//------------------------------// // On Wings of Fury // Story: Swooping Pegasus // by FenrisianBrony //------------------------------// Eventually, the five girls made their way to Rainbows house, picking up Spike from the library on the way. Upon setting down in their balloon, Twilight’s horn began to glow, encompassing the group in an aura of magic. Eventually, it faded out, and her friends looked at Twilight for an explanation. "Oh, sorry girls. The spell was the same one I used when we went to Cloudsdale that first time. We should be able to walk these clouds now." She said with a smile. "Well. I think that'll be a might useful here. Come on y'all, let’s go cheer RD up." "Yeah. I knew we had to cheer her up, so I brought some streamers, and balloons, and all my party supplies." Pinkie beamed, jumping down onto the cloud. "Wait. We just came here from the library. How did you get the...you know what, don't bother explaining it." Spike said. "Oh silly, you know I have supplies stashed all over Ponyville in case of emergencies. And this is most definitely an emergency. I've never seen somepony so mopey wopey like that, so I made sure to bring extra supplies to make this the best party EVER!" "Only Pinkie." Rarity said with a smile, before turning to Twilight. "You know darling, this is the first time I've been on clouds without my beautiful wings. It's a strange feeling isn't it? With a smile, the six friends walked towards the door, and for the first time, could hear sobbing from inside. With a grim expression, Twilight walked forward and knocked at the door, instantly stopping the crying from inside. "Go away!" She shouted, sounding like she was still holding back sobs. "There's nopony here but a...monster." She sobbed. "Rainbow darling, please. Nopony meant those things they said." Rarity said desperately. "Then why did they?!" She yelled, before descending back into a sobbing fit. The six friends looked at each other, not sure how to proceed from this. Slowly, Fluttershy walked towards the door. "Rainbow? Please. It’s us, your friends. Just let us talk to you please." She said softly, prompting the crying to stop again. Slowly, the sound of a lock clicking was heard, and eventually, the door was pulled open slightly, revealing Rainbows head. Her eyes were red and puffy, and her entire face was dripping from the amount of tears on it. "H-hey guys." She said shakily, not opening the door any further. "Rainbow darling. We need to talk to you properly. Can we maybe, come in?" "I need to be alone right now, please." She slowly began to close the door, but a hoof stopped it and pried it back open. "Now wait a minute there RD. We came up here to help ya, and I ain't leaving until you’re out of there or we're in there with y'all, so ya might as well open up." "Fine. Just, make it quick." She said eventually, opening the door and allowing the others in. The six friends edged past Rainbow and stood in her front room, which seemed to have the entire contents of the house spread out across the floor. "Interesting, uhm, organisation system Rainbow." Twilight began hesitantly, looking at the floor, looking queasy at the sight of the ruined books. "You didn't come here for small chat." Rainbow said, walking back over to the pile of stuff on the floor. "You know the thought of this place was one of my reasons to want to come back? I mean after seeing you girls, and spike, this was what I wanted to see. Just lie down on my bed, maybe read some new daring do books, and see the ponies around town who I thought were my friends. And them when I get back, they call me a monster. Me. The Rainbow Dash. The fastest flier in all of Equestria. And they just turned on me like an animal. There's nothing left for me here." "How can ya say that RD? We're all here for you. We always will, no matter what y'all look like." "And what's that supposed to mean?!" Rainbow shouted suddenly. "What I look like?! Everything you see on me is because I tried to get back here. I could have just sat on the sidelines and not fought, but I did, to try and get back here. And now that I have, I think maybe I shouldn't have bothered." The five ponies, and one dragon, stared in disbelief at the cyan mare. "Rainbow Dash? How can you say that? We do care about you, and Applejack didn't mean anything bad against you." Twilight said in disbelief. "I can say that because I believe it." She stated plainly. "I don't want to, but I'm not going to pretty it up any more than it needs to be. In my experience, it just makes things worse." "And what else does your experience tell you Rainbow?" Spike asked gingerly. He hasn't been told exactly what had happened, but from looking at the Pegasus mare In front of him, he had a relatively good idea of the sort of things that had happened over the last two years. "When people attack or move against you, you either kill them or get out of there until you can talk some more. So that's what I'm going to do." She said, her voice wavering and sounding hollow. "How can you say that? The real element of Loyalty would never say that." Rarity exclaimed. "It's hard to stay loyal when ponies fear you." She said bluntly. "I'd like you to leave now. I've got to pack." With that, she began to walk out of the room. Twilight walked over to her, and laid a hoof across her back, shuddering at the cold touch