Chapter 1:16 – The Gauntlet
Rainbow Dash prepared herself for the task ahead, calming her breathing and steadying her heartrate. Normally, the Hunter would practice in Ponieville, where she’d be easily accessible to ponies needing her services, but for the past week she’d been doing something different. Mayor Mare (with a little monetary convincing) had agreed to let her use one of the fields outside of town that had already been harvested for her practice. Within Ponieville, she had a few dummies and posts to hack at, but here she had used her monster-killing earnings to build a true training course. It would never have fit in the tiny corner she was allowed to use in Ponieville, but that wasn’t her only concern. If she was able to pull off the new move she was trying, she didn’t want anypony too close to her.
“Rainbow Dash, why do I need to be here?” Fluttershy asked nearby, “I’m not a Hunter.”
“You did the first part of the training, same as me,” Rainbow replied as she stretched out her legs, “You’re probably the only pony around here with an idea of how my techniques really work. Besides, I trust you.”
“Oh,” said the druidess, looking at her hooves before posing another question to her Hunter friend, “Do you really need me in Cloudsdale with you?”
“Come on.You haven’t been back since you quite literally landed here twelve years ago. It’ll be good to see it again,” Rainbow Dash said, “I won’t accept any excuses, either. I know most of the animals you care for have already begun hibernating, and the rest can wait until you return. You’ll have a good time, I promise.”
Fluttershy groaned, but didn’t say anything. Visiting the place where she’d been aggressively pushed to become a Hunter while it was filled with even more Hunters than usual was not her idea of a good time. However, she knew that Rainbow Dash was right, and that she didn’t have any more pressing matters here. She also knew the real reason that Dash wanted her to accompany her to the floating city. She was nervous, and needed the support of a good friend. Despite her rough exterior, the Hunter was remarkably fragile underneath, a fact only Fluttershy was privy to and pretended not to know for her friend’s sake. They made an odd pair, the Hunter and the druidess, but their friendship went back a long way, and they would do anything for each other.
Drawing her practice sword, Rainbow Dash launched herself toward her makeshift obstacle course. Dummies shaped like various beasts swung around as she approached them, and she zipped between them, striking their limbs with her sword and sending splinters flying. Her strikes only made them spin more dangerously, but she easily dodged them and went for the vitals, the mushy apples she’d placed there exploding as she pierced them. The Hunter continued through the course, dodging swinging and spinning obstacles while making precise strikes on the monster substitutes, until only one remained “alive.”
This last dummy was incredibly large, and covered in layers of wood and leather to mimic flesh and armor. No simple strike from a sword, no matter how many times, would eliminate this opponent. Two or three bombs would break away enough of the makeshift armor for a sword to be effective, but Dash had other, flashier plans. Sheathing her training sword, the Hunter climbed into the sky, piercing several low-floating clouds on her way up.
Once she’d reached a high enough altitude, the Hunter drew her sword and plummeted downward. Her eyes watered as the wind tore at her face more and more viciously as she picked up speed. Every instinct in her body screamed for her to pull up as she approached the ground more and more rapidly, but she resisted. She couldn’t pull up yet.Rainbow Dash could feel herself approaching the edge, the boundary she had to cross over to complete this technique, but it was still out of reach, and she was approaching the earth far too quickly.
She had to adjust her trajectory some, or else her life was likely to end the moment she met the ground. She tried to pull up, but it wasn’t enough, nor was she able to slow herself down. Fluttershy, seeing the dire straits her friend was in, ran to a nearby bucket and withdrew a bomb. Rainbow Dash was still plummeting toward certain doom, but Fluttershy waited until the right moment to throw the bomb at the earth where the Hunter would impact. Blue lightning flared up, and Rainbow Dash disappeared within the field of sparks.
***
Within Golden Oak’s laboratory, Twilight Sparkle had assembled the rest of the Brave Companions.Curious about her home’s previous inhabitant (especially after stumbling upon another of his journals), she’d been questioning them about what they knew of the sorcerer Golden Oak. He’d already died by the time Pinkamena had arrived in town, but Applejack and Rarity (both having lived their whole lives in Ponieville’s vicinity) had plenty to say about him. Spike had recorded all the stories and information they’d shared, for Twilight to reference and organize later. With that business concluded, the four ponies were enjoying some tea in the laboratory’s main room and discussing the current events of their lives.
This peaceful discussion was interrupted by a crash from upstairs.With Twilight Sparkle leading the way, they hurried up to the small office area over the kitchen. Rainbow Dash, having rematerialized above the laboratory, had managed to slow herself to a speed that wouldn’t kill her on impact, but had been unable to regain enough control to keep from crashing through the window. The Hunter groaned as she sat up from her position sprawled against a bookcase and surveyed the damages. All the scrolls in the case had fallen after her impact, and she’d also knocked over Twilight’s writing desk, but there was no harm to her person, for which she was grateful.
“Rainbow Dash, are you all right?” Twilight Sparkle asked, and posed another question after receiving a nod, “Are your bombs designed to teleport you over my home?”
“No, just a coincidence,” Rainbow Dash said as she stood and flexed her legs to make sure everything was still working properly. It seemed suspicious to Twilight that this had happened twice, but she’d had enough trouble with coincidences lately that she didn’t think it wise to investigate.
“Rainbow Dash, are you okay?” Fluttershy asked as she flew in through the broken window, and got a nod in reply.
