//------------------------------//
// Bug Hunting 
// Story: The Breaking of the Storm 
// by moguera 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 16: Bug Hunting

"Please hold still Ditzy," said Rarity as she worked to shift Ditzy's dress slightly, "I know you're excited, but I can't finish your fitting if you keep bouncing around like that."
"I'm sorry," said Ditzy, "But I'm so excited.  The wedding's tomorrow!"
"Really," said Rarity sardonically, "I had no idea.  And here I thought that I was outfitting you for a bridal-themed fashion show.  Really darling!  If you don't hold still, I will cast a freezing spell that I learned from Twilight on you."
That seemed to get Ditzy's attention and she froze in place.  In spite of her earlier frustrations, Rarity smiled to herself.  The truth was that she knew no such freezing spell and that, even if she did, there was no way she'd use it on another pony, much less one so pleasant and friendly as Ditzy.  Still, the bluff had served it's purpose, leaving Rarity free to finish her work in peace as she went about the final steps of adjusting Ditzy's wedding gown.
As far as gowns went, it was a pleasantly simple affair.  Rarity had actually gotten quite a bit of input from Coco, who had worked on the dress just as much as Rarity had.  Rather than white, they'd gone with a darker silver, something not too far removed from the gray of Ditzy's coat.  The hems were decorated with gold embroidery with a few cultured pearls sewed in for good measure, the gold doing a good job of complimenting Ditzy's blonde mane.  The final touch was the veil, which consisted of a white gossamer fabric so light that it seemed to drift in the breeze.
All told, Ditzy would cut a fine figure at her wedding.  It wasn't just her dress that Rarity had been working on.  She was also responsible for the dresses of the bridesmaids.  Lyra, Bon Bon, and Carrot Top were all old friends of Ditzy's, going back to when the mailmare had first come to Ponyville.  It had ben a delicate process to design dresses that would look fabulous for each of them while making sure that said dresses harmonized with and didn't upstage Ditzy's own.
On top of that, there was Big Macintosh's suit as well as Applejack's dress.  Fortunately, Coco had taken the reins on those projects and was doing quite well with them, from everything that Rarity had seen.
The scale of the wedding was surprising, given that the betrothed were a simple apple farmer and one of the town's mailmares.  However, the Apple Family was one of the oldest and most respected families in town, with branches ranging across the whole of Equestria.  Prior to the engagement, Big Macintosh was the most widely sought after stallion in all of Ponyville.  Rarity herself suspected that a great many mares were still wringing and biting their hoofkerchiefs in frustration over not being chosen by him.
While Ditzy might not have been as well-connected as her husband-to-be, she had made quite a few friends over the course of years spent delivering letters and packages hither and yon.  It helped that, in spite of her accident-prone nature, Ditzy's record at the Post Office was impeccable, with scarcely a single mis-delivered letter or damaged package to her name.  With Dawn teaching her how to read the wind and avoid obstacles, thus overcoming the difficulties her eye-condition caused her, most of the town's neighsayers had fallen quiet over the past few months, with a few even offering up apologies for their previous remarks.
As such, the wedding was slated to be packed, though the reception (planned by Pinkie Pie, of course) promised to be a smaller, more intimate affair.
In the process of thinking all about this, Rarity realized that Ditzy had been talking to her.  "I'm sorry dear," she said quickly, "What was that?  I was miles away."
Ditzy giggled.  "I was just wondering how your work for the Royal Warrant was going.  I heard you've been nominated."
Rarity was unable to stop herself from beaming.  The official notification of her nomination had arrived in the mail barely a day after Parliament had convened for its spring session and approved the final list of qualifications.  Though she'd known that she would be nominated, getting notified officially still made her giddy.
"Ah yes, things have been going swimmingly," she said, "Coco and I are nearly finished with the dresses we want to present at the selection."
Ditzy sagged a little.  "I'm sorry," she said, "You're already working so hard and then you have to do my dress and the dresses of my friends on top of that."
A light slap across her rump drew a sharp yelp from Ditzy before she stared with wide eyes at Rarity.  "None of that," chided Rarity, a playful smirk hovering on her lips, "A mare's wedding is not an occasion for feeling guilty and selfish...within certain boundaries, of course.  I'll have you remember that I did volunteer my services after all."  Rarity kept it to herself that she had volunteered at Applejack's request, though she would have turned said request down if she felt that it was adding too much to her workload.  Her friends had grown much more diligent in chiding her for overworking.
"Thank you for that," said Ditzy.
"You're quite welcome," said Rarity, "In fact, I'm grateful to you.  This is an excellent opportunity for Coco to work on designs of her own.  I'm happy that she could get the opportunity to gain experience."
