Piercing the Heavens

by Calm Wind


Chapter 163: Wonderbolts Never Die (Arc 3 Finale Part 5: Judgement)

MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind

Chapter 163: Wonderbolts Never Die (Arc 3 Finale Part 5: Judgement)


“Why?!” Soarin yelled out. “Why is Spitfire attacking Dash?! What the hell is going on out there?!”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care!” Sombra growled as he focused on galloping. “Your little wench is a thorn in my side. If your friend is trying to stop her then I’m all for it!”

“I wasn't asking you!” Soarin barked at him, growling as he forced himself against his bindings. “And if you call her that again, I swear…!”

“GRH!” Sombra suddenly grunted, his silhouette twitching and flickering as Soarin tugged at the shadowy limbs keeping him in place. “Then shut your trap! Unless you want to distract me and put us all in danger!” he spat back, trying to hide his discomfort at Soarin’s resistance.

Soarin gasped as the bindings pressed down on his back, pushing him back down. But he wasn’t deterred, he was too curious about Sombra’s intentions… which were still a mystery overall. He had yet to give a full reason or any clarity for his direction, even now as conflict raged around them.

He also desperately wanted to see what was going on with Dash, but Sombra’s eyes were glued to the Crystal Empire and he was so focused that he had barely looked at him or Celestia. He didn’t even turn while rebuking Soarin just now.

“Sombra…” Celestia suddenly spoke up. “What are you even doing?”

“Getting away from HER!” Sombra furiously replied while suddenly snapping his head around, his featureless silhouette pointing towards the restrained image of Dash beside Soarin.

“But…” Celestia tipped her head. “If you’re trying to get away then why are you running towards…”

Soarin blinked as she trailed off. That was an interesting observation. If Sombra was trying to ‘escape,’ then why was heading towards the Crystal Empire?

“I KNOW where I’m going!” Sombra fired back, his voice sounding somewhat forced. “And I’m going to get there before they can use her against me!”

There was a pause after his proclamation, a very long one. Soarin and Celestia both glanced at one another.

That didn’t make any sense at all.

Did Sombra really know what he was doing? Or was he trying his hardest to make it seem like he did? Something was off… and whatever it was, Sombra was either trying to hide it, or ignoring it in favor of something else.

Soarin perked up as he saw movement beside him. He glanced down to see the image of Dash gritting her teeth and fidgeting. Her eyes squeaked open briefly, looking directly at him before shutting again as she continued to move from side to side. Soarin shifted his eyes, catching Sombra’s silhouette glancing over his shoulder at her. He immediately played it off and refocused.

He couldn’t hide it from Soarin. There was nopony out here that could stop him… nopony except Dash, and that terrified him. She was already part of what was keeping Soarin conscious and alive as Sombra controlled his body. Now she was threatening him from without as well.

She was giving it her all, and she was coming for him. Knowing that Dash was never giving up gave Soarin hope… he just didn’t know what he could expect from that hope.

Now all that remained… was the question of what exactly Sombra was trying to do? Because at the moment, it seemed like he didn’t have a clue.


“GO! GO!” Dash encouraged her squadmates as they pumped their wings and sped swiftly along the ground.

The Shadowbolt arrival had been an unexpected boon, distracting Spitfire just long enough for her to slip out from beneath her and launch with her squad. Her body was aching, her entire side on fire from the blow she received from Spitfire to knock her down. It was so tender that even the barely significant pressure of Fluttershy on her back was causing it to sting. But she sucked it up and kept focused. She wasn’t the only one beat up. Matteo was still grimacing and clutching his arm as they flew. It was bad enough that it was probably fractured, it likely didn’t help that he was just using it to anchor himself down. If he was powering through pain, then so could she.

The cacophony around them had worsened… if that were even possible. Everypony was already fighting everypony, and the Shadowbolts just added more fuel to that fire. It was right back to square one, but now with pink crystal magic flying everywhere on top of it. An unorganized, unyielding melee that had no direction nor any end in sight.

Which was what exactly what Dash wanted. Nothing went right at the start, but in the end, she got her mayhem. She wanted crazy? She got crazy, probably a little more than she bargained for. But now she had the perfect cover to continue her plan.

She wasn’t about to act like it was in the bag though. For the moment, they had lost Spitfire in the mess of fighting around them, but Dash knew where her captain’s mind was set. Spitfire was locked on her and on Soarin. She wouldn’t bother to stop and fight Shadowbolts, not when there was something this personal on her mind. It didn’t matter if her point of view was skewed, her passion sure wasn’t faltering.

All they could do was keep moving. Any attempt to slow down and locate Spitfire would only help her potentially gain on them.

Dash struck Spitfire from her thoughts. She was the biggest obstacle to her success, but until she was in her way only one thing mattered.

Soarin.

And they were slowly catching up to him. They could see Sombra in the distance. They still had lots of ground to cover, but they were gaining fast. It helped that he was still on hoof, and seemed to be fending off incoming attacks from what appeared to be Shadowbolts. A mix of light blue and pink lights were flashing and dancing around him, but he was clearly more interested in running than fighting. His path was set towards the Crystal Empire without a single step to the left or right as he forged along.

But then another problem arose. As they continued to close in, Dash got a better view of Sombra and the activity around him. Low ranking Shadowbolts were being shot right out of the air by Sombra’s magic, thrown and punted about as they tried to attack him, but a formation of four began heading in his direction. Dash squinted as she focused on the four as they flew overhead, but she saw familiar colors… very familiar colors. They were cutting through the mass of fighting quickly, outpacing Dash and her squad despite their advantage low to the ground. There was too much in the way for her to make out who they were.

“MATTY! I need an I.D. on those four! Are those commanders?!” she pointed. Matteo took a hard breath, his beak grinding and clicking as he looked up without releasing his cradled arm. He blinked and squinted, focusing his eyes upward as the group kept pulling ahead of them.

“Blade… Angel… Void… and…” he trailed off.

“And?” Dash pressed as they pitched to avoid a tangled clump of Wonderbolts, Renegades, and Shadowbolts all crashing into the snow in front of them. Matteo grunted as they all evened out, shaking a wad of snow from his face before looking towards Dash.

“You’re not going to like the last one!” Matteo finished as he glanced at Dash. Her ears twitched, but she looked forward.

“Nightshade… great…” Dash bit her lip. “Damn… we gotta pick up the pace!” she yelled to them. “We can’t let them get to—”

“Captain!” Matteo cut her off, Dash quickly turned back to him. “One of them broke off! They’re heading this way!”

Dash’s eyes widened and she frantically looked up.

It was Void. He had broken formation with the other three and was heading towards them. Before Dash could bark any further orders, he suddenly pitched down hard and slammed to the ground, placing himself right in the line of their path as they surged towards him. Dash only hesitated for a moment, her eyes on Void for a second before she suddenly shifted and lifted herself over Matteo. She reached down and hooked her arms around Rarity, picking her up off Matteo’s back by the stomach.

“Ooo?” Rarity cooed in surprise as she was suddenly grabbed and hoisted up.

“MATTY!” Dash yelled loudly, causing Rarity’s eyes to twitch and her ears to shudder. “TAKE POINT! DON’T LET THAT FAT ASSCLOWN GET IN YOUR WAY! GO RIGHT THROUGH HIM!” she ordered confidently as she pulled up with Rarity in tow.

“Whoa, WHOA! What the hay?!” Applejack looked up and watched as Dash lifted Rarity away, but left her on Matteo’s back. “WAIT JUST A DARN MINUTE!”

“You’ll be fine!” Dash brushed her off. “GO MATTY! FULL POWER!

“WHOOOAAA NELLY!” Applejack pressed one hoof to her hat and clung to Matteo with the other as Matteo began using every ounce of strength in his powerful body to pump his wings as hard as he could. He accelerated using his Air Burst technique several times in a row, multiple blasts of air exploding behind him with a loud BANG BANG BANG as he moved faster and faster.

As Matteo grew closer, Void shifted all of his focus to the incoming battering ram. He snorted as his three crystals floated up around him and began orbiting him, a pink veil of light surrounding him as his magic went to work. Blips of light began appearing in front of him, several extending out in a line between him and Matteo. The blips expanded, turning into quickly conjured barriers. There were about twenty of them in total and they extended outward, placing themselves five yards apart each. They didn’t look very thick or sturdy, like Void had opted for quantity over quality.

But Matteo did not hesitate for a moment. He let go of his hurt arm, letting it dangle below him as he crossed his good arm in front of him, clutching the talons and tensing it as he charged forward. Matteo let out a fierce battle cry as he smashed into the first barrier and shattered it like a thin pane of glass, not losing any momentum as he struck the second with the same result.

Each collision let out a shrill shattering noise that echoed through the air over and over again as Matteo continued to surge forward and break through them one by one with Applejack hanging on for dear life through each jolt.

After breaking through half of them, he began to slow down. He still broke through the next five with the momentum he had left, but he continued to lose speed. By the time there were only three left between them, Matteo slammed into the furthest one, growling as he bounced off, but he refused to yield. Matteo huffed and puffed, pulling his good arm back and roaring as he punched his balled up talons through one, then pulled back and punched through the next. He gasped, his arm twitching and shaking as he approached the last, but he hardened his gaze and pulled back one more time, knowing that Dash and the rest were right behind him.

“HRRRRAAAAAAHHH!!!!” he yelled as he lunged forward, punching through the last barrier and keeping his arm extended as he forced his way towards Void.

But Void reached up and caught Matteo’s punch, the force weakened by both his fatigue and going through a solid surface right before.

“I don’t think s—” Void tried to taunt, but Matteo lunged forward and head-butted him right in the forehead. Void stumbled backwards and blinked as he tried to regain his hoofing. The extra effort took everything Matteo had left in the tank. He lurched downward, barely supporting himself with his good arm as he gasped and wheezed for air after over-exerting himself. He was wide open to attack, but before Void could gather himself…

“YEE-HAW!” Applejack swung over the top of Matteo’s head, spinning around and delivering a heavy double back hoof buck right into Void’s face, shattering and snapping his goggles, the power of the strike forcing him up and onto his back hooves. He began tipping backwards, his back hooves stepping lightly.

But before he could keel over, Void’s back legs tensed. He grunted angrily and slammed his hooves to the ground, glaring at the two.

“RGHHH!!!!!” He growled as he glared. Fixing his eyes on them as Applejack charged at him again.

“C’MON YA BIG OAF! I’LL GIVE YA ANOTHER RIGHT IN THE KISSER!” Applejack shouted as she galloped.

“APPLEJACK!” Dash yelled from behind as the rest closed in. “LOOK OUT! HE—”

“GRAH!” Void roared, his crystals shining brightly. A strong pulse exploded from his body, slamming right into Applejack and sending her tumbling backward and falling against Matteo’s cushy fluff beneath his suit with her hat falling over her face.

“What in tarnation?!” Applejack blinked as she tipped her hat up and blinked at the magical aura growing brighter around Void, his crystal orbiting faster and faster around him.

“SHIT!” Dash cursed as they came within a few yards of Matteo. “He’s going to—!”

But it was too late. Void’s magic exploded around him and his rushing spiral winds surged from around him. But something was different. Dash was expecting to be yanked along and thrown about similarly, to how they had been just before with Sombra, but Void was directing the winds precisely. Before she knew it, they were all forced to the ground, the winds rushing down upon them from above like a hurricane was falling from the sky.

They all grunted and tumbled as they were pushed down, Dash and her squad trying to get to their hooves quickly, but they felt very heavy. There was no squeezing pressure, not a crushing feeling from all directions, but it was so hard to just stand up as if they all had spontaneously gained two hundred pounds, every movement requiring and exhaustive amount of effort as they tried to rise and fight against it.

Most of Dash’s Ponyville friends and Little Star were helpless, stuck flat to the ground with no means of moving. Applejack and Squall were able to stand, but Matteo was still trying to catch his breath. Pinkie was… holding onto a windsurf board that had its front tip jammed into the ground, clinging to it for dear life.

Dash forced herself forward, taking hard heavy steps with Squall doing his best to keep up behind her. Applejack was already on the move ahead of them, forcing herself towards Void.

Void held his ground as Applejack reached him and tried to punch him in the chest, but the winds pressing down on her weakened her motion, her hoof harmlessly bopping against his chest like a filly jabbing at a full-grown stallion.

Void growled at her attempts, his eyes glowing beneath his goggles as he thrust an arm out and pushed Applejack to the ground.

“LOOK OUT!” Dash yelled to her as she propped herself up and saw Void’s eyes shining brightly.

“ONE SIDE!” Squall yelled as he spread his wings and beat them backwards, grabbing Dash’s shoulder within the motion to propel himself forward and shoot in front of Applejack. Pink beams of magic fired from Void’s eyes, Squall forcing his arms up against the downward pull to intercept and deflect, but his timing was way off due to the winds. The beams were altered and angled outward, but both of them remained in enough for half of them to hit Squall’s shoulders, just barely missing his wings. “GRH!” Squall grunted painfully as small explosions erupted from the points of contact, throwing him backwards into Applejack.

