//------------------------------//
// Chapter 89: Rising From the Shadows 
// Story: Piercing the Heavens 
// by Calm Wind 
//------------------------------//

MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind
(This Chapter was edited by Lucky424)

Chapter 89: Rising from the Shadows





“GET IN YOUR FORMATIONS!” Soarin yelled out above Dash as she looked up towards him. “Squads one through ten, high altitude! Everypony else, low altitude! GO! GO!” he pointed as he and the rest of the high tier elites pitched upward to focus on the Shadowbolts above. A majority of the Shadowbolts turned towards them, firing their eye beams, trying to knock them out of the sky. The Wonderbolts took a few hits, but most of the beams missed their marks, the high tier elites showcasing tremendous dodging skills as the beams of magic shot by. The days of running the obstacle courses were paying off.

With most of the Shadowbolts focusing their fire on the high tier elites, it allowed Squad Zero and the rest to approach below with less resistance. They were still heavily outnumbered though, even with more than half of the Shadowbolt force focusing above.

Dash looked back down as her squad joined her side.

“Hear that Dash?!” Star scolded as she flew beside her. “Don’t scare us and fly off like that again!”

“I hear it loud and clear, Star!” Dash stole a brief glance at Squall, Matteo, and Twister behind her. “We’re sticking together now!”

Squad Zero flew in front of them in an erratic formation. Shine kept yelling at them to stay in a line, but Calm, Swift, and Playbitz kept shifting out or forward. They definitely looked eager to fight, and after the little scuffle Dash and her squad had with them a while back, she was glad they were on their side. Anti-magic combat… she wondered if she’d finally get to see what that meant.

Squad zero suddenly spread out as they all closed in. Shine turned and looked at the rest of them. 

“Try to stay behind us!” she yelled out. Squad zero was a separate squad with no real authority of the rest, but the low tier elites and the recruit squads knew why they were out here, so they gladly complied.

Dash shifted, motioning for the rest of her squad to follow as they merged into a group that followed behind Shine Struck.

Squad zero flew in front of them all, and pulled their hooves back as they fearlessly charged headlong into the barrage of incoming magic blasts. 

“Hrrrrggg…” Shine began to release a low growl as the magic beams began to focus on squad zero and careen towards them. Dash locked her eyes on Shine, watching carefully as she and the rest of squad zero readied themselves. “HAAAAA!!!” Shine suddenly yelled out and punched forward as one of the magic beams came within inches of her. 

Her hoof struck the beam of magic… and Dash’s jaw dropped as the beam pulsed and bent, deflecting heavily and arcing over her.

She knocked aside a beam of magic with her bare hoof. 

The rest of the Wonderbolts behind them watched in awe as squad zero led them forward, Calm, Swift, and Playbitz deflecting the magic beams with sharp, strong, heavy swats and punches directly into the incoming beams.

“How are they doing that…!?” Matteo exclaimed in disbelief as he looked over to see Calm shrug off two blasts of magic that hit him in the shoulders before swiping his hooves to deflect another.

Dash wanted to know just as badly. It didn’t seem so simple.

The Shadowbolts were visibly surprised when their magical attacks were suddenly being struck aside, but they kept up the barrage. With squad zero in front, the gap closed quickly, and soon they’d have a low altitude dogfight on their hooves.

Dash was ready to fight, but she was determined to figure it out before they broke away. Deflecting magic? That was an invaluable technique to have, and she had no doubt squad zero spent a long time mastering it, but if she could at least deduce the motions…

Was it in the swing of the arms? No it had to be something else. They were using both swatting and punching motions. Was it the angle of the impact of hoof to beam? Possibly, it looked like they were striking the blasts in the dead center of the beams, or flat on the edges depending on how they attacked it. Could it be the timing? Connecting the blows right before impact? Could it be a mix of all of those?

“Damn…” Dash cursed as they reached the cloud of Shadowbolts and were forced to disperse as the squads clashed with them. They were right back where they started, taking on the Shadowbolts only now also worrying about freaky laser eyes. Dash was determined to stay with her squad as well. As much as she was concerned about Silver before, she felt a little bad about leaving them behind. 

“Arrow formation! Matteo and Squall take the wing positions!” Dash ordered, her squad quickly moving into the wide, bent formation with Dash in the lead, Star and Twister at her sides, and Matteo and Squall on the edges. “Let’s take a wide arc approach!” Dash continued as they began soaring through the cacophony. Silver was able to deduce battle strategies and be aware of the Shadowbolts’ movements, she had to try and analyze their situation like he did. “Most of them are focusing inward!” Dash yelled as she noticed squad zero in the dead center of the dogfight, taking down every Shadowbolt that got near. There were quite a few Shadowbolts hanging back and firing at squad zero from a distance. Most of the Wonderbolt squads were already locked in combat with Shadowbolts. They had yet to be engaged, so Dash saw an opportunity for them to aid squad zero. “Let’s comb the perimeter and take out the hostiles firing inward!” Dash ordered while pitching to her right, her whole squad following in the arrow formation towards the outer edge of the dogfight.

The Shadowbolts along the edge were completely focused on squad zero in the center. None of them saw it coming. Dash drove her hooves into the side of a Shadowbolt mare, throwing her to the ground as they flew. With their wide formation and with the two bigger members of Foxtrot on the wings, they were able to sweep with a wide attack range. Matteo and Squall shifted and pitched on the edges, making small adjustments to their flight paths to intercept and Shadowbolts that came into their range as Dash focused on taking out any directly in front of their wide, turning flight path. Twister and Little Star kept their eyes peeled, ready to act if any Shadowbolts tried to surprise them. 

Dash stole a glance towards squad zero, thinking back to all Silver had said to her about them. How they were wild, and more like fighters than soldiers. Seeing them struggle to stay in formation before definitely spoke for Silver’s analysis, but they were proving him wrong elsewhere. 

Just looking at the numbers and the sheer size of the Shadowbolt force, victory did not look easily won. Silver had said that when the time came, he didn’t believe that squad zero would hold their ground, that if things turned away from their favor, they’d get scared and run. 

That definitely wasn’t the case here. Sure they looked wild and undisciplined, but they were taking the fight to the Shadowbolts. Shine, Calm, Swift, and Playbitz were using very personalized styles of combat, and taking the Shadowbolts down almost faster than she could keep track of them, the explosions of pink light surrounding them so quickly that Dash couldn’t tell which ones were caused by the magic beams, and which ones were caused by the bursting Shadowbolts. Even while fighting, they were able to deflect the magic being fired at them, keeping their eyes on the sky for any beams shooting towards them.

They were holding their own just fine. It almost looked like they didn’t need Foxtrot to take out the Shadowbolts hanging back and taking aim at them, but Dash suddenly had the desire to do her part… and then go join them.

“TWO! FROM ABOVE!” Star yelled out as Dash blindsided another Shadowbolt. Dash looked up and glanced to her left to see Twister wearing a white helmet with an orange visor and chin strap.

“I SEE THEM!” Twister yelled in a deeper than usual voice. Dash rolled her eyes, admittedly amused that Twister found moments to be goofy, even during a crisis situation. 

“They’re all yours, you two!” Dash yelled. “Matteo! Squall! Give them a boost!” Dash ordered. Without a moment of thought, Matteo reached out and grabbed Twister by the head.

“Do something weird,” he said as he twisted his body and launched Twister upward.

“YEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” Twister yelled out as he shot upward.

“Be careful,” Squall said as he turned and grabbed Little Star’s arm. The moment he saw Star smile he scrunched his face and puffed his cheeks out. “Not that I… care or anything,” he tried to play it off. Star giggled.

“You’re so sillEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!” she shrieked as Squall launched her upward before she could finish.

The two of them launched past the pursuing Shadowbolts. One of them was the larger stallion type, the other, one of the mares. Twister executed his Spiral Turn, allowing him to completely change directions with the smallest arc possible, despite moving so fast through the air. He landed right on the back of the stallion and began thumping his hooves against his head like a drum. 

“I CAN PLAY THE DRUMS?! SOMEPONY CALL MY AGENT!” Twister yelled as the stallion grunted, pitched downward, and the two began falling towards the ground uncontrollably, Twister slowly beating him over the head repeatedly as they fell.

Little Star quickly fluttered her wings, allowing her control of her trajectory as she took a wide arc while staying in pace with her target below. She flapped her little wings hard as she deduced her flight path, shooting downward fast and hard while keeping lined up with the Shadowbolt. Because of her stature and smaller hooves, she was able to pinpoint a very specific spot on the Shadowbolt’s back right between the wings. 

She put all of her weight and force into the strike as she smashed down into the Shadowbolt. Its wings bent awkwardly, reacting to the shock, before quickly losing control of its flight and tumbling down, exploding shortly after Star released it. 

“NO TIME TO EXPLAIN!” Twister suddenly appeared beside her and grabbed her arm. She blinked and looked towards him, noticing his mane was blown backwards and looked like three spikes. “WE GOTTA GO FAST!” 

“YIKES!” Star yelped as Twister suddenly accelerated from a dead stop to nearly twice his full speed and caught both of them back up with the squad.

Dash blinked as she saw Twister pull back into the formation, glancing at a flustered Little Star right after.

“How did you guys catch up so fast?” she asked as Matteo and Squall continued to deliver haymakers to Shadowbolts in their path. Star shook her head, shrugged, and pointed at Twister. Dash turned to see Twister facing in the opposite direction, pumping his wings as if he were flying, but moving backwards in synch with them.

“WHICH WAY’S BACKWARDS?!” Twister yelled out in a serious tone. Dash looked back towards Star.

“Let’s just go with Twister found a way,” she said with a chuckle as she looked back forward. They had just completed a full flight around the dogfight.

“I don’t see any more along the edges!” Squall called out.

“Shall we join the fight?!” Matteo asked eagerly while grinning towards Dash. Dash smiled back at him while pointing towards squad zero.

“I think they’re showing us up!” she yelled while looking at all of them. “Let’s go right to the center!”

“AYE!” They all called out in agreement as Dash pithed hard to the left, leading them right into the fray. It was nowhere near as congested as it was before since the fighting had split into two separate battles above and below, but there was still the hazard of pegasi shooting by from every possible direction, not to mention the beams of pink magic more than made up the difference. 

“Stay aware!” Dash yelled as they weaved through the fighting, keeping in formation the best they could. “No collisions! We’re breaking through!” she encouraged as they drew closer to squad zero. 

Dash noticed that squad zero was slowly branching apart every few seconds, only for Shine Struck to yell at them to stay together. Again, a little disorganized, but all the more reason for Foxtrot to assist. Sure, Dash encouraged her squad towards them with a bit of cocky competition, but in reality… she was eager to fight beside the experimental special force. She wanted to see if she could copy their moves. She was too distracted during their first encounter in the compound, now was her chance to watch them closely. Strange fighters like these were sure to have some interesting moves.

“Want some help?” Dash called down as she and squad Foxtrot angled down towards squad zero. The four ponies looked up and smiled as the recruits joined them.

“Heh,” Shine chuckled as Dash put her back to hers. “We already owe you for the little scuffle…” she said while shooting a quick glare at the stallions. They all looked away in embarrassment. “But why not? Just try to keep up!” Shine nudged Dash. 

“That’s our line!” Dash grinned as they all readied themselves. 

Matteo floated back to back with Calm Wind.

“I promise I won’t steal your feathers this time,” Calm joked as Matteo scoffed.

“I’ll get you back one of these days,” he said back with a grin.

Squall and Playbitz floated side by side.

“Bet you can’t scowl them to death,” Playbitz joked as Squall just flattened his brow. “Come on! You should try! I bet you could burn holes through their heads without eye lasers!”

“Srnhk…” Squall snorted quietly and tried desperately to hide a smirk.

“Laugh buddy! Laugh!” Playbitz chuckled as Squall shook his head.

Twister and Little Star hovered beside Swift Justice.

“The wacko and the little lady? Eh, I’ve had stranger things happen to me,” Swift said with a smirk. Star lifted an eyebrow and pointed at Twister.

“Stranger than HIM?” she said while blinking. Swift turned to her and brushed a hoof over the front of his mane.

“Let me tell you…” Swift started as Twister turned faced the back of Swift’s head and started slowly moving closer as his eyes grew wider. “Some ladies can get real creative when turning down a date,” he was completely oblivious to Twister now leaning over the top of his head and looking down with eyes wider than his face. “There was this one time… eh, maybe this isn’t the best time to talk about this… what are you laughing at?” Swift blinked as Star was trying to stifle laughter. Swift looked behind him, but Twister was back in his spot as if he hadn’t moved at all.

