//------------------------------// // Demons 2: Deathdemic // Story: A Witch in Broad Daylight // by Epsilon-Delta //------------------------------// “Okay, cool. We’re all pacifists now,” said Sonata. “Teleport us up there, break the chains, grab the Dash, and run for it.” “No,” ZoD said bluntly. “What are you a chain pacifist too?” Sonata asked. “You can’t fight chains? Is that it?” “They would immediately attack me if I did that,” ZoD explained. “And the two of you need to get Rainbow Dash without either seeing you if you’re to escape.” “Can you at least get us up there?” Fluttershy asked. “If you become huge again, you’ll be a distraction to draw attention from us. We’ll jump onto the ship and figure out the rest ourselves.” “Still not enough,” ZoD warned. “They will not be so easily fooled. They must be fully occupied. To that end, we must call upon more of their enemies.” More ponies attacking Starlight sounded like a good idea in general. But looking up at the sky, Fluttershy could hardly tell whose side any of them were on. “Them.” ZoD turned his muzzle to the west. Firing upon Starlight’s ships was a second fleet. It was the same Equestrian flag with the same phoenix in red and gold. But civil war and all, it could have been under the control of Nailbat’s supporters for all Fluttershy knew. “You will hide behind my ear. When I become large again, you will be able to reach that ship. Bring them to the nexus summoning Lux Lucius without Fluttershy being spotted by the ponies there and without killing.” So it seemed ZoD wouldn’t be spoon-feeding them everything. But it was already enough to be thankful for. The ponies nodded to each other and grabbed one of ZoD’s ears. His gigantification wasn’t too dissimilar to riding the world’s fastest elevator. The ground rapidly ran away from Fluttershy as she plunged into the air, clinging to the ear for dear life. That struggle lasted seconds as soon his head was large enough to be a ship in itself, then something much larger. They soon reached the same height as their target. Each of the ghosts sat pressed against the back of his ears as the airships took evasive action before being crushed against his form. And in doing so one of them exposed its belly. Even knowing that ‘missing’ wouldn’t be fatal by any means, the prospect of leaping down to the hull of the ship sent a shiver of intimidation through Fluttershy. She wasn’t used to gravity anymore. Sonata came rolling down to her side. ZoD had reached his full height and the ship wasn’t far. This was it. The ponies shared a nod and jumped off ZoD, Fluttershy closing her eyes for a moment and allowing the wind to helplessly pelt her armor. Opening them again, it became clear they were going to make it. It was a credit to its construction Fluttershy didn’t break straight through with how hard she smashed into the wall. She slid off the slippery surface, rolling across the belly of the ship, and realized she hadn’t stuck the landing just yet. Sonata’s claws unhinged and dug into the hull, sliding to a stop. Fluttershy supposed she could have punched straight through with her doll’s strength but maybe it was best to make a less dramatic entrance. Instead, she grabbed onto Sonata’s rear legs before sliding off completely. Sonata dug both foreclaws in hard as the airship turned and corrected course, Fluttershy dangling off her hind legs now with nothing but open air below her. The god of destruction took a lurching step forward. The ship fired on him, but he simply ignored it, focusing only on the clash of lights in Starlight’s direction. Fluttershy saw where he was going with all this. ZoD was trying to make popping back up near these other airships seem incidental, that he had no concern for them whatsoever. Neither Starlight nor that demon would suspect they were here. As ZoD’s magic once again washed over the Phoenix King, Fluttershy looked upwards to her mission. Sonata unhooked one forehoof and moved it a bit further up, slowly scaling up the side. The question now was whose airship was this? And how friendly were they to ghosts? Flash Bang landed on the bow of the ship as it stabilized once more. She raised a wing to the ships to stop firing. There was no point. That’d been a close one but thankfully the colossal avatar of destruction seemed wholly disinterested in anything but the summoning ritual. Spitfire would not want to fight something like that. Though like it she would have to fight. It was at best one of three threats that size just here. And yet they’d just been sitting here for nearly an hour. Chief among the other pegasi here was Lightning Dust, pacing back and forth in a huff, just as disgruntled by their inaction only for a different reason. Seeing so much fighting and not being able to join must have been torture to her. After Lightning Dust all but started a fight with Nailbat’s group back there, Spitfire wouldn’t have brought this pony along at all. But then there were a lot of things Spitfire wouldn’t do today. The whole attack on their end was a feint. They had an actual plan to kill