Rainbow Dash awoke to the rising sun, a little stiff from having to sleep on the rocky hard ground. She gave a big yawn and stretched a few times to loosen herself up. When she pulled out her earplugs, she turned around and was shocked to see her friends tied up and gagged and squirming to get free. Their cries for help were almost inaudible.
"What the hay is go-" she was cut off when a gag was pulled over her mouth, followed by two other Wingstrikers holding her down against her will as they tied up her legs and wings. The strong pegasus fought back as hard as she could, but she was too weak from having just woken up, so she was forced to submit.
Then Rainbow noticed a familiar little filly walking up to her wearing a bizarre new fashion statement.
"Sorry it had to be like this, Rainbow Dash." Scootaloo said apathetically. Rainbow Dash couldn't believe her eyes. She shook her head hard enough for the gag to fall out of her mouth.
"Scootaloo?! What are you doing wearing that uniform?"
"I see you've met my new protege." Zoom Blade came up and joined the side of the disgruntled filly.
"Say what?!" Rainbow Dash blurted out.
"That's right." Scootaloo continued. "Zoom Blade says she's gonna be my flying teacher now."
Rainbow Dash was struck dumbfounded and unable to speak. She could only stare in horror at the idea that her own little apprentice had betrayed her to her enemy.
Meanwhile, Spike, who was tied up behind the other ponies, decided to use his fire breath to burn his gag and ropes off and free himself. He was about to do the same for the others, but then the a bunch of Wingstrikers, including the familiar trio, came down and picked them up off the ground and he rushed to hind behind a nearby rock.
"What should we do with 'em, Captain?" Leatherwing asked eagerly.
"Put them someplace where they won't get in our way." The dastardly leader ordered.
The ponies didn't like the sound of that, of course, and Spike new he had to think fast in order to save them. He followed them as they were flown away to Celestia knows where.
-----
Soon, our heroes found themselves trapped behind metal bars inside a dormant volcano. small pools of magma could be seen all over the floor. Dozens upon dozens of pegasi, all wearing those wicked uniforms, filled up the whole place, staring at them and chuckling at their misfortune.
Their leader spoke to the prisoners on the other side of the cell with the new junior member by her side. "I hope you're comfortable." she taunted. "This whole place used to be a remote dungeon. Now it's where we cook up our plans."
She turned to face her enormous squadron, raising her clenched hoof in the air for emphasis. "Plans that are ready to be set into motion!" she declared loudly. "By this time tomorrow, the Wonderbolts will be history and Equestria will welcome the age of the Wingstrikers!"
A thunderous applause arose from all her followers, but Rainbow Dash could only focus on the angry filly standing right in front of her.
"Scootaloo, how could you just turn against us like this?" she pleaded. "Turn against me?"
"I'll tell you how." Scootaloo snapped. "Because you've been pushing me away ever since we left Ponyville. You've been treating me more like a pest than a sister and I'm sick of it."
That last remark cut the rainbow-maned pony pretty deep and she didn't know what to make of it.
"So she decided to train with me instead." Zoom Blade interrupted. "Now come on, Scootaloo. We've got some Blunderbolts to crush."
She turned her attention back to her followers. "Wingstrikers!" Every one of them braced for takeoff and then she gave the command. "Lift off!" She took off for the mouth of the volcano with all the others immediately following her, charging off to battle. All except for Scootaloo who was once again failing to fly on her own, no matter how hard she buzzed her wings.
She called out to Zoom Blade for help, who rolled her eyes and quickly swooped back down, picking up the flightless pony and carrying her off. "Dasvidaniya, losers!" Zoom Blade gloated one last time, laughing as she flew off with her team.
The six heroes could only watch helplessly from behind bars. Rainbow Dash was still trying to process what Scoots had said to her.
"Pushing her away?" she questioned out loud. "What's she talking about?"
"Well, Rainbow." Applejack responded "In all honesty, she's kinda right."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you've been actin' more sour than a green apple towards Scootaloo this whole time. You're supposed to be her teacher. She looks up to you, but all you've been doin' is yellin' at her and givin' her dirty looks." the farm pony accused.
"Hey!" Rainbow snapped. "She was never supposed to come along in the first place. It wasn't safe."
"Then you should've done the responsible thing and taken her back to Ponyville when you had the chance." Twilight added.
"I told you, there was no time. Zoom Blade could've struck at any moment. She just flew off with an entire air force to attack the Wonderbolts." She frantically began ramming herself into the bars, desperate to break free as she spoke. "And I have to stop her!"
All of her banging was making her really sore, but she kept at it anyway until Twilight spoke again. "What do you really care more about, Rainbow Dash?" she asked. "Stopping Zoom Blade... or becoming a Wonderbolt?"
The blue pegasus was stunned. She had never really considered her true priorities up until this point. Suddenly, it all became clear. She realized now what a complete horse's butt she had been to her friends, especially Scootaloo and she had never felt more ashamed in her life. She breathed a sorrowful sigh as she hung her head low in shame.
"I'm sorry." she said softly. "You guys are right. I wanted to be a Wonderbolt so badly, I forgot what was really important. I forgot that we're a team. Me, Scootaloo, all of us." She stopped, waiting for a response from her friends. Rarity spoke.
"We're not the ones you need to apologize to." She and the others all glanced at each other. Smiled formed on all their faces as they all agreed. "But we're so glad you did." They all rushed up and gave their wizened friend a huge group hug, which she was grateful to receive and even more grateful to have such forgiving friends. Dash only hoped that her littlest friend of all would be just as forgiving.