Dash quickly made her way up and placed herself in front of them both as Void prepared to fire another shot, clearly intending to assault them with basic offensive magic while they were held down by his artificial winds. Dash tried to put up her hooves, but just like with Squall, the downward force made it much more difficult than she expected. Worse, she tried too early, and found her arms lowering as Void continued to build up his next attack.

“DAMN!” Dash cursed as she shut her eyes and turned her head, her hooves not even close to being in position as Void fired another pair of beams.

But a blast of magenta colored magic shot directly over Dash’s shoulder and met Void’s magic head on, the collision resulting in a loud POOF and a cloud of smoke that was quickly whisked away by the winds.

Dash opened her eyes and blinked as she glanced over her shoulder. Twilight was up and being supported by Rarity, Little Star, and Fluttershy. She was gritting her teeth, barely keeping her head up beneath the force as her magic surrounded her horn.

Without a second thought, Dash quickly lowered herself to the ground, pushing both Squall and Applejack down with her beside Matteo.

“LET HIM HAVE IT, TWI!” Dash yelled.

Twilight focused, her body and legs buckling as the other three struggled to keep her up. Her eyes glowed brightly, silver swirls of light encircling the magenta aura of her horn as she called on her reserves of alicorn magic. With a loud, echoing shout, she tipped her head forward and fired, a wide beam ejecting from the tip of her horn that sparkled brightly, blue and white lights dancing within the natural magenta color of her magic. The power behind the blast caused a strong kickback, Twilight’s hooves sliding backwards a few yards and dragging her yelping supporters with her.

“Whoa!” Dash gasped, flattening her ears and ducking down as the beam surged directly over them, the top of Matteo’s suit tearing and flaking a little from proximity alone despite the beam being a few inches away from him.

Void grunted in frustration, throwing up a thick spherical shield to take the blast head on. A loud, shrill noise that sounded like a reverberating crackle rang out as Twilight’s magic struck Void’s shield. He was instantly pushed back, digging his hooves in as his crystals orbited around him quickly, maintaining both the shield and his gale force trap.

He eventually managed to anchor himself, Twilight’s magic pounding against his barrier. It slowly started punching a few tiny holes in the shield, slivers of magic zipping inside and poking against Void, but failing to break through it as a whole. The beam was mostly splitting in several directions and dissipating behind him.

Dash shielded her eyes as she watched the power struggle. This wasn’t good, she knew how mentally taxing alicorn magic was. Not from her own experience, but from watching Twilight use it in the past and how much it took out of Luna. She couldn’t have Twilight exhausted, they needed her more than anypony else to focus the Elements of Harmony!

As the bright flashing and magical struggle continued, Dash perked up as she caught something out of the corner of her eyes. There was still all sorts of action and mayhem going on all around them, but a few ponies suddenly shot by outside the range of Void’s magic, and it was hard not to pick out who they were.

Spitfire.

The initial sight caused Dash to freeze, but it was only for a moment… because Spitfire kept going, not even glancing in their direction. As she processed that, Fleetfoot, Misty, and the Streak twins followed right behind her. Blaze, High Winds, and Surprise were bringing up the rear, but suddenly diverted as they caught the attention of a few Shadowbolts, disappearing into the chaos of fighting.

But Dash barely paid mind to the other Wonderbolts. She thought Spitfire was hell-bent on chasing her down, but it appeared she was more hell-bent on chasing down Sombra… or… for crying out loud, who knew at this point?! Spitfire didn’t have a single reasonable thought going through her head right now, it was like she was acting on instinct. It was highly possible she thought she was chasing Dash and just didn’t see her caught up with Void.

Dash blinked as three more familiar faces shot by. Descent, Starry, and Lightning Dust. No doubt, they were still trying to stop Spitfire for her sake. They cut right through the cacophony, staying determined and on course.

“Shit… SHIT!” Dash swore as Twilight’s beam of magic began to fluctuate unstably right above her. This was counterproductive, and now they were falling behind on top of it. And if Twilight kept this up too long—

“AH!” Twilight suddenly shrieked the beam dissipating. Dash looked over her shoulder to see Twilight wobble and fall, Rarity catching her as she gasped and panted. Dash looked back at Void and gritted her teeth. He was unaffected, his shield full of holes, but mostly still intact. His magic showed no signs of slowing down as the crystals continued to swirl and generate the winds.

They couldn’t waste any more time! But how were they going to get out of—

BOOM

Dash shut her eyes tight as the ground shook and chunks of snow suddenly smacked her and everypony else in the face. Amid the slapping sounds of snow pelting her face she thought she heard shattering crackles.

When the barrage of snow finally ceased, the first thing Dash noticed was that the weight of Void’s magic was gone in an instant. Without a moment of hesitation, Dash forced herself up, snow sliding and falling off her face and body as she stared in the direction of Void.

But when the dust and mist finally cleared, she was looking at…

Sin?!

She just stared as the others stood up, Squall and Applejack helping Matteo stand as he shook himself out. Twilight was shakily getting to her hooves behind them with the help of the others. As the view became clearer… Dash’s ears perked upright as she saw Void laying in a heap on the ground beneath Sin, whose right hoof was surrounded with his magic.

“WOOOOOO, MAN!” Sin chuckled as he shook his head out and his magic dissipated. “You know, I’ve always wanted to do that!” he kicked Void lightly. “Ya big jackass.”

Dash and the others were speechless, did Sin… just…?

“For real?!”

They all flinched and looked up to see Shadow coming in for a landing. She smacked Sin upside the head as she lowered herself, but he didn’t even flinch.

“I’m pretty sure plenty of Shadowbolts just saw you do that!” she complained at him. Sin rubbed the back of his head where she hit and lifted an eyebrow.

“And I bet plenty of ‘em would do the same thing given the chance,” he said casually while waving a hoof towards Void on the ground. Shadow opened her mouth and blinked, saying nothing for a second or two.

“Well, okay yeah. But you know what I mean, idiot!” Shadow huffed as she jabbed a hoof against his chest, grimaced and shook the same hoof out right after.

“Eh…” Sin shrugged. “Whatever. I’ll just tell them I missed or slipped or something.”

“And killed Void?!” Shadow barked at him while angrily pointing at Void, who still hadn’t moved.

“Oh, come on, he ain’t dead,” Sin chuckled as he grabbed one of Void’s arms and lifted it up. He let go of it and it flopped to the ground. Sin blinked and scrunched his mouth. “I think?”

“He’ll live.”

Everypony, Sin and Shadow included looked up as Moon glided in for a landing with… Rapidfire?!

Moon only gave Void a passing glance as he turned his attention to Dash, but Dash had her eyes locked on Rapidfire. She just stared, as if she was expecting him to say something, but he didn’t say a word, and she couldn’t even see his eyes behind his goggles.

“Rainbow Dash,” Moon spoke up, bringing her back to reality. “Go,” he said simply as he made a head motion. Dash followed the direction of his head tilt… he was motioning towards Sombra in the distance, who was now far ahead, but likely engaged with Blade, Angel, and Nightshade, not to mention Spitfire and the Wonderbolts trailing him as well. But she was still thoroughly confused by what was standing right in front of her. She knew Moon was playing both sides, but…

“Uh… what just happened?” She looked at Rapidfire again, and this time he immediately turned his head away.

“I said…” Moon spoke up, his crystal shining brightly.

“Huh?!” Dash and everypony else yelped as his telekinetic aura suddenly surrounded each one of them. They were all effortlessly hoisted into the air, even Matteo. The elements of Harmony were all pushed right to the member of Dash’s squad carrying them before they ran into Void. Dash blinked, her eyes widening as she stared at Moon. His face was scrunched into a slight glare, which was more emotion than she had ever seen him show.

“GO!” He yelled as he whipped his arm around, bursts of light erupting from his crystals.

In an instant, Dash felt the wind in her face. It happened so fast that it took her a few moments to realize what was happening… that or they were moving so fast that she was having trouble focusing. Did Moon throw them with his magic? That had to be it. There was no other explanation for how they were suddenly screaming through the air faster than any of them could physically fly on their own power.

It was hard enough for her to keep her eyes open normally without her goggles to protect her eyes. Dash felt like the wind was going to tear her face off at their current speed, just barely squeaking her eyes open to get a blurred view of how fast they were going, not to mention snowflakes were bouncing off her face so rapidly that she couldn’t even count them.

She could feel pressure on the back of her neck. Fluttershy was definitely still on her back. She could also hear grunts from her squad mates and Rarity screaming like she was being stabbed in a stage play. Assuming everypony was accounted for, Dash wasn’t going to let this go to waste. Moon’s motives were not entirely clear, but one thing was for sure. He knew what her plan was, and he apparently wanted her to succeed, otherwise he wouldn’t have just broken the laws of physics to give her band of ponies an insane speed boost.

The ground they had lost while caught up with Void was vanishing quickly. They had to gain control!

“GLIDE! GLIDE! GLIDE!” Dash yelled repeatedly as she forced her wings out. “LEVEL OUT! GET CONTROL!” she added as Matteo, Squall and Star all followed her lead. They had a tremendous amount of momentum to make use of, each of them holding their wings straight out to their sides stiffly as they rode the air. The falling snowflakes practically disintegrated against their bodies and faces as they surged by, visible streams of air flowing past their wings as they cut through the wind. Their low altitude prevented them from being caught in the fighting above, the snow parting beneath them like the wake of a boat in water as they hurled along.

One by one, they caught up to those who had overtaken them and left them in the dust. First they overtook Descent’s group, and soon after they flew right by the Wonderbolts. Spitfire only had a moment to glance at them before she was forced to shield herself. A blast of wind and a surge of snow kicked up in her face as Dash and company traveled like an arrow freshly loosed from a bow.

The force of their wake caught every wing, propelling both Descent and Spitfire’s groups up and into the fighting. Dash couldn’t turn her head to look, but her ears picked up the faint sounds of grunts from familiar voices as they were forced to suddenly engage within the cluttered melee overhead.

In seconds they zoomed so far ahead that the bulk of the fighting was left behind, nothing in their way as they locked on Sombra. Their momentum had dwindled slightly, but they were still traveling at a ridiculous pace, all them now beating their wings to try and keep their assisted pace going. All the elements were accounted for: Fluttershy clinging to Dash, Applejack and Rarity holding tight to Matteo, Twilight nearly strangling Squall with her grip, and Pinkie flailing like a windsock while holding onto Star’s tail with her teeth.

Dash could not have asked for a more favorable swing in circumstances. They were moving at an unnaturally fast pace, Spitfire had been hindered, they had outrun the chaos, and they had Sombra in their sights. Now they just had to execute the rest of the plan.

Two things had to happen. She had to get the elements in place and then ensure that Sombra remained in their line of fire. He was currently moving in an erratic path due to being attacked by Angel, Blade, and Nightshade. It was helping them catch up, but there was no guarantee they would get a clean shot if he was constantly shifting course. She had to remain with the elements, but they were going to overtake Sombra shortly. As soon as they got some distance, she could have them land and split up, getting the elements the rest of the way on hoof and send her squad to distract Blade, Angel and…

Dash blinked as she stared towards Sombra, her eyes darting about at his pursuers.

Blade… Angel… And…?

Where was—?

Before she could complete the thought, Dash felt like she was punched in the gut from directly below. There was a blinding flash of pink light beneath them followed by an ear-wrenching explosion. None of them had a chance to protect themselves, taking the full force of it and singeing the bottoms of their suits as they were catapulted upward.

Dash’s eyes remained stuck open, her whole body numb from shock as she and all of her friends were flung in an arc over Sombra. They tumbled and flailed like out of control ragdolls as the momentum remaining from Moon’s launched propelled them along. As they began to descend, a couple flashes of magenta and blue began to spark around them. Twilight and Rarity’s magic was popping and crackling, but they were clearly struggling to focus. With no feasible way of evening herself out and her visions a blurry, tumbling mess… Dash had a faint hope that her magic-minded friends were trying to conjure protection…

But as soon as she heard the magic activate, she caught a glimpse of how close they were to a nasty crash. She shut her eyes tight.

Dash grunted painfully as she hit the ground. The snow was soft, but did little to fully cushion the shock as her body bounced roughly against the solid ground beneath. She heard grunts and cries from her friends nearby as they all roughly bounced and rolled constantly, the momentum given to them by Moon not so welcome at this moment as no end to the rough landing was in sight.

Alas, eventually friction won over. Dash stopped bouncing and slid along the slippery snow-covered ground on her side. One of her wings cramped up as it got yanked beneath her, squeezing a yelp and growl from her as she arched her neck back and grit her teeth.

When she finally came to a halt and opened her eyes, she immediately tensed her body, Matteo’s bulk slamming right into her as he continued to slide a little further.

