Chapter 18: One With the Heavens
Something blue flashed across Dash's vision. Sky Runner's knife failed to cut her...or even touch her. His swing had been too shallow, which was an impossible blunder. He'd had the mare at his mercy, unable to escape. There was no way he could have missed a strike in this situation. Only when Sky Runner examined the knife itself did he realize the reason his attack had failed to connect.
The knife no longer had a blade.
The arrogant official had less than a second to stare blankly at the ruined weapon before a hoof connected with his skull...hard. The blow slammed his head against the side of the building. Dazed, Sky Runner staggered for a moment before he was hit by a barrage of punches, snapping his head back and forth before a single mighty blow caught him in the gut, completely expelling the air from the stallion's lungs. Another final blow knocked him out, for good this time.
Rainbow took advantage of her captor being knocked off her by leaping up and spreading her wings. Not sparing a glance towards her rescuer, who was presently beating the stuffing out of Sky Runner, she immediately rushed Meadowlark, not intending to give her another chance to turn the tables again. No more talking.
Punching out with a forehoof, Rainbow intended to deliver a straight jab to the crimson mare's face. However, to her surprise, the Meadowlark intercepted Rainbow's jab with a textbook block, swinging her foreleg up and intercepting Rainbow's punch and sweeping it out to the side. She followed through with a punch of her own, ironically mirroring Rainbow's own attack.
Too surprised to block, Rainbow instinctually leaned her head to the side, Meadowlark's strike only just grazing her cheek. Beating her wings, Rainbow quickly leapt back to get some space to reevaluate the situation.
Meadowlark gave her a cocky grin. "What's the matter Rainbow Crash? I guess you're chickening out now that you know I'm not the weakling you thought I was."
Rainbow moved carefully, circling around Meadowlark and gauging her reactions. The crimson mare's stance was loose, but uneven. As she shifted to follow Rainbow through her circle, it was clear that Meadowlark's balance was all over the place. That, combined with the speed with which she had executed a very basic block and counter suggested two things to Rainbow. First, that Meadowlark had at least been trained in the basics of martial arts. Second, that Meadowlark was an amateur when it came to actually fighting.
But then again, Rainbow found it quite possible to believe that Meadowlark was pretending to be an amateur. Her earlier tantrum had been an epic fake-out, so it was entirely within the realm of possibility that she was a better fighter than she let on. Time to find out.
"Maybe you're planning on talking me to death," suggested Rainbow in retort, "'Cause that sure worked for you earlier today."
Rainbow's taunt worked. Meadowlark's lips curled into a snarl as she lunged forward, beating her wings to allow her to lift her forehooves off the ground. She led in with a pair of surprisingly fast jabs. But to Rainbow Dash, it seemed as though they were standing still. Not even bothering to block, Rainbow dodged each simply by tilting her head out of the way of the strike. Without any preamble, she slipped right into Meadowlark's range and caught the other mare hard on the chin with an uppercut. The punch knocked Meadowlark into a vertical position, her head having snapped up to look into the sky.
No more playing around. Rainbow leapt up into the air, spinning her body so rapidly that she actually began to form a small twister. The winds drew Meadowlark towards her. Just as Meadowlark was about to collide with the sky-blue mare, Rainbow snapped out her hind leg in a kick that launched Meadowlark across the street and into the side of another building, where she slumped down unmoving.
Dropping back onto her hooves, Rainbow grinned, then winced as the pain of the impact to the back of her head reminded her that she probably wasn't in the best position to be pulling off high-level martial arts moves. Taking a moment to breathe and let the pain fade away, she smirked in Meadowlark's direction. She was an amateur after all.
Turning around, Rainbow saw a similarly slumped Sky Runner, with a familiar stallion dressed in a blue and gold flight suit standing over him. "I'd normally be pretty mad that you butted in," she said with a cocky grin, "But since you saved me, I think I'll let it slide."
Soarin' favored Rainbow with another of his trademark grins. "Thanks for that. The last thing I'd want is for you to be angry at me again."
