//------------------------------//
// Hanging By A Thread 
// Story: Rainbow Dash and the Darkwing Pony 
// by ThomasZoey3000 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 9: Hanging By a Thread


Try as they might, Inferno's minions couldn't hit Darkwing Pony, he proved to be slik, sneaky and fast. Worst still for them, he was insulting them by saying what bad shots they were and calling them names.

"You'll pay for those words!" they shouted angerily.

Darkwing Pony smirked, "actually, it won't be me who pays, it'll be you and your whole stupid organization. So come on bone-heads, hit me with your best shot, if you can."

The minions fired off again, and one nearly hit Darkwing Pony's tail.

"Whew, that one was a little too close for my comfort," but he smirked as he looked to the damage to the roof of the Pit area. "Just a few more hits, and I'll give them a whole new meaning of 'bringing the house down'."

"Keep firing you idiots, get him and destory him!" shouted Inferno.

The minions responded by firing at Darkwing once again. Inferno was getting more and more annoyed, but before he could shout a command, he finally noticed the damage his minions had done to the roof, and it suddenly hit him. For as long as he's been who he is, Darkwing had come to know alot about them, including how they build their hideouts.

"He's going to knock my castle down!" he thought to himself. "Stop firing you fools, stop firing! You're destorying the castle."

The minions stopped firing. Darkwing Pony looked to the roof and groaned. All was needed was one more hit to bring the roof, and the castle down. He smirked as he looked down to the minions, "that's it? I thought you guys could actually hit a target. I guess I'm just too fast for slow pokes like yourselves. Oh well, you just proved my point of how stupid you fools are."

"Take that back!" shouted one of the unicorn minions.

"Don't listen to him, he's trying to get in your head," Inferno said firmly.

But Darkwing Pony continued to mock the minions, "come on! Hit the bull's eye, win a prize. Like a promotion perhaps. Come on! Are you too chicken?"

"Too late, he's in my head! SHUT UP!" shouted the minion and fired.

"NO!" shouted Inferno.

It was too late. The magical energy left the unicorn's horn and shot up towards Darkwing Pony. At the last second, he moved to the left and the beam hit the roof, right where Darkwing Pony wanted them to hit.

"Ding! Ding! Ding! Congratulations fools, you win a prize! And your prize is...your castle falling down. Thanks for the help."

There came a deep rumbling sound and the surronding area started to shake. At first, it was gentle shaking, but soon it started to become violent shaking.

"Let's get out of here!" shouted a minion.

"You don't need to tell me twice!" shouted another and they all started running for nearby exits.

"Come back here you fools!" Inferno demanded. It was no use, they had no intension of staying in a crumbling castle.


Just down the hallway, Rainbow was still flying towards the Pit when she saw the place shaking, "he's knocking it down?! Oh no, I got to get to him before it's too late."

She put on the speed, and raced back to the Pit, but was shocked to see the doorway blocked.

"I don't believe this, he's blocked my way in there." She rammed towards the stone wall, but nearly broke her left shoulder hitting it several times. "Darkwing! You can't do this! You have alot of life in you! Break this wall down! DARKWING!"


Inferno stared up angerily at Darkwing Pony, "you destoryed my latest hideout, and it was my favourite! You'll pay for this Darkwing!"

"Correction, it's you that will pay Inferno. You took my life away, you made me a pariah, you forced me into this line of work, so if anypony is going to pay, it's going to be you at last!" Darkwing Pony charged in at Inferno. He lifted his right hoof, ready to strike Inferno, but was shocked to learn Inferno, despite his big size, was good at karate.

"Uh oh."

"I underestimated you Darkwing, now you'll simply die!"

He lifted his right hoof, and smacked Darkwing hard, sending him flying towards the rock wall blocking the doorway. Feeling he had won, Inferno turned to make his escape.

Darkwing Pony looked up and noticed how loose the rocks were above the other doorway. A big rock landed beside him.

"You're not going anywhere big boy." He aimed, fired and threw the rock right at the spot. Dozens of stones and rocks fell and blocked Inferno's pathway out. "We're finishing this fight Inferno."

"Fine, I'll destory you, then I'll leave."

On the other side of the rock wall, Rainbow was pounding away, shouting Darkwing's name. But all she was doing was hurting her throat from yelling, and giving her sore hooves. Eventually, she had to stop.

"Ow, okay that hurt."

She jumped as a big rock fell in front of her.