“GRH!” Dash gasped as Matteo’s weight pressed into her, pushing her along with him until he finally stopped as well.

The moment she was finally at rest, she quickly rolled over and stuck her neck out, her eyes wide and heavy breaths coming through her nose as her right wings twitched and jittered, the muscles on her back pulsing as they tightened from the painful cramp post-hyper extension.

“Ahhh AHHH!” Dash finally forced it out with a few painful CRICKS and flopped flat onto her stomach, gasping and wheezing as her vision continued to wave up and down, trying to find equilibrium.

She could hear the moans and groans of her squadmates, the sound motivating her to force herself up and place a hoof on Matteo for support as she quickly made her way around to take a look, dizzily holding an arm up near her face to prevent snow from getting in her eyes.

Squall and Applejack were both down, rolling on their backs as they tried to find their hooves. Rarity and Twilight were both tending to them, looking completely unscathed. It appeared they managed to throw up shields, but apparently only enough to protect themselves. Dash spotted Pinkie’s tail sticking out of the snow. She was probably fine. But where were… Star and Fluttershy?

The sound of frightened whimpers came from nearby. Dash quickly looked about, her ears turning until she located the sound. It was coming from… Matteo? She looked over as he remained still. His eyes were shut and the breath hissing through the holes in his beak was sharp and filled with pain. He had his arms tucked tightly into his body, no doubt feeling lots of discomfort from his injured arm, but as he rolled to his side, he slowly opened his arms, revealing both Star and Fluttershy tucked into his body, completely untouched. Fluttershy was rolled into a near perfect sphere with a pink mane, shuddering as she whimpered. Star instantly jumped out of Matteo’s arms and started looking him over.

With everypony mostly alive, Dash frantically looked up and glanced back and forth. She eventually spotted Sombra drawing near, but as soon as he saw them in his path, he broke off, drawing Blade and Angel with him.

“Dammit!” Dash swore as she pushed off Matteo, but almost stumbled and fell. “Get up! Shake it off! We need to—”

She was abruptly cut off as something slammed into the snow nearby so strongly that the ground around them trembled for a brief moment. Snow shot up, Dash and those who could shielding themselves as the large chunks rained down on them.

Dash sputtered and shook her mane out, brushing the snow off her face and… looked up.

As the mist and cluttered snow chunks fell and visibility slowly returned, Dash slowly began to make out the shape of a pony. They were standing in the spot of impact and… as the shape became more clear, Dash’s eyes slowly grew wider.

A mare…

Light blue fur…

Purple flight suit…

And bigger than her…

“Son of a bitch…” Dash said quietly to herself as she quickly put two and two together. The rest of her squadmates reacted in kind as the debris cleared and only the constant snowfall remained.

It was Nightshade.

Dash and Star were already on her hooves, but the moment Matteo and Squall saw who stood in their path, they forced themselves up, gritting their teeth and bearing the pain from the crash. Matteo could barely support himself with only one good arm, but he kept the injured one to the ground anyway as if afraid to show any weakness that could be exploited.

Dash blinked as Matteo got up in front of her, her body instinctively shifting and slowly moving out to see around him.

She flinched hard as Nightshade came back into her view… because apparently she was what Nightshade was most interested in.

Nightshade’s eyes were locked on Dash. They were barely visible beneath her yellow tinted goggles, but the glare was so harsh that Dash swore she could feel it. It was as if her squad and her friends weren’t even there.

Nightshade’s body was surrounded by a faint pink aura, and she had three crystals floating nearby. Her loud, heavy breaths were audible, her muscular chest visibly expanding and contracting beneath her suit as her lips parted and revealed her teeth jammed shut.

Dash was quick to note the number of crystals, the state of her body, and the lack of beastlike body posture. She was in control, not anywhere near the deranged state she was in the last time they saw her… but she didn’t know if that was better or worse. Nightshade was much more dangerous with her wits about her.

This was bad. Unexpected and unfortunate. Dash hadn’t considered what would happen if her group was singled out. That much was made clear by their struggle with Void. But of all ponies who would get in their way, she never once expected Nightshade to do so personally.

But in this tense moment… With Dash looking upon her most dangerous adversary…

Something… was different.

As soon as the initial shock of Nightshade appearing before them faded, Dash wasn’t sure how to describe how she felt.

She was looking at a pony that was capable of causing great pain and agony, a lot of which she had experienced herself. What’s more, she was looking at her in a state where she was more than capable of doing all those things, just as she had before.

But as she stared out and looked Nightshade right in the eye… something else, something different, a new factor had emerged.

The last time she saw Nightshade like this… was when she was fighting Silver.

Dash’s perception slowed to a crawl as thoughts came flowing back to her. Her nervous, jittering comrades and her terrified friends vanished from her mind, all of them disappearing until it was just her and Nightshade. Images and recollections of the battle began flashing in her thoughts, the battle that she was forced to sit and watch in a crippled state as her mentor desperately fought to save them all…

How he faced down Nightshade without an ounce of fear, denying everything she was… and breaking her from within.

No fear.

That was the key to beating Nightshade… the key that Silver sacrificed his body to leave behind. He completely rejected Nightshade’s intimidation. No matter how hard she tried to break him, Silver just looked her right in the eye and threw it right back in her face.

Dash blinked.

Her heartbeat was calm.

Her body was at ease.

Her nerves were relaxed.

She… wasn’t afraid of Nightshade.

“You…” Nightshade suddenly spoke, breaking Dash from her thoughts. Nightshade was still staring at her, growling as her crystals began to glow brighter and orbit around her. “I’ll make this QUICK!” she shouted as the magical buildup continued.

Dash’s ears stood up, her eyes shifting around Nightshade’s body. She recognized this… the buildup, she had seen it before! It was the same magic Nightshade had used on them before Silver stepped in to save them! The magic that turned their negative emotions into pain!

Dash frantically looked around at her squad and her friends.

Fear… Anger… Anxiety… it was a strong mix of all three coming from the group, not to mention her Ponyville friends had no idea who they were dealing with. That was more than enough for Nightshade to work with!

“RRAAGH!” Nightshade suddenly roared. “STAY OUT OF MY WAY!” she yelled as the orbit of her crystals sped up, her aura grew brighter, and a surge of pink light shot out from her body.

Dash didn’t even think about it. Her body just moved.

She rushed past Matteo, placed herself in front of everypony else, and locked her hooves in place.

“NO!” Squall reached out, but was hindered by the aftershocks of the crash.

“DASH!” Star yelled, but was locked in place by her fear of Nightshade.

All of Dash’s squadmates recognized the magic. It was a nightmare they’d never forget and Dash was stepping right into it!

The surge of light hit Dash head on. She took all of it, the entire beam flowing into her before it could split apart. Nightshade perked up in surprise.

“Oh, you want it that badly, huh?!” Nightshade growled. “FINE!” She pushed her magic harder, pumping more power into the beam, causing it to grow larger and brighter.

Dash tensed her body. She felt the force surge into her as she tipped her head down and gritted her teeth. She held her ground and…

“What…?” Nightshade blinked, lifting an eyebrow as Dash remained in place, the pink magic engulfing her entire frame and shining brightly.

Dash exhaled as the magic flowed freely through her. She kept her body relaxed and slowly began to tip her head back up.

By now all the cries of concern from her friends had ceased and Nightshade was no longer growling.

Dash stood upright, her eyes closed as she took a few more relaxed breaths.

She threw her neck back, pointing her nose to the sky and throwing her wings out.

With a loud crackle and pop, Nightshade’s magic was thrown from her body, shooting everywhere and fizzling out. Nightshade pulled back, the flow her magic ceasing as she stood completely still, just staring at Dash.

Dash remained still, her head still facing up as she took another long, relaxed breath. She slowly brought her head down, keeping her eyes closed until her head was once again level.

“Heh…” Dash chuckled to herself, her eyes still closed. “It’s not that hard, Spitfire.”

She opened her eyes and hardened them into a glare, directing it right at Nightshade.

Nightshade flinched, her eyes widening beyond the edges of her goggles as she took a step back. Dash noticed Nightshade’s hesitance, but was too zoned in to be curious about it.

“What?” Dash spoke up while staring towards her. “Am I too much to handle?” She asked confidently, drawing odd looks from her friends as if she had lost her mind.

Something happened to Nightshade. Her body suddenly contorted and she lowered herself slightly as a low, jittery growl escaped her throat. She stumbled slightly, wobbling to the right and then back to the left while placing a hoof on her head.

“Rgghhhh… RRRRGGHHHHH!!!!!” Nightshade uttered as she slammed her hoof to the ground and shook her head out. She snapped her head up and glared at Dash, the look was so fierce it was a wonder it didn’t shatter the lenses of her goggles.

But Dash remained firm. She didn’t budge an inch and kept her eyes hardened.

She could do this… Nightshade wasn’t going to end her plan, she was just in the way!

“Squall, Matty, Star!” Dash suddenly called back to them as Nightshade continued her apparent inner struggle. They all perked up, but she didn’t turn to look at them. “Get the rest of my friends to the shield ahead of Sombra! I’ll handle this… and meet you there!”

Matteo, Squall, and Star just stared at first, not sure if they should protest or not. There was something about the order, the way she gave it… that was preventing them from saying no. Something about this was different… something about it was personal.

Dash was not on the same level as Nightshade, but their better conscious was telling them to trust her.

Without a word, they got to work, gathering up the elements again while pushing through their mounting injuries.

“Wait! Rainbow Dash!” Twilight spoke up, slipping free from Squall’s grip and galloping up to her. “What about…?” she looked down at the Element of Loyalty on Dash’s neck.

“I SAID GO!” Dash turned and yelled into Twilight’s face. Twilight leaned back and froze, giving Squall a chance to grab her and drag her along despite her protest. “Matty! Flex the old pipes when you’re in position, I’ll keep my ears up!” she added while pointing to her throat, looking right past Twilight’s worried face and getting a nod from Matteo.

With them all mounted up again and Star placing Fluttershy snugly between Applejack and Rarity on Matteo’s back, they followed their orders. Squall, Star, and Matteo took off, only Dash’s Ponyville friends looking back as they sped off and left Dash behind… to face Nightshade.

For a few moments there was nothing more than the whistling winds and the snowfall surrounding them. Nightshade had gathered herself, but was slightly crouched, baring her teeth, and glaring as her crystals silently orbited around her.

Dash exhaled through her nose and started slowly moving towards her.

One step at a time, the soft crunch of her hooves pressing into the snow joining the soft ambiance surrounding them.

She walked all the way to Nightshade, and stopped just one yard away from her, the two pressing their glares forward in a silent battle of intimidation.

Dash did not flinch, blink, jitter, or shudder. The memories of her last encounter with Nightshade had hardly faded, but she fought them back, keeping her fears at bay as she looked one of her greatest foes right in the eye.

This was it… this was the test. And not some fake grandstanding projection of an ancient monster, it was the real test. When it mattered most, when everything was on the line… would she run and hide or would she fight?

She was a Wonderbolt, and it was time to prove it.

When Silver stared down Nightshade to protect them all, he didn’t care that he was outmatched. He looked her right in the eye and held strong… so she would too!

And wouldn’t you know it? The longer she stared at Nightshade, the more Dash really felt like rearranging her face.

“HRAH!” Dash lunged forward, making the first move. She wasted no time in channeling Silver as she pulled back and wound up the Full Motion Strike. Dash was overcome with the desire to punch Nightshade in the face as hard as she could for what she did to Silver… so she’d give it to her with his own move!

Every motion, maximum efficiency, and follow through!

Dash’s hoof struck Nightshade’s face.

But… Nightshade didn’t even budge.

Dash’s body began to shudder, her face scrunching in pain as she felt like she had just punched a solid brick wall. Pink sparks were erupting from Nightshade’s cheek, a very thin aura of magic protecting her from Dash’s attack. Dash swallowed, her eyes remaining in a glare, but twitching madly as prickling pain and numbness crept up her arm, Nightshade’s hissing breath splashing onto her face as she began to growl.

All right… maybe she was just a tad overzealous with that one.

Not waiting for Nightshade to move, Dash kicked back, and whipped her almost limp arm in front of her face along with the other. As she expected, Nightshade roared and threw her own punch. Dash’s guard intercepted it, but she quickly turned her head to the side as her arms were pressed right to her cheeks, the amount of force behind Nightshade’s wallop reverberating through her as she was lifted off the ground and sent flying backwards.

“GRGH!” Dash grunted as she felt knocked silly for a few moments, blinking frantically and regaining her focus just in time to backflip and land on her hooves, skidding to a halt in the snow. “Ahhhh… gahhhh…” Dash exhaled loudly, reaching up and moving her jaw back and forth. The amount of force behind Nightshade’s punch went right through her guard and made it feel like she had taken a lick to the jaw regardless.

