“Greetings and salutations, everypony,” MR said as the familiar spotlight shone down the suited pony sitting on his stool. “I would like, if I may, to clarify on the rules of the pony fight tournament.” At that, MR pulled out a metal pointer out of one of his pockets and a sheet of white paper unrolled itself down next to MR. On it were seven lines of text. “The Pony fight tournament has seven major rules that must be followed:
Rule one: Any pony suit whose head unit is destroyed is disqualified from the tournament.
Rule two: A pony suit pilot must never aim at the cockpit of an opponent’s pony suit.
Rule three: As long as the head unit is not destroyed, a pilot may repair damage to their pony suit as they desire.
Rule four: A pilot must take responsibility for their pony suit.
Rule five: All matches must be held as one-on-one.
Rule six: A pony suit pilot must not taint the honor and dignity of the city they are representing.
Rule seven: Equestria is the ring.”
As he said each rule, he pointed to it with his metal pointer. As he finished, he placed the pointer back in his pocket. “Failure to follow these, or outright breaking them carry the penalty of the pilots being removed from the tournament and barred from future ones. Now, onto business; today's pony Fight match opponent is the representative of Neo-Cloudsdale, who this is, is a secret.”
“Hey, mister,” Pinkie Pie said, appearing out of the darkness. She pulled a picture out of a saddle bag and handed it again to MR. “Are you really really truly sure that you haven't seen either of these two?” The picture showed three ponies. One was Pinkie, standing there but with her hair straightened out, the other two were colored purple and gray with like hairstyles, her sisters, Inkie and Blinkie Pie.
“Sorry, miss, still can’t say I have,” MR said passing the picture back to her. “But you know what, if I do see them, I’ll make sure to tell you right away.”
“Oh, thank you. And sorry to bother you again like this,” Pinkie said and vanished back into the darkness.
“Now, what this picture has to do with today’s battle, we’ll have to wait and see.” MR jumped off his stool and in one swift motion, pulled off both his suit and eye patch, revealing his bright pink shirt and bow tie and his perfectly normal working right eye. “Now, pony fight all set. Ready, Go!”
Mobile Fighter G-Pony Episode 3
Hurricane’s Strike
“Everypony! Run for it!” a cream colored earth pony mare with a red mane and a cutie mark of a single rose shouted to two other ponies trying to pull some things from a flower cart as she began to run down the road. “Leave the cart! It’s a lost cause!” The two ponies turned away from the cart and ran towards her.
“The horror,” one of the other two ponies, a pink colored earth pony mare with a yellow mane and a trio of lilies as a cutie mark and one stuck in her hair, said as she turned around and watched as a pony suit came into view and swiped away the cart. The pony suit was a pegasus model, fitted with wings and added stabilizers for sustained flight. This particular suit was also fitted with what looked to be additional armor, a breastplate and a helmet with a large plume. “The horror.”
“Lily, don’t you dare faint on us now!” the last pony, another earth pony mare colored light pink with a light green mane and a pair of daisies, said as she bumped into Lily, keeping her awake and on her feet. “Rose! We need to get back to Cloudsdale!”
“Daisy! Lily! Look out!” Rose shouted as she turned and saw the pony suit bearing down on the other two. “It’s right behind you!”
“AHHH!” Daisy and Lily screamed as the pony suit unfurled its wings and took to the skies, sending a wave of air that tossed the all three ponies around like rag dolls. Jets fired up under its wings as the pony suit flew off into the distance as the sound of triumphant laughter followed its wake. The three ponies picked themselves up and stared off in the direction that the pony suit had flown before they turned away and ran as fast as they could back to Cloudsdale.
“Ah, the cities of Cloudsdale and Landsdale,” Twilight said as she stopped the core lander in a clearing between a forest and a bluff overlooking the pegasus city, built entirely from a base of clouds floating high in the sky over top its ground level counterpart. “No matter how many times I see them, it still amazes me.”
“I know, Twilight,” Pinkie said in agreement while she stared out at the cloud city. “I always wondered how they built it. I mean, how does one use clouds as a building material?”
“While it's not as pronounced as with unicorns, the pegasi do have a form of innate magical power. They have always had a control over the weather here in Equestria, it's been well documented in reports and accounts that go back even beyond the beginning of the princesses' rule.
“Uh huh.”
“In fact, Landsdale started out as a small farming town of earth ponies. It stands as a testament to the bond of trust between the two cities. When the colonies were in development, the heads of the Manehatten colony went there to get help from the pegasi in developing a technology to regulate the weather. The ponies living there became effective ambassadors between the ponies developing the colonies and the pegasi. Since then, that small town has grown into this.” Twilight gestured to the city on the ground, with its large stone buildings and long straight streets filled with ponies and other creatures. “And become a central trade hub for not only all of Equestria, but the colonies as well.”
“Ah,” Pinkie said, nodding her head as if in understanding while she turned her gaze to the tree line. After a moment, she returned her gaze to the two cities. “I have no idea what you just said, Twilight, but it sounded all important like.” Twilight placed a hoof on her face and groaned loudly. “Anyways, let's get into town. Maybe we'll finally find the lead we've been looking for. Maybe I'll finally find my sisters.”
“You're right,” Twilight said, starting up the core lander and kicking it into gear. “Plus, we should see what we can find out about the Neo-Cloudsdale pony suit pilot.”
“Always the practical thinker, Twilight.”
