//------------------------------// // ...And Back Into the Fire // Story: The Equestria Games: Flight of the Pegasi // by Cerulean Voice //------------------------------// “I’m tellin’ ya, Pinkie, we’re gonna need some solid proof if we’re gonna catch that sneaky weasel.” The two Earth ponies trudged back to the scene of the crime—Pinkie bounced—as they searched for any clues regarding Golden’s missing cart. “Has anypony come forward and reported it at all, d’ya reckon?” “I dunno.” Pinkie shrugged, more bubbles escaping from her pipe. “Hey, there’s an idea!” A glowing lightbulb appeared over her head. “Why don’t you ask around and see if anypony saw somepony else around here, looking sort of shady?” She grabbed the lightbulb and stuffed it into her mane. “You’ll be useful later.” Applejack rolled her eyes. “All right. I’ll start askin’ around while you look for clues. Just promise me you won’t go wanderin’ off, okay?” Pinkie nodded eagerly as she pulled out a magnifying glass from her tail. “Sure thing, then. Guess I’ll start with these here crystal citizens,” Applejack said. “Okey dokey Loki, Applejack!” Pinkie zipped up and gave her a friendly squeeze before bouncing off to the cart’s former tethering post. AJ brought a hoof to her face. “I hope that pony knows how important this situation is. Ponyville could be in mighty great strife if we don’t find the varmint who did this.” *  *  *  *  * A dragon. Of all things, a dragon! Fluttershy’s heart skipped a beat or three as she started into the face of certain doom. A massive creature with mottled red and orange scales, the winged wyrm dwarfed the pony by multiple times in size. Oh… my, those fangs… “Fluttershy!” Merry May approached the fear-stricken mare as she saw her life flash before her eyes. “Fluttershy, come on! Forget the dragon, follow me!” The green pegasus flew up to Fluttershy and slapped her face, jerking her out of her petrification. “Equestria to Fluttershy! Move it, honey!” Fluttershy shook her head quickly, still staring up at the dragon’s beady black eyes. “Oh, um… yes.” Finally remembering how to use her wings properly, Fluttershy accelerated away from the dragon towards her golden ring, Merry May and the red giant in hot pursuit. Her furiously pounding heart, having not had time to recover from her workout, begged her for a respite even as the effects of adrenaline set in. “A dragon? Where the hay did that come from?” Dizzy Twister rocketed up to them, panting rapidly. “We’ve gotta get outta here!” “It’s no good, the dragon’s gaining—look out!” Merry cried as the behemoth belched a plume of spiraling flames in their direction. Fluttershy ducked low, dropping in altitude further than she meant to out of exhaustion. Luckily, too; the flames passed right over her vacated position. Dizzy gasped. “Fluttershy, are you all right?” Fluttershy responded with a weak nod as she fought to regain her altitude. “Let’s get to those rings, already!” “I’ll help her out!” Merry flew underneath Fluttershy, bearing a little of her weight. The dragon roared again, flapping its own wings with enough force to create a vicious wind. The buffeting breeze blew the duo off-course as the dragon stretched out its neck to take a bite— “Hey!” The dragon looked up at the new distraction; Fleetfoot had entered the fray. “You leave those ponies alone, or you’re dealing with me, buster!” As the dragon leered in defiance and switched its focus toward her, she yelled, “Get to your rings! Move it, ponies!” “Are you insane?” Dizzy hovered in place, stunned at the reckless Wonderbolt's attitude. “That thing’ll tear you to shreds!” “I’ll be fine, I’ve taken on larger than this sort before. Get moving—get to your rings!” Dizzy nodded, flying over to aid Fluttershy and Merry. “I don’t care if I’m helping the competition,” she declared. “It’ll be a cold day in Tartarus before I leave anypony to the mercy of a dragon like that!” Breathing heavily, the three exhausted pegasi flew haphazardly towards the end of the stadium, each of their golden rings separated from one another by only a few metres. Chancing a glance backwards, Dizzy caught a glimpse of Natalya racing to her own goal, the other competitors barely acknowledged. “Nice to see the true spirit of our esteemed guests.” Her eyes narrowed briefly, before returning to her goal. Having reached the drop-off point, the trio of pegasi approached their own rings, where their final teammates awaited them. “Whoa!” Rainbow Dash's cry prompted a glance back from Fluttershy; Fleetfoot had swept towards the dragon’s eyeballs, apparently aiming to gouge them out… and passed right through the beast’s elongated head. “Fleetfoot! It’s an illusion! Ignore it and come back, you’ve done more than enough!” Rainbow called. Fleetfoot turned and fled, numb from the sensation of passing through a seemingly corporeal living being. Rainbow turned to Fluttershy as the Wonderbolt