She quickly looked up and pounded her wings down, catapulting herself upward as Nightshade slammed down hard over where she was just standing. A loud BOOM echoed out followed by all the snow around the impact zone blowing away to reveal a large divot.

“Shit!” Dash cursed, twisting around and pumping her wings, hoping to create some distance, but she barely got very far before realization hit her.

Taking her eyes off Nightshade? NOT a good idea!

She spun around just in time to reach out and lock arms with Nightshade, grappling together, but the difference in strength and size instantly worked against Dash, Nightshade pushing her skyward.

Dash growled, trying with all her might to move Nightshade’s arms, but who was she kidding? Nightshade was bigger than her and it was a wonder her flight suit could contain those muscles.

She had to THINK! She had to be SMART! Silver didn’t survive by out flexing her! He outplayed her!

Dash reached her neck forward and snapped her teeth toward Nightshade’s face, but got nothing. Dash grunted, and pulled herself forward into Nightshade’s arms to get closer.

Bad idea.

Nightshade quickly wrapped her arms around Dash’s torso and clamped down as hard as she could, squeezing with all her strength. Their upward movement completely stopped as Nightshade hovered and focused on clamping Dash’s body like a vice.

“GAH!” Dash gasped, immediately feeling the pressure as Nightshade pressed all her strength against her, but she didn’t falter. She wanted to get closer and a little squeeze wasn’t changing her plan!

Dash growled, reaching her neck forward again and getting right into Nightshade’s face, opening her mouth and clamping her teeth down on the strap between the lenses of her goggles. With a sharp backward motion, she pulled Nightshade’s goggles back, the band remaining wrapped around her head as it stretched out. Nightshade blinked in surprise as her goggles were removed, but barely had a moment to wonder what the hell Dash was doing before…

SNAP

“GRAAAAAH!!!!!” Nightshade cried out in pain as her goggles snapped back to her face awkwardly, smacking against her and the rim of the right lens jamming right into her eye. She let go of Dash instantly, her hooves reaching for her face as she curled her body down and struggled to readjust the goggles.

Dash wheezed and grabbed her midsection briefly as Nightshade released her, but quickly sprang into action, whipping around behind Nightshade and grabbing her by the neck while she was dazed.

With a loud grunt and heaving her whole body, Dash yanked Nightshade’s body until it was upside down and began pumping her wings, making use of Matteo’s Air Burst to propel them along with multiple blasts of wind.

Nightshade growled and thrashed as they began diving. The brief effect of Dash’s sly maneuver wearing off as she threw her body around. Dash cringed and winced, the cumulative pain and fatigue from the whole ordeal thus far beating her over the head as she struggled to keep a hold of Nightshade. She was so ridiculously strong. Dash felt like she could be tossed aside with every movement, but she held on for dear life. The ground grew closer and closer, Dash hoping to Celestia that she could hold on long enough to drive Nightshade face first into the ground.

But moments before impact, Dash’s eyes shifted, catching a glimpse of Nightshade’s crystals floating up behind her and glowing.

Dash tried to let go before it happened, but the moment she loosened her grip she was pelted by beams of pink magic. She gritted her teeth and grimaced as she and Nightshade shot apart, both of them hitting the snow covered ground at mostly harmless angles. Dash bounced a couple of times, but quickly righted herself and slammed her hooves to the ground, glaring towards Nightshade as she did the same.

She could do this! She could get the better of Nightshade just like Silver did! She just had to…

Dash blinked and took a quick deep breath.

She had to remember what her goal was here. A part of her wanted to beat Nightshade senseless for almost killing Silver, but she knew that wasn’t realistic. Also… she had to keep in mind that she was buying time. Her goal was SOARIN, not Nightshade.

Facing her down had gotten her all riled up as if it were time for revenge, but that wasn’t why she was here. Nightshade had let her friends go because she was focused on her. That alone was a victory, now she just had to figure out how to last long enough until everypony was ready.

She’d need an escape route eventually, but until that time she just had to hold out long enough. She could see the shield from here. As soon as she heard Matteo’s freaky eagle scream she’d be on her way… hopefully figuring out how to ditch Nightshade in the process. Her friends could always keep her at bay while they charged the elements, but she’d rather not throw them at Nightshade if she didn’t have t—

“HRRRAAAAAAH!” Nightshade roared, her crystals flashing and three more appearing around her. Dash quickly focused and blinked, watching as the new crystals joined and her aura surrounding her expanded.

She watched carefully, wary of what the absorption of multiple crystals did to her last time. But she didn’t start foaming at the mouth, flailing, or stomping about… she kept them in control similarly to how she did against Silver.

Again… Dash wasn’t really sure if that was good or bad, especially with the massive energy wave hurling towards her.

“GRH!” Dash grunted as she dove and rolled aside, getting out of the way of the superheated wave often used by Shadow. The moment she was in the clear she had to kick off the ground into a backward trot to avoid small spheres of magic raining down from above. There was Trance’s move… and soon after, Witch’s small needle sized bursts began streaming towards her. She turned and broke into a gallop, spreading her wings and taking off into a fast glide to outrun the stream, turning her head towards Nightshade above.

She was going all out with the magic. She could see beginnings of the other spells too. Devil’s globes, energy around an arm like Sin, the other had magic around the tip of her hoof like Blade…

But what was Nightshade doing? Dash quickly arched around, easily avoiding the incoming attacks and began weaving as the globes began popping up and exploding.

This was… easy. She was approaching Nightshade with barely any extra effort. She was being wary of a trap, but what trap? Nightshade was throwing everything and the kitchen sink at her like no tomorrow.

But maybe that was it… it all felt so unrefined. Like she was just throwing the magic at her. Dash turned up and shot towards Nightshade, batting aside more spheres as they whipped towards her. It was all so unfocused. She easily recalled how deadly her attacks looked when she fought Silver, this was nothing like it at all.

Dash pulled back to strike, but was suddenly halted in place, her eyes widening.

She was surrounded by pink sparkles… Moon’s telekinesis.

Before she could even struggle, Nightshade lunged forward and grabbed her out of the magic, whipping Dash around and throwing her towards the ground.

A throw? Dash easily righted herself and pumped her wings down to slow her descent, landing softly as Nightshade slammed to the ground a few yards away.

Dash stared towards Nightshade curiously. She could have easily thrown and heavy haymaker right to her face or used a devastating magic attack in that moment. But she threw her instead? And she did so immediately. She didn’t stop to taunt, flirt, or sexualize the moment in any way.

“RRRRAAAAAH!” Nightshade growled again, charging forward on hoof. Dash set her hooves carefully and glared.

Rule #1: Never be afraid of your opponent.

Dash kept her eyes locked on Nightshade’s chest, taking a page from Descent’s book. Every movement in forward combat started with the chest. Nightshade threw a heavy hook right to the side of Dash’s face, but she was backpedaling before Nightshade even threw it.

A clean dodge, eyes back on the chest. Nightshade tried again, simply lunging forward and throwing another heavy punch.

Duck, shift, eyes back on the chest. Dash made no effort to fight back, she wanted to get a sense of Nightshade’s tempo first. Nightshade was projecting her attacks big-time, and thanks to her flight suit stretched taut over her very built chest muscles, every starting movement of each attack was clear as day.

But even here something felt off. Nightshade was throwing knockout blows… and only knockout blows. Nothing in between. She was making no attempt at subversion, no tricks, and even her magic had stopped.

Also, where were the mind games? Where was the sexual projection? Where was the intimidation? The sadism?

It was all missing.

All of that being gone and the way Nightshade was fighting made Dash feel like she was trying to rush the fight, like she was… desperate? There was no other way to explain it.

The Nightshade that she watched beat her mentor within an inch of his life was absent. Was she trying to hurry things along because she needed to be elsewhere? Dash felt like she was fighting somepony that wasn’t even looking at her.

Dash blinked as her back hoof suddenly hit a rock and halted her backward motion.

“AH!” She yelped as she threw up her hooves, forced to take the full brunt of one of Nightshade’s hooks. Dash was thrown right off her hooves, landing in the snow nearby as the shock of the hit made her shudder, her left arm twitching as a bruise appeared instantly on the spot that was hit. “Ahhhh ow!” Dash whined as she rolled over, but she flinched as her eyes widened.

Rule number three: never go to the ground!

Dash forced her body into a log roll, moving out of the way as Nightshade slammed her hooves down, magic surrounding her hooves similar to Sin as it ejected and caused a forceful shockwave. Dash was tossed into the air, with chunks of snow batting her in the side, but she opened her wings and evened herself out, landing on her hooves.

“Haaaaa…” Dash groaned again, picking up her leg as the newly acquired bruise throbbed. She did her best to keep her eyes on Nightshade as the pain offered a rough distraction. Nightshade was breathing heavily, breath hissing through her gritted teeth and nostrils as she sharply turned her eyes towards Dash.

Nightshade’s behavior was odd… but that didn’t change the fact that she was fighting… well, Nightshade. She was frighteningly strong and very dangerous regardless of her state of mind. The pain in her arm had to wait, Nightshade was already charging at her again and she was hardly in a favorable position.

Dash ducked and weaved, Nightshade’s attacks picking up in speed, but never losing their force. Dash was forced to put up her hooves, suppressing her hesitation after feeling how hard Nightshade could hit. Even the glancing blows sent shocks through her as she began deflecting.

No fear, NO FEAR! She had to keep it up! Rule number two! Intimidation will always win! That went both ways, she would not let Nightshade scare her or she’d surely fall. But simply playing defensively wasn’t going to work either. Nightshade was clearly in a hurry and picking up the pace of her attacks. Even if the blows were just glancing, she couldn’t let them wear her down!

Dash growled and took a chance, leaning in as she shifted to dodge a punch directed at her face. She grabbed Nightshade’s arm and thrust her elbow forward, aiming it for the same eye that got jammed by her goggles before in hopes of dazing her again.

Nightshade tried to dodge, but Dash’s movement was too swift. Her elbow smashed right into the goggle lens, a loud crackling noise sounded out from them complete with a sharp pain shooting through Dash’s arm. She winced and grimaced, but forced herself forward, bending Nightshade’s neck back.

“HHRRRMPH!” Nightshade exhaled loudly, digging her back hooves into the ground. Dash perked up as Nightshade halted all of her momentum with a single effort, her elbow moving slightly further and shattering the lens of Nightshade’s goggles.

It did not have the intended effect. Nightshade was not staggered at all. Her eye was wide open beneath the now broken frame, glaring hard at Dash.

But Dash glared right back. She was finally looking Nightshade right in the eye.

It wasn’t anything like before. There was nothing in Nightshade’s gaze that scared her. She looked angry and nothing more. The intimidating, seductive stare was nowhere to be found.

Unfortunately, the moment of curiosity caused her focus to falter. Before Dash knew it, Nightshade had swung her other arm around and pulled Dash in, remaining on her back hooves and squeezing Dash again.

“GAHHH!!!!” Dash cried out as she once again felt the pressure of Nightshade’s grip, her body completely immobilized against her strength. Dash flailed and growled, trying to get free, but the pressure was so intense that she was quickly losing her breath. She squeaked her eyes open, trying her hardest to keep her glare focused.

Again… this position? It was so odd for Nightshade to have Dash like this and to not take advantage of it. No cooing, no lip biting, no humming, and no pleasure. Nightshade was just trying to kill her… or injure her to the point of being knocked out? It was hard to tell, she was simply being violent.

It didn’t make her any less dangerous… and Dash wasn’t sure what to do. She was stuck, she couldn’t hope to overpower Nightshade and that was really the only way she was getting out of this.

“AHH!” Dash cried out, tilting her head back as Nightshade’s grip grew stronger. The compression was unbearable, her sore body and already beaten up ribs were on fire.

“JUST PASS OUT ALREADY!” Nightshade suddenly yelled in her face. “OR DO I HAVE TO BREAK A FEW BONES FIRST?!”

Dash opened her eyes.

What did Nightshade just say?

‘Pass out?’

This coming from the pony who came close to killing so many of her friends without a passing thought? What was going on?

Dash turned her eyes down, looked Nightshade right in the eye, and hardened her glare again.

“I refuse,” Dash hissed at her, Nightshade visibly twitching as if the manner of Dash’s voice struck a nerve.

“Breaking bones it is!” she snarled, taking a deep breath. Dash felt Nightshade’s chest expand against her, and she tensed her body, knowing this would hurt. With one solid effort, she wiggled her wings free, spreading them out before Nightshade could— “HRAAAAAH!” Nightshade roared as she tightened her grip fiercely.

“AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!” Dash screamed right into Nightshade’s face, her wings flapping as she swung her neck back, but she quickly slammed her mouth shut and growled loudly instead, her eyes shooting open wide while somehow still keeping her eyebrows angled down. Some very faint cracks and pops came from Dash’s body, followed by sharp pains shooting through her, but her expression did not falter, she just kept glaring at Nightshade. “IS THAT… ALL… YOU’VE GOT?!” she yelled right into Nightshade’s face.

