moving right up to his side as Ruin ignored it and stared forward with a flattened brow. After stopping, the box suddenly spun repeatedly, making loud swishing noises before it abruptly stopped, revealing writing on the front of it that read: “One Abundant Assortment of Ass-Mad.” Ruin released a long, frustrated sigh.

“It’s because of—”

Ruin was immediately cut off as loud revving noises came from within the box resembling somepony pulling the starter cord of a lawn mower or a chainsaw. Shortly after, a loud roar of a motor filled the room. A tiny chainsaw blade roughly the width of a ruler poked out above the words written on the box and made an unholy amount of noise as it began cutting through the cardboard.

BBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV...

Everypony except for Ruin cringed and winced as the little chainsaw slowly carved out two holes. When the shape was complete, the chainsaw shut off and a green hoof pushed the carved pieces out. Twister’s eyes appeared inside the newly carved eyeholes, poking a little further out than should be possible before his pupils slowly glanced up at Ruin. Some shuffling came from within the box for a moment before two green ears flopped out of the top of the box right above the eyes.

“It’s because of—”

BBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV...

The chainsaw cut him off again, this time slowly cutting out a small circle on the right side of the box. Ruin furrowed his brow and scrunched his mouth up as he waited impatiently for the chainsaw to stop again.

With the circle complete, it went completely quiet again, save for the soft plop of the carved circle falling off the box and hitting the floor. Twister’s hoof and arm reached out of the box, moving very slowly towards Ruin before it gently poked him in the side and remained there. Ruin exhaled and stared towards the rest of them with the most unstable look of frustration and unamusement they had ever seen.





Ruin lifted a hoof over the box and pointed down at it sharply.

“It’s because of HIM,” Ruin finally managed to say with an audible growl in the back of his throat. “I’m not really in the mood to for being tricked into making silly faces right now, nor being beaten over the head with coffee cups.” Ruin flinched awkwardly as Twister began gently tracing circles on Ruin’s flank with his hoof. Ruin took a quick step to the right to get out of reach, but Twister immediately shifted with him and kept doing it. Ruin sighed and rolled his eyes. “Look, I’m all for a little cacophony, but I’m not stupid,” he continued as he kept all of his focus on the rest of them. “I don’t know where the hell you found this moron, but his resilience and inexplicable ability to beat me senseless is absolutely infuriating.” He paused again and scowled as Twister’s box started rubbing up against his shoulder affectionately.

With a loud growl, Ruin glared at the box and slammed a hoof down over the top of it as hard as he could. The box completely collapsed and flattened to the floor, making a loud wheezing noise followed by an incredibly sexual and feminine “Oh baby…” Before Twister suddenly crashed through the ceiling above Ruin, and landed on his back.

Ruin flinched, but only flattened his brow, turning his attention back to the Wonderbolts. He ignored Twister completely as he began making monkey noises and picking through Ruin’s mane with his eyes open wide and pointing in different directions.

“See what I mean?” Ruin huffed, a loud burst of air shooting from his nostrils as he snorted. “No matter what I do he’ll just—” Ruin’s eyes went wide and he flinched as Twister started rubbing his plot against the back of Ruin’s neck. “Oh, come on! That’s just inappropriate!” Ruin turned and glared at Twister, taking his eyes off the Wonderbolts.

“SAVAGE!” Spitfire suddenly yelled from within Soarin’s grip. “NOW!”

“OOOOOH YEEEEEEEAH!!!!!!” Macho Savage yelled as he suddenly charged, startling all of them. 

“WAIT!!!!” Dash yelled, reaching forward as her and Fire’s warnings were ignored, but Matteo quickly grabbed her by the shoulder and held her back.

Savage’s hooves pounded against the floor with heavy steps as he surged headlong at Ruin, leaping into the air and pulling back both of his front hooves.

“SNAP INTO A SLIM JI—” 

Before he could thrust his arms towards Ruin, a bright light shone from the three crystals, surrounding Ruin with an intense pink glow. Savage ran smack into some sort of invisible force as if he was being held just out of reach by a net. Savage began growling, opening his wings and pumping them hard, strong blasts of wind propelling behind him and crashing into the Wonderbolts as he tried to push through whatever held him back while swiping his arms out at Ruin.

Ruin slowly turned his face towards Savage, not even blinking as the strong arms and hooves swished back and forth inches from his face. Ruin’s eyes had turned black, his pupils small white dots as he smirked at the struggling bruiser reaching for him. His crystals began orbiting him furiously, a bright pink aura wrapping itself around his right arm as he casually reached it towards Savage… 





And tapped it to his forehead.

A loud POW rang out as Savage catapulted backwards. The Wonderbolts shrieked and yelped as Savage’s massive bulk flung towards them, Lightning Streak, Surprise, and High Winds were unable to move aside in time with the rest. All three of them were roughly knocked aside as Savage flew by and ran back first into the control platform railing. He flipped over it, a few hiding staff members scattering as the bulky pony landed on the other side with a THUD.

The Wonderbolts immediately made several moves, Fire Streak and Misty Fly quickly checking on Lightning, Surprise, and High Winds as the staff members moved to see if Savage was okay. Savage was rocking back and forth on the floor, swearing up a storm, but otherwise seemed only shaken. The other three weren’t so lucky, Fire Streak and Misty Fly quickly moving all three of them together and standing in front defensively as they groaned and shuddered on the floor. With Savage knocked back, Soarin quickly forced Spitfire behind him and set himself at the front, glaring and snarling at Ruin.

Ruin exhaled, putting his hoof back to the floor. 

“Anypony else want some?” he asked with a demonic echo resonating from his voice.

Nopony moved, and those who were focused on him were clearly hesitant to make any advances. Nopony saw it, but Spitfire must’ve made a few silent signals to Savage, throwing the strongest and most battle ready Wonderbolt they had on deck at Ruin… but Ruin swatted him aside like a fly with his magic. They were all quickly realizing that Dash and Fire were NOT exaggerating… Ruin was not like the other Shadowbolts at all.

“Indeed, I thought not,” Ruin said with a light chuckle as his eyes returned to normal and the glow receded from both his body and crystals. But before he could say anything else he sighed and rolled his eyes as Twister began slowly licking his left ear up and down. “Are you done?” he asked with an annoyed grunt.

Soarin’s eyes twitched as he struggled to keep his glare up. He was so conflicted… Ruin was clearly powerful on a seemingly supernatural level, making him dangerous beyond any measure. He had talked himself up, then proved it with Savage…. But he also admitted he could not touch Twister and was seemed to be telling the truth about that too through his unwillingness to engage. There was no bluffing about him, no dishonesty. It was pure, unfiltered confidence and control of the situation. It was similar to Nightshade, but… When Nightshade did it to them it felt like an effort, like she was trying to get in their heads and would apply any extreme methods needed to do so. Ruin was doing the same thing if little to no effort at all. He was doing it naturally, just by being himself. It was unnerving.

And that’s what truly bothered Soarin. It felt like Ruin was in here now… just because he wanted to be. As if to display his ability to do as he pleased. But there was no way it could be that simple. 

“Out with it…” Soarin spoke up, but Ruin was busy looking over his shoulder and glaring at Twister. “I’M TALKING TO YOU!”

“And I’m listening,” Ruin calmly replied, waving a hoof towards Soarin as he continued to glare and try to shake off Twister to no avail. Soarin’s face scrunched further, but he kept himself steady. He had to keep his emotions in check for the horn’s sake.

“If you’re not here to fight, what the hell are you here for?” Soarin demanded. “Just to taunt us?”

Ruin reached a hoof over his head and gently grabbed Twister by the mane, pulling him over his head and holding him out in front of his face by the mane. Twister just smiled and held out a tin can of almonds.

“Yer gonna love my nuts!” he said as he started shaking the can loudly.

“Yes, yes…” Ruin grabbed the can and threw it over his head. “I’m sure I will,” he said as he slowly compressed Twister until he was scrunched into the shape of a ball. Something Twister did not resist with one ounce of effort. Ruin placed the Twister ball on the floor and gave it a soft nudge, sending him slowly rolling back over to the Wonderbolts until he passed right beneath Soarin’s legs and ran up gently against Dash’s hoof.

“Honestly, it really isn’t all that complicated,” Ruin began, addressing Soarin now that he had ‘dealt’ with Twister. “You’re still acting like I’m here to cause trouble or harm, but the only aggressor so far has been you.” He smirked while waving a hoof towards Macho Savage slowly picking himself up off the floor. “But in truth… I go where I want, when I want, and however I want. Who needs a reason?” he leaned back against the window behind him. “Reasons are overrated, believe me!” he snickered. “Life’s a lot more fun if you don’t put that much thought into it! OH HO HO!” He threw his head back to let go of a few hearty guffaws before bouncing off the wall and walking a few paces. 

Nopony took their eyes off of him as his crystals followed behind. He moved until he was close to the bridge door, stopping about a yard from it and sitting down on the floor.

“Really, I don’t know why you all stopped celebrating. You have every reason to after what you pulled off! I have no intention of spoiling your fun. Honestly, I don’t! Have I given any of you reason to doubt me?” he asked with a wide smirk, a loud growl coming from Spitfire as he looked back and forth. “Aside from her, at least. I feel like I’ve rightfully earned her ire,” he chuckled before casually resting his back against the wall and letting his front hooves dangle out in front of him as he sighed. “Well, go ahead! Carry on! Keep having fun! Pay no mind to the pony in the corner! OH HO!” He tipped his head back, sighed contently, and then turned his head slightly towards the door. His left ear turned to the door and he leaned slightly towards it, his smile growing wider. “I’m just here to watch.”

Despite wanting to keep his emotions in check, Soarin did not accept the vague response.

“Answer the damn question!” Soarin demanded again. Ruin just stared with a calm, confident smirk.

“I just did.”

“Wait…” Fire Streak suddenly spoke up, drawing some of the attention away from Ruin. “Does anypony else hear that?” 

Everypony glanced at him as he finished, ears tilting back and forth as Fire hinted there was a noise reaching his ears. It was deathly quiet in the bridge, not a sound being made aside from the clanks and whirrs of the Nimbus’ inner workings. The staff joined in, listening for something out of place, Lucky doing the same while keeping one eye on the sky in front of them. 

There was a noise… it was very faint and didn’t fit with the tone of the Nimbus’ gears and axles. It sounded like… voices?

“Are those…” Spitfire spoke up as everypony continued to listen closely. “Screams?!”

“Ah!” Lucky suddenly jumped in surprise. “There’s some commotion on the deck!” he yelled back as he looked out over the controls and down from the windshield. “Some of the Wonderbolts are heading inside!”

“Those are screams!” Soarin gasped as he and Spitfire quickly looked to each other, looks of shock and surprise shooting between the rest as well.

“Like I just said,” Ruin chimed in as he relaxed against the wall and grinned. “I’m not here to fight…”

Everypony jumped in surprise a very loud noise came from right outside the bridge doors. Everypony’s eyes shot towards the entrance to the bridge as a very bright pink light began shining around its edges, seeping through the cracks, hinges, and in between the doors. The light grew brighter and brighter and the doors began to rattle and shake.

“GET DOWN!” Soarin yelled instinctively, shifting backwards, opening his wings and arms, grabbing as many of his fellow Wonderbolts as he could before pushing them all down. Those left out of his grip quickly followed, and did so just in time.

A violent explosion erupted from right outside the bridge. The doors were instantly blown open, ripped right off their hinges, and sent hurtling towards the Wonderbolts. They shouted and yelped in surprise as the doors ran into them, one of the doors smacking right off Soarin’s back, the other striking Matteo’s arms as he threw them up in time to protect his face. The doors flew aside after ricocheting, clattering and sliding to a halt on the floor near the control platform.

Everypony looked up slowly in horror, staring into a large plume of pink smoke leftover from the blast as a large, powerful looking silhouette of a pony appeared and started moving closer… and then leapt out into the open.

Four light blue hooves slammed to the floor before them, grinding into the metal with loud screeches as they slid to a halt. Ferocious growling and snarling followed, with small trails of spittle dripping to the ground.

“Oh… crap…” Soarin managed to say, gritting his teeth as his eyes went wide.





It was Nightshade.

Everypony shared Soarin’s reaction. A mixture of shock, disbelief and… confusion?

It was Nightshade, there was no doubt about that, but… what the hell were they looking at?

Nightshade was not wearing her uniform or her goggles, her large, powerful, heavily-scarred muscular body completely exposed. Her eyes were completely hidden behind shining pink lights that completely covered them. Her body looked like it was… larger, expanding and receding in an unnatural manner with every breath she took, every muscle in her body twitching and flexing erratically. She was wheezing, grunting, or snarling continuously, her mouth open and bearing her teeth as trails of saliva dripped down her chin and lingered off the end of it. Six crystals slowly floated in from behind her, all of them glowing, flickering, and shaking with sparks dancing around them in ways none of them had ever seen before. The aura around her was very thick, its slow rise from her body was ooze-like and resemble slow burning flames that dripped upward from her as opposed to a simple glow. Her nostrils flared, blowing smoke from them as she began scraping her hoof against the floor, her hidden eyes locked on the Wonderbolts standing before her.