"Okay Rainbow Dash, if you were Darkwing, what would you do?" She thought it over, then it came to her, "I would find the weak point in something, then use it to knock them down."

It wasn't really easy to find a weak point in a rock wall, especially with rocks falling down around her. Finally though, after what seemed like forever, Rainbow found the weakpoint; a loose set of rocks.

"Hang on Darkwing, I'm coming."

She lifted a hoof and prepared to strike, when suddenly, the ground shook following a loud boom. From the sounds of it, it was coming from inside the room of the Pit.

"NO! Hang on old friend, I'm coming!"


Inside the room, Inferno and Darkwing Pony watched as a huge part of the roof caved in and started falling towards them. It broke the platform right in the middle. Both ponies jumped into the air and started flying. Then Darkwing Pony heard Rainbow.

"No, you shouldn't be here," he groaned.

He was about to fly over and tell Rainbow to get out, when he suddenly found himself being tackled to the ground and pinned down.

"You broke my castle, now I'll break something of yours. Namely, your wings!" He raised his left hoof and stomped down on Darkwing's right wing, dislocating some bones in the process and making him scream in pain. "Now get out of my sight!" shouted Inferno and tossed Darkwing off the platform. "Good ridence to the fool."

But just as he was about to fly away, he found one of his back legs get wrapped up in a rope.

"What?!"

"You didn't think I was going to let you get away, did you?!" shouted Darkwing in some pain. "We're not even close to being even Inferno." He swung on the rope and made himself fly up. Extending one of his back legs, he kicked Inferno's left wing. There was a horrible cracking sound and he found himself falling. Darkwing aimed his other rope launcher and it went flying, right at the rock wall, which Rainbow was about to break down. The launcher caught the rocks and Darkwing stopped.

Before he could sigh in relief, something big and heavy grabbed one of his back legs.

"Okay, you got more skill than I thought, but it won't save you from me when I finish you."

He tried to climb back up, but it wasn't easy. Worst still, his movements were weakening the rope.

"Quit moving around down there!" shouted Darkwing Pony. "You're weakening the rope!"

But Inferno wouldn't listen, "I'll tear you to pieces!"

Darkwing looked up. He could hear the rocks from the rock wall in the doorway move, which meant Rainbow would break it down any minute, and there were no other points to attach the other rope launcher to. Plus with his broken wing, he wouldn't be able to fly away, there was no way out. Rainbow Dash was wrong.

"Come on boy, fight back!" taunted Inferno, "or are you the one that's being chicken?"

But instead of fighting, Darkwing gave up. He was going to let Inferno end eveything. Inferno groaned as he tried to get up and break Darkwing, but it was too late by the time he realised he was weakening the rope to it's breaking point.

"Oh no," he groaned.

Rainbow backed up, ready to hit the rock wall. She charged at it, but before she could break the wall, the rope snapped. Rainbow burst through the wall and looked down to see Darkwing Pony and Inferno falling into the Pit.

"NO!" she cried.

Inferno screamed as he fell, but Darkwing was merely smiling, "you've been the best company I've had in a long time Rainbow Dash, I'll never forget you. Thank you, for one last chance." He closed his eyes and waited for the crash landing.

However, he found himself being caught by somepony. He opened his eyes and saw who his rescuer was, it was Rainbow Dash. She flew both herself and Darkwing Pony back up to the platform.

"Are you alright?"

"Apart from a broken wing, yes I'm fine."

"Good." She then smacked him across the face with her right hoof, "now I don't feel guilty doing that. Don't ever tell me to go without you again, do you hear me?"

Darkwing smiled, "loud and clear, friend."

Rainbow smiled, "oh I can't stay mad at you." And she gave him a big hug, and he in turn hugged her back. Then they remembered Inferno, "if I hurry, I can get to him."

She was about to take flight when they both heard a loud 'boom'.

"Too late isn't it?"

"Yes," Darkwing Pony sighed. "I did warn him, but he wouldn't listen to me."

The shaking of the castle got worse and worse. The two ponies had to get out of there, fast! Since his wing was broken, Darkwing rode on Rainbow Dash's back. She dashed quickly out of the Pit and through the hallways towards the front enterance way.

Darkwing looked behind them and gulped, "uh Rainbow, how fast can you go?"

Rainbow scoffed, "have you forgotten who you're talking to? I'm the fastest flyer in all of Equestria."

"Right, so maybe you could put on more speed."