“Sorry about that,” Rainbow Dash apologized to Twilight as she looked over the damage again, “I was practicing a move that didn’t go quite as planned.”
“She really wants to astonish everypony at the Gauntlet,” Fluttershy added.
“The Gauntlet?” Twilight Sparkle asked, “I may have read about it, but I do not remember. What is it, again?”
“It’s a Hunter competition, one you’re only invited to attend once,” Rainbow Dash explained excitedly, “Every year, it’s held on the first day of the sixth month, when Cloudsdale arrives at its winter location. The Gauntlet is a chance to show off your skill to other Hunters from across Equestria, including the Wonderbolts! And, this year, I’ve been invited to compete!”
“Sounds exciting,” Applejack said.
“It is,” Rainbow agreed, “I’ve been waiting for this chance for a long time, and I have to make the most of it. If I can pull off a sonic rainboom, I’m sure to win.”
“A sonic what?” Twilight asked.
“Sonic rainboom. It’s the name I gave to an attack I did once,” Rainbow Dash said, “If I can fly fast enough, the force of my strike is so great that it sends vibrations through the air, accompanied by a flash of multi-colored light. It’s an attack that will completely decimate any foe. I’m the only pegasus to ever do it, but I was just a filly when it happened the first time.”
“You’ll do it again, won’t you?” Pinkamena said, hopping up and down.
“Um … yeah, sure, of course I will!” Rainbow Dash replied, puffing herself up. I have to.
“That would be quite a sight to see. I wish we could be there,” Twilight commented, not picking up on the Hunter’s nervousness.
“That would be great; Fluttershy is already coming, but if all of you could be there, it would be even better. I don’t know how impressive things would look from the ground, though,” Rainbow Dash said. Cloudsdale was a flying city kept aloft by powerful sorcery. Though much of the city was earth brought up from the surface, it was tied together by constructions of cloud, which only pegasi and gryphons were able to walk upon without plummeting to their deaths. Of the Brave Companions, only Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy would be able to move about the city freely.
“Well, it’s a six-day journey to Cloudsdale’s winter location, and I want to get at least one more practice run in before I have to go,” Rainbow Dash said as she stretched her wings and trotted toward the broken window, “Come on, Fluttershy.”
The druidess headed toward the window as well, but stayed back for a moment after her friend had left.
“I really wish the rest of you could come to Cloudsdale with us,” Fluttershy said as she looked back over her shoulder, “Rainbow Dash needs all the encouragement she can get. She’s been practicing for over a week now and hasn’t come close to executing her rainboom. She can’t fail in front of everypony at the Gauntlet.”
As Fluttershy took off, Twilight looked forlornly at the broken window. Golden Oak’s laboratory was one of the few buildings in town with glass windows, and of course the sorcerer had grown the windows in irregular shapes. It would be incredibly expensive to replace it, but at least Rainbow Dash had crashed through it instead of slamming into the tree’s trunk.
“Come on, Twilight, I know we’re thinking the same thing,” Rarity said as she trotted up next to the sorceress, looking out the window and thinking about Rainbow Dash.
“Are we?” the sorceress asked, seeing no reason Rarity would be concerned about replacing a broken window.
“Yes, we must find a way to support Rainbow Dash in Cloudsdale,” Rarity said with a nod and a smile.
“Oh, right, that,” Twilight realized, “I do not know, Rarity. Rainbow Dash was right; None of us would be able to enter the city.”
“Cloudsdale is held up by sorcery; isn’t that pretty much your thing?” Applejack asked, “There must be a spell t’ let us wingless ponies walk on clouds.”
“I do not know any such spell,” Twilight said with a shake of her head, “Besides, it is not like I have the Cant’r Laht archives to search through for enchantments. Golden Oak’s collection of books is not so large, and I have not even gone through all of them yet.”
“Try this one,” Pinkamena said as she grabbed a random book off the shelf and threw it at the sorceress.
“Pinkamena, I would appreciate it if you would not-A Brief Study of Ornimancy!” Twilight said as she caught the book and glanced at the title, “How did you—no, never mind.”
Twilight Sparkle righted her writing desk and flipped through the tome, searching for an incantation pertinent to their situation. Spike came in while she was doing so and began cleaning up the spilled scrolls and broken glass, the other three ponies lending him a hoof while they waited for an answer from the sorceress. After a time, Twilight’s eyes lit up, and she turned around to face the others with book in hoof.
“Okay, I found a spell that will allow a non-pegasus to fly for one week,” Twilight said before looking up gravely, “However, it is a difficult spell, and I am not sure I will be able to properly cast it.”
“You must try,” Rarity insisted, “For Rainbow Dash.”
“Very well; Rarity, since you are so enthusiastic, I will try it on you first,” Twilight said before getting to work.
Copying part of the text, the sorceress gave it to Spike and instructed him to concoct the potion using the alchemy equipment beneath the laboratory. If it combusts and the laboratory lights on fire, that could be the least of our worries. Meanwhile, Twilight took a piece of chalk and began sketching runes on the floor. Normally, she would have used the sand table in the cavern beneath the laboratory, but the spell called for the runes to be drawn on a surface suspended over open air, and the chalk would come off easily enough later. The sorceress drew an equilateral triangle with a circle in the center and wrote words in the Language of the Horns along every line, as well as in a spiral within the center circle. After drawing some additional circles and runes on the floor, Twilight examined the quills from her writing desk and found one that didn’t seem too old, placing it in one of the magic circles. When Spike returned with the potion, she had Rarity drink it and waited until she had consumed every drop before giving her further instructions.
