Upheaval: Journeys

by Visiden Visidane


Rainbow Dash 9: Relentless

Upheaval: Journeys

Rainbow Dash 9: Relentless

Willow Manor.

Here they were again. The place really shouldn't mean anything to Rainbow: just the first stop in her long journey to improve before Equestria called her to battle the abyss. That was all it should be. It was just the first step.

Not so for Scarlet Rabbit to her right. He snorted, and flapped his wings hard while they hovered. The rage in him was so palpable that it warmed the air around him. His breath came out in thick clouds of vapor and his forelegs twitched in anticipation. Likely, he was already envisioning them wrapped around a snake's neck, crushing...crushing...

Rainbow could understand. It wasn't as if Hassyth hadn't hurt her. But, if she ever felt anything like Scarlet did at the moment, that fire seemed to have gone out. She did want Hassyth dead, but it was more so she didn't have to worry about him throughout the rest of her journey. For Scarlet, the death of this snake was years, maybe even decades, in the making; an end in and of itself. She remembered him furiously struggling while they were captured. His was a rage so great that Ophidite drugs could not affect him. That sort of strength was nothing short of amazing. Yet...what was going to happen if they did kill Hassyth?

To her left, Longstride hovered with a great deal less agitation. This was a long time in the making for him too; a full circle like Scarlet. He started out in that benighted manor as the product of what has got to be the most awful athletic program in all of Equestria and beyond. Now, he's back. Her thoughts went to the decision he had asked her to make with him. It loomed over her now, and she hadn't really given it much thought. Was he really expecting some sort of wise advice from her just because she was the Element of Loyalty? That was stupid. He was expecting too much of her as he always did. He was back to his emotionless expression, nowhere near that silent fury or that weird tenderness from earlier. He caught her staring, but, for the first time, looked away and towards the manor instead of holding her gaze. Maybe he was embarassed by his behavior earlier.

The grounds before the manor had been swallowed up by the forest up until recently. The many stumps around suggested that it had been cleared for the new residents. The ursan camp was a lot less populated now than their first visit. Still, the smithy still operated, and another really big ursan stalked the camp, roaring at the few warriors standing at attention.

"That's the matriarch," Longstride whispered. "She's not happy with the situation. As I suspected, she's supposed to report to an even higher ranking ursan." He listened further, frowning as the matriarch continued to rant. "The main bulk of their troops have yet to arrive, including her superior."

Rainbow shook her head. Just what she needed; more bears. Next to her, Scarlet was practically hissing like a kettle. They glided closer, moving low and always behind some foliage, making sure to not even brush against a leaf lest they were heard.

"We've got to kill him now, then!" Scarlet whispered harshly. "He's going to disappear into Ursinium, and I'll never find him!"

"First we accomplish our mission," Longstride said. He readied his bow, and reached for his quiver. The arrow he picked easily stood out from the others. The head was marked with strange writing. The letters were different, but Rainbow recognized the same style as the markings on the fire bombs she used up north. The arrow head was also covered in some kind of gold leaf. She doubted that this was going to hit a living target. The head was too big in order to accomodate the writing, and the point was quite blunt.

Meanwhile, the matriarch had turned her attention away from the smaller ursans she was yelling at to the manor. She stood on her hind legs, and let out a thunderous roar, enough to rattle Rainbow's teeth even at a distance. That roar had a a spoken word in there. She may not speak Ursan, but it was easy to tell what it meant. The look on Longstride and Scarlet's faces suggested that they came upon the same conclusion.

Hassyth emerged from one of the manor's windows with a flutter of rainbow-colored wings. He glided gracefully through the air, as if he were swimming through the currents with the way he slithered. Up close, Rainbow could make out some details now. His head was also covered in feathers, with a plume of bright purple ones forming a crest atop his reptillian head. His scales were a scintilliating purple on his back, slowly turning bright yellow along his belly. He had a small set of jaws for such a long snake. His was a mouth for talking, not biting it seemed. His eyes were an unblinking yellow; pitiless, fierce, and covetous.

"I'm busy," Hassyth hissed. "How many times must I say this? You want results, but you interrupt me at every turn."

