//------------------------------//
// Chapter 11: A Flight to Remember 
// Story: You Can't Take The Sky From Me 
// by FailcopterWes 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 11

Rainbow glided from the wall, landing neatly in the streets. Up ahead, the zebras were still gathered around the fire, now listening to an elderly zebra whose grand gestures seemed to tell just as much of his tale as his speech.
“Eh, I couldn’t understand any of it anyway” Rainbow said, turning towards the medical hut. She ducked through the entrance, into the dim light within.
Fluttershy was sat on her bed, staring into a mirror laid on her pillow. Ditzy stood beside her, talking calmly to her. Rainbow glanced into the side room, inside which was the witchdoctor, hurriedly packing a pair of saddlebags.
“What the hay happened while I was out?” Rainbow asked, staring around. Ditzy looked around with a worried look on her face, her eyes slightly askew. “Ditz? What’s wrong?”
“Flutty had a moment” Ditzy said quietly.
“What do you mean?” Rainbow’s eyes flicked to the yellow pegasus, who still gazed into the mirror, shivering slightly in the cold. “Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy did not respond. Rainbow drew closer, peering at the mare’s face as she approached.
“Fluttershy? Can you hear me?” Rainbow waved her hoof in near Fluttershy’s face, to no avail. “What happened to her?” she asked Ditzy.
“She just started shouting, and being really weird and then she...went all like this” Ditzy said, no louder than before.
“What...?” Rainbow mouthed, unable to picture Fluttershy raising her voice, let alone shout. She turned to the side room “Hey witchdoctor, what’s wrong with her?”
The witchdoctor picked the saddlebags up in his teeth and strode over, throwing it hastily over Raiinbow’s back.
“Hey, what’s the big deal?” she said, flaring out her wings to fend off the zebra.
“You and your friends must leave our care, particularly concerning miss Fluttershy there” the witchdoctor said with a barely restrained venom in his voice. Rainbow glanced between him and Ditzy.
“Fluttershy, care to explain?” Rainbow said.
“We need to leave as soon as we can” Fluttershy replied firmly, her gaze still locked in the mirror. “If we wait too long...bad things will happen”
“Bad things? What bad things?” Rainbow heard the slight trill in her voice, giving away her fear as she sensed an echo of Cortich’s words moments before. A voice in Rainbow’s head told her this was not just a coincidence of four ponies getting the same idea simultaneously, two of whom seemed to be all too welcome to let the travellers stay as long as they needed. ‘We do need to get back to Ponyville though’ she reasoned ‘But this is a bit sudden’. She spoke aloud to the witchdoctor, “What happened to letting her stay until she’s fit to move?”
“Changes in schedule had to be made, with luck in your favour her health will not fade” the witchdoctor growled.
“We don’t even know if she can walk!” Rainbow protested.
“Need to leave...” Fluttershy repeated. Rainbow rolled her eyes and stormed over, yanking the mirror out from her hooves.
“Hey!” she growled “Snap out of it!”
The breath caught in Fluttershy’s throat. Wordlessly, she slowly turned her head to face Rainbow Dash. Her eyes were watering, her lip quivering, staring with an uncomprehending gaze at Rainbow. The wet orbs gazed out, the pupils tiny and the eyelids pulled back.
“Fluttershy...what’s wrong?”
“I...” Fluttershy managed. Her eyes began to flick away, desperately searching around the room for something. “I... I ...I...”
A slight shove and pressure increase told Rainbow that something else had been hastily placed into the saddlebags across her back. She glanced back to see the witchdoctor closing one of the flaps, out of which stuck a grimy piece of parchment, rolled into a tube. Rainbow was about to protest when she heard something that made her freeze in place.
Wolf howls. Lots of them. But that was not what drove the nail of fear into Rainbow’s brain. What terrified her was how close they were, sounding almost at the entrance of the hut, she could imagine them sniffing around, catching a scent. She gazed at the witchdoctor, who was listening intently.
