//------------------------------// // Ch. 15- Trust- Building Exercises // Story: Friendship is Magic Redux // by paiohelohelo //------------------------------// “Ok, here we go!” Rainbow Dash pushed all the way forward on the throttle and The Sonic Rainboom began picking up speed. “…Oh dear, oh dear…” Fluttershy was still repeating in her seat. The Rainboom left the hangar bay and was now barreling down the runway at full speed. The wings were picked up by the air and the plane started to lift off. When they were fully flying, Twilight began to relax a little subconsciously; the air inside The Barrier was calm and peaceful, and their flight would’ve seemed almost mundane if it wasn’t for the boiling wall of energy before them. “Finishing reconfiguring The Barrier region… checking calculations on the exit point extrapolation…” Pinkie was working hard to guide them through what was coming up very soon to meet them. “Ok, marking target- NOW!” She pressed her EGO and a light shot out from Rainbow Dash’s console, giving the illusion that it reached straight up towards a spot high above on The Barrier. “Ok, Dashie, that point should be free of any bombardment when you hit it, as well as any Shadowbolt warriors or fighters!” “Got it,” Rainbow Dash angled The Rainboom upwards towards a blinking point of light. “Oh! I almost forgot to prepare the Pinkiebots!” Pinkie started to unbuckle herself from her seat. She ran down towards the rear of the plane where the Pinkiebots were all huddled together like massive party balloons on an express delivery to some ludicrously expensive party. She carried a large bag with her, and when she got to her robots she removed a large, pink, pumpkin- shaped device and promptly stuck it to the plane’s interior, where it hung there. “Hey!” Rainbow Dash shouted back at her as she flew the plane closer and closer to the exit point, “nobody said you could put up decorations!” Pinkie pressed the device’s center and it started to glow. She then turned to her huddled Pinkiebots and cleared her throat; standing with her arms behind her back, she started to address them like a general: “Pinkiebots, at ease. Now, you’ve all done some pretty fine work for me over the years, some pretty damn fine work, indeed…” “Tell me she’s not giving a battle speech to her robots,” Twilight turned to Rarity. “…She is,” “…However, lives are at stake here, and your sacrifice is needed on the field of battle in order to ensure our mission’s success. I honestly couldn’t be any prouder of you than I am right now, ladies. You know, they say old robots never really die, anyway… mostly because they’re not living things to begin with… they just sort of… fade away,” Applejack slapped her own helmet where her face was and groaned. “A- ten- HUT!” Pinkie barked sharply as she gave them a curt salute. “Pink- ie- Pie! Pink- ie- Pie! Time- to- Eat! Time- to- Eat!” they all responded. Pinkie sniffed with emotion. “Yes… I’m going to miss you all, too,” “Alright, we’re almost there!” Rainbow Dash shouted as the bubbling wall of energy was almost upon them. “Everybody stop giving war speeches and sit the fuck down, this is gonna get rough!” Pinkie ran back towards the front of the plane with her bag in tow. When she buckled herself back in, she began to pass out bright pink metal disks to everyone besides Dash. “What are these?” Twilight asked, examining hers. “Specially made emitters for controlling the Pinkiebots,” she barely explained before turning to the cockpit. “Rainbow Dash, right after you hit the exit point, I want you to open the rear loading ramp to release my Pinkiebots, ok?” “What the hell for?!” Rainbow shouted back. Pinkie giggled, even as they headed into a war zone. “To protect the plane, of course!” Rainbow Dash just shook her head in confusion. “Alright, alright… ok, girls, this is it! HOLD ON TIGHT!” Twilight held her breath as they hit the exit point. Before it, there was only a vague thundering sound indicating that the siege barrage was still going on outside. As soon as they crossed it, though, it was as if the entire world exploded before her, all at once. She covered her eyes due to the blinding flashes, and her helmet didn’t seem to be able to keep the deafening noise out of her ears. The plane abruptly started to rock violently, and all of Dash’s passengers screamed in terror as they were thrown about only to be yanked back in place by their seatbelts. “HOLD ON!!!