“One of us has to be.” The core lander sped off towards Landsdale. A cloaked figure poked their head out from behind one of the trees at the edge of the forest and watched as the two ponies drove off before melding back into the tree cover and vanishing.
The streets of Landsdale were packed to the brim with ponies and other creatures hustling and bustling back and forth, here to there, and generally milling all about the place. Shops and stalls and merchants sitting on rugs lined the streets, hawking their wares and prices to passersby. Food, clothes, jewelry, even the odd magical trinket every now and then, were on display and waiting to be bought for the right price.
Pinkie and Twilight stood at the entrance to the city, awestruck by the sheer number of ponies and other creatures that managed to be packed into one place. After a moment, Pinkie's mouth curled into a large grin and she turned to Twilight.
“Look at them all,” she said, gesturing wildly at the scene. “I've never seen so many ponies in one place outside of the colonies!”
“I know, Pinkie,” Twilight said as she too recovered from the shock of seeing such a scene. “I know what you mean. I mean, I expected this somewhat, but still.”
“With so many ponies here, there has to be a lead floating around somewhere. I just know it. I can feel it in the very air!”
“Are you sure that's not just the smell of so many ponies in one place?” Twilight said with a short laugh. “But yes, I do think that there will be a good chance of you finding something about your sisters here.” Twilight reached into the saddle bag that she was wearing and pulled out a small pouch and tossed it to Pinkie. “Here's some money for you Pinkie. We'll be able to gather more information that way. How about we meet at the Cloudsdale embassy at sundown?”
“Okie dokie lokie,” Pinkie replied as she hopped away and melded into the crowd. Twilight watched as one of Pinkie's pink hooves waved above the crowd. “I'll see you at sundown.”
“She'll be ok,” Twilight said as she watched Pinkie bound off. “I'm sure that she won't get herself into too much trouble.” She paused herself for a moment then revised her thought. “I hope she won't get herself into too much trouble. Now, on to the information gathering stuff.” Twilight turned and headed off down a different street then Pinkie had gone.
“Oh, excuse me. Pardon me. Ah! Sorry about that sir, please forgive me.” Twilight kept apologizing to the ponies around her as she was jostled and pushed to and fro about the large crowd of ponies in the streets of Landsdale. She was not used to such large groups of ponies being in one place and as such had no idea how to manage moving in them. After awhile, Twilight was eventually pushed out of the mass of ponies and into an alleyway just off the side of the road. Twilight took a moment to catch her breath and looked out into the street and back to where she had ended up.
“How do any of them manage to move in such a mess?” she asked herself before returning to her present situation. “So, I've been pushed into an alley. Lucky me.” The alley was empty of any pony or other creature and led down to an intersection that had even more alleyways leading off of it in all directions. Twilight approached the intersection and looked down the various of shots.
“Huh, each path leads to more paths, which probably lead to even more paths. It's like this city is one big labyrinth.” Twilight sighed at the thought of getting lost in such a place. “I guess I'll just choose a path at random and hope that I get where I want to go. Now, I'll probably be able to find out things if I make it to the central plaza, and that should be at the center of this place unless the designers had an ill sense of humor, so, I should go this way.” Twilight picked the alleyway that ran in a parallel direction to the central street.
After a few more turns, subsequent dead ends, and wild mass guessing at which alleys would lead her where, Twilight finally sat down on the ground. After the first dead end, she had thought she'd managed to retrace her steps correctly, but it had seemed that she took a wrong turn somewhere and had wound up lost. “Ugh,” Twilight said with a groan of disgust. “How could I have gotten lost. Me! Who can read and memorize a book on the principles of translocation magic.” She sighed and sat her head on her hooves as she tried to think of someway to get out of this maze.
High above Twilight, situated on the roofs of the bordering buildings, sat four pegasi and a dozen or so earth pony colts and fillies. One of the pegasi, an orange filly with a magenta mane wearing a pair of goggles over her eyes who looked older than the rest, gave a signal with her hoof. The rest of the young ponies sprang into action. The earth ponies pulled out ropes with grapnels and repelled down from the roofs to the ground out of sight from Twilight. They set themselves up at the intersections of the alleys. Three of the pegasi, not including the orange one, took to the air and hovered over top of the intersections, keeping an eye on their companions below as well as Twilight. When they were all in position, they signaled back to the orange pegasus.
“It's show time,” the orange pegasus said as she took a rope and grapnel and set it up so that it fell behind Twilight.
“Now, did I turn left at that intersection? Or was that at the one before it and I turned right at that one?” Twilight was too caught up in her thoughts to notice the orange pegasus repelling down the wall of the building behind her. Nor did she notice when the pegasus crept up behind her and carefully stuck her head into Twilight's saddlebag. By the time she realized anything outside of her thoughts, the orange pegasus was slowly creeping away, her money bag held tightly between the pegasus's teeth.
“Hey! Get back here you little thief!” Twilight shouted as the pegasus bolted down the alley. She jumped to her feet and gave chase. As Twilight reached the first intersection, she gazed down the various alleys and saw someone fleeing down one. She immediately took off after it, which led her to another intersection where the same thing happened again. After several rounds of intersections, Twilight finally lost track of who she was chasing after and found she was still very lost in the maze of alleyways of Landsdale. “If the designer of this place is still alive...” she let that thought fade away as another took its place. “Wait, they took my money bag. That means that I can track where it is with my magic.” She paused again at her thought. “Why didn't I think of this earlier to solve me being lost! Curse you brain and your thinking too much on things.” Twilight concentrated on her personal belongings as her horn began to glow. “Now, where are you oh bag of mine? Ah, there you are.” With a flash of magic, Twilight vanished.