“What the hell is with you?!” Nightshade roared, forcing her voice so much that saliva sputtered onto Dash’s face. “Just fucking go down already and get out of my way!”

“In your way huh?!” Dash yelled back, pressing her nose to Nightshade’s. “Get used to it, you angry slut! You can’t tell me to do jack shit!”

Nightshade’s grip did not weaken one bit, the intense pressure remaining as Dash fought back the pain, getting right into Nightshade’s face and staying there to get her point across.

But then something caught her ears.

In the distance… it sounded like… an eagle’s cry.

Dash’s thoughts filled with every swear word she could think of, including the ones she had heard recently that she was pretty sure Silver made up. She frantically glanced down at the Element of Loyalty she had nearly forgotten was still around her neck.

Her friends were in place… right when she was in a very unfavorable position.

Or was she? She was thinking one-dimensionally again. She was stuck in Nightshade’s strong grip, but her wings were free!

“What the hell are you smiling at?!” Nightshade yelled into her face. Dash didn’t even know she was smiling. Either she was going a little nuts or she enjoyed the thought of hitting Nightshade enough to grin through the pain.

She didn’t say a word, instead opening her wings out as far as she could. Nightshade blinked, looking back and forth as Dash’s wings tilted down and cupped slightly.

“Going… up?” she sneered.

With one strong motion she thrust her wings down, using Matteo’s movements mixed with High Winds’ wing positions to cause an Air Burst with twice the propulsion. A loud BANG sounded out as the burst of air expelled and smacked the ground right beneath them. Nightshade yelped as her hooves were lifted right off the ground, sending the two of them into the air, but her grip on Dash remained.

They began tilting as they floated up a few yards from the ground, slowly placing Nightshade between Dash and the ground below. The snow was all pushed away from the surrounding ground, leaving a nice hard looking spot of solid earth right beneath them. Dash gritted her teeth, resisting the pain of Nightshade’s grip as she spread her wings again… and cupped them in the opposite direction.

Before Nightshade could put together what was happening, Dash repeated the movement in the opposite direction, a burst of air ejecting upward and propelling them right back to the ground… with Nightshade’s back turned to it.

“RGH!” Nightshade growled, letting go of Dash the moment the air pocket exploded. She turned her body and tucked her wings in, roughly slamming to the ground on her side. Dash rode her to the ground, quickly sticking her elbow out the instant she was free to jam it into Nightshade’s arm.

But despite the extra force and gravity on her side, she felt like she barely put a dent in her, a vibration jolting through her as Nightshade hit the ground, traveling through her elbow and making her dizzy for a moment. She rolled off Nightshade and shook her arm out.

Nightshade’s shield wasn’t even up that time and it still felt like hitting a solid rock. Was it even possible to have a body that hard? That couldn’t be natural.

But the arm jitters quickly became an afterthought. Dash was up and on her hooves, and Nightshade was still in the process of gathering herself… with her back turned.

This was her chance. She needed a moment to create an escape route and she had it. If she could get one good solid hit on her face when she turned around before she could throw up a shield she was sure to knock her for a loop long enough to get a head start and leave her in the dust. Nightshade’s dense musculature couldn’t protect her from being clocked right between the eyes.

She was moving before she even finished the thought. Rushing forward and pulling back a hoof the same way she did at the start of the fight, but this time confident she’d land the hit without anything getting in her way. She gritted her teeth, her confidence building as she closed in and Nightshade hadn’t even started turning around.

Dash kept her mouth shut, she wanted to let out a fierce roar as she let it fly, but she didn’t want to give Nightshade any clues. Nightshade turned around, her eyes shifting towards Dash… just in time to see the hoof an inch from her face.

Boy… did it feel good.

Dash’s hoof made contact, colliding with Nightshade’s face head on. There was no sudden stop or sharp pain this time, no magical shield to stop Dash from putting all the force her body could muster into the swing. There was a loud crackle as the collision destroyed the frame of Nightshade’s goggles and snapped the nose strap. A loud whip and snap followed the blow as the elastic band of Nightshade’s goggles constricted, the goggles flying off her face as her head and neck were forced backwards.

“HRAAAAGH!” Dash released the built up roar, vocalizing her strength as she pushed through the entire motion and into the follow through. She felt Nightshade cave to the force, a grunt of pain escaping her lips as Dash pushed the full force of Silver’s technique directly into her face.

As Dash’s hoof slipped off, Nightshade was spun all the way back around, her head and mane whiplashing further as she stumbled back, but didn’t fall.

Dash twirled around once, the amount of strength she poured into the strike creating so much momentum that her body wasn’t having it any other way. But the moment she was facing Nightshade again, her eyes locked on her and widened.

Nightshade had stumbled and had crumpled slightly to the ground. She had one front hoof planted, but the other arm was bent and resting flat on the ground. Her back legs were both crouched. She was growling and shuddering slightly, all of her crystals flickering and orbiting around her as she growled and violently shook her head out.

With the position she was in and with her wings open and draped on the ground… Dash was staring right at her back. It wasn’t at a flat or stable angle… but…

It wouldn’t be the first time she had used the Sonic Blastoff on uneven ‘terrain’.

Dash didn’t waste a second, the thought alone immediately became the plan… to launch herself while planting Nightshade firmly in the ground at the same time. She ignored her injuries and she disregarded the pain all over from the fighting. She couldn’t let any of it distract her or else she’d mess up the motions.

After a short gallop to close the small distance, Dash hopped up, moving her legs right into the starting position to begin the precise motions the moment she touched her hooves to Nightshade’s back. Every millisecond felt like ages, Dash praying that Nightshade didn’t turn around or else this maneuver would be an instant dud.

Dash felt her already rushing adrenaline surge as her hooves touched to Nightshade’s back. Her eyes widened, remaining on the back of Nightshade’s head for a moment as it stayed turned.

No more thoughts, no more worries, and no hesitation. She focused entirely on the motions while using Nightshade’s back as a surface… and as she always did, thought back to the word by word explanation when Soarin first taught her the move.

Front hooves…

Back hooves…

Front jump…

Back jump…

And… force wings!

Dash felt a surge, the familiar rush of the extreme acceleration following successful execution as a wave of triumph rushed through her…

For all of a fraction of a second.

Something happened. The surge of speed was followed by an instant, violent halt. Her body whipped forward, the heavy inertia nearly ripping her in two as every part of her lurched forward… except for her back right leg.

A very loud and painful CRACK came from her hip, a jolt surging through her leg followed by complete numbness as if her leg had actually been pulled off her body by the amount of force going in both directions. Her eyes widened, her pupils shrank, and a squeaky, high-pitched gasp escaped her throat.

Nightshade had grabbed her leg.

The loud POW of a sonic boom rang out and Dash did surge forward, but any speed generate was instantly dissipated, the loud crunching of Nightshade’s hooves pressing into the snow sounding out behind her as she was dragged along until they stopped ten yards from where they started.

Dash was barely able to register what had just happened, but one thing was certain… her right leg was dislocated and the pain that was about to follow post shock never got a chance to arrive.

Nightshade roared, swinging Dash by her limp leg all the way over her and slamming her to the ground. Dash arched her back, her eyes stuck open wide as she bounced against the solid ground, pain shooting through her back and wings that clashed with the pain rushing forth from her leg.

Before she could even touch the ground again, Nightshade swung her back over her and slammed her to the ground on the other side.

And she didn’t stop.

Dash was completely powerless as Nightshade swung her around like a ragdoll, slamming her to the ground again and again until the multiple shocks to her body and head nearly knocked her out. Eventually Dash could barely feel anything beyond the jolts of the impacts repeatedly hitting from a different spot every time. She quickly lost count of how many times Nightshade had picked her back up and smacked her against the ground, putting every ounce of effort into barely clinging to consciousness.

Then Nightshade finally let go, whipping and flinging Dash through the air. She could barely vocalize her gasps and grunts as she bounced along the ground and rolled to a stop in a helpless heap covered in snow.

“Rgh… Haa…. Gah…” Dash’s voice barely squeaked out as she remained still, twitching. Pain began creeping in, but she barely registered it. Her brain was in a state of shock, the amount of pressure, blunt force, and impacts she was just exposed to had knocked her nearly senseless, barely able to form a coherent thought.

She could barely feel anything sitting still, but the slightest move lit her nerves on fire. She gritted her teeth and her breath hissed through them as she tried to just tip over a little. There was no way there wasn’t severe damage all over. Several parts of her body felt fractured or broken with sharp pains shooting randomly through her body as if her nervous system couldn’t figure out where the worst pain was coming from.

She made a solid effort to at least roll over, but as she did and landed on her stomach, a sudden rush surged through her throat. She placed a hoof to her mouth, but gagged and coughed violently, blood spraying from her mouth into the snow. She quickly pressed down on her mouth, coughing a few more times while a trickle of blood seeped between her lips and ran down her chin, dripping into the snow.

She gagged again, removing her hoof from her mouth and spitting, trying to get the blood out of her throat. Her limbs twitching as they propped her up, feeling like they could fail her at any moment.

“Hrrrrnngggg…” she groaned as she tried to move her body, pain shooting all over. She slowly flexed her wings, moving them all the way out and all the way back in. Surprisingly, her wings felt better than the rest of her, but that was the problem, the rest of her was an absolute mess and…

Dash’s eyes grew wide, and without further thought she forced her body to move, grunting in pain and nostrils flaring as her body cried out for her to stop. She turned herself around, her lower body remaining on the ground as she relied entirely on upper body strength.

“GAH!” she gasped as she finally finished a half turn, her arms giving way, her chest and chin falling into the snow as her eyes slammed shut and she continued to breath heavily. She had no idea what inside of her caused her to cough up blood, but whatever it was, it now hurt like hell to breathe. Every effort was a chore and made her chest tighten.

She forced her eyes open slowly, her vision blurry for a moment, but eventually the shape of Nightshade cleared up. She was still standing in the same spot with the snowfall obscuring Dash from getting a full view.

She started pacing towards Dash. The moment Nightshade began moving, Dash thrust her arms down again, trying to stand, but failing in every effort. She gritted her teeth as they were stained with her blood. Her body twitched and lurched, but she couldn’t make it work. Too much hurt, there was too much pain holding her down and her constant sharp grunts and gasps were making that audibly clear.

She ended up falling right back down, yelping as her chin and nose stuffed back into the snow. She couldn’t move herself…

But then her ears turned towards Nightshade, the crunching of her hooves in the snow was suddenly accompanied by something else…

Was Nightshade… giggling? That was the first sound that came to mind, but it sounded a little off. Dash picked her face out of the snow and looked up, forcing her eyes open again. Nightshade had stopped just a few paces away and Dash eventually got a clear view of her face.

With the goggles gone, it was easy to see Nightshade’s expression. The blow from Dash had also torn the middle of her mask a little, exposing part of her face.

What Dash saw was strange. The angry, desperate demeanor was still there, but it looked unstable. The corners of her mouth kept trying to curl up into a grin, but were being hindered by the perpetual scowl. Her giggles were in short bursts, as if whatever was trying to force its way forward kept running smack into her current mood as a whole. It was unnerving… but the brief blips of a smile, the quick shifts and twitching eyes…

Every brief change was a face Dash was very familiar with. The very same face Nightshade wore when filled with personal pleasure. Pleasure from inflicting pain on others… her uncontrollable sadism. If this dominant side of her personality was struggling to come forward, then Dash couldn’t imagine what else could possibly be on her mind to hold it back. But it didn’t matter how strong her current motivation was… Nothing could hold back Nightshade’s true personality completely.

Part of Nightshade was enjoying this. Enjoying seeing how broken Dash was after the brutal pounding she just gave her.

And to Dash… that alone was enough to piss her off.

Every brief glimpse of Nightshade’s sadistic smile made her angry. And the more she saw it, the more the anger built. An anger that managed to bother her much more than the pain strangling her whole body.

Absolutely not. She was NOT going to have it.

Dash slammed her teeth shut, suppressing every instinct to grunt, groan, or gasp as the current state of her body demanded of her. She shut her eyes tight and held her breath, telling herself over and over again that there was no pain… there was only damage. The pain was all in her head! She was letting it keep her down!

She WOULD NOT give Nightshade any pleasure out of it! She refused!

Dash growled, pressing her front hooves to the ground. Her right leg was completely limp and numb, but screw it, she still had the left! Harsh stabbing pains pinched and clawed at her nerves all over her body, but she disregarded all of it as she slowly began to rise, grunting loudly not out of pain, but with determination.

Nightshade visibly twitched. The smile stopped appearing instantly as she watched Dash struggle… but continue to rise.

With only three working limbs and burning sensations all over, Dash let out a roar, shaking spastically as she made it further than any of her previous attempts to lift herself up.