"The Legion is upon us, snake!" the matriarch growled. "Show something for your work, or I will show your head to Dar-Sa-Haf when she gets here."

"The modifications are almost ready," Hassyth replied. "Send in your volunteers, and I will--!" He stopped, then looked around. Rainbow's blood nearly froze when his gaze turned towards her direction. "There's magic nearby! There are ponies somewhere here!"

Longstride loosed the arrow. It arced gracefully through the air, landing in the middle of the camp before anyone could react. As soon as it struck, the head exploded into a flash of brilliance, briefly forcing Rainbow's gaze away. When she looked again, a thin pillar of golden light rose from where the arrow struck, extending to the skies as a clear marker.

"Pony!" the matriarch roared. "You will die for that!"

Longstride replied with a series of grunts and growls. The effect was immediate and telling. The matriarch went livid. Rainbow guessed that Longstride didn't say anything nice. Then again, the matriarch would probably be just as livid simply because a pony spoke her language.

With that, Longstride bolted, the matriarch and several warriors in hot pursuit. As far as Rainbow was concerned, he was flying dangerously slow. The matriarch was practically snapping at his heels. She bit back the urge to fly in front of his pursuers and lead them away. He wouldn't have taunted them if his plan involved being rescued. Of course, no wonder he moved in with her even if he could shoot that arrow from far away. He could lead these ursans away, and still find purchase to shoot at his target. Now if only she and Scarlet...

Longstride hadn't made it that far when the Western Legion responded to his signal. A massive, scintillating bolt of magic struck the camp, just a few feet from where the pillar of light rose. The telekinetic pounding ripped up the ground, sending chunks of earth, soil, tents, and bits of armor, flying. A second one followed shortly afterward, then a third.

The last one struck one of the smaller ursans. Its armor crumpled on impact, bending so much that the metal likely pierced its hide. The force sent it careening to a bunch of barrels full of tools, burying it in pieces of wood and metal. The trail of blood on the ground gave a good hint on its condition.

The matriarch roared again, louder this time. It seemed as if the evocation arrays were responding to her as another bolt came flying in, this one somehow finding her for a direct hit.

The matriarch rose on her hind legs and opened her forelegs seemingly for an embrace. The bolt struck her chest in a brilliant flash and a deafening boom. She didn't even flinch. Nor did the bolt even move her, or even leave a dent.

Rainbow swallowed a lump in her throat at that raw display of might. She looked to Hassyth. A bolt flew in close...

...then simply bounced off.

A globe of magical energy envelope Hassyth, shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow. This was hardly Rainbow's first time dealing with magical shields, but it was going to be her first time dealing with it without magical help.

All of a sudden, her casual taking on of this mission didn't seem so brilliant. How was she going to even hit this snake with a crossbow or a regular lance? She could only hope that the bone thing was as good at piercing magic as it was armor and hide.

"Hassyth!"

Scarlet screamed at the top of his lungs. His cry was the easiest to detect of him as he had turned into a red blur, streaking towards his former master.

"Scarlet..." Rainbow muttered through grit teeth. The bone thing was already oozing and ready in her grasp when Scarlet bounced off Hassyth's shield as easily as that bolt of magic. A split second was all it took for Scarlet to bounce off again. And again. It took a third before Rainbow could even start a charge of her own.

By Scarlet's third impact, the protective shield crackled and distorted briefly. A patch of blood trickled down its surface where Scarlet had struck. More dripped from his head and forelegs.

"My prize racer reduced to a rabid animal," Hassyth said. He spoke in a surprisingly calm tone despite his targets now facing him. His head and tail swayed rhythmically as arcs of magic coursed through him.

"You're dead, Hassyth!" Scarlet snarled. "Dead!"

Scarlet crashed into the shield for the fourth time. This time, Rainbow stuck with him. The bone thing pierced the shield readily, almost eagerly, as if relishing the chance to prove that it was the stronger force. The colors crackled violently, then shattered like glass, allowing Rainbow and Scarlet to fly through. Rainbow kept the point up, ready to skewer Hassyth in the same charge. Next to her, Scarlet let out a mixture of a furious yell and an elated cry.

Only Hassyth wasn't there as soon as the shield disappeared.