“Look at this score!” the orange pegasus said as she dumped out the bag of money onto the small table of a small rundown room. The group of pony children all gazed in amazement at the wealth displayed. “There has to be at least a few hundred bits here. We'll be able to live off this for a long time.”
“Oh, Scootaloo,” one of the earth pony children said. “You're the best.”
“Stop it,” Scootaloo said as a blush rose to her cheeks. “You're making me blush. And what did I say about my name.”
“That we are to refer to you as The Scootaloo?” another of the pony children, a pegasus this time, said.
“That's right. I am The Scootaloo. The ‘The’ is very important. Just like the Neo-Cloudsdale pony suit pilot, ‘The Dash.’”
As the children milled about Scootaloo and their new found wealth, setting up plans on how they were going to spend it, the air in the room started to crackle with energy as a flash of light was accompanied with a loud crack. As the light faded, there standing on the table was Twilight. The pony children all crowded behind Scootaloo as she stood her ground against the newly appeared intruder to their home.
“Found you,” Twilight said as she hopped off the table and looked around the room. “Now, where is here exactly?”
“What are you doing in our home‽” Scootaloo demanded. “How did you get here‽”
“I followed my bag, which you stole from me I might add.”
“I stole it fair and square.”
“Yes, you stole it,” Twilight said harshly to the young pegasus. “Why did you need to steal it from me?”
“Look at this place!” Scootaloo shouted and gestured around the rundown little room. There was one piece of furniture, the table, the floor was dirt and the only light was filtered down from a small window set high on one wall. “Look at us! Do we look like the kind of pony that would have money‽ Do we look like anyone cares about us‽” Twilight took a long look at the group of young ponies huddling behind Scootaloo. They were all dirty and malnourished and probably hadn't had anything more substantial to eat then a crust of bread or a half eaten apple discarded into a waste bin. “We're orphans! How else are we going to live!” Scootaloo had tears flowing down her eyes as she yelled the last part, giving weight to the pain and suffering that not only she, but the other young ponies in the room, had endured.
Twilight stood and stared at the young pegasus. She had no idea what to do in this situation. Orphans, poverty, and the like were not unheard of on the colonies, but they were very rare, with most of the time, the orphaned children being taken in by a relative or a well-to-do family. Twilight sighed and approached the young pegasus.
“Sorry,” she said as she grabbed Scootaloo in a hug and held her tightly.
“Wah! What are you doing!” Scootaloo shouted out as she tried to free herself from Twilight's grip.
“I'm sorry. I rushed to a conclusion. I should have known better.” Twilight let go of Scootaloo and stepped back. “Keep the money, you need it more then I do. I'm Twilight Sparkle.”
“The Scootaloo.”
“'The?'”
“Just like the Neo-Cloudsdale pony suit pilot,” Scootaloo said, puffing her chest out with pride. “She's my role model.”
“Really now?” Twilight said as she began put together a plan. “Say, you know your way around this part of the city right?”
“Yes, I know it better than anyone.”
“How about in exchange for the money, you take me to the central plaza?”
Scootaloo looked puzzled at this question. “But, didn't you said you'd give us the money?”
“Do you want me to take it back?”
“No!” Scootaloo and the rest of the pony children cried out. “No, we'll show you the way to the plaza.”
“Thank you, The Scootaloo,” Twilight said in relief. “And how about on the way you tell me all about this pony suit pilot you look up to.”
On the other side of the city, Pinkie was happily going about her business, trying out some of the local foods, gazing at the various trinkets and baubles that were being sold, generally having a good time. Every now and then she stopped a passerby or approached a shopkeeper and asked them about her sisters. So far she had had no luck on that front, but the general atmosphere of the city did much to counteract the news. Pinkie approached a street merchant selling fresh fruit from a nearby orchard at a stall on the side of the road. Pinkie pulled out her picture and showed the merchant.
“Have you seen either of these two ponies here?”
“Hmm, let me get a better look at that,” the merchant said, taking the picture to get a better look at it. “Hmm, can't say I have, but then again, I see so many passing by that I can't remember them all. I may have seen them but...”
“I see,” Pinkie said as she took the picture back and placed a few bits on the stall counter. “Thanks anyway. I'll also take two of those juicy looking pears there.” The fruit merchant took the money and tossed Pinkie the pears which she placed in her saddlebag for later and turned to head back into the mass of ponies in the street.
“You may find better luck at the central plaza,” the merchant said as she left. “Just keep following the road. Has a large fountain, can't miss it.”
“Thanks!” Pinkie said and waved her hoof at the merchant as she trotted off towards the central plaza. As she entered, she saw a large group of ponies crowding around the fountain. Curious, Pinkie approached and made her way to the front of the mass. There were three earth ponies standing on the edge of the fountain; a cream colored mare with a red mane and a cutie mark of a single rose, a pink colored mare with a yellow mane and a trio of lilies as a cutie mark and one stuck in her hair, and a mare colored light pink with a light green mane and a pair of daisies. The cream colored one was talking at the moment.
“And then, a pony suit came out of nowhere and attacked us!” She said to the crowd. “We just managed to get away with our lives, but the pony suit destroyed our flower cart, our livelihood.”