Starlight, but they wanted her to think all they could come up with was hitting her with everything they had at an opportune moment. Spitfire doubted this demon guy had any real chance against Starlight. And she knew attacking Starlight would end in retreat. Yet even coming here knowing it was a fight they intended to lose, Spitfire couldn’t help but feel uneasy as they sat back. From this high up, Starlight could see the shadow of the violet moon spreading. Wherever it was cast, the ground cracked, and monstrosities spewed forth. It would begin to consume small towns in just a few minutes and would reach a major city in under an hour at the rate things were going. And it seemed little of Equestria had been spared already. This moon was visible across the whole continent and small distortions were growing in every corner of the nation. That was just the reports coming in too. “Why aren’t we doing anything?” Spitfire asked. “This… thing is spreading too fast. If we don’t do something soon it will consume Trottingham.” “We need to be careful with how we go about it,” said Flashbang. “What do you mean? We were already planning on Starlight to win this round so just let her have it before things get worse.” “Trust me or it will get worse.” “Dammit! Can we rely on you or do we need to find somepony else to take charge of this?” “Oh?” Flash Bang stepped forward, lowering her head to look Spitfire in the eyes. “And who are you going to turn to? Twilight? Rainbow Dash? They’re both dead.” Spitfire frowned. Her agonizing choice of allegiance had been taken away in the worst manner possible. Going over there without Flash Bang would be suicide. So this pony did call the shots. Taking the silence as acquiescence, Flash Bang lifted her head again. “If you want something to do, go assess the hull,” said Flash Bang. “I saw something hit it.” Spitfire took to the air while Flash Bang looked stoically up at the growing sphere in the sky. What she was planning Spitfire couldn’t be sure. But she was on the right side. Hopefully. She grumbled at being reduced to such a lowly task beneath even a lieutenant but didn’t bother complaining. She really was desperate for something to do. Spitfire flew around one side, then circled towards the other. The wind was so cold and vicious tonight on top of everything else. Something made her stop on the starboard end. Somepony was hanging off the ship. Didn’t look like they had wings so this fight would be easy enough if that’s what it was. She flew forward at speed casually enough but when she got a good look at it. Spitfire spun over herself. Her breath stopped short and her vision blurred. It was that thing again! Nightmare Moon’s armor! Spitfire breathed heavily as it turned its gaze to her. Her body locked up, just barely staying in flight as she desperately tried to do anything. Spitfire? That was far from the best or worst possibility. Fluttershy watched the horrified pegasus freeze up long enough to start falling. She was about to try a desperate rescue before remembering pegasi could fly. Yet Spitfire only half recovered. “Y… you!” Her voice trembled. “Me?” Fluttershy couldn’t imagine why Spitfire would be so afraid of her. Unless. “Oh, no! It’s not me. I mean. It’s me, but… I’m Fluttershy. I’m Rainbow Dash’s ghost friend. I only stole this armor.” Spitfire still struggled to respond, pointing at Fluttershy and making a few unintelligible noises before managing a sentence. “Are you attacking us?” Spitfire asked. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Flash Bang is our only hope now that… I’m sorry I don’t have time to give it to you gently, but all the rest of your friends are dead.” “I’m not so sure of that,” said Fluttershy. “In fact, no! I know they aren’t. Rainbow Dash is on the Phoenix King. I need to find her.” “Well you’re on the wrong ship,” said Spitfire. “You still haven’t answered me. Why are you here?” “I guess.” Fluttershy decided she might as well just fess up at this point. “I was wondering if there was any way for your team to join the fight over there?” “Oh, I wish,” Spitfire muttered. Fluttershy tilted her head, confused. “This demon ritual isn’t just bad if it ends,” said Spitfire. “It’s ripping the world apart! Just look at that!” She pointed down. A new symptom had manifested as those cracks in the ground, now large, gave way to an intense violet light. That couldn’t be good. “I’ve been looking around,” said Spitfire, “and getting calls from all over. By my reckoning, if we don’t do something soon it’s going to look like that for hundreds of miles in every direction unless we do something right now! But Flash Bang is ordering us all to just wait around. We never planned on beating Starlight here. Something needs to be done about this Lux Lucius thing immediately.” “Why does Flash Bang want to wait?” Fluttershy asked. The best she could figure it was just hope that Starlight would get injured if the fighting continued. But such a big risk for that? “That’s the thing! I have no idea and she’s not telling me! I’d mutiny and charge over there myself