It was an absolutely terrifying sight, mixed reactions rushing through the Wonderbolts. Many of them standing up immediately and taking defensive positions, fighting back the shock, but dreading what was to come due to their injuries and lack of battle readiness. Some stayed down and started scooting back, in pure disbelief and stricken with fear. The staff members all immediately ducked behind their consoles, Lucky gripping the control lever harder as his mind raced. Fleetfoot was shuddering and wailing with fright, clinging to Calm tightly as she stared towards Nightshade, horrible memories of what happened to her flooding in as Calm rushed to move her behind the consoles with the staff.

Ruin snickered, letting a few laughs escape between as he slowly closed his eyes… then opened them wide very suddenly, revealing his black eyes with small white pupils again.

“I’M HERE TO WATCH!”

Nightshade released a loud roar that sounded like a painful scream mixed with a battle cry, her crystals all screeching and shaking harder as she launched herself forward. Soarin immediately shoved his wings and arms back, pushing all those he was protecting away as he willingly stepped forward, set his back hooves and thrust his arms out. Nightshade squared up when Soarin put himself out in front and rammed her shoulder right into Soarin’s chest.

“GAHGHRRR!!!!!” Soarin grunted as he immediately grabbed Nightshade by the shoulders and slipped his arms beneath her armpits to catch and grapple her. A flash of pink light burst out from between them upon impact, an invisible force rushing against the rest as Soarin’s hooves began skidding backwards towards them. Nightshade roared, thrusting herself forward with every step she took, each one sending an additional force outward behind Soarin that smashed into the Wonderbolts and the rest. Only the larger and stronger Wonderbolts managed to hold their ground, the smaller and the staff thrown right off their hooves and punted backwards by the rushing surge. 

Lucky was struck in the back by the invisible force, causing him to yelp and lean forward into the lever. The Nimbus began tipping down slightly with each rush, but he lowered himself to regain his ground and pulled back to keep the ship from falling.

Dash watched Soarin take on Nightshade, her legs visibly shaking with her eyes wide and her jaw nearly unhinged. A fresh wave of terror was rushing through her, one that was to be expected from Nightshade but the sudden nature of her entrance made it even worse. She had her back up against Matteo’s fluffy chest, unconsciously pushing herself backwards into him as her eyes remained locked and trembling on Nightshade.

No… they had just barely survived her when all of them were all at full strength… what were they going to do now? Even more, how did she turn around and come back after them so fast? She knew she was right to be fearful… but there was something else amiss. Nightshade was not in her attire and looked… monstrous… possessed… like she was completely out of control.

But she couldn’t cower, not now… not beneath such a drastic turn of events. Thinking of Silver’s guidance, the sacrifice he made for them, and the speech Spitfire gave them earlier… Dash forced her eyes shut and gritted her teeth, steeling her will, forcing her fears aside, and removing herself from Matteo. She opened her eyes and refocused just in time as things began to happen around her.

The Wonderbolts had sprung into action, those still up immediately moving to help those who had fallen and to secure any staff members who were in the line of fire. Soarin was holding Nightshade in place with every ounce of his strength, but he was struggling despite being in top physical condition. Aware of Soarin and the risk to his horn, Spitfire was quick to take command.

“LUCKY! KEEP HER STEADY!” she belted out as she and the rest began securing their goggles over their eyes. “SQUAD THREE! SQUALL! STORM FRONT! LITTLE STAR! DASH! SECURE THE STAFF AND DEFEND LUCKY! HIGH WINDS, SHINE STRUCK! GET BLAZE AND AIR MACH BEHIND THE CONSOLES! MATTEO! CALM WIND! MACHO SAVAGE! WITH ME! ENGAGE NIGHTSHADE!”

Without a single question or any hesitation, they all started moving. The only one who flinched was Dash as she stole a quick glance towards Soarin before making her move towards the back. Nightshade was overpowering him, slowly pushing him down and forcing his back hooves to lose traction. Even Soarin’s strength couldn’t withstand the pressure of her crystal boosted might. Dash winced as Matteo, Savage, and Calm rushed by her and forced herself to rip her eyes away from Soarin, putting faith in him and the others to keep Nightshade occupied while she played her part… she just hoped it would be enough. Things went from looking good to very bad quicker than she could blink.

“SOARIN! HOLD HER!” Spitfire yelled as she rushed forward with the three bruisers keeping up right behind her. “CALM! WITH ME! MATTEO, SAVAGE! OTHER SIDE!” she yelled as they split apart and turned to flank Nightshade. Calm and Matteo were clearly struggling, their injuries catching up with them, but with the adrenaline flowing, they pushed through, following behind Spitfire and Savage. 

Soarin growled, forcing himself back up onto his back hooves with extra effort. He clamped his arms down, holding onto Nightshade as tightly as he could as she continued to apply extreme pressure against him while roaring and snarling in his face.

“HIT HER FAST AND HARD!” Spitfire yelled as she charged in, the other three doing the same.

Spitfire, Savage, Calm, and Matteo unloaded on Nightshade, throwing the heaviest blows they could muster to her head and body. Soarin twitched and lurched as he struggled to keep her in place, keeping his head leaned back to avoid getting hit by any of the incoming strikes of his comrades.

But Nightshade… didn’t seem to be affected by any of it. She continued to snarl and growl towards Soarin, every punch thrown into her garnering no reaction, not even a grunt or wince. It was like she couldn’t even feel it… or she didn’t care.

Matteo and Calm both disengaged, stepping back as their bodies twitched and complained, stiffness overtaking willpower briefly as their injuries left tingling pain all over. But Spitfire and Savage kept up the barrage, despite the lack of visible effect.

“RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHH!” Nightshade suddenly threw her wings out, knocking both Spitfire and Savage away from her. It didn’t look like such a heavy attack, but the swift movement of her wings also released a burst of magic that propelled the two of them right back into Matteo and Calm, both pairs tumbling to the floor.

“My, oh my, OH MY! HO HO!” Ruin cackled as he floated down behind Soarin. Soarin found himself stuck alone with Nightshade again as she ripped her arms free of his grappling grip and gained leverage, pushing him towards the ground while roaring in his face. “Just LOOK at her!” he tipped forwards, slithering over Soarin’s shoulder and slinking down beside Nightshade, rubbing his chin as he moved his face within inches of hers and looked her over with a wide smile.

He quickly pulled back as Nightshade pushed forward, causing Soarin’s back hooves to slip and lose traction. His hoofing swept out from beneath him and his plot hit the floor as she thrust both her hooves forward.

“OOF!” Soarin grunted, slamming his eyes shut as her hooves struck his chest and sent him sliding backwards, colliding with the Streak twins as they were moving up to assist. The twins caught him and kept him from falling backwards, but Lightning yelped and shifted away as Ruin appeared right in between him and Soarin.

“She looks positively BURSTING with crystal magic!” he said while leaning his head right into Soarin’s face. “Oh dear!” He moved aside again as Nightshade rushed at Soarin. Spitfire leapt on Nightshade’s back, trying to grab her around the neck, but Nightshade reached back, grabbed her, and threw her right over her head towards Soarin. Soarin reached his hooves out and caught Spitfire, but he was in already in an awkward position, the force knocking them both over as Fire Streak was unable to hang on. 

The Streak twins quickly moved back in to help Spitfire and Soarin get up. But the moment they were on their hooves, Soarin gasped and threw his arms and wings out, knocking Spitfire and the twins aside as Nightshade surged forward, slamming her forearms into his chest as she rammed her shoulder into his neck.

“GRCK!” Soarin choked as Nightshade’s shoulder slammed into his throat, her arm jamming into his lower chest and expelling the air from his lungs from his lungs. With little to no breath left in his body, Soarin’s back legs buckled, skidding along the floor until they struck the step up to the platform. He bent backwards, his hooves sliding out from under him as Nightshade thrust him down, planting him hard on his back and painfully sandwiching his wings between him and the floor as she pushed him along. Soarin’s eyes shot open as he realized the direction he was moving in. The horn was out in front and on a collision course with the control panels. 

His awareness saved him from certain disaster as he forced his chin down, and managed to lift his shoulders slightly just in time. The back of his head and his neck slammed into the flat metal siding of the first control panel, a quiet, breathless grunt of pain shooting from his mouth as Nightshade pressed into him and clamped her hooves around his neck. The metal panel to creaked and popped, bending inward from the pressure with sparks and crackles coming from within. 

Soarin was up against the wall, literally. He was being held down and Nightshade was straddling his stomach while squeezing his neck. He could barely breathe, and needed to get free before the lack of air knocked him out. He grabbed her arms and tensed his muscles, pulling as hard as he could, but it was having little effect. He had no breath to gather his strength and her magic had made her frighteningly strong.

“GET OFF OF HIM!!!!!!” Spitfire yelled as she charged. The Streak twins following behind her as the rest of the Wonderbolts began vaulting over the control panels and railings. Surprise, Misty Fly, High Winds, Matteo, Savage, and Storm all hurled themselves towards Nightshade, fighting through the pain of their injured bodies and wailing joints that hindered their every step. 

“GRAAAAAH!” Nightshade roared, saliva sputtering from her mouth and splashing all over Soarin’s goggles as bright shockwaves of pink magic ejected from her body, smashing against the Wonderbolts before they could close in. The smaller Wonderbolts were immediately thrown backwards. Surprise, Storm, and High Winds tossed right off their hooves and through the air as the twins and Misty Fly buckled and tumbled backwards. Matteo roared out in pain, his legs sweeping out from beneath him as he crashed to the floor and skidded to a halt, but Savage and Spitfire managed to fight through. 

Nightshade’s head snapped towards the two of them, snarling as her eyes glowed brightly. Spitfire gasped and instinctively ducked to the floor. Nightshade roared out, two powerful beams of magic shooting from her eyes and hitting Savage right in the face. His head whipped backwards, his goggles shattering to pieces as he fell over on his side like a wrangled bull. 

Spitfire kept her eyes on target, pushing herself right up and setting her hooves firmly into the floor. She saw that she had Surprise and High Winds back up and inbound from the other side of Nightshade and she was sure either the twins or Misty Fly were behind her, so she had to act fast and get Nightshade off balance… and more importantly off Soarin.

She was roughly eight to nine yards from Nightshade… but she didn’t care if it was dangerous, she needed to hit her with everything she could muster. Her body was incredibly stiff and sore from using her mimicking abilities two days before… but Savage was down and Soarin was stuck, leaving her as the most battle ready Wonderbolt. She had to take action.

Pushing her body to comply, she mimicked the pullback motion of Soarin’s Sonic Blastoff. She whipped forward, taking her extra steps, bringing her even closer as she slammed the final step, propelling her forward at point blank. She cried out in pain as shocks of agony shot through her tender nerves, but the motions worked, Nightshade roaring out in synch as a loud sonic boom and shockwave propelled throughout the bridge, the whole room shaking violently and several of the windshield panes shattering.

A bright pink flash erupted from Nightshade the moment Spitfire catapulted at her, causing a second rush of gale force winds that blew everypony around them backwards.

Dash, Squall and Star were crouched behind a panel, holding on as the rushing winds whirled throughout the bridge. Dash gasped and looked up as Surprise suddenly hit their panel really hard and bounced over the top, landing on Squall before tumbling off of him and crying out in pain as her wings and body twitched. She hugged her body, rolling as the strong forces rushed forth. Dash immediately pushed herself away from the panel to help Surprise, but was instantly struck by the rushing gusts, nearly knocking her off her hooves before she could lower herself to the ground. The Nimbus began teetering, tipping down and up slightly as Lucky held on tight to the control lever amidst the forceful winds. Dash turned and looked out towards Nightshade and Spitfire, her jaw dropping in awe.

Nightshade was roaring at Spitfire, the bright glow rising from around her like an inferno with all six of her crystals shining with a blinding light. Spitfire was flying in place, pumping her wings as hard as she could as if she was pushing against an invisible force that tried to push her away from Nightshade. Spitfire was screaming, her face contorting with pain, but her eyes glaring forward as she forced every wing beat, trying to put mind over body. The combination of Spitfire’s mimicked blastoff, her strong wings pumping hard, and the forces ejecting from Nightshade’s body had everypony struggling to keep themselves from being blown away. The Streak twins and Misty Fly were all caught close by, their hooves slipping as they tried to steady themselves. Savage had rolled across the room and was pressed up against the wall, still light headed from the hit he took to the face. Matteo had dug his talons into the floor, but was grunting painfully as his body and wings continued to cramp. Dash couldn’t even find High Winds, but Surprise was now being blown further from her, screaming as her body started rolling towards one of the broken windows. 

