The Wolf lunged at Rainbow Dash and swiped its claws at her as she flew up off the floor to give herself some maneuvering room. Despite her beleaguered state she had more than enough speed to fly above its attack. The Wolf was one of the more agile metal monsters though and before Rainbow Dash could land on its back, where it wouldn’t be able to adequately defend itself, it had jumped out from beneath her and whirled around to keep her in its sights. Rainbow Dash floated in midair with Resin calmly standing at her back and the Wolf staring her down, it didn’t seem like Resin was planning to attack her at least, she was probably going to let the Wolf do everything.
Works for me. Rainbow Dash thought to herself and watched the Wolf to prepare for the next time it would leap at her.
It was taking its time to slowly pace around her right now, always just at the limit of how far it could leap to reach her. Rainbow Dash’s wings flapped patiently in the meantime as she used only the barest amount of energy needed to stay in the air. But still keeping tense and ready enough that she could react to either the Wolf or Resin in a fraction of a second.
The attack came as instantaneously as she expected and totally without warning. One moment the wolf was slinking around and the next it was running full speed at her. Rainbow Dash was up slightly too high for it to reach her without jumping, this gave her a big advantage, and she was waiting to see if it would try to jump at her from directly below or come at her with more of an arc from the front. With a growl and more flames billowing out its mouth the Wolf jumped at Rainbow Dash from about ten feet away, reaching her height easily and coming straight at her with its claws extended.
“You’re not getting anywhere just coming at me from the front again and again!” Rainbow Dash mocked and flapped her wings to jump above it.
The Wolf sailed past her… and rebounded off the brass furnace that was directly behind Rainbow Dash, using it to push itself back at her at a heightened speed while Rainbow Dash was in the middle of turning around.
Rainbow wasn’t really expecting that kind of strategy or the decent speed the Wolf was moving through the air at, she had to beat her wings hard and juke to the side as best she could. It wasn’t entirely enough though, as she dodged right the Wolf’s outstretched claws raked across her own left wing. A number of feathers were scratched out and the metal claws dug shallow gashes into the flesh underneath. She squawked in pain and went tumbling to the floor thanks to the hit and sudden imbalance. Rainbow was still able to recover quickly on her hooves and backed away to get some room between herself and the Wolf but she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to fly anymore in here.
A quick glance down at her wing answered that question. Wing assisted jumps? Fine. Actual flight? No good.
It was already hurting and throbbing a bit with several streams of blood dripping down it and mixing together. Her best asset was now damaged. Not broken but still hurt and mangled enough that she couldn’t fly effectively anymore and might as well not even try with this Wolf coming after her. She’d just have to outrun and beat him on the ground.
“Oughta be simple enough,” Rainbow muttered to herself. She still knew this thing’s weaknesses and how to fight it, her confidence wasn’t going down so easily. A quick look over to Resin showed the earth pony just watching her.
Unlike Resin, the Wolf wasn’t going to take things slowly at all anymore and it came charging at the grounded Rainbow Dash. She hunkered down low to make sure she could move like a spring when it got close enough and watched it intently for what its first attack would be. Her eyes picked out the subtle moves of its leg joints and practically before it even started to attack she was already in the process of dodging. A high swipe from its right front claw at her head that she ducked under and stepped back from and then a low swipe from its left that she jumped over. Then a fiery bite that came at her when she was still in the air. But Rainbow Dash kicked off the left leg when it was still going past her and used that to dodge the bite, leaping away from the Wolf and sliding to a stop on the metal floor a dozen feet away.
This time Rainbow Dash was going to go on the offense before the Wolf could keep things running at its own pace. She charged towards it, zig-zagging to keep its head swinging back and forth so it couldn’t respond as easily, before pivoting on her hooves and then sprinting at it dead on as fast as she could. The Wolf breathed fire at the floor in front of her but Rainbow Dash jumped over it like lightning and punched it as hard as she could in one of its eyes before running along its back and jumping off it. The Wolf’s tail tried to lash out at her in a desperate attack but she avoided it and came to a halt a few feet behind it, panting.
