//------------------------------// // Disquiet // Story: Stolen Fire // by Tzelael //------------------------------// Stolen Fire by Tzelael Chapter 5: Disquiet __________________________________________________________________________ Clearing out the sky had been incredibly taxing for Rainbow Dash today. Ponyville’s skies were littered with thunderheads and gloomy storm clouds. She figured some jerk put them here the night before as some weird prank. It wouldn’t be nearly as annoying if not for the fact that these storm clouds were overcharged to unbelievable extremes. Every pegasus she met that day agreed that attempts to either move or buck the clouds were painful experiences, since each of these clouds let off sparks and shocked any pegasi that so much as touched them. At this time, she did her work above Fluttershy’s house. Because of the electric shocks she wore rubber wrappings around her hooves as she tried to break up the thunderheads. A particularly big one was hovering over the cottage, letting off sparks every time Dash touched it. Before she could start breaking the cloud down, she was interrupted by another voice in the sky. “Oh, wow! That one’s a real doozy! I thought the one over the marketplace was bad... Need any help with that?” Hovering behind her was Cloudchaser, a light-purple pegasus whose mane was a mix of white and sky blue. She smirked lightly at Rainbow Dash. “Looks like this one’s a real pain.” Rainbow Dash pounded into the cloud over and over again, though she met a surprising amount of resistance when trying to break it up. Grunting each time she slammed into it, her reply to Cloudchaser was punctuated by each of her slams into the cloud. “I. Can. Handle. This. By. My. Self!” Dash shot through the cloud, the dark gray mass splitting down the middle. She briefly heaved a sigh of triumph, then saw that she only split the cloud in two. “Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me! What kind of jerk made these things so tough?” Cloudchaser snickered, watching her coworker desperately trying to rip the cloud apart. “Hey, I know what you mean! You know these things don’t even rain? I tried to get the one over the apple orchard to drizzle a bit, and all that happened was I got electrocuted for my trouble. Hay, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was all these things could do.” “That, and annoying the heck out of me.” She smashed through the next cloud immediately in front of her, breaking it into smaller pieces. “I can appreciate a good prank every so often, but what about this is supposed to be funny? Where’s the snappy timing? Who even put in the time to make super-dense, supercharged thunderheads that don’t even rain? Who can even make thunderheads that don’t rain?!” In her rage, she charged through one of the new, smaller clouds, finally dispersing it entirely. “I have no idea, Dash. Last night, the weather patrol said they’d move a few smaller clouds into place to make the day a little cooler. Today, we get huge, rainless things that blot out most of the sky. It’s... Weird.” “Are you going to start telling me that the clouds are moving on their own?” Rainbow Dash waved her hooves indignantly at her fellow patrolmare while speaking in as fake a scary voice as she could manage. “Oooooooh! Better get rid of all the clouds, Cloudchaser, or they’ll start getting bigger and moving by themseeelves!” “Hey, I said it was weird, not unnatural.” Cloudchaser began to fly off to another section of Ponyville before giving a mock salute to her compatriot. “I’ve got to help out Flitter around Town Square. I’ll leave you to your job. You look like you’ve got this.” “You’d better believe it!” While the other pegasus left, Rainbow Dash flapped her wings with greater speed and prepared to smash through the next cloud she broke up. However, she was immediately stopped when she heard the sound of broken glass below her. “That came from Fluttershy’s!” She looked down and saw a pink figure roll down the hill. “Wait, pink? Was that Pinkie Pie? What was she doing here?” It didn’t matter much. Whatever happened, Pinkie Pie was just hurled out a window, and was probably badly hurt. She bolted down for the surface, though while she did, she saw a figure jump out the window after her. The figure was a stallion, one she hadn’t met before whose fur was a sickly, greenish-gray, with a mane and tail consisting of white, lifeless hair. She didn’t know who this was or why he was in Fluttershy’s house, but what she needed to do was clear. “What do you think you’re doing with her?!” Rainbow Dash first flew in front of him, circling around him for just a second to cut off his pursuit of Pinkie. She rapidly turned around after her first pass. She darted, landed in front of the stranger, stood her ground and gritted her teeth. “You’ve got some explaining to do, because no pony, I mean no pony, hurts my friends!” Stitches tried to maneuver around Rainbow Dash, but she blocked his path each time he tried to change direction. “Hey! I