//------------------------------//
// Sacrifice 
// Story: Guardians of Equestria 
// by Silverwind Blade 
//------------------------------//

The bombs whistled ominously as they sailed downward, fins steering them almost lazily as they fell from the sky. Thunderous explosions blossomed across the plateau. Fountains of black smoke and dirt erupted, showering the expedition and sending smashing waves of concussion over the ponies. 
Thrown to the ground, ears ringing and shaking clods of dirt out of their manes and tails, ponies slowly and groggily bought themselves to their feet. Twilight gathered her wits and looked toward the skies, squinting and blinking her eyes to clear them as black shapes slashed through the skies. The darting, sleek and sinister shape left white contrails from its’ wingtips as it angled around in a steep bank, diving back toward the plateau. Twilight’s instincts took over, and with a flickering flash, she teleported across the plateau, gathering the small groups of ponies, before engulfing them in a glowing purple shield. Rarity, Lyra, Minuette and Emerald Scribe did the same, less the teleports. Glowing shields flashed as rattling weapon-fire rained down on them, sending more fountains of dust and dirt into the skies, before the machine flashed past. The second one circled overhead and sliced in on an opposite course to the one that had strafed them. Large black shapes detached from it, this time altering their course and shifting position. Limbs extended and eerie semi-mechanical howls and cries reached them on the ground.
“Incoming!” Applejack yelled out. “Looks like we’ve got company!”
“And I don’t think they’re here for a party… meanies!” Pinkie lamented, looking up with a grimace as the Hollow Things dropped toward them. 
“What should we do, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, her eyes wide with panic. “Can we stop them, or-or get away?”
“They’re just going to let us run,” Applejack said with a grimace. “I don’t reckon them bein’ here in the ass-end of nowhere where we are is any kind of coincidence. Somehow, they found out we were here too, and they don’t want us here. We try an’ run, they those flyin’ things will tear the Sun Chaser out of the sky”
“Whatever happens, we need to regroup,” Twilight said with a grimace. “Stay close!”
With another surge of magic from her horn, Twilight group teleported the small group of her friends together with Rarity and the other unicorns, merging their shields into a larger dome, huddling near the Prowlers. The Hollow Things hit the ground and dashed forward, galloping toward them, red lighting flickering across their shapes as they closed distance. Once again, the alicorn could feel that draining feeling on her energy, like cold weather pulling the energy and life out of her body, but more intrinsically personal and wrong as the creatures siphoned her magic and that of her friends away. The pod-like modules on the sides of their bodies opened fire with ragged, earsplitting tearing sounds, smashing against the beehive-esque shield she and the others had layered from their magic, shattering one outer layer. 
“Princess,” Spitfire said firmly, stepping in front of her and looking her square in the eye. “We need to counter-attack, or else they’re going to win. I know it’s not usual for ponies to be aggressive, least of all the Princess of Friendship. But if we don’t do something, then this quest is going to end here”.
Twilights’ face faltered for a moment, before she nodded firmly. “You’re right, Spitfire. Thank you. '' She looked to the Prowlers, and then back to the golden yellow pegasus. “The Prowlers; use them - they’re our best weapons right now. Get rid of the flying ones, even if we can’t deal with the others. My friends and I will get everypony else aboard the Sun Chaser, and try and drive off or at least lose the ground-based ones”.
“Yes, Princess!” 
Spitfire rallied the Wonderbolts, short sharp commends gathering them to her side. With a firm nod, they separated from the main group. 
“Twilight,” Rarity said breathlessly. “What about the ponies still in the facility? Daring Do and the others? We can’t just leave them on their own, surely?”
“Crap,” muttered Twilight. “You’re right, Rarity.” She hesitated, looking between the Sun Chaser and the open mouth of the elevator leading to the facility below. “We’ll have to split into two groups. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy; you get everypony here aboard the Sun Chaser and make ready to cast off. The ship won’t survive long if it’s just sitting here. Applejack, Pinkie, Spike; you come with me and we’ll clear the facility, and see if we can find some way to communicate with Spitfire and the others in the Prowlers too”. 
Rarity gave a firm nod, quickly directing the other unicorns around her to keep their shields raised as they moved, before the group galloped in the direction of the moored airship, hooves drumming against the paved surface. Weapon impacts blasted the ground around them, showering them with a rain of dirt and debris. One of the guardsponies running with them was nicked by a lance of blue energy, slicing through his flesh like butter and hamstringing one rear leg. He crumpled and slid, until Rainbow Dash stopped and hooked herself under his foreleg, Fluttershy on the opposite side, the pegasi helping him hobble to the gangplank, the pair of them wavering as more explosions fountained around them. Cut off from Rarity’s group and with Twilight’s already on the move, the trio were isolated in the middle of the battlefield. 
“Fuck!” Rainbow Dash snarled as she looked this way and that, trying to find a way through that wouldn’t expose them to even more fire. Fluttershy gave a strained whimper as she did the same. The guard; a unicorn, had passed out from his injuries. 
“C’mon Fluttershy, we’ve gotta move!”
“R-Right!” she followed Dash struggled into the air, flying awkwardly with the weight of the guard and his armour supported between them. More shots cut through the air around them, close enough to singe the hair on their manes, and with a scream, Fluttershy dropped, leaving Dash to struggle with the guards’ weight and to follow her friend to the ground in an effort to protect her. 
“Captain!” Fleetfoot called out. As Spitfire looked around, she followed Fleefoots’ pointing hoof toward where Dash and Fluttershy were huddled behind a chunk of debris. 
“”Shit,” muttered the Wonderbolt leader. “We can’t just leave them there, they’ll get torn to shreds. Go, get them out of there and onto the ship. I’ll get the first Prowler in the air and give you some cover!” 
The other Wonderbolts took flight and flashed across the open space toward the isolated trio of ponies, while Spitfire turned her back and leapt into the air, using her wings to propel herself that much further. Landing neatly in the Prowler’s cockpit, she quickly started the machine, strapping herself into its’ seat carefully. She ran through the routine she had learned in only the last day; the lack of her own familiarity terrified her, but what else was there? The Prowlers were their best, and so far only, way to strike back against the Hollow Things, and if they were destroyed here along with the expedition, that would all be lost. 
She hit the controls that powered the machines engine, and the ripple of of air and energy rushed outward, sending dust swirling around and the stalks of grass and weeds waving and rippling. The arrowhead-shaped craft lifted up vertically, nose tilting toward the sky. It wobbled under the mare’s inexpert control as she felt her way through flying the craft. The engines at the rear glowed blue as they fired and gained thrust, propelling it forward and upward with a grumbling roar. 