Ditzy nodded.  One of her eyes slid to the side, allowing her to see where Applejack was currently being fitted by Rarity's apprentice.  The country mare was clearly even more uncomfortable with being stuck as a living ponyquin than Ditzy was.  However, Coco had apparently mastered a technique similar to the wide-eyed puppy-dog look wielded with ruthless efficiency by foals everywhere to guilt and goad Applejack into cooperating.  Coco's earnestness was so convincing that Ditzy wasn't sure whether it was genuine or simply a shrewd method of keeping her subject under control.  Either way, it was working wonders.
"Just a little longer," muttered Rarity as she returned her full attention to her work, "I'm almost done here."
Ditzy resisted the urge to squeal.  Before long, she would be getting married to the stallion of her dreams.  Her daughter would get a father and she would get a family and a new home in the bargain.  It was everything she could have hoped for after she'd left Cloudsdale.  The wedding was promising to be the happiest moment in her life.



"This can't be a good idea," said Twilight, glaring across the table at her coltfriend.
"Admittedly, it is most certainly an unpleasant one," Arkenstone conceded, "But it may be our best chance to keep Flash Spark from becoming a threat to too many other ponies.  He hasn't resurfaced since his attack on the Cloudeseum.  If we can't locate him before he strikes a second time, untold numbers of ponies could die.  This is a chance to draw him out and deal with him."
"Yes!  But we're still talking about turning poor Ditzy's wedding into a military operation!" snapped Twilight, clearly agitated, "This is supposed to be the happiest day of her life.  But if this thing goes wrong, it could turn into the worst and many ponies could still be hurt or killed."
"We are fully aware of that," admitted Red River, who was sitting at Arkenstone's right, "In all honesty, it would be best to avoid provoking Flash Spark at all unless we can present a scenario where no innocent ponies are being threatened.  However, Spitfire's analysis of the situation places a high probability on Flash Spark showing up regardless, seeing as two of the ponies whom he has grudges against will be attending anyway."
Twilight pursed her lips, clearly not being happy with the idea.  However, since the only solution to that particular issue would be to keep Fluttershy and Dawn from attending (a decision that Ditzy would never accept), it might not be enough, given that Flash Spark could be operating on the simple assumption that they would be attending, which might be enough to motivate him into action on his own.
"By taking this measure, we also ensure the best opportunity of bringing the matter to a close without harming anypony," added Storm Front, who was sitting to Arkenstone's left, "Spitfire and the Wonderbolts will be present after all.  Besides them, the three of us shall also be there as well as the two griffons currently protecting Fluttershy."
Red nodded in agreement.  "All told, we have two Celestial Knights, one Knight's hoofpicked team of flyers, and four skilled mercenaries.  This is probably our best chance to bring a substantial amount of strength to bear against an adversary like Flash Spark."
Twilight sighed and sagged.  "I'm still against it," she said, "But I can't stop you."  She gave Arkenstone a half-hearted glare across the table.
Arkenstone, for his part, merely flattened his ears and nodded.  As much as he wanted to leave and give Twilight some time to calm down, there was still one other matter to be discussed.  "Should we tell Ditzy and Macintosh about it?"
Twilight's glare intensified for a moment.  But then she sighed and sagged.  "I honestly don't know," she admitted, "This isn't like Dawn.  Ditzy's not a fighter and neither is Macintosh.  I don't want to cause them extra stress with the wedding already causing enough as it is.  But...at the same time..."
"Learning that your friends have been keeping secrets from you, particularly ones concerning the safety of you, your family, and your friends, can be even more troubling," Storm suggested, earning Twilight's glare in Arkenstone's stead.
"Ugh!"  Twilight planted her face on the table.  "I give up!  Just do whatever you feel is right!  You're just going to end up doing that anyway."
Arkenstone slowly nodded and stepped away from the table, the two mercenaries falling in behind him as they left the library in silence.
"I didn't expect her to be so vehemently opposed to the whole idea," commented Red as they made the short trek across to the teahouse.
"Admittedly, I didn't either," said Arkenstone, "After all, it's not so far removed from the gambit we pulled with Dawn."  Said gambit involved publishing an interview with Dawn in a nationwide newspaper in order to draw the Cult Solar further into the open with the intent of exposing their influence and undermining their support, as well as providing official justifications for Princess Celestia to legally sanction, if not disband, the organization.  The gambit had only partially worked, mostly attracting errant fanatics to Ponyville in poorly-planned attempts to kill Dawn.  However, prompt and decisive action by the Cult's leader had clamped down on anything more overt.  That said, the gambit had proved to be quite dangerous for Dawn and was probably still drawing danger towards him even now.
"Can you think of why she might be so upset over it?" asked Storm.
"Perhaps," admitted Arkenstone, "I believe the fact that it's a wedding was upsetting to her."