but without Flash Bang, I’m not sure how much of a difference we could make.” “Maybe… I could help force Flash Bang to join the fight?” Fluttershy suggested. “So like what’s the real reason we’re just sitting here?” Lightning Dust came up to Flash Bang’s side right after Spitfire left. No response. Lightning Dust hated being blown off like that. “Come on, I get why you wouldn’t tell a lame pony like Spitfire, but you know I’m better than all that, right?” Dust tried getting closer, smiles and all. “It’s too dangerous to approach right now,” said Flash dryly enough. That is, dryly enough to piss Dust off some more. You’d think after all the fights Dust won; she’d be entitled to some respect around here but no! Then Flash Bang flew off to one of the other ships. Maybe the one Fleetfoot was on. Dust lost track of them. Nothing she could freaking do about it right now, though. Instead, she combed her hair and went back to the rest of the soldiers. Spitfire had been gone too long. Hopefully, that was a bad sign. A veritable glacier of ice engulfed the very rear of the ship, causing it to tilt backward. “Nice!” Lightning Dust could already feel it before the news came. More of those spooks around. Sure enough, Spitfire came flying back just then. “Crater Cemetery sent a contingent of ghosts after us!” Spitfire announced. “They’re going to pincer us against Starlight’s location!” The regulars scrambled into position as Dust trotted up the increasing slope toward the front, knowing that was where the nearest ghost would be. And sure enough, the enemy landed right in front of her, possessing a suite of armor. That was some of their armor, currently possessed. The ghost came out as soon as she was on deck, letting the armor go limp. Dust recognized that one, the banshee Sonata! That idiot just barely escaped her last time but wouldn’t get away now. The banshee must have lost her body and decided to use some armor it stole from them instead. Sonata wasted no time before letting out her wail. Everypony on board was hit by a death curse. There was no choice but to hunt the banshee down now. Dust pounced forward. Sonata possessed the armor again then went flying off. Her reflexes and speed were incredible! On par with some of the fastest pegasi she’d seen. Seeing her vanish in the distance so quickly… only Fleetfoot and Flash Bang could have gone faster. “Ha! She’s fast!” Lightning Dust charged forward, barely able to contain herself at getting to fight somepony so fast. She’d underestimated that pony. Spitfire watched Flash Bang return and over the ship, now frozen over completely. Everypony had been evacuated first and hovered a safe distance away after an ice blast in their direction. Fluttershy was inside. She’d ramped up the engines. It was already pointed in the right direction so that was all she had to do to send it on a collision course with the Phoenix King. An actual hit would take some steering near the end, however. Still, Fluttershy would get her wish of crashing into the Phoenix King and sneaking onboard. There was no conceivable reason for Flash to stop an already compromised ship from getting some use beyond the grave by slamming into the enemy. And once everything moved towards Starlight, surely then she’d have to act or take unacceptable losses. For a moment, Flash Bang remained still. Then she spread her wings. Then her wings began to glow. This, Spitfire recognized, meant she was about to unleash an attack that would destroy the airship. But why?! Before anything could be said, a barrage of red projectiles flew at the maverick ship, exploding upon nearing the target. Fluttershy rushed to the helm, hoping that putting a death curse on so many ponies and ramming one airship into another wouldn’t be going far enough to violate ZoD’s ‘pacifism’ rule. They didn’t mean to hurt anypony at least and would do what they could to minimize damage… but this really seemed the only way. She found the helm but before she could do anything, noticed an incoming attack from behind. A hail of red bullets rushed toward her. Fluttershy scrambled to create a wall of ice to stop the barrage from hitting the ship! Vicious explosions ripped through the air. She’d briefly hoped, watching them from a window from the back, that those small projectiles would maybe make at least a reasonable-sized burst. But each one shook the entire ship even through Fluttershy’s barrier of ice. And they just kept coming! There were so many of these things that it quickly became apparent Fluttershy wouldn’t be salvaging the airship. She looked down across the way to the steering mechanism, a sort of lever on the opposite side of the room. How did airship turning work again? Spitfire’s ten-second instruction was to ‘pull the thing in the opposite direction you want to go’ but Fluttershy didn’t know if the mechanism was in the back or what. This left her with a dilemma. Protect the ship and let it veer off course or let the back half explode and hope she could turn with what was left. Even farther down, she could see the site of the battle