In the complex below, Twilight, Spike and Applejack ran themselves ragged; the princess flashed through the rooms of the complex in a series of rapid-fire teleports, warning the ponies left inside. Applejack galloped through the corridors gathering the ponies Twilight had warned and alerted, and directing them toward Spike, who gathered them on the elevator. 
There was panic, shouting and screams; ponies were, as always, easily scared and panicked - it seemed to be a natural disposition for them as a whole. 
Even as Applejack and Spike had everything under control, Twilight rushed into the control center, Livvy springing to life as she did. 
“Hello Princess. I have determined that this installation is under attack by Hollow Things. All defences are currently offline. Recommended course of action is evacuation while Prowlers engage.”
“That’s what I came to talk to you about, Livvy; we’ve evacuated everypony to the surface and they’re boarding our airship now. Spitfire and her team are in the Prowlers now, but we have no way to talk to them. Is there anything you can do?”
“There is,” Livvy replied. “Please follow the illuminated markers; you will find mobile communications sets that you and your friends may use to communicate with the Prowler, one another, and myself. To use them, say the name of the individual you wish to contact, and end your communication with ‘over’. 
Twilight followed the illuminated markers leading to a small storage room away from the main control hub. Storage lockers, cabinets, chests and crates lined the walls. An illuminated panel shone an arrow next to one particular storage cabinet, highlighting it to Twilight’s attention. She opened it, and inside were several sets of equipment in holders. She quickly worked it out; two small black devices in a hard plastic-type casing, neither bigger than a large coin. One clipped to the soft curve of her ear, the other somehow adhered to her throat and picked up the vibrations of her speech. Very elegant and simple, but effective. She quickly attached one set to herself using her magic, and then galloped away, searching for Spike and Applejack as she spoke in a breathless voice. 
“Spitfire! Can you hear me?”

In the cockpit of the Prowler, Spitfire was getting to grips with the machine. Her experience of flying it so far had been limited to mostly sedate, gentle patterns to test her understanding and get a feeling of it. She’d found that the more she flew, the easier the craft was to adapt to, almost as if it was learning from her and adapting based on her reactions and performance. By now, she was growing more confident and daring - which was just as well, as the Hollow Things airborne fighting machines were taking an interest in the Prowler. So far, she managed to keep at goodly distance away from them, mainly by flying evasively, but being bold enough to keep their attention; she hoped that this would keep their attention on her rather than the Sun Chaser and the ponies aboard it. The airship might well be Equestria’s most advanced one, but it was still pathetically primitive compared to the Hollow Things and the Prowler, and had no chance of defending itself. 
When Twilights’ voice sounded in her ears amid the almost musical tones of the cockpit and the aircrafts’ system, it made her virtually jump in shock and surprise, and almost made her lose control for a fraction of a second, but the pegasus was too well-trained and too experienced for that. A sudden burst of noise wasn’t enough to throw her into completely screwing up. 
“Princess?” She said with surprise at hearing the alicorns’ voice. “How did you-”
“Livvy gave us some equipment that lets me talk to you, and all of us to one another. But never mind that now; what’s going on up there?” 
“Dash and Fluttershy got separated from the group with a wounded guard. I sent the rest of the ‘Bolts back to get them; Everypony else is on the Sun Chaser, but they haven’t cast off yet. I’m not sure why, but these flying things could cut them down in a heartbeat if they wanted to, I’ve been trying to keep them off the ship as much as I can, but there’s the ponies on the ground to deal with too. How’s things down there, Princess?”