On instinct, Rainbow looked behind her, thinking that the coatl had teleported behind them. No Hassyth behind them either.

"You coward!" Scarlet yelled. "Your marks are here, Hassyth! Come and get us!"

Rainbow wasn't so eager. She swore she could still hear the mighty beats of the coatl's enormous, rainbow-feathered wings, but the explosions of the camp getting pounded by telekinetic bolts made it difficult to pinpoint. Scarlet's shouting wasn't helping either.

"Rainbow."

Longstride's voice, calm and reassuring came from the communication pin. Rainbow's eyes widened. Was he seriously gong to talk to her while evading that massive ursan? She could hear the roars through the pin, and the loud whistles of boulders flying through the air. "What is it?" she asked.

"He's twenty feet from where you are, to your front, rising at a thirty degree angle."

"Will you just concentrate on your own fight?" Rainbow snapped. She turned her gaze towards the direction Longstride pointed though. Things were easier once she knew where to look. The wing beats did seem to come from that direction. She squinted, and the faint distortions of light from both Hassyth's casting and the light passing through him showed. She had to act quickly though. She charged straight ahead, way off from where Hassyth likely was. At the last moment, she shifted to an upward climb, spear raised for a deep stab.

There was no way to tell how Hassyth reacted to that feint, given his invisibility. Rainbow hoped that, like Longstride, Hassyth assumed she was an idiot, and that she had no plan besides charging in random directions. Again, the air crackled as the bone thing gleefully pierced the Hassyth's shields. Rainbow inhaled sharply as the seconds stretched out. Her oozing, blazing point moved closer...

And she did hit something, just a graze from the resistance she felt. That was enough to dissipate the invisibility, it seemed. Hassyth's scaled coils suddenly materialized before her, his head close enough to reveal his fangs, and his wings beating furiously. Magic surge through him, ready to unleash, when a familiar red streak flew in. Scarlet took advantage of the shield's brief disruption to slam into Hassyth's back.

"I got you now, master!" Scarlet roared. "Give your prize racer a hug!"

Hassyth let out a loud hiss as the lift beneath his wings fouled. For a couple of seconds, he was actually falling. Behind him, between his wings, Scarlet laughed and pulled out his knife.

"Ingrate!" Hassyth shouted. Electricity crackled around him, coursing through Scarlet as well. Red fur smoked and sizzled, but Scarlet held on. He raised his knife for a stab, one aimed for a wing joint. Rainbow rushed in to follow it up, though she already feated that she was closing in to just pull Scarlet out of there.

Neither of them got what they planned for. The arcs intensified into a flash of bluish white light, enough to force Rainbow to avert her gaze. When she looked again, it was to notice a smoking trail arc downward into the still exploding camp.

"Scarlet!" Rainbow shouted. With a mighty beat of her wings, she shifted course, turning her charge into a desperate dive. That lightning bolt...even her fur was standing on end. The bone thing protested. Such a powerful spell was the hallmark of something that needed to die. Scarlet was weak and stupid; better off dead. If she focused on saving him, Hassyth would regroup. They were unlikely to survive an assault of spells if that bolt was any indication of his power.

The smoking trail suddenly changed directions, from the downward spiral of a defeated foe to a resurging upward charge from a furious pegasus.

"Scarlet, back down!" Rainbow shouted. She had to beat him to the punch, this time. The bone thing wrenched her towards Hassyth instead. "Not now, stupid spear!" she growled.

She may have caught up with Scarlet once, even in his berserk state. In these short bursts, however, it seemed impossible. Hassyth's shields were back up, as evidenced by Scarlet slamming into them. His barding was already crumpled and scorched. It was only getting worse.

"Decades wasted on you only to see you turn rabid," Hassyth hissed.

Rainbow charged from below. She had to take Hassyth's attention off Scarlet. That shouldn't be too hard. She had the magic weapon that could pierce his shield.

"Rainbow, fly back!"

Longstride's warning forced Rainbow to veer off. Just in time too. A bolt of telekinesis crashed into the ground ahead of her. It would have been a perfect hit if she had continued.

That bolt must have been the last one. The sky suddenly darkened above the camp, followed by the loud battle cries of furious pegasi.

"Finally!" Rainbow muttered.