Finally, Dash and Shine, the two copycats, were back to back as the Shadowbolts readied to charge at them. 

“Looks like we’ve got something else in common,” Dash spoke up.

“Oh? What’s that?” Shine asked as her eyes scanned the approaching enemies. Dash looked around at the members of her squad mingling with the members of Shine’s

“We’ve both got a little band of yahoos that we put up with,” Dash chuckled.

“HA!” Shine guffawed and shook her head. “Too true… but right now?” Shine and Dash backed up with the others, the seven of them bunched together, floating a few yards off the ground and eyeing the Shadowbolts as they began to charge. Shine nodded. “Right now, I’m glad I have these yahoos! SQUAD ZERO! GO!” she yelled out.

“Take it to them, Foxtrot!” Dash added.

Multiple Shadowbolts charged from all directions, including from above and from below. Beams of magic fired towards them as well. Squad Foxtrot and zero expanded outward to meet them head on. 

If one were to view the clash from a distance, it looked like the Shadowbolts completely blocked the two squads from view, but as they charged in they were repelled, thrown backwards, and exploding into light. It created a spectacle similar to fireworks as the Shadowbolts shot in all directions and exploded.

If one could see within the cluster, they would know exactly what was causing the little light show.

“RAH!” Matteo roared as he punched a Shadowbolt stallion in the face so hard that it exploded before it even had a chance to fly backwards. Calm Wind bumped into his back before rolling around in front, holding two Shadowbolts by the neck. He tossed one of them gently towards an incoming Shadowbolt. The Shadowbolt put on the breaks and caught her comrade, but right after, Calm pulled back his other hoof.

“CATCH!” he yelled while chucking his second captive as hard as he could towards the other two, the impact sent all three of the Shadowbolts flying.

“Look out!” Matteo warned as he looked up. Calm glanced up as well.

“Whoa!” he reacted as the two put their arms up to guard. A cluster of ten Shadowbolts crashed down upon them 

“HRG!”

“GRRRHH!!”

The two of them grunted as they thrust their wings out and tensed their muscles. The air resistance on their large wings slowed them down enough for a heavy, but controlled landing on the ground a few yards below. The ten Shadowbolts pushed down against them, but with Calm’s back hooves and Matteo’s back paws on solid ground, they were able to lock themselves down, their combined strength preventing the Shadowbolts from pushing them flat to the grass.

The Shadowbolts suddenly dispersed and landed, surrounding the two of them on the ground.

“Ten on two?” Calm chuckled. “I’ve got nine of them, think you can take on—huh?” Calm was cut off from his sporty speech as Matteo reached back and grabbed Calm’s arm with a very tight grip. 

“HRRRRRAAAAHHH!!!!” Matteo roared out as he turned his body and yanked Calm right off the ground.

“WHOOOAAA!!!” Calm yelled out as Matteo swung him around in a circle like a flail, bludgeoning five of the Shadowbolts around them with Calm’s large body. The other five leapt up to avoid before turning and readying to attack. “RGH!” Calm grunted as Matteo began to let him back down. The moment Calm’s back hooves touched the ground, he turned and hooked his hoof around Matteo’s arm.

“WHAT THE—?!” Matteo’s eyes went wide as he felt himself get elevated. 

“HAAAAAAA!!!!” Calm used his strength, and the momentum built up by Matteo’s swing to do the exact same thing to Matteo, swinging the massive griffon around and up to knock out the last five Shadowbolts.

Calm let go as the Shadowbolts all burst and Matteo slammed back down to the ground.

“That makes us even, I guess,” Matteo smirked and snorted.

“You’re damn heavy…” Calm chuckled as they turned back to back to face more Shadowbolts that faced them on the ground.

Just above them, Squall was grappling with a Shadowbolt mare. She had latched onto his arms and was holding him still as an identical mare behind her focused on them with her eyes glowing. Squall could see the incoming magic attack, but he couldn’t do anything while locked with another. The Shadowbolt fired the eye beams, but Playbitz jumped in front.

“NOPE!” he yelled goofily as swiped his hoof out and knocked the magic away before spreading his enormous wings out and giving them a powerful flap downward. With a loud FWOOSH, he catapulted at least thirty yards into the air and immediately let his wings go limp as he fell back down and drove his elbow into the magic using Shadowbolt.

“RGH!” Squall finally got one of his hooves free and punched the Shadowbolt holding him right in the face. She fell away from him, giving Squall enough space to take his stance and charge forward. “HOOORYAAA!” Squall yelled out as she delivered six rapid punched to the mare’s stomach before she shot backwards and exploded.

“Watch your back!” Playbitz yelled out as he reached out and pulled Squall aside before punching a beam of magic, sending it right back at the Shadowbolt who fired it and knocking them right out of the air. “HA! YES! Love when I get the full reflect!” he turned and grinned at Squall. Squall just stared at him flatly. “Hey dude, you’ve gotta have fun!”

Squall suddenly charged at Playbitz, but at the last second he shifted around the side of him and got into his stance.

“HOORYAA!!” Squall cried out as he delivered a heavy one-two punch to the same Shadowbolt, who wasn’t completely taken down by the reflected magic. The Shadowbolt exploded as it fell. “You should talk less, almost got yourself killed.”

“Couldn’t talk less if I tried,” Playbitz snickered and shrugged before spreading his wings and repeating the powerful downward flap. He shot upward again before falling downward… but there looked like there was no reason to do so. At least until two Shadowbolts came flying by, both chasing other Wonderbolts. Playbitz fell back towards Squall, knocking down both of the passing Shadowbolts and sending them crashing to the ground before he put on the breaks and stopped level with Squall. “Okay, that was lucky, but hey! It was fun!”

Squall just rolled his eyes as the two went back to work.

Further to their right, Star was hovering at the ready, her wings fluttering with a low buzz. Twister was reclined and reading a book. Neither had moved from their spot since the whole thing began.

“Uh… can we fight now too?” Star asked as Swift zipped past them, knocking down three Shadowbolts that were charging. They didn’t take much damage, but every attempt a Shadowbolt made towards them was met with Swift shifting and moving past and in between Star and Twister with ease, showcasing unnatural agility as he knocked them back.

“Hey I’m just doing my job,” Swift chuckled as he shot between them to block a Shadowbolt before shifting back around them to swipe away two magic beams. He turned to Star. “I don’t attack much…” he turned around quickly as a Shadowbolt with an outstretched hoof approached. Swift brought up his hooves and gently grasped the stallion’s arm before turning his body and pushing upward. The motion caused the stallion to completely change direction and run right into a Shadowbolt mare behind them. “I’m a shield, really. So actually, I’d appreciate it if you did some attacking,” Swift said with a smile. “How old are you by the way?”

“WHAT?!” Star blinked as the question came out of the blue… literally. 

“Just curious!” Swift bounced his eyebrows as he shot to the left and knocked down three Shadowbolts heading for Twister before moving back between them and throwing his wings out, deflecting three incoming beams of magic with them. 

“Not the time…” Star huffed as she turned to Twister. “C’mon Twist, we need…”

“WAY AHEAD OF YA!” Twister yelled out as he appeared behind a stallion that was freshly repelled by Swift, grabbed the stallion’s mane with his hooves and began yanking. “GURL, DO YOU EVER USE SHAMPOO?!” Twister yelled at the stallion as he pulled on his mane, directing the stallion’s flight path to run into any other Shadowbolts that Swift blocked or redirected.

“Right…” Star shook her head as she tried to follow Swift’s movements and began delivering strong two legged kicks to any Shadowbolt she could get near to after they were disoriented by Swift.

“I’m still curious!” Swift cooed as he caused two Shadowbolts to turned directly down and smash into the ground with little more than a pat on the back with his wings. Star glared at him as she kicked a Shadowbolt stallion right in the face, shattering his goggles right before he could fire a magic blast from his eyes. The stallion cried out in pain before exploding.

“Old enough to kick your ass,” Star said with an angry pout.

“Ouch,” Swift chuckled as he continued to shield both Twister and Star from attacks while they did the attacking for him.

Floating higher than the rest, Dash and Shine fought back to back, taking down every Shadowbolt in different ways almost every time.

Dash used Twister’s Spiral Turn to shift and dodge an incoming charge only to quickly take a stance like Squall’s and deliver several rapid blows to the Shadowbolt.

Shine knocked away a beam of magic before reaching up and gently redirecting a Shadowbolt into another like Swift.

Dash used Twister’s technique again, followed by Matteo’s Air Burst to propel herself around before using Storm Front’s Surface Tap on the back of a Shadowbolt mare to propel her roughly to the ground.

Shine shifted in front of Dash, punching two beams of magic to deflect them away before she spread her wings out and gave them a powerful, downward flap just like Playbitz. It only sent her about ten yards in the air as opposed to thirty, but it gave her enough launch to shoot up between the two Shadowbolts firing magic at them from above. She quickly took an offensive stance and used her own martial arts techniques to take them down. 

“OOF!” Dash yelped as a blast of magic caught her in the shoulder. She turned to look, but was tackled from above, sending her down towards the ground with a Shadowbolt stallion in tow. 

“DASH!” Shine yelled as she tucked her wings in and started freefalling with her wings bend back like Playbitz. 

“I’ve got this!” Dash growled as she spun the two of them around, putting the Shadowbolt below her and kicking off. The Shadowbolts slammed to the ground, exploding on the spot as Dash touched down and skidded to a halt near Matteo. “Ah!” Dash’s eyes widened as she looked straight forward towards five Shadowbolts that were all focused on her with their eyes glowing. “WHOA!” she yelped as Calm Wind suddenly thundered by along the ground right past her, his hooves nearly making the ground quake as he charged headlong towards the five Shadowbolts. 

They fired their magic, but instead of blocking them, Calm simply kept charging forward, the beams colliding with his chest, shoulders, and face, but he powered through them, growling as he bull-rushed the five Shadowbolts and knocked them all down like bowling pins. 

Dash flinched and braced herself as Matteo used his Air Burst behind her and propelled past her to follow Calm.

Dash’s ears stood up and she turned around just in time to lock hooves with a Shadowbolt stallion. Dash growled and firmly set her back hooves in the ground, skidding slightly as she held strong against the stallion’s force.

“INCOMING!” Shine yelled out.

Dash looked to her side and saw Shine shooting along the ground, having leveled out from her free-fall. She put her hooves to the ground and began galloping without losing speed, just like Calm. She only stayed grounded for a moment though, using her hooves to spin herself and launch into flying kick, catching the Shadowbolt stallion right in the cheek and transferring all of her momentum to him. He went flying and crashed into two passing Shadowbolts, causing all of them to burst from the force.

“You know…” Dash chuckled as she and Shine set their hooved, facing in opposite directions side by side. “It’s refreshing to see another pony that copies moves. They keep telling me it’s a talent, but I sometimes feel like a slacker for not having any personal techniques.”

“I know right?” Shine smirked as they kept their eyes peeled for any other approaching Shadowbolts. “I know it’s unique… but we’ve got nothing to call our own.”

“Seems pretty cool right now thought, huh?” Dash chuckled.

“Having a copy buddy is pretty neat,” Shine turned and gave Dash a wink.

“Shine!” Calm Wind suddenly yelled as he and the rest of the two squads regrouped together. Calm and Matteo were on the ground with Dash and Shine while the rest floated right above them. “They’re… backing off…” Calm continued as the Shadowbolts began moving away.

For a moment they all felt as if they had a respite, but the feeling was very short lived.

The Shadowbolts down low all began disengaging and shooting upward to join the larger battle above.

“Shoot!” Shine gritted her teeth. “We have to back them up!” she yelled out.

Dash blinked as she looked at the cloud of Shadowbolts overhead. 

How? It didn’t matter how many of them they destroyed. The Shadowbolt numbers were still nearly the same as when they started. Thinking back to Silver’s observations, there were only five variants of Shadowbolts. Could these really just all be fakes? Magical clones? Doppelgangers? If that was the case, could there me… only five ponies creating all of these clones? Five ponies taking on the entire Wonderbolt force? If that was the case… what did it mean for the Wonderbolts?

No.

Dash glared towards the cloud and set her hooves firmly in the ground. 

If that was the case, then they’d fight until they found the five responsible. The Wonderbolts had already adjusted and were aware of the magic attacks. As soon as they figured out how these clones were being maintained and created they’d find a way to counter that too. The Wonderbolts were at a serious disadvantage right now, being forced to figure things out while fighting, so until they could effectively counter attack, they would fight!