Twilight had found Applejack, Spike and the small group of other ponies that were left in the complex, they had massed in the hangar, at the base of the elevator, waiting on the platform. There were only five altogether, which eight of them total. It was a big group, but Twilight thought she should - should - be able to teleport them, although it would drain all of her magical strength to do so.  But taking the elevator up would leave them exposed. 
“I’ve found all the ponies we have down here, There’s eight including Spike, AJ and I. I’m going to try and teleport us directly to the Sun Chaser, I should be able to manage it, although it’ll leave me pretty short on magic. Where are Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow Dash huddled down, pressing Fluttershy and the still unconscious guard pony into the ground. She’d found them some scant cover in a low depression in the uneven terrain, but the Hollow Things on the ground were stalking closer, caught between attacking them and the airship, which still floated at anchor, for some reason neither casting off nor moving away. Weapons fire still seared over their heads, and more than once they’d been showered by debris and rains of falling earth, blasted skyward by near-misses. Thankfully, it seemed for all their advanced weaponry and firepower, the Hollow Things were poor shots. Though, the nature of the majority of their weapons meant that ‘near miss’ was usually good enough. And they need only pin them in place long enough to reach them and then drain them of their life-force and mana with ease. After all, a wounded pony couldn’t run or fly away.
Already she could feel the drain on her, the leeching of her strength, like a deep tiredness and an ache in her bones and muscles, like she’d been flying and working hard for seven days straight with late nights and early mornings. It had the same effect on her brain as tiredness too, clouding her mind and awareness, descending like a fog on her. Fighting against it took as much effort as it did to summon her energy to stay on her hooves. From Fluttershy’s whimpering too, she could tell her long-time friend felt the same effects. 
There was a flurry of small explosions and concussive impacts, the fluttering snap of wings against air and the rush of it around them, and the reassuring smell of mare and stallion filled her nose. Looking around in surprise and shock, she found herself surrounded by the blue and gold fabric of Wonderbolt suits, and looked up into Fleetfoots’ face, the normally serious mare giving her a grim, tight smile. 
“Hey Crash, Captain didn’t want to leave you here on your own. So, thought we’d best come and give you a helping hoof. Can’t let you give the Wonderbolts a bad rep now, can we?”
“Fleetfoot, you guys! Took your time getting to us!”
She smirk and raised an eyebrow. “Well, if you're that upset with how long we took, then maybe I'm so offended that we should just leave..”
“DON’T YOU DARE,” Fluttershy virtually growled, grabbing two handfuls of her suit with both hooves, and a manic look in her eyes. Fleetfoot looked slightly terrified, but gave her a reassuring pat, that seemed to settle her down. 
“How did you get past the Hollow Things?” Dash yelled above the noise. The pegasus pointed to the empty bandoliers around her barrel. “We had some grenades, battle-issue for Wonderbolt and Guard pegasi. Took all the ones we had just to drive those things off, and I’m not even sure we took more than a couple of them out. Now we’ve just got to make a break for the Sun Chaser. Problem is, they’re between us and the ship, and we’ve got nothing else to distract them with”.
“The Prowler-” 
“Spitfire’s already fighting with the airborne ones, and doing her best to keep them from getting to us; it’s only her up there, and Princess Twilight had to go back into the complex to find the others. We’ve only got a few minutes at best to come up with something, and right now, any ideas would be good ones”. 
“A distraction, huh?” Rainbow thought to herself, before wriggling on her belly to the edge of the small depression in the ground and raising herself above it just enough so that her polychromatic mane, eyes, and ears could get above the lip of the little dip in the ground. She gave a glance around, blinking dust out of her eyes. As Fleetfoot had rightly said, the Hollow Things that had dropped to the ground from above were prowling between where she and the Wonderbolts were, the Sun Chasers’ position, and the elevator, making the expanse of ground in-between a no-man’s land. The plateau was quite large, and so the distance between each place was relatively large, meaning that there was a large expanse of open ground with little-to-no cover to speak of that a pony - or ponies - would have to cross. And they didn’t have anything like the kind of weapons that the Hollow Things possessed to give any kind of covering fire. But there was one thing that might work as a distraction…
“I’ve got an idea, but I’m gonna need some room - and you’re gonna have to be ready to move real quick when it goes off!” 

“All right,” Twilight said firmly. She’d distributed the communications gear to Applejack and Spike, and the update from Spitfire had given her an overall idea of the situation and how things stood, and that had helped her with cooking up some kind of plan, but it was still… lacking. 
“I ain’t sayin’ it’s a bad idea,” Applejack said with a grimace. “An’ as it stands, it’s the only idea we’ve got so far, and it stands the best chance of gettin’ most of us to safety. But it leaves us vulnerable. Unicorn shields are the only thing that’s been shown to hold ‘em back for any length of time, and if y’all are gonna be outta magic, even with Rarity an’ the rest using their magic it ain’t nearly gonna be equal to an alicorns’ magic”. 
“And those things are still out there!” Spike added with a pleading expression. “Even if we get out there and to the Sun Chaser, we’ve got nothing to stop them with. I mean, they eat our magic, and they have laser beams and rockets and stuff. Spears and swords aren’t really gonna do it”
Twilight pursed her lips and stomped one forehoof in irritation, giving a thoroughly equine snort of irritation. As much as it galled her, Spike was right. If only they had some better way! 
“I know it’s not ideal,” she said bitterly, “but it’s all we’ve got! We have to get these ponies out of here, or else there’ll be nowhere to run to, and no way of carrying on. We have to get to Lemuria, and the Sun Chaser is the only way we have to get there. The Prowlers can’t fit all of us, and there’s no other transport here.” The purple alicorn took on a firm expression, and Spike and Applejack exchanged a glance and nodded, taking on similarly firm expressions.
“Alright then, Twilight,” Applejack said with a nod and a grim expression. “Whatever happens, we got your back. We’ll make it work!”
“We all will,” One of the other ponies said, squaring his shoulders and nodding. “All of us are with you on this, we’re all fighting for Equestria!” 
Twilight gave him a brief smile of thanks and a nod, and then charged her horn, the aura of glowing magenta magic blazing brighter around the spire on her forehead, and expanding into a furious storm of magic that overpowered the lights in the hangar with its’ brilliant intensity. The energy swirling around the group of ponies stirred their manes and tails and sent dust and small objects flying even as Twilights’ face screwed up in furious concentration, before with a cannon-like CRACK of displaced air, they all disappeared.