Rainbow's grin became a smirk. "Trust me, you're still in a lot of trouble over that stunt you pulled last night." She had to stifle a chuckle as Soarin' grimaced. "But we'll talk about that later. What happened with the others?"
"Lightning Dust and your friend managed to round up the other ringleaders," replied Soarin', "And the rest of the team have the situation under control. The only problem left is the one that left with that colt."
Rainbow closed her eyes and listened, her ears swiveling back and forth until they picked up the roaring sound of rushing wind. It sounded as though there was a small, but powerful, storm in the distance. "They're still fighting," she said as she opened her eyes, "But I don't know how he's doing."
"I wouldn't worry," said Soarin', "Our captain's probably on the way to check up on them now..."
Perlin's racing charge came to an abrupt halt as his body slammed into an invisible wall, halting his advance just as he was about to come within reach of Dawn. The cream-colored pegasus barely had the presence of mind to relax his body as the incredible force of the blast of compressed air smashed into his body, launching him back. He winced as he felt ribs groan and even crack. He had been caught completely off guard. How? Did he somehow calculate the angle of approach based on my last position? But even then, he hasn't seen my top speed, so there's no way he could have gotten the timing right.
The mystery would have to wait. Dawn was still shaking his head and rubbing his eyes, indicating that he was having trouble clearing his vision. Perlin climbed up above the ebony colt, fixing to descend upon him from above and behind. Folding his wings, he went into a dive, planning to snap them open just as he went past Dawn and slice him in two.
This time, he watched Dawn more closely as he approached. Just as Perlin came within striking distance, Dawn's wings blurred. The forewarning was enough for Perlin to bring his wings out in front of him, like a shield. Once again, the pressure wave slammed into him, knocking him back. This time, Perlin's defense kept him from taking injury. His eyes widened in surprise. Dawn had launched an attack directly behind and above him without the slightest difficulty, with perfect timing to intercept Perlin's attack. This couldn't be achieved with mere guesswork.
Perlin's eyes narrowed as he turned his backward's tumble into a loop that sent him flying back towards Dawn. This time, he shot in at an oblique angle. However, Dawn didn't even wait until he had gotten close to launch an attack and Perlin was knocked back again.
Dawn's vision had finally cleared, but Perlin managed to swoop around outside the field of his vision, trying to cut in to escape his opponent's eyes. However, Dawn still reacted instantly, sending a crosswind that nearly knocked the silver-winged colt from the sky. An idea began to form in Perlin's mind. He experimented with different attacks and approaches, always being repulsed, but never coming in the same way twice.
After over a dozen tries, Perlin grinned. I've figured it out. He settled into a hover directly in front of Dawn, stopping at a predetermined distance. "I'd say about here," he guessed, "About twenty meters and a half; that's your range, isn't it?"
Dawn's face didn't betray any sign of it, but he was still surprised by Perlin's words. He figured it out that quickly?
Perlin chuckled to himself. "So, within that range, you have a perfect awareness of everything that's going on around you. That's a pretty cool skill." His eyes narrowed as his grin took on a predatory quality. "But I think I can still beat you, even if I'm in your range."
Dawn blinked as the other colt began to slowly edge closer. He tensed, readying his wings to deliver another blast of concussive air, waiting for any kind of signal to attack. Perlin crossed into the boundary created by Dawn's senses. And still, Dawn waited, trying to figure out what Perlin was up to.
The flow of the air told Dawn everything about his opponent, Perlin's size, weight, position, even the contours of his body. Dawn didn't even need his eyes. Even with them closed, he could still perceive Perlin there with perfect clarity. As Perlin closed the distance, Dawn continued to monitor him, looking for the slightest sign of attack.
Perlin's wings gave an erratic flap and Dawn tensed, realizing that whatever the other colt was going to do, he was going to do it now. Dawn was so wrapped up in his anticipation that he almost missed the change. There's something different about his wings!