"A wedding...?" inquired Red, canting his head slightly.  A second later, something clicked in his head and his ears shot upright.  "Oh!  That's right!  The Royal Wedding!"
Arkenstone nodded.  "Yes.  While the events of those few days ultimately led to the wedding's successful conclusion, Twilight was still fairly traumatized by the whole affair.  Between her concerns about being rejected by her friends and Celestia and being captured by Queen...Chrysalis...Twilight has some fairly painful memories of what should have been an extremely happy occasion for her and her family.
"Because this wedding is for close friends of hers, she undoubtedly would rather it went well.  More importantly, she is upset because we all know that there is a possibility of somepony threatening it and we even know where that threat is coming from.  Yet, we seem to be actively inviting it."
"Not that there's anything we can do to prevent it unless we can somehow magically trip over wherever Flash Spark's been hiding between now and then," said Red irritably.
"Twilight's aware of that," said Arkenstone, "Which is why she isn't trying to stop us, however upset she may be over the whole affair."
"Let's just hope everything goes well," muttered Red unhappily.



As the wedding approached, things gradually grew more frantic as the preparations for it, both overt and covert, picked up the pace.  Rainbow Dash arrived that very night, much to the joy of her friends, receiving especially enthusiastic welcomes from Ditzy and Scootaloo, the latter naturally letting Rainbow stay at her former cloud house for the night.
What Rainbow didn't inform her friends was that the Wonderbolts had arrived as well and were secretly stationing themselves in the skies around Ponyville, watching warily for any sign of the approaching Flash Spark.
Still, as the day of the wedding dawned, the weather was mild and peaceful, just as Ditzy and Macintosh had requested from the Weather Team.  The clouds provided a light shade and a mild breeze kept everypony cool without being too chilly.  The participants and their audience gathered in the orchard, where benches had been laid out with an altar at the base of the oldest apple tree on the farm.  According to Granny Smith, said tree was the first grown from the first seed she'd planted when she'd arrived on the farm.  It had been where she'd said her own wedding vows and she was more than happy that her grandson would be using it for his (along with many sly hints that her granddaughter would be using it for hers...to Applejack's blushing irritation).
As the musicians, accompanied by Fluttershy's bird choir, began to play, a few ponies in the audience kept a nervous eye on the skies...waiting for the first signs of trouble.



"Ya feelin' nervous Mac?" asked Applejack.
Glancing sidelong at the best mare, Coco Pommel suppressed a smirk.  The faint twitching of Applejack's tail beneath her skirt indicated her own nervousness.  It was clear she was simply trying to alleviate her own nerves by needling her older brother.
Macintosh's placid gaze drifted over to Applejack before settling back again to the front with rigid stoicism as Coco tugged lightly on the collar of his suit to make sure it settled right before he went down the aisle.  He seemed to mull over Applejack's question silently for a moment before answering.  "Eeyup."
Coco couldn't quite stop herself from giggling.  Macintosh didn't look nervous.  However, through her hooves, she could feel the tautness of the muscles underneath the suit, which were clearly drawn tight with tension.  Despite that, one would never be able to tell from his expression, which was just as calm and serenely neutral as always.
"Ah think yer gonna be fine coz," commented Braeburn with his usual easygoing drawl.
Braeburn had been the only member of the family to come down from Appleloosa.  Applejack had been wondering if Blenheim was going to show up, but he apparently had too much work to do.  Braeburn's comments on the subject had been a little troubling, considering that a great deal of Blenheim's work seemed to revolve around the Cult Solar and their construction project in Appleloosa.  He also seemed to have been avoiding Braeburn as much as possible.
Applejack's ears twitched as she picked up the first strains of music and birdsong.  "There's our cue," she said, "Let's go, Mac."
"Eeeyup."
The groom's party trotted off, leaving Coco to her own devices as she packed up her things and prepared to join Rarity in the audience.
"They looked good.  You do good work."
"Eep!"  Coco jumped and whirled around to glare at the black-cloaked figure of Perlin, who smiled politely at her as he stepped out from behind a tree.  "What are you doing here?" she demanded harshly.  Her fear was temporarily crushed beneath righteous indignation that Perlin and, through him, his employer would try to interfere in such a personal and happy event.  Can't they ever just leave me alone?
"As it so happens, I am not...on the clock, as it were," said Perlin, a bit taken aback by Coco's anger, "A little bird told me that some interesting things were afoot down in Ponyville.  So I thought I would come down and see for myself, seeing as the Baron does not have any jobs for me at the moment."
For a moment, Coco stewed over Perlin's words.  "What do you mean?" she asked nervously.  She was glad that Perlin hadn't come to give her further instructions on Elderflower's behalf, but slightly confused as well.
