Longma

by JeckParadox


13. Crow's Day Off Part 2

"Spitfire, about this race... you sure?" Blaze asked. "...I mean, it's just a bet at it's base, and with only a trainee. It's not something you should take so seriously-"
Spitfire removed her sunglasses and raised an eyebrow. "Blaze, this is more than just a bet. The honor of the Wonderbolts is staked on this. Now, you know as well as I do that Rainbow Dash has shown more raw talent and potential than anypony else we've interviewed in the last two decades. Not to mention her connection with the Princesses. I think we should be willing to go along with her for this... heaven knows commander Stratosphere let me get away with a few things I never thought I'd be able to get away with... but beyond that, we're doing this to honor the Wonderbolt name."
Blaze rolled her eyes. "Sis, if we accepted the challenge of every pony with a bone to pick with the Wonderbolts we'd be racing 24/7 with losers who don't know better."
"Exactly. This isn't just someone with a bone to pick with the Wonderbolts, this is a special case... you've heard about all the craziness going up North about a month ago?"
"Yeah... Luna went up North to deal with a Crystal Pony thing... it had something to do with Sombra at least...right?"
"Another 'lost Empire' popped back up. The Night Empire... come on, think back, Stratosphere spent more than one day ranting about them."
Blaze looked down at the shaved cloud floor. "...the original team? The first Wonderbolt squad was created as part of the Civil War against Nightmare Moon... I didn't really believe much of it, after all, after a thousand years most records become unreliable. And even in the oldest and most detailed ones only referenced them."
"Well... the appearance of Nightmare Moon and her Empire should help you with your belief in Stratosphere's stories. The original team all died in the civil war."
Blaze narrowed her eyes. "Yeah?"
"And Rainbow Dash's friend happens to be one of the soldiers who helped make that happen."
Blaze frowned for a few seconds before sighing. "So you want to race this soldier based on what some other pony did a thousand years ago, in revenge for the original Wonderbolts?"
"No, no, of course not." Spitfire waved the thought away. "Though, based on what Rainbow implied, he was directly involved. But revenge isn't the Equestrian way. We are holding up the Wonderbolts' honor based on something else entirely."
"And what is that?"
"He accused us of not being worthy of the title of Wonderbolt. He claimed that we were an insult to the Wonderbolts' honor. And I intend to prove him wrong."
Blaze nodded. "Alright. I'm in.... though I want to make a suggestion."