A flicker across the edge of his vision was the only warning Dawn got before he felt something sharp piercing the skin at his throat. His reaction was immediate. Dawn leapt backwards so quickly that he briefly appeared to be in two places at once. Coming to a halt at what he hoped was a safe distance from Perlin, he reached up and put his hoof to his throat. Pulling it away, he saw that it was smeared with blood. Fortunately, whatever had cut him hadn't gotten any further than the skin, so Dawn was in no danger of bleeding to death. However, it had been a close call. Without that warning from his vision, he would have been caught completely off guard and his jugular would have likely been spurting blood into the air. It was an unsettling notion.
More unsettling was the fact that he hadn't sensed the attack at all. He had caught a brief flicker of motion with his eyes, but his wind sense hadn't picked up a single cue....No! There had been one; the erratic beat of Perlin's wings and then the mysterious change that had occurred. Dawn still wasn't sure what the change had been, he hadn't had enough time to consider it before he had been forced to dodge the attack. In order to figure out Perlin's secret, Dawn would have to face the mysterious technique again.
Perlin apparently wasn't going to wait for Dawn to make up his mind. The cream-colored colt surged forward, closing in with his mithril-feathered wings at the ready. Dawn responded with an immediate blast of air. However, Perlin twisted to the side and slashed with his wing, cutting the blast and parting it around him, losing almost none of his forward momentum in the process. Dawn suppressed a grimace. He'd briefly forgotten that Perlin could do that.
The trick had bought Perlin the opening he needed to get within direct striking distance. Dawn dodged, skipping sideways through the air, hoping to gain some distance to enable him to attack without worry. Then he felt it, the erratic beat in Perlin's wings. Once again, something changed about them. But Dawn didn't have the time to ponder it as he felt something starting to bite into the skin on his left flank. He dodged again, leaving a trail of blood scattering through the air. The cut wasn't deep, but that didn't do much to assuage Dawn's concerns.
Perlin grinned and Dawn felt the other colt's wing return to normal just as he charged. Dawn dodged upwards and tried to skip around to come behind Perlin, but the strange attack came again, this time, nearly slicing through his back from above, driving him straight down towards Perlin's wings, which flared to slice into him. Dawn turned his dodge into an accelerated dive and managed to duck down beneath the attack, losing a few strands of his mane in the process. As he did, Dawn's eyes traced the figure of Perlin's wing. There was indeed something out of place, as though something was...missing.
Dawn's eyes widened at the implication. An instant later, his wind sense told him that Perlin's wing had returned to normal, with all its feathers accounted for. Dawn spun about, even as he backwinged to gain distance, keeping his eyes fixed on Perlin's wings. Sure enough, the older colt's wings beat erratically and Dawn saw it. A single feather, just one of Perlin's primaries, detached itself, flickering through the air, glittering as it cut towards him. The attack was so fast that Dawn could scarcely follow its progress. He leaned his head back just enough that the razor--edged instrument came within a hair's breadth of slicing through his eyes and blinding him. As the feather returned to Perlin's wing, Dawn's sharp eyes picked out the almost invisible wire tethering it to its point of origin.
His jaw dropped as he realized what he was up against. Perlin's weapons, those mithril-feathered wings, were far more complex than he had ever believed possible. The feather had been launched and retrieved with such blinding speed, that Dawn's eyes had barely been able to follow it, indicating a movement that had been practiced with almost single-minded dedication, suggesting that Perlin's command of the weapon was of a similar level of skill that Storm Front possessed with his meteor hammer. Far from being a blood-crazed maniac with a gimmicky set of wings, Perlin's skill and insight were indicative of a great deal of depth. His wings were a weapon that he had trained with and mastered, the sign of a true martial artist.
Dawn was now also aware of the reason he hadn't been able to sense Perlin's distant strikes through the air currents that surrounded him. The light and thin blade of the feather cut through the currents cleanly without disturbing them in the slightest. He was in trouble and he knew it. Perlin's skill with the wired feathers would allow him to cut off Dawn's retreat, keeping him from gaining distance and bringing him into range of the wings themselves. Furthermore, the speed and stealth of the wired feathers made it almost impossible for Dawn to detect the attack, much less track and avoid it. A single lucky hit to an artery would be enough to end the battle with his death. Right now, Dawn had no recourse to avoid the attack through normal means. He did, however, come up with at least one option, one that made him grimace.