"I don't know many of the details myself," said Perlin, "But quite a few formidable ponies have been assembling around the perimeter of this little ceremony.  Getting in undetected was tricky."
It would have been even better if you'd just gotten caught, thought Coco sourly.  However, for some reason, her anger and fear were waning.  There was something about Perlin's presence that was almost...reassuring.  Perhaps it was the warning in his tone, the fact that he'd apparently come in specifically to speak to her about the trouble that had been brewing, as though he wanted to make sure she was forewarned.  "Shouldn't you be out where those other ponies you were talking about are if you want to see what's going on."
To her surprise, Perlin actually shifted uncomfortably, averting his gaze slightly...bashfully even.  "Well...I'm thinking that I could benefit from a different viewpoint this time.  The situation should be quite interesting from this location."
Is he saying he wants to stay nearby? Coco wondered, Is it so he can protect me?  She wasn't sure whether to be troubled or pleased by the development.  If something dangerous was indeed occurring, then having Perlin close by would probably be an advantage.  Given how dangerous she knew he was, she honestly felt a lot less worried if those mithril feathers of his were being placed between her, her friends and whatever threat was approaching.
"You should probably go join your friends in the audience," said Perlin as the tone of music shifted, indicating that it was now Ditzy's turn to make her way down the aisle, "You don't want to miss the ceremony after all."
Hesitating slightly, Coco nodded and began to make her way out from the small grove of trees that had served as Macintosh and Applejack's dressing room to take her seat, part of her desperately hoping that Perlin really was there to protect her.



Rainbow Dash hummed the wedding theme to herself as it drifted up from the orchard below.  Just a little longer and Ditzy would be married to Macintosh and the whole affair would move to one of the Apple Family's barns for the reception.  There was no sign of Flash Spark yet and Rainbow found herself desperately hoping that maybe...just maybe...they were wrong about him and that he wouldn't take the bait.  Given how painful the buzzing of his wings had been when he'd arrived at the show in Cloudsdale, she didn't like the idea of the wedding below being disrupted by the same noise.
The Wonderbolts had debated vigorously over whether or not to have Twilight erect a sound-dampening barrier over the wedding, arguing over whether it was best to make sure that Ditzy and Macintosh's ceremony went as undisturbed as possible or risking their safety by keeping them completely ignorant of any approaching danger.  In the end, Spitfire had decided to err on the side of caution and skip the barrier, instead picketing the Wonderbolts as far out as she dared in hopes that they could intercept Flash Spark before he was noticed and then lead him away from the wedding.
Thus, each of the Wonderbolts on the outer perimeter was stationed on a cloud with a small thunderhead within reach, which could be triggered with a light kick and would be clearly heard all the way on the other side of the perimeter.  The signal had been cleared with the Weather Team to ensure that nopony thought a rogue storm was wandering in.
"Try to relax a little more," whispered Soarin' as he nuzzled Rainbow's cheek, "We'll get the jerk before he gets close."
"I hope so," muttered Rainbow, trying to will the tension out of her body.  It wasn't exactly working.  On her other side, Storm Front waited patiently, his eyes closed.  Dawn was down in the audience with Red River and Arkenstone, the three of them serving as a final line of defence should Flash Spark make it through in spite of all their preparations.
"We've thought of everything we could," said Soarin' as reassuringly as he possibly could, "This Flash Spark guy is a lot of things, but stealthy ain't one of them.  He wants to cause as much of a ruckus as he can so that he can draw all kinds of attention.  He won't try to sneak in."
Biting the inside of her lip, Rainbow nodded.  The Wonderbolts had even considered the possibility that Flash Spark might come in high and try to dive down from above.  The Perimeter had been laid out in a full three dimensions to ensure that his approach could be detected at any altitude.
"Okay-ack!"  Rainbow yelped as Dawn's head abruptly erupted from the cloud between her and Soarin', making both her and her stallion jump in surprise.
"Message for you," said Dawn a bit breathlessly, having clearly raced up to their cloud as fast as he could, "Pinkie Pie said to tell you 'Twitchy tail.'"
"Twitchy tail..."  Soarin' tapped his chin, trying to reason it out.  He remembered Pinkie Pie's infamous Pinkie Sense from the time he'd spent in Ponyville.  It was real enough, having successfully guided them through the fog created by an assassin specifically for the purpose of confusing and misdirecting ponies.  However, he couldn't remember which signals correlated to what.
However, Rainbow's response was much faster.  "Above!"  Her head shot up and she spun in a circle, her ears stretched up as high as they would go as she tried to see and hear Flash Spark coming.
At that instant, a loud crack echoed from one of the clouds in the upper layer of the perimeter, which was shortly followed by a low, droning buzz.
