//------------------------------//
// LP26: The Chase [Adventure] 
// Story: Half Hour Horses: Legacy Prompts 
// by HoofAndQuill 
//------------------------------//



(The Prompt: "Run.")





(Geez, crazy week.  I nearly didn't get anything written in time.  My two previous attempts were shipping things that stopped halfway.  Anyway, here's my weird action entry.)




"Rainbow Dash!  Stop right there!"

The pegasus pony in flight glanced back at Spitfire and her small squad with a look that made it clear she didn't consider that an option.  The nighttime lights of Manehatten's wharf district passed under them in a sparkling blur as the ex-Wonderbolt lead them on a chase at a breakneck speed.  Spitfire knew her squad.  She knew Fleetfoot would have no problem keeping up, at least for a while.  She also knew that Soarin would already be huffing and puffing at near the end of his endurance for this kind of flight.

She thought she knew Rainbow Dash.  The cadet she'd trained, the young Wonderbolt she had known; that pony would not be fleeing from a fight, no matter how outmatched she was.  Spitfire couldn't help but call this new cowardice a side-effect of Rainbow's association with those friends of hers.

Only a few minutes of this frenzied pace and Spitfire could actually hear Soarin running out of breath, even at their speed and altitude.  Fleetfoot shouted something at him, that sounded like encouragement.  Rainbow Dash seemed to have heard it, and looked back at them a moment, actually flying backwards at the same speed as she did forwards.

Damn.  She would have made an excellent captain, if her friends hadn't gone crazy.

After a second though, Rainbow Dash dove toward the ground, and Spitfire and her squad followed her.  Looks like her endurance had suffered lately too; she was almost just falling without flapping her wings.  Even so, her head start and her skill at gliding allowed her to crash through a window in a darkened warehouse a few precious seconds before Spitfire could follow.

Glass rained down from the shattered skylight as the three Wonderbolts smashed their way into the warehouse.  Dark, half-abandoned, lined with rotting crates and rusted metal... if this wasn't an ideal ambush spot it was incredibly close.  Spitfire called out loudly, hoping to drown out the exhausted panting of her squadmates.  "Rainbow Dash!  We're here to take you in, on orders from Princess Luna!  You and your friends have been declared renegades and traitors, but if you come quietly I promise you won't get hurt!"

No response.  Spitfire had hoped that she'd come peacefully.  She'd grown fond of the kid during her training.

Spitfire crept forward through the darkened warehouse, with her two wingponies by her side.  She tried to keep her mind off of how much noise they were making, but Soarin just wasn't built for high-speed flight, and Fleetfoot was as fast as anypony, but even she was obviously feeling the strain.  Rainbow Dash, however, was either not even breathing heavy or was just being masked by all the noise from Spitfire's squad.

"You've got three seconds to come out, Dash.  Come on, make this easier on all of us."

"Yeah right!"

The response gave away her position, but there wasn't enough time to react.  A blue blur streamed out of a nearby shadow and slammed bodily against Spitfire, throwing her up against a shelf before Rainbow zipped upwards and dropped down onto Fleetfoot's back.  Fleetfoot had just about enough time to shout before being thrown through the air and into Soarin, both ponies rolling in a tumble across the floor.  Spitfire bounded to her feet, body pumping with adrenaline, and rushed toward the enemy.  Rainbow Dash's eyes widened, and she only just managed to dodge Spitfire's first swing, but it put her off balance.  Spitfire's subsequent buck with her hind legs caught Dash across the jaw and sent her reeling.

Spitfire knew better than to count on Rainbow being off her guard.  She was right.  Rainbow staggered backward for less than half a second before leaping into the air and diving toward Spitfire, only to go low and knock the veteran's hooves out from under her.  But Rainbow's grin at flooring Spitfire was short-lived as she saw the other two Wonderbolts back on their hooves and charging toward her.  In a rainbow-colored flash she bolted directly up into the night sky again, shattering another skylight in a shining blast of glass and kindling.

Only a second or two later the Wonderbolt squad was after her again.  Spitfire knew Soarin and Fleetfoot would be good for a shot while longer after that breather, and neither of them had been hurt.  Spitfire herself had only a few small bruises.  Despite Rainbow's speed, she'd never been the kind of fighter to really go for the debilitating injuries she should have.  Rainbow Dash was easy to track, her trail being as distinctive as it was, and she seemed to be going slower after the fight.  She was even just a hair slower than Spitfire's squad now, and there was no way she could outrun them for long enough.

The grin on Rainbow's lips as she looked back at them worried Spitfire a little.

Rainbow seemed to be retreating toward a part of the district that Spitfire was fairly certain was abandoned.  The lights and guards present in the rest of the buildings were missing here.  Maybe she was trying to lose them in the maze of brick and wooden buildings.  Wouldn't be too hard, judging by how quickly she'd disappeared last time.  Rainbow Dash managed to keep her lead on the squad long enough that Soarin and Fleetfoot were starting to tire again, before suddenly diving down like her tail was on fire.

Spitfire was a well-trained veteran of this sort of thing.  Rainbow Dash was... well, a rookie.  So when Spitfire saw that the building Rainbow had entered had windows too small for a pony, she knew she had the pegasus caught.  Her squad landed outside the warehouse door, and walked in carefully keeping a lookout.  It was dark, even with the moonlight through the slotted windows high above, and the sliver of light coming through the doorway.  Spitfire was about to call out again when she saw Rainbow Dash standing on a prominent crate a dozen feet ahead of the squad.

"You can't run, Dash.  You can't fight us, either.  Give yourself up, and it'll go easier for you."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, and then seemed to almost disappear.  A bolt of rainbow blew its way between the Wonderbolts, and then stopped at the door.  Rainbow grinned at them, but made no move to leave the building.  "Yeah.  No more running."

Suddenly the room was lit by a bright flash, and the Wonderbolts' eyes were drawn to the crate Rainbow had been on.  There, mane and eyes both glowing with stolen solar magic, was the Traitor Princess Twilight, flanked by the four other renegades the Wonderbolts had been tasked with finding.

Spitfire had thought her squad good enough to catch Rainbow Dash, but this was an alicorn princess in all her glory, and Spitfire had read the files on the other four as well.  She waved a hoof in a signal of retreat that only Wonderbolts would recognize.  But as she turned, they found Rainbow Dash slamming the warehouse door shut with her hind leg, and the lock being magically pulled into place by Rarity's magic.  Rainbow grinned again, this time with well-deserved confidence.  "Like I said.  No more running.  Twilight needs to talk to you, and you're going to have to listen."