Flight Shatterspine crashed into the fray, focusing more on the already scatterd ursan troops. Rainbow hoped that they had the matriarch in their sights to relieve some of the pressure on Longstride.

"Coatl!"

A large group lancers veered off the main force, and towards Hassyth. Even at a distance, Rainbow could spot the gloryhound eagerness lighting up their eyes. "Fall back!" she wanted to shout.

Hassyth's spellcasting proved faster. A roiling cloud of...something burst from Hassyth's wings. It was hard to tell. No colored smoke for this one, not even wisps of magical energy. A sense of toxic warmth brushed against Rainbow as the spell passed her on its way to the lancers.

Then, the spell hit. Rainbow could only guess it had at first as the lancers suddenly stopped midflight. Their wings flapped erratically. Their mouths were open to cry out, but no sound came. Suddenly, their eyes bulged, only to shrivel and sink into their sockets. Their tongues followed suit, and their lips. Pieces of their barding fell away, having come loose when the flesh they once fit unto so snugly shrank beneath them as withered, dessicated husks. All of the charging lancers fell from the sky as skeletal, emaciated husks, dissolving into fine powder long before they were anywhere near the ground. Their barding clattered across the camp's floor.

Several lancers dead in a blink...

With a growl, Rainbow picked up the pace again, making a mental note of where the spell had hit and where the wind was blowing in case it really was an invisible gas. Scarlet had arced a long way, his trail still carrying wisps of smoke.

"I tire of your jabs, rainbow-pony," Hassyth said. "Submit, and I will spare you."

"I've heard that before!" Rainbow yelled.

"Not from one such as I!"

Hassyth held his wings aloft for a brief moment, enough to remain suspended in the sky as he unleashed another spell. Bolts of magic flew from his wings in a shower of prismatic colors. They rained down on the ground below for a second, only to gracefully arc towards Rainbow.

At the sight of such a massive swarm of projectiles flying her way, Rainbow let instinct kick in. She flew straight at Hassyth. She didn't have to get a good look to know that his beams were tracking her. Their brightness let her track them with peripheral vision. They swirled into a spiral pattern, flying at her, not quite at the speed of shot arrows, but certainly enough to keep her exerted. No way she was going to find out what would happen if one of them hit her, especially after what happend to those lancers.

Scarlet's shout still filled the air. He was still forcing his way through Hassyth's shield. From all the crackling around the coatl, he was at least making progress. With a grunt, Rainbow forced her concern for him out of her thoughts for a while. She flew as close as she could towards Hassyth's shields, then climbed sharply. The bolts flew towards the shield.

Then followed her climb with relentless precision.

Rainbow let in a sharp inhale. Okay, she may have underestimated Hassyth, even with all the caution she was sure she had been showing. She twisted in mid-air, both to make herself harder to hit and to catch a better view of her pursuers. The projectiles were rapidly picking up the pace. She had to assume that they didn't have to bother with things like fatigue. A blue bolt whizzed past her face, a purple one streaked a few inches away from her leg. Four more zipped past as she continued to twist.

Dodging once didn't help that much, though. The bolts that zipped past her swerved, then came back. Rainbow ground her teeth. This was wasting her time! Hassyth would have far too much breathing room for more spells. Out of frustration, she swung her spear at one of the returning bolts, smacking it head on. The goop on the spear seemed to pop and fizzle, but the bolt flickerd out of existence. Well, that was a better move than dodging. She swung the bone thing wildly a few more times. Again, the spear took on a life of its own. Fortunately, it did have some concern for Rainbow after all, if only so she could kill more things with it. It struck several more bolts.

Rainbow switched directions, from a steep climb to a dive, all the while spinning, zigzagging, and circling Hassyth. She concentrated on her flying, allowing the bone thing to guide her forelegs. It spun and flickered with speed and skill, flicking away bolts as if they were pesky gnats. It felt weird having her forelegs seemingly move on their own, but she didn't want to risk crashing somewhere or getting hit. She looked to what she hoped was Longstride's direction. It's been a while now. He should have put arrows into that matriarch's eyes and come on over here while the lancers finished the matriarch off.