“Rarity, stand in this center circle with your hooves here, here, here, … and here,” she said as she helped the blacksmith get into position, “Now, whatever happens, do not move your legs or neck, unless you want to risk your bones shattering. Also, do not hold your breath; however much you feel you should, you must continue breathing or your lungs could liquify. Keep your eyes on me as long as you can, and ignore the sensations on your back. Do not try to look at it. Do you understand?”
Rarity nodded her affirmation, then stood completely still, keeping everything Twilight had said in mind (and trying not to think so much about the disturbing parts.) The sorceress calmed her mind and prepared the spell. There were no words for her to say aloud, but in her mind she wove together an incantation that pushed her skills to the limit, and Applejack and Pinkamena watched as she sweated in concentration, pouring magical energy from her ample reserves into the enchantment. The chalk lines began glowing brightly, and sparks danced across the runes, some of them finding their way to Rarity’s hooves. Gradually, Rarity began to rise off the ground, glowing symbols appearing around her occasionally as Twilight projected them to control the spell. The quill on the ground burst into flames, and a thick column of blue smoke rose from it even after the feather was completely consumed. The smoke wound its way like a ribbon around Rarity until she was fully encased in it. Flashes of light came from within occasionally, and the smoke began to take on a smoother and brighter form as it congealed into purer magic.
With one last push of energy from Twilight Sparkle that caused her horn to glow, Rarity’s magical prison flashed with a bright light.Applejack, Pinkamena, and Twilight were forced to look away, and when they looked back, the conjured smoke was gone. Rarity stood, unharmed, and Twilight smiled with pride and relief.The spell had been a success.
***
“I’m not so sure about this, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said as they ascended to Cloudsdale.
“Don’t worry about it,” her friend assured her, putting a foreleg around her partly to comfort her and partly to push her to fly faster, “Just be confident with the other Hunters, and they won’t bother you much. Besides, I’ll be with you most of the time, and nopony’s going to mess with you while I’m around.”
The two pegasi alighted over the edge of Cloudsdale and landed within its walls. Technically, the city had no need of walls, since its ability to float made it invulnerable to conventional attack; also, any enemy that could reach the altitude of the city could easily cross the walls, but old habits die hard. The facts that Cloudsdale hovered over the landscape and had no permanent location were not the only things that made the city unique. It was inhabited entirely by pegasi, the vast majority of which were Hunters or Hunters-to-be in the Order of the Sparrow, and the rest helped support them by trading with the towns they passed over for supplies or foraging the ground for food. It was a wholly unique city, and one that few ponies ever got to see up close for themselves. The only way up to Cloudsdale other than flying was to ride up in a lift that was only lowered to bring up large quantities of food and raw materials, or pegasus recruits who were unable to fly to the city (almost all of them, since Hunter training began at a very young age.)
“Well, well, well. What have we here?” a Hunter asked before Rainbow and Fluttershy had even taken a few steps in the city.
There were plenty of Hunters trotting about; for those competing and those observing alike, the Gauntlet was an opportunity to reunite with old comrades and together tour the city where their monster-hunting skills had been beaten into them. Still, despite the bustle around them, it wasn’t hard to pinpoint who had spoken up. Two Hunters were trotting toward them, familiar to the two ponies from years ago.
“Rainbow Dash, I never thought you’d show your face here again after what happened,” one with a scythe—the weapon of choice for Hunters in the Order of the Raven—on his back said.
“Hubert, Duvas,” Rainbow Dash addressed both the stallions with a frown, “You seem to have done well for yourselves.The Orders of Raven and Crane, huh?”
“You’ve done well for yourself, too,” Duvas said darkly as he stared at the falcon medallion around her neck, “I’m surprised they accepted you. There’s no way the Order of the Falcon didn’t know about Luther, especially after you killed him in their territory.”
“That was a long time ago, and Rainbow Dash didn’t mean to kill him,” Fluttershy stood up for her friend, seeing the guilt creeping in on her.
“Of course! His body was beaten apart, but it wasn’t because of the sadist that killed him. No, it was a mystical ‘sonic rainboom’!” Duvas said mockingly, with rising anger, “How would you know? You weren’t there—unless? Fluttershy, the one that went missing. I didn’t want to believe the rumors about the ‘Brave Companions’ that it really was you, because for so long I’d consoled myself with the fact that at least Rainbow Dash had lost somepony that day, too. But, no, you’re alive, Rainbow Dash gets to act like a big hero, and nopony remembers the blood on her hooves!”
“Duvas, we should go,” Hubert said sternly, perceiving that his friend was nearly ready to draw his sword and go after Rainbow Dash, “There is nothing more to be done. We are Hunters, and we must not fight among ourselves. Rainbow Dash will pay for her sins one day, but it will not be at your hooves.”
With a grumble, Duvas turned and followed Hubert away. Now that the threat was removed, Dash could safely relax, but found that she was unable to. The conversation had brought up too many bad memories, which had been hovering near the surface for a while now. Trying to recreate the sonic rainboom had reminded her of the first time she’d used it, when she’d torn apart another recruit with the force of her blow. Until now, she’d kept the details locked away, considering only how to apply such a devastating blow in a fight against monsters, her true opponents, but Luther’s face kept appearing. His surprise, shock, and terror as the blast of multicolored light shredded his body were etched in Rainbow Dash’s memory, and would always remain, no matter how deep she tried to bury them.
“Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy spoke softly, trying to comfort the Hunter, who was still frozen in place and tensed up, “Nopony else may believe you about the sonic rainboom, but I do. You’re going to do it today and prove that it can be used for good, to slay monsters and not ponies. Isn’t that why you were so set on being able to do it?”
“Yeah, except I’m not going to be able to do it,” Dash said worriedly, breaking free of her trance, “I’ve only ever done it once, and I didn’t even know what I was doing! I’m going to fail tomorrow, and make a fool of myself! Why did I agree to this! Spitfire will be watching, and when she sees me crash into a wall, there’s no way she’ll even consider me for the Wonderbolts! What am I going to do?”
“Rare … flying?” Fluttershy said with surprise, looking over Rainbow Dash’s shoulder.
“It’s not going to be enough!” Rainbow continued to panic, misinterpreting the druidess’s words, “I need something spectacular, and I have nothing!”
“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Rarity said confidently as she landed next to Rainbow Dash, “I believe you’re more than capable of dazzling onlookers with your moves and your sonic rainboom.”
“Rarity! You have wings!” Fluttershy said with awe, finally getting her words out.
“Indeed I do,” Rarity replied, fanning them out and fawning over them.
Twilight Sparkle’s spell had worked perfectly, and two wings now sprouted from Rarity’s back. The feathers were of the purest white (fortunately, Twilight had used a quill that matched Rarity’s coat nearly perfectly) and shimmered and glowed like fresh fallen snow. They looked as delicate as lace, yet had no difficulty in lifting Rarity off the ground. Their span was longer than that of the average pegasus, and the tips reached nearly past her flanks when she folded them next to her body.
“Twilight used a spell to grow them, and I’ve spent the last few days learning how to use them,” Rarity said, “We could have traveled together to Cloudsdale and you could’ve given me some pointers, but I convinced the others that it would be better to surprise you.”
“Others?” Rainbow Dash asked as she looked up from observing Rarity’s new wings.
Pinkamena suddenly appeared out of thin air, a short distance above the clouds. Rainbow nearly shoved Rarity out of the way in an attempt to save her from plummeting to her death, but when she landed, her hooves sank into the cloud only slightly more than a pegasus’s would’ve. Applejack appeared a few seconds later, followed by Twilight, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw that her teleportation had worked.
“You’re all here!” Rainbow Dash said excitedly, her spirits soaring and her troubles almost forgotten, “I don’t mean to be rude, but how come you’re not all falling to your deaths?”
“If I may,” Twilight said, stepping forward to proudly show off her skill in sorcery, “Rarity insisted that we accompany you here and give you our support, so I used the first applicable spell I found on her to give her temporary wings. However, the spell was extraordinarily difficult and drained me considerably. While I was recovering and preparing to do it again, I discovered a less strenuous spell that would allow the rest of us to walk on clouds, even without wings. From there, all that remained was to scry out your position in Cloudsdale and teleport the rest of us here.”
“Well, I sure am glad to see you all,” Rainbow Dash admitted, “It’ll be great for Fluttershy and I to show you around.”
“That sounds delightful. We may be the first non-pegasi to see Cloudsdale in centuries. However, before we go,” Twilight said, and cast a spell that caused Rarity’s horn to vanish.
“What’s this all about?” Rarity asked, looking up at her forehead while Twilight pulled the shawl on her back over her wings.
“It will be impossible to hide your wings, and we do not want ponies thinking you are an alicorn. That could cause us all sorts of trouble,” Twilight said, “Even though you will be playing the part of a pegasus, you still need to keep your wings covered up whenever possible. They are extremely delicate, and exposure to the sun without filtering clouds for even a few minutes could cause them to weaken.”
“Come on, we’ll show you where we used to train,” Rainbow Dash beckoned to the group once Rarity was squared away.
***
Together, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy led the group through the streets of Cloudsdale. Apart from the fact that the ground was made out of cloud in some places, and the inordinately large number of weapon shops and taverns, it wasn’t all that different from other Equestrian cities. The monuments in the city’s many squares were statues of pegasi, not unicorns or earth ponies as they were down below. Rainbow Dash knew the story behind every one of these great Hunters, impressing Twilight with her encyclopedic knowledge of the legends.
Their path brought them across the city, and past the massive coliseum at its heart. The Gauntlet would be held here later, but for now, smaller events were taking place. Rainbow Dash cast a nervous glance at the imposing structure before regaining her composure and continuing the tour.
“Here it is, where every Hunter comes to train: Castle Brink,” Rainbow announced dramatically as they approached the greatest wonder of Cloudsdale.
Castle Brink was a fortress, but one unlike anything on the ground below. The traditional castle building strategy of using multiple buildings and layered walls as a defense had been abandoned, for they would be no good against an aerial assault.Other than a single wall, whose purpose was more to set a boundary between the castle and the city, Castle Brink was a single pyramidal structure, from which towers jutted at various elevations. Pegasi would have a hard time breaking in, but they weren’t the only threat the castle was defended from; along the walls and atop the towers were ballistae with enough force to punch through the scales of a small to medium sized dragon. Neither Castle Brink or Cloudsdale had ever been attacked, but this place had been built by Hunters, professional warriors who wouldn’t dare neglect their defenses.
Though it was on the edge of the city, this was the most important site in Cloudsdale. It was the entire reason the city existed, as everypony living here worked to serve the Hunters of the Order of the Sparrow in some way or another.
