When the lights come back, I’m standing alone on the center pedestal, still holding my sister’s weapons. I hastily strap them on, my eyes scanning the arena. My heart’s beating like crazy, and my stomach is churning. For the first time since I started this stupid adventure, I’m scared.
My ear twitches as one of the five doors creaks and groans, the wooden gate raising. A familiar white-coated earth pony trots through, eyes glowing a bloody red. A smirk lies on Redblood’s muzzle as she approaches.
“Easy now.” I jump as Daring’s voice suddenly fills my head. I look around the arena but don’t see her. “Don’t fight her on her terms. Fight her on your terms.”
What the hay is that supposed to mean? Before I can ask, Redblood snarls at me. She presses a button on her armor, and her metal wings extend from her back. She surges forwards, metal pole in her mouth and death in her eyes.
I react on instinct, dodging as she swings the pole at my head. “Redblood—”
She doesn’t react to the name and swings again, forcing me to block it with my hoof. I scream in pain as the metal rod slams into my foreleg.
That does it. I flick out my hooves like I’ve seen Daring do and charge. I slash at her but she blocks, the blade hitting her armored foreleg.
I grunt in frustration as she swings at me again. I duck underneath it, but she follows it up with a jab to my chest.
This isn’t working. I’m never going to beat her like this! I remember Daring’s advice and suddenly realize what she meant. There’s no way I can beat Redblood hoof to hoof, so why fight her like that?
I spread my wings and take to the air. As expected Redblood follows, using her mechanical wings to give chase. Her flight isn’t as smooth or as fast as me, giving me the upper hoof.
Redblood fires her laser at me, but I bank to the right and dodge easily. I climb upwards, gaining altitude and position myself until I’m right on top of her. She tries to fire her cannon again, but she can’t hit me from the angle.
I grit my teeth and dive down toward her, blades extended. Redblood’s eyes widen and she tries to dodge, but she’s too slow. I slam into her, driving my blades into her mechanical backpack.
Her wings spark and lock up, and she plummets from the sky. I wince as she hits the ground and dive towards her. We weren’t that high, so I really hope that didn’t kill her.
To my dismay Redblood staggers to her hooves. But then the red fades out of her eyes and she smiles at me. “Heh. I knew you were a fighter.” She lies down and closes her eyes with a sigh.
I rush to her side. Her chest is still rising and falling, so she’s clearly alive. This is insane, I think to myself.
My ear twitches as I hear the second of the five doors opening. Out strolls Minute Maker, a challenging grin on her face.
“Remember,” Daring says, “magic is very specific. You’re going to have to get creative.”
Minute drops her stance and fires a bolt of blue magic at me. I roll to the right, grimacing as I feel the heat raging from the spell.
Quickly I spread my wings and take to the air again. The sky’s probably my best bet against them, so I might as well use it.
Minute doesn’t seem fazed as her magic blasts explode in the air around me. I dive towards her, blades extended, only to be cut off when she throws up a defensive shield.
I slash at the shield, but it doesn’t even put a scratch in it. Minute fires another spell that goes right through the shield and hits me. It sends me flying through the air, and I hit the ground hard. I stagger to my hooves, a seething pain forming in my stomach.
I fly up again as another spell lands where I just was. I burst towards her faster this time, only to be cut off by another shield. I bounce off this time and go skidding across the dirt.
“Gah!” As I get up, I kick the ground in frustration, sending a pebble flying through the air towards her. “What the hay am I supposed to do?”
That’s when I notice something. The rock I kicked easily passed through her shield. An idea pops into my head as I remember how tired Minute was after putting up her shield earlier. “Get creative, huh? Here goes nothing.”
I dodge another magical blast from Minute and fly up again. As I dive towards her, she forces more energy into her shield, but this time I don’t dive into it. Instead I skid to a stop in front of her shield and flap my wings, sending sand and dust right at her. The sand has no problem getting through the shield and into her eyes.
The blue shield wavers a bit as she throws a foreleg against her eyes. Seizing my moment, I blast through it and shatter it to pieces.
Minute growls, unsheathing her sword with her magic and takes a defensive stance. Her guard training probably means she’s more than capable of easily skewering me, but she’s still half blind from the sand attack. I don’t have much of a window here, so I’ll have to make it quick.
I dodge the first pass easily and get a slash in with my hoof blades. It makes contact with her armor, leaving a scratch on the metal. Minute blocks my second attack, our blades locking for a second before she suddenly disengages and stabs at me.
I block again and close the distance between us. My hoof makes contact with her jaw and sends her stumbling back. Not wanting to take any more risks, I surge forward. Her blade cuts me on the side, but I’m able to get two more punches in.
Her sword falls out of her magic as I knock her on her back. She bucks at me, rear legs connecting with my stomach and sending me back a little bit. I recover and fly forwards again, dropping an elbow onto her face.
“Not bad,” she mutters as she spits blood onto the dirt. “You’d make a great guard, you know?” She sighs and closes her eyes.
I take a few seconds to catch my breath before the next door opens. A blue blur shoots up into the sky.
“Speed isn’t skill,” Daring offers. “Fleetfoot may be a Wonderbolt, but Free Fall is not.”
Free Fall puts on a burst of speed, and she’s on top of me in almost a second. She rains down blows on me, forcing me to move to the defensive.
I can only block about half of her hits and the rest pummel my body. She rams an elbow into my chest, causing me to scream out in pain.
I disengage and fly off as fast as I can, trying to catch a break. To my dismay she flies off after me. I glance back to see she’s literally on my tail.