“What Rose said is right,” the light pink mare said. “Me and Lily here,” she gestured to the darker pink mare, “almost got crushed by it! And the worst thing is that once we got back here, we saw a picture of the very suit that attacked us. It is the Neo-Cloudsdale pony suit, the Hurricane Pony!”
“Daisy, how are we going to live now,” Lily asked the light pink mare with tears in her eyes. “How are we going to live now?”
“I'm not sure, Lily,” Daisy said as she gave her friend a hug. “But we'll find a way.”
“I've seen this rouge pony suit too!” Another pony in the crowd said. “The same thing happened to me. It attacked me as I was making my way out Manehatten way with a load of goods to sell.”
“Me too!” Yet another pony chimed in. “But I wasn't even carrying anything. It just showed up and chased me back to the city.”
“Has anyone told the mayor yet?”
“I did, but they didn't believe me. They said it couldn't be their representative doing these things.”
“How could they ignore something like this? Especially if it is their suit!”
“We need to make the mayor see this problem!”
Pinkie watched as a group of pegasi police descended near the back of the group. The police group then proceeded to disperse the crowd before they could do anything that could be constituted as a crime. Pinkie watched as the disgruntled ponies broke away and went their separate ways, several heading towards the mayor's office were cut off by more police and sent away. After the excitement of the crowd faded, Pinkie went around to some of the stalls set up in the central plaza to see if any of the merchants here remembered seeing either of her sisters. She ended up with no leads as she asked the last merchant and sat down on a bench by the fountain, her mind filled with thoughts on her sisters and the mysterious pony suit reeking havoc outside the city. She was so gripped in her thoughts that she did not notice Twilight standing in front of her with a large group of young ponies until one of them, an orange pegasus filly got close to her and made a silly face.
“Bleh!” Scootaloo shouted as she stuck out her tongue and shook her head back and forth. Pinkie let out a startled cry before falling into a fit of laughter.
“Oh, ha ha, good one,” Pinkie said to Scootaloo before she noticed Twilight standing there with the rest of Scootaloo's group. “Oh, hey, Twilight. How have you been? And who are they?”
“Meet The Scootaloo and her family,” Twilight said, introducing the orange pegasus filly and the rest of the children. “They are orphans living in the city. And they helped me get here.”
“You got lost, right?” Pinkie asked.
“I got lost. But not only did they help me, they told me all about the pony fight representative for Neo-Cloudsdale. Apparently it is a pegasus who goes by the name “The Dash” and is widely known around the cities and the colony,” Twilight said. “So, you find anything?”
“About my sisters, no,” Pinkie replied. “But I find out something else interesting. Apparently there's a pony suit rampaging about outside the town. It's targeted merchants as well as regular travelers and seems that the city governments either can't do anything about it or don't want to do anything about it. I think it may have something to do with the pony fight tournament.”
“What do you mean, Pinkie?”
“I mean it's the Neo-Cloudsdale pilot, this “The Dash”, who is doing this or so the reports go. I think they've gone rogue and are using the suit to terrorize the city and further some plan of their own. Ponies have seen the suit with their very eyes.”
“No!” Scootaloo shouted at Pinkie's accusation. “The Dash would never do something like that. She’s the bravest, loyalist, and best hero to Cloudsdale. There's no way that she could. No way at all!”
“Heroes fall eventually,” Pinkie said softly, her thoughts filled with images of her family. “Twilight, you go and talk to the embassy. I’m going to do bit more searching around for any news on my sisters. There's an inn just over there.” Pinkie motioned to a building with a sign that just said “Inn” over the door. “I shouldn’t be gone more than a few hours. And Scootaloo, hold onto your image of your hero.”
“You sure you don’t want me to come and help?” Twilight asked with a hint of concern, she'd seen Pinkie act like this before and it never turned out good.
“I’m sure,” Pinkie replied. Twilight caught the tone of the reply and knew that she would never be able to talk Pinkie out of this nor convince her to allow her to accompany her. Twilight gave a sigh of resignation and turned to the group of young ponies.
“Thank you all for helping me,” she said. “Make sure you spend that money wisely.” The group ran off with a cheer, Scootaloo stood for a moment with a conflicted look because of what Pinkie said before following the rest of her group. Twilight watched them run off then turned back to Pinkie. “Stay safe, Pinkie.”
“Always,” Pinkie replied and walked towards the road that would lead her outside the city.
Night had fallen. Night had fallen and Pinkie was still outside the city, trying to draw out the rogue pony suit pilot. So far her brilliant plan to disguise herself as a traveling merchant pony had failed to do what she wanted it to do. She had used most of her remaining money to buy a small cart and fill it with trade goods from the city in the hopes to draw out the pony suit, but all it had led to was her being out in dark forest outside the city. Pinkie sighed as she unhooked herself from the cart and gazed around the dark trees.
“After all those attacks, you decide not to come out when someone is trying to find you,” she said. “Maybe I should head back to town. Now that I think about it, what was I going to do if I actually met this rogue pilot?” As Pinkie was about to re-hook herself to the cart, a shudder crept down her spine. She immediately set her gaze to the tree line. “Somepony's watching me, but where?”
Just inside the tree line, a cloaked figure watched Pinkie's every move. It had followed her ever since she had set hoof in the forest, but now it seemed that they had been found out. As the figure slowly turned to flee, a twig snapped off behind them, drawing their attention away from the road and Pinkie. They stared into the dark for a moment and saw nothing before turning their attention back to the road. Pinkie had vanished from where she had been. The figure began to sweat and panic as a foreleg draped across their shoulders, holding them in place.