"There he is!" shouted Rainbow, leaping off the cloud and making straight for the source of the noise.
"Hey!  Hold on!" protested Soarin', leaping in the air to follow her.  But he rapidly fell behind as Rainbow accelerated to her top speed, determined to catch Flash Spark before he could disturb the wedding below.



"And they're off," muttered Arkenstone as his ears picked up the signal.
"Where is it coming from?" Twilight muttered back.
"Northeast," replied Arkenstone quickly, "and higher up."
Twilight tensed and a glimmer of silver flashed at the base of her horn, revealing a silvery ring that hadn't been there before.  It had been a gift from Arkenstone back when he'd first come to stay in Ponyville.  The ring had formerly been her brother's, composed of a rare alloy known as arcanasteel.  At its most basic capability, the ring could be used to create armored barding for Twilight from her materialized magic, granting the armor qualities that any normal physical material would never be capable of.  However, after spending a great deal of time investigating its full capabilities, Twilight knew it was actually capable of much more.  If things went completely wrong, it would serve as the final line of defense against Flash Spark's attack.  Twilight hoped she wouldn't need it.
As it was, the ceremony was progressing smoothly, with no signs that anypony had picked up on anything wrong occurring.  Nopony seemed to notice as Dawn drifted back down to his seat beside Fluttershy.  Mayor Mare was finishing up her scripted speech and, before long, it would be time for the vows.  Biting the inside of her lip, Twilight tried to keep one eye on the wedding and the other on the skies.



Rainbow's keen eyes picked Flash Spark out almost instantly, though the ear-splitting drone of his wings had given him away well before that.  The last time he'd shown up, the sound alone had nearly knocked some pegasi out of the skies,  being dangerous in its own right.  However, Spitfire had quickly compensated for this issue and had arranged for special earplugs that the Wonderbolts were supposed to put on at the first sign of Flash Spark's approach.  The plugs didn't block out the noise entirely, but did muffle it sufficiently that it became little more than an annoyance, even this close to the source.
By the time she'd reached him, the insectile pegasus was already being mobbed by three Wonderbolts, who were taking turns making runs at him, timing their attacks to keep Flash from targeting any particular pony.  For his part, Flash's wings showed their mettle as he bobbed and dipped, flipped and rolled, moving in any direction he pleased with nary a loss in speed.  It was an uncanny level of agility that rivaled Dawn's when he used his Gale King techniques to skip from one spot to another so fast he seemed to be teleporting.
The razor edges of the segmented whip that had replaced his tail lashed through the air, trying to strike down the mare that came at him from behind.  However, she managed to roll and drop beneath the slash, her pass now taking her beneath Flash's belly.  Twisting her body so that she was now facing straight downwards, the mare bucked straight up, aiming for Flash's stomach.  However, Flash simply shot straight up without changing his orientation in the slightest.
The drone of his wings rose sharply in pitch and Rainbow began to see a rippling motion forming in the air near one of his wings.  She remembered the mysterious shrieking beams that had completely demolished the Cloudeseum in a single pass.  There was no telling what an attack like that would do to a pony's body.  She immediately darted straight in, aiming her hoof right for Flash's face.
Flash rotated his body, whipping his head out of the way of her swing even as he skidded back away from her through the air.  The same movement brought that deadly tail whipping around.  Rainbow ducked her head with a yelp and actually felt the edges of the tail clip the very top of her mane, slicing off a few strands.  However, her attack managed to accomplish her actual objective as the scream of the building beam attack faded back down into his wings' usual drone.
Not wanting to give him the option of trying that move again, Rainbow pressed the attack, chasing after Flash, jabbing fiercely with her forelegs to try and catch him off-balance.  Flash let out a harsh, grating laugh and jumped from side to side, avoiding her punches with contemptuous ease.
"Come on Rainbow Dash!  I know you can do better than that!" he taunted.
With a growl, Rainbow was about to surge forward to press the attack when, with a faint whistle of his wings, Soarin' dropped in from above.  One wing extended fully, a flash of blue magic playing across his primaries as he aimed them straight for Flash's back.  Flash simply dodged back diagonally, not even turning away from Rainbow as he moved.
"Damn!  It's like he's got eyes in the back of his head," Rainbow heard one of the other Wonderbolts, whom she recognized as Silver Lining, complain.
"He might, if he's taking this insect theme of his all the way," supplemented Misty Fly, one of the three that had originally intercepted Flash.
Soarin' made quick eye contact with Rainbow before nodding sharply at her.  Rainbow nodded slightly back.  She knew her role in this scenario.  Having effectively stopped Flash Spark and stalled his attack on the wedding, they now planned to use his fixation on her to draw him away from other ponies, where there would be less danger of innocents being drawn into the conflict.