Without another word, Dash executed the Sonic Blast-off, forcing the rest to brace themselves as an air cone burst right beside all of them. Dash shot from the ground and turned herself right into the fighting above. She neglected sticking with her squad again, but seeing the Shadowbolts above multiply made her worry about Soarin, Silver, Storm… hell, it made her worry about all of them. Reckless? Maybe, but she doubted the high tier elites were able to stick in formations with how many Shadowbolts were suddenly surrounding them.

“Dammit, Dash!” Star growled. “Come on guys! Let’s go after her!” Star turned and ordered the rest of Foxtrot, miffed that Dash had gone off without them again. As the rest of Foxtrot gave chase, Shine Struck just stared in the direction that Dash flew in.

“Did… did she just use… Soarin’s…” she blinked with wide eyes.

“Yo! Little Captain!” Swift called to her. Shine instantly flattened her brow.

“What did I say would happen if you called me that again?!” Shine hissed at him as he and Playbitz moved towards Calm.

“You can squash my blue balls into oblivion later, we gotta join the fight!” Swift yelled casually while pointing upward. Shine sighed, glancing towards the divots left in the grass from Dash’s Sonic Blastoff before shaking her head out and galloping towards Calm. 

“Going up!” Calm nodded while sitting down and cupping his front hooves together. Playbitz hopped up first, stepping into Calm’s hooves before Calm thrust his arms up, launching Playbitz into the air towards the battle overhead. Playbitz forced his wings down hard to increase his speed, shooting right into the battle, and most likely through overhead. Calm repeated the motion with Swift, catapulting him upward, leaving only Shine. “You okay?” Calm asked while eying Shine curiously.

“Yeah… just surprised,” Shine nodded before hopping up. “Don’t throw me too hard this TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMMMMMMMMEEEEEE!!!” she shrieked as Calm launched her upward with the same amount of force as the others. 

“Whoops,” he chuckled before turning, setting his hooves and getting a hard, running start before spreading his wings and rising up to join the battle.





“There’s just no end to these guys!” Storm Front yelled as he made a sharp turn followed by throwing his arms out to avoid an incoming beam of magic and take out two Shadowbolts. “We’re getting nowhere! OOF!” he grunted as a Shadowbolt mare body slammed him and started driving him through the air. 

Soarin dove in from above and pulled Storm free while driving his other hoof down over the Shadowbolt’s head. 

“Welcome to the party!” Soarin said sarcastically to Storm. He turned and received a blow to the face from a Shadowbolt stallion. “ARGH!” Soarin grunted as he staggered backward, barely keeping his flight steady as he glared at the stallion pressing the attack. A light blue and white streak suddenly intercepted the stallion, nearly cutting him in half as he exploded. Fleetfoot arced around, taking down two more in her path as she joined Soarin’s side.

“I can barely see past them anymore!” Fleetfoot exclaimed as she looked around. “I swear there are even more of them! EEK!” she suddenly shrieked as multiple beams of magic began raining down. Fleetfoot, Storm, and Soarin all shielded themselves as several Shadowbolts descended towards them while firing their eyebeams. 

“Dammit!” Soarin growled and forced his magic to life. The horn glowed brightly as he tensed all of his muscles, creating a thin globe of light around the three of them. The magic began bouncing off, but each impact upon the surface of his shield made him wince with discomfort. The magic had held up so far, no major problems or headaches, but he wasn’t willing to push it very far.

If things kept looking worse though… could he afford to hold back? 

“Soarin! Careful!” Fleetfoot winced each time she saw Soarin cringe. Just as worried about his magic as he was.

“I’VE GOT YA GUYS!” Air Mach’s voice sounded out from above. “Yoooooooooou’re really pissing off the most STALLIONLY STALLION’S BURNING PASSION LARIOT STRIKE!” Air Mach yelled out his usual attack gibberish as he hooked two of the Shadowbolts firing from above his arms while getting the other three caught in it as well as he fell. Soarin released the shield as Air Mach shot by them, putting a hoof to his head for a moment as he wobbled and regained his focus, but almost immediately they were being charged again from the side.

“This is getting…RGH!” Soarin grunted as he blocked one Shadowbolt but was hit in the side by another. “REALLY frustrating!” he yelled as he jabbed his elbow into the surprise attacker while grabbing and throwing the other down. “And what’s taking Spitfire so long in the compound?!” Soarin looked back towards the Wonderbolt compound, suddenly realizing that they were being pushed back towards it slowly. “This would be a hell of a lot easier with her helping!”

“I swear…” Fleetfoot spoke up as she shifted to avoid an incoming attack. “If she has some sort of secret plan that she’s been keeping from us again I’m gonna… oh hell…” she paused as she Soarin and Storm all looked around them. Multiple Shadowbolts had gathered around them, all focusing their glowing eyes at them. “Got another shield handy, princess?” Fleetfoot gulped as she floated back towards Strom and Soarin.

“Still feeling dizzy from the last…” Soarin grunted as he glanced at Storm, who was also looking towards him in hopes that he’d have another shield. Soarin tried, but he just couldn’t concentrate.

They could only brace themselves as the Shadowbolts all fired.

But they were lucky another squad had just entered the battle. 

Swift, Calm, Playbitz, and Shine all rose up from below, placing themselves around the three Wonderbolts in danger. They began swiping and punching at the beams, knocking them in all directions. Calm, Shine, and Playbitz all remained level with the squad, turning when needed to intercept beams while Swift zipped all about around them, deflecting any beams that’s got past or came from above or below.

“BROTHER!” Fire Streak’s voice rang out from nearby.

“I’M WITH YA BRO!” Lightning Streak replied. The two dove in side by side, spinning in unison before pushing off of each other’s hooves and tackling three of the Shadowbolts on each side.

“SURPRISE!” Surprise popped up, grabbing two more of them by the heads and knocking them together. The last two turned and aimed at her, but Misty fly flew in from behind them and struck them in the back of their necks so hard that they both fell limply and exploded immediately before the other eight fell from squad three’s counter.

“About time you guys got up here!” Fleetfoot said as she shifted beside Calm and nudged him in the shoulder. Calm scrunched his face and kept looking forward while holding his breath. 

“Sorry about that,” Shine said as she faced Soarin. “Thought we could take out the stragglers first, but…”

“Yeah…” Soarin grunted. “There’s seemingly no end, watch out!” Soarin yelled as he pulled Shine out of the way and drove his hoof into the face of an incoming stallion, forcing him out of flight and tumbling. “Keep your guards up! This fight isn’t ending anytime soon!”

“Let’s go!” Playbitz yelled as he and Calm immediately pumped their wings and dove into the dog fight.

“Hey! Guys! Stay to—” Shine tried to yell to them, but they were already locked in battle. “Ugh! Big DOPES!” she yelled as she grabbed Swift by the arm. “Let’s go! We need to stick together!” she ordered.

“Yes… ma’am…” Swift said dreamily while staring towards squad three. Shine blinked, furrowed her brow, reached back and smacked Swift upside the head. “OW!”

“You can flirt with Surprise after!” Shine ordered as Swift rubbed the back of his head.

“Alright, alright! Sheesh, a guy can look, can’t he?”

Soarin watched them leave as he turned and blocked another incoming attack. The Shadowbolts were getting more aggressive, and as was pointed out, there was most definitely even more. He turned to see only Storm at his back, noticing that Fleetfoot had followed after Calm and Playbitz. So much for staying with their squads. Not like it lasted very long. It was only a few moments into the fight before he was stuck with only Fleetfoot and Storm. The only squad that seemed to be sticking together well was squad three.

Squad zero wasn’t staying together, not that he was surprised. They were a squad, but they were not trained in squad tactics. Having them there definitely gave the Wonderbolts a boost of confidence with their abilities, but it looked like they were doing little to conclude the battle… until they figured out how these Shadowbolts were duplicating themselves, it was an endless defensive.

It was all one big mess. Soarin could only imagine what was happening in Canterlot right now. A massive fight with magic and explosions broke out over one of the most iconic places in the center of the city right next to the royal palace. The royal guard was probably shitting themselves trying to figure out what was happening, and he was sure any citizens nearby were running for their lives.

Speaking of the royal palace…

Forget where Spitfire was… WHERE WAS LUNA?! Soarin didn’t expect Discord to help them, but the fight had already been going on for at least twenty minutes. If Luna hadn’t arrived on the scene by now, then she was deliberately not helping… which only made more questions arise… since Luna had revealed she had encountered the Shadowbolts in the past during her whole Nightmare Moon incident. What was going on, and would they live long enough to find out?

“Huh?” Soarin blinked as something caught his eye. 

As he was blocking one of the yellow, grey maned stallions, he caught a glimpse of the exact same Shadowbolt a few yards away… but he was wearing a harness with a pouch… that had three pink crystals strapped into it!

“STORM!” Soarin yelled as he pushed the Shadowbolt off of him before grabbing Storm by the shoulders and turning him towards what he was seeing. “LOOK!” 

“Huh?” Storm blinked as he saw the same stallion Soarin saw amongst the multiplying Shadowbolts. 

“We’ve gotta catch that stallion!” Soarin yelled. “See the crystals?!”

“Oh!” Storm quickly broke free from Soarin’s grip. “I’m right with you!”

The two pumped their wings, pushing themselves as hard as they could towards the Shadowbolt wearing the pouch. The stallion turned and looked at them as they approached before turning and beating his wings hard as well, trying to escape.

“OH NO YOU DON’T!” Soarin yelled as he and Storm pursued.

That was it… they were right. They had to be right. There were definitely Shadowbolts among all these fakes controlling all the clones. If they could catch this one, they might finally figure it out and tip the scales.





“We’re gonna have to have a little talk about flying off without your squad…” Silver said to Dash as the two found themselves back to back again.

“Fine, later,” Dash quickly replied as she grabbed and struck an incoming Shadowbolt mare in the chest. “You won’t get to if we all go down here!”

“Don’t have to remind me,” Silver swiped his arm out, clothes-lining a Shadowbolt stallion before driving his elbow down into him. “But I’m breaking every one of these chuckledicks until they’ve had enough, so count on it!”

Dash smirked as she turned and thrust both of her hooves forward to clip a Shadowbolt that flew by too close. She looked up and around, biting her lip while growling. 

“I don’t know if the ‘chuckledicks’ are ever gonna stop appearing…” she said with a little less gusto as they continued to fight off Shadowbolt after Shadowbolt.

“I saw a real one,” Silver suddenly said. Dash’s ears pointed up.

“Huh?” she blinked while turning to Silver. 

“Right before you joined me, I saw a red Shadowbolt mare with a long white mane… carrying a bag with crystals strapped to it,” Silver explained as he ducked a punch and made the Shadowbolt in front of him regret trying.

“Did you go at her?” Dash asked eagerly, curious if their theory about the multiplying Shadowbolts was right.

“I tried, but she got away in the congested air space,” Silver admitted.

“What?” Dash held her hooves out towards him. “You didn’t, like… shoot lightning at her or anything?”

“What am I, a unicorn?” Silver lifted an eyebrow at her. “I need help from Wave and Blaze just to make the damn stuff before I can use it!”

“Who’s talking to who about flying away without your squa—OW!” Dash yelped as Silver turn and rapped her over the head. “What was THAT for?” she demanded as she shifted to dodge a magic beam. 

“Thought you were a Shadowbolt for a second,” Silver shrugged and chuckled as he turned and full on head-butted an incoming Shadowbolt stallion, causing him to burst immediately. 

“Damn, old, sly bastard…” Dash ground her teeth together but with a noticeable smirk.

Despite the quick laughs and the enjoyment of fighting beside her mentor, Dash could clearly see it.

The Wonderbolts were beginning to waver. A few had already been injured and fallen to the ground, struggling. With the Wonderbolts growing tired and with these clones never ending, it was only a matter to time until the rest of them were felled, unless they could find the ponies controlling them. Squad zero had given them a chance… and were providing support and cover from the magic attacks, but beyond that, they’re presence wouldn’t change the outcome if they didn’t solve the mystery!

Dash was feeling the pressure. She and Silver, along with a few others were further out into the courtyard away from the compound, but they were slowly being forced back. It wasn’t long before they were pushed all the way back to the compound, and then what would happen?

The Shadowbolt numbers remained strong while the Wonderbolt numbers were beginning to fall. Several of their ranks had dropped to the ground in order to help their fallen comrades, leaving even less to fight above. Seeing fallen Wonderbolts hit the dirt made Dash worry, she hoped there would be no serious injuries, or… casualties, but they were a military force, and these were very unfavorable odds… a very dangerous situation where such things were highly possible.