Dash quickly refocused on Surprise, using one hoof to keep her mane out of her eyes as she pushed forward. As much as she wanted to get to Soarin and help him, there was no way she was getting close to them, and if Spitfire was struggling, she’d be tossed aside just like the rest. With a solid effort and a hard push, Dash, slid herself along the floor and grabbed Surprise’s hoof, stopping her before she could get any closer to the window. But all of Dash’s efforts to anchor herself immediately failed, her hooves simply slipping along the rough metal surface of the floor. Her eyes widened as she and Surprise slipped closer and closer to the windshield, closing in on a pile of broken glass shards that littered the floor in front of the paneless window. The continuous tipping of the Nimbus only  sped up their approach.

“Got you!” Squall’s voice met her ears as a hoof grabbed her by the arm. Dash turned to see Squall reaching towards her, Little Star hanging onto his neck for dear life. He slammed his other three hooves down, and the two together managed to stop them. Dash winced as Surprise continued to scream and wail in pain, one of her wings twitching and making cringe worthy clicking noises as it moved. With no other option, she and Squall worked together to keep Surprise still as they looked on.

Spitfire was still shouting, still flying, and still pumping her wings, showing an iron-clad endurance and mental resistance to pain as she forced herself forward, but she had not moved one inch closer to Nightshade. 

Still feeling the pressure rushing against her, Dash frantically looked towards the staff members and the controls. The staff were huddled together in shuddering groups behind the panels, working together to keep themselves steady with Fleetfoot stuck in the middle of one of the groups, all of them yelping and screaming as the cacophony went wild around them. The Nimbus suddenly evened out and ceased teetering. Dash glanced over to see Shine Struck holding onto both Lucky and the control lever to help keep them from moving wildly off course.

Then there was a sudden BANG that sounded like an explosion followed by one strong rush of air that forced them to shift a yard further and sent the shards of broken glass nearby up into the air and out the windows. Dash and Squall shut their eyes as they were smacked by the force, but…

“LOOK OUT!” Star suddenly yelled from Squall’s back. Dash and Squall both looked up, gasping as Spitfire’s body flung towards them limply.

“AH!” Dash yelped as she immediately turned and used her body to completely cover up Surprise and tense her arms to hold herself still. Dash yelped in pain as Spitfire’s body slammed into hers, pressing her wings right down to her back, but she held herself still, keeping Surprise free from harm. Spitfire gasped and grunted as she bounced and tumbled to a halt close by. Dash’s whole body shuddered from the force it just absorbed, every nerve and joint twitching, but the gale force winds had stopped. She looked up as she squinted and gritted her teeth, forcing her body to move, leaving Surprise to Squall as she made her way over to Spitfire. 

Nightshade’s roars continued to fill the room, Dash quietly praying that Nightshade wasn’t right behind her as she quickly reached Spitfire and placed her hooves on her body, pulling to help Spitfire turn over onto her stomach.

“GRHHHHHH…  RGHHHHH!!!!” Spitfire suddenly twitched and grunted loudly, causing Dash to flinch and let go for a moment, but she quickly reached for her again and helped her roll over. Dash began to panic as a thought set in. Spitfire was thrown this way… so Soarin was still being held down. But what could she do?

Something seemed wrong here, very wrong, and not just because Nightshade had only just appeared. This wasn’t Nightshade, it didn’t feel like Nightshade. It felt like a demon was rampaging in the bridge, thrashing and crashing about while roaring and yelling. No sly actions, know mind games, no violent sexual harassment… none of it fit Nightshade.

“What the hell is this?!” Dash asked out loud as she kept a hoof on the struggling Spitfire, peering over her body as she looked back towards Nightshade. “What’s happened to her? She’s like a monster!”

“A monster you say?” 

Dash nearly choked on her own yelp as Ruin’s voice slithered through her ears, feeling his nose touch her outer earlobe. She quickly leaned away and turned her head to see Ruin also leaning on Spitfire, casually resting his shoulder against the back of her head as she grunted and struggled to find her strength. Squall immediately pulled Surprise away from them to get both her and Star to safety.

“What a crude way of describing it…” he said in a condescending manner as he casually tapped a hoof on Spitfire’s back. “If you ask me, it looked like she’s just having fun! Look at that smile!” he pointed towards Nightshade. Dash blinked, quickly glancing between Ruin and Nightshade. “Oh, go on and take a closer look… I already told you I’m just here to watch.”

Dash gulped and looked back towards Nightshade, she was growling and snarling down into Soarin’s face as he struggled on the ground, sputtering and gasping for air… but Ruin was right. Nightshade’s movements and actions were like that of a wild beast, but the ends of her lips were curled up. Upon listening closer, some of her roars almost sounded like… forced or harsh exhaling as if she was laughing wildly and uncontrollably.

“And why wouldn’t she be having fun? So much power, so much strength… it’s enough to make anypony go a little loopy…” Ruin continued, twirling a hoof next to his ear as Dash glanced back at him, but she blinked and tipped her head to the side, raising an eyebrow. Twister was on Ruin’s head, his back hooves pushing hard against the back of it as he held a string of dental floss in his hooves, the floss around Ruin’s neck as Twister yanked on it. He was gritting his teeth and straining as if pulling as hard as he could, but Ruin didn’t budge. “I know he’s there, I’m ignoring him.”

“HHRRRRAAAAAH!” Spitfire suddenly shouted as she forced herself up, her eyes wide open and filled with rage as both Dash and Ruin slid off. She immediately turned and swung a right hook around towards Ruin’s face. Her hoof struck Ruin, but he didn’t budge. A bright pink flash of light exploded around Spitfire’s hoof, halting it in place. “HHRRRRGGG GRRRHHH!!!!!” Spitfire grunted as she pushed her hoof against the pink veil of light that prevented her from touching him, but it was hopeless. Ruin just tipped his head towards her and lifted his brow. 

“Look, I know you REALLY want to disembowel me, but…” he snickered and pointed towards Nightshade. “I’m the least of your worries right now!”

“AH!” Dash suddenly flinched as her chest began to burn. She tipped over, placing a hoof on the floor while reaching the other one to her heart. It was beating faster and faster, her breath quickening as a tight feeling grew from her center and spread to her shoulders and abdomen. Spitfire stole a glance at Dash, but the moment she did she suddenly tipped forward, yelping as Ruin vanished and no longer held her in place. Spitfire quickly pushed herself back up and looked in every direction.

“Over heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere!” Ruin yelled from near Nightshade and Soarin, pointing down. 

Dash looked up as well, the two of them noticing blue flashes rising from the floor where… Soarin was being held down.

“No!” Dash yelled as she grunted and started pulling on the floor, dragging herself forward. “SOARIN! DON’T!”

“HRRGGGHH!!!! GRAAAAAH! HAAAAHAHAGHRRRR!!!!” Nightshade let go a sudden guffaw amid her roaring as Soarin gripped her arms tighter. So tightly that it was delightfully painful to her.

Soarin’s eyes opened and he gritted his teeth, a blue aura was rising from the horn, streams of light seeping out of the cracks as he glared at Nightshade above him. A soft blue glow emitted from his eyes as he growled… and slowly began pulling Nightshade’s hooves off his neck. Nightshade just continued to grunt and salivated as Soarin began overpowering her, his body surrounded by an unstable, flickering blue light as he pulled her hooves further and further away from him.

“GET… OFFA ME!” he yelled out, his voice accompanied by an echoing effect as he threw his arms outward and kicked his back legs up, knocking Nightshade right off of him and sending her skidding backwards, back off the control platform. Soarin immediately stood up and set his hooves, glaring angrily as he took deep breaths, the air hissing between his teeth. But then a bright flash shot from his horn, eyes, nose, and mouth all at once, followed by a loud POOF as an explosion of light ejected from the horn. “GUH! AH!” Soarin collapsed forward, barely catching himself on his hooved before landing face first. His head was throbbing painfully as bits and several small fragments chipped off the horn, sprinkling to the floor below him.

“OW! OWWWW!” Dash cried out and fell over on her side as her heart painfully jumped several times. She shuddered on the floor, curled up as she grunted cringed. Spitfire looked over her only briefly, reluctantly returning her focus to Nightshade as she eyed Soarin and began moving towards him again.

“WONDERBOLTS! KEEP HER AWAY FROM HIM!” she yelled to any of them that could still fight as she forced her legs into a gallop, wheezing and wincing with every step.

But the response was less than she hoped. The only Wonderbolts who were able to attack were the Streak twins, Calm, and Storm. Misty Fly was already on the attack before Spitfire gave the order. Otherwise, Surprise, High Winds, and Matteo were down, Squall and Little Star were protecting Surprise, Shine was protecting Lucky, and Macho Savage was still delirious. Fleetfoot and Blaze were obviously not in any shape to take action whatsoever and Air Mach was still down from his crash landing. On top of that, those up and charging looked like they were straining to move, their injuries from two days ago catching up to them fast. Spitfire herself was feeling hindered too. The fact that she just used her mimicking ability again certainly didn’t help the stiffness she was already dealing with.

They had been thrown headlong into the situation she was specifically trying to avoid by having the top elites on the bridge, which begged the question…

Where was the rest of the interior defense force? Nightshade was making A LOT of noise, there was no way they couldn’t hear it from down below. The stationed high and low tier Wonderbolts were not as skilled or strong as the top tiers, but even with all her strength, Nightshade would not be able to handle around thirty or so Wonderbolts in a small space. So where were they? Were there other Shadowbolts in the Nimbus?

She couldn’t afford to dwell on it. One of the worst possible scenarios was at hoof and they had to face it! They were too close to salvation to give up now!

Misty was immediately thrown aside, taking a back hoofed swipe to the neck that sent her careening violently into the wall beside the bridge doors. She caught herself on her hooves as she slid down, but immediately fell to the floor and struggled to stand back up.

Nightshade threw her head back, invisible shockwaves ejecting from her as she released several wild noises that sounded more and more like laughter as the confrontation went on. Whatever was powering her seemed to be growing stronger, her body twitching and muscles flexing harder as she started foaming in the corners of her mouth.

Fire Streak and Lightning Streak desperately dove at her from behind, Fire grabbing her around the neck and Lightning Streak going low to hang onto her hind legs. Nightshade immediately began thrashing, picking up and slamming down Lightning Streak to the floor and knocking the back of her head against Fire Streaks face as the two held on for dear life. Calm galloped towards her from the front, his hooves pounding against the metal floor as he charged. His speed was visibly diminished, his face scrunching in pain with every step. 

But before he could reach her, Nightshade planted her front hooves to the floor and swung her whole body around, whipping Lightning Streak around with it. Lightning shouted in pain as his hooves ripped free from her legs, sending him crashing directly into Calm’s legs and sweeping his stride right out from beneath him. Calm yelped and fell face first, he and Lightning Streak getting their legs completely tangled as they tumbled painfully. But the moment Calm hit the ground, Storm Front sprang up from behind and launched himself towards Nightshade as she finished her swing around. Despite Fire Streak still holding onto her back, she focused completely on Storm, grinning wide.

She was ready for him, but he stayed on course without hesitation, showing a strange amount of confidence despite the circumstances.

And it became clear why quickly.

Misty Fly suddenly vaulted up onto Nightshade’s back, slamming herself down to add her weight to Fire Streak’s. They forced Nightshade to lean forward, her legs buckling slightly as the extra pressure weighed her down.

“HIT HER HARD, STORM!” Spitfire yelled as she leapt up behind him, pumping her wings to follow up.

Storm turned as he hurled towards Nightshade, lining up his back hooves and making them slightly uneven. 

“HRRRRRAGH!” Storm yelled out and he kicked both hooves down rapidly, executing his surface tap technique right off Nightshade’s face. He immediately changed direction, his technique shooting him up and clumsily crashing into the ceiling before falling to the ground, but he was right on target. Nightshade’s head whipped back, her front hooves lifted off the floor and her back hooves skidding along, nearly throwing Misty and Fire right off her back.

Spitfire pumped her wings harder, pulling back her right hoof as Nightshade remained vulnerable. She hoped to deliver the strongest punch she could muster and knock her right out the bridge doors.

But right before she could, Nightshade reached both of her hooves back, letting out a primal roar as she grabbed both Fire’s and Misty’s hooves with an iron grip that made them both wince in pain. With one mighty heave, Nightshade ripped them both free from her back, swung them both right over her head and slammed them down like a hammer over the top of Spitfire, driving her right to the ground with them. Spitfire cried out in agony as her wings joints took the brunt of the hit, Fire screaming as well as he slid off and landed right on his shoulder. Misty bounced and skidded over towards Storm Front, who just stared in horror as Misty Fly rolled over, her mouth open but no sound coming from her as she held her eyes shut and silently winced in pain.