On the surface and a few moments earlier, Spitfire had finally got the attention she was looking for, and it wasn’t something she was glad of. She smoothly twisted the Prowler into a shuddering wingover and dropped the nose toward the surface of the plateau, skimming the steep sides of the upthrust finger of rock, stirring the leaves on the jungle trees with the wake of the Prowler as it dropped toward the earth. Weapon fire blasted craters in the ground as it lashed down either side of the speeding aircraft. The pegasus was an expert in flight, and she translated her innate skill to the art of piloting the sleek, sophisticated flying machine, carving a steep banking turn through the skies, leaving a streaking white contrail in the skies as she reversed course, turning inside the pursuing Hollow Thing aerial fighters. As they struggled to turn to match her manoeuver, she pulled up, gaining height and power. Rolling the Prowler vertically, she inverted course and dived as the airborne monsters climbed to meet her, all spikes and points gleaming in the sunlight. Strobing weapons fire lashed past the Prowler, and it shuddered under impacts, streaming grey smoke and debris briefly, before Spitfire hit the weapon controls as glyphs glowed green in her vision, projected on the inside of the canopy. Her hoof hit a control, and twin ripping bursts of fire streamed from the nose of the craft, the pulses of firepower tearing into the lead of the two hostile creatures. Debris streamed from the biomechanical craft, before it exploded in a dirty fireball. The second of the pair continued its’ climb, slashing past the diving machine, before deliberately stalling at the top of the climb and reversing into a dive, gaining power from the dive toward the ground, while Spitfire fought momentum to pull the nose of the Prowler toward the skies. Weapons fire plowed into the earth and jungle around the Prowler, flames spreading from the impact points as the sleek fighter surged skyward on the azure glow of its’ engines, the golden-coated pegasus pulling back on the controls and easing the craft inverted. The Hollow Thing aerial fighter was almost directly below as it pulled out of its’ own dive, and Spitfire activated more weapons. A dorsal turret popped out of a retracted position, aiming directly down to pepper the hostile fighter as it was starkly visible against the green canopy of jungle below. Lancing bolts of energy flashed from the twin barrels of the energy weapon, punching holes through the armoured carapace of the enemy, before it brewed into a smoke-wreathed fireball and plunged into the jungle below, digging a furrow a half-mile long before it exploded as it came to rest. 

At the same instant as Spitfires’ aerial dogfight, things aboard the Sun Chaser were not going well. Rarity and Pinkie had rushed below the decks to find out what was taking so long to cast off, and the results had been alarming. 
“What do you mean there’s no power?” Rarity said, aghast. “We have to get out of here, we can’t beat all of those beastly creatures, especially not without losing more of our own ponies. Can’t we charge up the engines again, like we did when we left Canterlot?”
The gruff unicorn in charge of the engine room shook his head. “We tried already, Lady Rarity. Seems like those magic-sapping buggers out there are doin’ something to the engines. Every time we try to charge ‘em, it just gets sapped right out of the engines. We’re gonna need to drive those things off, at least for a few minutes, before we can charge the engines enough to get outta here”. 
“So we’ve got to find a way to get the nasties to stay away from us for a while so we can get the ship out of here? Maybe if I hold them a distraction party it might work! Even they couldn’t resist the lure of a cake and a party in their honour. And it’d definitely be distracting, that’s for sure”, Pinkie said, rubbing her hooves together with glee. 
“How would you even get past them, Pinkie? And what if they attacked you, you’d be all on your own! It couldn’t possibly work, darling, despite how brave it is”.
“I know, Rarity,” the pink party mare said with a slump of her shoulders and a sigh. “But I can’t help but feel useless in all of this. I really want to help everypony”.
Rarity sighed softly and patted the pink ponies’ shoulder. “I know, darling. But you know as well as I do that you always come through for all of us. It might not seem like it right now, but you always pull us together when we need it, and pick us up when we’re down. It might not be right now, but you’ll have your moment.” She gave a firm nod and rested one hoof on her shoulder. “Right now, Pinkie, everyone needs to see the brighter side, and a way out of this. They all need somepony to keep them focused, and stop them from panicking - and I don’t know a better pony than you for that”.
Pinkie’s expression faltered, her big blue eyes looking lost and almost childlike for a moment, before she set her lip firmly and gave a short, determined nod. “Okay,” she said in a firm growl. “I’m gonna party the heck out of those ponies, and their spirits will be so high that the airship will be able to fly on them!”
 	“Try anything you can,” she said to the engineer stallion as she ran for the door to the upper decks with Pinkie hot on her heels. “I’ll try and do something to get those things away from us!”

