Rainbow followed the flying form of Tar’nek through the craftworld, dodging skycars and vipers as they sped through the skies towards parts unknown. Rainbow once again felt her spirits soar as she flew next to another who shared her love of the skies.
“Come on. Let’s see what the Eldar are capable of.” Rainbow jested, drawing level with Tar’nek, before drawing ahead slightly.
“Oh, an athlete are we? Let’s see what you’re capable of then.” He laughed, before pinning his arms to his side and accelerating.
“Finally, someone who gets it.” She smiled, drawing her legs up to her body and closing on the Swooping hawk before her.
The pair began to speed up, banking around towers and spires, while skilfully ducking underneath archways and raised paths. Inch by inch, Rainbow began to close the gap between herself and Tar’nek, before finally drawing alongside him.
“Haven’t…had this much…fun in…a while.” She panted as she began to inch past the Eldar.
“And I didn’t think you’d be able to keep up.” Tar’nek grunted in reply.
“You’re looking at the fastest…Pegasus in Equestria.” Rainbow replied with a massive smile.
“You can keep up with Eldar technology. Something not many others can say.” Tar’nek began, before laughing and accelerating exponentially, darting away from Rainbow, before stopping almost two hundred meters ahead of Rainbow, and turning to face her. “But very few can match technology with bare skin.”
“Now that…was fast.” She panted as she finally caught up with Tar’nek. “That was…impressive.”
“Don’t be depressed about the outcome.” Tar’nek said comfortingly. “I have trained in the ways of flight for centuries. I trained in the ways of the bike for centuries before that as well. Flying is as second nature to me.”
“I know, but still…” Rainbow said glumly, before perking up slightly. “Come on then. You can at least show me this place that can help.”
“At some point, perhaps soon, you will curse me for opening this world to you.” Tar’nek said cryptically, before flying off with Rainbow hot on his heels.
***
Rainbow stood alone in front of the final gateway to shrine that Tar’nek had led her to. Everything that she had carried upon her had been taken as she passed through the first gate, with the exception of the spirit stone that she carried for Elarique, by a warrior garbed in the armour of the Saim-Hann guardians. She was assured however, that the items would be returned to her, regardless of the outcome of the trial.
She and Tar’nek had passed through the first gates, which had slammed ominously shut behind the pair, before the Eldar had turned to face Rainbow.
“I have consulted with the exarch.” Tar’nek said, tapping the helmet he now wore, indicating the comm-unit within, “And he stands ready to test your spirit and mind, even leaving out raiment specially crafted for this purpose.”
Tar’nek reached into a pouch on his back, before tossing a bundle to Rainbow, who deftly caught it, her mouth agape.
“How…” She began, but was cut off by Tar’nek.
“Did he procure such an item in such a short period of time? I know not. Nor do I wish to know of my teachers methods.”
Rainbow held the clothing up, before slipping into the garment, which seemed to shrink until it fitted her like a second skin.
“Hey.” She said indignantly, straining her wings that were now trapped beneath the leather skin. “What gives?”
“You already have the gift of flight. Something that would negate the hardships of the tests you will face.” Tar’nek replied, placing his hand upon the shape that was Rainbows wings, securing the barding to make sure that it could not be removed by the wearer.
“Will you be with me through them?” Rainbow asked, casting her gaze towards the series of gates in front of her.
“I am sorry Rainbow. But just as I can not reveal how to overcome your inner daemons, I cannot accompany you on this path. It is one you must tread yourself, where you go, none can truly follow.”
With those words, Tar’nek spread his wings and took to the air above the shrine, before darting into a large tunnel further up the wall and disappearing into the bowels of the shrine, leaving Rainbow alone.
This area of the shrine looked different from the rest of the craftworld, being visibly bland, even in Rainbows uncultured opinion about the arts, and yet, it certainly had a unique feel to it, tugging at Rainbow, whispering in her mind to let of the conception of control.
Fear now fluttered in Rainbows heart as she now stood before the final obstacle between her and the key to controlling the churning emotions that raged inside her. Tar’nek had not spoken of what she would find when she entered the shrine, brushing aside the question when she had asked him.