between ZoD, Starlight and the demon summoner. She was getting closer but would need to turn hard right to get there. Hopefully, Starlight was already distracted enough to not notice this thing barreling towards her. Starlight glanced to her side. It looked like more company would be showing up soon. Two ponies and one airship were approaching. But… A jagged stream of violet nearly impaled her. A well of green light sprang up and nearly pulled her down into the abyss. The demon guy she got, but why was the zebra god of destruction attacking her as well? He did seem mostly focused on keeping the sacrifice from being sucked down completely, though. Demon Summoner stood above the Phoenix King on a circle of runes suspended in the air. In a wider circle appeared seven more alters. “If you want to stop me,” said Demon Summoner, “you will have to defeat the seven demons representing the seven greatest forces of evil in the world. Mosquitoes! Entropy! Over-inflated real estate markets!" As he listed them off one by one, they rose from their summoning circles. Starlight rolled her eyes. What twelve-year-old came up with this list? Demon Summoner turned to attack ZoD but that hardly took much heat off of Starlight. She wanted to end this at the exact right time and having to go through these enemies one at a time would push things to the edge. She’d let that kamikaze rush go through if they could make it. Even approaching the ship was difficult! Dust was hardly surprised she could get through the gauntlet unscathed but was Sonata really this smooth? Dust landed near the very bottom of the Phoenix King, using her wings to hang off its metal hull. She didn’t dare go up any further. That fighting just a few dozen feet above them had gotten so intense it's surprised Dust the ship hadn’t exploded yet. Starlight and at least two other entities repeatedly clashed in the air while that giant loomed over them both. Normally this high up, sitting near the edge of a ship going this fast, the sound of the wind and engine would drown everything out. The fight above had grown intense enough that Dust couldn’t even hear either! Sonata had stopped just about here. “Cursing us and hiding behind Starlight, huh?!” Dusk cracked her neck. She had to shout it over all this noise. “You’re not getting away this time, you spook!” Sonata backed up but didn’t respond. That loudmouth idiot? Something was up here. For a moment, Dust toyed with the thought perhaps this wasn’t Sonata. Yet she could just barely feel the aura of a ghost and hadn’t lost sight of this armor since its possession. Either way, whoever this was had just signed up for a world of hurt. Dust cowled her body in electricity, ready to make her move. “Okay! Leaving now!” Sonata’s voice was just barely audible over all that noise. Maybe Dust just hadn’t heard her initial response. Sonata exited the armor, leaving it to plummet to the ground, before flying straight through the hull of the ship. “Oh, come on!” Dust flew up to the spot the banshee just escaped to and proceeded to slam her hoof into it repeatedly. This thing was tough though! Though she could dent it, it’d take a while to bust a hole. And going in through the deck would be suicide right now. Something from that direction let out an insectoid screech. Then something else slammed into the metal plating. One of the cannons had been blasted loose by something and sent rolling perfectly right across the metal at Dust. She dodged it, of course, but that dislodged a piece of metal debris that managed to nick her. Not much. But it was still weird everything fell in such a perfect… That was right! The death curse! Dust looked up at the growing buzzing noises. A cloud of insects formed and a huge portion of them flew down to her. It quickly became apparent what they were… mosquitos. And not just normal mosquitos. These things were the size of cats with suckers more akin to daggers, their wings made of that violet light. Her bleeding led to the mosquitos coming at her… that meant it didn’t count as a ‘hit’ but another link in the chain. But getting bit by one of them looked like it’d be death. Something brimming with that much magic would be worse than just a few dagger stabs. Dust led the swarm underneath the ship and around to the other side. There she found only more mosquitos! The practically poured out at her from above, behind and in front. She’d practically been consumed by them already. Summoning all her strength, Dust let out a surge of electricity in every direction, engulfing them all in a sphere of lightning. It worked, leaving the fried remains of those fortunate enough to have that much to fall to the ground. But there were so many more of them up there! They were just pouring out of something like a fountain. At least Dust felt safe for a second. But how would her destroying those mosquitos lead to another hit in the chain? She looked around for potential danger. The ground was… gone for a better word. She’d seen it opening up to this violet light but now it seemed the whole earth below them had opened entirely