“Hey there,” Pinkie said as she pulled the cloaked figure closer to her. “What'cha doing out here in the woods, at night, all alone, watching me?” The figure tried to free itself from Pinkie's hold, but Pinkie just tightened her hold. “Uh uh, first you answer the question, then we see if you go free or not.” The cloaked figure stopped struggling and sighed.
“Fine,” they said. “I was following you because I'm looking for the rogue pony suit that has been attacking ponies. They stole something important from me and I want it back. And you looked like the kind of pony that would be targeted.”
“Oh, is that all? Why didn’t you just come out and say hi then. We could've walked together and all that stuff and not have been alone all this time waiting for a violent attack to happen.” Pinkie let go of the cloaked figure. “Name’s Pinkie Pie.”
“Call me RD,” the cloaked figure said as they straightened out their cloak.
“That’s a strange name.”
“Yeah, I get that a lot,” RD said. “So... now what?”
“I don’t know. I was planning to head back to the city and try again tomorrow,” Pinkie said as she suddenly became all quiet and focused all of her attention down the dark forest road. “I heard something, down that way.”
“Maybe it’s who we're looking for,” RD said, but Pinkie was already moving towards the distant voices. RD stood for a moment then gave shrug and followed after Pinkie.
The sound of voices led the two ponies off the road and into the forest through a narrow trail eventually leading to the upper ledge of a large quarry.
“I see lights down there,” Pinkie said, pointing towards a cave system that had light spilling out of one of the entrances. “This is probably where the pony suit pilot calls home. When I get my hooves on this Dash character, I'm gonna give them a piece of my mind.”
“Dash? The Neo-Cloudsdale pilot?” RD asked.
“Yeah, the very same. Or so everypony thinks. They know that it's the Neo-Cloudsdale pony suit that's doing the attacking at least.”
RD stood staring down into the quarry. “I'll go on ahead, see if I can find something to use against them. Come down once I'm out of view.”
“Okay,” Pinkie replied. “I'll try to make my way inside then without being seen.” RD jumped and slid down the slope. Upon reaching the bottom, RD signaled up to Pinkie, then sped off into the darkness of the quarry floor. Once they were out of sight, Pinkie waited for a few minutes, letting RD set up what they wanted to do, before she followed suit, sliding down to the quarry floor and slowly making her way across the large empty span to the cave entrances. As Pinkie approached the largest cave entrance, lights sprang into being all around her, illuminating her as well as around two dozen earth ponies, a few pegasi, and an odd griffon or two standing around her.
“Hello, little pony,” one of the larger earth ponies as a pair of pegasi dropped a net on Pinkie, trapping her before she could act. “And welcome to your new prison. Haul her off to one of the cells and keep an eye on her, we'll deal with her come morning.” A pair of equally large earth ponies grabbed the ends of the net and hauled it and Pinkie off down one of the caves.
After a short, bumpy, miserable ride, Pinkie was tossed into a small dark cell carved out of the stone quarry and set with iron bars. One of the earth ponies that dragged her there slammed the door to the cell shut and locked it.
“What just happened?” she said as she freed herself from the net. She walked around the small cell, noting its furnishings, which included a pile of straw in one corner and nothing else, before sitting down to think. “Let's see, met strange pony on road. Then, followed sound of voices to a quarry. Then, let strange pony go ahead of me into quarry. Then, ambushed by gang in quarry and thrown into a prison cell. They couldn't have known I was here unless... no, no, what purpose would RD have to throw me to a gang? I mean, I just met them...” Pinkie smacked herself with her hoof. “Of course, what if they were a member of this gang all along. But, that would mean that these ponies are smart, and I don't think living in a quarry in the middle of a forest is a smart move. But, then again, what if they just had lookouts placed in the forest and knew we were coming? That would mean that RD was captured as well. But, if that is the case, why aren't they here as well?”
“Shut up in there!” one of her guards shouted as he came up to the cell. “Or else I'll deal with you right here, right now.”
“But didn't your boss tell you to leave me for tomorrow? You'd really want to get on his bad side? Hah, I don't think you have it in you to do anything like that. You're just a sniveling coward of a gang pony aren't you.”
“SHUT UP!” the guard shouted as he kicked down the cell's door and charged in at Pinkie. Pinkie nimbly dodged to the left of the large earth pony's attack and used the cell's rock wall as a platform to leap onto her assailant’s back. The earth pony reared back onto its hind legs in an attempt to throw Pinkie from his back, but Pinkie wrapped her forelegs around his throat and pulled back as hard as she could, throwing the earth pony off balance and sending him to the floor as she rolled away. As the earth pony struggled to his feet, Pinkie drove both of her hind legs into the side of his head, knocking him out.
“Ah,” Pinkie said as she watched her opponent slump to the ground. “Now, to figure out what's going on here.” Pinkie stuck her head out of the cell, no pony had come from the adjoining cave paths so far to investigate the sound of the cell door being kicked down. “Good.” She said as she slowly made her way away from the cell.
Twilight awoke suddenly and looked over at the second bed of the room she had rented out for the night. It was still empty. Pinkie had promised her that she would be back, and yet there was still no sign of her.
