Piercing the Heavens

by Calm Wind

Chapter 95: Specter from the Sky

MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind

Chapter 95: Specter from the Sky

The Wonderbolts were all in place, taking up defensive positions on every floor with added security guards around them. Silver Lining and squad two were in charge of directing everything in the west hallway of the bottom floor, Fire Streak and squad three doing the same in the east hallway with Foxtrot stationed right beside them.

Whoever wasn’t on the bottom floor was placed in any position where a Shadowbolt could possibly make it through on the upper floors, save for the rooms and offices due to the armored shutters being closed over them. The armored shutters weren’t enough to hinder Rapidfire during their attack half a year ago, but they wouldn’t be getting through them without the sound of bending and straining metal alerting the Wonderbolts.

The lead squad and Princess Luna stood firmly in the center of the lobby, as close as they could to the doors without being rained on, acting as the first defense within the most vulnerable section of the compound.

They were all ready… now it was up to the Renegades to play their part.

“SPREAD OUT!” Descent yelled as the rain surged down against his head, soaking his mane within seconds of emerging beneath the storm. The Renegades heeded his words, flashes of lightning illuminating the courtyard as their numbers expanded outward, creating a cloud of pegasi that floated like a shield in front of the Wonderbolt compound.

Starry Skies and Lightning Dust floated up beside Descent, Blazetail and Flashwind hovering just below them as droplets of rain began to run down their goggles. The thunder rumbled through the air as the Shadowbolts continued to pour out of the massive, expanding collection of pink energy.

Descent narrowed his eyes as the Shadowbolts slowly approached, clearly picking out ten figures who flew out in front of the rest. He suspected it was the ten commanders because as the invading force drew within a hundred meters of the compound, the ten in front began spawning clones that ducked back among the rest of the Shadowbolts to bolster their numbers.

“HOLD!” Descent yelled out to all the Renegades, just in case any of them were itching to leap into battle. Starry suddenly tapped Descent on the shoulder.

“Descent, look,” she pointed down. With the Shadowbolts now closing, still flying slowly, the ten in front started moving towards the ground. “What do you think? Are they challenging us again?” she pondered out loud as Descent looked towards them and grunted.

“Did they already forget what happened last time? Fine… I’ll bite,” Descent snorted before looking down towards Blazetail. “Gather up your best… our friends want to take us on separately again, it seems.”

“Hm?” Blazetail looked towards the ten commanders lowering themselves down towards the wrecked courtyard as the rest of the Shadowbolts remained flying in the air with hundreds of commander clones among them. “Looks like fun,” Blazetail smirked. “We’re right behind you,” Blazetail reassured Descent before he and Flashwind lowered themselves to gather their fellow retired elites.

“RENEGADES! STEADY!” Descent yelled out. “Starry, Dust, with me.”

Descent lowered towards the ground with Starry Skies and Lightning Dust in tow. The three stopped and hovered about twenty yards from the ground, staring towards the ten commanders as they came to a halt fifty yards away, hovering at the same height. Descent glared as he spotted the other five commanders that were absent during the first attack.

Void. A large, light blue stallion with a short, faded yellow mane. He was about the size of Descent. He had a very confident look on his face as if he felt nothing could stand in his way.

Ruin. A small, skinny, red stallion with a short, slick, tied back mane. He had a strange fur pattern, splotches of white fur among the red. Most of them were covered by his suit, but one was visible close to his nose and on one of his hooves. He had a VERY deranged smile on his face, one of his eyes twitching as he continuously snickered, occasionally letting a laugh go. The way he held himself in an unstable manner was similar to Twister.

Angel. An average sized, black stallion with an incredibly long silver mane that nearly hung down past his hooves. He looked very calm, and a little snide. He had a natural elegance about him that gave off an air of really not caring about anything but his personal appearance and gain.

Trance. A small, dark blue stallion with a teal mane that was style in a very strange way. A good portion of it was sticking straight up from the center of his head while the rest of it hung down on the sides. He moved with an odd swagger, as if he was paying attention to something else, rather than the incoming clash with the Renegades.

Finally, Sin. A large, muscular, white stallion with an incredibly messy black mane and matching beard. He was covered in black tattoos of strange symbols, most blocked by his suit, but one extended over the left side of his face. He was smiling and eagerly pounding his hooves together as he licked his lips. He looked thirsty to scrap, as if that’s all that mattered to him, disregarding any mission or objective they may have.

Devil, Shadow, Moon, and Witch were all among them as well with Blade standing in front of them all.