She caught a glimpse woodland brown and green flitting about, maybe a hint of a large bow. What was taking him so long? He should already be here helping! The matriarch rampaged across the camp; an armored hill of fur skillfully snatching a lancer in mid-charge and stuffing him in her mouth. She leaped high into the air, swatting away another lancer without breaking off the chase.The unfortunate mare bounced off the ground viciously, then tumbled to an unmoving heap. As soon as she landed, she scooped up a chunk of ground and hurled it at more charging lancers, crumpling their armor as it struck them, and sending their crushed bodies to the ground.

The bone thing swatted away the last of the energy bolts. Rainbow's forelegs were starting to hurt. It may be the spear directing the moves, but her forelegs also had to strain. Each impact jarred her from hoof to shoulder. The bone thing seemed know this, even planned for it. It wrenched hard at her, forcing her towards Hassyth's direction. Her shoulders burned from the strain. She had to either drop the weapon or go along. She doubted that she could do anything against Hassyth's power without the bone thing.

She looked up in time to see Scarlet crash into the shield for who knew how many times. Hassyth wasn't even paying attention to his badly burned former slave. Lancers charged him from multiple directions. He waved a wing, engulfing a pair in a torrent of flame. One of them lunged at his face, only to be enveloped in prismatic telekinesis. The lancer's head twisted one way, his shoulders another, his hips yet another. His body strained, his shout turned into a strained croak, then he simply ripped into three, showering the ground below them with blood and gore. Hassyth hurled his pieces towards another pair of lancers. His magic crackled within the pieces, blowing them up shortly after in a burst of red mist. The lancers flew back, their armor smoking and sizzling where some of the blood got onto them.

Scarlet charged regardless of the gruesome display. He crashed into the shield so hard that he finally broke through. The loud crackle and spark from such a forceful breaking quickly brought back Hassyth's attention towards him. The same prismatic telekinesis enveloped Scarlet. Unlike the lancer earlier, however, Scarlet simply refused to hold still. The telekinesis trembled and fizzled as he growled and struggled. Rainbow winced when Scarlet's right foreleg twisted and snapped in three different places even as she winged in for a stab. The knife fell to the bloody, snowy ground below.

"Hold this back, Hassyth!" Scarlet roared. He broke through the magic, his foreleg dangling by his side like a limp rag. Hassyth was already casting another spell, Rainbow was only a dozen feet away, a distance she could close in a second, but Scarlet still beat them both to action. His ruined leg smashed into Hassyth's face hard enough to send the coatl reeling and fluttering back. Scarlet struck again and again. His foreleg cracked some more. Splinters of bone tore through his foreleg's hide, sticking out obscenely. He didn't even seem to feel a thing.

The beating did stun Hassyth for a while, shutting down whatever spell he had at the ready, but Rainbow didn't miss the glowing outline around him that dimly flared with each blow from Scarlet. It terms of actual damage, Scarlet's insane assault was still not doing much. Snake scales didn't show bruising and Hassyth displayed no wounds save for the small gash Rainbow inflicted on him.

'You're about to take more!' Rainbow thought. She would have screamed that, and the bone thing certainly encouraged it, but she was faced with a foe she had so clearly underestimated. Now was not the time for shouting attacks. She glided in, aiming her spear at Hassyth's wing joints. Grounding him was an obviously good secondary goal if killing him outright was out of the question. He didn't have any healing spells from the looks of injuries.

Scarlet's screaming rage proved an advantage. That and the lancers still going at it. Hassyth remained focused on him until the very last moment. Rainbow aimed for the very middle of the coatl's back, to sever his spine and finish him off. His constant slithering in place made that incredibly difficult. The bone thing struck that second layer of protection he had, tearing through it and finding exposed scales beneath.

The pained hiss from Hassyth was music to Rainbow's ears. Finally, a good hit! His coils twisted away, sparing his wings, but her strike found a portion of his back anyway. The bone thing's tip sank for a good inch or two before the crackle of magic told Rainbow to fall back. A surge of lightning flew past her just as she spun away to recover. That was twice now. She should be able to assume that he responded with that when forced into close quarters.