Mom is not going to be happy with me when I get home.
Slowly, reluctantly, Dawn closed his eyes and relaxed his body. He focused entirely on his sense of touch, allowing his awareness to bleed out across his entire form.
"Gonna try to give up on seeing me?" asked Perlin, "I don't think that's a really good idea. Your eyes are pretty much the only chance you have of anticipating my attack." He shrugged. "Your loss, I guess."
He launched the feather from his right wing, swinging it out in an arc that would slash it across Dawn's chest, hopefully cutting through something vital. Sure enough, Dawn did not react as the feather approached. But then, just as the blade made contact, Dawn slid to the side, letting the feather pass. A tiny bit of blood leaked from where the blade had scored, standing in stark contrast to his jet-black coat, but the cut had barely pierced the skin.
What was that? wondered Perlin as his yellow eyes narrowed. He attacked again, this time with a feather from his left wing, which he launched like a dart for the center of Dawn's head, aiming to slice through his skull. Again, just as the blade's tip made contact, Dawn shifted his head, ducking down. Again, the wound was little more than a paper cut.
"I don't believe it," gasped Perlin, "You're actually using your sense of touch to avoid my feathers, dodging the instant you feel contact. And ponies claim I'm crazy."
It was indeed a crazy notion. The slightest misjudgment, the tiniest hesitation, and the ebony colt could end up suffering a debilitating, or even mortal, injury. It took skill, commitment, and no small amount of courage to accomplish such a feat.
Perlin's grin was so wide his lips were hurting. He couldn't believe his luck. "Everything I've done has lead up to this." He licked his lips. "It was worth it."
He rushed forwards, his wings beating erratically to launch the wired feathers from both limbs, attacking with the rest of his wings at the same time as he closed in. Dawn retaliated in kind, his wings sending blasts of compressed air at Perlin. However, Perlin either sliced through them with edges of his wings, or shielded himself with them. To keep from getting knocked back, he rolled around the impacts, deflecting them at angles rather than taking them head-on. At the same time, the he wielded the wire-mounted feathers with incredible speed and finesse, using them to attack from odd angles and cut off Dawn's paths of retreat and approach. The two of them danced through the air, darting and ducking around each other, each seeking to outmaneuver the other, but neither gaining the upper hoof. Forced to rely on his sense of touch to feel the feathers just as they came in contact with his skin, Dawn accrued several cuts across his body, fortunately none further than skin-deep.
Finally, Dawn took the initiative, avoiding the wired feathers by dodging into Perlin's space, coming directly in front of him. Before Perlin could move to attack, Dawn launched a powerful blast of air, which forced the older colt to wrap his wings around his front to stop the blast, the force of it driving him back. As he fell back, Perlin whipped one wing out, the motion sending the wired feather attached to it slicing through Dawn's shoulder from behind. The attack actually caught Dawn off guard, so he failed to dodge it as completely as the others, resulting in a deep cut.
That was lucky, thought Dawn, flexing his right foreleg experimentally, A little closer to my center and it might have cut through my flight muscles.
"Got a little careless at the end there," chided Perlin, "I'd hope you'd be taking me more seriously by now."
"And what says that I have not?" asked Dawn, opening his eyes.
A chuckle escaped Perlin as he sneered. "You'd think I wouldn't notice that you're not giving it your all. No matter how good your intentions are, it's insulting to fight someone whose weapon is still sheathed."
Dawn sighed. "True," he admitted, "I have not used all I have at my disposal against you. I felt that it was appropriate though, given that the same could be said about you."
Perlin raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so you noticed?"
"I did. But given that neither of us seems to be able to gain a decisive advantage, I shall have to give up certain luxuries."
"Hmm?" inquired Perlin, "What luxury?"