When the Wolf turned around, Rainbow Dash grinned.
The eye she had punched was broken and cracked, it wouldn’t be able to see out of that one anymore. One more and it would be totally blind if she just didn’t defeat it normally first. That broken eye opened up more opportunities for her to attack, she was going to tear this dumb metal Wolf to pieces soon.
Rainbow Dash looked over to Resin. “I guess you’re not much of a fighter if you were going to let this guy do everything but unless you help him out its just going to be a wrecked pile of nuts and bolts soon.”
“I don’t care much for fighting but if it’s to protect the flame I would do anything,” Resin said. “And despite your grandstanding I can tell you’re on your last legs. The metal beast can still handle you… and if not then yes, I will deal with you using my own hooves. Everything for the flame.”
Resin and Rainbow Dash stared each other down while the Wolf renewed its attack.
Double Duty had his hooves tight around the metal neck of the Lion monster while it tried to shake him off. The thing’s tail lashed around, smacking a few ponies who got too close, and the heat and painfully angular metal jabbed into Double Duty’s underbelly but he still managed to hang on. The Lion was about to roll over when Frayed Wire lit his horn up and encased its paws in his bright blue magic, stopping it from rolling and crushing Double Duty. Acid Rain then came down from the ceiling and landed hard on the Lion’s head, making the mechanical joints and rotors buckle as it was smashed into the floor. The three of them worked pretty well together now.
The Bear meanwhile had just swatted a pegasus into the wall while a number of other ponies tried to bring its large bulk down, but it was the biggest and heaviest of all the monstrosities and something like that wasn’t easy. Nut charged at its back legs and hit them right in the knee joints, trying to either weaken or break them since they were already supporting so much weight, but the metal was a bit too strong for her. All she did was make it wince slightly. The Bear then breathed out a column of fire towards the ponies trying to fight it and they all had to scatter in fear.
“How are we supposed to take this thing out?!” Nut yelled.
“We have to go for the exposed wires and hoses! Those might be the only way!” Cast Iron said as she ran up to join her.
The two of them were then flanked by Soot Mane and a pegasus mare formerly from the Thunderbirds with a purple and yellow swirled mane. The Bear saw them confronting it and turned to fix its red eyes on them while more fire leaked out from around its fangs. Challenge accepted.
“We’ll take this thing apart even if we have to do it one screw at a time,” Soot Mane said.
“Right!” The others shouted in unison and ran at the Bear.
The Lion itself wasn’t finished yet either, damaged, but still operational, and Frayed Wire didn’t have the magical strength to keep it pinned down forever. When it got back up it ran for the closest one of them, Double Duty. Its entire head was somewhat dislocated and hanging at an odd angle but that didn’t stop it. Double Duty had to avoid swipe after swipe of its claws while Acid Rain came from behind the Lion. However he had to avoid its wildly swinging tail and Frayed Wire was still catching his breath and trying to recharge his magic.
“Stupid thing!” Double Duty yelled, fed up with retreating, and turned around to buck the Lion as hard as he could. It was dangerous and he knew it but he didn’t want to just keep running from it.
Double Duty was both rewarded and punished for his efforts. His strong legs impacted and dented the Lion’s chest but he was left exposed by his attack and the Lion clawed his back legs even as it was launched away. Double Duty bit his lip to keep from screaming in pain and fell over onto the ground. However, his attack had also given an opening to the other two.
Acid Rain came down on the Lion’s head again and kicked it stiffly, wrenching its neck around and making it even more lopsided while sparks erupted from its head. Frayed Wire then decided to use his magic in a slightly different way by grabbing a bunch of the exposed wires and tubes with it and snapping as many as he could. The Lion whirred and shook while wires sparked and gas leaked from it, it only took a few more steps before collapsing in a pile.