Storm shivered and scooted backwards as Nightshade locked her eyes on him, smiling as she turned and squared up to him. Storm’s eyes shifted for a moment, noticing Soarin slowly rising from the floor, grunting and gasping as smoke rose from the battered horn, but his attention was only caught for a second. Nightshade was already right in front of him. He yelped as Nightshade grabbed him by the neck and hoisted him up, laughing as the aura around her hoof seeped onto storm, causing a burning sensation that began to singe and rip at his suit.

“AH! GAAAAH!” Storm cried out as his neck burned with pain as if on fire, grabbing Nightshades arm with his hooves desperately as the neck of his suit slowly dissolved. 

“HA! HAHA! HARRGHH!!! GAHAHA!” Nightshade continued to twitch as she laughed, drunk with power. Past experience suggested that she’d hold on and continue to torture Storm as long as he was in pain, but Nightshade did not seem to be even conscious to her actions. Instead she turned and threw Storm towards the control panels. He slammed back first into the panel right beside Soarin, crying out in pain as he bounced over the metal surface and fell towards squad Foxtrot. Squall looked up as he and Star tried to help Dash, cursing as he let go and threw himself out in front of them, taking the hit as Storm’s body slammed into his and forcing them both to the floor.

“SQUALL! STORM!” Little Star yelled as she stayed glued to Dash’s side. Dash cringed, gritting her teeth as she pressed a hoof over her heart. The pain was subsiding a little, but it was still there. She glanced up towards Squall and Storm, the two of them rolling off one another and groaning as they tried to force themselves up.

But her attention was quickly drawn away as a loud metallic ripping noise came from nearby. Her eyes shot towards a nearby control panel, the staff members huddled beneath it all yelping and screaming, diving away from it as Nightshade grabbed it and ripped it right out of the platform, several sparks and electrical spasms crackled and popped as the wires snapped and the metal splintered, a few plumes of steam shot up from broken tubes as she dislodged the panel and tossed it aside. She smiled as she heard a few screams among the loud clanging and crashing of the panel bouncing and falling apart. The buzz of alarms on nearby panels, flickering lights, and painful creaks of the broken machinery screeching throughout as Nightshade continued towards squad Foxtrot as if she simply went through the panel for the hell of it instead of around it.

“RGH!” Squall immediately pushed himself up and shifted over to put himself in front of Dash and Star. Nightshade kept walking as if she couldn’t even see him, her eyes locked on Storm Front as if she wasn’t done with him yet.

“SQUALL! WAIT!” Dash yelled towards Squall as he leaned back and launched himself forward. Sucking it up and fighting through the pains in her chest and all over her body, Dash ripped her arm free from Little Star and forced herself forward. Squall didn’t stand a chance by himself. Star quickly galloped right up beside her as they followed behind.

It was as useless as expected. Nightshade surged forward with a low stance, ramming her shoulder right into Squall’s chest and rearing back to both strike and force Squall onto his back hooves, she followed up with a strong jab to his stomach, sending him flying backwards and knocking both Dash and Little Star aside like bowling pins. 

“AURGH!” Dash cried out as she tumbled, rolling backwards before landing hard on her stomach and sliding along the metal floor. She twitched and growled as she teetered back and forth, immediately pushing her hooves to the ground, but failing to move herself up at all. She looked up and forced her eyes open, seeing Nightshade moving towards her, but on a slightly skewed path. She blinked, realizing that she had fallen near Storm Front and Nightshade was still focused on him.

What the hell was she supposed to do? Forget that, what they hell were they all supposed to do? What the hell was even HAPPENING?

Dash’s mind raced and raced in circles as everything about the current situation swirled like mad in her head. The appearance of Nightshade was so shocking and so sudden that none of them even had a chance to put together a comprehensible explanation or a plan of action. Not to mention something was seriously wrong with her… which was something considering who they were talking about here. It was like they were flailing against an unstoppable force and an immovable object!

But then an idea smacked Dash right in the face. 

Nightshade was in some sort of twisted, out of control state… 

But was she free from what she feared?

“HRGH!” Dash slammed her hooves to the floor and pushed herself to the right, turning her body around as Nightshade stomped right past her. Dash locked her eyes on Storm Front shuddering on the floor, his back turned to them as he curled up and twitched in pain. “GRRRRAAAAAAAGH!” Dash roared, fighting against every burning and screaming inch of her body as she forced herself up and flung herself forward, quickly falling right back to the floor, but sliding along past Nightshade and grabbing Storm. He flinched and cried out the moment her hoof gripped his side, but Dash immediately grabbed with her other hoof as well. She glanced over her shoulder quickly to see Nightshade just a few paces away. “TURN OVER!” Dash yelled as she yanked on Storm, pulling them closer to Nightshade, but forcing Storm to roll over as he grunted and kicked his legs. Using one hoof to shield her face from Storm’s hooves, Dash pulled herself towards him and grabbed his goggles. With a solid yank, she pulled them off his face, the strap snapping and whipping her arm. She tossed the goggles aside and grabbed the flaking ends of his Wonderbolt mask where they had been burned on his neck. She tore the mask right off of him.

Nightshade stopped right over the top of them, and lifted a hoof to stomp down hard, laughing as drool dripped from her mouth and bright pink lights flashed and danced all around her and within her eyes. Her crystals rapidly orbited around her.

With one mighty shout and giving it her maximum effort, Dash grabbed Storm’s head and pulled him around, turning his face and pointing it right up towards Nightshade. Storm gasped as he was painfully forced around… but then his eyes opened wide, looking directly into Nightshade’s.

Nightshade froze.

She stopped moving, she stopped growling, and her lips parted slightly. Her eyes widened considerably, but they remained completely hidden behind the light. Her crystals stopped orbiting around her, freezing along with her.

Storm just stared, powerless to do anything due to his injuries mixed with the awkward position Dash was holding him in. His green eyes shuddered as he stared into the face of their enemy, afraid to make a sound as the bright pink pair of eyes stared right back at him.

“GRK…” Nightshade’s teeth slammed shut and her face scrunched up. “GRH! HRRRRGH!”  she began growling as her eyes narrowed and her hoof slowly lowered to the floor. “GAH! HRRGGRAAH!” Her body shook as she took a step back, her eyes shutting tight as she violently whipped her head back and forth. Her crystals reacted as well, vibrating and screeching as they pulled back behind her. She continued to grunt, gasp, and sputter, the light rising from her body flickering. 

“Oh…?” Ruin suddenly appeared beside Dash, casually moving forward and looking over Nightshade. “What’s thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis?” His voice took on a smooth, tone as he rubbed his chin and slowly turned his head back over to Storm.

Dash remained still, putting every bit of strength she had into remaining firm and keeping Storm’s face pointed towards Nightshade’s. She could still clearly see Descent in Storm’s face, even with her eyes and mind clouded. Dash gulped as Ruin focused on them, but she feared any break from her current position would let Nightshade free.

“Hm…” Ruin leaned close to Storm’s face. “Hmmmmmmmmmmmm…?” His left eyebrow slowly lifted as he hummed. Storm’s eyes began to feel dry, but he feared even blinking. “Oh?” Ruin’s right eyebrow joined the left. “OH!” He pulled back and a large grin slid onto his face. He held his hooves out and in front of him and squinted. “Those eyes! That face!” He threw his hooves up onto his head. “Oh HO HO! WHAT A TWIST!” he yelled out, cackling as Twister’s head slowly rose up behind his. Without looking, Ruin lifted a hoof and casually pushed Twister back behind him. “Not that kind of Twist,” he said calmly before scooting back up to Storm’s face again. “I didn’t see THIS one coming at all!” he glanced back at Nightshade and snickered as she shook and struggled. “This really IS the best show ever!” Ruin laughed as he shimmied in a circle around Nightshade and struggled to hold back obsessive snickering. He slid right back up to Storm and patted his head. “By the way… your face is just as hard to look at as daddy’s. OH HO HO!” He slid backwards, putting himself right next to Nightshade. “I JUST…” Ruin threw a hoof up to his head and bounced on one hind hoof a few times. “CAN’T BELIEVE IT!”

Dash’s teeth grinded together as her eyes darted back and forth between Nightshade and Ruin. She mostly ignored Ruin, now wondering where she was going to go from here. The Wonderbolts were all straining and groaning, trying to compose themselves, could she hold Nightshade like this long enough for them to recover?

“HHHHHRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!” Nightshade suddenly growled, rushing forward towards them as she pulled back a hoof.

“Oh my!” Ruin ducked back, just barely getting out of her way in time as she surged. Dash and Storm both flinched and yelped, but Nightshade stopped right in front of them, her raised hoof shaking in place as if stuck. Her crystals had not followed her, still floating behind her, all huddled together. She started roaring and wailing in painful tones, looking like she was trying as hard as she could to pull on invisible restraints.

She really couldn’t do it. 

Was Nightshade’s conscious still in there somewhere?

“YOU!” A very deep voice caused Dash’s ears to perk up. Matteo’s arm suddenly shot in front of Dash, slamming into Nightshade’s neck and wrapping around it in a headlock. “STAY AWAY FROM THEM!”

With a mighty pull and follow through, Matteo yanked Nightshade away from Storm and threw his weight into her, shoving her backwards so hard that she stumbled and fell onto her plot, rolling onto her back as he legs kicked up in the air.

Wincing with breath whistling furiously through the holes in his beak, Matteo dug his talons and paws into the floor, his wings cracking and popping painfully as he spread them all the way out. He gasped and grunted, his face contorting as his wing joints wailed. But he forced them to work with him, leaping into the air and pounding his wings down hard to execute his Air Burst technique. Dash let go of Storm, the two shielding themselves as a loud POW rang out and a blast of wind rushed against them. Matteo shot towards Nightshade as she was swinging herself back upright. Matteo rammed his shoulder squarely into her chest before she could put her front hooves to the floor. He wrapped his arms around her stomach and continued to pump his wings, causing her back hooves to scrape and screech along the metal floor as she tried to push back. Dash gasped as Squall and Little Star both took flight from behind her, the two of them throwing themselves at Nightshade as well. The two of them shifted up, Squall flying right over the top of Matteo and grabbing Nightshade around the chest as Little Star flew over his back and grabbed her by the neck. All three of them shouted out together, pushing as hard as they could in unison. Nightshade’s back hooves picked right up off the floor, Matteo, Star, and Squall driving her through the air… and right towards the open door of the bridge.

Dash stared in awe, the rest of the Wonderbolts looking on as well as the three pushed Nightshade right out the door, but the moment they were clear, one of Matteo’s wings cramped up on him. He roared out in pain and tilted to the left, pulling the whole group down… right as they passed over the staircase outside.

Squall reacted quickly when he realized where they were falling. He grabbed Little Star and lunged his body to the right, throwing them both off. He pulled Star in and clutched her to his chest as his back hit the floor, the two flying apart and yelping the moment of impact. 

Matteo and Nightshade crashed painfully hard into the central propeller pillar, both of them grunting loudly as they fell, hit the stairs, and began tumbling while grappling all the way down towards the lobby.

“MATTY!” Dash forced herself up, all four of her limbs trembling as she fought to find her strength. Storm had also risen behind her, both of them moving as quickly as their hooves could carry them towards the doors. If not for the adrenaline pumping like mad through their bodies, they’d easily be down for the count.

But as they approached the door, both of them suddenly screeched to a halt, flinching as Spitfire tore past them, her hooves pounding against the floor as she gave chase and leapt into the air, fighting against the burning pain in her body and the motion of the Nimbus as she dove down after Nightshade and Matteo. 

“MOVE IT!” Soarin’s voice boomed before the two could make any moves, both Dash and Storm looking over in time to see Soarin barreling towards them as well, a clear amount of discomfort in his eyes and steam still rising from the horn.

“SOARIN! HOLD ON!” Dash yelled as she saw the smoke rising from the horn, and the even more damaged condition it was in. “STOP!” she tried to get in his way, but Storm pulled her aside as he charged right through, lifting off as well and following after Spitfire.

Alarms were ringing in Dash’s head. Screw pain, screw her body, hell… screw Nightshade! She had to follow Soarin and make sure nothing more happened to the horn! It had already taken some damage. If he took just one hit directly to it…

“OH YES! OH YESSSSSSSSSSSS!” Ruin cackled as he happily bounced past the two of them and out the door. “OH HO HO HO! I LOVE IT!” He hopped up on the railing hanging over the stairway and stood up on it with his hind hooves. “MORE FUN!” he spread out his arms and slowly tipped backwards. “MORE CHAOS!!!!” he cackled as he gracefully fell down the stairwell… presumably to follow.