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she flew to avoid the sudden light beams that streaked towards The Rainboom. The plane shot upwards, its wings closed all the way and its afterburners firing at full strength. The Rainboom rocketed past the Shadowbolt warriors and fighter planes that had been surrounding and firing upon The Barrier in unison. When the Shadowbolt fighter planes nearest to the exit point realized that their enemy had slipped right through their grasp, they all started to turn around and speed upwards in hot pursuit. “WE DID IT! WE DID IT!! WE RAN THE SIEGE!! WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Fluttershy whooped and hollered as loudly as was possible for her. As if in answer, the plane started to rock again as the Shadowbolt fighters fired upon it. “You might’ve spoken a bit too soon, darling,” Rarity muttered, pale from the extremely turbulent flight. “Ok, Dashie, open the rear!!!” Pinkie commanded. Rainbow Dash complied and the plane started to depressurize as the rear- loading ramp began to open up; the girls were horrified to find a swarm of Shadowbolt fighters right on their tail, each of them firing a volley of light bolts at them. Every so often, a bolt would glance The Rainboom and cause it to rock. “Pinkie Pie, are ya crazy?!?!” Applejack shouted as a stray bolt hit the inside of the ramp, sending sparks flying. “GO, MY PINKIEBOTS, GOOOOO!!!” Pinkie shouted to her creations; they began to open up the cargo that she had brought onto the plane earlier and each of them picked out a rather large weapon in their appendages before floating off of the ramp at her command. “Girls, activate your Pinkiebot emitters, now!!!” she yelled to them. Twilight looked down at her pink emitter and pressed the center. A joystick popped up as a hologram simultaneously appeared before her eyes, showing her a part of the sky outside through the eyes of her respective Pinkiebot. “Pinkie, how are we even supposed to-“ Twilight began to ask. “It’s just like a video game, silly filly!” Pinkie explained as she activated her own controller. “Thumb button goes ’VROOM- VROOM’ and trigger button goes ‘PEW- PEW- PEW’! Don’t stray too far from the plane or the gravity tether will pull you right back… GO!!!” The girls glanced at each other before taking to their respective controllers. Through her emitter display, Twilight saw that her Pinkiebot had strayed too far from the plane; it suddenly got yanked back by an invisible force until it was again following The Rainboom closely at the same speed. Twilight shook her head and began manipulating her robot, trying as hard as she could to dodge Shadowbolts as they zipped past her to attack the plane. She saw a lone Shadowbolt fighter dive in front of her towards The Rainboom, and she accelerated to catch up with it. Before she got to it, though, Twilight watched as another Pinkiebot dove in to intercept it, its cannon blazing and spitting out a rapid stream of light bolts. The Shadowbolt fighter exploded, and the Pinkiebot zoomed past its flaming remains. “Yeeeee- hah!” Applejack whooped in victory. “Now we can finally give those rusty ol’ bastards a taste of their own medicine!!!” Twilight smiled. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad game, after all. The five players began to get into the feel of controlling their Pinkiebots, defending the plane as it swerved up and down and side to side under Rainbow Dash’s expert control. The cloud of enemy fighters behind them was growing larger and larger as more Shadowbolts joined up with the pursuit. The five Pinkiebots zipped around the plane in a sphere of protection, firing upon and destroying any fighter that came within their reach as The Sonic Rainboom sped ever onwards towards The Harmonics Division. “Rarity, watch out, behind you!” “I see him, darling!” “Pinkie Pie, git that one right there!!!” “POW! RIGHT IN THE KISSER!!!” “Oh my goodness, oh my goodness…” They seemed to have been holding up pretty well, initially; however, as the swarm of fighters surrounding the plane increased, it began to get harder and harder to keep them away. Soon light bolts started to impact against The Rainboom’s hull again, making it even harder to keep control of the drones protecting it. “Um, guys,” Rainbow Dash grit her teeth as her plane began to take more and more damage and multiple warning lights started to come on. “We’re tryin’, sugarcube, we’re tryin’!” Applejack shouted back as she obliterated two fighters at once. “I’m out!” Twilight shouted as her screen went blank after multiple light bolts had hit her Pinkiebot. “So am I,” Rarity sighed when the same fate befell her drone. “Bye- bye, my brave little Pinkiebot,” Pinkie sniffed as her screen also went dark. “Shit!” Applejack cursed as her Pinkiebot got hit by three light bolts at once. A warning sign on her emitter display started to beep, and she found that she was starting to have trouble keeping control of her ailing drone. She watched as three Shadowbolt fighters zoomed in front of her for the kill. “I think this is it for me!” Suddenly, all three enemy fighters