made her way to Spitfire for the trade. “Flutters, the horseshoe! Pass me the horseshoe!” With a final, meek effort, Fluttershy offered up her leg, close to fainting as she felt the metal shard swiped from her hoof. Dear Celestia, may I just… go to sleep now? Fluttershy’s body ached like never before; her wings were seizing up, her back and shoulders throbbing from overuse. She spied Fleetfoot passing their baton to Spitfire and shot her cornflower saviour a weak grin of thanks. The Wonderbolt responded by offering a lazy wing-up before descending to the ground herself. As Fluttershy began to fall from fatigue, two medical pegasi bearing a stretcher flew up to greet her. Only when she had relaxed onto the ground-bound stretcher did she acknowledge the dull roar of the crowd. She wondered when exactly she had been stricken with temporary deafness. She supposed that they must have been screaming in fear, or cheering in ecstasy… she couldn't tell one from the other. Yes, I’m definitely taking that rest now. Good luck… Rainbow Dash. *  *  *  *  * “So, we’ve been over the plan enough times?” the brown one asked. She flexed her enormous wings and held her talons in front of her face, bored at the proceedings. “I’ve got the Fillydelphian stallion and the frisky mare, you’ve got the Wonderbolt.” “I know the plan already!” the blue one hissed from within the dense cloud cover. “You don’t have to keep reminding me, you know!” “All right already, jeez. Somepony’s in need of a chill pill.” The brown one lazily drifted back into position. “Just relax and stick to the plan. Are you sure you have enough thunderclouds stocked up in there?” The blue one snorted. “Please. I have enough electrical power here to level a town. Spitfire won’t know what hit her.” Her eyes narrowed, the vivid orange almost shining a beacon through the thick stratus cover. “And neither will Rainbow Dash.” *  *  *  *  * “You’ve gone mad! How could you put Fluttershy through that?” Twilight's horn glowed as she stared at Miss Harshwhinny. “Did you even put a shred of consideration into what could have happened? Fluttershy could have… she might have…” Twilight stared at the ground, her eyes betraying her emotions. “I can understand your concern, Princess Sparkle, but I assure you, Fluttershy was in no danger. None of the competitors faced any true peril at all. Observe—” Philomena reappeared in a flash of flame, once more perched upon Celestia’s shoulders. “You see?” Harshwhinny continued. “It was all an illusion spell cast by Princess Luna to shape-shift Princess Celestia’s pet. All she did was enlarge the image of the phoenix’s fake form.” Twilight's rebuttal was swift. “It’s not that I was worried for her physically. Just imagine the mental scars that you’ve now burdened my friend with! Fluttershy is deathly afraid of fully-grown dragons; one time, it took the four of our friends plus myself to drag her up to a dragon’s den! Even then it was a struggle.” Twilight took a deep breath, closed her eyes and exhaled, swinging a leg in front of her. Her magical glow dissipated. “Just… let me get my emotions together, please? I’m going to check on my friend and make sure her heart hasn’t given out.” As Twilight exited the crystal box and headed for the medical bay, Rarity rounded on Princess Luna. “With all due respect, Princess, why did you agree to that ridiculous challenge in the first place?” Despite seething on the inside, Rarity kept her lady-like composure. Perhaps she has a good reason. “Your question is justified, fair Rarity,” Luna replied. “Alas, our aim was not to scare any athlete to death, but rather to inspire courage and determination in each of them. While it is unfortunate that poor Fluttershy has suffered for her team greatly, you cannot deny what we all saw. Everypony—almost everypony—teamed up against the dragon to save each other from what was, at the time, a very valid and direct threat. Even the Cloudsdale team took on our projection, though it would have greatly benefited Fleetfoot event-wise to ignore her rivals.” Luna smiled at Rarity, serene grace filtering through her every syllable. “Despite the stress those team members underwent, there is no denying that in the end, they acted with generosity, bravery and compassion in the face of extreme adversity. It is that very spirit that the Equestria Games has always strove to promote.” Rarity thought about the princess’ words, mulling it over in her mind. “I concur with your point, Princess. Forgive me for the question.” “There is nothing to forgive, Rarity.” Celestia approached her and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “You asked a perfectly valid question out of concern for your friend. Once more, your generous nature shines through.” Rarity blushed at Celestia’s words. “Now you should probably go and check on your friends. I’m sure that either group would greatly appreciate your presence.”