Closing his eyes, Dawn answered, "My Master once told me that mercy is a luxury you can afford only when you have the power to hold your enemy's life in your hooves. Therefore..." his eyes opened again, their draconic pupils focusing like lasers on Perlin's, "...In order to see the end of this fight, I must give up on sparing your life."
The other colt's sneer was replaced with a grin of almost childlike glee. "Now you're talking!" His muscles tensed as he readied himself for his next attack. "Show me what you can do."
"As you wish." Dawn extended his wings fully, spreading out his primaries and secondaries as far as he could. From his position, Perlin could sense the difference in the way the ebony colt was manipulating the atmosphere. The only other warning he got was the sight of a line extending from the tip of Dawn's wing. It wasn't an actually line per-say, but rather a boundary that seemed to cut through the world itself. Everything on top shifted the barest fraction of an inch one way, while everything below the line shifted the tiniest bit the other.
Perlin ducked, diving downward as fast as he could managed. His ears pricked as they picked up a faint whistling noise passing over his head. His right wing twitched and Perlin gasped as he felt the airflow over it change as something was lost. Looking over, he saw that the tip of his furthest primary feather had been sliced off. Coming to a halt, he stared dumbly at it for a moment. The feather was forged from pure mithril, one of the strongest metals in the world. Only pure orichalcum was stronger.
"How?" Perlin's answer came a little more quickly than he would have liked as he saw Dawn descending down from above, his wings slashing in motions very similar to the way Perlin wielded his own weapons. Realizing that blocking was impossible, Perlin dashed forward and tucked his legs in, feeling the faint kiss of wind as the invisible blades Dawn wielded flashed past. Rolling, Perlin swung his own wing upwards, intending to cut open Dawn's chest. However, the ebony colt retreated, blinking backwards before the attack could reach him. Once again, Perlin released the wired feathers, sending them to attack on separate vectors. He knew his plan would finish the battle, since Dawn hadn't found any way to avoid the feathers, except by responding just as they made contact with him. He would use one feather to force Dawn to dodge one direction, only to find the other waiting for him. He could either get sliced open by the second feather, or stay put and allow both of them to bite into him.
Dawn was well aware of his shortcomings, having not found an answer to the riddle of Perlin's feathers. Dodging them when they had already cut him was a stopgap at best and, as the wound on his shoulder proved, would inevitably lead to a serious injury if he faltered in the slightest. Having the sharper blade meant nothing if he couldn't avoid the enemy's to begin with. In spite of this, he wasn't feeling especially tense about the prospect. In fact, he felt remarkably relaxed.
Part of that had come from his decision to stop withholding his power to avoid killing his opponent. The moment Dawn had given up on taking Perlin alive, much of the strain he had been feeling over the course of the battle seemed to evaporate. Having to hold back and restrain his strength, avoid potentially lethal blows, had built up a great deal of tension. It was a strange inverse of the situation he had been in while fighting Red River and Storm Front. In that battle, Dawn not restrained himself, but had been restrained by his opponents' skills and tactics, resorting to deadlier moves out of desperation.
"Yer too strong. If ya want to master anythin' then ya gotta make yerself weaker." Granny Smith's words from that night so many weeks ago came back to his mind. Is this what she had meant? His spirit certainly no longer felt so tightly wound. By giving up his own forced restraint, had he, in a sense, made himself weaker? It seemed contradictory, but then, so had Granny Smith's advice.
Dawn's consciousness seemed to spread throughout his entire body, out his wings and fill the very air around him. In that moment, he no longer thought, his mind becoming blank. His awareness washed over his opponent and then he saw...
Perlin couldn't explain the impression he received at that moment. Even though his opponent was right before his eyes, Dawn seemed to fade away, become indistinct. He dipped and slid between the two wired feathers as though he had known all along where they would be. As he closed in, he came within wing's-reach of Perlin, who attacked without hesitation, but shifted around as though the older colt had telegraphed his moves a full minute ahead of their execution.
Only Perlin's superb instincts, honed through years of training, warned him of the coming attack. He jerked sharply to the side, just as a faint whistling betrayed the passing of one of the razor-edged crescents of air that Dawn launched off his wings. The attack ended up nicking another of his feathers, slicing through the mithril as though it were butter.