"It's coming down, isn't it?"

"Oh yeah," Darkwing nodded.

Sure enough, the castle was indeed coming down hard. Rainbow's wings flapped faster and they hurried out of the castle, going faster and faster than ever before.


Outside, the minions had escaped and were now running for their lives. Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer and the other ponies, and one dragon waited for Rainbow Dash and Darkwing Pony.

"That's it, I'm going in!" cried Applejack.

But Twilight's magic stopped her, "no Applejack, it's too dangerous."

"But what about Rainbow Dash? She could be back in The Pit and in case you haven't noticed, the castle is coming down!"

"Here she comes!" cried Starlight.

Sure enough, looking through the open doorway, the ponies and Spike could see Rainbow Dash and Darkwing Pony coming, and in a mad dash. They zoomed up in a trail of rainbow, it was clear she had done a sonic rainboom.

"Ponies! Get out of there! This castle is coming down!"

They didn't need to be told twice, they ran away as the last parts of the castle began to fall down, creating a huge dust storm in it's wake.

The falling of the castle was so loud that everypony in Ponyville heard it, "what was that?" cried Scootaloo. "Is it a monster?"

"I hope not," groaned Sweetie Belle.

In the Everfree forest, the ponies and Spike finally stopped running. They were now covered in dust and dirt, but they were unharmed.

"See what the Magic of Friendship can do for you Darkwing?" Rainbow asked.

Darkwing groaned as he got off Rainbow's back and stood up on all four legs, "yeah...I'm starting to..." but he never finished as he collapsed.

"Darkwing? Darkwing! Come on buddy, wake up! Wake up!"

Twilight ran over towards them, "he's out cold Rainbow, we got to get him to Ponyville General, they can look after him."

"No," Rainbow Dash said firmly. "He's not going to a hospital, he's coming back to my place. Twilight, Fluttershy, can you get a couple of doctors to come up there, and tell nopony else about Darkwing."

Twilight and Fluttershy nodded and flew off. Rainbow turned back to Applejack, "get the hot air balloon, we're going to need it to get him up there."

Applejack nodded and hurried off, leaving the other ponies and Spike to keep an eye on Darkwing.


A short time later, they were back at Rainbow's house. Darkwing layed on the couch breathing normally, but wouldn't wake up. At last, Twilight and Fluttershy arrived with Nurse Coldheart and Nurse Sweetheart.

"Oh my, what a mess you're all in," said Nurse Sweetheart.

"Never mind us," said Rainbow Dash. "He's in need of more help than any of us." And she pointed to Darkwing Pony.

Both nurses gasped to see him. They of course had heard about him, but never thought they would actually see him for real, "well first, we'll need to remove his mask and check..."

But Nurse Coldheart was stopped by Rainbow Dash, "there is one rule though, don't and I repeat don't take off his mask."

"What about moving it up so we check his airways?" asked Nurse Sweetheart.

Rainbow allowed that, and under her watch, they catched his breathing. They checked his pupils, which seemed fine to them. Then they attended to the broken wing, "we'll need to exaimine him alone, you'll have to leave the room."

"But don't worry," said Nurse Coldheart, "we won't remove his mask."

The ponies and one dragon left the living room. Rainbow was quiet as they did, and Starlight noticed this, "Don't worry, they'll fix his broken wing and he'll be as good as new."

"I know they will, I just can't but help worry for my friend."

"Yeah about that, when was he ever a friend of yours?" asked Applejack.

"I love to tell you, but I Pinkie Promised not to say anything to anypony else, and you know what Pinkie does if you break a Pinkie Promise."

Applejack groaned, she did remember all too well.

It was forty minutes later when the two nurses returned, "well we've done all we can for him," said Nurse Sweetheart. "He merely passed out due to being exhausted, and from his injuries. He should wake up soon."

"And don't worry, we did not remove the mask," added Nurse Coldheart.

Rainbow sighed, "thank you. Can we see him?"

"Of course, go right ahead."

They walked back to the living room and found him, still out cold and with his wing bandaged up. The other ponies and Spike decided it was best to leave them alone, so they left with the balloon.

"Don't worry buddy, I'll be here with you," Rainbow said kindly. There came a small sound from behind her. She looked and saw Tank there, "and so will Tank, he's my pet Tortoise."

Tank nodded in agreement, but still there was no movement from Darkwing.

"Get better my friend," she whispered. "I'll stay with you until you wake up. I promise, cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."