exploded; a lone Pinkiebot sped by and then proceeded to destroy seven enemy planes in rapid succession. Every one of the four other players turned in shock towards Fluttershy, who was manipulating her joystick deftly and adding to her body count with every second that passed. “Wow, Fluttershy!” Pinkie called to her happily. “You’re a natural born killer!” “Thumb button goes… ‘vroom- vroom’… trigger button goes… ‘pew- pew- pew’…” Fluttershy was murmuring to herself over and over again in deep concentration. Rainbow Dash laughed even as she was pulling some very advanced maneuvers with her plane. “Ha ha ha! That a girl, Fluttershy! Show those buckets of bolts what a real, live Pegasus can do!” Fluttershy calmly continued her massively hardcore Shadowbolt killing spree as Applejack worked to cover her rear. However, the Shadowbolt fighters, noticing how many of their comrades were being downed by this single, tenacious little party balloon and its ailing companion, soon began to gang up on them, firing a massive barrage from all sides. “Dammit!” Applejack cursed again as her Pinkiebot was blown to pieces. Though Fluttershy deftly ducked and weaved to avoid them, she began taking more and more damage until her drone became overwhelmed and her screen finally went blank. She sat back and sighed, exhausted. “Sorry, girls,” she apologized sheepishly. The Shadowbolt fighters now began to fire upon The Sonic Rainboom unchallenged, their light bolts ripping into the wings and fuselage like a pencil poking through paper. The six occupants all screamed in terror as light bolts began steaming down from the ceiling to the floor, ripping large gashes and revealing the sky above them and the earth below. Soon, the enemy fighters began targeting the engines, and they all exploded in bright fireballs; The Rainboom's wings began smoking heavily as the plane began to drop out of the sky. “SHIT! We’re losing all flight controls!!!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she scanned the mountainous terrain as quickly as she could. “I’m going to have to make an emergency landing, HANG ON, EVERYBODY!!!” Rainbow Dash angled The Rainboom towards a large, dark green patch on a mountain below. The Shadowbolts behind her continued firing, and the entire right wing broke off. “SHIIIIIT- HERE WE GO!!!” The Sonic Rainboom dropped out of the sky like a rock as Dash fought hard to keep it from rolling about its axis. The girls all screamed as the bottom of the fuselage slammed against the moutainside, groaning as it was contorted by the massive forces of the crash. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both hit their helmets hard against the control panel as their seats ripped out from the floor, throwing them towards the windshield. The Rainboom spun along the moutain, ripping up a lot of trees, until it finally came to a rest on a gently inclining slope, still groaning, a large, flaming gash and a lot of twisted debris left in its wake. Seeing that their quarry had been seemingly destroyed, the Shadowbolt fighters immediately stopped firing at it and pulled away, flying high into the atmosphere and back towards the siege at Canterlot. For a long time, nobody moved in the entire plane. Then, Twilight began to come to, groaning with pain, her vision still very blurry. “Ughhhh…” she rubbed her helmeted head. Slowly, the others in the cockpit started to come to and get up as well. Rainbow Dash winced and turned to her ‘co- pilot’ who was shaking her head dizzily. “Hey, Fluttershy, you ok?” Dash asked worriedly, shuttering her helmet off of her head. “Um… cough, cough… yes, I think so…” Fluttershy smiled as she shuttered hers as well. Rainbow Dash smiled back, patted her on the shoulder, and turned around. “Hey, is everybody still alive back there?” Twilight opened her helmet and coughed. “I’m fine. Relatively,” Rarity removed her helmet and took out a compact mirror to be sure. “And I as well,” Applejack shuttered her helmet like the others. “I think mah heart’s still beatin’,” Pinkie Pie removed her helmet and yawned for some reason. “I’m good, too,” “Wow... these PALA- whatsits are pretty amazing,” Rainbow Dash knocked on her sky blue armor with respect. “Keep your friends close and your pals even closer!