From what she had seen, a few royal guards were scrambling outside the walls of the compound. Scrounging together all the guards they could to help clear the area, directing any civilians away from the sudden battle in the skies over the center of the city.

Dash began wondering… could Luna see what was happening? The thought had crossed her mind and she was sure she wasn’t the only one. The castle was right next door to the compound, but the royal guard had yet to make any show besides crowd control and Luna hadn’t even made an appearance. What was up with that?!

“Son of a…” Dash said between panting after throwing a Shadowbolt mare into another. “How much more…” she wiped sweat from her brow. “Can we take?” she was losing steam. There had to be something they could do. She had looked so carefully at each Shadowbolt, but none of them appeared as Silver had described and they didn’t have the luxury of time to stop and look around.

“ARGH!” Silver suddenly grunted and was pushed into Dash’s back. She yelped and quickly turned to grab him as he fell against her.

“Silver?!” Dash exclaimed as Silver shook his head out and glared at the Shadowbolt stallion in front of him.

“Damn… where’s my second wind when I need it?” he retook control of his flight. “Don’t fail me now, body!” he growled as he charged back forward and socked the Shadowbolt right in the face, sending him flying and bursting.

Even Silver was becoming taxed. And that was something Dash couldn’t stand knowing. Silver was tough, yes. He was unbreakable, maybe… but his body was still old and worn out. She didn’t want him taking too much punishment or else he’d be in extreme pain for a few days. That thought alone was enough to nearly kill her. She could barely stand to think about it.

Surely Soarin, Fleetfoot, Storm, and the others were in similar danger. Dash had no idea where Spitfire had disappeared to. Did it really take that long to get all the staff to safety? Or was there something else Spitfire had to protect in the compound? Either way, many ponies that Dash cared about were in danger. She now more than ever was determined to end this. She forced herself to focus, trying like no tomorrow to spot something, anything in the cloud of ever increasing Shadowbolts for something that looked different.

She scanned left. Dodged a punch and countered.

She scanned right. Threw a Shadowbolt over her shoulder. 

She scanned down. Kicked an enemy between the eyes as they tried to grab her back hoof.

She scanned up and… BINGO.

Call it luck, call it chance, or call it awareness without a hook trip… whatever. Dash spotted, if only for a very brief moment, a cream colored Shadowbolt mare with a red mane… wearing an additional accessory that held something glowing.

“THERE!” Dash yelled out before immediately twisting and thrusting her wings down to perform the combo of Twister and Matteo’s moves. Silver flinched as the burst of wind from Dash’s wings crashed down on him, but he looked up just as Dash bulldozed through three Shadowbolts to reveal the mare carrying the crystals. Without a moment of hesitation, Silver forced his stiffening wings into motion and followed after Dash.

The chase was on, and a hazardous chase it was at that. Dash kept her eyes locked on the Shadowbolt mare as she ducked, weaved, pitched, and twisted through the battle, avoiding magic blasts and other pegasi shooting by them.

Dash grunted as she saw movement in her peripheral vision. Clones of the Shadowbolt she was chasing were suddenly charging in from the right. She was wondering when the Shadowbolt was going to start sending the copies of herself to attack, but Dash was hoping she’d know what to do when they arrived. Unfortunately she didn’t. She was only keeping up with the Shadowbolt because all of her focus was on her backside. If she looked away for even a half a second she risked losing track of her. With the way things were going, it was not a risk Dash could afford to take, what would she do?

“KEEP MOVING!” Silver yelled out as she shifted up beside her, twisted left and put up a guard to absorb the attacks. “I’ll keep them off you! Just get her!” He ordered as he pushed the clones away.

“Right!” Dash agreed as she kept her eyes completely locked on target. She’d let Silver handle the clones so she could completely concentrate on the objective.

Silver continued to shield Dash as they flew, and the more they worked together, the more they slowly closed in. 

Then the Shadowbolt suddenly dove down towards the ground. 

“Get back here!” Dash yelled while using Twister’s Spiral Turn to pitch down sharply and stay on her tail.

“Ah!” Silver wasn’t expecting the sudden change in direction. He tried to follow, but he was intercepted by a Shadowbolt stallion. “OOF!” he grunted as he took a shot to the gut, he quickly smashed his hoof over the stallion’s head, causing him to explode, but he had lost sight of Dash. She was on her own.

Dash was closing in. She almost had her. A few more seconds and a little bit of luck and she would be within range to grab the Shadowbolt’s back hoof. They dropped down below the general altitude of the fighting, shooting along about ten yards off the ground below. Dash kept shifting and weaving as they shot by Wonderbolts who were defending their downed comrades from Shadowbolt clones. 

“Huh?” Dash blinked as she looked past her target. There was another Shadowbolt approaching from the left, curving in. It was another crystal wielder. The yellow and grey maned stallion! He formed up beside the mare and flew side by side with her. Dash glanced to her right briefly as Soarin and Storm suddenly flew in beside her.

“Another one!” Storm yelled as Soarin nodded. 

“Nice work, Dash!” Soarin complimented as the three of them gave chase. “The more we find the better!”

All three of them gave chase, but their eyes widened as the two ponies ahead of them began to glow, followed by three clones splitting off of them both, all six surging directly towards them.

“I GOT IT!” Storm called as he angled down and pointed his hooves at the ground. Without slowing down, he angled his front and his back hooves, and double tapped them all on the ground. His Surface Tap propelled him upward, doubling his speed and pushing him in front of Soarin and Dash. He turned and drove his back hooves into the mare and stallion clones leading the pack, knocking them into the four behind them, effectively throwing them all off balance, but slowing him down as well. 

Soarin and Dash shot through the opening that Storm created, continuing their pursuit. They lost a little bit of ground, but were still on their tails and closing. The Shadowbolts made a wide U-turn as they neared the outer walls of the compound courtyard and began speeding back towards the fighting, angling up in hopes of losing Soarin and Dash. 

“We’ll lose them if they get back in there!” Dash yelled.

“Then I have to take a shot!” Soarin decided. His magic was already causing him minor headaches, but unless he hit them with something strong, he wouldn’t slow them down. 

“Soarin, don’t hurt yourself!” Dash demanded as she looked at him sternly.

“I’ve got this!” Soarin gritted his teeth. He knew how to make it work. The answer was flying right next to him. “I just need your help!” he added. “Give me your hoof!” he twisted so his stomach was facing her she glanced at him as he moved in. She turned her stomach to him as well, so they could get close without their wings smacking against one another. She didn’t have to ask, she knew what he was doing, and if the past was any indication, it would definitely work.

She reached her hoof towards him and he clasped her hoof in his. Soarin glared towards the two Shadowbolts and concentrated, growling while using intense emotion to fuel a violent flow of magic through his body. He let it rush towards the horn as it began to glow, quickly brightening as the aura around it expanded. Dash glanced down towards her hoof and her ears stood up in surprise. A blue aura was surrounding their clasped hooves as well. 

“YES!” Soarin smiled as he continued glaring. He was charging up an enormous amount of magic, and with Dash’s hoof locked with his, there was no pain build up whatsoever. “It’s working!” he pointed his horn towards the pair of Shadowbolts. “Eat this!” he yelled as the glow around the horn got drawn into it, the surface of the horn shining even brighter before an enormous, thick burst of magical energy exploded from the end of the horn, shooting towards the two Shadowbolts in a beam that was at least a yard in diameter. 

“WHOA!” Dash yelped as she and Soarin were nearly brought to an abrupt halt from the recoil.

The beam traveled quickly towards the two Shadowbolts, but right before impact, both of them turned, the three crystals jumped out of their harnesses, and all six crystals encircled them. The crystals angled, pointing inwards and slightly in front of them. A single beam of magic fired from each one, the six beams collecting in one spot, creating a sphere of pink energy. A beam just as large as Soarin’s jettisoned from the sphere and went on a collision course with Soarin’s attack. When the beams collided, a large explosion erupted between them that made the whole area shake as the shockwave burst outward, pushing against all within range and shattering the thin windows of any building within three blocks of the compound. The compound shook, the ground and foundations all rattling, the reinforced windows barely holding in place.

Soarin and Dash shielded themselves as the shockwave passed them, looking back up at their foes. Soarin was panting and wheezing. His head felt fine because of Dash’s proximity to him, but the attack took its toll. He definitely wouldn’t be able to do it again for a few minutes. Dash glared while grinding her teeth together. The Shadowbolts turned and were about to enter the fight again. They were going to lose them. 

Soarin and Dash didn’t know what scared them more. The fact that they had no idea what to do next, or that two Shadowbolts they didn’t even know just easily repelled an incredibly strong blast of dark magic. Just how powerful had they become with the crystals… and if so few Shadowbolts could do this… what were they capable of as a whole force? 

Not that it mattered. It seemed like the Wonderbolts would soon have to make a retreat or something. Once the two Shadowbolts got back into the crowd and disappeared, their last chance was gone.

“I don’t think so!” A voice yelled from above. Soarin and Dash looked up above the two Shadowbolts to see Playbitz freefalling towards them from above, spreading his enormous wings as he fell, determined to knock the two Shadowbolts out of the air.

“Yes!” Soarin smiled as he forced his wings into motion. Dash followed close behind. Playbitz wasn’t alone either. Calm Wind had just propelled himself upward from below, and Swift had appeared, shooting out from the mass of fighting with Shine Struck following behind him.

The two Shadowbolts came to an abrupt halt, the crystals still surrounding them as Swift and Shine blocked their path. They looked above, below, and behind them, taking note of Calm rising towards them, Playbitz falling, reading to strike, and Soarin and Dash approaching from behind. The mare turned to the stallion.

“The clones aren’t going to work on the elites and these newcomers,” she said in a flat tone. The stallion grabbed one of the crystals out of the air. It began to glow in his hoof as he brought it towards his mouth. 

“Let the clones handle the stragglers, we have a few we need to take down personally,” he spoke into the crystal.

“Did he just—” Dash said to herself as her eyes suddenly widened. “CALM! PLAYBITZ!” she yelled out. “LOOK OUT!” 

They never saw it coming.

The larger, light grey stallion with a purple mane came shooting out of the battle and charged his shoulder headlong into Calm’s chest.

“ARGH!” Calm grunted as he was pushed along. The stallion was smaller than him, but clearly strong, since he managed to change the momentum of Calm’s bulk with ease.

At the same time, higher up, the dark blue stallion with the turquois mane dropped in from above, ramming Playbitz in the side and forcing him to level out before they grappled. 

Both of the stallions were wearing pouches with crystals attached.

“YIKES!” Swift suddenly yelped as he placed himself in front of Shine. A sudden barrage of small, thin, pink magic bolts rained towards them. Swift began using his arms and wings, swiping them quickly all around as he tried to block every single one of them. But the barrage was so intense that a few slipped by his perfect guard, causing small explosions upon impact and forcing him away from Shine. 

The last one, the red mare with the long white mane, was positioned nearby, the pink glow and her crystals surrounding her body as she held her hoof forward, the small bolts of magic firing from around it.

“DAMN!” Soarin yelled and picked up speed as the two they were chasing turned towards turned towards Shine. “Dash! Go help her! I’m going to get the rest of the elites I can find out here!” he ordered as he pitched up towards the fighting.

“Right!” Dash glared forward as she rushed towards Shine. 

Shine breathed a sigh of relief as Dash circled around and faced the two Shadowbolts with her. 

The Shadowbolts didn’t say a word. They just stared at the two of them as Soarin’s voice rang out from above.

“ELITES! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, GET OUT HERE NOW!” he yelled.

“Aren’t you going to turn your clones on us?” Shine growled towards the two Shadowbolts as the top elites began approaching. 

“No,” the yellow stallion immediately answered. “We’re going to erase you ourselves.”

“We’re just waiting…” the cream colored mare looked up and sneered. “For you all to show up so it’s easier.”

The other three Shadowbolts suddenly dropped in and rose up, all five of them now facing Shine and Dash.

They only felt outnumbered for a moment though. Calm Wind, Playbitz, and Swift Justice all floated back up, surrounding them. Shortly after them, Soarin returned with Fleetfoot, Air Mach, and Storm Front. As well as Squad two and three… and Foxtrot joining right behind, having finally found and caught up with Dash. 

As it stood now, the Wonderbolts surrounded them. Twenty-one Wonderbolts and five Shadowbolts as the rest of the Wonderbolts continued to struggle with clones, the battle raging over head while a few still stood below defending the steadily increasing number of those who had been knocked down and out.

“It’s time to end this… and I prefer it this way,” the larger grey stallion said in a low voice as his crystals unhooked from his pouch and floated around him.