As Rarity reached upper decks, Twilight and the rest appeared in a blinding flash of light and a cracking concussion of sound. The teleport, drawing as much as it did from Twilights’ magic and power, had been messy and off-aimed, and as such the group of ponies fell a short distance to the decks of the Sun Chaser, landing in a tangled heap. Others around moved to help them up, while Applejack and Spike helped Twilight to her hooves, the alicorn a tottering, bedraggled mess, her eyes rolling and fluttering open and closed, small sparks of mana discharging from her horn in sputtering pops and hisses. Rarity gasped and quickly moved to her friends’ side, propping her up from one side, while Applejack held her up from the other. 
“My goodness, what in the…!” 
“She strained herself too hard, teleportin’ all these ponies with no line of sight. We’re lucky she got us only a foot up, and not a hundred feet up. Though, not to say I ain’t grateful, nor impressed. She did a damn good job, but she messed herself up doin’ it; she needs help!” 
“We’ll get her to her cabin and onto the bed; but what now?! Rainbow Dash is still out there with Fluttershy and the rest of the Wonderbolts. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the ships’ engines won’t work because of those things draining their magic. I was hoping Twilight might be able to find a way to charge them anyway, but…” she looked to the alicorn as she slumped between them, giving a gentle moan.
“Buck me,” grumbled Applejack. “It never just rains, does it? We gotta find a way out of this fix. At least Twilight got us these-”
Applejack lifted her hat off with one hoof and rummaged in it, producing the communications sets, passing one to Rarity. The white unicorn looked at it curiously, suspending it in her telekinesis - which, she noticed, was getting harder to summon up. 
“Well, they’re very nice pieces of jewelry, darling; very avant garde; but I don’t see how-”
“They ain’t jewelry, Rarity,” Applejack said patiently, rolling her eyes as she helped her move Twilight below the decks and into the cabin that had been set aside for the Princess.
“They’re some kind of communications thingy, let us talk to each other, Spitfire, and Livvy. Been helpful so far; shame we can’t get one to Dash”. The orange coated mare grunted as they slid Twilight, still muttering feverishly and sagging in her fatigue. Rarity telekinetically pulled the covers up over the recumbent mare and turned away. 
“I’m sure she’ll be fine, darling,” Rarity said quietly, turning a knowing and warm look on the earth pony mare. She turned her emerald eyes away, a twinge of guilt washing over her at her feelings being so readily on display. “She certainly knows how to take care of herself, and she wouldn’t let anything happen to anypony else, either.”
“Rarity’s right,” Spike added, fluttering over to pat Applejack’s neck reassuringly and offer her a hopeful smile. “Rainbow’s probably the toughest mare any of us know. Who knows the number of times she’s got herself out of a jam and come out on top. I’m sure she’s out there looking after Fluttershy right now”. 

“Dash, this idea is insane!”
“That’s why it’s gonna work!”
“That doesn’t even make sense!”
“Pff, that doesn’t even matter. Just make sure you’re ready Fleetfoot!” 
The mare groaned and muttered to herself, but turned to ensure that the rest of the Wonderbolts were ready to move Fluttershy as soon as Dash pulled off her distraction in order to move them, despite the reservations she had about the idea to begin with. For her part, the sky blue pegasus tensed into a pounce, wings spread and ready to take flight. As she did, she adopted the characteristic cocky grin across her muzzle. She had this; after all, she was the best, and with Equestria hanging in the balance and ponies lives at stake, she had to be the best. After all, what else was there. It may be the highest of stakes and most dangerous of dangers. But for Rainbow Dash, that was where she thrived. She’d do it, because she had to, and because it was what counted. 
“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy called out, eyes wide with fear and worry. “Be careful!” 
“I got this, Fluttershy,” she called back with a confident smile and a wink. “Trust me”.
The yellow pegasus grimaced but nodded as Dash tensed herself back, and then launched into the air, riding her characteristic rainbow contrail as she accelerated at high speed, gaining altitude rapidly.

The sudden rainbow burst alerted everyone on the scene to Rainbow’s ascent into the skies. In her cockpit, Spitfire saw the pegasus’ trail as it rocketed upward toward the thick white fluffy cloud layer, and the reaction of the Hollow Things. Their weapons fire followed her up, but not quickly enough, and she very quickly moved out of range. Almost as soon as she was out of sight, did the rainbow loop around and dive from out of the sun, gaining speed rapidly. As the rainbow mare dived earthward a pressure wave started to build in front of her, and Spitfire gaped in amazement as she realised what she was doing. The compressions built up a rainbow hue, and-
A titanic shockwave of rainbow lights blasted out, spreading in concentric rings in a flat plane through the air, the concussive force of breaking the sound barrier smashing across the plateau with an accompanying thunderous crash. The rainbow contrail was brighter and stronger than ever, as Rainbow soared upward. 