Spinning about, Perlin saw Dawn as though he were looking through a piece of fractured glass. He realized that this meant a whole barrage of slashes was coming his way. Quickly retracting his feathers, Perlin jerked and twisted to slip through the rapid series of attacks. Coming out the other side, he tried to close in with Dawn again. Flicking his wings, Perlin launched the two feathers again, only to retract them immediately as Dawn unleashed a pair of slashes targeting the wires holding the feathers to his wings.
How does he know where they are? A moment ago, Dawn had been forced to evade Perlin's blades by dodging just as they bit into his skin. But all of a sudden, he knew their positions well enough to target them and the wires that tethered them to Perlin's wings. Then it occurred to him. He must be reading the movements I use to control them. Again, a wide grin spread across the older colt's face. This is more than I could ever hope for.
"You seem distinctly pleased," observed Dawn calmly as he steadied himself for the next phase of the battle.
"How could I not be!" exclaimed Perlin, "Offing my dad, working for those lame-as-Tartarus tribalists; everything I've done is to find someone who could let me fight to the fullest extent of my abilities. For years I've honed and refined my skills for the sake of finally getting to use them to their fullest. And now..." A shiver rain up Perlin's wings as he prepared to unleash his trump card. "...Now I get to do exactly that. I hope you're ready for this. Try not to die too quickly."
Dawn frowned, detecting the erratic beat of Perlin's wings. To his shock, this time it was not two feathers that detached themselves, but ten, five from each wing. They all separated from different sections, his primaries, his secondaries, and different sections of his coverts, to avoid affecting his flight ability too much. It was an awe-inspiring technique, quite clearly stating that Perlin knew how to wield all ten feathers without tangling them or losing control. Dawn had realized early on that Perlin could wield more than one feather with each wing. But he'd underestimated just how many.
Again, Dawn entered the state he just had prior. As he did so, a thought occurred to him. He had never before possessed such a complete awareness of both himself and his surroundings. His mind was perfectly clear, a clarity that made him realize something else. My Master and Princess Celestia; could this state be what they were referring to? Dawn doubted he would have a better opportunity. Let's give it one more try.
A low buzz built up as Dawn's magic agitated the air immediately around his feathers. Eventually, that buzz gave way to crackling as electricity build up around him. Not waiting for Perlin's attack to close, Dawn dove straight for his enemy's heart. Stopping just shy of the reach of Perlin's wings, Dawn snapped both his wings forward, electricity arcing between them before a bolt of lightning shot across the gap between him and Perlin.
Perlin yelped and reflexively shielded himself with his wings. The movement completely threw off his original attack, sending all ten feathers off their courses. The lightning struck home with a crack reminiscent of thunder before Perlin retreated, the sparking energy crackling across his wings before fading.
In the meantime, Dawn's wings were surrounded by a nimbus of electricity as lightning rippled along the length of his feathers before cycling back down the appendage's leading edge and across his back and repeating the pattern, always in motion. I see, he thought, So generating it was never the true challenge. The flow must be maintained. When that fails, the power will bleed off into its surroundings, including my own body. That's why I was burned the first time I used this. I failed to maintain the flow and fully guide the release. He realized that the only reason he could maintain the flow of power was because of his current state of clarity, which he had obtained by releasing his own inhibitions.
Perlin stared in awe at the energy charged pony before him. "I had no idea you could do that."
Now it was Dawn's turn to smirk slightly as he allowed the lightning to dissipate into the air. "I only figured out how to do it now. For that, I must thank you. In the course of my battle with you, I reached a new level of understanding for myself and finally realized the technique."
"Heh!" Perlin's laugh was amused and eager. "So, in the course of our battle, you learned a new technique. They say the body contains all the secrets you need and, if you listen to the voice from within, you ultimately discover them. Isn't this a wonderful thing?"