“HHHHRRRRRGHHHHH!!!!!!” Dash vocalized as her eyes remained shut so tight that her face felt like it was going to collapse on itself. Then… as she continued to shake, her eyes shot open wide, her eyebrows angling into a harsh, crazed glare that locked onto Nightshade. “HHHRRRRRGGGGHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!” Dash roared out again as she gave one last hard effort…

She stood up completely, wheezing with heavy breaths. Her eyes stayed wide for a few moments, but as soon as Dash felt stable… she narrowed them into the solid, serious glare that she had been sporting since this whole operation began.

The moment Dash’s eyes formed the glare, Nightshade flinched hard, taking a full step backwards and reclining her neck. Her eyes grew very wide as she froze in place, her pupils shaking madly as they remained fixed on Dash.

But Dash barely took notice, she couldn’t even see Nightshade very well at the moment. Her glare was holding steady, but her vision was slightly blurry, feeling lightheaded from the amount of exertion she just put on her battered body. She was ignoring it… all of it. None of the screaming from her body was going to get the better of her, but what the hell was she going to do from here?

Nightshade was practically unfazed and she was a broken mess. She ordered her friends to get in position and Matteo had given the signal, but there was no way they were coming back to help her. She had to hurry and get to them, but she couldn’t out fly Nightshade in her current state. Her wings were still working, but how fast could she fly if she was also fighting back all the pain from her body? The Sonic Blastoff came to mind, but that wasn’t happening with a dislocated hip.

“NO!”

Dash flinched and blinked as Nightshade suddenly yelled towards her, but she kept holding the glare.

“NO NO NO!” Nightshade yelled angrily, gritting her teeth as she thrust a hoof forward and pointed. “STOP! STOP THAT!” she demanded while pointing directly at Dash’s face.

Dash just stared. Stop what?

“STOP THAT RIGHT NOW! ARGH!” Nightshade growled, shaking her head out frantically, stumbling and wobbling in place slightly. “I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING!” she yelled while pointing right back at Dash. “IT WON’T WORK!”

Dash had no idea what Nightshade was talking about. All she was doing was barely holding herself steady while glaring.

“You’re NOT him!” Nightshade spat at her.

Dash blinked.

Him…?

“You’re not! You’re not! YOU’RE NOT! ARRRRRRGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!” Nightshade suddenly grabbed her head and collapsed to the ground. “RGGH! RRRRRRRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!” She started groaning loudly while grabbing her mane and tugging it so hard that she was lurching her head back and forth. She stuffed her nose into the snow and released a muffled roar that continued as she pulled her head out, stood back up and shouted directly into the sky.

All the while Dash hadn’t a clue what she was talking about… unless…

“YOU! ARE! NOT! HIM!” Nightshade repeated, shouting each word individually. “AND I’LL PROVE IT! I’LL PROVE IT RIGHT NOW!

Without another word, Nightshade launched at Dash. She surged forward while pulling back a hoof.

Dash could only watch as Nightshade closed in. She didn’t have anywhere enough strength to both react and get out of the way in time.

Nightshade yelled loudly, thrusting her arm forward in a haymaker that would most definitely either break Dash or knock her right into next week.

But as her hoof neared her face, Dash stopped thinking about Nightshade. She stopped thinking about being hit. All of her focus and all of her thoughts shifted to the most important thing on her mind.

She was thinking about her friends.

She was thinking about Soarin.

And she was thinking about doing whatever it took to get to them and do what she had to do.

Right now her goal to reach her friends and save Soarin were all that mattered to her. She couldn’t have cared less about Nightshade.

And she would do anything…

Absolutely ANYTHING

To not let them down. To not let Soarin down.

Ah, Rainbow Dash… I simply must ask… How long are you willing to torture yourself by always thinking inside the box?

She closed her eyes.

Step outside of the box. Way outside of it. Whenever your world is spinning out of control. You can always let it spin and barf over the railing… Or you can leap on its back, take control, and ride off into the sunset!

Dash gritted her teeth.

The possibilities are endless, but only if you accept them to be so! The only pony standing in your way…

Dash’s eyes shot open, Nightshade’s hoof an instant away from impact.

IS YOU!

The next instant Dash was staring into nothing but a black void. There was a very odd sensation surrounding her… like she was moving but she was doing nothing to make herself move. She tried to look back and forth, but her neck budged at a snail’s pace, only moving in one direction the moment she tried at a hilariously slow pace like she was trying to swipe her head through a pool of wet cement. She noticed and tried to stop, but her head kept moving to look over her shoulder like she was trying to do in the first place, moving only half an inch every second or so.

“Ah, Dashie… I’m so proud…!”

That voice…?

Twister suddenly walked into her view as her head continued to turn. He was standing upright on his back hooves with one arm tucked behind his back, holding a wooden bat in the other. He stopped and turned to face her, standing on nothing in the pitch-black space as he smiled.

“It wasn’t graceful, nor do I believe intentional, but… you did it! I knew you had it in you!” he said cheerfully, tipping the bat in her direction as Dash’s head continued to turn… and she suddenly saw Nightshade.

Nightshade was behind her, still in the position she was in an instant away from delivering the knockout blow. Dash’s head finally stopped, stuck looking over her shoulder as Twister kept walking and started moving towards Nightshade, still upright in bipedal fashion.

“Now… do try to remember how this feels. I doubt you’ll be able to just do it again easily, but… we all have to start somewhere riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight?” he slurred as he bent all the way over to look at her upside down. “Now then…” he snapped back upright, lifted the bat, and tapped it in his other hoof. “You have something important you have to do. After all… your desire to succeed no matter the cost or means was the very reason you managed to pull this off! It would be a shame if you failed despite this meaningful first step into a whole new world…”

He walked right beside Nightshade, turned his head to Dash. Dash kept staring, her head still locked in place, unable to speak and afraid to try moving anymore in case she got stuck in another slow motion.

“So… run along now!” Twister grinned devilishly. “This one’s on me!”

He quickly lifted the bat over his head and swung it down, clocking Nightshade over the head with a loud POW!

The instant the bat connected the black void was gone and Dash was gliding through the air. Nightshade yelped and slammed face first right to the ground roughly, her body twisting over the top of her as her face was dragged along the ground.

Twister was nowhere to be found.

Dash didn’t think about it. She did… something. Maybe she actually managed to do what Twister was prodding about, but if she did, she had no idea how. Nor did she understand what Twister had just done for her or how. All she knew was she was moving and Nightshade was mid-crash.

“HHHNNRRRGGGG!!!!” Dash grunted taking her wings out of the glide and pumping them as hard as she could. Pain flared up all over, half of her body hanging limply as she put every ounce of strength and effort she had into pounding her wings against the air. Cracks and pops erupted from her joints and muscles around the wings, her fur stood on end as shocks and shivers crawled all over. “AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!” Dash shouted with determination, shooting along as fast as she could manage towards the Crystal Empire shield. Nothing else was going to get in her way!

“BLAH!” Nightshade grunted, spitting out mouthfuls of snow as she forced herself up, but the unexplained hit to her head was catching up to her, the quick upward motion making her dizzy as she clambered and tried to get to her hooves. She barely managed to turn around without falling again, but as she focused and held a hoof to her head, she instantly noticed that Dash was not there anymore. “WHAT?!” Nightshade gasped as she frantically looked about, her ears eventually picking up the noise of Dash’s yelling… in the distance.

She frantically snapped her head in the direction of the noise and saw Dash flying, way ahead of her and nearly out of sight with the snowfall distorting her view.

“NO!” Nightshade yelled. “NO! NO! GET BACK H—”

Before she could finish she suddenly felt something ram her in the back. She gasped, abruptly cut off as whatever hit her put a tremendous amount of pressure on her. She was driven right back to the ground, crashing into the snow and surging forward through it. She tried to pick herself up, but her attacker proved to be really strong. There was a hoof placed on the back of head, and she was roughly pushed back towards the snow. She turned her head just before it smacked against the ground, grunting on impact.

“Hrrgggnnngghhh!” Nightshade growled as she forced her head to turn just enough to open one eye and look up. Her eye grew wide, glaring with rage. “YOU!!!!!!”

Spitfire was on her back, digging a leg and a forearm into Nightshade’s tailbone and between her wings. She had her other hoof pressed to the side of Nightshade’s head, holding her down. Spitfire snarled at her, gritting her teeth as she bent down to get closer.

“You just couldn’t stay away, could you?!” she snapped at Nightshade. “Always gotta stick your nose in our business!”

“FUCK YOU!” Nightshade shouted back up at her.

“SHUT UP!” Spitfire grabbed a chunk of Nightshade’s mane, yanked her head up and slammed it back down, making sure to turn it a little so her nose and entire face was stuffed into the snow, holding it still as Nightshade thrashed and let out muffled roars. Her crystals suddenly popped out of the snow and began glowing, pointing towards Spitfire.

But she didn’t have it. Before the crystals could do anything, Spitfire repeated the process. Picking up and slamming Nightshade’s head down. The crystals squeaked and fell harmlessly back to the snow.

Spitfire glanced up as Nightshade continued to grumble beneath her. She squinted, seeing Dash becoming smaller and smaller in her view as she flew towards the shield. She looked a little to her left and saw the bright blue flashes of Sombra’s magic erupting into the air. She looked behind her at the battle still raging behind her between all the factions, the never ending carnage slowly moving in her direction.

“Rgh…” she growled to herself as the rest of the top tier Wonderbolts started approaching her, several of them sporting damaged suits or missing their goggles. Fleetfoot and Fire Streak waved for them to glide in low. None of them could actually see WHO Spitfire had pinned beneath her. Spitfire looked back towards Dash as they swooped in, but they slowed down as they heard her growl loudly.

She suddenly pulled Nightshade’s head out of the snow, Nightshade coughing and sputtering as she spat out some snow. The Wonderbolts came to an abrupt halt, hovering in place and a few edging backwards in surprise.

“GRRAGH!” Nightshade grunted as Spitfire yanked on her mane and forced her neck back while pressing the rest of her weight down against her body.

“You’re lucky I have BETTER things to worry about!” Spitfire snarled at her.

Without a moment of hesitation, Spitfire reached down and forced Nightshade up, turning her head around awkwardly by the mane. She wound up her other hoof and punched Nightshade across the face really hard. Nightshade’s head whiplashed to the side, but was forced right back as Spitfire kept her grip on her mane. Spitfire punched her three more times, each time with the same brutal force until the fourth whipped Nightshade’s head so hard that the chunk of mane Spitfire had in her hoof ripped right from her head. Nightshade spun around and fell on her side. She flailed her arms and legs as she tried to get up, but every attempt was awkward and clumsy, her hooves slipping and body never getting more than an inch off the ground.

Spitfire trudged right up to her and gave her a hard kick right in the ribs, Nightshade gasped as she rolled along the ground, her crystals instantly shooting towards her and pressing to her as if reacting to her struggles. Despite their assistance, she remained on the ground and continued to sputter and grunt angrily while failing to stand.

Spitfire snorted, walking by Nightshade and spitting on her before turning her attention towards the Crystal Empire. She gritted her teeth and sharply looked over her shoulder at the Wonderbolts. They were all staring at her wide-eyed.

“FORGET ABOUT NIGHTSHADE!” She yelled towards them before pointing in the direction of the Empire. “WE NEED TO STOP RAINBOW DASH! GO!

She turned and launched from her spot without waiting for any acknowledgement, rocketing in the direction of the Empire as fast as she could fly.

The Wonderbolts just stared for a few moments, a few looking towards Nightshade as she grunted and struggled on the ground. They exchanged a few glances, but ultimately did not dawdle, following behind Spitfire and leaving Nightshade behind to struggle.

“Hrnngggg… grrrrnngggghhhhh… arrrrghhhhh…” Nightshade continued to groan as she struggled to get her bearings. No matter how strong she was, one too many blows to the head had her vision scrambled and her equilibrium missing the mark constantly as she tried to focus. She sniffled and snorted with strong raspy breaths, shooting small wads of blood from her nose as she heaved.

Eventually she managed to at least roll onto her stomach and slowly pick her head up, holding a hoof to her head and blinking to try to steady her focus.

“RRGH!” She snarled stretching her neck forward and pressing her head to the ground for a moment, the cold of the snow cooling down the burning headache as she took several deep breaths. Her head finally calmed down, but when she looked up…

“NIGHTSHADE?!”

She froze, her body stiffening save for her eyes growing large and her jittering pupils growing smaller.

Hovering in the air no more than ten yards away…

Descent and Starry Skies. Lightning Dust was nearby too, but had just finished coming to a halt as if surprised the other two had stopped.

Save for his wings keeping him afloat, Descent had completely frozen as well, his eyes locked on Nightshade and his jaw hanging open. Starry Skies was in a similar position, only she kept glancing back and forth between Descent and Nightshade as if waiting for him to say or do something.