of the thing that was her wing. "Rainbow, we..." She began. "I. Said. Out!" She snarled, pushing the hoof from her back. With that, she walked out of the room, tears running down her muzzle. "G-guys. What just happened?" Spike asked "Rainbow's just suffering. Give her some air. But we've all got to be ready to help her at a moment’s notice. Agreed?" Twilight asked the group, who responded with a solemn nod. "But, I didn't even get to throw her a 'welcome back to Ponyville' party." Pinkie said sadly, as Applejack shunted her out of the room. "Come on y'all, ya heard Twilight. She never let us fall apart before, and she sure won't now. If she says ta leave Rainbow for a while, then we got ta trust her." *** Lyra sat alone in her house, the lights were off, and she had tears on her muzzle. "That can’t have been Rainbow, could it? No. It’s just a monster trying to take advantage of our grief. I’ll prove them all wrong, just like with humans." She whispered quietly to herself. She was shaken out of inner monologue by a loud roar from outside. Giving a yelp, she jumped up, and ran outside, looking around for anything odd. From the look on the other residents of Ponyville faces, they had had the same idea. The ground shook again, and another roar was heard, clearly coming from the direction of the Everfree forest. With a eep, she felt another shook through the ground, and unceremoniously felt herself flying through the air, before getting much more acquainted with the floor then she would have wanted. *** Rainbow stood in front of a mirror in her house, taking one last look at herself before she was going to leave. She had donned her armour again, minus the helmet strapped to her side, and was once again looking ready for anything. She didn't want to leave, not her home, and definitely not her friends, but everything she had learnt with the Eldar had taught her not to outstay her welcome. Then again, she had also learnt that a lot of situations could eventually be diffused through words. She hoped that someday she would be able to come back and reconcile with the rest of Ponyville, but it wasn't going to be anytime soon. With a sigh, she slipped on her saddlebags and walked to the door, bolting it closed behind her. She was about to take flight suddenly, when she heard a roar from below. Dropping her saddlebags, she instantly began to scan the surrounding area. Almost instantly, she caught sight of the trees in the distance swaying, as if something, or perhaps more than one thing, were moving towards Ponyville. Instantly, she took off, all thoughts of leaving banished for the time being. Regardless of the reactions the rest of Ponyville had at the sight of her, she didn't want to see any of them suffer. Swooping over the forest, she readied her weapon, scanning the area for threats. Unfortunately, she found more than one. Running out of the Everfree forest was a huge pack of Manticores, at least fifteen strong, running towards Ponyville. "Well, this day just keeps getting better." She sighed, donning her helmet. With a flap of her wings, she turned around and flew back to Ponyville, closing the distance in mere seconds, as she flew over, she shouted out to those below, her helmet amplifying her voice to rival even that of the Royal Canterlot Voice. "GET INSIDE. MANTICORES ARE POURING OUT OF THE EVERFREE FOREST. STAY SAFE." With her message delivered, Rainbow once again banked around, aiming herself at the oncoming Manticores. With a final flap of her wings, she propelled herself downwards towards them. As she did, tiny discs erupted from a small container on her legs and descended into the pack. As soon as they landed, they exploded, bathing the fields outside of Ponyville in a bright blue light for a fraction of a second, before the plasma dispersed, revealing the damage done. At least three creatures had fallen, and weren't going to be getting up anytime soon, while a few more had been caught in the edge of the blast, and were now nursing various injuries. The majority however were unscathed, and were now enraged at the shape falling towards them. Flaring her wings, Rainbow slowed her descent to a standstill almost instantly, and with the sort of precision that could only be gained by surviving hard combat, brought her rifle up and aimed at one of the lead Manticores head. Pulling the trigger, she unleashed a stream of red light at the creature, burning straight through its head and killing it almost instantly. Calmly, she aimed at another one, flying backwards while doing so to keep in front of the remainder of the pack. Five creatures later, and Rainbow had to break off, lest she fly into one of the buildings in Ponyville when she wasn't looking. Looping round, she flew back over the pack, releasing her last cluster of grenades loaded in her armours storage into the rear of the pack. Due to the way they had dispersed now, the effect was nowhere near as impressive, only managing to wound one creature. It howled in pain and fell to the floor. Rainbow had seen enough injuries from her weapons to know it wouldn't survive, and casually fired a shot off, striking and killing it in just a fraction of a second. Glancing at the top of her helmet runes, she cursed silently, seeing she only had two shots remaining in her las-blaster, and confirming her fear that she had depleted her