Crow grinned as the Captain of the Wonderbolts walked in, a determined expression on her face. "Hello, Spitfire right? Rainbow Dash told me the Captain wanted to speak to me." He fluttered over and began bobbing close to her face. "Do you want to back out of the race?"
"No. The exact opposite actually. I've given the order to the Wonderbolts that you are going in last place."
"Oh? Does this mean you're all going to cheat?"
"No, not at all." Spitfire smirked. "It just means that nopony's holding back."
Crow nodded with a wide smile. "That's always good to hear! So... why are you here? I was going to go all out from the beg-... well, at least against Rainbow Dash."
"You were around a thousand years ago... correct?"
"Yes."
"I'd like the chance to talk to you about the first Wonderbolts."
Crow's grin shifted into an emotion that Spitfire didn't recognize. "Sure, I didn't know any of them personally, at least as ponies, but I knew all about them. I even met them a few times."
"Alright... the Wonderbolts are possibly the most well-recorded and longest lasting teams in history, but even our earliest recorded information is 'in the memory' of the first twenty Wonderbolts."
"..."
"I want to know more about the twenty ponies who left a thousand year legacy. The Wonderbolts is the most prestigious Pegasus group in Equestria, accepting only five or so members every ten years. We are part of the military, but there's an insane number of requirements for any of us to actually be sent into battle. The last time any of us saw action it was only for a Dragon attack in Ponyville... We're essentially knights, but we have a long tradition of doing public shows and competitions... I want to know about the creation of the Wonderbolts, I want to know why we've lasted this long and what we stand for."
Crow looked at her for a little while. "How long til the derby?"
"We have about an hour, but we can delay it or talk at a later date."
Crow hesitated for a few more seconds before making a wide smile. "Alright. I'll tell you all about them. But, just to put two things in the open; the Wonderbolts murdered almost everypony I cherished and grew up with, and maimed the last few. And I murdered all twenty of the originals in revenge." He said it good naturedly with a genuine smile on his face. "Still want to take my word for what they were?"
Spitfire's eyes widened and she gulped in a breath of air. She was no coward, but no modern pony was likely to meet a 'murderer' in their lifetime. The thought of ponies killing each other was deeply unsettling to her. "...Alright... just promise to be as honest and tell me as much as you can." But this was something that had been bothering her since childhood, and this might be her only chance.
"Okay." Crow said, looking around before touching a grandfather clock in the corner hesitantly. As it didn't fall through the cloud he sighed and climbed on top of it, watching the cloud floor a little nervously.
"...is there any reason you have to tell me from on top of a clock?"
"Can't touch clouds, well I can, but they're just water."
"But-"
"I'm a Longma, not a Pegasus. Now then... where should I begin?"
"...why were they originally created?"
"Celestia was gathering 'mages' from all the Solar tribes before the Civil War started. She only found one or two Earth Ponies that could qualify, and she found a ton of Unicorns, but the biggest surprise were the twenty-one Pegasi with magic control on the same level as a Unicorn. She personally trained them, qualifying as a Pegasus mage herself, and had them become the greatest Pegasi force to be created since the days of the Ancient Pegasus Empire. They were a simple military force, and once the Civil War started they completed every assignment given to them..." he looked down, smiling sadly. "They even managed to destroy a Tower that had a civilian population nearly that of Cloudsdale." He looked back up at her. "However, because of their success, every noble in Equestria was attempting to order them to their own fronts, to do their own dirtywork. So Celestia began taking direct control of their actions. When this became too much of a hassle, she gave their leader, and their only survivor later on, the authority to order around the Wonderbolts without talking to any nobles. Apparently this system has changed a bit in a millenium." his smile shifted slightly and he let out a breath of air. "The Wonderbolts were an elite fighting force, with their own authority. The group was created to protect Equestria by their own judgement."
Spitfire frowned slightly. "Thank you..."
"What's wrong?"
"I... I suppose I was expecting more."
"I didn't know them personally. I did a bit of research after they blew up my family home, left my sister flightless, and left several of my closest friends dead." He said with a shrug. "The first time I met any of them was when I killed them."
Spitfire narrowed her eyes at this. "That leads to my second point. You look like a tough pony, don't get me wrong, but you don't look like you could take on an entire team of Wonderbolts, heck, most Dragons probably can't take on an entire team of Wonderbolts. It makes your story less reliable."
Crow's eyes narrowed and his smile became more wild. "Alright. You want the detailed version or the summary?"
Spitfire looked at the clock. "The summary. I have a race to win in ten minutes."
"Likewise. Alright... they were making an attack on a gathering of our troops that thought they were concealed. They took advantage of a nearby thunderstorm and guided it above our camp. Curious, I flew above the cloud as stealthily as I could, and found fifteen of them focusing on making a Disaster Bomb." Crow made a motion with his hooves. "It's like trying to compress a hurricane into the size of your head. Anyway, it was high-level magic and was taking up all their concentration. The other five were acting as scouts. I managed to surprise one of them, and killed her. I made my way around the circle of scouts, and took them out without alerting the fifteen in the center." He took in a breath. "Then was a brawl. I attacked the fifteen in the center by surprise, charging through, and breaking one of their necks and letting two more drop with broken wings. At that point the others noticed me, and I probably would have been torn apart if they didn't let of of their Disaster Bomb. It knocked us all away and covered the area with clouds." he smiled cruelly. "Wingponies and Leadponies were separated. They were panicking, and one on one, none of them could stand up to me. I picked them off one at a time until about there were only six left. They gathered together and simply brawled it out with me mid-air. In the end I killed three more and all four of us remaining were too injured to fly. In the end I suppose I only took out seventeen. The rest was me being lucky enough to survive the crash while they didn't."
Spitfire gaped at him for a little while. Eventually she shook herself slightly and looked back at the Longma. "That... okay... I think I believe you..." she glanced down at her knees and was relieved to find they weren't shaking.
"...well, what now, Captain? Where does this leave us? Is this race going to be your revenge? I've learned by now that Solar Ponies frown on Duels."
"No... it was a thousand years ago... I... don't really have anything to say about that. I didn't know any of them personally. You were serving your country, they were serving their's. I can leave it like that."
Crow nodded. "That's awfully big of you Captain. So, shall we meet at the track then?"
"Actually... I have one thing to say. This is Wonderbolts home turf. You insulted us and said we didn't measure up to our ancestors. I'm taking revenge for that."
Crow narrowed his eyes and let his shark grin get impossibly wider. "Alright!"