“The whole circus is here, huh?” Lightning Dust chuckled as she, Descent, and Starry stared down the ten Shadowbolts.

“Remember…” Descent spoke up. “They are not the Shadowbolts we once knew. Perhaps those being led by them can yet be saved… but these ten are completely at the mercy of the crystals. They will not look back…”

Starry and Dust looked over Descent and listened. He couldn’t completely mask the slight tone of regret, but everything he said was true.

“Do not hesitate to go for the kill if you can,” Descent added as Starry and Dust nodded.

“So it’s another party?” Blazetail’s voice came from above. Dust and Starry looked up as Blazetail, Flashwind, and the rest of the retired elite Wonderbolts floated down and joined them, giving them a two pony advantage. “Don’t mind if we invite ourselves!”

Descent glanced back at all of them. Bomber, Valkyrie, Comet, Cannon Ball, Steady Wing, Pixie, and Fairy were all ready to fight.

“Descent…” Starry spoke up again. “They’re readying up.”

Descent looked back towards the Shadowbolt commanders. One by one, they began moving their three crystals around them.

Blade’s crystals wrapped around his right hoof, his magic sword extending from it.

Devil’s crystals conjured up two large spheres that floated beside him

Shadow’s crystals hovered in front of her, glowing and heating the air before her.

Moon’s crystals and hooves began to spark, his telekinesis ready to work.

Void’s crystals bunched up around his chest, causing a pink glow that completely surrounded him.

Ruin’s crystals floated around his head, forming multiple balls of pink energy that danced around him erratically.

Angel’s crystals created a thin veil of energy around his hooves.

Witch’s crystals conjured multiple tiny lights around her, that would no doubt become the barrage of small blasts.

Trance’s crystals orbited him, forming balls of energy similar to Ruin’s, but they remained in steady orbit around him.

Sin’s crystals shined brightly as the energy collected in his hooves, sparking and popping violently.

“This is it…” Descent looked back at those down with him before looking up at all the Renegades high up above them who were facing down the rest of the Shadowbolts and the commander clones. “RENEGADES! CHARGE!!!!” Descent yelled out.

The cloud of Renegades above charged, causing the Shadowbolts and clones to do the same.

Down below, Descent was the first to launch forward, Blade doing the same from among the commanders, the heavy rain splashing against their faces as they charged through the downpour. Starry, Dust, and the retired elite Wonderbolts all gave chase behind Descent, the rest of the commanders following behind Blade.

Some ducked low, less than a yard off the ground while a few stayed level as the groups closed in.

Descent and Blade stared each other down as the two glided along the ground at high speed in tandem with the rest of their forces high above.

“RAAAAHHH!!!” Blade roared as he wound up his sword.

“HMM!” Descent grunted as he pulled back his hoof.

The edge of the sword clashed with Descent’s arm, an incredibly bright flash of lightning illuminating the entire battlefield and their attacks met. Descent kept his hoof in constant vibration to negate the sword from cutting into it.

As they came together, the two forces high overhead clashed in tandem with the heavy boom of thunder that followed the lightning. Renegade and Shadowbolt collided violently, ramming and smashing into each other. A few were instantly clipped and sent tumbling towards the ground. Multiple clones exploded into light as Renegades immediately struck them at their source on the forehead. It instantly became a mess, a bloody free for all, everypony for themselves.

Back down on the ground, Descent and Blade slammed their back hooves to the muddy courtyard before breaking their first lock and both taking swings at each other. Descent dodged two sword swipes and knocked one aside before pressing his own attack, but Blade used the flat edge of the sword to deflect them. Descent threw a blow with both hooves as Blade brought his sword back around. The collision of the attacks propelled them both backwards, their hooves dragging through the mud before coming to a halt and glaring at each other.

Valkyrie suddenly leapt over Descent towards Blade, taking a heavy swing at him. Blade pushed back, but the mud didn’t offer him stable enough footing to create distance. Valkyrie touched down, galloped forward and spun around to swing the back of her hoof into him, but Blade put his hooves together against the crystals and moved them outward, expanding the sword’s width to shield himself from the attack. Valkyrie’s arm slammed into the flat blade and two deadlocked for a moment until Blade pushed off, released his other hoof from the crystal and swiped it towards her. Valkyrie barely put up a guard in time, absorbing most of the counter, but was sent tumbling into the mud.

She quickly got to her hooves, but her eyes widened in surprise as Shadow emerged from the ground beside her, her energy wave fully charged. Valkyrie grunted and shielded herself, but right as Shadow fired her burning energy wave, Bomber slammed down to the ground in front of Valkyrie, tossing up mud everywhere from the impact.

