The metal mare clamped her rear hooves hard into the ground and lifted her forelimbs.
"Nnnngh!" Rainbow Dash flew into her, shield first.
The bounty hunter clasped her front hooves around the edges of the shield. The pegasus' heavy momentum shoved the two of them across the clearing. The mare's hooves dragged violently through the soil, kicking up dirt and leaves. After a few seconds, they grinded to a halt before a wall of ancient bricks.
The mare's exposed mouth grinned beneath her helmet. "Pathetic." She viciously hoisted the shield up.
Rainbow Dash lost her grip. She stumbled back as the disc spun between them.
With a grunt, the mare lunged forward, punching the disc in mid-air.
Rainbow swiftly dodged the projectile, jumped, twirled away from her opponent, and grabbed the mare's forelimb with all four of her legs. Levitating, she looked over her shoulder and smirked. "Poopstain." Her tail flicked in the mare's mouth.
The mare coughed and choked on the prismatic strands—only to have her armored body flung skyward after Rainbow Dash flipped with her limb in her grip.
Before the mare could touch the ground, Rainbow Dash let go, twirled, and re-gripped her body, flinging her earthward in a violent piledriver.
The resulting impact shook through the beleaguered bounty hunter's body, vibrating from helmet to tail. The pony rolled over with a rattle of her armor, until she lay on her flank and stared dazedly up towards the canopy of Foxtaur.
Rainbow Dash touched down and stood above her, panting for breath. Gulping, she squinted into her reflection on the attacker's helmet.
After two and a half seconds, the metal mare's lips moved. "Paltry." Her haunches jerked up, and a metal, prehensile tail shot forth.
It wrapped three times around Rainbow's neck, choking her. She struggled with her hooves to tear it loose, but the forked prongs at the end of the tail electrocuted her. Before she could grunt in pain, the mare was hopping up and flinging her corded tail left and right. Rainbow was viciously body-slammed into the ground, into a wall of the ruins, and finally into a tree.
Grinning, the mare flung her flanks to slam Rainbow against another object—but her tail was suddenly anchored. She did a double-take towards the tree.
Bruised and disheveled, Rainbow Dash had nevertheless managed to grip a tree branch with one hoof and pulled some slack on the metal tail with another. She spat blood and hissed through a smirking pair of lips. "Piss taker."
Her blue wings flapped. In a speedy blur, she soared up along the height of the tree. By gripping the metal mare's prehensile tail with two limbs, she was able to pull her opponent through the strength of her hooves. Quite effortlessly, she dragged the flailing pony up through a dense array of branches, slamming her armored body against every wooden limb within sight. Once she burst through the green canopy at the top of the tree, she spun several times, making the blood rush to the bounty hunter's head. At some point, the metal mare lost her bearings, and her tail retracted from gripping Rainbow's neck.
Freed from the snare, Rainbow gladly let go with her limbs, sending the pony sailing earthward like a meteorite at the end of one of her spins.
"Hah!" She cackled with a devilish grin, happily watching the mare's plunging plight from above. "Thought you could dance with the duchess of dashing?! Send gravity my regards, you big smelly bag of—"
In midair, the mare's armor sprouted wings. Red and blue mana-light surged through the fins, lighting up with sparkling thrusters.
Rainbow Dash blinked. "—oh bull." Her blue ears drooped.
With a thunderous roar, the bounty hunter twirled about, weaved through several trees, and climbed towards Rainbow Dash in a murderous spiral.
Rainbow Dash curled up in a defensive ball. She took the brunt of the mare's spearing attack to her forelimbs. The two grappled in mid-air, with the bounty hunter shoving the two of them through a chaotic array of branches, leaves, branches, and more leaves. Wrestling the whole time, Rainbow Dash took every opportunity she could to slam a hoof or an elbow or even a chin against the attacker's skull. The metal mare easily deflected each attack. Her exposed mouth smirked as she pivoted their flight so that Rainbow took the brunt of a collision or two with the tree trunks blurring by.
The fighters' pained flight took them soaring straight through the dangling cluster of netted ponies. Phoenix shrieked while Zenith grumbled over his restraints. Crimson twirled to watch, breathless. Pilate bit his lip while Bellesmith watched with a neverending, pained expression.
"Rrrrrgh!" Rainbow Dash tried flapping her wings in a desperate attempt to change the trajectory of the midair tussel. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't overcome the sheer thrust of the metal mare's sparkling wings. Her ruby eyes quivered upon seeing a brick wall directly in their path. Panting for breath, Rainbow's face brightened, and she slapped a hoof viciously over the side of the mare's armor. One of her rocket chambers popped open. Rainbow Reached inside, yanked an explosive free, and flung it at the wall ahead of them.