Inside Perlin's heart, a fire blazed. This is ridiculous, he thought, I was so caught up in seeing where I am that it never even occurred to me. I can use this battle as an opportunity to go further still. I can obtain even greater heights. I think I was blessed to meet this guy as an opponent.
The mithril wings rattled as they spread to their fullest. Perlin's yellow eyes narrowed as his muscles tightened like a coiled spring. "I can't wait to see what happens next."
"I'm actually surprised you managed to block that," said Dawn.
"What? These things?" Perlin glanced at his wings, realizing what Dawn meant. "Mithril is actually a pretty good insulator. I can take a few lightning bolts easy with these. So don't worry. Go all out."
"I was planning to." Dawn's wings spread to their fullest once again, crackling electricity once again rippling across their span.
As the two colts prepared for the next, and possibly final, phase of their battle, neither of them noticed what was going on in the distance. A single pony was hurtling towards them from Cloudsdale, a fiery trail extending behind her as she barreled towards the two battling colts. From above, another comet of flame, this one glittering in varied myriad colors ranging from orange and red to violet and emerald plummeted to meet the pony. The two lines of fire intersected...and exploded in a roar as fire filled the sky around the point of impact before curling back into itself as though it were being swallowed, coalescing back into the form of a pegasus, albeit considerably altered.
Before either Dawn or Perlin could react to the sound of the explosion, the pony swept a wing upwards, the wing itself extending into a massive projection of flame that swept between the two colts like a solid wall. Dawn and Perlin withdrew from the intense heat, their eyes wide with shock. The source of the massive attack had been more than a kilometer distant. As one, the two of them turned to regard the new arrival on the battlefield.
The gigantic flaming wing retracted and the new arrival went into motion once again. closing the distance in seconds before coming to a halt between the two colts. "I think that's enough for one day," said the mare in a commanding voice.
Both Dawn and Perlin stared at her, briefly uncomprehending. The mare's eyes were brilliant yellow orbs, seemingly shining like twin suns from her face. Her mane was a feathered crest that waved amidst a nimbus of flames that danced out of the gaps in her blue and gold flight suit. More tongues of flames seemed bleed out of the flight suit around her fetlocks, giving the impression that her coat itself was made of fire. Her wings were orange and red, but the tips looked as though they had been dyed with amethysts. Her tail was perhaps her most striking feature, as it consisted of a series of feathered plumes resembling chains forged from a series of varicolored gemstones running further than the length of her whole body. From the way the plumes whipped about her, it seemed apparent that they could be used as weapons if she so wished.
Both colts blinked as they recognized the voice. "Spitfire?" asked Dawn.
"Yep."
"I see," commented Perlin, his lips curling in a sneer, "I never expected something like this. So this is your power, Dame Spitfire of the Celestial Knights."
Spitfire returned his sneer with a cocky grin that seemed positively terrifying when combined with her featureless yellow eyes. "That's right kiddo. Now you'd better hightail it outta here before I kick your keister back to Trottingham."
Perlin's sneer disappeared as he raised a confused eyebrow. "Wait, you're letting me go?"
"For now," answered Spitfire, "I had half a mind to bring you in, but I've got bigger fish to fry and don't have time to deal with you." Her expression turned into a stern glare. "That is, unless you want me to make time to deal with you."
A dry chuckle escaped the cream-colored colt. "As much as I would look forward to fighting you, I think that the difference in our strengths would make it a little...unpleasant for me. So I will take you up on your generous offer and make myself scarce. Besides, I'm pooped."
With that, Perlin directed one last grin at Dawn before he turned about and began flying away from Cloudsdale, heading downwards as he did so. What his destination was, Dawn couldn't even begin to tell. Seeing that the battle was over, he turned back to Spitfire. "That was quite impressive."
The fiery mare chuckled. "Yeah. I haven't pulled this trick in a long time. It feels good to work with my partner again." At that, the flames surrounding her and even composing her lifted away, as though animated by a will of their own, leaving behind Spitfire with her normally fiery mane and tail (albeit with less actual fire) and regular orange eyes. The cloud of flame congealed into the form of a brilliantly colored phoenix, whose tail and crest had replaced Spitfire's tail and mane respectively.