Below, Fleetfoot and the rest moved as soon as the thunderous, polychrome detonation exploded over their heads. Moving at their fastest flying speed, they dashed - appropriately - across the ground at breakneck speed. Each foot of the way, Fluttershy’s heart threatened to burst out of her ribcage. She could feel the Hollow Things looking at them as they dashed across the open space, feel their eyes boring through her coat and skin as their gun sights tracked in on the fleeing group. She imagined the weapons fire raking through their group, all of them falling as they were poleaxed by gunfire and cut down, falling to the ground in sprawling poses with shocked expressions on their faces and the smell of charred meat filling her nose, until she was left, bloodied and broken, getting far enough to look up at her friends on the deck, and see the Sun Chaser ravaged by gunfire and watch their horrified faces before blackness closed over her-
-And then her front hooves were touching down on the deck, Fleetfoot and the other Wonderbolts were shouting to others to take positions below deck and get to safety. Fluttershy drew deep gasping breaths of relief, her eyes wide as she realised that, for now, she was safe. Rarity and Pinkie appeared on the deck a moment later, and instantly the yellow pegasus swamped both mares into a back-breaking hug, whimpering. 
“Fluttershy?” Pinkie choked through the tight embrace. “Thank goodness you’re safe”
“I was so scared!” whimpered the pretty yellow pegasus. “I thought I was going to get shot at any moment, and then I was here. I was so worried about all of you, and that I’d never see any of you again, and that I’d let that poor injured guard down. And then Rainbow Dash-”
“It’s fine, Fluttershy, we knew you’d get back to us. And we’d never leave anypony behind,” Pinkie said warmly, nuzzling into her friends’ pink mane, awkwardly stretching one hoof around to pat her on the back.
“Of course dear,” Rarity said in a similarly strangled voice. “But if you could let us go, that would be most appreciated”. 
“Oh! Um, sorry,” she said sheepishly as she let the pair go. “But what do we do now? Is it time to leave?”
Rarity and Pinkie exchange a worried glance. “That would be super-duper,” Pinkie said with a grimace. “But the teensy problem is that the airship doesn’t want to go. The meanies out there are stopping the engines from working!”
Rarity handed over a set of the comm units to both Pinkie and Fluttershy as she picked up the thread of conversation. 
“Pinkie is right, unfortunately the Hollow Things out there are draining so much of the magic from the ships’ engines and from all of us, that we can’t get enough of a charge into the engines to get them fired up. Until we can work out what to do, we’re stuck here, and they can pick us off at their leisure. Right now, Spitfire is the only one who stands a chance of getting us out of here with the Prowlers’ weapons”. 

 Spitfire saw the Wonderbolts dash for the ship, and felt an internal elation as they made it aboard. Using the ships’ sensors carefully - and awkwardly, clumsily - she managed to find the Hollow Things prowling on the ground below. They prowled back and forth, some moving in the direction Rainbow had taken, others moving toward the rectangular hole for the elevator. The majority were massing and moving toward the ship, weapon pods exposed and moving as they targeted the hull. Even as she watched, blue and red lines of searing light slashed out to connect the wood-and-brass frame hull with the advancing monsters. Scorching flames and palls of smoke erupted from the ship, and it stubbornly refused to move, despite the aerial threat being taken care of. 
“Come on, guys,” she growled. “Get out of there already!” 
One of the slightly larger ones braced itself, and the boxy pods on its’ flanks tilted upward, before launching a volley of rocket-like projectiles toward the ship. Spitfire swore loudly and slewed the nose of the Prowler over, lining it up with the biomechanical terror and hitting the weapons controls. The aircraft gave a slight shudder as the guns built into its’ sleek arrowhead nose fired, the ripping bursts reverberating through the airframe. The burst of gunfire tore towards the ground in pulses of yellow and grey smoke from the nose of the Prowler, before Spitfire lost sight of the targets as she pulled the nose of the Prowler up, slewing it into a turn. As she rolled back to cross over the area, Rarity’s voice sounded in the cockpit. 
“Spitfire, are you there? Can you hear me?”
“I hear you, Rarity. What’s going on, where’s Twilight? Why isn’t the ship moving?”
“Twilight is down for the count. She pulled off a huge teleport to bring Applejack, Spike and the other ponies who were inside back to the ship. With the magic drain too-”
“I understand, it must have drained her. And the ship?”
“The engines aren’t working; the Hollow Things are draining all the mana out of them, so we’re stuck here until we can get rid of whatever’s draining them, or find a way around it”
“Right, I understand,” Spitfire said with a grim expression. “I’ll try and take them out so you can move, although - I wouldn’t have thought those few smaller creatures could cause that much of a drain on the ship”
“Of course, darling - be careful! We’re waiting for Rainbow Dash, too!”
“Of course,” she said with a resigned smile. “Typical Crash to keep the rest of you waiting because she’s showing off… she did well, though. That distraction worked perfectly!”

