//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: Challenge // Story: Transformers Armada: Starscream's Requiem // by Legofan //------------------------------// With Rarity’s window tightly shut behind him, Starscream gave his surroundings a cursory glance, checking for any ponies that may be out and about. Predictably, given the time of night and considerable chill, there were no ponies to be seen. Confident that there were no observers, Starscream took to the air and made his path towards Twilight’s library. It was fortunate for him that said library took the form of a massive tree; with his limited knowledge of Ponyville, it would have been otherwise unidentifiable. He estimated that, in his current state, he’d be able to reach Canterlot before the break of dawn, and that, if his conversation with Celestia went swiftly, he’d be returning to the Hive by early morning. Even if that happened, though, without his wing, Starscream’s top speed was comparable to that of a large bird on Earth. Getting his wing back was a necessity, regardless of how things went with Celestia. A hopeful feeling welled in Starscream as he made his way to the giant tree, silently flying over houses with their lights off and windows shut. Surely, if everyone else was sleeping, Twilight was too. And then, just as quickly as that hope came, it was dispelled. Nearing the library, he saw light shine through the every window and pouring through the open doors to the upstairs balcony. “That complicates things,” he muttered to himself, but approached nonetheless, landing softly before the door, then slinking over to one of the round windows beside it. His plan had simply been to enter through a window, steal back his wing, then leave, but it hinged almost entirely on Twilight and Spike being asleep, or at least upstairs, in order for it to succeed. The window wasn’t obstructed, and he chanced a quick glance to address the situation. Everything in the room was as he remembered from earlier in the day, save the orange tint splashed on everything by a candle resting on the center table, the room’s sole light source. Also at that table sat Twilight, with her back to him and attention to the small stack of papers before her. She held a quill in hoof, but didn’t look to actually be writing anything at the moment. Spike was present as well, sitting on the bottom step of the upward staircase. His eyes were half closed and he wore a weary look. Finally, perched across the room from Starscream’s observation point was an owl. And it was looking directly at him. Before he could survey the room more, the owl squawked alarmingly. Instantly, Starscream dove away from the window and retreated further behind the library, ensuring that he was out of view of the window. “What is it, Owlowiscious?” he heard Twilight ask, and the owl responded with a series of hoots. “Is somepony out there?” Spike asked, slurring his words. Starscream heard Twilight’s hoofsteps approach the window. “Owlowiscious says that he saw something moving out front,” she explained, “but he couldn’t make anything out.” “Probably just some animal,” commented Spike. “I wouldn’t worry about it. What I would do is go to sleep because it’s pointless sitting here waiting for Celestia to write back because she’s probably asleep already!” The dragon was nearly shouting at the end of his little outburst. After a few moments of stunned silence, he issued a quiet “Sorry.” “No, that’s alright,” Twilight assured, her voice leaving the window, and Starscream sighed in relief. “But, it is important that Princess Celestia and I agree on what to do as soon as possible. Tell you what: another half hour, and if we don’t hear back from her by then, you can sleep in as much as you like and we’ll deal with it once you wake up. Sound fair?” “Sure,” Spike muttered. “Thanks, Spike,” Twilight said sweetly, and then all was silent in the library again. Starscream waited where he was for a few minutes, but the time passed so slowly to him that it felt like he was waiting for hours. As if he were setting up an ambush, he grew anxious and impatient, and after ten minutes had passed, those feelings got the better of him. Unwilling to wait any longer to retrieve his wing, he started his trek towards Canterlot. Sticking close to the rooftops, it took an entire minute to finally fly free of Ponyville’s limits, and the wooden houses gave way to a small forest. This forest was nothing like the one he had stopped in to get out of the freak rain storm nearly twenty days earlier. Things looked as they ought to have been: natural, green, and not foreboding. It amazed him that such vastly different spans of woods could exist in such close proximity to each other. That thought, however, he quickly shoved out of his mind, as he had other things to worry about at the moment, foremost being to avoid detection. As he scanned about for any stray pegasi that may have happened to be in the area, he noticed that the lone cloud that had been plaguing him the entire night continued to do so. But he saw no pony accompanying it, and he ignored it as best as he could, instead considering the next issue before him: how to present himself and his case to the Princess. One thing