An uncomfortable, unnerving, and stomach churning dramatic silence filled the void between them. Clear conflicting priorities tearing into Descent so hard it was a wonder they weren’t taking a solid visible form. Starry looked just as uncomfortable, but was more animated about it than Descent. Both of them looked like they wanted to immediately land, but…

“GUYS!” Lightning Dust suddenly flew over to them and waved her arms. “We don’t have time! We need to help Dash!” she reminded them, trying to inject reality in between personal desires pouring forth.

Descent’s ears twitched hard as Dust chimed in, he glanced down and blinked several times before looking out in the direction the Wonderbolts had flown.

He proceeded to look between them and Nightshade over and over again, gritting his teeth more and more with every glance. Starry stared at him, the look on her face slowly morphing into desperation as if she was so conflicted that only he could decide what to do.

Descent shut his eyes and scrunched his mouth, his body quivering for a moment before he forced himself to look away from Nightshade. Without saying a word, he made a quick head motion towards the Crystal Empire. He reluctantly turned away and pumped his wings hard, accelerating as fast as he could to give chase. Starry hesitated, but quickly followed behind him with Lightning Dust in tow.

They left Nightshade behind.

She was frozen in place, and had not moved. The chance encounter had temporarily shocked her to the point where she was struggling to regain her senses. She shut her eyes and growled, shaking as she dug her hooves into the snow, her crystals began glowing brightly, a bright pink light surrounding her as they tended to her.

“RRRRGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!” she growled loudly as her eyes opened and were engulfed by the pink light. She wasn’t down and out just yet.


Dash just kept pumping her wings. She had little time or energy to focus on anything else. Save for checking once to make sure her element was still around her neck, and looking behind her once to see if she was being followed. She didn’t think Twister’s little noggin knocking intervention would keep Nightshade down for long, but she was nowhere behind her. So every ounce of effort was being poured into flying as fast as she could against the pain coursing through her brutally battered body.

She was getting closer and closer to the shield, keeping her eyes peeled for wherever her friends were set up and waiting. She knew at least one of them would be in the air waiting to flag her down, but she still wasn’t quite within visual range. The snowfall was blocking her view just enough even though she was growing closer by the second.

Bright flashes of light blue light were perpetually shining from her left. She couldn’t tell from where exactly, but Sombra was clearly nearby and likely still fending off Angel and Blade. She knew she was going in the right direction because she told her squad specifically to place themselves somewhere they could get a clear shot at Sombra when the time came. As long as the flashing lights were in her view, she was on the right track.

Now she just had to make sure she made it there. Her wings were doing their best, but she was getting little help from the rest of her body. Her wing joints and muscles were working twice as hard as she was used to. The other parts of her body that usually helped in the effort were either non-responsive or hurt too much to use effectively. She was putting twice the pressure on her wings as is and parts of her body being dead weight or limp put even more on them. She felt like her wings might cramp up or strain at any moment, but she forged on as if the threat of injury was nonexistent.

Then she saw something in the air through the snowfall. It was big, waving its arms, and didn’t look like a pony.

Matteo!

Dash quickly adjusted her flight path, turning towards Matteo and pushing her body past its limits, keeping one eye shifting back and forth between them and the direction of Sombra’s magic flashes.

Eventually the view in his direction became clear as well. She slowly began to make out the moving image of Soarin’s body… Blade and Angel still swarming above and attacking him. He was moving quickly as well, and at this point it was a race between the two of them, unbeknownst to Sombra as he closed in on the same point as her destination. She had to keep moving, she had to get there and get ready before he was in range! It was going to be close.

But then he suddenly stopped. Dash’s eyes widened as Sombra swiftly turned Soarin’s body around and faced his two attackers.

It looked like he finally got fed up with Blade and Angel… his magic coming to life and a loud roar echoing throughout the fields.

Dash’s heart began beating quickly with excitement. Luck was on her side. Blade and Angel had annoyed him just enough for him to finally turn his wrath on them. He would make quick work of them, no doubt, but this brief distraction was everything she could ask for. She now had a clear window to get to the shield before him.

The moment was fast approaching… she could do this! They could do this!

She closed in, Squall and Star becoming visible and waving their arms with Matteo. Dash did not return their signals, saving as much energy as she could as her flight path shift and movement towards them would have to do. Eventually the ground area near the shield became clearer as well, all of her friends from Ponyville gathered and waiting to begin the spell with hundreds of crystal guards becoming visible just inside the Empire shield.

But this wasn’t the first time during the scenario that confidence had clouded her awareness. She swallowed as she thought about checking behind her one more time, but… she was afraid to look over her shoulder. She was afraid that she would look and Nightshade would be reaching for her. Nightshade was not behind her before, but in Dash’s head, Nightshade might as well be supernatural, like a nightmare she couldn’t shake even if she was just able to throw off the fear and face it. She almost didn’t want to look on the off chance that simply thinking it was possible would make it happen.

But this wasn’t the time to be superstitious… this was serious. Better to be safe then sorry.

She took a quick peek.

“Oh…” Dash blinked. “For the love of…”

Right idea, but the wrong problem.

Spitfire was behind her.

Dash’s eyes twitched as she focused on her sudden pursuer. Spitfire wasn’t close. The snowfall was distorting her view a little, but that was definitely her. There was no sign of any other Wonderbolts with her, or at least within visible range. She had a solid lead on her and more than enough of a buffer to reach her friends before Spitfire caught up, but that wouldn’t account for the process of charging and firing the Elements. She was approaching fast, the distance closing at an uncomfortable rate that quickly pulverized Dash’s steadfast confidence that she was in the clear.

But her eyes instinctively narrowed into a glare. A harsh, iron glare that could slice through a solid rock as her eyes fixated on Spitfire.

“Will she… just…” Dash growled loudly as she forced her wings to pump harder despite the pain. “GIVE UP ALREADY!” Dash growled, keeping in mind the distance and rate of Spitfire’s approach as she forged on. The excitement was gone, but it was replaced by a fire of rage. She would NOT let Spitfire stop her. She would NOT let her delusion ruin this chance!

Spitfire may be her captain… but in this particular instance?

She was no different than Nightshade… and possibly even more dangerous. So Dash framed it in her mind the very same way she did while facing Nightshade.

No fear, no hesitation, and no giving in!

A bright flash of blue light came from her left. She glanced quickly, noticing that Sombra had already incapacitated Angel and Blade, but was still standing over them. Assuming he wouldn’t be there for long, Dash quickly turned and decided she was close enough for her friends to hear her.

“Guys!” Dash yelled as she closed in, her head physically hurting as she forced her voice to its limit. Matteo, Squall, and Star stopped waving, their ears turned to her as she closed in. Her Ponyville friends were all looking at her too. “START IT UP! START THE ELEMENTS!” she yelled, coughing violently and wobbling in her flight path for a moment after. “RRGGH!!!” She grunted, stabilizing herself and forcing herself along.

At first she wasn’t sure if they heard her or not, but the worry was quickly put to rest as Matteo dropped down while yelling something to her old friends. A moment later, a glowing white aura began surrounding Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Twilight. They slowly began lifting into the air, their eyes filled with a bright white light as the Elements on their necks flashed brightly.

Dash glanced over her shoulder again. Spitfire had gotten closer. She still had a solid lead, but the snow no longer distorted the view. There was still no sign of other Wonderbolts with her. She had either left them in the dust or left them behind. At this point, with how nuts she had gone, Dash wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.

Would they have enough time to fire off the spell? Or would she have to stop and fend her off first?

That definitely wasn’t happening, not in her current state. And after Nightshade messed her up pretty badly, she was pretty sure Spitfire would easily do the same, or worse. That settled it. She had to gamble on it. As long as she kept up the pace she firmly believed they’d have enough time to activate the spell, especially with her friends already starting it.

Dash suddenly felt a surge in her chest, a sharp breath drawing forth from her lungs as she felt the power of the Element of Loyalty come to life within her. The red lightning bolt jewel on her necklace began to flicker and shine as all of her friends lifted higher and higher into the air and began to spread into their formation with Dash’s spot vacant.

Dash pitched up, keeping her pace the best she could. She blinked in surprise as she sped up. It was not through any effort of her own, it was as if the element itself was helping her, tugging her towards her spot in the formation. Whatever it was… it was just what she needed. The faster she reached her friends, the less of a chance Spitfire had to stop her. She pushed on, riding the force tugging at her as the familiar feeling of the Elements’ magic continued to grow and swell in her chest. It had been a long time since they had used them, but she knew the feeling well.

She grew closer and closer, eventually feeling lighter as the white glow slowly encompassed her as well, drawing her in. Her eyes filled with light, the power of her element surging through her body.

When she came within twenty yards, she shifted, turning her body around and upright while throwing her wings out to put on the brakes so as not to overshoot them. She slowed down faster than she wanted, but the element took care of the rest, shifting her right into her place in the formation. No sooner did she reach her spot did the ribbons of rainbow colored light begin to reach out from every element, slowly reaching towards herself and her friends. Dash slowly turned around, making brief eye contact with Twilight in the center. She looked concerned, they all did. Dash was bloody and beaten, but they all recognized the look on her face. They could worry about her later, right now they had a job to do. Twilight flashed her a smile, acknowledging that they were ready and it was time.

Dash turned all the way… ready to focus on Sombra…

“RAINBOW DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!”

Dash’s eyes widened. Her jaw dropping as her eyes quickly darted towards… Spitfire.

She was a hell of a lot closer than she should have been. She had sped up?!

After both checks over her shoulder had led Dash to estimate Spitfire to be at least a hundred plus yards behind her… She was now less than thirty yards away and closing in. At some point she had accelerated, presumably using one of the countless techniques at her disposal. Dash had completely forgotten to take that into account.

The elements were nowhere near close to being fully charged!

“STOP! NOW!!!!!!!” Spitfire roared as she shot directly at Dash.

Dash was speechless. She quickly glanced at all her friends, but they were all, staring in shock as well. The Elements of Harmony were charging, if any of them moved or tried to intervene the spell would fail. If the spell failed, they would miss their chance.

They had… no options.

Dash felt utterly powerless as Spitfire careened towards her and—

It happened so fast that Dash nearly missed it. She had even accepted that she was screwed, so the fact that… something just ran into Spitfire took several seconds to register.

Something grey had shot in out of nowhere and slammed into Spitfire’s side.

It looked like… Derpy Hooves?!

“GAH!” Spitfire yelped in surprise as her trajectory was altered just enough. She sped right by Dash, wobbling and flailing as she struggled to balance herself both from the shock of the collision and the fact that something was clinging to her and weighing her down. With her balance offset, her spastic movements caused her to turn away and pitch down, spiraling towards the ground. She tried to open her wings, but Derpy reached up and grabbed one of them, clamping it down to stop Spitfire from regaining flight.

Dash stared at Spitfire as she fell, watching Derpy cling to her for dear life despite them plummeting toward the ground. She quickly turned her head, glancing about in the direction that Derpy had come from.

There were four ponies… all just outside the shield. Four stallions to be more specific and a moment later she realized who it was.

Fancy Pants, Braeburn, Big Mac, and Bulk Biceps, who was still spinning with his arm extended in a follow through.

“YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAH!” Bulk roared triumphantly as he stopped spinning and flexed his biceps. “DIRECT HIT!”

Dash’s mouth hung agape, but this time for a different reason. The backup plan for her Ponyville friends. She had nearly forgotten about them! But they were only supposed to be there in case the spell failed… unless…

Fancy stepped out in front of them and gave a salute towards Dash.

Apparently, Fancy decided to take a few liberties within their plan… and his timing couldn’t possibly have been better!

Dash smiled, refocusing and looking forward with the rest. Derpy wouldn’t be able to hold Spitfire for long, but it was more than enough time for them to charge and fire! Now all that was left was for Sombra to…

Dash blinked in surprise… and she was certain her friends all shared her sudden shock.

Sombra was already there.

He was close by, on the ground, and looking up at them. The manner in which he was standing still suggested he had been there for a short while already.

For a brief moment, Dash was worried that he would attack them, but… he was just standing there. His horn was dormant, not even a blip of a magical aura upon it.

Dash stole a quick glance at Twilight, only to see all five of them glancing at one another as Sombra just stood still with his eyes on them.

What was he doing? He was just staring at them, a look of curiosity on his face as he tipped his head back and forth. Was he trying to figure out what he was looking at? Curiosity overpowering urgency?

Did he… not know what the Elements of Harmony were?

Dash gritted her teeth and grinned.

“Come on guys! We have him!” She yelled as the rainbow ribbons finally connected and the aura around them grew brighter. “NOW! WHILE HE’S IN ONE SPOT! DO IT!

All of them focused their eyes on Sombra, heeding Dash’s words like the leader she had become.

The power of the elements grew and grew, focusing towards Twilight and her jewel fixed on the Element of Magic as they concentrated. All of their minds were set on the spell of banishment to ensure it had the desired effect.