Rainbow Dash circled at the end of her high-speed run, bleeding off her speed and slowing down. The wind and airstream blasted against her mane, and she grinned at the thrill of the feeling as he polychromatic mane danced and whipped against her face and muzzle. Spreading her wings, she flared into the turn, slowing down quickly to circle around and approach the plateaus’ top from the opposite direction. She saw the puffs of dust and smoke rise over the plateau over the top of the treeline as Spitfire made her attack, and then saw the Prowler rise into its’ turn, and the volleys of weapon fire chasing it up out of the turn. And still, the Sun Chaser wasn’t moving; why weren’t they running? Twi must have got the others aboard by now, surely? 
Grimacing, she flapped her wings for more speed and more power, aiming for the airship; she had to at least get onto the deck and find out what was going on; they had to get out of here before anything else could be done, and even with Spitfire in the Prowler, there was only so much they could do to fight back. That said, she couldn’t help but give a whoop of excitement and relief as the sleek craft angled back down for another attack run, this time the smoke trails of the rocket-like weapons under the swept-back wing surfaces of the flying machine streaking downward with blazing red flame at their head. Fountains of smoke and dirty flame rose from the ground, streaked with thick black dirt as the explosive weapons hit home. The blue pegasus wove around the smoke plumes and the fitful streams of gunfire that chased up from the surface toward her. 
She saw the white shape of Rarity on the deck, alongside the familiar shapes of an orange, pink, and yellow pony; her friends easily stood out against the wood of the deck, and she braced herself, lightly dropping onto her hooves from a rear back to dump the last of her speed and a big grin on her face. 
“How awesome was that? We’re almost outta here; Spitfire’s kicking the tails off of those guys out there, and we’re all back here. Only problem now is moving this thing. Why haven’t we set sail yet?”
Applejack bumped her shoulder with a stern expression and a glare. “You idiot, leaping out there and pulling some crazy stunt! Didn’t y’all think about gettin’ hurt for a minute?”
Rainbow rolled her eyes, but there was a hint of regret and guilt in her expression as well. “I knew they wouldn’t get me,” she said with bravado, before frowning and looking to one side. “Besides… I wasn’t thinking about me, I was thinking about getting those others out of there. That was more important. But… sorry, AJ,” she said after a moment and giving a meek smile. “I should’ve thought about it first”. 
Sighing, the earth pony wrapped her in a brief, tight hug before stepping back, and looking to the others as they formed a circle. The rumble of the Prowlers’ engines filled the air as Spitfire circled the craft, drawing fire toward her as she made successive attacks to pick off the remaining ground-bound Hollow Things. 
“The engine aren’t charging,” Rarity explained. “Those things seem to be sapping the energy from them. Unicorns are down there now, trying to fill them enough for a jump-start as Spitfire picks off the rest of those beastly monsters, but something is still holding us back”. 
“If it’s not those then there must be something else, right? But what?!”
“I don’t know,” Fluttershy said with a grim expression and a shake of her head. “But if it’s worse than those things out there,” she squeaked and lowered her head. “Then I don’t want to know!” 