Whatever next move Rainbow was planning garbled out at the sudden explosion of joyous and furious thoughts from the bone thing. A good hit! The first of the many to skewer this powerful foe that tore through even the Legion's lancers! Even Scarlet, for all his speed and berserker rage, could do nothing, but she could! Now to kill...kill...

The bone thing flared bright and oozed so thickly that it looked twice as big as it actually was. The burning, smokeless sludge covered nearly the entirety of Rainbow's right foreleg, giving the appearance that it was swallowing her whole. The ooz didn't really feel or smell like anything. All it gave her was a creepy, crawling sensation along her foreleg. That it wrenched her hard, though, was a different matter. Her forelegs were really starting to strain now. She had been fighting with her own weapon for quite a bit, more wrangling it to where she wanted to go as opposed to just carrying it. 'The prey is wounded!' it pressed into her thoughts. 'Time for a finishing strike!'

Hassyth was indeed wounded, but hardly enough for her to consider him weakened. It looked more, in fact, that his wounds had enraged him instead. Blood poured down his coils, dripping off the tip of his swaying tail. His wings flared bright with magic all the while pegasi came him from all sides.

"Is this my end?" Hassyth asked. "Skewered by lancers in a backwater Equestrian province?"

"More like dead by my hooves, Hassyth!"

Burned, electrified, ripped up, but still flying, Scarlet charged again. This time, Rainbow made sure to match him.

They came at him at different directions. Rainbow flapped hard, desperate to hit those newly reformed shields first. She could pierce and shatter them with ease while Scarlet looked ready to splatter if he kept pushing himself. By some miracle, she did hit first. Her forelegs might be burning, but her wings were still game. Being propelled forward by her weapon also helped.

Once more, the bone thing pierced the shield with ease, but Hassyth clearly learned from earlier mishaps. He had his sights on Rainbow, twirling through the air to make himself a difficult target. A cloud of cloying, yellow gas escaped his mouth and wafted around him. The lancers seemed to recognize it and fell back. Even Scarlet was forced to stop and circle around. For a brief moment, prismatic light enveloped the bone thing, but the ooze quickly sizzled and forced it to dissipate. When that didn't work, Hassyth turned his magic on Rainbow herself.

The air rippled before Rainbow, like water quivering just before something huge crashed through it. She focused on Hassyth, wings tense and ready to dodge as she charged. What was it this time? More fire and lightning? A second barrage of bolts? Hassyth's eyes glowed bright with his magic. He thrust his head forward, opening his mouth as if he spat something. Maybe this was a breath of fire or poison gas. Nothing of the sort came billowing out. Rainbow pulled back her spear for a deep thrust...

And something did strike her head on; an invisible wave that stopped her charge cold. Her head snapped back and her vision blackened for a moment. The world around her wobbled and spun while her ears rang. It was as if she crashed head first into the side of a mountain. Her wings failed to coordinate and she began to spiral downward.

Had he conjured another shield? The bone thing should have have pierced it then. And the rest of her body had not felt any impact, this force had struck only her head but had passed through her. What...

Rainbow shook her head. No time for that! She was falling to her death and Scarlet needed her! She struggled to right herself. Her brain felt two sizes too big for her skull, and it throbbed hard from her efforts. Still, she managed to gain altitude again. She just had to charge again.

Hassyth's magic flashed again, this time nearly blinding Rainbow with the sudden flare up. Her eyes narrowed on instinct.

"Stop right there!"

Hassyth's voice boomed in Rainbow's head. Her body jerked a stop and, to her horror, refused to budge. Even the bone thing raged and tugged, but could not get her out of her hover.

"I have you now, pony," Hassyth hissed. His voice felt like a razor drawing across Rainbow's mind. She would grit her teeth if she could move at all. "Your weapon is incredibly strong and you are a nimble and fast flyer, but your mind is soft and undisciplined, unprotected by magic or a berserk state. Now, drop your weapon."

Rainbow's forelegs shook. Her right hoof was indeed trying to let go of the bone thing. Fortunately, the thick, burning ooze held it fast to her like a gob of tar. Even if she actually wanted to, she wouldn't be able to get rid of this spear so easily. That was reassuring and terrifying all at once.

"How stubborn," Hassyth went on. "Fly closer then. Put yourself between me and Scarlet Rabbit."