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she got up and then started to wobble a bit. “Woah, head rush,” “Alright, sugarcubes, we better git the heck outta dodge,” Applejack started checking her weapons to make sure they were still functional, “won’t be long before them Shadowbolts figure out we ain’t really dead,” Twilight got up and groaned. “Ohhhhhh… speak for yourself, Applejack…” ************************************************************************************************** Rainbow Dash wanted to cry. She really, really wanted to cry. Fluttershy stroked her on the arm in sympathy. “She was a good plane, Rainbow Dash,” she tried to offer comfort, “and, uh… a really, really pretty one, too. She even got us all the way out here safely. You should be very proud,” Rainbow Dash sniffed, holding back tears as she looked upon the twisted, burning wreckage that she once called The Sonic Rainboom. “I know, ‘Shy…” she whispered softly. “…I know.” “I’m mighty sorry about yer plane, Rainbow,” Applejack rubbed the back of her head. “It’s a real shame, is what it is... still, we gotta git a move on off of this here mountain… now,” Dash groaned. “Fiiiiiine.” Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie looked over from their little huddle as they were discussing the sorts of technologies they would be facing at Harmonics. “Oh? Is it time to leave?” Rarity inquired as she was in the process of clarifying some Equestrian characters for the other two. “We gotta git a move on if we wanna reach Harmonics before sundown,” Applejack explained as she attached her Light Rifle to her back. “We sure as hell don’t wanna be walkin’ around in the dark wit’ those things about,” “And just which way are we headed, anyway?” Twilight asked, scanning the mountainous terrain around them. “Through The Everfree Rainforest, down yonder that- a way,” Applejack pointed. “Should be the quickest route to Harmonics.” Twilight shaded her eyes from the sun and stared off into the distance to where Applejack was pointing. The green mountains slowly subsided and gave way to deep, dense rainforest as far as the eye could see. “The Everfree Rainforest?” Fluttershy gulped, quaking. “Oh… oh, dear…” Twilight raised an eyebrow at her. “What’s wrong with The Everfree Rainforest?” “Dr. Heartstrings told me that it was once some sort of ancient Equestrian park,” Rarity explained, “Because of the lack of artifacts found there, The Initiative never really explored the place in its entirety,” “Noooobody knows whats really lurkin’ around in there,” Rainbow Dash tried to scare the others as Fluttershy continue shivering. “Some say that the Equestrians had to genetically modify animals in order to learn how to do it on themselves, and that their horrendous, monstrous creations all lived to roam the forest to this day…” Fluttershy whined loudly, and Applejack narrowed her eyes in annoyance. “Rainbow, quit it,” she scolded, but Rainbow Dash ignored her and went on. “Some people who’ve been into the forest at night say that they’ve heard something, something big, roaming around in there… they say that, every so often, you can hear low, animal growls among the dense, suffocating brush, but when you look back behind you, all you find is nothing… other people, claim that, if you’re fast enough, you can catch a glimpse of a pair of big, yellow eyes staring at you from afar before- boom!- they’re gone in a flash…” Applejack sighed. “Rainbow Dash, ya know The Manticore Myth is just that, a myth. Now stop freakin’ out poor lil’ Fluttershy so we can all git a- move on, already!” Fluttershy shut her eyes as she whined and squealed at an almost imperceptible frequency; Rarity hugged her gently to comfort her. “Aw, come on ‘Shy, I was just playin’ around,” Rainbow Dash patted her on the shoulder. “There’s no such thing as manticores, really. Besides, even if there were, hello? We all have guns. With laser beams. Also, Pinkie Pie has her Party Cannon,” Pinkie Pie jumped up and down in place, her bulky silver weapon bouncing around on her shoulder, and flashed Fluttershy a big thumb’s up. “Oh… ok…” Fluttershy started to feel better, and they all started to walk down the mountain towards The Everfree Rainforest below. As they were walking, Rainbow Dash kept sighing as she thought about her plane; she felt a big hole in the center of her heart as she pondered over all of the golden- well, rainbow- memories that they had shared together. Twilight glanced over at her. “You ok, Rainbow Dash?” Rainbow Dash looked up. “Huh? Yeah, I was just kinda thinking about The Rainboom again…” Twilight frowned; she decided to distract Dash from her gloomy thoughts, perhaps in an effort to also distract herself from her own. “So, uh, Rainbow Dash, I was kinda wondering if I could ask you something?” Rainbow still seemed distracted. “Huh? What?” “Um…” Twilight paused, “…So, um, how did you get that hairstyle in the first place, anyway?” Suddenly, the entire group burst out in agreement and inquiries, ranging from Rarity’s tactful “Well, it is quite an interesting fashion choice, darling,” to Pinkie Pie’s more direct “Yeah! So, like, what’s up with your hair?!” Rainbow Dash broke out into a smile as they marched along. “Well, if you really wanna know… Back when I was still at