Bomber grunted and threw his massive arms up in front of his face while the energy wave approached, throwing them both outward the moment it struck him. The energy wave split in two, searing along the ground in two directions around him. Valkyrie immediately leapt over Bomber towards Shadow as Bomber turned to intercept an attack from Blade as he leapt in from behind. Bomber locked with Blade while Pixie and Fairy shot by them.

The twin sisters frantically looked around for a moment before Pixie tapped Fairy on the shoulder and pointed up. They both turned and looked above them at Witch right as she launched her barrage of small magic bolts. Pixie and Fairy quickly floated side by side and began swatting aside the bolts. Working together, they were able to knock them all aside, however the tiny deflected blasts split away and began raining down on the rest of the battlefield.

Lightning Dust looked up as the heavy rain pelted against her goggles and yelped as the deflected magic from Witch started coming down. She turned and pumped her wings, gliding low to the ground as the small magic bolts began thundering to the ground, kicking up mud, grass, and bits of concrete alike as she tried to outfly them.

Her path took her directly into the fray as she touched down and used her momentum to slide right under Bomber’s legs as he readied to take on another energy wave from Shadow. Dust showcased her agility, leaping up to avoid the energy wave before touching back to the ground and breaking into a gallop. Valkyrie flew in from above her, making another run at Blade. Blade leapt backwards as she slammed to the ground. The force of Valkyrie’s attack tripped up Dust, forcing her to tuck and roll before getting right back up, Bomber thundering past her as she found her hooves again.

Bomber clashed with Blade, the juggernaut’s force pushing Blade’s back hooves through the mud, skidding along the ground with no chance for him to match the hulking pony’s strength. Blade pushed off and took to the air to get away from Bomber, but Lightning Dust hopped up off of Bomber’s shoulders and propelled herself right up above Blade.

“What’s up?” Dust jeered at him, tapping him on the head twice as she passed before slamming her back hoof over the top of his head and sending him roughly back to the ground. Blade slammed down and was instantly bombarded by the deflected energy bolts that were following Dust. He expanded his sword again to shield himself.

Dust flew back down towards the ground and formed up beside Steady Wing as he glided along at low altitude. Steady glanced at her for a moment, but quickly looked around as large, pink spheres of magic began rising up around them. The two tried to pick up speed, but the spheres were one step ahead of them. Steady quickly slammed down and pushed himself hard off the ground, propelling himself up and veering off right before the spheres exploded, but Lightning Dust got caught in the blasts and was blown aside by the shockwave.

Steady straightened his wings out and dipped back down, using his steady gliding to pick up a tremendous amount of speed as he zipped along the ground, finding his target nearby. He weaved and turned as the spheres continued to try and catch him, but he was too quick. Devil, was watching as his spheres failed to keep up with Steady, and shifted his target to three steps ahead, forcing multiple spheres to push up from the ground where he predicted Steady would be.

Steady flew right into the trap, but also saw it coming. He repeated his same maneuver as before, but purposely hesitating to use it to his advantage. The spheres exploded and he rode the shockwave, shooting towards Devil. Devil grunted in annoyance and put up his hooves as the two clashed and deadlocked, glaring at each other as they fought for the upper hoof. Two ponies shot directly overhead.

Blade and Descent were flying side by side, facing each other and throwing attack after attack. Blade had wizened up after their last encounter and was being a little more careful about his attack choices. It evened the battle just enough to the point where Descent couldn’t simply knock everything aside. Suddenly the two of them were forced out of their flight paths. They tumbled away from each other as if an unseen force was pulling them.

“DAMMIT, VOID!” Blade yelled as he and Descent stabilized themselves and flew against the force. Void was standing nearby, the crystals in front of his chest glowing brightly as it created a vacuum that pulled at anything nearby.

“Urgh!” Descent pumped his wings against the force, but remained stationary. Void kept up the force, seeming to not give a damn that he had Blade caught in it too.

“Descent!” Valkyrie’s voice came from in front of him. Descent looked back forward to see Valkyrie willingly flying into the vacuum effect while holding her hoof towards Descent. He didn’t give it a single thought, knowing exactly what to do. He reached out and hooked his hoof with Valkyrie’s, swinging her around and throwing her towards Void, doubling her already doubled speed due to the pulling effect from Void’s magic. Void only had time to blink before Valkyrie’s back hooves crashed directly into his face. She pushed his head down, keeping her hooves firmly pressed into his face as she dug a trench with his head through the mud. She looked up and was forced to disengage as Starry and Angel shot by, nearly colliding with her.