Dash narrowed her eyes and glared, her mind springing into action even if her body didn’t want to. Squall and Star were already out the door, Storm was with her, and they all looked somewhat able to still fight. She looked back to see if any of the Wonderbolts left could do more… but it looked unlikely. The Streak twins and Misty were struggling to just roll over. High Winds was dragging herself along the floor over to Blaze, and Surprise had not moved from where Squall and Star had pulled her to. Savage was on his hooves, but he was stumbling a little. Calm was twitching on the floor and Shine was rushing around trying to help them all. Savage was up… but he looked a little shaken.

Sizing up the situation quickly, Dash went into captain mode… without much thought.

“Savage! Stay here and keep an eye on them!” Dash yelled, instantly flinching when she realized she just gave a direct order to a superior officer… a very superior officer. But she was quickly relieved as Savage shook his mane out and gave a wobbly salute.

“WILL DO!” he yelled before falling over and grunting. 

She hoped he could… because she needed to focus entirely on what she was about to dive into. Hurt, injured, broken, and tired… this was not the ideal situation, but they weren’t dead yet! Soarin needed her help!

“Come on, Storm!” she yelled as she took a step and stopped, looking straight down at the floor. Twister was lying on his back, his body spotless and free of injury and bruises, yet he lay still with his mouth hung open, his eyes wide behind his goggles, and waving a white flag. Dash didn’t give a moment of thought to him. She simply reached down, grabbed him by the face, wound up and chucked him out the door. Twister let out a very high pitched scream as he flung into the hallway and immediately fell down the stairs. “Star! Squall!” she yelled as she ran out the door with Storm in tow. “Come on! Let’s move!”

None of them gave a single word of protest. Squall and Storm followed Dash’s example, all three of them forcing their bodies into action, knowing that this was a matter of life and death and they didn’t have time to whine about their injuries. The three of them were hurt, Matteo was probably already taking a heavy beating, and of the two of them that were fine, one was an idiot and the other was the size of a filly. Not the best situation, but Spitfire and Soarin were going to need all the backup they could get.





Soarin worked his wings as he spiraled down the staircase behind Spitfire, skillfully keeping his flight path steady and taking into account the motion of the Nimbus as they dove. He still had a slight headache, but his body had loosened up, the discomfort from the slight magic reaction fading fast. He was thrilled that he regained control of his body so quickly, but he was also wary of the horn’s condition. He didn’t know what caused the magic to rise up. He was not concentrating or even trying to use it. Perhaps it just activated out of desperation and gave him the strength to pry Nightshade’s hooves off, but it was not without cost. The horn clearly took some damage and that was not good considering the state it was already in. Maybe this was what Luna meant when it came to his emotions, because in the moment of being held down he was simply angry and the magic reacted. 

He cleared his head and readied for a fight. It was easy to get lost in his emotions in the heat of battle, but for his sake, for Dash’s sake, and hell, for everypony's sake… he needed to keep himself under control. He was the only top tier elite in physical fighting condition, if he could keep the horn in check and avoided any hits to the head, he was their best bet to fight Nightshade. Especially with Spitfire flying in front of him, grunting and wincing in pain. She was not fully recovered from the fight two days ago and had already taken a beating just now. Soarin couldn’t see her holding her own.

Soarin pulled up as he saw Spitfire doing the same, the two of them reaching the lobby and shooting down towards the floor for hard landings. Spitfire slammed her hooves down and skidded to a halt with a clear effort to disguise how much it stung. Soarin landed right beside her less than a second later.

But the moment the two of them touched down, they both flinched in surprise and ducked as Matteo was sent hurling right over their heads. His massive body flung towards the stairs and his side slammed into the pillar, bending slightly upon impact with the curvature of the central structure before he slid down and fell to the ground while roaring and wailing. Soarin looked back at Matteo with worry, but his attention was short lived.

“What the hell…?” Spitfire’s voice was quiet and filled with shock and disbelief. Soarin blinked and turned back, finally getting a full look at the lobby. It was now clear why the Wonderbolts stationed inside had not come to their aid on the bridge.

Nightshade was standing before them, a few yards away. Her aura burning brightly and her six crystals shimmering and shaking about her still… but the scene behind and around her was absolute chaos. Clones of Nightshade were everywhere, engaging with the Wonderbolts in one massive brawl that lacked any direction rhyme or reason. Some were engaged in flight, others on the ground. Battle cries and screams of pain echoed throughout the Nimbus as the fighting raged, Wonderbolts fighting Nightshade clones no matter what direction one looked.

The clones were easy to distinguish from the real Nightshade, all of them looking perfectly normal and chillingly stoic, none of them making a noise even if they were struck. But they seemed to be slightly unstable, most of them flickering or parts of their body seemingly dissolving or distorting as they moved and fought. Just like during their first encounter, the clones were incredibly strong, easily holding their own against the Wonderbolts… only there were so many. Neither Soarin nor Spitfire was around when the Wonderbolts engaged Nightshade and her clones two days ago, but they had gotten the run down from the others. Nightshade seemed to trade quantity for quality when it came to her clone projections, but that was not the case here, at least on the quantity front.

Spitfire and Soarin just stared with their jaws agape for a moment or two before Spitfire growled and slammed her hooves to the floor, focusing every fiber of her attention on the real Nightshade snarling and laughing before them. Soarin quickly readied himself as well. If they could take her down, the clones would disappear. She was priority one. They had to trust their fellow Wonderbolts to hold their own long enough.

Spitfire stole a quick glance at Soarin, her eyes widening slightly when she saw the horn. It was still in one piece, but the cracks had grown slightly larger and small bits had been chipped off. Soarin glanced down at her, immediately noticing where she was looking.

But neither of them had time to argue. Nightshade let out a roar and sprang towards them, seemingly aiming between them to go after Matteo. Spitfire and Soarin pushed any thoughts of the horn aside, Spitfire trusting Soarin to be careful instead of holding him back because she knew she couldn’t do this alone. They simply had no choice. 

The two of them charged forward side by side, lowering their inner shoulders and ramming Nightshade right in the chest. They took advantage of Nightshade’s lack of focus, turning her momentum all the way around and pushing her back as she dug her back hooves into the floor.

“RGGHHHAAAA!!!!” she growled, swiping her right hoof out and knocking Spitfire to the floor. Spitfire grunted and rolled, pushing herself up quickly but flinching and falling to her haunches as her muscles twitched and had brief spasms. Soarin quickly swung his other arm around, grappling Nightshade beneath the shoulders and tilting her down to take advantage of her slanted positioning. He growled right back at her, more of a motivating growl as he pushed while making sure not to let anger rise. 

Nightshade thrashed and shouted in his face yanking him back and forth as she tried to get free, the two of them slipping and sliding until they had moved all the way to the center of the lobby. They ran sideways into the central pillar, Soarin taking care to keep his head away from the collision. He flinched in surprise as Spitfire suddenly charged in and rammed her whole body into Nightshade, crushing her against the pillar. Nightshade exhaled loudly, but immediately pushed off, unfazed. She reached over to grab hold of Spitfire’s arms, but Soarin reached down and grabbed her arms as well. All together, the three pushed off the pillar and began struggling, Soarin trying to get Nightshade off of Spitfire as Nightshade refused to let go. 

Soarin pulled his head back as Nightshade began whipping her head around. She ended up pulling back and headbutting Spitfire twice right in the face repeatedly. Spitfire cried out in pain, the third hit crushing the left lenses of her goggles and drawing blood from her nose. She stopped struggling and dropped as she felt dizzy. 

Soarin growled, squeezing his hooves tighter around Nightshade’s hooves as she brutally attacked his best friend.

“STOP IT!” Soarin yelled as a sudden flash of blue light shone from his eyes and he managed to rip Nightshade off of her, he turned and threw Nightshade roughly to the ground, causing her to bounce and tumble. Soarin growled as he took a step to follow, but quickly stopped and shut his eyes tight. He had to keep his emotions in check! Was it really that hard to do? “OOF!” he grunted as Nightshade kicked him right in the center of his chest. Soarin stumbled backwards and refocused, not expecting her to be up so fast. She charged at him and Soarin reached up to grapple with her again, the two stuck in another power struggle as the cacophony raged around them.

Soarin was getting annoyed. The conditions he was fighting in were extremely far from ideal. And it wasn’t just because of his horn and his emotions. He felt constrained by his surroundings as well. There were Wonderbolts everywhere, on the ground and in the air struggling to fly straight with the Nimbus moving. He felt like there wasn’t enough space for him to fight effectively and he was worried about getting others hurt in the process. Part of him also wanted to get Nightshade away from Spitfire. She was a better fighter than he and was holding her own, but her body was not in top condition. Watching her struggle and take a beating was more than he was willing to take.

If only he could get Nightshade outside…

Soarin grunted and glanced to his left, eyeing the windows and front doors near the lobby entrance, but his eyes went wide. There were clones outside too… and the Wonderbolts out with Luna had their hooves full protecting both her and the unicorns. Luna’s little nap definitely got a rude awakening. How could Nightshade keep control of so many clones at once? He had seen the other Shadowbolts do it, but those clones were shabby and weak. These were incredibly powerful!

“HRAHH!!!!” Spitfire leapt up on Nightshade’s back and put her in a headlock, grabbing her chin with the other hoof and yanking back on her neck. Nightshade snarled and shook back and forth, but Soarin took the opportunity to start pushing back harder. Nightshade’s hooves screeched against the floor as Soarin tried to move her towards the doors, but it was difficult. Could he get her outside? “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!” Spitfire yelled as she snorted a chunk of blood from her nose. “HIT HER WHILE I HAVE HER!”

Soarin gritted his teeth. It looked like his plan wasn’t going to work quickly, so he did as he was told.

“RAAAH!” Soarin roared as he pulled one arm back, keeping ahold of Nightshade’s shoulder with the other as he started planting right hooks across Nightshade’s face. He struck her several times, unloading five heavy punches across her face, but after each one she simply turned her head right back and snarled. “COME ON!” Soarin yelled as he threw another punch. “GO DOWN ALREADY! WHAT DOES IT TAKE?!”

Nightshade finally reached up her right hoof and blocked Soarin’s next attempt, roaring as she lurched her body to the side and forced Soarin’s hooves right out from underneath him. He shouted in surprise and grunted as he was wrestled over, hitting the ground hard and rolling onto his back. 

“Shit!” he yelled as he saw Nightshade shake Spitfire off, grab her by the neck and slam her whole body to the ground. “SPITFIRE!” he yelled as he rolled up, but he wasn’t quick enough. Nightshade unloaded several hard punched into Spitfire’s stomach, causing her to cough up a spurt of blood. Nightshade pulled her up, spun around and threw Spitfire, sending her flying and bouncing along the ground towards the stairs and Matteo. “NO!” Soarin rose up and took a step in her direction, but was caught in the chest by a swing around buck from Nightshade. “OOF!” he grunted as he held himself upright but was sent skidding and stumbling backwards towards the east hallway.





“Matty!” Dash yelled as they came around the last turn of the stairs and saw their large feathered friend sprawled out on the floor. She immediately made a sharp turn to land near him, but gasped and pulled up as Spitfire’s body hurled in out of nowhere and crashed right into Matteo. Spitfire bounced off of him, struck the pillar, and hit the ground hard causing both to let out painful shouts from the collision.

Dash’s eyes went wide as she looked down upon Spitfire and Matteo, but the noise and commotion within the lobby quickly drew her attention away, her pupils shrinking and her mouth hanging agape as she landed and took in the sight.

Shivers ran through her body, up and down her spine as Nightshade clones zipped to and fro, fighting the Wonderbolts stationed within the Nimbus and turning the whole building into a chaotic warzone. The Nimbus was flying straight and steady, but the scene within hardly matched the smoothness of flight that Lucky was managing.

“Sweet Luna!” Storm Front yelled out as he and Squall landed near her, placing themselves in front of Matteo and Spitfire defensively as they looked in every direction. Dash quickly moved beside them as Little Star instantly went to Matteo and Spitfire’s side. Squall and Storm immediately looked to her as if quietly demanding orders, neither of them sure how to think or even how to comprehend what they were looking at. 

But Dash wasn’t sure what to tell them, Nightshade’s sudden appearance was already almost more than she could take or understand. The shock was so sudden she almost didn’t have time to be properly shocked. But that seemed to be the strategy here, catch them off-guard and throw them into disarray… it certainly had done that. It didn’t help that Ruin was just there either… as if he knew Nightshade had some plan to unleash on them, but he had no part in it… or did he? Nightshade did not seem to be in a mindset that was fit for planning or executing such a fine-tuned-surgical strike. Dash was too confused to try and connect the dots, she could only know what was right in front of her.