“They really think they can take us all on?” Blaze snorted. 

“Don’t underestimate them,” Soarin said from nearby. “We have no idea how far their magic prowess has evolved,” stay on your guard.

“Shall we?” the cream colored mare giggled as the rest of their crystals rose up, each of them now with three crystals surrounding them.

The Wonderbolts all focused and readied themselves as the crystals began spinning around their respective Shadowbolts. All three of them began to glow as they pulled their limbs into their bodies and a bright light started shining from each of them. 

Soarin recognized this. It looked just like what involuntarily happened to Rapidfire when he absorbed too much power and lost control. After the glow there was…

“EVERYPONY BRACE YOURSELVES!” Soarin yelled as he threw his hooves up over his face. Nopony questioned him. The moment they saw Soarin put up a guard, they all did the same.

The Shadowbolts all threw their arms and legs outward.

A large explosion of pink magical energy fired from around them. The shockwave crashed against the Wonderbolts, throwing them in opposite directions and pushing all clones and additional nearby Wonderbolts away from them as well.





“RGH!” Soaring cringed as the magical energy nipped and pricked at him, mere contact with the pressuring aura proving to be painful. He was thrown from his position, as were the others, and when he turned upright, he was near Calm Wind, Blaze, Squall, and Surprise. The others all tossed in other directions. Before Soarin could try figure out a regroup strategy, the larger grey stallion was flying headlong at them, the crystals still floating along with him. 

Soarin focused and readied to counter. The stallion was about the same size as him, he could take him head on.

But then the crystals began to glow as the stallion held his right arm out to his side and an intense pink light shined from his hoof. A large collection of magic extended from his hoof and elongated until it was about two yards long, taking the form and shape of a longsword.

“What?!” Soarin blinked shifting to dodge instead of block. The stallion swung his hoof down, aiming the blade for Soarin’s head. Soarin barely moved out of the way in time, turning his body as the blade whisked right past his cheek… but nicked him. “AH!” Soarin cried out as the strap holding his goggles snapped around his head and his goggles fell off his eyes, the strap cleanly cut on the right side. Soarin reached up as he put distance between himself and the stallion. He felt a sharp sting on the side of his face as he touched it. Upon bringing his hoof down, there was some blood on it. 

It was a sword alright… and a very sharp one too.

“Stay away from that blade!” Soarin yelled as the stallion charged at him and the rest with Soarin as they looked for opportunities to attack. But with the magic sword, it was going to be difficult.





“KEEP MOVING!” Silver yelled as Fire Streak, Playbitz, and Little Star flew behind him. Pink spheres were rising up all around them, exploding seconds after. No matter where they moved, the spheres just kept following, rising up in front of them as if they were locked onto their movement. The only thing keeping them from getting caught in the blasts was the speed of their flight. “Damn!” Silver cursed as he glared towards the yellow stallion. He was floating in place, simply following them with his eyes as the glowing crystals continuously orbited him. 

“ARGH!” Fire Streak yelped as he flew too close to one of the globes and took a direct hit.

“AH!” Little Star was blown to the side by one and struck by a second soon after.

Both of them flailed in pain as they fell towards the ground.

“NO!” Playbitz yelled as he saw them fall, the spheres of magic still rising and exploding around him and Silver.

“STAY WITH ME!” Silver ordered.

“BUT—!” Playbitz glanced down as Fire and Star continued to be battered by the exploding spheres.

“THAT’S NOT UP FOR DEBATE!” Silver stressed.

“I CAN TAKE HIM!” Playbitz retaliated. Silver glared back at him amidst the explosions.

“I’M NOT GOING TO REPEAT MYSELF! DO. NOT. DO IT—” Silver never finished. Playbitz spread his wings out and flapped them down hard, propelling himself into the air before falling back towards the Shadowbolt. He swiped his hooves from side to side, knocking away any spheres that popped up in front of him. 

As he closed in and readied to strike, the stallion simply shifted aside, causing Playbitz to completely miss and shoot past.

“Ah!” Playbitz yelped as he put on the breaks and landed roughly on his hooves. When he looked up, he was completely surrounded by the pink spheres. “Aw… hell…”

“Dammit!” Silver yelled from above as he watched the spheres explode and leave Playbitz cringing on the ground, suit all torn up. “I told Spitfire… I TOLD her they would never listen to orders!” Silver growled as he continued to fly away from the spheres, hoping to find some way, any way to counter this Shadowbolt.





“SHE’S FIRING AGAIN!” Fleetfoot yelled out as she, High Winds, Wave Chill, and Twister all turned away from clones of the cream colored mare and braced themselves.

An intense, wide wave of pink magical energy surged against them, engulfing them all as it pushed them backwards. 

“Ah! OW! OW!” Fleetfoot yelped and wailed as the surge of energy ripped and tore at her suit, causing sharp burning sensations all over. 

When the energy wave ceased, Fleetfoot quickly shook off the pain and flew towards the Shadowbolt mare, but before she could get close, the mare began to glow and ten clones jumped from her aura, heading directly for her and the others. 

“We can’t get to her!” Wave Chill yelled from behind as Fleetfoot engaged the clones.

“Rgh… what do we do?!” Fleetfoot wondered desperately as she caught a glimpse of the mare charging up her energy wave attack once more.





“C-can’t… move! AH!” Storm Front cried out as more magic beams from Shadowbolt clones struck him. 

Storm, Air Mach, Lightning Streak, and Swift were all being held stationary in midair, surrounded by crackling volts of pink energy as clones of the blue Shadowbolt stallion fired their eyebeams continuously at them. 

The Shadowbolt himself was hovering in the middle of them, the crystals flowing and pink ribbons of energy swirling around his arms as he held the four Wonderbolts in place, completely helpless.

“COWARD!” Air Mach yelled as he struggled and was continuously struck with the magic eyebeams. “FACE ME! FIGHT LIKE A STALLION!” he belted as the Shadowbolt simply stared at him without uttering a response.





“GET BACK! ARGH! AH!” Matteo grunted and cringed as the tiny bolts of magic pelted him endlessly. 

They had been forced to the ground and Matteo had placed himself in front of Dash, Shine, and Misty Fly as the red mare held her hoof out towards them and continued to fire the small, pin sized beams. 

“Matteo!” Dash yelled as she and the other two mares shielded themselves.

“I CAN… TAKE IT!” Matteo yelled as he began forcing his back legs to the ground and walk forward. 

“Matt! We can—AH!” Dash yelped as clones of the red mare appeared behind them and began firing eyebeams at Dash, Shine, and Misty.

Misty gritted her teeth and tried to take off, but the moment she appeared over Matteo’s head, the Shadowbolt extended her other hoof, firing a separate barrage of the small bolts towards Misty. Misty writhed and cringed as the tiny explosions erupted all over her body, forcing her into a sudden downward turn and crashed into the dirt painfully. She curled up and braced herself as the Shadowbolt didn’t let up on the barrage, peppering her as she lay on the ground.





“ARGH!” Soarin cried out as a large portion of his suit got torn open by the pink blade. Only he, Squall, and Calm remained fighting against the grey stallion.

Blaze and Surprise had tried to sneak around him, but were both felled quickly from multiple blows from the sword. It was a sharp blade, but it didn’t cut through after impact. Both Blaze and Surprise had large, painful looking gashes where the sword had landed, but they were both smacked away by it afterward. It proved that none of them would be losing limbs, but the blade was still sharp enough to cause nasty wounds. 

“Damn!” Soarin cursed as he continued to dodge and dodge. There was no opening for attack. The stallion was too aware and too skilled. The sword only made it harder to discern a time to attack. “Squall! WAIT!” Soarin perked up and reached forward as Squall charged directly at the stallion.

“FOOLISH!” the stallion yelled as he swung the sword upward, but Squall twisted, just barely avoiding the blade at the expense of a few tail hairs and feathers, before taking his stance.

“HOORYAAAA!” he cried out as he delivered the rapid strike right into the stallion’s chest.

“ARGH!” the Stallion lurched backwards, but growled, looking up much sooner that Squall anticipated. 

“HOORY—” Squall only got halfway through his battle cry as the stallion punched his left hoof forward, striking Squall right in the mouth. “URH!” Squall grunted as he staggered backward. His eyes widened as he saw the stallion raising the blade up into the air.

“SQUALL! WATCH OUT!” Soarin yelled out and tried to reach him, but he didn’t make it in time.

Squall tried to lean back, but as the stallion brought the blade down, the very tip caught Squall in the forehead, ripped through his flight mask, and tore into his skin as it sliced down between his eyes, cutting his goggles in half, ripping his mask down the center, and slipping off the side of his nose.

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Squall cried out as the stallion followed through the swing and a splash of blood flew from the sword’s surface.

“SQUALL!” Soarin yelled out in horror as Squall immediately brought his hooves to his face, his goggles falling from his eyes as he slowly fell towards the ground and landed roughly while cringing, grunting, and wailing in pain, his own blood trickling down his hooves and arms.

“Heh…” the stallion scoffed. “He would have been better off taking the body blow,” the stallion chuckled as he turned to Soarin and Calm.

Soarin looked around them.

This was bad…

This was REALLY bad.

These five Shadowbolts were far more powerful than they could have predicted. They were all completely unprepared for the unparalleled display of magic from them. The last time they encountered the crystals, it was simple magic blasts, emotional control, and absorbing power to increase strength, speed, and durability. Such things were such a surprise then, but this…

An army of doppelgangers…

Solid, sharp weapons…

Homing exploding spheres…

Waves of burning energy…

Unbreakable telekinesis…

Showers of exploding pins…

Each of these Shadowbolts had mastered a form of magic, making it their own and making it incredibly powerful, much like how the Wonderbolts all had signature moves. And the crystals gave a mere five Shadowbolts… the power to take on the entire Wonderbolt force?

They were doomed.

They had no answer. 

Squad Zero’s effectiveness was against the Shadowbolts they once faced… not these monsters.

Soarin didn’t want to believe it. He didn’t want to believe that this could actually be the end.

All the elites were being taken down by these five Shadowbolts… and as many as forty five Wonderbolts now lay burned, beaten, or cringing on the ground as all the remaining Wonderbolts had landed to desperately defend their fallen brethren from the swarm of clones above that these five Shadowbolts were able to maintain despite being focused on the top elites. 

Where?

Where was Spitfire?

There was no way she had abandoned them, but she had yet to appear from the compound. Did something happen in there? Were there more Shadowbolts than these five who snuck through? That would make everything they were doing out here for naught.

And…

Where, oh where… 

Where was Luna?!





Up on the observatory balcony of the royal palace…

Princess Luna sat with her eyes fixed towards the Wonderbolt compound.

She had been watching the battle from the very beginning and the sight absolutely tore her heart in two. She looked down at the floor and slowly shook her head.

“So… in the end… it happened anyway,” she said with a long, regretful sigh. “I’m sorry, Sister… I tried to prevent it, but in the end, your premonition came true…”

She sat in silence. The gentle breeze of the mid-morning air blew softly against her face, catching her starry mane and causing it to flow softly. If she could not see, nor hear the battle before her, it would feel like a serene, peaceful day. She took a deep breath and exhaled.

“Well?” a deep voice spoke up as a shadow of a stallion slid into her view from behind. 

Luna shut her eyes, remaining in the darkness of her own eyelids for a few moments before she slowly opened them…

And looked back up at the battle with a determined expression…

“Save them.”

The moment the words left her lips, the stallion blew a loud, three toned whistle and lifted off, shooting past Luna. 

Less than a second later, Luna looked up as shadows of ponies flying overhead began passing by her. 

Multiple shadows…

HUNDREDS of shadows…

The wind kicking up from their wake rushing against her as she sat and watched them all take off and shoot high into the sky. 

Luna looked back down towards the fighting…

But despite the hardened expression… a tear ran down her right cheek.

“Please…” she said to herself as the shadows of pegasi continued to pass over her. “Please… forgive me…”





“MORE CLONES BEHIND!” Calm Wind yelled as he and Soarin continued to evade the sword swings from the grey stallion.

“DAMN!” Soarin yelled as he turned after avoiding, only to get caught and held by five clones.

“Soarin!” Calm tried to get to him, but was forced to back off as the stallion pressed his attack towards him.

The clones piled onto Soarin, trying to grab him and restrain him. 

“GET OFF!” he yelled as he tried to rip himself free. With his wings pressed to his body, he began to plummet towards the ground. The clones continued to snarl bite and pull at him as he tried to get free, Soarin grunted as he fought, whipping his head around and yanking his limbs. His mask got caught and pulled, ripping it in half over his horn and revealing his face as he growled and snarled at the clones holding him. 