“One down,” Double Duty growled as he stood up, pain lancing through his legs.
“Three to go,” Acid Rain said.
They watched as the Ram monster ran at full speed into the wall of the control center trying to pulverize a pony. That pony had luckily jumped out of the way just in time and instead there was just a massive dent left in the metal from the Ram’s horns and head hitting it. The Boar was doing much of the same, running around wildly while trying to gore ponies on its tusks and burn them with fire.
The leaders still had their work cut out for them.
Meanwhile the mares were still dealing with the over-sized Bear monster. All four of them were running or flying around it to divide its attention, distracting it so it didn’t know which one to attack and hitting it quickly whenever they had an opening. The Bear simply didn’t have the speed or articulate movement needed to defend or react to this sort of attack. Its only strength was its size and the mares were still whittling it down and dealing little motes of damage that were going to add up over time.
The pegasus mare landed on its back and started punching a few pieces of metal that looked a little thinner than the surrounding ones before grasping a bundle of wires and tearing it off when she flew away before the Bear could roll or attempt to bring one of its big paws up and hit her. While that happened, Cast Iron ran in and hit it in its back right leg to weaken the joints, the Bear attempted to turn around but was distracted by Nut running right in front of its face. Seeing new prey it tried breathing fire on her but she scrambled away just fast enough where she only felt a few intense licks of heat. And of course right at the moment it tried attacking Nut, Soot Mane came in from the left and hit its other back leg, finally making the Bear stumble to the floor.
“Keep going!” Nut yelled.
All four of them renewed their attack now that they had an opening, pummeling the Bear on all sides with their hooves, tearing wires, hoses, and tubes and denting and breaking whatever pieces of metal they could. But the Bear’s larger bulk kept it moving and operational despite all the damage it had taken and the thing roared and swung out with its paws all around itself, making the mares have to leap away and regroup. Gas, motor oil, and all sorts of other fluids were leaking down the Bear and the flames from its mouth were no longer coming but it still roared and charged at the first mare it saw again, Cast Iron.
“Need some back up!” The mare yelled for her allies.
The pegasus came flying around towards her while Nut and Soot Mane ran towards the Bear’s front legs. The two of them hit the Bear right at the knee joints while Cast Iron was grabbed and rescued by the pegasus as the Bear’s legs faltered and it fell to the ground, sliding across the metal floor. And this time when it tried to push itself up to continue the attack the joints in its front legs snapped and broke to pieces. The Bear roared as it fell back to the ground, helpless and unable to stand up properly.
Nut and Soot Mane caught their breath while Cast Iron was let back down on the floor by the pegasus and the four mares looked over their adversary.
“Okay… looks like it’s a little less dangerous now,” Soot Mane said.
Nut nodded. “I think you’re right, so let’s finish this and smash it to pieces.”
On the other side of the room, Double Duty and Frayed Wire were sprinting directly at each other while being chased by the Boar and Ram respectively. This was risky but it was the best idea they had with the way these vicious things were tearing through the ponies under them. The two ponies got within five feet of each other and then both jumped to their respective rights at the last moment. The Boar and Ram couldn’t stop or change direction in time and they both crashed head first into each other in a loud wreck. Parts and pieces of metal were blown everywhere and all that was left were two mangled piles mashed together that barely even looked like the metal animals anymore.
Double Duty and Frayed Wire were both panting hard, Double Duty in particular in a great amount of pain thanks to his legs now that the adrenaline was wearing off, but they knew what had just happened. They had won. All the metal monstrosities were destroyed, the control room was theirs.
No one had the energy to cheer for it and a lot of ponies were hurt though. And some important work still needed to be done.
“The control panels! We have to bring this city back to how it used to be!” Double Duty shouted.