to become an amorphous glow. And deep down was the looming shadow of something. Something that made even that humongous black zebra look microscopic. Something slowly coming towards them. “Whoa! Somepony better hurry up.” Then there was the giant, getting slammed repeatedly by the demon guy but bearing each blow. His hooves were on either side of that pit. It looked like he was trying to hold the thing shut. She turned back to Flash Bang’s general direction. That’s when she saw what had to be the next link in the chain… one she’d have to take a hit for or risk a guaranteed lethal blow. Spitfire tried grabbing Flashbang and diverting her attack. “What are you doing?!” Spitfire demanded. “They’re attacking the nexus. The thing we should be doing. So why would you get in their way?” “They could just as easily be trying to get in Starlight’s way,” said Flash Bang. “And their priority seems to be an attack on us besides.” “Their plan,” chimed in another pegasus. “Must have been to curse us then hide behind Starlight.” Okay! So the plan wasn’t watertight. It was the best she and Fluttershy could come up with in two and a half seconds. True she hadn’t thought this through all the way. “Okay, but the banshee has moved onto the Phoenix King,” Spitfire attempted to salvage this. “We have to find her or we’re all going to die.” With no ship and high up in the air, a death curse had much less to work with and was less deadly. Still, stray pieces of shrapnel and lightning strikes that seemed to come out of nowhere kept the ponies on their toes. Sonata promised to undo the curse after just fifteen minutes, long before it would have a chance to actually kill anypony. “We could also fall back,” the lieutenant suggested. “A banshee’s curse stops working after a certain distance.” Flash Bang considered that carefully. She was reluctant to join the fight for whatever reason but couldn’t risk looking weak or cowardly. Spitfire seized on that. “Lightning Dust and Fleetfoot have already moved in!” Spitfire spoke loudly enough so that the other pegasi could hear her, all but speaking to them rather than Flash Bang. Fleetfoot’s ship had edged closer to the fight. Fleetfoot had already pretended to have chased another ghost off into the fray. “And we can’t back away from this fight! Look at the way things are going. We need to end this immediately.” The situation was only growing worse. The black form of Lux Lucius grew ever larger. Already it appeared like the shadow of a mountain was below them, but it just kept getting bigger. There was no way to know how close it was to emerging, but Spitfire had a feeling it wasn’t anywhere near them yet. Meanwhile, that second moon had also grown considerably. Lightning shot from its edges across the sky. Spitfire had no way of knowing how far this was spreading yet it had to be visible across half the world already. There were two types of ponies here. The ones who would prioritize the chain of command and the ones who couldn’t back down from a fight. At least some number of them would follow Spitfire. “I’m not backing down from this fight!” Spitfire rallied the other ponies. “Equestria is in grave danger! We can’t run away from this like cowardly fillies. We can’t ignore the attack from those ghosts! We can’t leave our comrades unsupported!” Cheers of support went through most of the pegasi, but some remained more passive. Flash Bang frowned as Spitfire turned back to her. This would force her hand for sure. “So are you going to run away?” Spitfire asked. “I never even suggested running away.” Flash Bang took out her spear. “I wanted to wait for a more opportune moment, but you’re right that one won’t present itself now. We must move in immediately.” Fluttershy awkwardly balanced herself, pulling the lever up and looking out the front window. She didn’t have to look through the back window anymore if only because there was none. That entire part of the airship was gone now. Amazingly, she could still steer this thing’s current momentum. Tilting left, then right, she clumsily swung it too far in either direction in turn, the frequent blasts jerking her course constantly. The explosions hadn’t ceased yet and she wasn’t sure if she could hold up the ice wall for half as long as she needed to get there. The only good news was the attacks were mostly hitting the back which seemed to speed things up. Her backup plan was to jump ship if Starlight or the demons launched an attack on her. She was going so fast that inertia alone might carry her. A suit of invincible armor should be enough to puncture the Phoenix King’s hull! Maybe. One last shot shattered the wall of ice Fluttershy replaced the back of the ship with and sent her hurtling forward even faster. Fluttershy fell forward from the sudden jerk, certain she’d have to enact her last resort now! But the noise died down. She could only spare a glance in that direction before grabbing the lever and turning the ship one more time. Yet just as the last threat dissipated a new one emerged. The Pheonix King became submerged in a black cloud– no a