“These are the training grounds. There are more outside of the castle, but they're mostly used for advanced training. Here is where they teach young Hunters to fight and fly,” Rainbow Dash announced as they crossed through the castle’s wall into the large enclosure in front of the fortress itself, “This sure brings back memories, doesn’t it, Fluttershy?”
“Mm-hm,” the druidess agreed, though her recollections of their Hunter training were not as pleasant as her friend’s.
“I wonder if our names are still here!” Dash said with foallike glee before flapping across the training yard.
Sent into brutal training at a young age, in preparation to fight monsters, the trainees of the Order of the Sparrow were wont to do what anypony in their situation would. Knowing they would likely die, maybe in training, maybe later, they had wanted to put their mark on this place, and, knowing that the outer wall served no defensive purpose, many of them had used it for just that. The vast expanse of stones was covered in the crudely scratched names of the ponies who’d come through here. Though Fluttershy had taken some convincing, Rainbow Dash had brought her around, and they had both made themselves part of this place, even if only one of them had finished their training.
Fluttershy’s name was still there, near the ground and so small that it was almost unreadable. Rainbow Dash pointed it out to her before searching for her own name. She’d been so proud of learning to fly while others could still only hover that, of course, she’d scratched it into the wall as high as she could go at the time. However, among the vast sprawl of names, hers was conspicuously absent. She eventually found it, but sank to the ground with her spirits when she did.Her name had been furiously scratched out, replaced with “Killer” and another name.
“Oh my, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said as she hovered up by the crossed-out name, “You must’ve made an enemy in training.
Somepony named Luther has crossed your name out and replaced it with his own.”
“That’s … not what happened,” Dash said glumly. Why now? Why does it all have to come back now? I almost wish I’d never returned to Cloudsdale.
“Ooh, is there a story here?” Pinkamena asked, oblivious to Dash’s discomfort.
“If it’s all the same, I’d rather not talk about it right now,” Dash said.
“Why not? Is something wrong?” Pinkamena asked.
“How about we show you the inside of the castle?” Fluttershy interjected, trying to take Rainbow Dash’s mind off of things, “There’s the great hall, and the armory, and the place where they control the city’s movement.”
“Yeah, good idea, Fluttershy,” Dash said, perking up slightly as she set off toward the castle’s imposing entrance.
The Hunter couldn’t help but notice that Rarity was lagging behind a bit. The presence of outsiders had drawn the attention of the trainees practicing in the yard. Already anxious to watch the Gauntlet later, they’d easily been able to convince themselves to leave their training and see who these visitors were. Oddly enough, they all seemed drawn to Rarity, and were admiring her wings. Rarity was none too shy in showing them off, either, and welcomed their praise as the young pegasi followed them to Castle Brink. Rainbow Dash didn’t know why, but it made her uneasy. At least the attention wasn’t focused on her and her actions. She was beginning to think everypony and everything here was out to accuse her of her past.
“Master Cataphract!” Rainbow Dash said with surprise as she almost bumped into another Hunter in the hallway, and the trainees quickly made themselves scarce, “I … wasn’t expecting to run into you.”
“Nor I, you,” the aged mare said disparagingly, “I haven’t seen a mane like that in over a decade, which means you must be Rainbow Dash.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Dash replied respectfully, “I’ve returned for the Gauntlet.”
“Of course you have,” Cataphract said with disdain, “I have never been one to beat about the bush, so I’ll come right out and say it. I objected to you being allowed to become a Hunter twelve years ago, I objected to the Order of the Falcon—my order before I came here—accepting you as a member, and I objected to you being allowed to compete in a competition with civilized Hunters who completed their training without pummeling other recruits to death. I will be in the judgement box alongside Spitfire and Grandmaster Oss, and you’ll have to do something spectacular in the Gauntlet if you don’t want my objection to be the final word. Prove it was worth it, prove me wrong, if you can. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Rainbow Dash replied quietly, all her confidence snuffed out.
“Good, then we understand one another,” the master Hunter said as she pushed past her and continued down the hall, pausing as she spotted Rarity’s outstretched wings, “Oh my, what have we here?”
“Are you going to be all right, Rainbow Dash?” Twilight Sparkle asked while Cataphract inspected Rarity’s magical wings. Now I know that coming here was the right move. I had no idea what was going on and what Rainbow Dash was going through.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” the Hunter said in distress, speaking to Twilight alone now that the others were all assembled around Rarity, “I just need to do so well in the Gauntlet that I can win over an entire city of ponies that hates me for a mistake I made as a foal. No big deal, right? I’ll just do the sonic rainboom, except that I can’t. I can’t do it, Twilight! No matter how many times I tried, I couldn’t pull it off! What am I going to do? Right now, it seems like the only chance I have of getting though this is if ponies are so entranced with Rarity’s wings that they don’t see me fail.”
“You can do this, Rainbow Dash. Believe in yourself,” Twilight said, trying her best to be comforting and encouraging, “We all believe in you and came all this way to support you. You are going to do that sonic rainboom and show everypony what you can do.” It was odd, stroking the ego of a pony whose ego so often seemed out of control.
“Thanks, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said, feeling a little better.
“We are here for you. And, if things do start going wrong, we could always try to distract ponies with Rarity’s wings,” Twilight said as she looked over her shoulder, “She does not seem to be hesitant about showing them off.”