the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center-“ The entire group besides Applejack met the beginning of her story with blank stares. “-Ummm… back when I was still at Top Gun-“ “Ohhhh,” they nodded their heads in understanding. “-Yeah, so back then there was this captain who was giving me a really hard time. I guess it was because I was one of the few women at the school, and also because of the fact that I was also, well, you know, openly gay. Anyways, this asshole captain realizes that he can’t get me out of his program on account of the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’, so he starts giving me a really, really hard time… extra hard assignments, smart- ass comments about my sexuality during lectures, the most difficult or boring flight routines any of us could receive- you know, basically trying to make my life a living hell. Anyways, the day of our final test arrives, a combat exercise involving mock Iraqi Air Force fighters, and every single other pilot in my squadron gets ‘shot down’ except me... not only do I manage to survive the bandit attack, but I ‘shoot down’ every single one of those friggin’ instructors by myself… well, the minute I land, the captain comes running up to me, a big, fat grin on his face, like he suddenly wants to kiss me or something… psst, I mean, come on, please… anyways, he tells me that the Navy’s never seen such excellent flying in its entire history, that I had broken all of the school’s time records, and that he was personally going to recommend me for a commendation or some shit like that… anyways, as he’s yabberin’ on, I suddenly decide to take off my helmet right there in front of him to show him my buzz cut, which I had dyed completely rainbow the night before the test as a final ‘fuck you’ for all of his abuse during the course…” Dash started to laugh really hard, “oh, man, you should’ve seen the look on his face! He turned so fucking red, standing there right in front of this little rainbow- headed lesbian after he had congratulated her on besting all of The Navy’s big boys and their big toys… eh, I knew I was gonna get in trouble, but I decided to go through with it in the end, anyway, fuck it, I just had to have the last laugh… ha ha ha ha, anyways, he starts screaming at me and telling me that I was gonna be grounded for misconduct for the rest of my naval career, that he would personally see to it that I never flew again for daring to mock him in front of all his subordinates and all that shit… God, what an asshole… well, as much as he hated me, the Pentagon must’ve finally realized how totally friggin’ awesome I was, ‘cus they eventually assigned me to The Sonic Rainboom and The Eye Run… ever since that test, I’ve been dying my hair to remind myself that nobody, nobody has the right to tell me who I am or what I'm capable of doing… soooo…” she smiled, shrugging. “The End!” The girls were all smiling widely at her as she finished. “Hoo- wee, Rainbow Dash, now that was a helluva story!” Applejack grinned at her. “Go, Dashie!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “Didn’t any of your superior officers ever order you to cut it off?” Twilight inquired, cocking her head quizzically. “What, here in Equestria? The very definition of the word ‘boonies’?” Rainbow Dash gestured towards the mountains all around them, “Naaaah… and besides, even if they did, there is no way in hell anybody’s touching this badass mane of mine with a razor, not now, not ever,” The girls all laughed together merrily; Twilight smiled, shaking her head. That Rainbow Dash sure is something else, all right… “Shit!” Applejack suddenly cursed out, grabbing her Light Rifle, “We got company, girls!! GIT YER HELMETS ON!!!” Twilight’s heart started to race as she looked up towards the part of the sky that Applejack was staring at- a small group of jet- black figures was flying down upon them, fast, silvery weapons in their hands. The girls all closed their helmets and stood in a line against the mountainside with nowhere to escape to. “HERE THEY COME!!!” Applejack raised her rifle at them. The Shadowbolts started firing, and streams of light bolts impacted the mountain all around them. Applejack took careful aim and fired back, her own light bolts streaming upwards and through the Shadowbolt warrior in the lead, causing it to fall from the sky, smoking. When the Centurion was destroyed, its squadron tried to evade the girls’ returning fire as they all started to really open up with their weapons. “EAT PARTY CANNON!!!” Pinkie cried out as she unleashed a massive particle beam that completely obliterated two Shadowbolts and half of another. The remaining Shadowbolts then decided to change tactics and banked sharply downwards, firing, in an attempt to close the