swarm of insects! It grew so rapidly that she wouldn’t be able to see her way through. There was no time for planning anymore. The buzzing grew louder as she approached the wall of bugs at unreal speeds. It hadn’t felt like she was going half as fast as she was until she had something to compare her position to. What was she supposed to do?! A burst of lightning cleared out most of the insects on this side! Fluttershy didn’t question it, she just turned hard right one last time. Something cracked and the left side of the ship broke to pieces. The Phoenix King was quickly becoming a full-sized ship. Fluttershy only briefly noticed another pony in the way but it was already too late for that. The ship was too broken to turn anymore. She just had to hope– It was like the rest of the world stopped at the moment of impact. Everything but Fluttershy who absorbed all that speed. Fluttershy flew forward, smashing through the front windows of the wrecked ship, puncturing the Phoenix King, and smashing through several more walls. She was convinced at this point she’d go straight in one end and out the other. She almost did, slamming into what she thought was the opposite side. But all the things she shattered on the way here had slowed her down just enough to merely dent the sheet of metal she collided with. Fluttershy stood up and regained her bearings, surprised already nopony was inside to resist her. She got her answer immediately. Those mosquitoes had overrun the ship. Starlight’s ponies needed to hole up in the engine room, just one or two of them at the front trying to keep the swarm from getting inside. Or maybe they had taken shelter before the fight even began. Fluttershy ran by, looking for Sonata or perhaps Rainbow Dash. So much noise filled the metal halls. She couldn’t tell what was from the bugs, from the engine or the fight upstairs. The entire ground vibrated the whole time. She imagined she could run around shouting for Sonata and still be in stealth mode. She could feel Sonata’s aura despite it being blurred and distorted by the magic above. It was Sonata who came to her first, rising from the ground. “This way!” Sonata beckoned her forward. “Starlight’s doing this thing where she has to fight the seven demon generals. I think now’s a good time.” Fluttershy began to follow but faltered. A skeleton lay in the narrow passage she led Fluttershy to. “Yeah! These mosquitoes will skeleton you in a second if they bite you,” said Sonata. “Well not ‘you’ you since you’re a ghost but–” “Is Rainbow Dash–?” “I saw her!” Sonata nodded. “She wasn’t a skeleton fifteen seconds ago.” She’d just have to work with that. “Good news is her guard is distracted by doomsday mosquitoes.” Sonata pointed at the pony in question, wearing the robes of Starlight’s cult, swinging a flaming sword to keep the mosquitoes away. Part of Fluttershy wanted to go easy on them as they were the only one keeping Rainbow Dash alive. “Well as long as the swarm–” Before Fluttershy could formulate her game plan, the mosquitoes all suddenly withered to dust and died. The ghosts stood for a moment, taking in the fact their main distraction was gone. “I guess Starlight beat the mosquito demon.” Sonata shrugged. “I think the next one was like… a critique of capitalism or something?” The pony guarding Rainbow Dash, a white unicorn, stepped into the passageway and turned toward the ghosts. “I thought I felt the presence of a ghost!” He turned his sword to them. But he seemed to only notice Sonata so far! As long as they didn’t notice Fluttershy they wouldn’t know what they were here for. Would think it was Crater Cemetery attacking. They turned to retreat only to meet another pony behind them. “You!” Lightning Dust pointed at Sonata Dusk. Dust looked badly bruised. A terrible splinter dug itself into her side. Yet she shrugged it off easily enough. She took a step back seeing Nightmare Moon’s aura then, deciding it wasn’t her, shook her head and steeled herself again. “Uh!” Sonata crossed her forelegs to point at both of them at the same time. “Is there any way you two can fight each other instead of me? I’m kind of busy.” Already Fluttershy saw a way out of it coming up behind Dust. Another pony charging down the hall, one dressed in full body plate armor. What Lightning Dust must have thought was a suit of armor Sonata possessed before flying here came in and punched Lightning Dust aside. “What?! Another ghost?” Dust pulled her hoof back and punched at the newcomer. That was her back clear. Fluttershy motioned for Sonata to go through the opposite wall. She did and the guard followed her that way. At last, she was free to run to her objective. Rainbow Dash. Dust tackled the armor and tumbled alongside it down the narrow corridor. She was on top of it and punched it hard in the face, knocking off a chunk of its helmet. She couldn’t feel any aura on this ‘ghost’. She already suspected it was a traitor and could finally confirm what she’d been suspicious of earlier. Yet the sight of blue fur underneath the armor still took her aback. “Fleetfoot?!”