grenade reserves. Two shots in her rifle, no power packs on her, no grenades, a sword. That was all she had to kill the remaining six Manticores, which were about to enter Ponyville proper. She couldn't allow that. With a snarl, she snapped her wings to her side, aiming her now free falling body at one of the Manticores. Just before she landed, she let out a screech, causing it to look up. The last thing it ever saw was a pair of hooves rushing towards its face, before said hooves impacted, smashing its head to mush and spraying the surrounding area with blood. Wasting no time, she hit the floor, rolling to get rid of her momentum, before bringing her rifle up and firing a shot into another Manticore. "Buck!" She shouted, watching as the creature moved slightly, causing the shot to go wide, and impacting with its tail as opposed to its head. She cursed again as she used her last shot to finish it off, ending its rampage for good. With practiced ease, she slipped the rifle onto her back, sophisticated technology, which she still didn't understand, holding it in place as she drew her sword from her side. With a familiar motion, she flicked the rune, turning on the power field, and surrounding the blade in a corona of crackling alone its length. Now firmly within the bounds of Ponyville, Rainbow could clearly make out the faces of the ponies in the buildings, filled with fear, but still pressed against the glass, watching her every move. Dismissing the eyes upon her, she charged at one of the Manticores, which was prowling around the streets looking for, well Rainbow didn't know what, but it was looking for something. Without uttering a sound, she leaped into the air, flying towards the Manticore; she landed on its back, and with one fluid motion, plunged the crackling sword into the base of the Manticores neck. The creature fell like a sack of rocks, not even uttering a sound as its life was ended prematurely. Leaping off the corpse, Rainbow ran towards the other creature, which had seen her and was running towards her. As it approached, it swung its paw at Rainbow, an attack she easily ducked under, twisting under it and brining her sword up into its chest, the power field surrounding her weapon cutting through its flesh with ease. The Manticore roared again, trying to hit her away again. This time it succeeded in hitting her away, but not before she slashed her sword across its neck. Soaking the ground with blood. Rainbow skidded across the floor; her armour had easily absorbed the force of the blow, and had just left her slightly winded. She shuddered at the thought of what would have happened if it had been some other pony in her place. Pushing the thought from her mind, Rainbow scanned the area for the last remaining Manticore. When she saw it, her blood ran cold. The last Manticore was bigger than any of the others she had faced that day; maybe it was the Alpha of the pack. It wasn't its size that scared Rainbow however, she had killed creatures larger and better armed, but it was slowly circling a familiar mare. The sea foam green form of Lyra was cowering under a bench, as the Manticore slowly paced around it, savouring what it thought would be an easy kill. She was about to prove it wrong. "What are you doing here monster!?" Lyra shouted frantically. "STAY DOWN LYRA." She commanded, turning her helmets speakers back on, before removing her helmet. It was all well and good wearing it while she was shooting, but one on one? She fought better without it. The Manticore instantly whirled around, fixing its pitch black eyes on Rainbow. Slowly, the pair began to circle each other, the creature snarling at Rainbow, who returned it with a low growl of her own. Dropping her sword low, she sprang forward, and at the same time, the Manticore lunged at her. The pair collided, her sword missing the Manticore by mere inches, while its claws snagged the base if her sword, ripping into the delicate workings housed within, shorting out the sword as the power pack was pulled from it, skittering across the floor. "Oh come on!" she yelled Landing heavily, she felt the Manticores wing slam into her, knocking her thought the bench, narrowly avoiding Lyra as she flew passed. Righting herself, she turned to face the Manticore, and was just in time to see it jumping towards her. Bringing her sword up, she caught the beast’s claws on the blade, cutting deep into them, and causing the creature to cry out in pain. Wrenching the sword from its claws, Rainbow narrowly avoided a swipe from its other paw. Taking advantage of its momentary loss of balance, she leaped forward, jamming the sword into its neck. This time however, she wasn't assisted by the power field, and instead if sliding through bone and muscle easily, it got stuck, and enraged the creature even more. Shaking violently, Rainbow was thrown off its back, losing her grip on the sword as she did so. Now finding herself weaponless, Rainbow turned and stood defiantly against the creature. Assuming her defenceless, the creature let out a sound that Rainbow assumed to be a laugh. Once again, it lunged at her, but this time, Rainbow had a different idea in mind. Flapping her wings, she took to the air, leaving nothing but a blur behind her. The creature landed and looked around, confused as to where its prey had gone. Rainbow however, didn't