"Your partner?"
Spitfire ran an affectionate hoof over the bird's head, ruffling the feathers of his crest. "Yeah, Ouranos and I have been working together since before I was Knighted. He's one of my oldest friends."
"That's...very..." Dawn wobbled unsteadily as his strength suddenly seemed to fade. All of a sudden he was very tired and was no longer certain he could remain in the air. Beginning to lose altitude, Dawn was suddenly aware of a strong set of arms encircling him and holding him up.
"Whoa there," said Spitfire as she shifted the colt onto her back, "You two were going at it pretty hard there. And I'm sorry to say that you took the worst of it. You've lost a good bit of blood too."
Dawn lazily turned his head to eye the deeper cut on his shoulder. There was no spurting or pulsing, but blood was leaking out all the same. Even the smaller nicks dotting his body were showing droplets of blood.
"Just hang on there kiddo," instructed Spitfire, "I'm gonna take you to get those looked at. Try to stay awake. We don't want you going into shock." With a powerful beat of her wings, Spitfire surged into motion, heading back towards the city of Cloudsdale with her charge, her partner falling in behind and above her.
Rainbow Dash stared with wide eyes at the sight that greeted her and Soarin' as they carted Meadowlark and Sky Runner back to the Cloudiseum. The battle was over and the good guys had won. A crowd of disarmed and dispirited enforcers sat together in the center of the floor, ringed by stern-looking Guards. One by one, they were being processed and escorted out of the arena, presumably to a waiting carriage that would take them to the prison that Rainbow had previously occupied. Given the number of ponies needing to be sent, the whole thing was taking a while. The Wonderbolts were overseeing affairs and just generally keeping an eye on things.
Off to one side, a medical station had been set up, where members of the Guard with medical training, assisted by a few of the Wonderbolts with similar skills, were going through the process of providing treatment for the wounded, with carriages from the hospital on the way for more serious cases. On the other side, a smaller group of ponies, the ones who had been behind the whole situation, had been rounded up and were presumably awaiting "special treatment."
"Looks like things are under control here," observed Soarin' as the two of them carted their prisoners to be with the rest of the ringleaders.
"You guys just brought the last of them." Rainbow and Soarin' looked up to see a yellow-maned stallion descending on them from above. Rainbow immediately recognized Rapidfire, who was one of the more well known members of the 'Bolts, mostly because of his superficial resemblance to Spitfire, which had caused several ponies to speculate that they were siblings. Behind him hovered a mare with an ice blue-mane, Fleetfoot, who was watching everything with a rather dispassionate expression. However, when her eyes met Rainbow's, they narrowed into an angry glare.
Okay then... Rainbow blinked in confusion, wondering just what she had done to get the notoriously temperamental mare angry at her. However, she shrugged the question off as she continued to listen to Rapidfire and Soarin'.
"With this, we've got all the heads together," said Soarin', surveying the group of despondent ponies, "There must be at least one from each of the major families here. Depending on how far their conspiracy goes, we might be able to wrangle even more once this is over."
Rainbow Dash fought down a bubble of eager glee in her stomach. The old families and clans residing in Cloudsdale had formed the core of its tribalist presence, making their influence felt on the city council and in the administration of the Flight School. If Soarin's assessment was correct, then the old families' stranglehold on Cloudsdale's political power could be broken.
"That doesn't change the fact that we screwed up," growled Fleetfoot, prompting Rapidfire and Soarin' to turn to her in confusion.
"Screwed up?" asked Soarin', "We got the ringleaders and pretty much all of the grunts. How is this screwing up?"
"You know exactly why!" snapped Fleetfoot, "We jumped the gun and we don't have any leads on the other half of the artilleryheads! They're still out there and we have no idea where they are!" She whirled on Soarin'. "You were supposed to find out where they were when they shipped out that next load. But instead, they're sitting there in the weather factory and we have no idea where they were supposed to go. We failed big time." Now she snapped her glare straight over at Rainbow Dash. "And it's all your fault."