I clench my jaw and push myself to fly faster. Time to show this washout why I’m the fastest pegasus in Equestria.
A quick glance shows that Free Fall has no problem keeping pace with me. I push myself harder again, and for a second I gain some distance.
Looking forwards, I realize I’m running out of room, and I’m going to slam into the wall soon. Suddenly, I realize that might not be a bad thing. If this doesn’t work, I’m probably dead.
As the wind whips through my mane I fly faster and faster, with Free Fall staying right behind me. Tears fill my eyes again and I regret not having goggles with me. I check my distance one last time and hold my breath. Now or never.
Milliseconds before I hit the wall I bank upwards. The Wonderbolts call this a suicide run, a trick where you fly as fast as you can before evading at the last second. I pray that Free Fall doesn’t know this one.
I look down to see that she tries to dive down, but she can’t maneuver in time. Her wing clips the wall, and she falls to the ground. Free Fall collapses in a plume of sand and dust.
I dive towards her, half expecting her to come flying out at me, but she doesn’t. Free Fall’s lying on her side, grunting in pain. She looks at me and smiles. “Now that’s a skill worthy of the Wonderbolts,” she says. Finally, she lays her head down and sighs.
Before I can make a move, there’s the sharp crack of a gunshot. I whip around, but can’t see where it came from. Judging by the fact that I’m not dead, that was probably a warning shot.
“Patience is key. Look for something out of place.”
How is that supposed to help? I scan the arena again but don’t see Slow. But he apparently sees me, because a bullet whizzes right by my face. I drop to the ground and crawl towards one of the bigger rocks. I realize that my blue coat and rainbow mane stand out pretty badly when everything is brown.
Cursing my own awesomeness I scan the area again, trying to figure out where the hay he is. I grit my teeth, not finding anything at all on the outskirts of the room. I’m not known for my patience, Daring!
I weigh my options. Judging by the fact he hasn’t put a bullet in between my eyes yet, he either lost me or doesn’t have an angle on me. I’m not sure if I’m fast enough to outmaneuver a bullet, but I really don’t want to find out right now.
I scan the arena again, this time focusing on the pedestal in the center. Something catches my eye. The sun glints off of something. I squint harder and I see it again. A glint of light bouncing off of a rifle scope.
A smirk falls onto my face. I look up to figure out where the sun is and take a deep breath. Do or die. Spreading my wings, I shoot up into the sky as fast as I can. I do a corkscrew to throw him off further and position myself so that my back’s to the sun.
I can finally see him now, crouching behind the empty chest. He squints, blinded by the sun, and I take my chance by dropping towards him.
I can see his red eyes widen and he throws the rifle aside, reaching for his shotgun. Luckily I get there first, and kick him square in the chest. The shotgun goes flying from his hooves as he tumbles off of the pedestal, landing in the sand with a thud.
He’s not out yet though. Slow sits up, reaching into his coat for his pistol. I jump off the platform, ramming my body into him. I stomp on his foreleg and he drops the gun. “Not bad,” he says. “Well-fought, well-earned.”
That leaves one left, and this is one fight I’m not looking forward to.
“Good luck.”
The final door opens and my sister steps out. She smirks at me, silently daring me to get her.
I frown, trying to figure out her next move. For a long time she stands there, not moving. I decide to move and land in front of her. We start to circle each other slowly. While adrenaline is rushing through my system and my heart pounds in my ears, Daring is calm.
I move first, trying to catch her off guard. I slash out at her with a hoof-blade, but the move is checked almost instantly. While my right leg is still swinging, she slashes at me with her own blade. I hiss in pain, and looking down I see a thin cut on my coat.
She strikes again, and forces me to switch to defense. I block a strike to my face, then another to my chest. And all the while she smiles at me. When she swings her left arm at me, I spot an opening and lunge at it. It’s a trap.
As I push forwards, Daring lays a hoof on my back and uses my own momentum against me. She shoves me forwards and I hit the ground. I flip onto my back to see her advancing, still with that shit-eating grin on her face. “Come on, Rainbow. I thought you were better than that.”
With a growl I push myself up again and use my wings to push forwards. I slash out again, trying to get something to connect, but Daring just sidesteps my blows. She hits me again in the head, and now the world’s starting to spin. In a final move of desperation I stab at her chest. Daring just grabs my foreleg and spins me around. With a blow to the chest I fall on my back.
Daring stands on top of me and raises her blade. As she swings the blade down, I try to push her off me, thrusting my hooves forwards. I forgot about the blades. Daring lets out a small gasp as the two blades pierce into her chest.
My own eyes widen and I pull them out. Daring stumbles backwards, looking down. She puts a shaky hoof to the wound and it’s immediately soaked with blood. She glances up at me, her eyes returning to their normal color.
“Sis…” I take a step forwards, not really sure what to do.
Blood drips out of her mouth, but she smiles at me. But it’s not a malicious smile, rather one of warmth. “Nice job, Sis,” she says. “I knew you had what it takes. You are a hero after all.”
She falls onto her side, her helmet tumbling off. She takes a shuddering breath and pulls the amulet out of her shirt pocket. I rush to her side, but there’s nothing I can do. “Here,” she says as she passes me the amulet. “You earned it.” With that, she closes her eyes. Her chest rises and falls once. Then it doesn’t move.
I look at the amulet in my hoof, suddenly feeling very dizzy. I stumble around before collapsing on the ground. Tears blur my vision as my body is wracked with sobs. I don’t know how long I stayed there, cradling my sister’s helmet and crying, but I tense when I felt a hoof on my back.