Rainbow's wings flapped on their own, forcing her to make her way towards Scarlet. Hassyth had been keeping him at bay with short range lightning bolts, his persistently recovering shield, and evasive flight, and this was with concentrating his spells on Rainbow.

Her heart racing, Rainbow strained against her own body, desperately trying to pull it away. Nothing was working. She couldn't believe she could get caught in this sort of trap...

Something grazed Rainbow's flank, right across her cutie mark. She inhaled sharply. That was about as much she could do involuntarily with Hassyth's grip. The sudden pain felt like somepony just scratched her with a red-hot poker. Blood trickled down the wound. The draft from that passing scratch felt like an arrow's passage. She nearly got shot in the flank again...

The memory flooded her mind: long nights of carrying a snake on her back, prodding hands, uncaring stares, stupefying drugs, agonizing stings, and blood across her back. She remembered that shot alright, the shot that signaled her humiliating trek. She wasn't going to let this snake enslave her, not after all the things she and her friends had to go through! She promised Applejack that she wasn't going to need rescuing again!

Her legs shook violently. The spell faltered. She felt that, like a crack within her mind that suggested a failing hold. She struggled even harder, holding on to those dark hours trapped in a cave with a bunch of slavers, the sting of the Emperor's Tears...never again. Her forelegs tore free of the compulsion. Her wings followed suit.

It was clearly a mistake now for Hassyth to have beckoned her closer. At this range, Rainbow burst through his hold like one of his own lightning bolts, reaching him before he could even begin intoning another spell. His first shield crumbled, his second one fared no better, and his delicate scales may as well have been paper. The cry of pain from Hassyth was music to her ears.

The bone thing bit deep, but low. Hassyth had ascended in time and Rainbow had sacrificed a good aim for sheer surprise. Blood from Hassyth and ichor from the bone thing splattered across her face as she tore through her foe. She wiped the mess off furiously with a foreleg as she circled, just in time to see Hassyth's a good couple of feet of Hassyth's tail fall forlornly to the ground. Blood pumped out of the wound, but magic quickled fizzled around it. The sight of a grievous wound drove the bone thing to a frenzy. The ooze all but swallowed Rainbow's foreleg and even part of her shoulder as it demanded a second strike.

It wasn't the only one. The sight of the injury drew Scarlet in faster than honey would a fly. He struck true before Hassyth could reform any shields. He struck like a meteor, so hard that he drove Hassyth from the sky. Both of them crashed to the ground with Hassyth's coils writhing in agony before wrapping around Scarlet. Weaponless, Scarlet had resorted to a more gruesome attack. His jaws clamped down on Hassyth's throat, crushing scales and drawing blood.

This should have ended the fight. Rainbow dearly wanted it to be over. She should be exhausted, but more energy welled from within, sustaining her wings and legs, and steadying her breathing. Still, she was afraid of what the bone thing would do if this fight dragged on, most importantly, the horrendous injuries on Scarlet had to be taken care of. She hovered above the struggle, fearful of what a diving attack might do now. Nearby, some lancers had gathered as well.

An explosion of magic shattered the faint hope that this was finally ending.

Hassyth raised himself up, his wings arching defiantly as lancers circled above like vultures. Scarlet still dangled off his throat, digging deep, twisting, and making horrific growls while blood dribbled down his chin. Magic coursed through Hassyth, surged within him even greater than before. Rainbow flapped her wings into a dive.

"Scarlet, let go!" she screamed. Her heart hammered in her chest. She was no scholar of magic, but the mere sight of so much gathering magical power would clue in even a magical dunce like her. "Let go!"

Of course, Scarlet didn't let go. He never could. Oh, she thought she could get him to. She brought him out here after all. She let out one more scream, more rage and frustration than warning. She couldn't even hear herself when a thunderous boom erupted from Hassyth. She refused to slow down, instead driving the bone thing forward. Lighting parted against its charge, arcing all around her and fusing with the rainbow trail she left behind. She forced her eyes open even if they strained against the flash. All she could see past the blinding whiteness was a small silhouette flying away from Hassyth's darkened form.