He, Frayed Wire, and Acid Rain all jetted over to them while the other ponies recuperated. None of them had been up here before and knew exactly what to do so it might take some time to figure things out. Maybe some of them could’ve gone to help Rainbow Dash but none of them were really in fighting condition anymore and her fight could’ve been over for all they knew. Besides, they had one thing they had to do for her first.
“Shut off all the fuel to the ceremonial flame,” Acid Rain said. “Turn it off completely!”
“I’m looking for the darn dials to do that, shut up for a second,” Double Duty said back to him.
All of them looked over the consoles in search of the power and fuel distribution to change it. In a way they had already won, but things weren’t completely over just yet.
Rainbow Dash stayed on the blindside of the Wolf so it couldn’t properly react to her attacks or make a good offense of its own. She didn’t need to fly to be super fast either so whenever it tried to get her in its sights she’d just skirt around it some more while peppering it with punches. One solid punched twisted the metal of its back left leg, giving the Wolf a permanent limp.
It tried to jump back from Dash to give itself some room to fight but Dash wasn’t in any mood to go easy on it. She followed its jump and scrambled onto the Wolf’s back, punching and pulling at any weak and exposed parts of the metal beast. The Wolf roared and useless flames came out of its mouth as it ran along the floor before Rainbow Dash reached over and dropped a stiff elbow onto its other eye. That light blinked right out and now the Wolf was totally blind.
Rainbow Dash jumped off it with a grin and watched as it flailed about helplessly, throwing its claws out everywhere in a futile effort to hit Rainbow Dash.
“Finally just about done with these things,” Rainbow Dash said and ran towards the Wolf. She ducked and dodged under its claws and uppercutted it in the jaw before running underneath it and tearing out any exposed wire she saw. The Wolf’s tail came stabbing down at her but Rainbow Dash was able to easily grab it on the safer part and jammed it up into the Wolf’s own belly. The whole Wolf shook and spasmed while Dash ran out from under it and onto its back again, stomping down with all her strength while steam and sparks shot out from all over its body.
At last the whole Wolf collapsed like an unplugged appliance. It was wrecked beyond repair with Rainbow Dash standing atop it victoriously.
“Heh,” Rainbow Dash laughed. “Well, Resin, are you ready to-”
She didn’t have time to complete her sentence as a powerful hoof collided with her cheek and knocked her off the Wolf with enough strength to launch her into the wall of the ceremonial flame room. Rainbow Dash painfully bounced off it and fell to the floor with a dull thud and a groan. She slowly pushed herself back up, her vision blurry, and shook her head before looking in the direction of where she had been punched.
Resin was walking around the destroyed Wolf with a blank expression on her face, her single cold eye kept on Rainbow Dash. “You’re exhausted, Rainbow Dash.”
And you’re a lot stronger than I would’ve guessed. Rainbow Dash thought while she faced Resin. Now her face and back were hurting too and she was injured and tired enough where her legs were shaking. The intense heat inside this room was making her sweat too, she hadn’t adjusted to it well enough yet.
“It doesn’t matter that you destroyed my metal animal, you aren’t going to touch that flame,” Resin said as she walked towards Rainbow Dash.
Her body wasn’t coming into focus either. Rainbow Dash blinked a couple of times but her vision stayed blurry, the fighting and that hit had taken more of a toll on her than she thought. Double-vision and pain all over. Wonderful.
The blurry looking Resin suddenly jolted at her and Rainbow Dash tried to raise a hoof to block but Resin’s punch went over it and cracked against the other side of Rainbow Dash’s head. Earth pony strength helped contribute to Rainbow Dash being knocked across the floor again, her vision temporarily going black and her brain forgetting where she was until she stood up. Rainbow Dash tried to fly up on reflex but was rewarded with an awkward climb and pain from her damaged wing that made her spiral back down. Where Resin immediately ran forward and rammed into her chest, throwing Dash against the back wall of the room.