With a loud yell, Rainbow charged at Flash once again.  At the last second, she shifted the angle of her charge, darting away from him before doubling back to come at him straight from the side...or she would have if Flash hadn't simply started flying sideways at the same speed as her.  Rainbow saw his head lunge forward, those fearsome mandibles over his mouth opening to jab at her.  At that moment, Misty Fly came barreling in on an opposing course as Rainbow dropped down to duck beneath Flash's attack.
Flash darted upwards, dodging above Misty and giving Rainbow the time needed to reverse her dive and come straight at him from below.  Her forehooves connected solidly with Flash's stomach, managing to get a hit in on him for the first time.
Rainbow immediately regretted it.  Rather than fur and soft tissue, her hooves instead slammed into chitin that was possibly harder than steel.  The force of impact rattled through Rainbow's legs and she felt her hoof crack slightly from the force.  Flash was merely thrown farther up.  However, he'd lost some of his control from the impact and was spinning slightly.
That was all the opening the other Wonderbolts needed.  They swarmed on Flash like the insects that he so resembled.  Soarin' came straight in from the front, the glowing feathers of his wing hitting Flash right in the throat.  Misty had reversed her previous charge and caught Flash with a slash across the barrel.  Silver Lining and Blaze charged down from above, side by side, their glowing wings catching Flash with two strikes along his spine.
All four Daisy Cutter attacks hit home, their impact turning Flash into a whirling dervish.  Rainbow winced at the sight.  She'd seen that technique shear through solid steel like it was paper.  There was no way that Flash would be able to survive catching four of them, all in vital points.
"Ow..."  Soarin's pained groan caught Rainbow's attention she whirled to see her coltfriend shaking his wing out  and wincing in pain.  His lead primary looked considerably more ragged, reminding Rainbow of the chipped and pitted blade of a worn-out knife.
Her eyes widening, she turned to look at Flash again as he regained his control.  He was completely unhurt.  At most, she could see that the impacts of the four Daisy Cutters had left scratches in the carapace that encased his body.  However, that was the extent of the damage.  Flash looked as though he wasn't even feeling any pain from that.
"Is that the best the Wonderbolts can manage?" crowed Flash, his wings buzzing excitedly.
Out of the corner of her eye, Rainbow saw Misty frantically mouth "Stick to the plan," to her silently.  Rainbow nodded and focused her glare on Flash Spark.
"You think you're tough," she snarled, "But you're still the same pathetic stallion you were the last time I saw you.  All that armor shows just how weak you really are."  She gave Flash her most taunting smile.  "What's the matter?  Can't take on a mare without a crutch...big boy?"
A hiss that sounded more like an insect than a pony forced its way out of Flash's mouth.  "I'll show you weak," he retorted, "when I have you screaming underneath me, we'll see who's weak then."
"You'll have to actually beat me first," Rainbow taunted, giving him a teasing smirk, "We know how well that worked out for you the last time you tried."
The buzzing of Flash's wings grew in intensity and his body blurred into motion with no cue from his posture.  One second, he was hovering there, the next he was barreling straight at her.
Instead of trying to dodge him, Rainbow charged at him herself.  Dodging was a tricky thing when he could simply shift his flight to match her movement without even changing direction.  Moreover, in a collision between the two of them, she would lose, hooves down.  Whatever material that carapace was made of would probably snap her bones like twigs.  While the mithril rings of her flight suit could easily turn aside a blade, they tended not to fare as well against pure, blunt impact, seeing as the suit lacked any kind of padding and lay right up against her skin.  However, if she could time her movements just right...
Raising her forehooves, Rainbow accelerated further, her own charge carrying her even faster at Flash.  Before he could react to the change, she brought her hooves down right on top of his head.  However, instead of trying to throw her weight behind the blow, she instead used his head as a platform to vault over the rest of his body.  As he passed beneath her, she bucked out with her hind legs, catching him right in the poll, knocking his head down.
Flash's tail lashed upward and dragged its edges along Rainbow's stomach, but her mithril mail caught the attack and deflected it.  Thank goodness he's not that tough, she thought with relief.  Pumping her wings, she accelerated away from Flash.  A glance over her shoulder told her that he'd reversed direction and was now coming after her.
For all that he'd gained in maneuverability Flash was still no match for Rainbow when it came to sheer speed and she could have outpaced him easily.  Instead, she put her speed to a different use, accelerating into a loop and coming at Flash from the side.  However, he easily oriented on her without losing even a little speed, now sliding sideways through the air as he turned to face her.