“I'm sure she's fine,” Twilight said hesitantly, then got out of bed and began to pace around the room. “She can take care of herself. I mean she was out training for all those years.”
“Hey,” Scootaloo said from her position on the open windowsill, startling Twilight out of her thoughts.
“You! How did you get here?” Scootaloo pointed to the rope hanging just outside the window. “Oh yeah. So what do you need, Scootaloo?”
“I was thinking about what your friend said earlier. What if it really is The Dash who is doing all these bad things? What am I supposed to do if my idol and role model turns out to be a thief and a bully?”
“I'm sure that everything will work out in the end,” Twilight said, trying to comfort the distressed filly and herself.
“She escaped! And she beat up her guard!”
“Be careful of her, she must be a lot stronger then she looks!”
“Wake everypony! She must be found before the boss finds out!”
“So, they finally realized I escaped,” Pinkie said as she ducked into an unused room in the cave system as the sound of running hooves echoed down the caves. Ponies were running all about now that the alarm had been raised, she had to be extra careful not to be seen or she would most likely wind up captured again with worse consequences. The sounds in the halls faded rapidly as the ponies scurried on past Pinkie's hiding space. She poked her head out to make sure the coast was clear and ran right into a familiar cloaked figure. “RD!”
“You! What are you doing here?” RD replied, recovering from their shock at seeing Pinkie.
“I was about to ask the same question. In fact, I am going to ask you the same question. What are you doing here? Did you get captured too?”
“Uh, hey look! Over there!” RD said, pointing behind Pinkie. Pinkie turned to look at what RD was pointing at, but when she turned back towards RD, they were not there. From down the hall, she heard RD's voice shouting out. “She's back there! Hurry before she gets away!”
“What?” Pinkie said as she watched as gang members charged down the hall she was in, perplexed at the turn of events. “What? WHAT‽ YOU DID NOT JUST DO THAT!” Pinkie shouted as she charged towards the group of ponies charging towards her. As she neared, she sprang into the air and drove her hooves into the face of leading pony and used it as a platform to send herself over the group, landing behind them. She gave a short glance behind her before she sped off after RD.
As Pinkie ran through the halls chasing after RD's calls for mobilization against her, between dodging the attacks from gang members and knocking them out, she noticed a change in the look of the cavern halls she ran through. As she progressed, the rock walls became smoother and more well kept in addition to the hallways themselves becoming larger and more expansive and darker. Pinkie slowed down her reckless pace as she noticed that no new ponies were approaching her. She gazed back and noticed that a large group had clumped themselves at the head of the hallway she was in, blocking any backwards progress. She turned back forwards and gazed into the darkening hallway and continued onward.
The hallway ended in a large room, the ceiling and the far walls encased in shadows from Pinkie's position. As she entered, a loud voice echoed throughout the chamber as a light flared on, blinding Pinkie.
“What do we have here?” the voice said as Pinkie's eyes grew accustomed to the light. There standing at the other end of the chamber was a the Hurricane Pony suit of Neo-Cloudsdale, recognizable by the armor it wore and the fact that it was a pegasus model pony suit. “A little pony come to take revenge on me for some wrong I've done to them? Or are you sent by the city?”
“I was right,” Pinkie replied.
“Huh? What are you talking about, little pony?”
“I said I was right. You have fallen, ‘The Dash'! To stoop to common thievery using your pony suit!”
“No, seriously,” the voice said. “What are you talking about? The Dash? Ha! Like I would ever call myself after that loser.”
“If you're not ‘The Dash', then who are you‽” Pinkie shouted at the suit.
“Simple,” the voice replied as the Hurricane Pony jerked to its hooves and spread its wings wide, revealing a large opening in the chamber wall behind it leading to another hallway. “I am your worst nightmare!” The Hurricane Pony lunged forward and Pinkie dove under it and ran for the opening. A loud crash sounded as the Hurricane Pony threw itself into the opposite wall of the chamber.
“Stupid pony technology,” the voice said as the Hurricane Pony pulled itself to its hooves and followed slowly after Pinkie.
Pinkie reached the end of the hallway and found that it lead to a canyon outside. Pinkie looked behind her and saw that Hurricane Pony approaching rapidly and ran out into the canyon. The Hurricane Pony exited the cave and slowly began to give chase.
“Stop running around so much!” the pilot shouted as Pinkie dove back and forth across the narrow canyon, avoiding the attacks of the pony suit. “I said STOP RUNNING!” The Hurricane Pony drove a hoof into the side of the canyon, dislodging rocks from the edge of the canyon high above. The rocks fell down and caused the Hurricane Pony's limbs to become stuck between the rubble. “Move you stupid pony suit!” the pilot shouted as the Hurricane Pony tried to free itself, failing in the end. “Ah, screw this.” The cockpit to the pony suit opened and from the hatch emerged a female griffon. “Little pony, you've made me very angry, now you will suffer!”
“I think not, old friend,” a voice said from the top the Hurricane Pony as the cloaked figure RD appeared. RD proceeded to pull their cloak off, revealing a cyan colored pegasus mare with a rainbow colored mane and a cutie mark of a cloud shooting a rainbow lightning bolt. A dark blue scarf tied around her neck fluttered in the wind behind her.
“You!” the griffon shouted as RD took to the air and quickly dove towards her. RD collided with the griffon before she could react and was tossed from the access hatch of the Hurricane Pony to the canyon floor. “How are you still alive, Rainbow Dash!” the griffon said as Rainbow Dash pinned her to the ground.