Nightshade had somehow acquired a massive boost in power, one that allowed her to generate her stronger clones in numbers on par with the Wonderbolt force itself, but at what cost? Nightshade seemed completely out of control, not even herself, overwhelmed by her own power… 

Interestingly… Dash was beginning to notice a difference in her reaction to Nightshade. Part of it was definitely the grilling Silver gave her about being scared and running away, but something was missing from Nightshade in this state. 

What she feared most about Nightshade was her ability to psychologically damage her opponents… without that, it was more like they were fighting a ferocious monster than the mare they had come to fear. Not that it made the situation any better. It just didn’t feel like they were fighting… her.

And it was at that moment of thought that Dash began frantically looking around the lobby among all the craziness. Regardless of the state Nightshade was in, they were still fighting her. And if Spitfire and Matteo were down over here, that meant Soarin was fighting…

“Soarin!!!” Dash yelled out as her eyes drifted towards the east hallway, catching a glimpse of Soarin and Nightshade grappling and struggling through the cacophony of Wonderbolts and Nightshade clones. 

She immediately broke into a sprint towards them, paying no mind to the action around them. Storm reacted quickly, following behind her out of desire not to let her go it alone, but Squall froze in place, not wanting to leave Star behind.

Dash and Storm barely moved ten yards across the lobby when a Nightshade clone suddenly swooped in and zoomed right over Dash, reaching its arms out and tackling Storm. Storm grunted loudly, gasping and shouting painfully as he and the clone tumbled and bounced on the floor.

“Storm!” Dash reacted the moment she heard Storm grunt, skidding to a halt and looking over her shoulder. Her body stuck in place for a moment as her brain told her to go help Soarin, but her eyes told her to quickly help Storm as he was pinned down on the floor. That moment of hesitation cost her.

“AHHH!” Dash cried out as a Nightshade clone plunged down from above and slammed into her back, instantly pinning to her to the floor and smashing her nose to it. “RGH!” Dash grunted as a dribble of blood oozed from her nostril, but she regained her senses fast, slamming her hooves down and trying to force herself up. It proved to have little effect as the clone forced its weight down upon her. With panic setting in, Dash growled and thrashed, desperately trying to get free so she could help Soarin. She forced her wings up repeatedly and pushed her hooves back and forth until she finally got some leverage, but only enough to tip them over. “OOF!” Dash gasped as she landed on her back, the clone keeping its balance, standing up and pressing its hooves down on Dash’s shoulders.

Dash glared up into the eyes of the clone, and was somewhat surprised at what she saw. When they fought the clones two days prior, they held completely still, icy glares devoid of all emotion or thought, but there was something off this time. They were already not wearing the uniform or goggles like the real one, but it looked like the clone was having a hard time holding itself together, its image continuously distorting as if it could dissolve or blow apart at any moment. Paired with the odd physical state, it wore an expression of pain, discomfort, and slight despair as if its unstable state was unbearable and it just wanted it to end. 

There were now more questions rushing through Dash’s head than she could stand. Something was clearly seriously wrong with Nightshade… and the fact that she was thinking that at all made the situation just that much more confusing

But questions could wait… the top priority was helping Soarin! 

Dash continued to growl, thrash and lurch, ignoring the burning sensations of pain all over her body as her mind overpowered her physical limits, but despite all her efforts, she could not budge the clone. Desperation setting in, Dash roared out, throwing her head back and opening her mouth wide before thrusting her head up and clamping her teeth down on the clone’s arm, biting it as hard as she could.

The clone did not seem to like that.

Dash yelped, released her mouth and tried to curl up as the clone began punching her in the face, Dash was unable to defend herself as she took three hits to the cheek, before the clone began hitting her chest and stomach as well. In between painful grunts, Dash caught glimpse of the clone’s face. It still held the look of despair and anguish as it unloaded on her. 

After taking the brief beating, the clone grabbed her by the neck and swung her around, letting go and sending her sliding and tumbling along the floor, eventually slamming her back into a nearby couch. She ricocheted off the couch and rolled a few yards away from it before ending up on her stomach and cringing.

She forced her eyes open slowly as her body tingled with jolts of pain, but the clone did not follow her. It simply looked around and followed the next Wonderbolt to pass it.

“Hnnngggg…. Rnnngggggg… gah, hah… ow…” Dash squirmed on the ground as she tried to focus. Her body was screaming at her, but she refused to give up. Her heart was starting to beat harder again, and it wasn’t because she was overexerting herself. It was the feeling she knew well, the feeling of Soarin in danger and his magic becoming unstable.

She looked up towards the east hallway and saw Soarin with his back pushed up against a wall, Nightshade pinning him as the two stood upright and she snarled in his face. Soarin was glaring at her, faint shimmering rays of blue light seeping between his teeth, from his eyes, and from the cracks in the horn as he tried to push back. It looked like he was aware of it too, his expression constantly changing as if he was trying his hardest to not let his emotions take over.

Dash shut her eyes as two Wonderbolts shot by very close to her with two clones following behind them. Another Wonderbolt and a clone struck the floor right nearby, grappling and pushing against one another before taking back into the air. 

She couldn’t stay down. She couldn’t stay on the ground when all the Wonderbolts and Soarin were fighting for their lives, even if her body was wailing at her to give up.

Her hooves skidded and slipped, her arms and legs shook and buckled, it was a constant struggle just to move, but she would find the strength. 

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hahaha! Hohoho! Hee heeeeeeeeee!”

Dash’s eyes snapped open as she heard the unwelcome chortling. Still on the ground and struggling to even begin standing, she looked up and saw Ruin among the pandemonium.

He was casually walking with a happy sway in his steps, bobbing his head back and forth and humming to himself as if he were taking a casual stroll through the park. He was slowly approaching Dash, but his eyes were taking in all the sights around him, Wonderbolts and Nightshade clones shooting in every direction around him. Some of them came within less than an inch of striking him, but he never once flinched or broke his light hearted gait as he reached Dash and sauntered right by her.

“Such a wonderful day for a walk, wouldn’t you say?” he asked her as he passed in a relaxed, comfortable tone. A Wonderbolt stallion flew above him and was intercepted by a clone. The stallion cried out in pain as it was blindsided and sent flying. “The birds are singing…” Ruin commented while putting a hoof to his ear. A Wonderbolt mare suddenly crashed to the ground nearby and slid to a halt right in front of Ruin. He reached down and gently brushed his hoof into her mane as she twitched and cringed on the floor. “The flowers are in full bloom…” he dipped his nose into the hooffull of mane and gave it a long sniff. He turned and faced Dash, stepping towards her as a Nightshade clone shot by, causing a powerful blast of wind in its wake. “And the breeze is just right…” he made his way around front of Dash, turned, and lowered himself down so his face was right in front of hers. “And such crisp, clean air too!” He took a long, deep breath and exhaled while slowly sitting down in front of her. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… It really makes you feel alive, doesn’t it?”

“RGH!!!!!!” Dash slammed her hooves down, Ruin’s taunting boiling her over as she forced her body up and dove at him. He disappeared the instant she grabbed for him, her hooves slipping through air as if he was never there. She yelped and crashed right back to the floor, grunting as her body absorbed the shock of impact.

“Hmmmmmmmm…” Ruin hummed comfortably, his voice now coming from behind her moved beside her, lied down on the floor right next to her, and casually rested his chest across her back while draping a hoof over her side. “And feeling alive is such a wonderful thing…” 





Dash’s body twitched and shivered as she felt Ruin slowly slide himself up her back until his nose brushed against her earlobe. 

“Sometimes… it’s hard to get that feeling…” he whispered to her before glancing up into the air as several Wonderbolts and clones zipped around above them. “At least for me…” he said with a soft grunt as he lifted up a hoof in front of his face and examined it back to front. “But on the other hoof… that feeling tends to remind me why I’m here in the first place.” He snorted as his voice dropped the soft tone and took one of slight frustration. “Not that I could forget that if I tried.”

“RRRRRRAAAAAAGH!” Dash roared, forcing herself to stand up. It hurt like hell, but she did it. She found her balance and managed to stand, panting and wheezing as she looked back and forth, her eyes darting about to find Ruin, but he was no longer there… again.

“But no need to dwell on that!” he suddenly yelled to her as he strolled by five yards away from her with a very wide smile on his face. “Why spoil a good mood?!” he asked, tipping his head back and fluttering his eyelids as he continued walking. A Nightshade clone and a Wonderbolt suddenly spiraled down, out of control from above him. The two of them collided head on with Ruin, but a bright pink flash erupted from him the moment of impact. The clone and the Wonderbolt were sent flying in different directions without Ruin budging an inch. “OH HO HO HO HOOOOOOOOO!!!!” he cackled as he slowly disappeared into the chaotic gaggle of Wonderbolts and clones everywhere.

Dash panted and gasped, her legs wobbling, but holding her steady as she fought for focus. 

“Come on!” Dash yelled at herself, pushing Ruin from her mind. “COME ON!” she yelled at her body as her legs slowly stopped wobbling and fought back against the pain in her joints and muscles. Ruin was toying with her, she knew he was. He was sick and twisted and the fancy show of theatrics he just displayed to her would not distract her from the task at hoof!

“Dash!” Storm Front hobbled up behind her, suit in tatters and covered in bruises after taking punishment from the clone he fought and apparently got away from. Dash only glanced at her for a moment before Squall suddenly joined the two of them, skidding to a halt and quickly lending a hoof to support Dash. Dash looked over her shoulder to see both Matteo and Spitfire slowly getting their bearings as Star watched over them.

Feeling a little more confident with two comrades, Dash returned her focus to Soarin…

But he wasn’t in the lobby anymore.

“Oh, by the by…”

Dash yelped as Ruin’s voice slithered into her ears again. Her head snapped towards Squall to see Ruin resting his arms and hooves on Squall’s back, slowly lifting his brow as his eyes and smile grew wider in synch. 

“I think Soarin needs your help,” Ruin said with a snicker as he lifted a hoof and pointed towards the east hallway.

Before Squall could freak out, Storm took the initiative and slid around Dash, throwing a punch right at Ruin. Ruin vanished in the blink of an eye, Squall yelping and ducking just in time to avoid Storm’s hoof striking him right in the face.

“HEY! WATCH IT!” Squall yelled angrily as he stumbled back, but Storm paid no attention to Squall, looking all around instead.

“Shit! Where did he go?!” he glanced at Dash, but she was no longer there.

Dash was galloping towards the east hall with uneven, limping strides.

“DASH!” Storm yelled, both he and Squall making haste to follow behind her.

The two caught up with her, flinching and wincing as Wonderbolts and clones flung about around them, coming dangerously close to hitting them. But Dash did not pay any mind to the chaos. The only thing hindering her was her slight limp as she pushed herself along. She slid on her hooves, drifting slightly as she made the turn into the east hallway, her eyes locking on target as she immediately spotted Soarin and Nightshade trading blows several doors down the hall. There were a few Wonderbolts engaged with clones in their way, but with easy shifts and swerves, Dash was easily able to avoid them and keep her focus. They made it into the clear, Squall and Storm galloping up on both sides of her as they charged down the hallway.

Dash’s brain sprang into action, glancing back and forth at Squall and Storm as they closed in. They didn’t stand a chance against Nightshade if they just dove in, so she quickly considered all options. It didn’t take her long, because their best option was running right beside her.

“Storm!” Dash yelled as they ran. “She’s afraid of your eyes! Make use of that!”

Storm only got halfway through a nod of approval before Twister suddenly leapt up from behind them and landed on Dash’s back softy. He ripped off his goggles and mask, revealing very thick eyebrows, a strange mane style that looked like two spikes, enormous sideburns and a giant cigar in his mouth. He whipped his hooves out, sporting three plastic knives on each, attached with masking tape.

“WHICH ONE OF YOU BUBS WANTS TO THROW ME?!” he asked in a very gruff, raspy voice. 

“Twister!” Dash growled without looking back at him. “GET SERIOUS AND—”

“Gladly!” Squall cut her off, grabbing Twister by the neck. He wound up and threw Twister as hard as he could, sending him careening towards Nightshade as she had her back turned to them.





Twister started swinging his arms in rotating motions as he fired like a rocket towards Nightshade. But right before he struck, Nightshade pushed Soarin off of her, apparently sensing Twister coming as she immediately turned around and threw a heavy, crushing punch directly into Twister’s face. His body coiled up like a spring before catapulting back in the other direction. Dash and Squall both yelped and ducked, but Storm Front was not so nimble. Twister struck him right in the face, the two of them crashing backwards as the six plastic knives clattered and bounced off of Dash and Squall.

Twister continued to bounce along the ground all the way back into the lobby and… into the west hallway, but Storm was down… and looked to be barely conscious as he twitched and groaned.

“Oh, son of a…” Dash growled as she glared at Squall.

“What? He literally asked for it!” Squall scowled, deflecting blame for what happened to Storm.