“What is this…?” Sombra spoke his mind as he focused Soarin’s eyes towards the six mares above.

Soarin stared with him, just as curious. He saw Rainbow Dash among them… recognizing all of her Ponyville friends as well. Were they using the Elements of Harmony? Soarin was well aware that Dash was one of the fabled six who could wield the mystical power, but… beyond that he knew nothing about them. They were going to use them on Sombra? On them? What was going to happen?

He stole a quick glance at Celestia as the two were forced to watch from their bindings. But Celestia looked… excited? That was the best way he could describe the look on her face. Her eyes were darting back and forth between Sombra and the Elements.

She knew something… and it appeared to be good. Sombra apparently didn’t know what he was looking at, but if Celestia’s demeanor was anything to go by… whatever was about to happen wouldn’t be good for Sombra.

He could only wait and see… and hope.


“RGH! GRAH!” Spitfire roared as she crashed roughly to the ground with Derpy in tow, the snow somewhat cushioning their landing as they bounced. She quickly rolled upright and reached over and grab Derpy. She only looked briefly at who it was, completely disregarding her a moment later as she pulled Derpy off of her by the arm and flung her aside.

“EEP!” Derpy squeaked as she curled up and tumbled, quickly burying herself in the snow and peeking out at Spitfire cautiously.

But Spitfire wasn’t even looking at her, she glared right back up at Dash, her teeth grinding together angrily.

“NO!” She shouted as she quickly altered her stance to start up her own version of the Sonic Blastoff. “I WON’T ALLOW—”

She was abruptly cut off, her eyes widening as she felt a physical jolt from several directions.

“AH!” Spitfire grunted as she was quickly forced to the ground with multiple weights piling and holding onto her. She frantically looked back and forth, her eyes growing incredibly wide.

Fire Streak, Misty Fly, and High Winds had tackled her to the ground and were restraining her. Her head snapped forward, her breath quickening with harsh quick gasps escaping her throat as Lightning Streak, Surprise, Blaze, and Air Mach all landed in front of her as well, standing ready while focused on her.

“WH…WHAT’S GOING ON?!” Spitfire asked frantically, her eyes darting between all of them.

She flinched as Fleetfoot landed right in front of her, but didn’t look down at her.

“Keep her down! Don’t let her interfere!” Fleetfoot ordered, encouraging the pile on top of Spitfire.

“FLEET! RGH!!!!!” Spitfire growled, the panicked look on her face turning into a glare as she began thrashing beneath them, but they had a firm hold on her. She couldn’t get free. “WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING?!” she yelled, nearly screaming.

Fleetfoot looked down at her, her goggles slightly fogged up and preventing Spitfire from seeing her eyes. She let her head droop, but only for a moment, taking a deep breath as she reached up and pulled her goggles down, hardening her eyes into a serious glare as she looked Spitfire in the eye.

“What Silver would have done.”

Spitfire froze on the spot, ceasing all efforts to get free in an instant. She went stiff, her eyes stuck wide and her jaw slowly hanging open. She remained completely still as Fleetfoot turned around, staring at her back and unable to formulate any kind of response as if the words had stabbed her right in the heart.

Fleetfoot shut her eyes the moment she had her back to Spitfire, her lip quivering briefly as she inhaled sharply through her nose. Lightning and Blaze moved towards her, Lightning placing a hoof on her shoulder.

Fleetfoot looked down, held her breath for a moment, and quickly cleared the visible unease from her face. She gave a nod to Lightning and Blaze, the two of them stepping away as she stared up at Dash.

“Do it Dash…” she said to herself. “We believe in you!”


Sombra just continued to stare. The manner in which he was examining the process was one of intrigue, but he did not simply stand idly for long. He could see all six of them looking at him and set his hooves, as if waiting… or daring them to try whatever they were doing.

And Dash, along with her five oldest friends… were about to take that dare.

No hesitation.

No second thoughts.

No holding back.

Dash felt a surge from within her, all of her friends feeling the same as the power reached its peak, all the energy flowing to the center and gathering around Twilight.

They all shouted vigorously, rather five shouts and a maximum effort ‘ah’ from Fluttershy, each throwing their right hoof skyward.

The Elements of Harmony fired, shooting its signature rainbow stream of magic up into the air above them with tremendous force, the beam widening considerably as it erupted into the sky and began to arch.

Sombra’s eyes widened, holding his ground but tipping his head to watch as the enormous rainbow beam soared high overhead.

With another loud shout, the Elements pointed their extended hooves down towards Sombra.

The rainbow plunged out of the sky, surging down towards him as its area expanded even further, guaranteeing that there was nowhere for Sombra to run to avoid it if he tried.

Sombra gritted his teeth, glaring towards the incoming massive blast as his own magic flared to life.

“HRAH!” he roared as his magic swirled fiercely around his horn and a powerful beam of magic ejected from it. It careened towards the rainbow, but passed right through it. “What the…?!” Sombra blinked, ceasing the output the moment he noticed its ineffectiveness. With no other option and the magic seconds away from slamming down upon him, he grunted and threw up a spherical shield around himself instead.

The beam grew closer…

And closer…

And closer…

And landed.

The rainbow magic thrust itself down upon Sombra, passing right through his shield as if it wasn’t even there.

“AH!” Sombra yelped in surprise as the powerful surge flowed right through his own magic, the rainbow light slamming into him and pushing into his body.

Dash felt her heart jump in her chest, uncontrollable excitement pouring into her as they landed a direct hit.

The full force of the Elements were surging against him! Now they just had to keep it up until they pushed Sombra’s spirit right out of Soarin’s body! And then…

Dash stared.

They all stared.

The magic was flowing… it was clearly pouring out full force and it was clearly in full contact with Sombra.

So…

Why was nothing happening?

Sombra blinked, looking himself over slowly as the surge of rainbow light continued to plunge down upon him, flowing over his body.

But he felt nothing. It was weightless and had no strength or force behind it at all.

He spent a moment or two lifting his limbs, looking at his body and wings as he was bathed in the rainbow light.

“Feh…” he scoffed, lifting an eyebrow for a moment before standing upright and looking back into the sky. He stared directly at the Elements of Harmony as the magic continued to run by him with absolutely no effect.


“I don’t believe it! It’s happening! They are using the elements!” Luna yelled as she hobbled, supporting Discord on her shoulder as the two dragged themselves along and away from the fighting behind them. They had been struggling through the snow, trying to make their way away from the chaos and after Sombra. “Look! Discord look!”

“Rgh…” Discord groaned, holding a hand to his head as he leaned against Luna, still incredibly disoriented from the beating he received. “They… they what?!” he opened his eyes, registering Luna’s words. With the way things had gone, neither of them had expected the Elements of Harmony to get a shot.

“Quick! We must…” Luna began but as the two of them moved closer to get a view… They both saw exactly what the others were seeing and froze in place.

Sombra was standing there, taking the magic of the Elements head on with nothing happening.

“What…?” Discord’s said quietly in an astounded tone of disbelief, but Luna didn’t hear him. She was too busy looking up and down between Sombra and the Elements as if immediately demanding an explanation. Then she took a good look.

“The spell!” she gasped. “They are using the wrong spell!” she exclaimed, recognizing it was the spell used on her as Nightmare Moon. “WHY?! We told them it wasn’t as powerful! Why would they—” she turned to Discord and abruptly cut herself off.

The look on Discord’s face. It was filled with pure defeat. He began to slump against her as his eyes remained wide and his jaw hung agape.

“Discord?” Luna blinked.

“Lulu… look at him…” He pointed at Sombra. “It doesn’t matter…”

“What?” Luna’s eyes snapped back to Sombra.


“Hmph…” Sombra grunted, his patience growing thin as he continued to be bathed in the rainbow light. “What a farce…”

“What’s going on?!” Dash yelled frantically towards Twilight while keeping her focus on sustaining the magic.

“I don’t know!” Twilight replied while shaking her head. “We’re not doing anything wrong!”

Dash glanced around at all her friends in the formation. Just as Twilight said, there was nothing wrong. None of them were goofing off or out of place. Everything was the way it was supposed to be.

Then why?! WHY WASN’T IT WORKING?!

Her eyes widened as the ribbons of rainbow light connecting them began to squeeze and flicker. They were already projecting the power of the Elements for longer than they ever had before and it was beginning to fade.

“Enough of this…” Sombra snorted as his eyes began to glow brighter beneath the blue fumes rising from them, his magic swirling around his horn and gathering at the tip. He held his head high into the air, an aura building around him and glowing brighter as more and more magic flowed through his horn. The ball of light on the tip grew and grew until it was larger than his head, pulsing and jittering as if it was being forcefully contained. “HRM!” he narrowed his eyes into a glare and a pulse of magic shot from around his body into his horn.

The ball of magic exploded, popping like an overfilled balloon and sending an incredibly strong shockwave outward in all directions.

The snow around him was blown away.

Star and Squall were thrown into Matteo, who barely kept upright.

Fancy Pants and his crew were tossed right off their hooves.

The Wonderbolts nearby were nearly blown away.

Discord and Luna were both knocked right over.

Dash gasped as the shockwave passed right by her, Sombra’s magic again not even touching her, but she couldn’t say the same for her friends. They were all pushed right out of the formation, a loud unholy screeching noise coming from the Elements of Harmony as the ribbons of rainbow light connecting all of them ripped and tore like tissue paper.

The giant flow of magic flickered and dissipated, the beam of flowing light vanishing into thin air as the torn rainbow connections shot back towards the elements and into the jewels.

Dash’s eyes shot open as she felt a massive shock, like a thousand volts of electricity had just been pumped through her as the reversal of the magic flow slammed directly into her. She and the rest of all cried out in agony, everypony grabbing their heads as splitting migraines tore through their heads while violent crackles and sparks of unstable magic danced all over their bodies.

It felt never ending. Dash grabbed and touched her head all over, jerking her neck back and forth while screaming. It hurt so much, much more than all the physical pain all over her body as the backfire ripped at her mind and just wouldn’t stop, it felt like her head was going to rip itself off her body.

Then loud BANGS rang out, explosions of light erupting from all the elements.

All six of them were thrown downward. The torture had stopped, but Dash’s body had gone completely numb as she and the rest fell helplessly through the air towards the ground with trails of smoke in their wake.

They crashed to the ground one by one. Hitting the solid earth hard and painfully due with the cushion of snow blown away.

Dash lay still, her eyes stuck open. She was awake and aware, but a screeching ringing noise was filling her head and she couldn’t move her body. She could see the blurred image of her squadmates running towards her, they were yelling, but she couldn’t hear a word they were saying. Their voices simply merged with the ringing. She felt sick, like she could just throw up if she even tried to move, the world spinning as if she had just spent an hour in the center of a tornado and it just abruptly stopped.

Her body tipped over, flopping onto her back and tilting her head in the other direction. Though her vision was blurry she could make out the colors and shapes of all her Ponyville friends. They were all twitching, the sounds of their groaning echoing and reverberating in her head like it was coming from all directions. They were all in a similar state as her, steam rising from the Elements they wore.

Suddenly her body moved. She saw a set of talons supporting her. Squall and Star in front of her as she was helped, but the moment Matteo supported her with his good arm she gagged and heaved forward. Star and Squall backed off as Dash vomited, leaning forward and almost ripping free of Matteo’s grip as her neck extended and everything came out. She coughed and gagged, twitching as it ended. Matteo quickly moved her over and tried to put her in a more comfortable position, but it didn’t matter. Dash felt nothing, all movements and reactions of her body were automatic. She was tipped back and her head was supported, she could see Star in front of her fretting over her with very concerned eyes. Past her Dash could see the Crystal Empire’s barrier. The guards stationed inside were all staring in shock.

What… just… happened?


Off to the side, Luna had just finished picking Discord back up. She looked back and forth frantically, but her eyes kept returning to Discord, whose look of defeat remained.

“Discord… what’s going on?! What is it?!” She asked while nearly shaking him. “What do you mean it doesn’t matter?! They used the wrong spell!!!”

Discord sighed, slumping down against her again, slowly looking at her for a moment before staring towards Sombra again.

“The Elements of Harmony…”

Sombra slowly started moving towards the shield.

“Not only judge those who use their power…”

Sombra walked right by the fallen Elements of Harmony, Star, Matteo, and Squall all watching cautiously as he ignored them.

“But those who they are used against…” Discord’s ears flopped to the sides of his head. Luna’s pupils shifted back and forth before her eyes widened and her ears stood up, as if realizing what he was getting at.

Sombra stopped in front of the shield and stared at it. All the guards inside were holding their weapons at the ready, but visibly shaken and anxious.

“And the Elements…” Discord placed a hand on his forehead and looked down “Have judged…”

Sombra walked right through the shield, its magic ward letting him in without any resistance.

“That Sombra is not evil…”

---To Be Continued---