“Oh, Gilda, you should know better,” Rainbow Dash replied. “It takes more than tying up my wings, tying me to a chair, then throwing me off a cliff into a raging rock filled river to off me. I eat that kind of danger for breakfast.”
“Curse you, Dash!”
“Um, how about no,” Rainbow Dash said as she drove a hoof into Gilda's face, knocking her out cold. “Ah, I feel so much better now that that is dealt with.” She turned and saw Pinkie standing and staring. “And thanks, Pinkie, for your help. My old “friend” here thought it would be good idea to try and off me and steal my pony suit. And if it wasn't for you, I'd never have found a way to get at her. She was too paranoid to ever leave the suit for long, thinking if she did I'd show up and take it back. Which is totally what I did.” Rainbow Dash turned and flew up to the access hatch to the Hurricane Pony. “Now if you'll excuse me, I must really be getting back to the city heads saying that I've dealt with this problem.”
“You don't get off that easily, RD!” Pinkie shouted, stopping Rainbow Dash from entering her pony suit. “You set me up! You had me captured by those ponies. Did you even care to think about what they would do to me if I didn't manage to escape?”
“Uh, I guess I didn't think that far in advance,” Rainbow Dash said as she rubbed the back of her neck.
“Didn't think is an understatement! CORE LANDER!” The core lander of the Shining Pony came flying over the edge of the canyon wall and landed behind Pinkie. “RD, I mean, Rainbow Dash, representative of the Neo-Cloudsdale colony and pilot of the Hurricane Pony suit; I challenge you to a pony fight match! Do you accept‽”
“I'll accept any challenge!”
“RISE, SHINING PONY!” The Shining Pony reared out of the forest. A moment later, Pinkie had piloted the core lander to it and began the start up sequence for the pony suit. At the same time, Rainbow Dash began the Hurricane Pony's start up sequence.
“Pony fight match set!” Pinkie shouted as her suit's start up sequence finished.
“Ready!” Rainbow Dash shouted as her suit's start up sequence finished.
“GO!” the two of them shouted and threw themselves towards each other.
As Twilight sat with Scootaloo, sharing tales of her childhood with the filly, her communicator began to beep rapidly. Twilight looked at it and saw that it was responding to a call for the core lander to launch. Twilight's eyes grew wide as she realized the intent behind the signal.
“No,” she said, grabbing the communicator with her magic and rushing to the window. Yet from the position of the inn in the center of the city, she could not see anything dealing with the call. “Pinkie, what are you doing.” She turned to Scootaloo. “Scootaloo, something has happened, I need to leave now.”
“It's about your friend isn't it?” Scootaloo asked.
“Yes, it is.”
“Then it probably also has to deal with The Dash, right?”
“Most likely,” Twilight replied slowly.
“I want to come with you,” Scootaloo said suddenly. “I need to see this with my own eyes.”
“You sure about this, Scootaloo?”
“Yes,” she said without any hesitation in her voice.
“Ok, come here then. I need to triangulate on Pinkie's location,” Twilight said as her horn began to glow with magic as she searched for Pinkie. “There she is. Hold on tight now.” Scootaloo grabbed tightly onto Twilight's forelegs as the two of them vanished in a burst of magic. They reappeared on a bluff overlooking the fight between the Shining Pony and the Hurricane Pony.
The signal for the start of the fight was thrown and the two pony suit pilots threw themselves and their suit at each other. As the two suits closed in, the Shining Pony reached its head over to one of its shoulders and pulled free a handle which, once clear of the limb, burst into a long saber of energy. The Shining Pony swung the beam saber at the Hurricane Pony who took to the air with a burst of acceleration from the jets on its wings to dodge the attack.
From its aerial position, the Hurricane fired off a burst of gunfire from a pair of head mounted guns and caused the Shining Pony to drop its saber and scurry for cover among the trees. A retaliatory burst of similar gunfire sounded, aimed at the Hurricane Pony's aerial position. As the Hurricane Pony dodged about, it dropped back down to the ground and charged at the Shining Pony with one wing open, the edge of it glowing with beam technology. A side panel opened on the Shining Pony as its Pinkie cannon was activated. Pinkie took aim as the Hurricane Pony continued its charge and fired. The cannon shot hit the Hurricane Pony's wing and was cleaved in half, and before Pinkie could react, the wing jets of the Hurricane Pony activated and it rushed forward as it cleaved through the Shining Pony's cannon, throwing off the Shining Pony's balance.
“How do you like the wings, Pinkie?” Rainbow Dash said through the cockpit video feed. “Same tech as a beam weapon incorporated right into the frame of the suit. Pretty awesome, isn't it?”
“Awesome, yes,” Pinkie said as the Shining Pony righted itself and lifted the cleaved cannon. “Nice clean cut too.” The Shining Pony threw the cannon at the Hurricane Pony. The Hurricane Pony batted away the cannon with a wing and was knocked to the ground as the Shining Pony slammed into it. “But you're showing off too much.”
“It's who I am,” Rainbow Dash replied. “It shows that I'm the best at what I do. I must be the best, there's no other way.” The Hurricane Pony pulled itself to its hooves and launched itself into the air.
“What do you mean by “no other way”?” Pinkie asked as she watched for the next attack.