“Screw it!” Dash shook her head out as both of them continued on towards Soarin and Nightshade. “Just… HELP HIM!” she yelled with a slight tone of desperation. To hell with a plan of action, she just wanted to save Soarin!

Dash forced her pace faster, Squall keeping up behind. Soarin had re-engaged and had forced Nightshade to the wall, but he was struggling to keep her there as she snarled and thrashed. Dash’s eyes remained squarely on Soarin’s horn as Nightshade whipped her head back and forth. Soarin was leaning his neck back to avoid it being hit, but she was still coming dangerously close to smacking her head against it.

“GRH!” Soarin grunted as he lost his grip on one of her arms, his body lurching forward and slamming into her shoulder as she thrust forward. The two stumbled back into the center of the hallway, Nightshade turning Soarin and throwing his arm off while lifting her front hooves into the air. Soarin kept his back hooves firmly planted, allowing him to lunge right back at her, but she slammed her hooves to the floor, roaring out as a powerful shockwave ejected from her body. The nose band of Soarin’s goggles snapped, his goggles falling from his face as he was thrown onto his back. The force also slammed into Dash and Squall, slowing them down considerably. “AH!” Soarin yelped as a flash of light erupted from the horn, his hooves immediately rushing to his head, covering his eyes as he cringed and rocked back and forth on the ground.

“OW! SOARIN!” Dash yelled as she felt her chest tighten, but she didn’t hesitate or let up. Both Squall and Dash leapt towards Nightshade, their momentum slowed from the shockwave, but making use of the opportunity while her back was turned. 

But it wasn’t until after they had left the ground that Dash remembered… Nightshade had more or less sensed Twister behind her just moments ago.

“RRRRRGGGAAAAHHHH!!!!!” Nightshade looked over her shoulder as she bucked her back legs towards them. With a solid effort and quick reflexes, Dash thrust out her wing, slamming it against Squall and causing the two of them to push away from one another. Squall avoided Nightshade’s hoof altogether, but Dash did not. The edge of Nightshade’s other hoof scraped over the underside of Dash’s suit, grabbing a large chunk of it and ripping the fabric as Dash felt the glancing blow. She and Squall both hit ground roughly, tumbling upright immediately, if not a little clumsily. Dash’s legs buckled, causing her to stumble right after managing to reset herself, but Nightshade had turned her attention to Squall first.

Squall stared her down, planting his hooves firmly as he glared and flared his nostrils. He jumped right at Nightshade, pumping his wings down to turn his body up as he took his signature martial arts stance. 

“HORRR—” he began his battle cry, but was cut off as Nightshade surged forward, reaching both hooves towards his neck.

“SQUALL!” Dash yelled as she struggled to steady herself, but Squall did not falter, he kept up the motions, willingly throwing himself right towards Nightshade’s hooves in a manner befitting his lionhearted resolve…

But as he began a double jab motion, he feinted, instead swinging his arm across his body to whip his shoulders and head to the left and just barely squeak out of the way, Nightshade’s hooves missing his neck and slamming together with a loud CLACK. 

Now right beneath her arms, Squall had her in a vulnerable position with a clear point blank view of her ribs and stomach. Without hesitating, Squall immediately took his stance again.

“HOOOORYAAAA!!!!!” Squall yelled out as she delivered the one-two punch, adding five additional punches right after all zeroing in on Nightshade’s underbelly. Dash’s ears perked up, her eyes widening as Squall pulled off the move and she watched Nightshade’s body flinch and lurch with every hit. Squall ended the flurry of punches, wound up both of his hooves and thrust them right into her stomach as hard as he could.

But as he held his hooves forward, his arms suddenly stung and tingled with pain following shortly after. Squall blinked and slowly looked up to see Nightshade’s glowing, empty eyes glaring down at him, saliva dripping from her lower lip and dribbling onto his goggles. The tingling and stiffness hit his shoulders, causing him to flinch and break his focus.

Nightshade ripped a hoof back and thrust it forward, delivering a low strike right into Squall’s stomach, the same place on him that he was hitting her… only he did not have the luxury of her sturdiness. 

Squall choked, his neck and head straining forward and his tongue poking right out of his mouth as all the air left his lungs. Nightshade didn’t follow through, she just stood there as Squall went limp, draping over her arm and grabbing his stomach as he shuddered and tipped over, coughing and hacking with a small trickle of blood dripping down his chin. He curled up on the ground at her hooves, his body quivering as all of his strength seemed to drain out of his body, barely able to breath after such a heavy blow to his gut.

“NO!” Dash yelled out, forcing her hooves against the floor and shakily propelling herself towards Nightshade. But before she could even get close to touching her, Nightshade whipped around and grabbed Dash by the neck. “GRK!” Dash gasped as Nightshade lifted her slightly and pushed her backwards. Dash’s back hooves kicked and scraped against the floor until Nightshade slammed her back against the opposite wall, painfully pinning her wings flat to her back. “GAH! AHHHHHH!!!!!” Dash cried out, the pain shooting through her already battered body was so intense that not even Nightshade’s grip could keep her screams from escaping her throat. She forced her hooves up and clamped them onto Nightshade’s hooves, but her body felt broken. She was running on willpower and desperation, she had little to no strength to call upon. Her eyes squinted as she stared directly into Nightshade’s ferocious face, gritting her teeth as she tried with any and all might she could muster to free herself, but it was hopeless. Nightshade began shouting and roaring into her face, Dash’s ears ringing as Nightshade’s booming voice pierced through her ears. 

Eventually Nightshade stopped roaring, instead just growling into Dash’s face as she kept her vice-like grip on her neck and pushed her hard against the wall.

But as Dash slowly opened her eyes again… Ruin was leaning against Nightshade.

“You look like you’re having a real hard time here,” he said casually while tipping his head slightly and lifting an eyebrow.

Before Dash could fire anything back, Nightshade suddenly pulled her off the wall and slammed her hard against it again. Dash screamed in pain, her neck arching back as her body burned with agony.

“Oh, come on now…” Ruin stepped forward, turned, and leaned his side against the wall right next to Dash. He lazily waved a hoof towards Nightshade. “She’s just one Shadowbolt! How is she taking on your whole force?” he asked, moving the hoof over to Dash’s chin and brushing his hoof beneath it as she continued to gasp, pant, and struggle. “How shameful… for a bunch ponies that have so much pride, it must hurt.”

“GET OFF OF HER!” Squall suddenly yelled, his voice weak and raspy as he leapt up from behind Nightshade, grabbing her around the neck as he landed on top of her. Nightshade roared, immediately dropping Dash as she staggered backwards and began thrashing. She bucked and lurched about, trying to throw Squall off of her as Dash dropped to the floor, coughing and sputtering.

Dash gasped for air, holding one hoof to her neck as she rolled onto her back to get more out of each breath. But as she rolled, Ruin appeared to her right, also lying on his back with his hooves hanging up in the air cutely. He slowly tipped his head towards her, a smirk crawling onto his face as his eyes landed on her.

“But I’m not being very fair about this, am I?” he snickered. “It’s not like she’s just any Shadowbolt, after all…”

Dash’s teeth shut together and the edges of her mouth scrunched as a subtle snarl escaped in between the hissing of air through her teeth. 

This was a crisis. This was a disaster of the worst possible kind, and Ruin’s lighthearted commentary while she was fighting for her life was making her absolutely furious. She rolled away from him onto her side, but he was suddenly on the other side of her, still on his back and meeting her eyes with his again.

“Still… I imagine it’s all been quite a buzzkill,” he continued to taunt. “You all pull off such an epic escape against all odds and then BOOM!” he edged his face closer to Dash suddenly and cackled to himself a few times. “You get your butts kicked by one mare. Even if it IS Nightshade, that’s gotta sting!”

“SHUT… THE… HELL…” Dash forced her arm out. “UP!” she took a swing at him, but he slid backwards, just out of her reach without moving a muscle. Dash cringed and groaned as the effort caused her arm to twitch, she groaned and slowly put a hoof to her head. The pain was starting to overwhelm her. The mixture of the tightness in her chest, the stiffness from her previous injuries, and the beating she was taking now were all adding up… and she was starting to feel a little lightheaded. She slowly opened her eyes back up to see Ruin pouting at her.

“How brusque…” he huffed as he glanced up at the ceiling and shook his head lightly to get a strand of his mane out of his eyes. “I don’t know what you’re getting all angry at me for… I’m not the one that’s aimlessly flailing around, beating all of your PRECIOUS friends senseless.” He lifted his brow while pointing behind him.

Dash flinched as Nightshade suddenly slammed Squall to the floor right behind Ruin, holding him down and unloading several punches to his body. Dash tried to force herself up, but failed miserably, gasping in pain and sprawling right back to the floor on her side. Ruin shook his head back and forth while sighing.

“I haven’t laid a hoof on a single pony here since I arrived,” he said while gently placing a hoof atop her side. He blinked, his eyes opening wider for a second as he looked down at his hoof. “Or at least with the intent to do harm,” he added with a low, creepy giggle as he gingerly slid his hoof back and forth along Dash’s suit. Nightshade roared, grabbing Squall and tossing him over them. Dash’s eyes followed Squall as Nightshade stomped after him, stepping right over Dash and Ruin as if they weren’t even there. Dash immediately tried to roll over, hoping to get up and help her squadmate, but Ruin held her in place, reaching his other hoof to her chin and pushing her face back towards his. “Why am I guilty by association, but Moon isn’t?” He put on a very fake frown, his pupils growing large. “You’re all so NICE to him!”

He let go of Dash, allowing her to roll over and see Squall sprawled out on the floor, Nightshade standing over him, but no longer hitting him as she simply snarled and drooled over his twitching body.

Ruin stepped over Dash and stood one pony-length away, glancing over his shoulder down at her.

“Seriously, what do I have to do around here to get the same treatment?” He glanced over at Nightshade, then put his head down and started snickering. He suddenly spun around and lowered himself down to get in Dash’s face. “I’m a flexible and adventurous, but if it involves having a strong gag reflex… I think I’ll pass.”

“GRRRRRRRGH!!!!!” Nightshade suddenly spun around and glared towards the two of them. Dash’s eyes shot towards Nightshade, immediately locking with hers as Nightshade roared and started galloping towards them.

“Somepony’s eager…” Ruin rolled his eyes and took a casual step to the left, allowing Nightshade to rush right by him. She lifted her hooves up in the air and drove them down towards Dash.

Dash somehow found the strength to move, lurching her body and rolling free from Nightshade’s stomp as her hooves slammed to the ground. The impact caused a pink flash and a faint pulse of pink magic ejected from her arms.

Dash was sent rolling along the floor, turning over several times before she finally reached out an arm to stop herself on her stomach. 

“AH! RRRGGHH!!!!” Dash yelped and gasped, a hoof going right to her chest as the tightness suddenly became worse than the constant stinging pains all over her body. She looked up and past Nightshade, noticing Soarin a little further down the hallway. He was trying to force himself up, his hooves continuously slipping on the floor as he struggled to stand. Faint blue light was shining from his eyes, the horn was sputtering and small blips of light were oozing out.

No… she couldn’t let this continue. Dash couldn’t let Soarin harm himself. If this kept going the way it was, Soarin’s horn was going to break. There was no question of if, it was only a question of when. She had to get up and fight for his sake!

“Ahhhh… AHHHH!!!!!” Dash pushed her hooves down. She couldn’t ignore the pain, there was just too much to push out of her head, but that didn’t mean she was going to let it keep her down. The tightness in her chest made it even more difficult, every pang and heartthrob threatening to sap the strength out of her legs and send her right back to the floor. She felt like the room was spinning, her head feeling half unscrewed as the room seemed to rock back and forth. But it wasn’t the Nimbus… Lucky was somehow managing to keep them steady, her body was just that beaten up and fatigued.

But if an old, broken, half-functioning Wonderbolt veteran could resist the cries of his body… then so could she! She had no excuse, not when her mentor made it work under much worse conditions!

Nightshade was focusing on her… that was good. She didn’t care as long as she was not attacking Soarin. Was help on the way? Did she have some sort of backup? She didn’t know, but she’d put everything on the line for Soarin. Just like how Silver put everything on the line for her and those he loved.

Like teacher, like student…

It was her… working at roughly a fourth of her full capacity… against a deranged, magic pumped monster that resembled Nightshade.

“Tell you what…”

And one real pain in the ass.

“I’ll prove it to you!” Ruin sauntered up behind her. “Prove that I can be a nice guy too! Then you can trust me just like you trust Moony-Moon!”

Dash completely ignored him, or at least tried to. She shuddered as he suddenly slid his hooves over her shoulders and rubbed them gently. 

“Listen carefully…” he spoke quietly as he leaned his nose right up to her ear. “And do EXACLTY as I say… and none of Nightshade’s attacks will connect, okay?”