Rainbow took a deep breath, steeling her heart against the fear that she felt, and placed her forehooves against the final gate, throwing them open and taking a tentative step forward.
Nervously, she placed a hoof down on the floor, expecting to be greeted by the feeling of support, but instead finding it absent. Already having committed herself to the step, Rainbow felt the sensation of falling, and desperately tried to flare her wings to stop her fall, before remembering the leather barding she wore, which kept her wings pinned to her side.
Letting out a fearful scream, she began to tumble head over hooves, before allowing a life’s worth of instinct to take over. She had broken her wings enough times to know how to arrest her own momentum without the use of her wings, spreading her four remaining limbs out, slowing her down slightly as the ground neared.
At the last moment before she struck the ground, Rainbow leaned forward, tucking her forelegs close into her body and rolling, sending her sprawling across the mercifully soft, yet still solid, floor.
The sensation that Rainbow felt was the pain that now pervaded her front limbs as she struggled to her feet, as well as the heavy breeze that blew over her, coupled with a humility and heat that should have been impossible to achieve in such a wind.
Sucking up the pain she felt, Rainbow took a tentative step forward, finding the ground solid, she allowed herself a small smile, before beginning to walk forward. The leather bodysuit she wore was already beginning to cling to her, the sweat she was currently building up causing the article of clothin to stick to her body as she walked.
A dim cover of clouds covered much of the area she found herself in, snaking around the spires and tips of trees that she found herself surrounded by. Walking more confidently now, Rainbow felt the familiar sensation of clouds beneath her feet. Looking upwards momentarily, Rainbow caught sight of the gate she had pushed open swinging shut, cutting off the small amount of light it allowed through, and plunging Rainbow into an eerie twilight.
There was now no turning back, even if she could have freed her wings.
The path that Rainbow followed was really more of an instinctive thing, her mind telling her when to turn and when to move straight ahead, all the while avoiding any of the obstacles that sprouted from the ground. Birds flew overhead, and for the first time since the Wonderbolts contest, Rainbow felt completely and utterly at peace with this place. The soft calls of the birds and the soothing coolness of the clouds made her all but forget that she wasn’t simply somewhere in Equestria.
Rainbow continued forward, walking along the perceived path for what felt like an eternity, the tree tops and spires growing ever larger with each passing step. She briefly wondered how many others had passed along this path, hoping to find answers to some inner struggle just as she was. At least she could be certain that she was the first pegasus to walk the path.
As she continued to walk towards where she hoped the end was, a doubt began to creep into her mind, softly at first, until it grew in strength and volume to drown out all her other thoughts. What if she was not walking the right way? She saw no definitive path, and the others who had walked it had all been Eldar. Maybe it was something only an Eldar could sense, and now she was walking along a path that others had not traveled, twisting and turning until she was beyond the reach of the Eldar, lost in the endless cavern she found herself in.
The fear she had felt in the first moments of falling returned with a vengeance, every cry of the birds made her flinch, and the creaking of the trees tops caused her to jump and turn to face them to reassure herself she wasn’t being chased by some unseen predator. She quickened her pace, breaking into an easy gallop, eager to get to the end of this trial as soon as possible. In her blind rush to finish, Rainbow failed to see the wraithbone spire approaching, and lost her footing, skidding on her side until she came to a stop against another, much larger, spire.
She got back to her hooves and broke into a full tilt run, headless of the dangers possessed by the small obstacles at her feet as she desperately searched for a way out.
The skies call you. Allow yourself to fall to their embrace.
Rainbow skidded to a halt as the voice traveled across the misty clearing.
Even soaring out of sight of mortal eyes, you cannot hide yourself from the gods.
Rainbow began to nervously back up, before hitting something and spinning around to face it. A large obelisk, not unlike that in which she had placed Elariques spirit stone into in the forest of ghosts, soaring towards the heavens, disappearing from even Rainbows discerning eye.
Rainbow looked at the obelisk, walking round it and trying to work out how it had appeared from nowhere. She ran her right hoof over the surface, and was surprised to find that even though it looked smooth, it was pot-marked with grooves, large enough for her to grip onto and drag herself upwards.