She screamed again. With the ringing in her ears, it all seemed as if she was just opening her mouth. Only her throat hurting told her otherwise. She drove forward anyay. Hassyth had no time to maneuver and his defenses were useless against her. The bone thing found Hassyth in that web of lightning, fire, and thunder, burying itself hungrily in coatl flesh. Blood spattered across Rainbow's face, but she kept the charge even as her eyes burned. She struck the ground spear first, impacting so hard that the bone thing tore through the earth as well. Her bones jarred, from her hooves to her teeth, but she didn't feel any pain. She turned towards Hassyth, still expecting the coatl to fight on, only to find his two halves flop to the ground.

Both halves writhed and twisted. Hassyth still rose up, supported by his wings even as his severed coils pumped out blood. He opend his out menacingly, glaring at her, letting out a furious but greatly weakened hiss. Magic coursed through him for one more spell, but they simply fizzled into small, meaningless sparks. Rainbow steadied herself for the last blow to this dying slaver. One more blow...

A streak of red flew past her yet again, carrying with it the stink of burnt flesh and boiled blood. Scarlet Rabbit, at least it had to be Scarlet, struck Hassyth with a mangled foreleg, then stood over his writhing body.

"I got you," Scarlet wheezed. He spat out a great gob of blood then struck Hassyth with the burnt remains of his unbroken foreleg. Hassyth's head seemed to cave with the first hit, and nearly a dozen followed after it. Scarlet grinned, widening it with each strike. "I got you at last! All these years dreaming, all this time they told me you were dead, and I got you at last!"

Hassyth's coils writhed, tried to wrap around Scarlet, then desperately tried to slither away. He tried to shield his skull with his wings, but Scarlet battered them as well until the frail things snapped and fell away. Finally, after several brutal seconds, the struggling stopped.

Scarlet gasped and wheezed, finally forced to acknowledge the strain with his revenge complete. He slipped on the bloody snow, chuckling weakly as he struggled to right himself. Several charred feathers dropped from his wings, fluttering gently until they joined the mess of rainbow feathers around him. He looked towards Rainbow, finally giving her full view of his badly burned face. "Hey," he wheezed. The continuing sounds of battle drowned out the words, forcing Rainbow to guess them from his lips. "We got him!"

Rainbow was already next to him before he started to collapse, immediately extending her free foreleg to support him and let him lie down gently. It was all she could do not to rip herself apart just so she could keep the bone thing away from him.
The spear looked as if it had devoured the entirety of her foreleg and was clearly not happy with Scarlet.

'My kill! My kill! He had nothing to do with it! This thief must die as well!'

'Shut up!' Rainbow thought back. Her foreleg twitched and struggled, but she held it firmly in place, even as she focused on Scarlet. "Come on," she said softly. "Come on, Scarlet, we're going to make it out of this alive..."

Scarlet flashed a grin. The same grin he had always flashed since Rainbow met him; cocky, carefree, more than a little crazy. He opened his mouth to say something, but all that came was a trickle of blood.

"Scarlet?"

Rainbow waited for a while. Scarlet's eyes were still open, his grin still wide. He was about to crack some ridiculous line or something. These seconds just seemed to last for minutes, that's all. When the bone thing stopped struggling, letting out a wistful exhale of frustration, the truth started dawning. Scarlet's body had already stiffened. His chest didn't move and his eyes were vacant.

"Scarlet..."

Rainbow's shoulders quivered, her chest squeezed hard, and her tears welled up. "You should have slowed down!" she whispered harshly. A few drops fell across the burns on Scarlet's face. "You should have slowed down, and let me catch up! I thought we were going through this whole trip together!"

She had just gently laid Scarlet down, when an enormous shadow darkened Rainbow's view. She heard the familiar growl, the warm rush of breath blowing down on her, the stink of an animal's gaping maw, and the thick heave of great lungs breathing in anticipation. She grit her teeth, letting out her own growl. The bone thing quivered in anticipation, eager to put this horror aside in favor of more carnage. Rainbow could sympathize. The pain was too much. She didn't want to look at Scarlet, didn't want to dwell on his loss. There was still a battle around her and an insatiable spear to make all these bears sorry for being born. Longstride was still fighting, and she wasn't going to lose another one.

With a flap and a snarl, Rainbow raised the bone thing.