He looked up to see Calm get away from the Shadowbolt and catch up to him, ripping the clones off of Soarin one by one until he could grab hold of Soarin and pull up, the two just barely avoided the courtyard walls, but…

“CALM!” Soarin yelled as the Shadowbolt appeared behind them with the sword wound up and ready to swing. Calm looked behind himself just in time to see the sword slam into his back. 

“GRAH!!” Calm yelled out in pain as sword created a shallow cut on his back before smashing into him and forcing them down towards the ground, beyond the walls of the compound. Calm held onto Soarin, protecting him with his body as they slammed so hard into the red stone wall of a coffee shop right across the road from the compound that the wall buckled and collapsed. Soarin fell out of Calm’s grip and rolled off to the side as Calm landed face first, his goggles ripping from his face and shattering as they hit the ground. The wall crumbled and a large pile of red stones piled on top of Calm as he yelped and grunted painfully. 

Soarin lay on his stomach on the ground.

“Grrhh… ahhh…” he strained himself as he tried to push himself up. His head hurt, his vision was blurry, he was still bleeding, and his ears were ringing. Every attempt to get up at the moment was for naught, for even though he had more than enough strength to stand, the pain and the disorientation kept him from making any progress.

Calm was down, trapped beneath rocks. 

Squall, Blaze, and Surprise were all hurt and needed medical attention.

And the last he saw, none of the other Wonderbolts were faring well either.

He desperately wanted to get up and help… 

He wanted to save all of them…

He wanted to save Dash…

But he couldn’t.

Even if he found his equilibrium, these Shadowbolts were too much, even his magic proved useless.

He looked up as his vision finally focused and saw the Shadowbolt charging towards him with the sword high over his head, approaching to bring it down over Soarin. 

There was nothing he could do.

The only thing that could save them now…

Was a miracle…

Soarin’s eyes widened as a large stallion suddenly landed directly in front of him. 

“YOU?!” the Shadowbolt yelled out in surprise as he changed the course of his attack without hesitation, bringing the sword down towards the stallion that now stood between him and Soarin.

“HM!” the new stallion grunted as he brought up his hoof.

The sword clashed against the new stallion’s hoof, creating a loud POW and CRACKLING noises as the sword was repelled and the grey stallion was sent back by the recoil.

“Wh-what?!” Soarin blinked as he saw the sight before him. The new stallion charged forward and rammed the Shadowbolt hard, forcing him back. He spread his wings and pumped them forward, creating space as he readied his sword again.

Soarin could now see the new stallion more clearly…

And what he saw… he didn’t understand…

The new stallion that had saved him… was wearing a Shadowbolt uniform… 

But the headpiece was gone, and instead he wore a red headband with tassels, plus a pair of red goggles.

“Find your hooves Soarin!” the newcomer said sternly in a voice that made Soarin’s eyes widen. “Get up and fight. The ground is no place for a warrior like you.”

“I can’t believe it…” Soarin blinked as he forced his head up to get a better look at the new stallion. 

The stallion reached up and pushed the red goggles onto his forehead before turning his head back to look at Soarin.

The large, powerful body…

The dark grey fur…

The swept back, dark blue mane… 

The serious glare…

The multiple battle scars…

And the stern deep voice…

Soarin couldn’t believe his eyes.





Art by: Foxenawolf


“D…Descent?!” Soarin’s jaw dropped as Descent snorted through his nose.

“What’s wrong? Turning back into a colt on me? I said GET UP! We have a battle to fight!” Descent looked back up at the Shadowbolt.

Soarin had absolutely no idea what he was looking at. Descent was wearing the same uniform as the new Shadowbolts that they had been encountering… but… he was here to help?

Soarin had had enough. The past hour of his life had been more confusing than anything else he had ever experienced in his life. All he knew was that Descent was here… and most likely more Shadowbolts with him… perhaps a different band? A whole different force? He wasn’t going to ask now.

But he hoped Descent had brought enough fighters with him… because they had quite an imbalance to—

“RENEGADES!!!!” Descent yelled up into the sky. “GIVE ‘EM HELL!”

Soarin didn’t know his eyes could get any wider than they already had, but they did as he looked up into the sky.

Any and all Wonderbolts that were still fighting stopped and looked skyward as well.

Shadowbolts wearing red headbands and goggles suddenly began pouring down from above.

The Shadowbolt clones all focused upward as a large overcast of shadows overtook them.

There had to be one hundred… two hundred… no… even more. At least three hundred Shadowbolts raining down from the sky towards the clones, all wearing the altered uniform.

‘Renegades’… Descent had called them. By definition the word described somepony who deserted or betrayed an organization, group, or set of principles… That was exactly what Descent had done the last time they met, leaving the Shadowbolts behind with Starry Skies and Lightning Dust due to the situation the Shadowbolts had been led into by Nightshade’s delusions. 

Renegades indeed… had Descent found himself an army of those who sympathized with him?

Whoever they were, they were clearly on the side of the Wonderbolts, because as soon as the large force of newcomers collided with the Shadowbolt clones, the clones began bursting and exploding nearly on contact. They were being brushed aside and destroyed incredibly quickly.

“DAMN!” The Shadowbolt stallion turned his back to Soarin and Descent as the crystals glowed and he began creating more clones. The other four Shadowbolts did the same, taking moment to create new clones as the enormous force of doppelgangers was nearly cut down by a third in a few moments.

There was clearly something Soarin and the Wonderbolts didn’t know. The ease of which the ‘Renegades’ were taking down the clones didn’t look like a feat of strength or a special ability. It looked like highly trained precision.

“RGH!” Soarin grunted as he forced himself to his hooves and stared towards Descent. “Ah!” his ears perked up as three clones landed right in front of Descent.

“You Wonderbolts need to be more perceptive,” Descent began as the clones began powering up their eyebeams. “You’re new ‘special squad’ has the right idea when it comes to deflecting the crystal magic… however…” the eyebeams fired. Descent reached up his right hoof and did nothing more than lightly swipe his hoof back and forth, only moving his forearm. The blasts were all knocked aside. “They are wasting movement. It doesn’t take a full swing, just a flick of the wrist. As for these annoying copies…” Descent focused as the three clones charged. “The focus of the magic that generates them is in the head… all it takes is one solid blow to the skull between the eyes…” Descent shifted forward and delivered three blows, landing one to each clone right between the eyes above the nose of the goggles. They all instantly burst into light. “And they are easily dispatched.”

“Whoa…” Soarin blinked as Descent gave the little crash course.

“The Wonderbolts are not as weak as these Shadowbolts have made you appear,” Descent continued as the Shadowbolt stallion leapt at him again. “You just didn’t know how to fight them…” Descent set his hooves and focused on the stallion. “If you know their tricks,” he raised his left hoof and smashed it against the blade of the magic sword. “Then it evens the playing field!” he yelled as he swiped his hoof out and forced the stallion back again. “You can’t win, Blade…” Descent suddenly addressed the Shadowbolt.

“You are such an annoyance!” Blade spat back while growling. “I will not be made the fool again!” he took to the air and the crystals began to glow again. The sword on his right hoof shortened by half and a second blade of the same length extended from his left.

Descent glanced back at Soarin.

“Are you ready now? Or do I have to do this without you?” he asked sternly.

“Don’t patronize me,” Soarin scoffed. “I’ve had worse… from you,” he reminded Descent as he cracked his neck. “I don’t know what the hell is going on and expect an explanation later, but right now, I really want to kick these guys in the ass… REALLY hard.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Descent crouched down and shot upward. Soarin forced his wings outward and took flight right behind. 

Fighting side by side with Descent… this was definitely something Soarin never expected to do.

Blade, as Soarin picked up the grey stallion’s name, flew away at first, forcing them to give chase. Descent caught up very quickly, forcing Blade to attack, but even with his dual swords, he couldn’t land a clean hit on Descent. Every swing was batted aside by Descent’s knowledge of countering the pink magic. Soarin knew that was something they’d have to learn.

As Soarin chased after to provide support, several very familiar ponies were assisting the rest of the Wonderbolts.





“Holy shit…” Fleetfoot said to herself as she painfully glided along, staring up at the Renegades as they absolutely pelted the Shadowbolt clones. “AH!” she was only distracted for a moment, but it left her open as the cream colored mare unleashed her energy wave again.

Fleetfoot cringed as she threw her arms up over her face, but she felt nothing. She peeked out as the wave passed by around her and noticed a Renegade had flown in front of her. It was the large, muscular, pure white mare with the blond wavy mane and battle scars. She was flying headlong into the wave, but with her hooves forward, physically diverting the energy wave in a cone shape around her and Fleetfoot until it dissipated.

“YO! I’M READY!” the grey stallion with the brown mane they encountered at the blimp dropped down beside the mare and hopped up on her back.

“Then curl up!” the mare ordered in a hardened voice as three clones split from the Shadowbolt mare and flew towards them. The grey stallion curled himself up as tightly as he could into a ball before the white mare grabbed him off her back, wound up and chucked him as hard as she could towards the clones. 

“WOOOHOOO!!!” the stallion hollered as he pinballed between the three clones, bouncing off their heads, and causing them to explode before screaming headlong towards the Shadowbolt mare. 

She dropped down, dipping into conjured shadows that danced around her. After the Renegade passed over, she lifted up from the shadows to attack, but as soon as she did, the red Renegade stallion with the orange-yellow, blown back mane slammed down to the ground, wound up and punched at the stallion ball, sending him right into the stomach of the Shadowbolt mare. The Renegade ball uncurled and latched onto the Shadowbolt’s back, driving her downward and crashing to the ground with her.

“You kiddies sure know how to stir up trouble!” the red stallion chuckled while rotating his arm.

Fleetfoot blinked, in awe of what had just happened before she turned to look at the incredibly buff, white Renegade mare beside her, looking her up and down, almost as impressed with her body as she was with all the moves she just witnessed.

“I gotta find out her gym routine…” Fleetfoot said to herself as she followed after them to continue the attack.





Storm Front was beaten and bruised from all the magic blasts taken, and while he was still being held stationary, he looked on with awe as the blue Shadowbolt stallion tried desperately to lock onto two Renegades. The white, grey maned stallion who glided along swiftly, holding his wings tight and steady as he zoomed around, and the red stallion with the slicked back white mane, who made such dramatic shifts in speed and trajectory that he couldn’t be caught.

Suddenly a yellow hoof reached out and grabbed the arm of the blue Shadowbolt.

“What?!” he turned to see the yellow Renegade mare with the long, straight white mane. Just as she had done with Spitfire back in Cloudsdale, she pulled the Shadowbolt onto her back and without losing motion, gave a little hop that launched the Shadowbolt into the air.

The red stallion began making his irregular shifts before suddenly bursting towards the Shadowbolt with his mane creating a white streak behind him. He body slammed the Shadowbolt right in the side.

“GAH!” the Shadowbolt grunted as he flailed through the air. Before the white stallion veered up and glided above before smashing his hooves down, knocking the Shadowbolt down to the ground. Upon his impact, Storm and the rest of the Wonderbolts being held were released from the magic binds.

Storm looked up in awe as the three Renegades all bumped hooves. Were they allies all along?





Silver continued to pitch and weave, avoiding the exploding spheres as they continued to rise up around him. 

“Hey!”

“Yoohoo!” 

Silver looked up as two Renegades flew over his head. The two mares that assisted the runaway from the Cloudsdale arena. One pink with a smooth yellow mane, the other yellow with a pink frizzy mane. They were both waving at the yellow Shadowbolt controlling the spheres. 

“Bet you can’t hit us!” the pink Renegade taunted while sticking her tongue out at the Shadowbolt. 

“Hmph…” the Shadowbolt glared at them. 

Silver took a hard right and veered off as the spheres began following the two mares instead. He pulled up and stopped in the air, hovering to catch his breath. 

The two mares weaved in and out, passing by each other, turning and twisting with perfect synchronization. Silver blinked and tipped his head as he watched them move.

“Wait a minute…” he continued watching, taking note of the mares and how they moved in tandem. It looked just like how the Streak twins moved. 

“TAKE A DIVE, BIG GREEN!” The yellow mare yelled up into the air as the spheres continuously failed to keep up with them.

“Big green?” Silver blinked again. He had heard that before! 

The Shadowbolt looked up as an enormous shadow suddenly cast over him. He looked up to see the massive green Renegade stallion diving towards him. The Shadowbolt focused upward, forming multiple spheres in the green Renegade’s path. The explosions all struck home, engulfing the giant pony… but he cut right through them, unfazed. 