Another chorus of howls, coming from the other direction, as if answering the first. Everypony in the room turned to the new source of the noise.
A third series of howls, somewhere between the two, sounded across the night.
They were surrounded.
“Oh no...” Fluttershy squeaked, curling up. “We’re too late”
“Wha...what’s going on?” Rainbow asked, glancing between the others in the room. Ditzy shook Fluttershy lightly, the witchdoctor made his way silently to the door. “Guys”
“Quiet child.” the witchdoctor hissed “Be ready to run” He leaned out of the hut for a moment, glancing around. The zebras around the fire had ceased the ceremony. Some of them stared to the sky, some talked amongst themselves, the younger ones looked confused, the elder ones knew the sound, and held the young close. The witchdoctor drew his head back into the tent “A wolf pack this close is no cause for fun”
“But how are we going get out? There’s only one gate” Ditzy pointed out.
“Ditz, you’re a pegasus, fly” Rainbow chided.
“What about Flutty?” Ditzy said. Rainbow clicked her tongue against her teeth, scolding herself for forgetting the obvious disability.
“Um...” Rainbow started, but there was nothing in her mind to finish the sentence. No ideas came forth. Trying to get out on hoof was suicide, and flight was out of the question. But something floated out of Rainbow’s mind to her mouth. “How do we even know they’re going to hurt us. They could just be wandering around. We’re just getting worked up over nothing”
“I am afraid to say that is not the case” the witchdoctor said gravely “Howls signal death and us gone without a trace”
“Has this happened before?” Rainbow asked. The witchdoctor nodded. “And each time you hear the howls they attack?”
“Every time the howls are heard, death comes to the zebra herd” the witchdoctor warned.
“He’s right” Fluttershy said, still curled into a ball “The...the wolves want b...b...blood...i...i...its not clear.” She clutched her head, before suddenly shouting “What are you trying to say!”
Outside, shouts of Rangers and villagers went back and forth, the hoofbeats of zebras charging past echoed amongst the renewed howling. Rainbow moved beside Ditzy and tugged Fluttershy’s foreleg away from her head, pulled her head up, and stared into her eyes.
“How do you know that?” Rainbow said forcefully “What’s wrong with you?”
For a moment Fluttershy was silent.
“I see things...” she whispered. “I hear them. So loud. So bright.”
Another silence between the two, backed by the rising chorus of panic outside. The witchdoctor ducked outside again, assuring a concerned Ranger that the hut would be sealed.
“What? That’s ridiculous” Rainbow insisted. “Are you saying you get visions?”
“I believe her” Ditzy said quietly.
“N...not visions” Fluttershy whispered “Like s...somepony’s talking to m...me and showing me p...pictures. But... not with my ears or my eyes... and in a language I don’t speak”
“Well that’s useful” Rainbow growled, rolling her eyes. “Then what makes you so sure about all this? Is it the voices telling you to leave?”
“It...makes sense” Fluttershy said, cowering from Rainbow. “I don’t know why I just...I understand it”
“Fine, fine” Rainbow growled, turning away “We can work this out once we’re away. First we’ve got to get out.” She began to pace back and forth. Outside, the shouting and howling was mixed in with barely audible impacts. Suddenly, Rainbow tossed the saddlebags off her back, hurriedly passing them to Ditzy. “You can fly, right? Carry them”
“Miss Doo should not take to the air” the witchdoctor cut in “Please think through your plan with care”
“Look, either she takes that and tries to fly, or she walks and gets eaten. And since you’re so sure that those things are going to get into the village and kill us, and I find myself believing you more and more every time I listen to the noises out there, then it seems like the best choice.” Rainbow snarled. “So either help us out, or shut it”
The witchdoctor bowed his head grudgingly.