“I grew up as an orphan, with no hope for a future. So I had to prove not only to me, but to the entire city that I was no nobody. I crawled and scrapped and scrounged my way up. I took odd jobs to save up money. I joined a troupe of pony performers, practicing and performing dazzling aerial maneuvers. I joined the Cloudsdale police force, hoping to make it a better place for those like me. I took up the position as the Hurricane Pony's pilot in the hope that if I won the pony fight tournament, I could somehow do something to help those who were in the same position I was. Without this, all I've strived for, all that I have done will have no meaning.”
“I see,” Pinkie said. “You have a goal that you'll stake everything on. Well, so do I, Rainbow Dash. And nothing will keep me from making my goal come true!” Pinkie geared up for another charge at Rainbow Dash and the Hurricane Pony when another video feed opened on the Shining Pony's display.
“Pinkie! Stop!” Twilight shouted through the feed causing Pinkie to hold off on her charge.
“Twilight? What are you doing here?”
“What's going on?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Who are you talking to over there?”
“Oh, is that the Neo-Cloudsdale pilot? Good, I want to speak with them. Can you patch the video link through to them?” Twilight said.
“Twilight, kinda busy at the moment,” Pinkie said as she cut off the video link. “Sorry about that. Now, how about we finish this thing!”
“You read my mind, Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash replied. “I was getting bored with our little back and forth banter and all. But get ready, I'm bringing my strongest attack!”
“Ready whenever you are.”
“Well then, ready the Hurricane!” Rainbow Dash shouted as the wings of the Hurricane Pony extended fully with the beam edge activating while one of them rotating about so that the wing's jets faced forwards instead of backwards. “How about we get this show on the road?”
“You got it, RD!” Pinkie shouted as both of the Shining Pony's hoof began to glow. “These hooves of mine shine with boundless laughter. There loud cry tells me to grasp victory!”
“HURRICANE'S STRIKE!”
“SHINING HOOF!”
The Hurricane Pony began to spin rapidly, propelled by the wing jets, turning into a tornado of beam energy while the Shining Pony charged forward and leapt at the spinning vortex shining hooves first. The resulting clash of attacks produced a blinding flash of light. When the light faded, both pony suits were down and both pilots were out and laughing and hugging each other in the clearing caused by the attacks.
“Looks like the fight is over,” Twilight said. “Come on, Scootaloo, let's go and get them.” Twilight encased the two of them in her magic and teleported over to the two pilots. As they reappeared, they were grabbed by Pinkie into a big hug.
“Twilight!” Pinkie said excitedly. “RD's seen them! She's seen my sisters!”
“That's right,” Rainbow Dash said. “Or at least one of them. They passed out of the city heading towards Manehatten.”
“Oh, Pinkie, that's wonderful news,” Twilight said as she hugged Pinkie back. “Now we have a trail to follow.”
“We need to hurry and go,” Pinkie said as she noticed the orange pegasus filly with Twilight. “Oh, hey there, Scootaloo, what are you doing here?”
Scootaloo did not reply to Pinkie's question. She was staring in awe at the fact that her hero, The Dash, was right here in front of her.
“So, you're 'The Dash,' I presume,” Twilight said, addressing Rainbow Dash while Pinkie was waving a leg in front of Scootaloo's face, trying to draw her out of her stupor.
“Uh, yeah,” Rainbow replied.
“You weren’t responsible for any of the attacks on the ponies of Landsdale right?”
“No, I would never attack those from the cities.”
“Thought so,” Twilight said. “All the records and files on you stated that you were one of the loyalist ponies to Cloudsdale and Landsdale. I presume that your suit was stolen then and used by someone else to commit these crimes.”
“Yes,” Rainbow Dash replied. “A former friend.”
“Oh, good,” Twilight said with a sigh of relief and motioned to Scootaloo, who was still staring and had still not moved. “And I believe that there is someone else here who wants to speak to you.” She nudged Scootaloo on the back, pushing her slightly towards Rainbow Dash.
“The Dash!” Scootaloo shouted as she broke out of her stupor and through herself at Rainbow Dash, knocking her over with the force of a hug. “I'm The Scootaloo and I'm your biggest fan. Oh I knew you weren't attacking ponies, I just knew it.”
“Ah ha, always nice to meet a fan,” Rainbow Dash said as a blush began to rise to her cheeks. “But what are you doing out here, what about your parents?”
“I'm an orphan,” Scootaloo said softly.
“Oh, sorry kid. I know how it is to be in your shoes.” Rainbow Dash paused for a moment. “Hey, there's an idea. How about you come with me once this is all over and done with?”
“You'd really do that for me?” Scootaloo asked. “But, what about all the others. What about the other orphans that depend on me?”
“I'm sure I can work something out with the colony heads. I'll personally make sure they all find a good home.”
“This is so touching,” Pinkie said as she wiped away tears from her eyes from the driver's seat of the core lander. “I'm so happy for you, Scootaloo. And thanks for everything, RD. Make sure you make it to the finals. We need a rematch to determine who is the better pilot. Come on, Twilight, let's get a move on.” Twilight waved good bye to the two pegasus and pulled herself into the core lander.
“You bet, Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash replied and turned to Scootaloo. “Come on, kid, let's get back to the cities and get everything sorted out for you and your friends.” The four made their separate ways; Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo heading back towards the cities of Cloudsdale and Landsdale in the Hurricane Pony, and Pinkie and Twilight speeding off in the core lander towards the city of Manehatten and the next lead to Pinkie's missing sisters.