"So... about that teleporty-thing." Rainbow began.
"What teleporty thing?"
"When we raced before, you were next to me one second, and the next you were a half-mile ahead of me!"
"Oh! That! Hehehe... teleporting eh? I suppose you could call it that." The Longma looked at her. "But really, it's more about taking shortcuts where you don't expect them."
"I don't follow."
The Longma stretched out a hoof. "Did you know Equestria's weather is absolutely insane? The natural paths of air have been turned into a huge insane shifting labrinth. But why would a Pegasus ever know that? You make your own wind whenever you want to fly, which is part of the problem, honestly. It just builds up. Why do you think birds need to be guided via Pegasus outside Equestria's borders every time they want to migrate?"
"What does any of that have to do with you?"
"Longma magic doesn't work anywhere near the same way as Pegasus." The Longma gave look toward the sky. "We just make ourselves light enough to fly, and then let our wings and the wind carry us from there on. Your wings are mostly for show. You don't need to be able to tell how the wind moves. When I do my 'teleporting thingy', I ride the fastest possible air current. I spin to increase my speed and decrease my surface area, I make myself as light as possible, and just let it carry me in the right direction. Then I stop spinning and get heavier to leave. I've trained for years how to do it. Though, in a race like this, it's mostly useless. I'll have to keep fairly heavy in order to not get blown away by all of you guys."
"Well... that's underwhelming... is Equestria's weather really that messed up?"
Crow gestured toward a flag, flapping gently a few hundred feet away. "Do you feel any wind?"
"...huh..."
"Stop chatting and get ready! We race at the sound of the trumpet!" Spitfire shouted.
Their audience of one sat at the edge of her seat, holding a flag that said 'Go Rainbow Dash!'. "You can do it!" Scootaloo shouted.
A referee stepped forward, readying a golden trumpet. "On your marks!!" He shouted.
"Get Set!"
He blew into the trumpet and the eight ponies shot off from their starting positions; beating their wings as hard as they could.


Fleetfoot, as per usual, was in the head. She had a knack for races, her cutie mark was a lightning bolt with a checkered flag tied to it after all. She glanced backward to the left and smiled to see that the next few closest ponies were all wearing light blue suits. She glanced to the right and frowned that a black blur was close to them.
The eight of them were fairly matched. They were Equestria's elites, and none of them would be put in last place for long. Fleetfoot was a veteran of the races, but so was Rapidfire. Blaze, Surprise, and Soarin were all mostly showponies, with Soarin their leader. So they tended to be behind Rapidfire and Fleetfoot the most often. Rainbow Dash was in training to join Soarin's team in order to do Wonderbolt shows, but that training was mostly for experience's sake. Her raw wingpower was enough in a race at the very least.
The biggest variables were Spitfire and Crow Moon. Neither were in their element, but out of all the ponies there, those two had the most wingpower. When there was a straight shot to speed up both would gain a huge amount of ground, but if held up they were passed more easily than the others.
Crow growled whenever a Wonderbolt got close to him, and he shifted lanes quickly and erratically as he tried to gain ground. He had underestimated the current Wonderbolts. He wasn't ready to admit they would be better than the originals. But the originals weren't legends for any skills on a race track. They were legends for their magic. These Wonderbolts wouldn't do anywhere as well in a fight, he could tell. A soldier would never flinch from a mere glare during a friendly competition. But this wasn't a fight. This was a race. Crow was fast, and he knew body language better than written language, but despite all that, the stances taken by Fleetfoot and Rapidfire were styles he didn't know. He couldn't predict where they would be like he could for the others. And without knowing that he might hurt them. If he bursted ahead at full speed, it would require him to be so light that brushing up against them could launch him off his course, possibly even hurting him. If he wanted to protect himself from that he would have to sacrifice speed by being heavy enough to sustain their attacks- er... any impact, he supposed. But at that weight, and at that speed, if he crashed into one of them, it'd hurt them, probably knock them off the track instead.
"Whose bright idea was it to race in a circle?!" he growled to himself as he once again was unable to move forward from Rapidfire blocking his path, and watched with increasing anger as Rainbow passed him.
"Getting tired?" Rainbow taunted as she continued along the path.
"Ready for the mohawk Rainbow?" Crow shouted back, managing to find a path around Rapidfire and getting in front of Rainbow by decreasing his weight. "I was thinking we could make a separate crest for every ridiculous mane color!"
"I'll have you know that my mane is the most awesome mane in existence!"
"Lies! Slander! You have not gazed upon Nightmare Moon after she gets out of bed!" Crow taunted, causing Rainbow's face to contort from the mental image. He smiled as she began laughing so hard she almost forgot to flap for a few seconds. Then he remembered who she was laughing at. He converted the rage into fuel and pumped his wings even harder, wincing slightly as he moved them past his usual limit at this weight.
Spitfire spiralled past Rainbow Dash, winking at Crow as she slipped past him, flying directly in front of him. He dived to the side, and he let out a sigh of irritation as Spitfire made the same move. They passed the starting line for the umpteenth time when he heard the Ref shout "Final Lap!"
"Oh crud." Crow hissed. He decreased his weight and let the pleasant sensation of the sudden decreased strain on his wings wash through him. He then pushed past the new limit, firing him around Spitfire, then Rapidfire, and finally, he found himself behind Fleetfoot. "I shall dedicate this victory to the Night Empire!" He cried out.
Fleetfoot glanced behind her and began shifting lanes to prevent Crow from flying past her. Rainbow and Spitfire shared a look as they saw the Longma and the blue Pegasus match each other. "Throw me."
"What?!" Rainbow hissed.
"Throw me, that's an order!"
"Isn't that against the rules?"
"I've never heard of a no-throwing rule. We're just not supposed to push each other off the track, your giving me a boost."
"Then why can't you throw me?"
"I've got more wingpower! Now then, do you want to see your Captain in first place or a rainbow mohawk?!"
Rainbow sighed and grabbed Spitfire around the waist, "Don't worry, I've seen this done before!" Rainbow said as she flung her Captain ahead.
Crow watched the finish line get closer and closer. He was going to win! He decreased his weight even more, but before he could flap his wings the final time that would launch him past the finish line an orange mare was thrown past him, her wings beating as fast as they could. His eyes widened as he collided with her flank, knocked backwards by the impact, and then thrown every possible direction by her wingbeats. The ref watched as the Longma spiralled away from the track and through the air, getting carried by every stream of clueless Equestrian wind.
The seven Wonderbolts skidded across the finish line, all watching silently as the knocked-out Longma flipped and lazily spun through the air aimlessly like a discarded newspaper.