“Right, Ditz, you put that on, then help get Fluttershy onto my back” Rainbow ordered. Ditzy threw the bags over her back and moved to help. The witchdoctor, seeing Ditzy tug upon Fluttershy’s hooves, dived in to support the yellow mare’s body as she rose and stumbled onto Rainbow’s back. “You alright back there?” Rainbow called.
“Um... yes, just ... um,” Fluttershy mumbled into Rainbow’s ear “be careful with me please.”
Rainbow did not respond, instead she lowered her head and crouched a little, before moving to exit the hut. Ditzy copied her, keeping low to the ground, before gasping, spinning around and diving under Rainbow’s bed. She emerged a moment later with the food bag, now fitted with a better strap, hung about her neck, and hurried out after her friends.

Cortich shouted orders to the Rangers who ran past her position on the wall. She could see the wolves below, snaking through the trees with a grace of birds. Their outlines were grey shadows on a black background, lit only by the glow in their eyes and the glimmers of light reaching them from the beacons lit along the wall’s edge. One paused its co-ordinated calling and scanned over the wall near Cortich.
For a moment, the two locked eyes. Beast and Zebra stared into the soul of one another for a brief moment, and in each eye both contestants saw the drive to act, and the willingness to kill the one who dared come closer.
And although her face remained a cold mask of contempt to the creatures, Cortich could not help but doubt her survival.

Dash flared her wings, giving them an experimental flap as she waited for Ditzy to come out of the hut. Zebras ran between shelters, indecisive of which would give them the best chance of survival from the oncoming pack. Up on the wall, Rainbow could hear the shouting of orders being given, including one which sounded like an order to throw, which was immediately followed by a few squeals of pain and a deafening roar.
“We’re done for down here.” Rainbow said quietly, unable to resist watching a few of the terrified zebra galloping past.
“Relax, the Rangers are holding the wall” the witchdoctor advised, moving close and indicating for them to move along “Panic more if the gate starts to fall”
“Yeah, right, of course” Rainbow said, breathing heavily. “Ditzy, you ready?”
“I hope so” Ditzy offered.
“That’ll do” Rainbow said firmly “You going to be okay doc?”
“I have survived this pack before, and should well do so one time more” the witchdoctor smiled. Rainbow gave him a firm nod, and took off.
Fluttershy immediately began to slip down Rainbow’s back as they ascended. Dash reached backwards and grabbed Fluttershy’s hooves, holding them tightly around her neck. They slowly gained height, ignoring the shouts below, none of which were concerned with the rising ponies.
Ditzy saw the other two pegasi rise into the air and kicked off. Her wing twinged uncomfortably as she rose slowly, testing her weight on the barely mended wing. Contented, she rose up after Rainbow and Fluttershy. But she moved much slower. Rainbow charged ahead, rising and heading directly for the eastern wall.
“Oh my” Fluttershy muttered, gazing at the scene below. The Rangers line up where the wolf resistance was thickest, spears in hoof. Whenever one would attempt to scale the wall, the Rangers struck down, forcing the beast back to the ground. Rainbow slowed, taking a moment to watch the graceful lunge and snarling climb of each wolf as it leapt in a futile effort to reach the Rangers.
“They’ve got this one all under control” Rainbow noted “Maybe we don’t need to go.”
Fluttershy did not respond with words, instead she pointed to a tree a few metres from where the wolves were gathered around the base of the wall.
Pinpricks of light shone in the trees.
“Oh, that’s not good” Rainbow said. She glanced along the treeline, seeing pinpricks of light amongst the canopy dotted as far as she could see along the wall.
“Rainbow, help them” Fluttershy told her “Please, if you could, do something”
Rainbow flicked her gaze between the mare on her back and the Rangers below. Conflicting voices told her to assist the zebras and to get Fluttershy to a safe place.
“Just warn them, please” Fluttershy insisted quietly. With a nod, Rainbow banked in the air, sweeping down to pass the Rangers. Ditzy yelled out behind them, but Rainbow could not hear her.