wait for it to look up. Plunging downwards, she dived at the creature, aiming her rear hooves, and more specifically, her right hoof at the sword, she landed hard on the sword still lodged in the creature. Her momentum, coupled with her weight, forced the sword deep into the creature, severing its spinal cord, not quite killing it, but stopping it for being a threat any longer. As the creature fell though, it's paw slammed into Rainbows side, sending her bouncing across the stone floor, skidding to a halt after sliding on her face for ten meters. The creature fell, its breath now coming in ragged and short bursts. Slowly, Rainbow pulled herself up, and limped over to the creature, pulling her sword out of the Manticore, causing it to shudder slightly, and causing a whimper to escape from its lips. She walked over to the power core that had been ripped from her sword earlier, and easily reinserted it, causing the blade to crackle into life again. "Rainbow? What are you doing?" Lyra asked, emerging for her behind a bush. "Easing its passing. It's in pain. There's only one painkiller that I have that can help it." "Then give it that!" The sea foam mare yelled frantically. "I am." She said bluntly, before plunging her sword into the Manticore. Putting it out of its misery once and for all. "What did you do?!" Lyra yelled, running over to the dead Manticore. "I spared it a long death. It may have attacked us, but it didn't deserve to suffer more than necessary." The lull in fighting eventually drew the rest of the ponies out of their houses. They slowly walked over, making sure they didn't get to close to any of the corpses strewn around the place, or to Rainbow, who was covered in the blood of the Manticores. "Monster!" Yelled one pony. "Freak!" Yelled another. "What? But I, I..." she began, but was cut off by a rock being thrown at her head. "We don't want you here!" A third pony shouted, drawing shouts of agreement from the gather crowd. "But, I..." She began, before she resigned herself to reality again. A drop of blood ran across her eye, mixing with the salty tear brewing in her eye. "Hold it right there!" Shouted a familiar voice, cutting through the crowd. The familiar form of Applejack, flanked by Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy, forced their way to the front of the crowd. "Rainbow may have acted a bit more, violently, than we are used to in Equestria, but she did it to protect us." Rarity shouted over the din. "That's right. And you all just treated her like a monster for saving your lives." Twilight added. "Umm...I may not know much about combat, but ummm, the Manticores were acting violently. When there's just one I may have been able to talk it down, but with that many..." She trailed off, suddenly aware of all the eyes on her, and with an 'eep' she hid behind her mane. The crowd became silent, starring at the five friends who were even now placing themselves between Rainbow and the crowd. "You meany weeny ponies need to all turn your frowns upside down. Rainbow just helped the only way she could." At this, the crowd began to murmur between themselves, things such as 'maybe we were wrong', or 'I still don't buy it'. "Citizens of Ponyville. Do not fear, we are here to save the town. Stay down and it will all be over." Came a voice from over the town. Collectively, the entire town looked up, just in time to see four Pegasi swoop over the town, banking hard, before landing in the town centre. "Never fear. The Wonderbolts are..." Spitfire started, before looking around at the dead Manticores. "...here." She finished weakly. "What happened here?" Soarin' asked, looking at the crowd. "Rainbow Dash happened." Twilight said, moving to the side, revealing the blood stained figure of Rainbow Dash. "Wait. Rainbow Dash?!" Shouted a voice which Rainbow was sure she recognised. Pushing her way to the front of the group, a green Pegasus mare made her way in front of Rainbow. "So it was you?" Lightening Dust said, scowling at Rainbow. "You finally decided to come back have you? What, did you get bored hiding your failure of a face away from real Pegasus?" "Lightening Dust." Rainbow scowled. "What are you doing here?" "Oh, didn't they tell you? I got into the Wonderbolts, you know, your lifelong dream that I'm now living? Seems like I'll always be the leader and you can just be stuck as the wingpony. Wait, can you hear that sound? That's the sound of your mind snapping." She sneered. "You're a bit late for that don't you think? What, you think after two years lost in space, I'll still have a mind that can be snapped by you? You're pathetic." "Whoa whoa whoa. So it was you at the memorial display?" Spitfire asked. "Well yeah. Who else did you know who has a Rainbow mane?" "True. I'm glad you’re safe though. Nopony on the team forgot you. Well, most of the team cared about what happened." She glared at Lightning Dust, before whispering so only Rainbow could hear. "If you want the truth, nopony wanted her on the team, but she in theory won the competition." "What do you mean 'in theory'?" Rainbow asked, in the same quiet voice Spitfire had used. "Everypony else was good, but you and Lightning Dust were just above and beyond them. And considering the fact that you disappeared..." She trailed off. Eventually, the pair separated and moved back to their respective