The ancient mortar exploded, sending shrapnel and bits of burning debris into the two's conjoined trajectory. The bounty hunter grunted and let go of Rainbow Dash to shield herself.
Rainbow Dash flew free, but she had very little control of her momentum. Flapping her wings desperately, she threaded through the splash of red hot shrapnel and somehow made it out the other side in one piece. Twirling, she evened out just in time to grind to a wincing halt along a stretch of ancient granite. Her body spasmed and struggled to get up as several clumps and bits of smoking stone settled all around her.
The momentary silence was broken by a set of metal hooves landing expertly in front of the pegasus. Rainbow Dash wearily looked up.
The metal mare stood in her glinting armor. In one snap, her wings retracted, and she smirked. "Pansy."
Rainbow Dash glared. Behind her back, she collected a cluster of scalding hot pebbles in the crook of her hoof. She pretended to look away—but jerked her body up, flinging the shrapnel into the mare's smiling mouth.
"Gaah!" she hissed as she stumbled back.
Rainbow Dash jumped up onto all fours and charged angrily at her. "You're nothing, you hear me?! Just a bucket of bolts stupid enough to think it can crap lightning!" She jumped at the end of her taunt and flung two hooves across the mare's helmet. "Haaugh!"
The mare teetered back, sneered, and flung her left forelimb.
Rainbow Dash caught it, wrenched it away, gripped the pony's shoulders, and—snarling—headbutted her right in the helmet.
The mare stood still, unaffected by the loud reverberation ringing through her armor. Her head cocked slightly to the side, and after a second and a half of contemplation, she lurched forward and headbutted Rainbow back.
"Ooof!" Rainbow flew in reverse, sliding to an aching stop on her flanks. She ran a hoof over a deep whelt on her forehead. "Not..." She winced, her voice cracking, "...the smartest thing I've ever done." Nevertheless, her eyes and ears were stolen by the sound of an echoing chuckle.
She looked up to see the metal mare laughing, her armored shoulders shaking with the act. As it turned out, the last exchange of headbutts had done its worst to the bounty hunter's helmet. The visor was severely cracked down the center.
"You're the best... you know that?" The mare spat and hissed, her lips nonetheless curved the entire time. "Without a doubt. This was entirely worth the fuel and resources taken to get here."
"Yeah, well, it was lousy for me." Rainbow Dash smirked tiredly. "Was it lousy for you too?"
"The Great Searo once said, 'Look upon your greatest foe face to face, and your last breath will be full of glory.'"
"Cute. Can we get to kicking each other's flanks a bit."
"You will know defeat soon enough." She took a deep breath and reached a pair of hooves up to her helmet. There was a clicking sound, followed by a copious discharge of steam.
Rainbow Dash squinted, watching with thin, ruby eyes.
One by one, several cables snapped loose from an array of metal plugs that had been fastening the helmet to the pony's skull. The first thing to slip out from under the helmet was a loose mane of scarlet-red braids, each with a cylindrical copper ringlet fused to the ends. The braids hung on either side of the mare's neck as she then slid the helmet completely off. There were no eyes for Rainbow Dash to see, for the pony's sockets were completely encompassed by a pair of elaborate copper lenses. As the bounty hunter tossed the helmet aside like a piece of junk, she took a deep breath and stared at Rainbow. As she did so, the centerpieces of her bronze lenses slid in and out, like a pair of pistons befitted with sliding apertures. A sheen of sweat formed along her brown coat as she smiled and said:
"My name is Roarke. And by the spirit of Searo, I shall make a necklace out of your feathers."
Rainbow Dash nodded. "Yeah, well, my name is Rainbow Dash, and Searo's dumber than what!" In a blur, she gained strength and flew away from the scene, disappearing behind the trees.
Roarke's brow furrowed above her twitching lenses. "What?"
"Ha!" Rainbow Dash suddenly dove on the mare from behind, gripping her in a vicious head lock. Wings flapping, she forced her weight against the bounty hunter's neck and grinded her exposed skull against the granite floor. "Jeepers creepers! Where'd you get the nerve to suck?!"
"Rrrr-RAAUGH!" Roarke's double-jointed limbs rotated. She used her whole body as a lever and suplexed Rainbow into a wall of the ruins.
Rainbow slumped against it, wincing. Her eyes widened as they reflected a pair of metal hooves. She ducked just in time as Roarke's forelimbs punched holes in the ancient mortar.
"Hrrrgh!" Roarke grinned, her lenses pistoning in and out as she got a fix on Rainbow. "Yes! Heh heh heh..." She stalked her prey, extending a prehensile tail out, its end sparkling. "That's it! Give me your best!"
"I'll give you a crap once you shut up!" Rainbow Dash lifted a heavy rock in her hooves and sneered. "Round three, ya pincushion!"
And the two ponies charged each other with thunderous shouts in the middle of the ruins.