"I know." She said. "And I promise as soon as we get out of here, I'm gonna find Scootaloo and make things right and then we'll all defeat Zoom Blade and the Wingstrikers together just like we planned." Her proclamation earned a hearty cheer in support from the others. "Even you, Spike."
But, just then, they all realized that something was missing. Something small, purple and scaly. "Spike?"
"Hey, where is Spike?" Everypony looked around all over, but there was no sign of the little dragon boy anywhere. Then there came a bubbling from one of the magma pools outside the cell. They all watched with anticipation and out popped Spike gasping for air. He clinged to the edge before throwing up a bunch of lava, grossing the ponies out a little bit.
"Spike!" Twilight exclaimed, delighted to see him.
"Did you miss me?" he boasted proudly as he climbed out of the magma. "Don't worry. I'll have you guys out in no time."
He walked up to the cell and began picking the lock with his tail very carefully.
-----
Inside a watchtower at the Wonderbolts HQ, a guard sat in his chair drowsily looking out the window and seeing... nothing. This had to be the most boring job ever. Nothing ever happened. There was never anything to do. All the guy could do was sit back and take a sip of his coffee. When he looked out the window again, he saw... an enormous flock of flying ponies coming right at him!
The watchpony spat out his hot coffee all over the window. He tried to remain cool and remember his training for this situation, but he only panicked and smacked a button on his panel.
"Watchtower to Captain Spitfire." he said urgently over the intercom. Luckily, Spitfire was sitting right at her desk and was able to answer.
"Captain here. What is it?" she responded.
"We got company. It looks like a small army of pegasi headed right for us." the watchpony tried to answer calmly.
"Holy Hay Bales." Spitfire gasped. She knew what was about to happen and it wasn't gonna be pretty. "Understood. Spitfire out." She then proceeded to quickly flip the glass lid on her desk open and push the big red button underneath. A loud siren rang out throughout the whole place as she sent out a station-wide alert.
"Calling all Wonderbolts. This is not a drill. We are about to be under attack. All ponies to defensive positions now!"
Every available Wonderbolt in the headquarters heard the alarm and prepared themselves for battle as fast as they could. They all fastened their goggles, got in the zone and rushed outside ready to defend themselves from the oncoming threat.
That threat began closing in fast as the Wingstrikers themselves were poised and ready to strike on Zoom Blade's command. The ruthless captain flew at the front of the pack with her own little protege Scootaloo riding on her back. Scootaloo wasn't entirely thrilled with the idea of wiping out so many ponies, but seeing as Zoom Blade was her mentor now, she just sat back and went along with it anyway.
"Alright. Show time, everypony." Zoom Blade addressed her squadron. "Alpha team, take the right flank. Beta team, take the left. On my signal, we unleash Tartarus."
"Hiya, Zoom Blade." Rainbow Dash came right out of nowhere from behind and rushed right ahead of her carrying Applejack underneath, taking the aerial captain completely by surprise.
"What the?" She questioned. Dash was soon followed by Twilight hauling Spike and Pinkie, and lastly Fluttershy holding onto Rarity as hard as she could. Zoom Blade noticed her trio of knuckleheads holding their jaws open in shock.
"Hey!" she barked. "Don't just dangle your jaws. Get them!"
And then the full-scale assault was on. The Wingstrikers charged right at the base while the Wonderbolts counter attacked with everything they had. It was the kind of complete and utter chaos that Discord would've been proud of had he been there to see it.
Four of the Wingstrikers attacked Rainbow Dash, but she fought them all off using a few special punches, kicks and head-butts. She was so proud of herself she couldn't help but chuckle.
Two others came up and cornered Fluttershy, who fearfully flew up right next to a large hole and bumped into it, causing it to shake slightly. Just then, a bunch of angry viper rats sprung out of the hole and latched onto the two Wingstrikers, who flew away screaming and shouting things like 'Get 'em off!' Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief.
After swiftly bucking a few Wingstrikers away, Applejack presented her trusty lasso. She twirled it around a few times and flung it out, catching three more in her rope. She spun them around a few times before throwing them out of sight with incredible swift force. "Yeehaw!" she cheered.
Dumbbell, Leatherwing and Hoops crept up to Spike to try and catch him, but Spike stood his ground very bravely. "Come here, you little salamander." Dumbbell insulted.
"Salamander?" Spike wasn't about to let the likes of these clowns insult him. He took a deep breath and released the biggest burst of green fire he could muster, making his attackers scream and fly away.
"Ha! That's what I thought." The little hot-head licked his finger and touched his hip making sizzling sound with his teeth. He felt so hot and so cool at the same time.
Twilight fought off a bunch more Wingstrikers with her magic blasts. Then they started dog piling on top of her, which turned out to be big mistake. They could feel her trembling underneath them and didn't even have time to say 'Uh-oh' before they were all dispersed by a huge burst of magic.
Rarity stood her ground agains five Wingstrikers, only slightly afraid. Suddenly, one more dropped down on her back and pushed her into the dirt. Seeing how filthy she was, she grew furious.
"IT! IS! ON!"
Somehow, the knew they were in for it now. Rarity pushed the one pegasus off her back and levitated a lot of rocks off the ground, which she furiously shot at the ones in the ones in front of her, beating them all back.
Two Wingstrikers floated closely back to back as Pinkie Pie appeared right between them and tied their tails together in a nice tight knot, giggling mischievously. The two pegasi tried to fly off in opposite directions, but got pulled back and smacked right into each other before falling to the ground.
Zoom Blade smacked her hoof against her face. She was so frustrated at having to watch this embarrassing display. "Uuugggh! You featherheads!" she shouted at them. She decided it was time to initiate the personal phase of her plan.
"Come on kid. I got business to take care of." With that, she bolted off towards the HQ building, eager to see an old friend again.