“AHH!” The Shadowbolt yelled, shielding himself as the giant pony crashed into him, and drove him all the way down to the ground. When they hit the grass there was a loud BOOM as large chunks of dirt and grass exploded up into the air, flying in all directions. 

Silver shielded himself, as debris flew up and battered against him. He quickly looked back down and stared in awe at the enormous stallion standing over the Shadowbolt in a crater, the Shadowbolt pressed into the dirt at the bottom as the Renegade snarled at him.

“These moves…” Silver’s jaw dropped. “That nickname…” he shook his head as he wondered how it took him so long to realize something. “These ponies… they couldn’t be…!”





“Must… keep… moving!” Dash ordered herself as she zipped through the air around the red Shadowbolt mare. 

The situation was way beyond fubar. Matteo, Misty, and Shine were all down, the ‘new Shadowbolts’ had just appeared overhead and were fighting the Shadowbolt clones, There were additional clones firing their eyebeams at her from below, and she was flying for her life as this Shadowbolt mare shot an endless stream of pin sized magic bolts towards her. The only thing that kept her from being pulverized again was her speed, and she wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep that up.

“AUGH!” The Shadowbolt mare suddenly cried out and the stream of magic bolts ceased. 

Dash glanced down as she continued to avoid the clone eyebeams and saw the mare tumbling towards the ground. She barely leveled herself out before hitting the ground and looked up, growling in Dash’s direction. What had just happened?

“Heya Dashie!” 

Dash’s ears perked up as a familiar voice came from her left. She turned her head and stared wide eyed as a turquoise mare with a yellow and orange patterned mane shifted up beside her wearing the cut off Shadowbolt uniform with the red goggles and headband. It wasn’t a new face to Dash at all.

“Lightning Dust?!” Dash blinked.

“That uniform looks pretty good on ya!” Dust smirked and winked behind the red tinted lenses towards her.

Another pony suddenly barrel rolled in and shifted to form up on Dash’s right.

“Let us handle this,” said the new mare in a flat, serious tone. The same uniform as Lightning Dust, purple with a swept back mane with lavender tone patterns. 

“Starry Skies…” Dash stared with her mouth ajar as the two, who she hadn’t seen in a very long time, nor knew if she’d ever see again, were now flying side by side with her as they dodged through the constant barrage of clone eyebeams from below. 

“Dust! Let’s take her down!” Starry ordered while bringing her front hooves up.

“YEAHHEAAAHHHH!!!!” Lighting Dust cheered while doing the same.





Art by: Foxenawolf


The two of them shifted forward, placing themselves in front of Dash as the clone beams focused and the Shadowbolt began firing her stream of magic again. Starry and Dust held their hooves forward and began flicking them back and forth, knocking away every single form of magic, eyebeam and tiny bolt alike as they shot towards the Shadowbolt. 

“Wow…” Dash watched in awe as the two cut through the magic in front of them as if it wasn’t even there.

“Damn you!” the Shadowbolt mare yelled as she tried to step back and generate more clones, but as soon as they jumped out from her body, Starry and Dust delivered a single blow to each of them in the forehead, causing them all to burst. 

“Give her one right in the jaw, Dashie!” Dust yelled back as she and Starry pulled up, giving Dash a clear path directly at the Shadowbolt. Dash’s eyes widened and then glared. She didn’t hesitate for a moment as she pumped her wings harder and pulled back her hoof. The Shadowbolt was trying to back away, but she had no avenue of escape. Dash gritted her teeth and prepared Silver’s full motion swing.

“THIS IS FOR HURTING MY FRIENDS!” Dash yelled out as she swung her hoof forward, putting subtle shifts into the motion as she was flying forward. 

Her hoof connected with the cheek of the Shadowbolt, completely breaking her left goggle lens to pieces and bending the frame as the force of the blow sent her flying.

“Whoa-ho!” Dust hollered as the Shadowbolt mare flew backwards through the air before bouncing to a stop on the ground. “Damn! What a punch!” she commented while smiling down at Dash.

Dash dropped to the ground and skidded to a halt on her hooves. She grunted and panted as she caught her breath, but took a moment to look up at Starry Skies and Lightning Dust as they turned and shot towards the rest of the battle.

She shook her head and smiled.

What a drastic… but fortunate turn of events.





“I’ll gut you!” Blade yelled into Descent’s face as he kept trying to swing his swords, only to have them repelled each time.

“Highly unlikely,” Descent said calmly as he pressed his attack, driving Blade directly towards the Wonderbolt compound. 

Soarin kept in pace close behind as Descent forced Blade to crash land right outside the front doors that led into the lobby.

“GRRRHH!!!” Blade growled as he struggled to stand. “You’re fools! All fools!” he belted as Descent and Soarin landed a few yards away. “What do you hope to gain, Descent? Why do you resist and lead all of our brothers and sisters astray? You’re denying the truth!”

“The only truth I know is that my family was wrenched from my grasp and forced to serve a master they’ve never even seen,” Descent snorted. “I’m simply taking back what was mine… and I plan to take back the rest.”

Soarin didn’t say a word. He had no idea what they were talking about, but he had a feeling he’d know soon enough.

“You’re standing in the way of my objective… Blade…” Descent glared sternly. “And the Shadowbolt code dictates that I dispose of any who stand between me and my objective… even if it’s you. Or have you been so far consumed by your own pleasures that you’ve forgotten the very words you used to live by?”

“Preach to me all you want…” Blade spat back. “Your efforts here have been for naught. By now, our Shadowbolts inside the compound will have killed them all, leaving the Wonderbolts with no support, no staff, no administration, and most of all, no lead captain. Without that to guide them, they will fall apart. You’ve lost.”

“WHAT?!” Soarin found a reason to speak up as his eyes widened and his ears stood up. Descent quickly put a hoof up, barring Soarin from making any moves forward.

“Relax, Soarin,” he turned back to Blade. “Actually… I sent a detachment into the compound the moment we arrived… and they reported back to me a minute later saying they didn’t need to step in.”

“What? Lies!” Blade growled. Descent shook his head.

“And I wasn’t surprised… I think you’ve heavily underestimated a certain Wonderbolt,” Descent smirked.

A loud crash suddenly sounded out from above and Blade looked up. Three Shadowbolts, all with a single crystal floating with them, had crashed through the hanger window above the lobby doors. They flailed as they fell down and landed painfully in a pile with shards of glass showering down upon them. They gasped and groaned as they rolled off one another.

“What is this?!” Blade turned his back to Descent and Soarin, the swords disappearing from his arms as he stared in disbelief at the compound. A few more screams rang out from inside, followed by two Shadowbolts crashing into and knocking down two of the doors, bouncing on the ground, and sliding painfully to a stop. As one of them tried to stand, a third Shadowbolt flung out of the doors and slammed into him, knocking them both down. 

“AH! STAY BACK!” a voice yelled from inside before a yelp of pain. A Shadowbolt’s face smacked into a window beside the doors, pressing against it before something forced it through the glass, shattering the whole window as he fell to the ground and curled up in pain under the bits of falling glass.

Blade’s eyes darted back and forth in disbelief until a Wonderbolt shot out of the window above with two more Shadowbolts hooked by the neck in her arms. 

It was Spitfire. 

And she looked more or less unscathed.

“AND…” she wound up and threw them both towards the concrete. “STAY OUT!” she added as the two landed brutally and rolled around, groaning. Spitfire turned back towards the compound hanger window. “DON’T MAKE ME COME IN THERE AND GET THE REST OF YOU!” she yelled and shortly after, twenty more Shadowbolts came shooting out of the compound, fleeing for their lives, most of them wobbling in their flight, and some grounded because their wings were bent out of shape. 

Soarin stared up at Spitfire and blinked. No wonder Spitfire didn’t join them. She was busy fighting inside the base, taking on and effectively beating down at least twenty-five to thirty Shadowbolts. From the looks of things, they were of lower rank, holding only one crystal as opposed to three, but still… holy crap.

“See?” Descent chuckled as Blade growled and turned to him, he looked past Descent at the battle behind them. The other four Shadowbolts were down and the clones were dwindling at an alarming rate

“Mark my words Descent…” Blade snarled. “You will regret opposing us… all of you will,” he reached up and grabbed one of the crystals, pulling it down towards his mouth as is began to glow. “We can’t win in these circumstances. Everypony retreat, NOW!” he yelled before the glow intensified around him.

“HEY!” Spitfire yelled as she dove towards him, but right before she could grab him, Blade disappeared in a bright flash of light that engulfed a wide area around them. When it faded, the rest of the Shadowbolts around them were gone as well. 

Soarin, Spitfire, and Descent all looked out towards the courtyard where four more bright flashes shined out and the remaining clones exploded.

Soarin stood still for a moment, before releasing an enormous sigh of relief and falling down onto his plot. 

They were victorious… but it wouldn’t have been that way if not for…

“So it’s you,” Spitfire spoke up as she pushed her goggles up and approached Descent. Descent pulled his goggles down and nodded.

“Indeed it is. It has been a while, Captain Spitfire,” he replied politely. 

“So… the red goggles and headbands… something told me you were a part of it,” Spitfire deduced. “A separate band of Shadowbolts?”

“That is correct,” Descent gave another nod.

“So how about we set some things straight here…” Spitfire tried to start up but Descent held up a hoof. 

“Hold on,” he stopped her. “Before we start any long conversations,” he looked out towards the aftermath. The Renegades were landing and helping the fallen Wonderbolts along with any of the Wonderbolts who were still up and able to move on their own. “We should see to it that the wounded are tended to. From what I’ve seen we have some severely injured to take care of.”

Spitfire took a look of her own out towards the torn up courtyard of the compound. She nodded in agreement.

“Never thought I’d hear a Shadowbolt suggest something like that,” she said.

“Please,” Descent nodded. “Call us the Renegades.”

Spitfire liften an eyebrow, but Descent promised answers after the more important task at hoof was taken care of, their wounded. She turned and moved towards the compound doors before shouting inside. “Somepony get Bliss and tell her we need her full medical staff out here NOW!” she yelled before turning back out.

Soarin was just staring at Descent, his moment of relief still passing over him. He looked out and watched as the Renegades aided the Wonderbolts, never once considering he’d see a scenario like this. 

Just how much had they been left in the dark about… and why?

He perked up as several Renegades approached. Specifically, it was all the ponies they had encountered in Cloudsdale. Soarin shook his head and smirked. All the trouble they went through with this group… and they were on their side all along. 

“Oh…” Soarin perked up. “I had a feeling those two would show…” he said to himself as he spotted two familiar ponies in front of the approaching group. Starry Skies and Lightning Dust. So the whole crew was meeting up again.

Descent turned and walked towards the Renegades as they landed.

“Well?” he asked as he moved towards them. Starry Skies began to speak, but Soarin’s focus was drawn by Spitfire as she approached him.

“Sorry…” she apologized, her ears flopping down as she looked over Soarin’s damaged flight suit and body. 

“For what?” Soarin blinked. “Oh,” he quickly realized what she meant. 

“I wish I could’ve helped you guys out here… I could see what was happening out the windows, but I couldn’t abandon the staff. They would’ve all been hurt or worse had I not protected them. I’m just as responsible for them… and they can’t defend themselves. The security team wasn’t fairing to well against them, I can assure you. I had to completely take over., despite her reasoning she still sounded sad. Soarin quickly shook his head.

“Spitfire, trust me, we were doomed either way until Descent and his new group… er…” Soarin looked back out. The number of pegasi Descent had brought along was far greater than the Wonderbolts. “Force… I should probably call it. I’ll give you a full report later, but the five Shadowbolts we just scared off were completely ponyhandling me and all of the top elites with incredible magic techniques. These new guys seem to know how to counter them, but we sure didn’t…”

“What about Squad Zero?” Spitfire suddenly asked. “I sent them out here as soon as I could… did they make a difference?” she asked with an eager tone in her voice.

Soarin frowned, knowing that she wasn’t going to like his answer.

“They got us out of a bind at the beginning, but after that they were brushed aside just as easily as we were,” he described to her. He winced when he saw her expression quickly turn down.

“Dammit…” she kicked her hoof lightly on the ground and turned away from Soarin.

“Sorry…” Soarin apologized, not quite knowing what else to do. He knew how important Project Zero was to Spitfire. Squad Zero helped, but they weren’t prepared for the new brand of magical techniques.

“I’m going to get such an earful from Silver later…” she sighed as she shook her head. Soarin glanced back over at the courtyard and blinked.