***
The ponies continued to sightsee around Cloudsdale, and Rainbow Dash knew that this time with her friends should’ve calmed her mind, but instead she became increasingly nervous as her moment to perform grew closer. Others that had been members of the Order of the Sparrow when she’d been here were around, and the looks they gave her were largely judgmental. Around Ponieville, she was the Hunter that could always be counted on to deal with the beasts that wandered out of the Everfree Forest, and across Equestria her name was mentioned alongside the other Brave Companions as a hero out of legend. Here, though, it seemed she would always be the filly who’d murdered a fellow trainee. On top of that, she’d done it with the sonic rainboom, the same move she was hoping to use today in the Gauntlet. No longer could she separate the rainboom as a technique from the effect it’d had on that day twelve years earlier, and she desperately searched her mind for something else she could do in the Gauntlet to impress the judges, for now she was sure that she wouldn’t be able to repeat the move.
Eventually, the Brave Companions made their way to the same place everypony else in the city was filtering into: the coliseum. Cloudsdale’s coliseum was an impressive structure, hundreds of stone arches enclosing stands in a perfect circle.
As they entered the stadium, Rainbow Dash was forced to leave her friends and make her way down to the competitors’ area while the others took a seat in the stands. Coliseums had been built by the pegasi across Equestria centuries before the unicorns set hoof on the continent, and their construction had later become popular across the Shimmering Sea in the Zebrikaanian Empire, but none were quite like the one in Cloudsdale. Neither the pegasi of the distant past or the zebras of more recent history had had the ability to lift a city into the sky, and they hadn't had the opportunity to create a stadium that only beings with wings could compete in. The Cloudsdale coliseum had no floor to it, instead opening out onto half a league of nothingness. Lines were strung across the hole, practice equipment like what Rainbow Dash had in her course outside of Ponieville hanging from them. Around the edge were large gated cells, one of them holding the Gauntlet’s competitors, while many of the others held monsters for them to fight.
A gong sounded to draw everypony’s attention, and the stadium began to quiet. An elderly pegasus in Hunter armor that looked nearly as ancient its wearer entered what would normally be the royal box, Master Cataphract at his side. As Grandmaster Oss and Master Cataphract were seated, the third judge made her entrance with a flourish. Over the edge of the stadium flew Spitfire, her blue armor blending into the sky. She threw several bombs into the air that exploded into smoke and lighting, and drew thunderous applause from the Hunters in the stands. Once the judges were all seated, without much fanfare, the Gauntlet began.
One at a time, the contestants, all Hunters with promising talent, emerged into the ring. Down below, they’d been briefed on what to expect, and had planned accordingly on how best to tackle the grueling obstacle course that had been designed for them. It was a difficult course, where moving even a fraction of a second faster could mean the difference between dodging a blow and being disqualified. As was expected, a few of the Hunters didn’t make it to the end of the course, taking too many hits. Those that did survive the obstacle course had one final challenge to demonstrate their skills in combat.
They would choose a cage from around the ring and dispatch the monster within. This too was a dangerous task that not everypony succeeded at, but if things looked to be going too poorly, there were other experienced Hunters at the ready to kill the monster before it made a corpse of one of their own. Injuries were common, but nopony died.
“When do y’ think Rainbow Dash is goin’ t’ compete?” Applejack asked as the day wore on, “How many more Hunters are left?”
“Not many,” Fluttershy admitted worriedly, thinking back to the first time she’d witnessed the Gauntlet, back when she and Rainbow were recruits, “Normally, they only invite around twenty Hunters to compete.”
Is Rainbow Dash not going through with this? Twilight wondered. The twenty-second Hunter was finishing off her monster, so the Gauntlet had to be almost done. Twilight hoped that Rainbow had regained her courage, at least enough to attempt the Gauntlet. To leave in disgrace without even trying would be nearly as crushing as failing before a stadium of her fellow Hunters.
“The last contestant in this year’s Gauntlet!” the herald announced as the previous competitor joined the others who’d finished the course and the gate to the competitors’ area opened one last time, “Rainbow Dash of the Order of the Falcon!”
Looking even more nervous than when they’d left her, Rainbow Dash fluttered out into the arena, glancing back and forth between the obstacle course and the stands full of ponies. She had her work cut out for her. The previous Hunters had not gone easy on the Gauntlet’s equipment, and simply completing it without suffering a hit would not be as impressive a feat as it had been at the start. She would have to do something really spectacular in her monster fight to impress the judges, but she didn’t think she had it in her to pull off the sonic rainboom.
“This ought to be good,” Hubert laughed several rows ahead of where the Brave Companions were seated, and Twilight’s face creased into a frown as she caught the voice over the crowd.
“Look. She’s frozen up. She’s not even going to compete,” Duvas replied to the friend next to him.
“You can do this, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight Sparkle yelled, surprising the ponies next to her, “Show them what you are capable of!”
Rainbow looked up in surprise as the rest of her friends began yelling encouragement, drawing stares from the Hunters around them. Maybe I can do this, after all. Drawing her sword, Rainbow Dash stared down the obstacle course, calmed her breathing, and steadied her heartrate.
Without warning, she darted forward, zipping in between spinning posts, ducking and weaving around the obstacles. Her sword struck true as she flapped back and forth, using her hooves to launch herself away from traps. The crowd began to pay closer attention as her blade shattered the flails spinning toward her while she dodged attacks from all sides. Under, over, up, and down, the pegasus whirled through the obstacles, striking when she could, retreating when it was necessary.