asked you a question!” Rainbow closed in on Stitches She nearly pressed her face against his to look directly in his eyes, then stopped halfway. She clearly saw his differently colored eyes and his patchwork body. She looked behind her. Pinkie Pie lay on the ground and tried to move her foreleg toward Rainbow Dash. “D-Dash...” Her breaths were shallow and her voice was raspy. “Don’t worry, Pinkie! I’ll get you out of here as soon as this creep is gone!” “H-He’s-” Pinkie coughed heavily. Rainbow finished Pinkie’s sentence for her. “Really strong, yeah, I noticed. Doesn’t mean he’s gonna stick around to push around my friend!” Leaning down, Rainbow Dash flapped her wings, then charged into Stitches. For such a short distance, she managed to propel herself with a great deal of force. She slammed into the stallion and sent him sliding backward. Rainbow Dash leapt back after she hit Stitches. The stallion somehow kept on his hooves despite the impact. Stitches growled at the pegasus that just knocked him back, then raised his hooves into the air. He slammed them into the ground, a large cloud of dirt engulfing the area and the earth shaking beneath him. Rainbow Dash stumbled, trying to steady her stance. The cloud of dirt cleared and the tremors ended. Stitches charged at Dash, growling at his target. Before Stitches hit her, Rainbow Dash jumped up into the air and rushed to gain altitude. “The longer this fight drags on, the worse Pinkie gets... I need a way to take him down fast, though what can I...” She then spotted one of the thunderheads she was breaking up earlier, grinning to herself. “Dash, you’re a genius!” She soared toward the cloud, her rubber covered hooves in front of her while she flew behind it. She pushed the cloud just above Stitches, then raised her forelegs in the air. She pounded both hooves on the cloud at once and cast a lightning bolt down to strike Stitches. The stallion stood still for a moment, his body sparking in random places. He didn’t seem burnt or even remotely damaged. He turned his head up at Rainbow Dash and bellowed a deafening roar, the air in front of his muzzle rippling like a mirage. His howling also gave Rainbow a glance at his throat. There was an unnerving, light blue glow at the bottom of his gullet, a light that reminded her of one that would be in a forge. Stupefied, Rainbow Dash just stared at the creature, maintaining a relatively safe distance far above him. Stitches, however, appeared to have only gotten stronger from being electrocuted. He ran toward Fluttershy’s house, then bounded from the ground to the windowsill. Upon landing, he turned toward Rainbow Dash and pushed himself off the sill in a jump that crushed the wood under his hooves. He rocketed towards his target. The pegasus mare was finally shaken from her stupor, but it was far too late to move out of his way. Stitches tackled her in mid-air and gripped her shoulders tightly. Dash wrestled him in the air and flapped her wings in an uneven fashion, the two rotating while they fell to the ground. When she managed to point him toward the ground, she punched him with her right hoof repeatedly. It didn’t seem to hurt him at all, but it kept him distracted until... Thoom. The two crashed into the ground and kicked up another cloud of dirt. Rainbow Dash found herself slightly dazed from the impact, her face planted onto the creature’s chest. She tried to pull herself off of Stitches to attend to Pinkie Pie, but not before the stallion rose his hooves to punch her off. Before he could, though, he stopped, seeing someone in the distance. His jaw dropped. Rainbow Dash looked in the same direction, looking at the path that ran between the cottage and the town. Fluttershy and Rarity were on that path, and stared dumbfounded at the wrecked cottage, the torn earth, the injured Pinkie Pie and the two ponies locked in combat. Rainbow Dash, however, wasted no time in using this opportunity to call upon her friends for help. “Guys! You’ve gotta help me! This monster-pony thing threw Pinkie Pie out the window! You’ve got to get her to the hospital while I hold... Him off...” She looked down at the creature, then realized that he wasn’t putting up any resistance to her anymore, just staring wordlessly at Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash leapt off of Stitches, flapping her wings and maintaining a certain distance above the air. “Okay, I get the feeling I’m missing something here...” Fluttershy finally spoke up, a hint of both authority and fear in her words. “Rainbow, Rarity, get Pinkie to the hospital... First chance you get, ask her what happened.” “What about you?” Rainbow Dash protested. “I don’t think you’ll be safe around him!” “Trust me, Rainbow... I...” Fluttershy hesitated for a moment, swallowing before continuing. “... I can handle this.” Rarity and Rainbow Dash simply nodded in reply. The cyan pegasus walked over to Pinkie Pie, hoisted her over her back and trotted down the path back into town while Rarity stood by their side.