This isn’t going as well as I hoped… Dash mused as she coughed and rose back up on her shaking hooves. She has one eye… she’s not a real fighter either, but I can’t last much longer.
“Everyone who tries to go against the flame will suffer the same fate as you,” Resin said as she made her way to Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash shook her head. “It’s already over...”
“The flame will never be over!” Resin shouted and quickly ran at Dash before she could react, grabbing her by her rainbow mane and tossing her across the room. Dash landed with a thud closer to the front and rolled a bit before stopping.
Rainbow Dash wheezed on the ground for a moment, trying to catch her breath. She wasn’t sure if she actually had the strength to stand anymore. But a sudden feeling washed over her body—or perhaps it was more accurate to say that something that was constantly washing over her body disappeared. Rainbow Dash blinked. Something just-
She didn’t have time to finish that thought as Resin stood over her and wrapped her hooves around her neck, strangling the life out of Rainbow Dash. “I won’t let you cause anymore problems here for the flame. The flame is everything to me! It should be everything to everyone! It brings happiness, and love, and safety, and purpose! Stop ruining things!”
Resin shouted and shouted at Rainbow Dash as she wrung her neck, Dash’s own hooves trying to force her off but she just didn’t have the strength left in her body. Rainbow Dash tried to suck in any air she could but the grip of Resin was like a vice. She looked up at the manic, bloodshot, eye of Resin. The mare looked like she was on the verge of a breakdown herself with how angry Rainbow Dash had made her. Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure how much longer she’d be able to last now though, the powerful mare kept her pinned down and the oxygen in her lungs was running out, darkness crept along the edge of her vision.
She only had the strength to maybe do one last thing so she had to make it count.
Rainbow Dash grabbed Resin’s hooves and used every last ounce of strength she had in her body to slightly lift them off her neck so she could breathe and speak for just a moment. “Resin...”
“Shut up!” Resin yelled.
“It’s gotten… colder in here...” Rainbow Dash smirked before her hooves went limp, strength gone.
But Resin’s eye opened as wide as it could go and she let Rainbow’s neck go anyways. She hadn’t noticed because she was focused on Rainbow Dash but it had gotten suddenly colder in the flame room. Which was impossible. The flame was supposed to be burning as bright and strongly as it could without interruption. If it had gotten colder…
Resin’s head swung over to the brass furnace.
“AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!”
The piercing shriek made Rainbow Dash wince and cover her ears. It was a horrifying sound, the scream of a mother who saw her child in danger.
“No! Nooo!” Resin screamed as she ran from Rainbow Dash towards the brass furnace. The flame was gone, unlit, the fire had completely shut off with not even the minor candlelight that it used to be on and flickering anymore. “Why?! How?!” Resin banged her hooves on the grill of the brass furnace, despite how insanely hot the metal still must’ve been, and pressed herself up against it. “What happened to the flame?!”
Her choked cries echoed throughout the chamber as Rainbow Dash coughed and sat up, totally forgotten.
“Come back! Please come back!” Resin continued to shout and shout at the empty furnace, a hissing sound coming from her as she burnt her own fur and skin on the metal. Tears streamed down her face from her open eye as she seemed to totally realize what this meant and her shouting turned into mindless, wordless wailing. “Ahh… gaaaah...”
It was like a baby mewling now, Resin slid down to the floor in front of the furnace, her back turned to it as she curled into a ball and cried. “Come back… come back… please come back...”
The tyrant just repeated that endlessly with her unfocused eye staring off into nothingness.
Rainbow Dash stood up and watched her for a moment until it was clear that Resin wouldn’t be doing anything else. She didn’t have a victorious or happy look on her face at all, just a pitying frown and sad eyes for the broken mare. Rainbow Dash sighed and shook her head, turning around to head out of the ceremonial flame room. Maybe she shouldn’t have felt bad for Resin but she did. She might’ve had to apologize to Crush too but this was the best she could do. Hopefully Resin would one day recover.