"So... how you feeling?" Rainbow asked.
"Whuh... where am I?" Crow said, opening his eyes and trying to sit up, only for the ringing sound in his head to get worse and force him back down.
"Ponyville General Hospital." Hissed Jaeger. "You idiot."
"Hey, don't be so harsh on him, he has a concussion." Twilight chided.
"One day off... and not only do you race the Princess's friend, again, because we all know how well it turned out the first time, but you get yourself so injured in your own recklessness that you're not well enough to serve!" Jaeger roared, making Crow wince at the noise.
"Hey!" Twilight growled, glaring at Jaeger. "This is not the time to stress him."
"...Yes Princess."
Twilight put a hoof to her forehead. "Rainbow told me everything. I know all about everything that happened."
Crow winced. Sinking deeper into his bed.
"And I think it was sweet."
"...what?"
Rainbow Dash puts a hoof to her muzzle in a 'shoosh' gesture, unseen by Twilight. "I just told Twilight about how Scootaloo really wanted to see a Wonderbolt Derby, so you volunteered to race, not to mention paying for everything."
The Longma stared at her for a few seconds, turning his head slightly. "It... it was the least I could do... and, I suppose I feel I still owe you."
Rainbow grinned. "I'll be sure to ask Scootaloo if she has anything for a 'vampire' to do."
"So, Princess, how was your picnic?" Crow asked.
"It was a lot of fun... though it turns out I had a bodyguard with me anyway."
"Huh?"
"Crescent decided to join us, It was actually a lot of fun. She and Applejack got along fairly well, and she got into a conversation with Rarity about Longma fashion." Twilight giggled. "Rarity almost cut the picnic short to update my 'grand unveiling' dress plans."


Twilight left a little while later to get permission from the hospital to take Crow home, Jaeger going with her. That left Rainbow Dash and Crow alone in the room. "So... I did this for Scootaloo, eh?"
"Yep. Apparently." Rainbow said grinning. "I figured I could cover you up in front of Twi, after all, you tolerated an entire afternoon of pure Wonderbolts for me, not to mention you are technically responsible for Scootaloo getting her own private Wonderbolt Derby." Rainbow nudged him in the arm. "I consider us even for you spooking me a few weeks ago." Rainbow and Crow sat in a comfortable silence for a few seconds. "I'm still collecting on our bet though."
"What bet? I never made any bet. I am heavily concussed, and I apparently did a race for charity for a filly."
"You're not getting out of this that easily." Rainbow said cheerfully. "I took the opportunity to order tickets for the three of us to the next five Wonderbolt shows in the area with the money you promised me."
"The three of us?" Crow asked.
"Me, you, Scoots. She thought it was a lot of fun, I don't see why though, seeing as all you did was pay and give her some ill-gotten popcorn."
"...you know... the show wasn't that bad."
Rainbow grinned. "I'll make you into a bolt fan yet."