he realized he should have inquired of while with Twilight and her friends was what the Princess was like. Celestia was obviously someone that Twilight respected and looked up to, as she willingly took orders from her, despite their sameness of title, but that told him very little of her character. After all, Twilight respected Rainbow Dash too, but he and her weren’t exactly fond of each other. Fortunately, he had the rest of the night to ponder this new dilemma.. Perhaps, he thought, it was good that I didn’t recover my wing, else I wouldn’t have made time to consider how to approach her. His train of thought ended there, though, as from behind him, a weary but determined battle cry sounded. Twisting, he saw Rainbow Dash rushing towards him. A faint rainbow trail followed her, originating from the plaguing cloud. Her presence there stunned him long enough for her catch up and collide with him. “Oh no you don’t!” Dash yelled, planting a hoof on each of his legs, beginning to force him down. Moments after she started shoving him, Starscream’s shock turned to anger. He growled menacingly, but let her continue until she drove him into the ground. Once downed, Dash stood atop him, growling at him in return and pinning him down. Or at least she would be pinning him down if Starscream’s strength wasn’t so superior to hers. This was the final straw; her impeding of him now was her final transgression. She was now his prey, and he would toy with her like a cat before having its feast. By giving her this small victory and having her get her hopes up by feeling as if she had bested and overpowered him, her demise would only be that much sweeter. “Where do you think you’re goin’?” Dash taunted, shoving her face right in front of his and snorting. “Canterlot,” he spat. He noticed that Dash’s eyes were bloodshot and that there were slight bags under them. He snickered and asked, “You weren’t stalking me from that cloud all night, were you?” It would certainly explain its odd behavior. “No,” Dash defended, “I was watching you to make sure you didn’t hurt anypony and to chase you if you tried to run away.” Starscream smirked. “How thoughtful of you. So now that you’ve caught me, what do you intend to do?” “Turn you in to Twilight, of course, and have her punish you as she sees fit,” Dash answered confidently, flashing a smirk of her own. Just as Starscream was wanting, she was getting confident. “Hopefully that punishment is to disassemble you,” she muttered as an afterthought. “Is that what you would have done to me if it were up to you?” There was no hesitation in her answer. “Yes.” Manipulating her was too easy. “Why wait? You could end me right now. Just rip off that panel”- he nodded toward the sheet of metal taped to his chest- “and tear out all the wires underneath. Rarity even put a killswitch there to make things easier for you.” His smirk grew as Dash looked towards the taped on metal and, releasing one of his arms, tore it off, exposing the wires underneath. Dash, not knowing that the killswitch had been undone, fell for Starscream’s bait. Her hoof neared the hole in his chest, and he tensed his now free arm -not that he couldn’t have simply shaken her off before- so as to swing at Dash and ideally bash her skull in. However, at his own mention of Rarity, a new idea came over him, a way to sate his curiosity and boost Dash’s ego some more simultaneously. He relaxed his arm. “Before you end me, Rainbow Dash,” he said pleadingly, “could you at least have the courtesy to tell me why you brought me down in the first place? It’d be a shame to die without knowing what for.” Starscream was expecting some conceited, bogus explanation of why she was innately better and more righteous than he, and how that reason would be enough to justify her growing spite towards him, but instead, Dash recoiled, crouching defensively, and again she growled. She appeared wounded by his words. Not having expected that reaction, Starscream couldn’t help but break character for a moment and give her a dumb and confused look. Noticing his slip up, he snapped back into his role, and hoped that Dash wouldn’t notice as well. Dash’s expression softened some. “I…” she began, then hesitated, seemingly debating whether or not to comply. “Ugh, fine!” she growled after a few seconds, resuming her prior demeanor and pinning back down the limb that she had previously left unrestrained. “I’ll tell you, but not because you asked, but because once Rarity and Twilight hear that I’ve told you, they’ll stop yelling at me over it. “You see, I was teaching Twilight how to fly when you showed up, and with how fast you were going, I just couldn’t help but give chase.” Dash sighed. “I’m the Fastest Flyer in Equestria, you know, so when you passed by, going nearly as fast as I can fly, I just...got nervous, and had to defend my title.” “So, you brought me down because you were...jealous,” Starscream reiterated, voice devoid of any discernible emotion. “Yes, I know; it’s a dumb reason!” Dash shouted, suddenly angry. “Rarity and Twilight haven’t shut up about it for the past eighteen days. They keep telling me how reckless and stupid it was and how sorry I should be, and I am, or I would be if you weren’t