“Speak of the devil,” Soarin pointed. Spitfire looked up to see a group of Wonderbolts approaching. Fleetfoot, Silver, Dash, Misty, and the Streak twins, all up and flying towards them. They were all wobbling a little, but they were managing. They all stared at the Renegades as they passed before coming in for a landing by Spitfire.

“Hey!” Fleetfoot pouted towards Spitfire as they came to a halt. “Where were you?!” she demanded as Spitfire rolled her eyes. Soarin answered for her.

“She was busy beating the crap out of thirty some Shadowbolts that snuck into the compound while we were out here,” he chuckled as Fleetfoot and the rest all stared wide eyed at Spitfire. 

“I mean HEY!” Fleetfoot threw her arms out to her sides while faking a smile. “You’re awesome! Haha…ha…”

“Soarin… are you alright?” Dash asked as she stepped towards him and sat down beside him. Soarin smiled and nodded. 

“Hard to believe I am… but yes. More importantly, are—”

“You know I’m fine—OW!” Dash yelped as her left wing cramped up. “Ow, ow, ow…” she continuously said as she shook it out. Soarin just smirked at her as she stuck her tongue out at him. “Maybe I’m a little beat up…” she admitted while puffing her cheeks out. She looked back at Spitfire as she conversed with Silver, and the Streak twins. Misty was staring towards the Renegades as they continued to converse with Descent.

“So what’s with our… friends?” Dash asked as she looked back at Soarin. Soarin shrugged. 

“Descent, Starry Skies, and Lightning Dust… apparently got together a bunch of Shadowbolts who sympathized with them. I think he called them the Renegades. Never seen or heard about the rest of them though besides that they toyed with us a lot recently. I just had no idea there were so many of them,” he perked up as Descent lifted up off and flew towards the sky. He had very little time to wonder because Spitfire had started walking towards the Renegades as they continued to converse without Descent. “Come on, let’s join them,” Soarin made a head motion as he got up and followed behind Spitfire, Silver, Misty, and the twins. 

Starry Skies noticed them as they approached and turned.

“Well,” Starry began in a flat tone, neither smiling nor frowning as the Wonderbolts approached. “Never thought we’d be flying in to save you guys after all we’ve been through, but there are strange times.”

“I would sure as hell say so,” Spitfire agreed in her own way. “So what’s—” 

Spitfire stopped and her eyes widened as Lightning Dust turned around to face her. Dust’s smirk disappeared instantly and was replaced with a look of shock, followed by dread as her ears flopped down and she backed away slightly.

“You…” Spitfire glared and released a low growl from the back of her throat. 

“Whoa there,” Soarin quickly stepped up to Spitfire and put a hoof on her shoulder as she gritted her teeth. Starry turned and glanced at Dust, before looking between her and Spitfire. 

“Oh, right,” Starry shrugged.

“Spitfire, go easy…” Soarin tried to keep her calm as her sharp gaze continued to stab at Lightning Dust. Soarin glanced at Dust as she began to shift behind Starry Skies as if hiding in complete shame. One of the Renegades behind her stepped up curiously, but Starry turned and shook her head while waving them off.

Spitfire had every reason to be put off by the sight of Lightning Dust. Even if Dust wasn’t thinking straight under the influence of the crystals, she was still the pony that put Spitfire through one of the most incredibly excruciating experiences of her life. The feelings of jealousy and loneliness she was feeling at the time amplified to the point where it caused physical pain and ripped control of her own body from her, forcing her to attack her friends in a blind rage, aware of every move but unable to stop it. Even if Lightning Dust was being led astray at the time, it would be quite a while before Spitfire could ever look upon her without anger welling up in the pit of her stomach.

Dash frowned as she saw Lightning Dust hide behind Starry. Sure, what she did was terrible, and nearly completely broke Spitfire’s spirit, but Spitfire didn’t know what horrors Dust went through afterward. Nightshade probably caused more physical and mental damage to her than Spitfire could even fathom. It didn’t excuse what Lightning Dust had done, Spitfire’s anger was just, but at least Dust learned the truth and consequences of her choices soon after.

“So…” Soarin tried to interject as he addressed Starry Skies. “Now that we’re not, you know… trying to hunt you guys down. How about we finally meet your other captains here? I’m assuming that’s what they are?” Soarin asked while referring to the rest of the Renegades behind them.

All the Wonderbolts were startled as the Renegades all burst out laughing, save for the muscular mare, who only smirked and the giant green stallion who let out little raspy ‘heh heh heh’s.’ Soarin blinked and looked back at the Wonderbolts in confusion as Starry Skies simply smirked.

“Hah…” she scoffed. “First off… we don’t have captains or squads. Descent is our leader and we follow his guidance. Aside from that we have no ranks, no authority. We fight for each other and for the goals of the Renegades… and secondly…” she glanced at all the Renegades behind her as they all finally stopped laughing. “I don’t think you need to ‘meet’ them… in fact, they all came over here just now… to see you.”

“See us?” Soarin blinked, the rest of the Wonderbolts present stepping up beside him curiously.

“Well guys?” Starry turned and looked at them. “Go on, you’ve been bothering us about this for months. Get on with it already.”

The Wonderbolts all watched curiously as the Renegades behind Starry and Lightning Dust all stepped forward.

They all looked between each other and nodded… before reaching up towards their headbands and goggles.

As they slowly removed their headwear, their manes shifted without the compression of the headbands, and for the first time, the Wonderbolts saw their faces… their eyes…

Dash looked at them carefully. For some reason, some of them looked familiar, but she didn’t know why. She scanned the first five before glancing at the other Wonderbolts, but all of their jaws had dropped and their eyes were wide as can be. Dash blinked and looked back, scanning the rest of them until her eyes landed on the grey, brown maned stallion they encountered in Cloudsdale. She… recognized him… then it hit her… she remembered getting a certain poster signed… by a pony that looked just like him. Hold it… it was him. She looked to the pony’s left and held in a squeak when she saw the last two. The red stallion with the blown back orange and yellow mane and the yellow mare with the straight, long, white mane. She would never forget those two!

“THESE… THESE… THESE…!” Dash stuttered.

“My god…” Silver slowly pulled his goggles off as he began to smile. Dash turned and looked at Silver, not believing what she saw. “I knew it… god dammit, I KNEW IT!” Silver sounded so overjoyed, unlike anything Dash ever heard from him before.

Silver began looking at each of them slowly as the rest of the Wonderbolts were at a loss for words.

First he looked at the enormous, heavy set, green stallion.

“Bomber…”

The red stallion with the slicked back white mane.

“Comet…”

The white stallion with the grey mane.

“Steady Wing…”

The two identical twin mares, on yellow and pink, the other pink and yellow.

“Pixie… and Fairy…”

The large, incredibly muscular, white mare with the wavy blond mane and battle scars.

“Valkyrie…”

The grey stallion with the brown mane.

“Cannon Ball…”

Silver turned his head towards the last two he locked his eyes on the old red stallion and the old yellow mare standing together. 

“And of course… Blazetail and Flashwind…” 

Dash’s eyes grew wider as Silver… sniffled. Silver had the biggest smile on his face and his eyes were getting watery.

“All of my… old… friends!” he exclaimed as a tear squeaked out of his right eye.

“Youngster!” Blazetail called over to Silver. “Are you crying on me?” he said with a smirk. “Getting soft? Dammit kid, there’s no place for tears in the Wonderbolts!”

“Ha… haha…hahahHAHAHA!” Silver threw his head back and burst out laughing.

Dash stared at all of the Renegades. She recognized Blazetail and Flashwind immediately, but the others… the names Silver just said were beginning to click. 

Back at the party… when Silver told her the stories of his old fellow Wonderbolts… and then later when they had the heart to heart after she discovered Silver in his room. He described all of his friends being chased out by the Wonderbolt code…

These particular Renegades… THESE WERE RETIRED WONDERBOLTS!

Dash and the rest of the Wonderbolts flinched as Misty Fly suddenly fired out from behind them, flinging herself at Bomber and grabbing the enormous, stocky stallion as far around his big neck as she could while hugging him tightly and rubbing her cheek against his. 

“Heh, heh, heh…” the giant stallion reached up as he chuckled raspily, returning the embrace with one of his massive arms. “Bomber never forget Misty Fly…” he said happily. Misty was smiling with her mouth open wide, suggesting she’d be squealing uncontrollably if she had a voice. Steady wing hovered up beside them as Misty let go of Bomber, and she quickly dove at him, giving him an enormous hug as well. He was her former wingmate after all, and after Silver described how hard it was to watch his friends leave, Dash imagined it was just as hard for Misty, especially a squadmate.

“I’ll be double damned…” Lightning Streak spoke up as he and Fire streak started walking towards the Renegades.

“Old Steady Wing… I can’t believe I didn’t recognize him…” Fire smiled. “Pixie and Fairy too… how could we forget our old mentors?”

“They sure as hell had me fooled,” Lightning chuckled as they approached Pixie and Fairy, receiving hugs from both of them.

Dash turned and looked at Silver, who still sat beside her.

The shock was still strong with her, but what she didn’t understand was why he was just sitting there. She reached out and nudged him with her hoof.

“Silver…” she said his name. He turned and looked at her. She never thought she would see Silver crying, even if it was just a tear or two. It was as if he was so surprised by his own reaction that he could barely move. “Go on,” she gave him a little push. 

Silver looked back towards the Renegades for a moment, before he slowly stood up and walked towards Cannon Ball and Valkyrie. As he approached he simply stared up into Valkyrie’s eyes as she stoically looked down at him. For a moment nothing happened, but then Silver looked down and began to choke up again.

“God dammit… you bastards…” he sputtered as the rest of the Renegades, Bomber, Comet, Cannon Ball, Pixie, Fairy, and Steady Wing all turned towards him. “You… you bastards!” Silver repeated as tears began to fall down his face. “Never thought… I’d… I’d… see any of you… ever…”

“We missed you too, Silv,” Valkyrie suddenly spoke up in her low serious tone before all of them reached in and gave Silver a group hug. Silver reached out, grabbing onto as many of them as he could as they surrounded him.

“Damn all of you… damn… all… of… you…” he said as he let the tears fall.

“Oh my gosh, I’m gonna cry…” Fleetfoot held her hooves up to her mouth as her eyes grew watery. “Silver is so happy… I’ve never seen him like this before…” she said as she sniffled and wiped her eyes.

Soarin turned and glanced at Dash as she sniffled as well. She looked at Soarin and quickly tried to play it off.

“Nothing, I’m alright,” Dash shook her head. “It’s just…”

“Just what?” Soarin smiled as he reached over and hooked his arm over her shoulder.

“I’m just happy for Silver… I can only imagine how I’d feel if all of my best friends were suddenly gone… seeing this,” she looked away from Soarin. She said nothing else, and Soarin didn’t press her.

“Now then…” Spitfire, Fleetfoot, Soarin, and Dash all looked away from the touching scene as Flashwind spoke up and approached them with Blazetail walking behind. Spitfire sighed and shook her head.

“That explains how the Renegades always knew where we’d be and when to appear…” Spitfire said while furrowing her brow. “You two are always wandering around the compound… I can’t believe how hard we’ve been duped.

“We had our reasons,” Blazetail spoke up from behind. “The Renegades were in need of extra assistance. We were happy to help for the good of the Wonderbolts, we even called up a bunch of our old friends,” he looked back at the Renegades surrounding Silver, Misty, and the Streaks. “These were the only elites we could track down… there are quite a few more among the ranks, but most of them were lower ranked or early retirees.”

Dash could barely contain herself as she watched Spitfire converse with Blazetail and Flashwind. She couldn’t believe that she not only was looking at the old, legendary Wonderbolt captains, but she had also fought in a battle beside them… and most likely would be doing the same soon.

“How about we start from the top…” Spitfire held a hoof out. “I appreciate you looking out for us in your own way… but… why?”

“I will answer that…” a voice came from above. They all looked up, Wonderbolts and Renegades alike as Descent flew down from above and landed between all of them. “But first, like I said before, we need to secure everypony out here and get medical attention to those in need. After that… We’ll tell you everything you need to know,” he paused and looked up into the sky. “Isn’t that right? Luna?”

All eyes immediately turned skyward again.

Princess Luna herself floated down from above, landing softly beside Descent. Spitfire and Soarin immediately locked their eyes on her, having not seen her for a while, not to mention the memories of all the secrets kept from them very fresh in their heads.

“Indeed…” Luna spoke up. “The royal guard is on their way to assist with the wounded. Once all the Wonderbolts have been tended to… we have much to discuss, and we fear very little time to waste…”

---To Be Continued---