Spitfires’ weapons tore through the last of the Hollow Things on the ground, the Prowler rocketing overhead of the airship as she pulled out of the dive and into a gentle bank to circle the area. By her reckoning, that was the last of the hostiles, and that was just as well; the aircraft was out of ammunition, and running low on fuel. She pulled the arrowhead-shaped craft into a sleek, smooth bank, climbing over the plateau. All at once, the airships engines slowly stuttered to life, the big propellers spinning slowly and gaining speed. Lines were quickly cast off and the ship started to drift away from the edge of the plateau’s face, rudders turning her into the wind and the vessel starting to slowly gain height, the propellers still faltering and stuttering as she started to rise. 
“Go, go, go!” Spitfire urged as she watched the ship rise painfully slowly, tacking into the wind. 
“Rarity, are you there? You’re underway?”
“Spitfire; yes. The engines have kicked in, albeit not reliably. We’ve got some power, but not much. Something still seems to be draining the mana… in fact…” her voice became strained, and the ship started to drift, the propellers faltering further and winding down. 
“Rarity? Rarity, speak to me!” 
“Spitfire.. This is Applejack. Rarity has passed out, so have all the other unicorns. Pegasi are falterin’ too… not feelin’ too great myself neither. Something, somethin’s... Oh sweet Celestia…”
She trailed off as the clouds parted for a great shadow from above. Proximity warnings sounded all over the Prowlers’ cockpit and she pulled away, alarmed. Looking back over her shoulder and up, the golden mare felt herself go dizzy and light-headed. 
A grey, storm-grey and night-black belly of a Hollow Thing flying creature/machine descended. As big if not bigger than the Sun Chaser, it glowed infernally with red hexagonal patterns in pulsing waves, and ember-like orange eye-lights toward the front of its’ almost manta-ray like body. Glowing ports along the front edges of its’ wings lit up with a dull green glow as it bore down upon the idle airship. 
“Shit,” muttered Spitfire as she saw it close in. “Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, respond!” The line was quiet, with no immediate answer, and the golden mare agonised as she circled the Sun Chaser, slashing through the air in a knife-edge pass between the airship and the Hollow One aerial beast, trying to attract it’s attention. She swept past, rising into a climb as it inexorably closed in. Frantically, she scanned her controls, looking for anything to use. Weapons were all depleted; the Prowler had only been test-loaded when she’d taken off in it. Fuel was almost empty, and it wasn’t like she could land and reload at the moment either.  
“Spitfire?” Rainbow Dash’s voice was a weak groan. “Everyone’s passed out or too weak to speak. The unicorns in the engine room; they all passed out immediately. That huge thing has sucked all their magic dry, they can barely move. I’m one of the only ones left; we can barely move down here. We’re drifting toward the mountain range”.
Spitfire grimaced and looked down; Rainbow was right. The mountain range that rose beyond the plateau was a jagged upthrust of bare grey rocky peaks, all ragged teeth and sharp clefts of rock, exactly the thing to tear an airship to pieces, and the wind having caught the ship at it’s low altitude, it would drift into them - if the Hollow Thing didn’t tear them out of the skies first as it closed in. 
She found the further away she circled from the airborne monster, the more she could gather her thoughts and the more the woolly feeling in her head cleared. She presumed it had some kind of area of effect for its’ magic draining qualities, and she could stay far enough out of it to keep her head clear. But it didn’t help the others: the princess and the rest of the Elements of Harmony, as well as her fellow Wonderbolts - or, more appropriately, her friends - were on the airship, still well within the range of the magic-clouding field and the beasts’ weaponry. 
There was no way she could tow the airship to safety; the Prowler had no such facility or equipment. Landing would leave them exposed too long, and even if she did, it was like she could fly there herself, the effect would get her if she closed in. It would take too long to rearm and refuel, and that would leave her friends exposed too long. 
That didn’t leave a lot of choices. 
In fact, it left about one. 
She grimaced as she pulled the Prowler around into a wide turn, moving herself out to a a few miles out, still well within view of the hostile and the airship, both having moved away from the plateau, and started to increase power to the aircrafts’ engines, watching the reserve of fuel steadily creep down toward the red line.
“Crash, are you still there? Wake up, can you hear me?”
“Spitfire… I’m still here. What is it, have you got something to stop this thing?”
“Yeah. I’ve got one idea, Rainbow. I wouldn’t call it a good one, or a smart one. But I hope it works.” She paused. Her muzzle felt dry and she worked her jaw, hunching over the crafts’ controls as she felt the G-forces press her back into the contoured couch-like seat, hooves snugged into the control cuffs. Her eyes were locked on the black shape as it loomed over the airship. It looked like a demonic bat; albeit giant in size. It was like something out of a nightmare. 
“What are you talking about, Captain? What’s the plan?” asked Rainbow Dash, her voice picking up a little. “C’mon, you must have something!”
“Rainbow Dash,” she said more seriously, and with a more gentle tone in her voice than she usually used while speaking to the pegasus, or anypony under her command. “Listen; this is important. I know I’ve always been hard with you, and with everypony in the Bolts. But it’s only because I knew you could be the best. I only ever wanted you to excel, to be the best ponies you could be.”
“What-”
Spitfire watched the speedometer in the cockpit rise; she was creeping past Dash’s rainboom speed, the airframe roaring as the air blasted past it. The airship and the Hollow Thing were growing to fill the forward view, getting bigger with every heartbeat.
“I know you’re a cocky bitch, and you love taking on things that are much bigger than you. But you have to remember, none of it’s worth impressing anypony over if you aren’t alive to enjoy it. You’re right on the edge of being the best, Rainbow Dash. I can see it in you, and Tartarus girl, you’re one hell of an impressive flyer. You’re going to be captain one day, Dash. And you’ll be a way better Wonderbolt than I ever was.”
Black and grey filled the canopy, and she garbled out the last words, her eyes blurring and her heart catching in her throat, a scream of rage, exhilaration and defiance climbing in her.
“Tell the others I’m sorry, and tell my mother I love her. I- I have to go now”

From below on the deck, Rainbow Dash had found her hooves, a spike of fear and dread stabbing deep through her as she realised what Spitfire was saying, realised what the shrieking howl of aircraft engines meant, realised why Spitfire was saying what she did. The other ponies around her had done the same, all jabbering as they tried to find another way, pleaded with Spitfire to do something else, until their cries died away as they realised it was too late, too close, too sudden. 
The streaking silver arrow of the Prowler moved like a flashing blur across their sight, travelling far, far faster than any Rainboom Dash had even managed. It impacted the Hollow Thing in a blinding, eye-searing fireball, so bright she had to turn away. 
And just as well, as it hid the tears streaming down the face, just as the resounding, echoing, deafening explosion hid the agonised scream of pain and loss she felt. 
Mortally wounded from the gigantic gash torn in it’s hide, the Hollow Thing aerial dreadnought sank aside in a crumpled heap, howling in frustrated loss and rage. It’s death throes and spasms twisted its’ body, and it smashed to the ground below, digging a wide furrow and uprooting trees as it collapsed into the valley between the plateau and the mountains. 
A single pall of angry smoke marked the remains of the Prowler, and of the bravest of the Wonderbolts, and it was all Rainbow Dash could do to keep her rose-coloured eyes fixed on it as she sobbed, wrapped in Applejack’s embrace.
Somewhere, far away from her, she was aware of the Sun Chasers’ engines firing up and the ship gaining control once more, of ponies shouting out and talking among one another, cheering at the death of the beast - and of islands of quiet, mourning ponies, sharing her loss. 
Spitfire was gone.