Dash’s blinked, lifting her brow a little as Ruin made the sudden proposal. Nightshade was snorting and snarling, scraping her hoof against the floor like a bull ready to charge. Dash knew she was about to be attacked, that was not in question. But she thought she was going crazy… was she actually considering what Ruin just put forward? She must’ve taken too many blows to the head, there was no way he was being sincere. She had no reason to trust him. He was probably just trying to get in her head… again.

“She’s going to charge… and throw a hard right hook towards your head. I suggest you duck… and then slide out of the way before she stomps.” Ruin whispered into her ear.

Before Dash could tell him to screw off, Nightshade roared and charged… pulling back her right hoof as she closed in. 

She really was coming in with a right hook.

Dash didn’t think about it, she just ducked preemptively, causing Nightshade’s swing to miss horribly overhead. Then she remembered the other half of it, shoving her hooves forward to push herself along the ground, sliding out of the way as Nightshade’s hooves slammed down to the floor.

Dash shuffled her hooves furiously, pushing herself up and stumbling until she was leaning against the wall, panting and wheezing as she stared towards Nightshade. Nightshade was looking back and forth on the ground as if wondering where Dash had gone.

“Now…” Ruin appeared out of thin air, resting on the wall right beside Dash. “I wouldn’t stay here too long if I were you. In about three seconds, she’s going to fly at you with her hooves outstretched.”

Dash’s jaw dropped as Nightshade’s head snapped towards her and she leapt into the air, pumping her wings and shooting towards her with her hooves out in front. Dash pushed off the wall the moment Nightshade took off, diving out of the way as Nightshade’s hooves struck the wall so hard that they lodged into the wall.

Dash tumbled along the ground, wheezing loudly, nearly hyperventilating as she pushed her body to work so hard under pain and pressure. She forced herself up onto her hooves, backing away from Nightshade in small steps, her chest heaving with every breath. She flinched and yelped as her plot ran directly into Ruin’s chest behind her.

“So far, so good, eh?” He bounced his eyebrows. Dash quickly shifted away from him, almost falling over herself as she glared at him sharply. He had to be setting her up. She didn’t like this at all. “You may want to keep your eyes on her,” Ruin snickered. “She’s about to come at you with a roundhouse buck!”

Dash quickly looked towards Nightshade to see her still stuck in the wall by the hooves.

“Just give her a second or two,” Ruin said as he strolled past Dash.

“RAAAAAAAGH!” Nightshade ripped her hooves free, plaster and bits of chipped paint sprinkling to the ground from the wall. She turned her head and glared at Dash.

“Get ready to duck!” Ruin said as his head poked in front of Dash’s field of view for a moment before pulling right back. 

Nightshade pushed off her right legs, throwing her sideways towards Dash. As she came near, she planted her front left hoof and spun herself around, her back legs swinging… just like Ruin said she would.

Dash ducked and dove forward, sliding her body along the floor beneath Nightshade as she went flying over her head. Dash tried to put her hoof down to stop herself, but she placed it awkwardly, causing it to be pulled beneath her, forcing her onto her side and turning the slide into a painful log roll that pressed her already sore and tender wings to the ground twice. 

“GRH!” Dash gritted her teeth and pushed her hooves down, stopping the roll and shooting back up, but the fast motion nearly knocked her out, feeling light headed from the stinging pains that followed.

“I’m quite impressed to be honest,” Ruin was standing right beside her as she cringed and wobbled. “For a low ranking Wonderbolt, you’re quite gritty. All the pain must be a real… well… pain! HOHO!” he guffawed briefly. “But I expect no less, especially since you’re the catalyst keeping Soarin intact,” he said casually, but Dash’s ears stood straight up.

She glanced at him as he bounced his eyebrows at her. That was twice now… twice Ruin had spoken about her and Soarin’s connection. How did he know about it? 

“But hey, now isn’t the time to speculate about this silly pony,” he placed a hoof on his chest and winked. “We’re far from done here!” he chuckled as he draped an arm over her shoulder. “Now listen, next she’s going to…”

Dash’s eye slowly drifted over her shoulder, checking on both Squall and Soarin. Soarin was still struggling to stand, up on his hooves, but panting and coughing. His body was riddled with fresh bruises and s small trickle of blood was dripping from his nose and lip. The horns was glowing, but it had calmed down  a little, the light still flickering in his eyes. Squall was still down, but moving, struggling to turn himself over.

“Ah, ah, ah!” Ruin grabbed Dash’s chin and forced her head back towards him. “Pay attention now!” He sneered while making a head motion towards Nightshade. She had locked her eyes on Dash again, her body shaking as her muscles twitched and flexed. She started taking hard, heavy steps in Dash’s direction, ready to launch towards her once more. “She’s going to use the right hook again, so… dodge left, okay? You ducked last time, why not try something new?”

Something in Dash’s head clicked. Regardless of Ruin’s honesty over the past few attacks, she couldn’t shake that he was leading her on and setting her up. He guided her in the right direction three times… but would he do it a fourth? She decided to take a chance and trust her own instincts instead of getting comfortable with his.

Taking a play right out of Descent’s book, she watched Nightshade’s chest as she launched. Any movement to attack started with the chest… and thanks to Nightshade’s very muscular body it was easy to see chest movement.

Dash set her hooves and watched carefully as Nightshade careened towards her… waiting for the cue.

The left side of Nightshade’s chest moved first.

Dash’s eyes widened as she saw her pick up her left hoof… NOT her right. 

Ruin lied this time!

So instead of dodging to the left to avoid a right hook… she started inching right instead.

But then Nightshade slammed her left hoof down to propel herself slightly upward… before pulling back her right.

Dash’s eyes widened as she misread the action, and was already too far into her motion to correct it. She could only watch in horror as Nightshade’s right hoof careened towards her face.

Ruin was being honest.

Nightshade’s hoof struck Dash’s cheek with so much force that Dash was instantly spun around, her goggles were knocked right off her face, and a good portion of her mask tore apart, loosing it from her face and dropping the flaked ends around her neck. She hit the wall nearby, her head whiplashing against it as her side slammed into it. Her body remained upright, leaning against the wall as her pupils jittered, her ears rung, and her equilibrium felt like it had been pile driven into a cement block. She started slumping, a queasy feeling filling her throat as her vision got fuzzy. She was surprised she didn’t throw up on the spot, but the fact that she was already being held around the neck helped prevent that.

She was in a state of complete shock, dizziness, and grogginess one step short of being concussed somehow… and Nightshade had already followed up, Dash’s airways tightening as Nightshade squeezed her by the neck, turned her body, and slammed her against the wall again.

“Ahhhhaaaaaaaaa…” Dash gasped weakly as her brain fought for stability. She blinked repeatedly as her vision slowly corrected, only to look directly into Nightshade’s face inches from hers as she snorted, snarled, and growled ferociously. Dash’s body regained feeling, but still felt incredibly weak as she reached up her shaking hooves and weakly grabbed Nightshade’s arms. She could barely muster the strength to pull on them, but she tried regardless, and it didn’t help that she could barely breathe.

“Oh Rainbow Dash, I’m offended…” Ruin’s voice suddenly met her ears as he slowly shifted in and leaned against the wall right beside the two of them. “For a moment I really felt like we had something going there… like you really trusted me,” he said in an exaggerated, defeated tone. He let his ears flop down to the sides of his head as he turned and leaned in, resting the side of his head against Dash’s as Nightshade continued to snarl in their direction. He lazily waved a hoof towards Nightshade. “Y’see, if you had just given me a chance, you wouldn’t be in this predicament here.” He tilted his head slightly to get Dash’s struggling face into his view. “You almost did, you THOUGHT about it, but no. NO!” He bounced off of her and did a slow pirouette, stopping as he faced her and leaning his face back in close to hers. “No, no, no, NO! It’s much too risky to trust ME, right?” he asked while tipping his head to the right and smirking.





“But eh, who am I kidding? I’m not surprised you’re skeptical.” He pointed to his face. “I don’t have a very trustworthy face…” he grinned incredibly wide while snickering. “I have a hard-on for anarchy…” He leaned forward, sticking his nose right between Nightshade and Dash’s faces. “And I just can't keep my NOSE out of everypony’s business! HOHO!!!!” he laughed briefly before Nightshade suddenly leaned further forward, almost head butting Ruin before he could pull back. 

Dash winced and turned her head slightly as Nightshade roared right into her face, her ears burning as spittle sprayed all over her face.

“I almost lost my big nose there!” he snickered. “Oh, and get ready, she’s about to throw you through that door over there,” he suddenly said while taking a step backwards and pointing to the door opposite of them.

Dash choked as Nightshade’s grip suddenly tightened, cutting her air off completely for a moment as she felt her body suddenly being yanked from the wall. Knowing there was no escape from whatever was about to happen, Dash simply shut her eyes and tensed her body as Nightshade whipped her around and threw her. She hit a solid surface that immediately buckled and shifted from the impact Dash squeaking as air rushed back into her lungs, looking for air to expel as she bounced on the floor, gasping in pain.

Her eyes opened as she suddenly heard several screams. The ceiling above her was different, but familiar. She had no idea where she and Nightshade had been exactly in the east hallway… but now she knew. 

It was the infirmary ceiling. She rolled over and looked around frantically, noticing she had slid to a halt right beside Bliss’ desk. She looked down into the infirmary to see Bliss, Swift Justice, and Playbitz all moving quickly, grabbing any injured ponies off the beds and moving them towards the back. 

Nightshade stomped through the door, never taking her eyes off of Dash as she approached, but regardless causing more yelps and yells of horror from those present who were unable to defend themselves. Dash quickly forced herself up, stumbling and falling back against Bliss’ desk as she struggled, but it did the trick. Nightshade did not look at anypony else but her. Dash glanced to her left to see Bliss erect a shield that cut them off from the rest of the infirmary. 

But it didn’t really seem to matter because regardless of any commotion, Nightshade was entirely focused on Dash. Dash tried to ready herself, she tried to set her hooves and fight, but it was hopeless. Her body was almost devoid of feeling, unable to react as Nightshade rushed forward and delivered a strong blow to her chest. 

Dash’s eyes bulged out, grunting loudly as she was knocked backwards, bouncing over Bliss’ desk, sending papers and materials everywhere as she flew backwards… and through another door.

She yelped and coughed as she bounced along the floor before sliding to a stop. She sprawled out on her side, cringing and groaning as she began to roll back and forth. It was hopeless, completely hopeless… what was she supposed to do? Her body was barely responding to her now… She had the drive and the desire to fight, but that wasn’t the problem. She felt like she had never been more beaten up in her life, her injuries from two days ago stacking with the ones she was sustaining now. Her wings were cramping and twitching, her eyes could barely stay open from the pain coursing through her. She was sure Silver probably fought his way through more than she was experiencing right now… but that didn’t mean she knew how to fully handle it. The pain felt like she was being brutally stabbed from every direction continuously with no sign of letting up.

How did the situation go from so perfect to so wrong? The answer was obvious, it was named Nightshade, but she found herself asking the question anyway. It didn’t seem like this was supposed to happen… as if somepony stepped in to screw it all up.

“Are you having fun yet?” Ruin’s voice caused her to flinch and her eyes to shoot open. He was standing right over her, looking down as she lay on her back. “Because I’m having an absolute blast!”

The door had been slowly moving shut since Dash crashed through it, the hinges squeaking as if they desperately needed oil. But right before it closed, Nightshade kicked it open, breaking the door right off its hinges and sending it flying towards Dash. 

“AHHH!” Dash simply screamed and covered her face as the door flew at her, but the moment before it hit, it was surrounded by a pink glow and stopped in its place. Dash slowly peeked out from her arms to see one of Ruin’s crystals conjuring the magic.

“Ooooo! That was a close one!” Ruin cooed while slowly moving the door aside and letting it rest on the wall beside them. “Aren’t you glad you have a pal like me looking out for you?” he asked as Dash shifted and struggled to stand. “Come on now, get up! You can’t fight when you’re on the floor…” He reached down and grabbed her arm, pulling to help her up, but she immediately growled and yanked her arms free from him, standing on her own as she stumbled slightly away. “Okay, fine, fine… you can do it yourself,” Ruin huffed and rolled his eyes.

Dash shook her head out and glared towards Nightshade… but only for a moment. 

Her eyes widened as two thoughts collided in her head like oncoming trains.

She had been knocked into the infirmary… then knocked back through another door across from the entrance… 

She… began to recognize the room they were now in.

Nightshade was growling and snarling towards her, but Dash’s focus was suddenly completely changed… and for very good reason.

They had been thrown into the emergency room… and the soft ‘beep…beep…beep…’ of a heart monitor met her ears.

Dash’s jaw dropped and her pupils shrank as she slowly glanced to the bed on her left… and the stallion unconscious upon it. 

Silver.

--To Be Continued--