//------------------------------// // Thunder in the Dark // Story: Odrsjot // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// Fire erupted out the side of a forested hillside. Rainbow Dash burst on through, her body outracing the flames and streams of loose soil. Spiraling, she plunged towards a thin forest of trees that had formed northwest of the desert. A large open valley dipped below, but it fell from her sight as her flailing body twirled wildly, struck the ground, and came to a grinding stop against powdery dirty and dying grass. "Mmmfnnngh... guhhh..." The ends of her mane and tail hairs flickered with tiny sparks. Soot and sediment covered her from head to hooves. But she was alive. "Grnnngh... koff... haackkt..." Rainbow flexed her muscles, pushing up on quivering legs. "Celestia on a bike! I friggin' hate caves." Gravity took over, and Rainbow slumped down onto her fuzzy belly. She moaned into the dirt, then tilted her head up towards the stars. The bright sight of the Lighting Bearer loomed above. It was the closest she had seen it thundering overhead since Nevlamas shook the pegasus off her pursuit, but Rainbow had no energy to dart after it. She felt burns on her extremities, and her wings ached all the way to her spine. Every squirming movement her muscles made sent waves of anguish through her legs, tail, and feathers. The stars faded, giving into blackness. The faces of Bellesmith, Pilate, and Kera dwindled in the dark, and as Rainbow fluttered her eyes shut, she imagined she was on a cloud over green fields and sapphiric ponds. The happy voices of friends rang beneath her, and she gave a devilish smirk. "So... so easier this way..." she whispered into the air as the wind picked up. "I should have..." She clenched her teeth, curling into a fetal position on the grass as her burns surrendered to memories. "Should have just joined y-you guys..." Her eyelashes glistened with beads of moisture. "Do not let the fires consume you, Austraeoh," the voice boomed. Rainbow gasped, her eyes flinging wide open and dry. She looked towards the sky, twitching to spot the author of that noise. The stars broke with a shadow, then flickered naked once more. The pegasus could have sworn she heard the massive beating of wings, growing faint in the distant horizon. "You are something greater than death." And just like that, the voice was gone. "Nevlamas...?" Rainbow Dash stood up, wincing. Her knees quivered as she took a few limp steps down the dusty hill. "No. No friggin' way. That's..." The mountain exploded above her. She spun east and gasped, her ruby pupils shrinking. "Hressshaaaaaukkt!" The Dark Divine burst through the hillside as if it was made of sand. With antlers brimming with chaos shards, she glared down at Rainbow Dash, her twin slits shining aquamarine beams through the desolation. Rainbow gritted her teeth. With one beat of her wings, she was back in action, spiraling northwest across the valley. "Raaaaaaaaauchkkkt!" Nevlamas tore through the air after her, launching sporadic burst of flame. The fireballs sailed earthward, landing in the forest of withered trees and igniting their dry branches. As the chunks of plasma exploded, they gave birth to shrieking serpents who flew through the air, launching themselves at Rainbow's speeding body. "Nnnngh!" Rainbow beat the first wave off with her legs, headbutted a second charge, then spun upside down through the trees with her head tilted downward to more properly expose her pendant to the night. With a bright strobe of ruby energy, she dissolved the shrieking companies of serpents attacking her head-on. Twirling about, she glided her way through the trees, with reptilian agents of chaos lighting up the parts of the forest that weren't burning as they attacked her flank. All the while, Nevlamas coasted over the scene, her massive shadow spreading over Rainbow Dash in the starlight. With wings spread wide, she snarled and launched a wide swath of flame over the valley. The aquamarine plasma formed a perfect ring of fire. Surrounded by sparks and leaping serpents, Rainbow Dash had no choice but to launch her body out of the forest. She shot up, the burning branches sliding out of her peripheral vision. There was a flash of starlight, then the Divine's two snapping jaws. "Hressshaaaaa!" "Gimme a dang break!" Rainbow's voice cracked. With agile grace, she twirled, missed both jaws, and planted her hooves against the edge of the dragon's lunging snout. Nevlamas' nostrils flared, raising the temperature all around Rainbow. The pegasus kicked off before twin spurts of flame could consume her body. Hurdling over Nevlamas' forehead, she aimed a ruby spotlight at her eyes. "Smile, gorgeous!" "Auugh!" Nevlamas' skull reeled back, and she spung. A single wing sliced through the air, and its leathery scales smacked into Rainbow's body. "Gaaah!" she soared skyward like a hoofball, being swallowed by the stars. Nevlamas gazed up, her eyesight returning as she produced thunder with a growling breath. Beating her wings even harder, she sailed after the pegasus' loose figure. Gasping, Rainbow Dash ascended through a thin veil of clouds, flying as swiftly into the chilling altitudes as her wings could afford. It was no use. Nevlamas caught up, her body causing loud explosions of distorted air with each wing-flap. With a deep inhale, her chest lit up like an aquamarine boiler, and she vomited so much flame into the air that the war-torn valley glowed with virtual daylight. When the flash was over, and only starlight remained, Nevlamas stared through the settling smoke and ashes. "Hchkkkkt...?!" Her body twitched, every bloody scale freezing over in confusion. For the pegasus was gone...