It was all going well, until she missed notice of a post that struck her in the back of the head. She began to fall, but recovered quickly, barely dodging the next post that swung her way. The end of the course was in sight, but her balance was off, and she was unable to dodge the next attack, taking a blow to the gut. She flipped over two more posts, striking them with her sword, spun around at a dummy and beheaded it, and was struck from behind by a swinging post. One more hit and she’d be disqualified, but she managed to make it to the end. She was still in the Gauntlet, but she was battered, bruised, and her confidence was once again shaken.
Her last chance to impress the judges lay in slaying her monster, but as the last competitor, there were few choices available to her. None of the beasts were particularly impressive, so she decided that she had to make a last desperate attempt to do the sonic rainboom. If it failed, hopefully she could still recover and kill the monster, and not leave completely dejected. She chose a grubbin: a squat, hairy, four-legged creature that could spit acid and shoot spines from its back. In order to keep the monsters confined to the arena, none of them could fly, and there was a platformed area in front of the cages.Rainbow Dash turned the grubbin loose into the area by pulling the chain to open its cage before shooting up into the sky.
“Where’s she going?” somepony in the stands asked as they watched the Hunter ascend higher and higher.
I’ve got to do this. The sonic rainboom is my only chance. But, what if other ponies are caught in the blast? No, the coliseum will protect them. Only the grubbin need die. The grubbin, a monster, not a pony, that is who this technique is meant to be used on. I’ll show them what I can do. I’ll show them the sonic rainboom is real. I’ll show them who I am: a Hunter, not a murderer.
While Rainbow Dash continued to ascend and psych herself up, the grubbin paced back and forth, growling through its rows of extra-long teeth. Its nostrils flared, nearly splitting its face in two, and it turned its small beady eyes to stare at the Brave Companions. Specifically, it saw Rarity, and the magic surrounding her wings. A fine feast she would make, enough for the beast disguised as a grubbin to grow even stronger. The monster’s flesh began to morph, its forelegs growing long and gangly and the hair shedding from its wrinkled pink skin. Leathery wings sprouted from its back while the previously nonexistent neck lengthened, its forehead curved back, and its eyes disappeared within a second set of flaring nostrils.
“That’s no grubbin!” a Hunter in the stands yelled in alarm, “That’s a full-grown warbelik!”
Hunters jumped to their hooves and drew their weapons, but they were too late. The warbelik let out a cry that was heard more with minds than ears. Twilight Sparkle tried to put up magical wards, but the beast’s sorcery shattered through the hastily prepared defenses, paralyzing her along with everypony else in the coliseum. Everypony but one. Warbeliks had a habit of playing with their food, and Rarity was left able to move so that the monster could have a bit of sport before dining.
The winged unicorn stood dazed for only a moment before she realized that the warbelik was flying toward her.
Spreading her wings, she took off into the air to avoid its claws. The monster circled at a distance, seeing that its prey was not a particularly talented fighter and not wanting to rush things. Hundreds of eyes watched helplessly as the duo spun around the coliseum, the warbelik snatching at Rarity’s dress with its claws as she tried desperately to escape.
High above the coliseum (and well out of range of the warbelik’s paralyzing warble), Rainbow Dash leveled out and looked down. Unaware of the unfortunate turn of events down below, she allowed herself a moment to take in the view and prepare for her dive. Equestria stretched out in all directions, and in the center of it all, Cloudsdale, now no larger than a dinner plate from Dash’s vantage point. The coliseum was as small as a berry, and if it hadn’t been for her heightened Hunter senses, spotting the erratic motion within or hearing the frightened screams would’ve been impossible.
“Rarity?” Rainbow Dash said in confusion, straining her ears to determine if the screams really had originated with her friend, “Rarity!”
Rarity was in trouble, somehow. Was something chasing her? What? The grubbin was landbound, and even had it been able to fly, the other Hunters would take it out, wouldn’t they? Something was wrong. Rarity was in trouble, and Rainbow Dash had to get back to the coliseum to help.
The Hunter drew her sword as she dove toward the coliseum, searching for a target. The wind stung her eyes and forced her ears back as she picked up speed, but still she descended, faster and faster. Her quarry was in sight now, a large, gangly, winged creature that was toying with Rarity, chasing her around the coliseum. The warbelik was growing bored, actually nicking Rarity with its claws now that she was beginning to tire out. Rainbow Dash didn’t have much time, and she put on all the speed she could muster. Wind whistled past and her sword screeched as it cut through the air and threatened to fly from her mouth, but she kept a tight grip on it.
Rarity began to feel her wings weaken, too much exposure to sunlight causing their structure to break down. The warbelik grabbed at her, its long claws slicing through her mane, and she whimpered piteously as she tried to flee. Seeing there was no more sport to be had in chasing Rarity around, the warbelik ceased its toying with her and grabbed one of her wings. As it did, the magic came undone and the wings tore apart, breaking into long strands of shimmering fibers and motes of glowing dust. Rarity gave a cry of pain as the remainder of the wings tore from her back and she fell. The warbelik huffed angrily, cheated out of its meal as the magic it’d longed to consume drifted into the air around it. The unicorn that dropped through the air beneath it was no longer as savory a morsel. It sensed something else, however, and its nostrils flared as it inclined its head up. There was something descending toward it, burning with a strange magical energy it didn’t recognize. A meal was a meal, though, and the warbelik wasn’t going to play with this meal and risk it vanishing into thin air. With beats of its leathery wings, it ascended toward its new prey.