gap in between them. They swirled and jerked as they maneuvered to avoid the girls’ withering fire. One of them landed on the mountain next to Rainbow Dash and immediately began shooting at her. She charged at it, screaming; her wings popped open and her thrusters ignited. True to her name, she rapidly dashed in a zig- zag towards The Shadowbolt as it tried to kill her, and then suddenly closed her wings right before she hit it. Rainbow Dash skidded down close to the ground as the momentum of the thruster burst sent her flying in between the Shadowbolt’s legs; once she was behind it, she raised her rifle up and shot it multiple times through the chest. It jerked, smoking from its chassis, as it stumbled towards Fluttershy; she watched in terror as it slowly raised its gun at her. “Eeeek!!!” Fluttershy squeaked as she turned away, closing her eyes, and fired a single shot straight through its head. The attacking Shadowbolt finally fell down on the mountainside, smoking. Four Shadowbolt warriors flew along the slopes behind Twilight and Rarity and fired at their backs. They both turned, raising their horns, and projected a combined purple and blue wave of energy that violently knocked the Shadowbolts into the wall of rock, stunning them; the two Unicorns then fired their own weapons and destroyed the Shadowbolts at close range as they slid down all the way, stopping dead at their feet. Six Shadowbolts charged at Applejack, and she quickly took out two of them. When the other four enemies attacked her from both sides at close range, she threw down her rifle and pulled out her pistols, dual- wielding them at two different angles and destroying the four attackers in rapid succession at point- blank range. Suddenly, a light bolt hit her square between the shoulders and she screamed out in pain; even though most of the projectile had been absorbed by her armor, some of the energy had transferred right through her suit to her body. Applejack fell down to the ground, gasping for breath, and turned around to find the attacking Shadowbolt pointing its gun straight in her face; her eyes widened as she stared down its barrel. Without warning, the arm holding the Shadowbolt’s weapon was completely severed by a bright blue, curving flash. It simply looked down at its stump, almost as if to think oh, gee, I wonder where that arm went? The same flash of light severed its other arm, and again it just dumbly looked down at its other stump. The blue light then penetrated straight through its chest and began to rapidly cut upwards until it had sliced straight through the top of its head. The Shadowbolt fell down to the ground, dead and heavily smoking; standing behind it was Rarity, her Light Foil in one hand and her other hand placed jauntily on her hip. She stepped forward and stuck out her non- sword hand to help Applejack up. “Touché?” Rarity grinned victoriously under her helmet. Applejack sighed, smiling with relief as she took her hand. “Touché.” She groaned in pain as she stood up, her back still tingling from the direct hit. “Y’all alright?” she called out to the rest of the team. The others were all sitting down on the ground, exhausted from the sudden skirmish that had taken place. “Yeah…” Rainbow panted, “…Are you alright?” “I’ll live…” Applejack groaned again, rubbing her back where she had been shot. “Um, guys… this one’s still moving!!!” Twilight shouted and the others turned around to find her now standing over the half- destroyed Shadowbolt that Pinkie Pie had hit; the automaton was still struggling to get up, even without its bottom half. Twilight looked back behind her and realized that she had left her weapon where she had been sitting. “Goddammit!” Applejack ran over with her rifle raised, preparing to finish it off. “Why won’t these things jus’ die already?!” The damaged Shadowbolt’s chassis suddenly popped open, and with the last of its strength it pulled out a small, black metal sphere and activated it right before its body started to relax, its glowing eyes fading into nothingness. The object it had turned on began to emit a beeping sound that grew faster and faster. “Holy smokes- is that a bomb?!?!” Pinkie Pie gasped shrilly. Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened in her helmet. “Motherfucker-!” “RUUUUN!!!” Applejack yelled and they all scrambled together along the mountain, screaming, trying to get as far away from the device as possible. The bomb ignited in a bright blue flash that was subsequently followed by a booming shockwave and loads of fire and rock thrown violently in every direction. The narrow trail that the girls had been standing on began to collapse as the ground shook furiously, and they all screamed in terror as they began to slide uncontrollably down the steep mountain. “FLUTTERSHY!!! QUICK!!!” Rainbow Dash called out to the other Pegasus as her wings opened up. “Oh my goodness, oh my goodness,” Fluttershy muttered as her wings opened up as well; the both of them rapidly soared downwards to catch up to their friends. Applejack screamed as her hands struggled to get a hold of the mountain to stop her fall. She finally found an outcrop and grabbed onto it as tightly as she could, her body jerking with gravity in protest as she finally stopped sliding. Her heart slowed, just a little, as she realized that she was secure, for the moment. “APPLEJACK!!!” she heard Twilight scream and snapped her head down to find Twilight hanging below her, right on the edge of a sharply protruding precipice, her body and legs dangling freely below her. “Hold on!!!” Applejack shouted back to her. “I’M A- COMIN’!!!” She immediately let go and slid down towards Twilight’s position, stopping at the very top of the precipice when she grabbed the mountain again with one hand. With the other, she grabbed Twilight’s hands and attempted to pull her up, screaming with all her might to lift her. She soon found that she couldn’t, even with the added power of her PALADIN, as her own tenuous grip on the mountainside began to slip a little and they both slid down a few feet, shrieking as Applejack fought to re- establish her hold on the rocky surface. “Applejack!” Twilight panted when they had stopped, her grip on the soldier ever weakening, “what do I do?!” Applejack shut one eye and grit her teeth as she struggled to keep a hold of her. She glanced over the mountain and saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy far, far away, pulling Rarity and Pinkie Pie up as best they could. Would they even make it back here in time? Applejack sighed. “Let go.” Twilight made a choking sound. “Are you CRAZY?!” Applejack willed her helmet to open, and looked straight where Twilight’s eyes would be. “No I ain’t… I promise you’ll be safe,” “That’s not true- !” Twilight, always the debater, began to argue with her. “Now listen here, what I'm sayin’ to you is the honest truth…” Applejack thought carefully about what she was about to say; both of her grips were getting weaker and weaker, and time was running out… “…I’m gonna let go, and we’re both gonna fall, ok? Together. If anything happens to you, sugarcube, then it’ll happen ta me, too… you n’ me, we’re both in this together, alright? Together. Now, I’m gonna let go, and I promise you, I promise you, we'll be safe, ya hear me? Everything’ll be jus’ fine…” Twilight willed her own helmet open and Applejack saw that she had tears in her eyes. “Applejack…” “Now, on the count of three, we’re both gonna fall, ya hear me?” Applejack’s fingers felt like they were on fire; Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both remained very, very far away. “I… I don’t think I can do it on three…” Twilight replied, scared out of her mind. Applejack gave a little chuckle. “Alright, sugarcube, then we’ll do it on four. Ready?” Twilight gave a little nod, her eyes as big as dinner plates. “Alrighty, then… 1, 2, 3- 4!” Applejack let go of the mountain and Twilight began to scream as they both started falling. Applejack immediately pushed off and grabbed at her, holding her tightly in a death grip as they both freefell towards the sharp, rocky base hundreds of feet below. Twilight’s mind ran numb, racing with all of her life’s memories as she prepared to die; Applejack just continued to hug her tightly, her eyes closed and her teeth grit in absolute fear. Suddenly, two blurs, one yellow and one blue, quickly intercepted them and stopped their fall cold. Twilight stopped screaming and opened her eyes, noticing that she and Applejack were hovering down slowly to the ground. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy held onto them from both sides, their metallic wings flapping to keep them all afloat. Twilight was about to let a sigh of relief out when they suddenly dropped a few feet; she yelped in terror as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy caught them again. “Oh, sorry, girls!” Fluttershy apologized as she struggled to hold onto the pair, “I’m not used to holding this much weight… though there was that time I had to move all of my Tamagotchis in a really, really big box…” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes in her helmet. “Girl, seriously? Get a bunny, or a tortoise, anything,” Twilight just stared at Applejack who smiled gently back at her. She honestly didn’t know what to feel now except extreme gratitude and happiness. Still a little shocked, she mouthed the words “thank you” and smiled widely. “Like I told ya, sugarcube... everything’s gonna be jus’ fine,” Applejack tightened her hug around her new best friend.