Taking a deep breath, Rainbow grabbed the first rung of the ad-hoc ladder and began hauling herself upwards, towards parts unknown.
As Rainbow continued her journey upwards, she felt herself being enveloped by clouds, chilling her and causing the sweat to stop pouring off her body. The cloud cover rolled in thicker than before, cutting her vision down to a scant few meters.
Finally, Rainbow found herself approaching a solid pathway, and tentatively stepped onto it. Rainbows skin prickled. Straining her neck, she was met by a satisfying series of pops, before continuing onwards.
As she moved forward, she heard the familiar sound of displaced air from her side, turning in time to see a blur speed past her, before she lost sight of it in the clouds.
A voice permeated the air, the same voice as before, but this time not coming as a distant whisper made loud, but rather as a voice from a definitive source, albeit one that was moving rapidly.
“Ah. What have we here? The xenos of Hannibal? Come to seek answers perhaps?”
“I am Rainbow Dash. Tar’nek sent me here to make peace with my inner struggle.”
“And you have found the one who he sent you to find. One touched by Khaines own bloody hand.”
Rainbow stopped in her tracks, unsure of exactly how she was supposed to respond to this, and an unnerving silence fell over Rainbow. Even the sound of the speaker moving around had disappeared, leaving Rainbow anxious about what was to happen next.
Suddenly, Rainbow heard the swoosh of moving air, and instinctively ducked, just in time to avoid a dark shape flying over her head, one that stopped and landed behind her prone form.
Turning, Rainbow found herself face to face with a towering figure, clad in armour similar to Tar’nek, but of a different colouration, being pitch black as opposed to a light blue.
“Who are you?” Rainbow asked in awe and fear.
“I am Kaliden. Exarch of the Floating Assault, and keeper of this shrine.” Kaliden replied. “Why have you sought me out?”
“I need to be taught to control my emotions. I don’t know what will happen if I lash out at my friends again. I can’t hurt them, I can’t lose them.” Rainbow replied quietly.
“That is why you seek me? To control your own emotions?” Kaliden laughed.
“Don’t laugh at me!” She shouted. “I can’t hurt anyone else that I care for. I don’t want to lose anyone else. The pain I feel is real!” she shouted, stepping forward towards the Exarch.
“We all have our pain. That which feasts upon our insides and turns friends to enemies. But if anger is so easy to over-boil, why do you not strike out at me?”
Rainbow snorted, sensing that she was being teased. She took several deep breaths and grit her teeth.
“You fight the very urge that you came to me to cultivate. Embrace it.”
“I don’t wish to hurt you.” She snarled.
“You believe yourself able?” Kaliden asked mockingly. “No. You couldn’t even save your friend. Who was it again…Elarique.”
This was the final straw for Rainbow, and she lunged at the Eldar, allowing a primal roar to slip from her lips. Kaliden hardly even seemed to register the attempt, and simply stepped to the side. Rainbow however had over balanced herself, and tumbled off the path, speeding towards the grown.
Her movement was stopped almost instantly by a hand closing upon her hoof, and she looked up to see the form of Kaliden hovering above her, looking down at her.
“I could break you. Allow you to fall and discard you as I would another xenos. Tell me, little pony, why should I not allow you to fall?”
Rainbow stayed silent, unsure of what reason to give. A thousand thoughts flitted through her mind, attempting to find one that would rationalise the situation she was in, but the anger pervading her mind made grasping these thoughts impossible.
“I am not worthy of this shrine.” She finally said, casting her eyes downwards, away from the mighty exarch. She did not know why she settled on these words, but some buried instinct told her that this was the path to walk. “I don’t want to die, but I can’t give you a reason to let me live.”
“Then you are home, little one.” Kaliden said, pulling Rainbow up and setting her down on the path, where a doorway now stood. “A warrior should fear death, it makes you faster than your enemy, gives you the drive to carry on. Rise Rainbow Dash, Swooping Hawk at heart, Khaines deadly retribution.