“Look in the treetops!” she yelled as she flew close over head “They’re in the trees!”
The Rangers along the walls suddenly tore their eyes from the pack below, and saw the lights in the leaves in front of them. Some shouted angrily, some backed away, at least one screamed.
Cortich threw her spear. It shot into one of the lights and cut it out with a yelp of pain.
“Gather my Brethren, and aim your spears high!” she called, rallying the surprised Rangers “Aim for the glow that marks out their eye!” All around her, the Rangers began launching spears into the trees, eliciting a series of cries and growls from the targets.
Rainbow arced back up into the air, rejoining Ditzy.
“They’re going to run out of spears soon” Ditzy pointed out as Rainbow came close “Then there’ll be nothing to poke the thingies with”
“Wha...?” Rainbow stopped in the air, turning to the Rangers below. A quick look confirmed Ditzy’s point.
Before she could fly back and warn them, the wolves began pouncing. Out of the trees they leapt, landing on Ranger and wood alike with cut of yells and heavy thuds. The Rangers turned to the enemy in their midst, reaching for another spear to throw, but found nothing to hoof. Several looked on in horror as the wolves mauled their comrades.
The braver ones charged. They beat upon the thick hides of the creatures, bucking violently and biting whenever an opportunity presented itself. But each was no match for the wild monstrosities, who batted them aside easily and continued their feast, tearing chucks from their prey and roaring in triumph.
“Retreat for now, and hold at the stair!” Cortich ordered “The drop is a risk and they won’t leap to air”. Under her guidance, the Rangers backed slowly away from the ravenous beasts, letting each step go with a kick or a bite. All along the wall the wolves pressed their advantage, spilling into the Ranger’s ranks and tearing at their flesh.
Rainbow could only stare in horror. The wolves spread like a tide, beating at the Rangers and tearing them down and tearing them apart.
“Well, no going back now” Ditzy mused, watching the first of the wolves spilling into the village.
“We...we’ve got to do something” Fluttershy squeaked, hiding her eyes from the sight.
Rainbow just stared. Her mouth worked, contorting in a feeble attempt to form words. Below her, she saw one of the beasts approach the medical hut, hesitantly sniffing at the air thick with the multitude of smells the pegasi had grown used to in their stay in the village, only to stumble back as a flask shattered over its head. Glass embedded in its bestial face, the wolf dived in, smashing apart the beds barricading the entrance and bringing a fresh scream to the haunting symphony of screams and squeals that rose in the night.
She tore her eyes away from the scene and found her gaze on the still burning fire in the middle of the village, in front of which huddled a few mares, holding their fillies close and glaring defiantly at the ever tightening ring of teeth and fur that surrounded them. But no mere gaze could force them back. The creatures pounced, tearing at flesh and crushing bones. One of the wolves grabbed a filly in its jaws, biting hard and drawing a spray of crimson blood, coloured a burnt orange by the fire, alongside its terrified scream for its mother. The wolf swung its head from side to side, digging its teeth in harder, and then released its prey at the height of its swing. The filly was launched through the air, screaming at the dismembered corpses that lay around it as it sailed towards the flames.
Rainbow shut her eyes, covering them with her hooves. Her chest heaved. Tears began to build in her eyes.
“Stop it.” she cried through the sobs “Stop it... just...stop”
“We should go” Ditzy suggested, a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder, and her eyes pointing everywhere except the sea of shining lights on the ground below. “Now”
Rainbow did not resist as Ditzy led her through the sky, guiding her slowly above the sprawling forest until she saw a suitable clearing. Upon landing, Fluttershy slipped off of Rainbow’s back, supported by Ditzy. Ditzy held Fluttershy close, trying to think of something to say. But no words came. There were no words to say. Nothing would ever remove the images they just witnessed from their minds. And so Fluttershy and Ditzy just held onto what they had, each other, in silence.
As they stood high, Rainbow Dash sank to the ground and wept.