The canyon walls exploded on the east and west sides.
Rainbow Dash flinched from the landing projectiles, covering her face with her forelimbs as she flew through the mess. Gritting her teeth, she looked behind her tail and flapping wings.
The managliders' glinted in the glare from the morning sun dipping into the ravine. The first few pilots' helmets reflected a blinding sheen.
Rainbow Dash squinted her ruby eyes and slowed her velocity.
"We're bearing down on her!" one of the enforcers piloting the foremost pursuing craft shouted. "Give me incendiery!"
The copilot complied, locking a fresh series of red-capped rockets into the wing holsters of the craft. Just then, the morning sun rose over the jagged blue rocks of the eastern horizon. Blinding light filled the canyon, utterly overwhelming the enforcer's view.
"Ungh! Target lost! Where did—"
As the canyon path turned, a blue figure came screaming forward through the bright glare. "Yaaaaaaugh!" Rainbow Dash landed into the pilot's face, hoof first.
He gagged on the shards of his imploding helmet as he flew off the craft and splashed into the rapids below. The copilot unsheathed a taser.
Perching on the vehicle, Rainbow knocked the copilot's hoof away, headbutted him, and gripped the managlider tightly with all four hooves.
The next line of vehicles formed a phalanx, their rockets at the ready.
Rainbow saw them, then flashed a look at the ship's mana core. "Nnnngh!" With a grunt, she bucked the thrusters of the craft and flung her weight aside. The entire managlider barrel-rolled, tossing the screaming co-pilot off. Using her wings as leverage, Rainbow Dash pulled the roaring interceptor up into the air, its belly aimed at the rest in chase.
"Fire!" one pilot shouted, and every vehicle in the squadron complied. Missile after missile screamed down the canyon.
However, they all ricocheted and embedded against the belly of the craft. Rainbow used it as a shield as she pulled herself up, up, up by the momentum of the vessel's rocketing thrustsers. Fearlessly, she sailed into the exploding ceiling of cannonfire.
Murmuring a prayer to Celestia, she spread her wings and leapt off the vehicle.
A cannonball impacted with the managlider, sending it flying apart in a burst of energy and flame.
Rainbow Dash rode the blast, propelling herself at murderous speed into the burning smoke of Foxtaur above.
The managliders pulled up and attmepted pursuit, but the pilots were at a loss to discover the location of their target amidst the smog. For a brief moment, even the shelling had stopped.