such a dangerous jerk in the first place!” “Because you were jealous…” Starscream snarled and mirrored Dash’s anger. He was done playing with her. “Are you that vain!?” he bellowed, and flung Dash off of him. He shoved her into the ground beside him, and she rolled a few feet before stopping. Dash spat out some dirt that had gotten in her mouth then made to stand again, but Starscream refused to give her that opportunity. He lunged at her and pinned her down as she had done to him, but he didn’t put all of his weight on her. Dash struggled furiously beneath him, trying to free at least one limb, but Starscream was just too massive, and not enough force was mustered to move him. After a few more seconds of fruitless struggle, Dash relented. “You have no idea what your vanity has endangered; you didn’t even consider the consequences of your actions, did you?” Starscream said, bringing his face closer to hers and speaking in a low voice for maximum intimidation, but all he received from her was a defiant, determined glare. Backing away, he moved one leg to Dash’s neck to keep her still as he cocked his other leg back, preparing the punch that would end her. “Twilight and Rarity were right: what you did was reckless and stupid, and now it’s going to cost you everything.” There he was, bringing up Rarity again, the only pony he had met thus far that he’d even consider calling a friend. And here he was, about to smash the life out of one of her closest friends for the petty purpose of getting even. He hadn’t come to Equestria for his own benefit either, he reminded himself. He was there for the changelings; his actions were implicitly theirs. Rather ironically, ending Rainbow would in fact cost him everything; those few precious friends he had made, pony and changeling alike, would all be gone if he continued. And as he considered all of this, Rainbow continued to affix him with her defiant glare, betraying no fear. Despite her impending doom and obvious tiredness, Dash did nothing. There was no struggling, no begging, no final insults; just a quiet determination that almost dared Starscream to proceed.. With a frustrated roar, Starscream drove his fist down. Dash didn’t even flinch as his leg dug into the ground directly beside her head, it stopping only when Starscream’s leg had been nearly completely buried. The ground shook slightly at the force of the impact. Reluctantly, Starscream let his weight off of Dash, and she wriggled out from under him, standing when she was free. Neither spoke for several seconds. In the silence, Starscream finally managed to calm himself. “You’re lucky...you’re lucky that you’re a pony of significance. Otherwise, you’d have been dead in the library.” “You’re not scary when you say things like that,” Dash retorted. “You only prove how right we are to keep you totally locked up.” Starscream extracted his leg from the ground. He allotted a moment to wipe some dirt off of his leg, though some still clung to him after a few wipes. He paid it no mind. “Pardon me for having a lifetime of being conditioned to resorting to violence first. But you’re right, I am approaching everything wrong; we need to settle out dispute another way.” An idea began to form in his mind. “You still wish to defend your title of ‘Fastest Flyer in Equestria’ I imagine. Tomorrow, Rarity was going to give me the opportunity to engage in activities of my choosing. How does a race sound to you?” “I may be interested,” Dash said slowly. He suspected that she suspected him of being up to something. She wouldn’t have been wrong, but Starscream was sure that his silver tongue would be able to disarm her. “I’m thinking...one lap: Ponyville, around Canterlot mountain, then back.” Dash began to say something, but he refused to let her get her thought out. “If I win, I claim your title and get your go-ahead to see Princess Celestia. But, if you win, in addition to promising to pacify myself, you defend your title, and you also earn the right to bestow upon yourself the title of Fastest Flyer on Cybertron.” Rainbow, as expected, perked up and seemed to relax some. “So...you’re saying that you’re the fastest Cybertronian?” “As my wing had been confiscated, I hadn’t thought to bring that fact up, as I would have been unable to prove my speed,” he lied. “How fast do you fly?” she asked. Starscream smirked. “Race me to find out.” It only took a few seconds of mulling it over before Rainbow finally said, “Alright, it’s a deal.” “No it’s not,” Starscream said suddenly, earning a confused glance from Dash. “You see, without my wing, I’m severely and unfairly handicapped. Return my wing to me, then we can race and put everything behind us.” She was suddenly less enthused at the idea, but at least continued to give the idea some thought. “Fine,” she conceded after a few moments, “but I’ll only give it to you just before we race, and you’re losing it right after, got it?” “Fair enough,” Starscream affirmed. “We’ll start tomorrow morning at Sweet Apple Acres.” “Someone will have to guide me there, but other than that, I am satisfied with the conditions.” He extended a hoof for shaking. “Are we in agreement?” Dash spat on one of her hooves, then accepted the shake. “We are.”