The droning of Flash's wings rose to a pitch that made Rainbow's teeth rattle.  She saw converging ripples of air form in front of his wings before igniting into lancing beams that stabbed out towards her.  Rainbow twisted and rolled to slip between them as Flash swept them across each other.  At the same instant, Flash changed the direction his flight and began to charge straight at her.  The beams spent, he lunged forward, his mandibles spreading out in preparation to catch her.
Rainbow rushed straight at him in a dangerous game of chicken.  At the last second, she dipped down to fly below him, kicking up her acceleration to maximum.  Flash might have been able to change direction at will, but his reflexes still wouldn't allow him to keep up with her sheer speed.  He tried to drop down on her from directly above as she passed below him, but his hooves passed through the space she'd gone through without even brushing her tail.
Again, the rising pitch of the buzzing wings signaled another set of beams.  Rainbow rolled and pulled into a tight arc.  The two beams passed on either side of her and she managed to twist out from between them.  They seemed to fade before more beams stabbed out, a constant barrage of screaming energy that forced Rainbow to continually evade even as she tried to circle around for another angle of attack.
"Knock that off!" yelled Soarin' as he attacked Flash from behind, slicing at the base of Flash's wing with one of his glowing blue feathers.  Once again, the Daisy Cutter failed to do any real damage and the only consequence was that Flash was sent into another erratic spin.  On the bright side, he had ceased attacking with those beams of his while he tried to regain control of his flight.
"Nice save," said Rainbow as Soarin' came up by her.
"That bastard," hissed Soarin', "He was aiming for your wings."
A chill ran down Rainbow's spine at those words.  Now she realized why Flash Spark's shots had always seemed to be on either side of her.  It wasn't because his aim was off.  Rather, he was aiming for two much more difficult targets.  She was lucky that his aim wasn't all that spectacular to begin with.
Flash Spark let out a growl and once again turned to attack, but was forced to evade as Blaze, Silver, and Misty all charged him from different directions, forcing him to juke wildly in order to evade their strikes.  The three of them moved so that whenever Flash tried to hit one, one of the others would rush in from a different angle and force him to defend or avoid.  Even though the Wonderbolts' Daisy Cutters couldn't get through that strange armor of his, the brute force behind those attacks continued to force Flash to correct and adjust, which may have been why he was avoiding attacks as much as possible in the first place.
In the meantime, Rainbow took a moment to get her breath back.  They were still in the process of leading the fight out away from Ponyville and the Apples' orchards, where the wedding was still in progress.
"Don't push yourself too hard," said Soarin', "One mistake with those beams he's firing off and you're as good as dead."
"Do you know what they do?" asked Rainbow as she and Soarin' followed along in the battle's wake.
"Not for sure," he said, "But my best guess is that they're basically concentrated beams of sonic energy.  I'm not sure what the light is, maybe it's from friction between vibrating molecules, but a sonic beam like that'll cut through even our flight suits like butter."
"Where are the others?" Rainbow wondered aloud, trying her best to get her mind off of fixating on what those beams would have done to her wings if they'd actually hit their mark.
"They're almost in position," said Soarin', "We just have to finish leading Flash Spark into the target zone and we'll be set."
Rainbow nodded.  In order to be sure that Spitfire could cut loose with her full strength, they had to be absolutely sure that they were a certain distance from anywhere ponies might be before she entered the fray.  They would also want a substantial buffer to account for the extensive amount of movement that took place during aerial battles, so simply setting up at the bare minimum distance was no good either.
The plan to lure Flash Spark away from Ponyville was a difficult one to carry out.  Had Rainbow simply tried to taunt him into chasing her, he might have cottoned on to the fact that he was being led away.  Instead, they were to engage Flash with hit and run tactics and slowly use their evasions to guide the battle away from Ponyville and into the target zone.
Looking around, Soarin' noticed another quartet of Wonderbolts approaching.  "The second team's here," he said, "Ready to get back in the fray."
"Yeah," said Rainbow, taking a deep breath and setting her shoulders, "Time to get back to work."
The four new arrivals circled the outer perimeter of the fight.  Then, as Misty pulled out of her latest charge, one of the members of the second squad dived in to replace her as she took his position circling the fight.  One by one, the members of the original group that had intercepted Flash switched places with their reinforcements and took up circling around the outside.  With their identical flight suits and only their manes and tails to tell them apart, Flash Spark didn't even notice that the ponies he'd been fighting against previously had been replaced.
Taking a deep breath, Rainbow pumped her wings before she plunged into the fray herself.  Her world became one of diving and dodging as she attacked and was attacked in turn.  Even though she had four other Wonderbolts supporting her, she still felt that she couldn't let up at all.  If she gave Flash Spark even a moment's opening, it would be all over for her.  However, she remembered what was at stake.  Ditzy Doo was celebrating one of the most important days in her life just a few miles away.  Rainbow would be damned if she let this freak ruin that for her.