groups, before Spitfire addressed the crowd again. "Ponies of Ponyville. It appears the danger has passed, we are sorry for the inconvenience." As the four ponies prepared to take off, Lyra forced her way to the front again. "WAIT! How can you leave? The monster's still here!" Instantly, the Wonderbolts were back in position, scanning the area for threats. When they couldn't find any, Soarin' turned back to Lyra. "I'm sorry miss, but, where?" "Are you blind?!" She shouted, drawing a glare from Fleethoof, "She's right there!" She yelled, pointing her hoof at Rainbow. "What? Rainbow Dash? Since when's she a monster?" "Don't tell me she's brainwashed you too?" She sobbed frantically, before throwing herself at Spitfires' hooves. "Please, just look at her. Rainbow would never shave her mane like that, and underneath the armour she looks weird. It's not her. Please, believe me." "Ma’am, I realise that this is difficult for you to believe, but that mare right there, who just saved all your lives by the looks of things, is the living, breathing Rainbow Dash." "No. She’s not." She wailed. "Fine. I'll prove to you that it's Rainbow Dash." She sighed, turning to Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow. When you came to the Wonderbolts academy, what did I say when you told me your team had finished clearing the sky?" "That's an academy record." Rainbow smiled. "Exactly. And the conviction you showed there proved you to be a leader." She said the last bit while glaring pointedly at Lightning Dust, before turning back to Lyra. "Does that prove my point ma’am? Rainbow Dash was the only one who came and saw me after that display, so no-one else would know that. It's not as if anypony watched that scene or something. Ergo, this Rainbow maned Pegasus mare is Rainbow Dash, and you will give her the respect she deserves. Do you get me?!" She shouted the last bit, causing Lyra to cry out and shrink back. "Y-yes ma’am." She said shakily. "Now that's over, WONDERBOLTS! Prepare to move out. Oh and Rainbow, I'd like to talk to you alone at some point. Come see me in Canterlot in a few days. That is if you feel up to it that is?" "I'll be there ma’am, don't worry about that." "Good. Let’s move 'em out ponies." She shouted, taking flight and being followed by Soarin' and Fleethoof. Lightning Dust flared her wings, preparing to take off, but before she went, she had one more thing to say. "See ya round wingpony." She sneered, before taking flight after the rest of the team. A few minutes of silence followed, before Vinyl Scratch walked towards Rainbow. When she was within a few yards of her she stopped. "Rainbow, I-I'm sorry 'bout what I did back there. And I know everypony else is as well. It's just, you disappeared ya know. You just vanished two years ago, the same Rainbow Dash we all knew for years before that, then you come back all, different. I'm not sayin' what we did was right, but it was just a bit of a shock. Really what I'm tryin' to say is, I'm sorry. We all are." She stuck her hoof out as she said the last sentence, and gently, Rainbow bumped her against it. "Sure Vinyl. I forgive you. That goes for all the ponies here." She raised her voice. "Even you Lyra." Slowly, the crowd began to disperse, and Rainbows friends began to walk back over to her. They would have reached her, if she hadn't been tackled by an orange blur before they got to her. "Rainbow Dash!" The orange Pegasus beamed. "I knew you'd be back. The others all said it wasn't you, and they wouldn't let me come and talk to you, but I knew it was you, and now your back and-and." She began hyperventilating from her excitement. "Hey Scoots." Rainbow chuckled. "How's the crusading going?" "Oh that? We still do it. But it's just fun now." She said proudly, turning and showing Rainbow her flank. On it rested a picture of a wheel, probably from her scooter, leaving a trail of fire behind it, and resting over a chequered flag. "All right Scoots!" Rainbow cheered, lifting the Pegasus into the air. "My number one fan got her cutie mark in racing as well! Hey, what do you say to a race? I'll fly, and you can try to keep up." To say Scootaloo was happy, was like saying that the Tyranids were slightly frustrating. Setting the now bouncing mare down on the floor, Rainbow began to fly off, passing her friends by. "I'll catch up with you guys later. Right now I've got to go see what my number one fans been getting up to for the last two years." Her friends all smiled and waved as she flew off, trotting after her so they could watch. Another orange blur blew past them, as Scootaloo sped past on her scooter, eager to spend some time with her idol. A.N. Two things. Firstly, I got an editor to try and make my fumbling attempts at a narrative make sense, so a massive thanks to SpacelordVen. Secondly, I've got some ideas about what to do, but I just want to get a general consensus going here. At some point I'm probably going to have Imperial Guard, Space Marines and the Chaos Legions. My question is which characters you would like to see leading them/in them? Currently I'm thinking about having General Sturnn from Winter Assault or Vance Stubbs from soulstorm, Eliphas and the black legion or Honsou and the Iron Warriors. Not sure who I'm going to have from the Space Marines, but it will probably be from one of the first founding chapters.