Rainbow Dash saw Rarity’s wings fall to pieces and her friend begin to fall, but she had to focus elsewhere for the moment. The warbelik had spotted her and was straining upward, even as she picked up even greater speed in her descent. She had to be faster if she wanted to kill the warbelik and save Rarity before she hit the ground, and that was all that was on the Hunter’s mind. She didn’t even notice the tension building around her as she neared the crucial point she’d strained toward for weeks in an attempt to impress onlookers in the Gauntlet she’d temporarily forgotten about. Sparks began to crackle through her mane and tail as energy built around her, energy belonging to a magic foreign to this world, the same magic that had baffled Twilight Sparkle only a few weeks earlier.Her speed got another boost as she neared the warbelik, and then she was in striking range.
Her sword tore the warbelik in half from shoulder to groin, the force of the blow liquefying every organ it passed through. A shockwave went out from Rainbow Dash’s supernatural strike, tearing the monster into pieces and sending blood, bone, and entrails raining down on the coliseum. As the shockwave expanded, it was accompanied by a thundering boom and a wave of multicolored light. Passing just over the stadium’s walls, the blast sliced through the flagpoles adorning the coliseum’s edge, sending the banners of every Hunter order fluttering down. With the warbelik’s death, its spell was released and the coliseum’s occupants could move again, but all stood transfixed by the sonic rainboom.
Rainbow Dash wasn’t finished, though. Barely pausing after slaying the fearsome creature, she continued to descend, dodging through the cables holding the Gauntlet’s obstacle course. Rarity was still falling, picking up speed with no wings to slow her fall. Rainbow Dash pulled up alongside the plummeting unicorn and grabbed her tightly in her forelegs before spreading her own wings to slow their descent. At the pace they were going, Rainbow felt like her wings were going to break before they slowed enough, but she kept at it, holding on until it was safe to redirect them. She and Rarity nearly grazed the hills as she looped back around and up towards Cloudsdale, but they didn’t crash.
A thunderous wave of applause went up as she ascended into the coliseum, still holding Rarity. Rainbow Dash looked around in wonder, the judgmental faces of her fellow Hunters replaced by cheering visages praising her for her actions. She spun around a few times before she spotted her friends in the crowd and returned Rarity to them, setting her down on the stone stands of the coliseum. The Hunters around pressed in to express their amazement, barely allowing her to squeeze forward to join the rest of the Brave Companions.
“You did it, Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy said, “You did the sonic rainboom!”
“That sure was somethin’ t’ see!” Applejack praised her.
“And you saved my life!” Rarity said, choked up.
Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear. Things had been going so poorly, but it had all turned around.
The sonic rainboom wasn’t a fluke that had killed a fellow foal any longer; it was a weapon that helped her kill a dangerous monster and a tool that given her the speed to save Rarity from falling to her death. She now believed this in her heart, and everypony else knew it as well. A tap on her shoulder to get her attention prompted the Hunter to turn around and face two ponies who’d pushed their way through the crowd.
“Rainbow Dash, I think we owe you an apology,” Hubert said, before elbowing Duvas.
“I may never totally forgive you for killing Luther, but if that’s what killed him,” Duvas said, pointing at the still dissipating trails of colorful magic in the sky, “I can understand that his death was unintentional. I … I don’t think you meant to kill him, Rainbow Dash.”
“Apologies accepted,” Rainbow Dash replied, “I think we all needed to move past this.”
The banging of the gong drew everypony’s attention back to the Gauntlet, which was still going on even if the warbelik attack had paused it temporarily. Rainbow Dash extricated herself from the stands and flapped over to join the other Hunters who’d completed the Gauntlet. The three judges looked at each other without exchanging any words, and stood to announce the winner.
“I don’t think any of you will find our choice of this year’s winner of the Gauntlet a surprise, for it’s obvious to anypony,” Grandmaster Oss announced as he stroked his beard, “Rainbow Dash of the Order of the Falcon, join us and receive your prize.”
Her fellow competitors congratulated her as she flew to the judges’ box, knowing, like everypony else, that after the sonic rainboom, they had no chance of winning. Master Cataphract gave Rainbow Dash an approving nod as she passed the winner’s symbol to Oss. The Grandmaster of the Order of the Sparrow placed the iron circlet, inscribed with symbols of the Hunters, upon Rainbow Dash’s head, and she turned to accept another round of applause from the crowd. Once more, Rainbow couldn’t stop smiling as the approval of her colleagues was heaped upon her, wiping away all the cruel memories of the past, at least for the moment.
“I see even the tales of the Brave Companions don’t do you justice,” Spitfire said, and Dash turned with barely contained excitement to see the leader of the Wonderbolts standing right in front of her, speaking to her with words of praise, “You have talent, maybe even enough for the Wonderbolts; I’d have to be blind not to see that after that display. I assume you and your companions will be at the summit in the spring. Come find me at the gala; we may have something to discuss.”
Rainbow’s heart was racing faster than it ever did when she was fighting for her life. The captain of the Wonderbolts wanted to speak to her at the gala! It was a dream come true, everything she’d ever hoped for. For once, everything was going right. She knew that, in a land as brutal as Equestria, this would pass, but for now she wanted to savor the moment. Standing here with master Hunters, while the crowd cheered her on, the world didn’t seem so dark, and she could almost forget all the pain she’d endured. Almost.