"Do you, Ditzy Doo, take Big Macintosh to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold in sickness and in health, until death do you part?" asked Mayor Mare, smiling genially down from the podium at the bride.
Ditzy turned to beam at Macintosh.  "I do."
Next, the mayor turned her attention to the groom.  "And do you, Big Macintosh, take Ditzy Doo to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?"
"Eeyup," replied Big Macintosh automatically before freezing and blinking as he realized what he'd just blurted out.  The audience chuckled behind him and Ditzy also burst into giggles.  Rubbing his mane, Macintosh grinned sheepishly.  "Er...Ah do."
Once she got her mirth back under control, Mayor Mare moved on to the next part of the ceremony.  "Then I now pronounce you husband and wife."  A twinkle sparked in her eye.  "Now kiss!"
Ditzy didn't need any further prompting, throwing her arms around Macintosh's neck and kissing him deeply.  The move took her new husband by surprise as his eyes widened and he leaned back from the force of her enthusiasm.  For a moment, the crowd was so spellbound that everypony forgot to cheer.
"YAY!" squealed Dinky, jumping up and down excitedly from her position just behind Ditzy where she and the bridesmaids had been standing.
Like a breaking dam, cheers flooded the orchard as ponies stamped their hooves in applause.
"Oh!  That was wonderful!" gasped Rarity, dabbing at her eyes with a hoofkerchief, "I'm so glad the ceremony went off without a hitch."
"I don't get it," said Pinkie, "I mean, they got hitched, so doesn't that count as a hitch then?"
"That's..."  Rarity frowned.
"A figure of speech at cross-purposes with itself," suggested Spike lamely.
Rarity coughed lamely.  "Yes...something like that."
Twilight smiled and wiped her own eyes.  In spite of her anxiety about the situation, she was glad to see Ditzy so happy.  More importantly, nopony at the ceremony had noticed anything wrong.  Hopefully that meant that the situation with Flash Spark was contained at least. 
"How are things going?" she asked softly to Arkenstone.
"They've moved beyond my range," he said, "I can't say.  The fact that Flash Spark hasn't suddenly crashed the party seems to suggest that they are still fighting or Rainbow Dash and Storm Front would be back by now."
Around them, ponies shifted and began to move.  The affair was moving slowly to the barn, where the reception was to be held.  Ditzy and Macintosh weren't leading the way, but they were near the front of the group.  Twilight could see Ditzy looking around expectantly.  She realized that Ditzy was probably seeing who was staying for the reception.  However, as she looked around more, a faintly worried look came across Ditzy's face.  She's noticed Rainbow's missing, thought Twilight nervously.  She wondered just how they were going to account for Rainbow's absence without giving everything way.
Dawn stepped up beside her.  "I'll go check on the situation," he volunteered, "Let mom know I'll be back soon."
"Okay," said Twilight, "Be careful."
Dawn nodded and seemed to vanish.
Nearby, Coco was also making her way to the barn.  She'd allowed herself to be carried to the fringes of the crowd and now trailed in the back, looking around anxiously.
"It would seem things are alright for the time being," commented Perlin casually as he slipped in next to her.
Coco fought the urge to jump and scream again.  She was getting used to the young stallion sneaking up on her.  "What's going on?"
"It would seem that somepony was trying to crash the wedding.  However, the Wonderbolts have intercepted him and are now in the process of either apprehending him or driving him off.
"W-will they be okay?"
"I can't say," said Perlin with a shrug, "I didn't dare try to go in for a closer look.  I figured my presence would be a fatal distraction to them, so I opted to simply observe what I could from a distance, which, unfortunately, was not much."
"Then you're staying here?" asked Coco nervously.
"In the vicinity, yes," replied Perlin, "But I can't accompany you into the barn.  I'm afraid that there are ponies who would notice me in such close quarters, in spite of my best efforts."
Coco's eyebrow went up at that.  If Perlin was wary of these ponies he was talking about, then, perhaps, these were ponies he didn't feel up to fighting.  Coco couldn't imagine who could stand up to the young stallion, whose mithril wings she'd once see carve up two-score trained bodyguards.  However, Perlin clearly thought somepony here, multiple ponies even, warranted some degree of caution on his part.  If I find out who, then...
A faint spark of hope fluttered in Coco's heart.  Maybe this was her chance to break Baron Elderflower's hold over her.  If she could find out who Perlin was wary of, then perhaps those ponies would be able to protect her from the inevitable reprisal that would come with betraying Elderflower's trust, a reprisal that was likely to come on silvery wings, regardless of how nicely Perlin behaved around her.
Coco was so enraptured by her thoughts on the matter, she failed to notice when Perlin slipped away, leaving her alone in the crowd again.