Starry Skies kept her eyes locked on Angel, flying steadily and veering towards him as Angel dipped down towards the tall outer walls of the courtyard. He sneered at her, reaching a hoof out and beckoning her to keep following him. She growled and gladly gave chase. The two closed in and turned sideways, gliding along the curved walls as if it were the ground beneath them. Angel’s long mane was whipping and flailing behind him, somehow unaffected by the downpour. Starry shifted and began swiping her right hoof out, trying to knock Angel off course, but he met each attempt smoothly, making no effort to attack, only deflecting each attempt.

Starry scowled at him, knowing that she couldn’t attack effectively in the scenario he put them in, so she took a chance and rammed her body towards him. He was forced to push off the wall and move skyward. Starry anticipated it and gave chase, blasting through the rain and rearing back her hooves back to strike. Angel was forced into a defensive position, each attack he blocked pushing him further into the air.

A bright flash of lightning caused Starry to wince and squint, breaking her focus and allowing Angel to escape further up. By the time Starry refocused on him, he was gathering the crystal energy in his hooves. Starry gasped, alarmed knowing how dangerous Angel’s magic attacks were and quickly put on the brakes.

Angel sneered, a loud boom of thunder sounding out as he swiped his hoof out across his body, creating a wide arc of magic that fired towards Starry.

“AH!” Starry yelped as she flipped her wings in opposite directions, causing her to twist and lean back just enough for the arc of magic to pass less than an inch from her body and nearly nicked her chin. The blade of magic turned as it hit the ground below, slicing right into the earth and cutting through it.

It shot along the ground right towards Blazetail and Sin, who were on the ground and grappling, trying to force their strength against the other. They both turned and looked as Angel’s flying magic blade cut through the ground towards them, and the two broke apart just before it caught them. The blade slowly dissipated after passing them, and the two skidded to a halt, spread apart, but ready to charge again.

“WHAT THE—?!” Blazetail flinched as intense pink sparks began to erupt from the ground below him and Sin. Before he could react, a huge chunk of the ground was torn and upheaved from the courtyard, rising up and causing Blazetail to stumble to the point where he couldn’t stabilize his wings to take flight. He looked up to see Moon above him, his hooves sparking with telekinetic force as he effortlessly caused large chunks of the ground to rip from the courtyard and float up into the air. The surface Blazetail stood on began to tip and he started sliding, but he threw his wings out to keep himself from falling.

“Aw c’mon! I wasn’t done!” Sin guffawed as he charged down the floating ground, seemingly unaffected by the shift in the angle of the ground with his hooves exploding with energy. Blazetail grunted and put up a guard as he met Sin’s attacks, each one of them pushing him further and further towards the edge of the floating chunk of mud and grass as it continued to tip.

“Ah!” Blazetail yelped as he lost his hoofing, tumbled, and began sliding through the mud. He grunted and swung his hooves around, jamming them into the soft, muddy surface to anchor himself right before he fell off the edge. His body whiplashed, but he held on, his back hooves dangling off the edge. He opened his wings, ready to take flight, but Sin was still galloping towards him, despite the ground being tipped completely sideways. He pulled back and delivered a heavy blow beneath Blazetail’s chin, uprooting his hooves from the mud and sending him tumbling towards the ground. He grunted and struggled to regain flight, but he didn’t have to try for long.

“Got you!” Flashwind yelled as she glided by and grabbed her husband’s arm.

“I’m getting too old for this,” Blazetail shook his head out and shifted his aching jaw back and forth.

“Which one?” Flashwind asked quickly. Blazetail refocused and glared back towards the floating chunks of earth through the droplets of water that streaked over his goggles.

“Moon!” he yelled out as he tucked his back hooves up to his body.

Flashwind pulled him towards her and put her back against his plot, giving it her signature gentle push. The movement launched Blazetail right back the way he fell, sending him careening towards Moon, who was forced to drop his telekinetic hold on the chunks to defend himself. Blazetail clashed with Moon as the chunks of earth plummeted back towards the ground, shooting upturned mud, rocks, and other small debris everywhere as they slammed to the ground.

“Hey! Hey! You’re fighting me!” Sin yelled out heartily as he shot towards Blazetail. Right before he rammed into him, Flashwind shot in from the side and delivered a heavy punch directly into Sin’s jaw, forcing a change in momentum and taking him away so her husband could focus on Moon.

“No, you’re fighting ME!” Flashwind declared as she continued to drive him through the rain. They collided with Cannon Ball and Ruin, who were locked in a rather one-sided conflict, forcing them to disperse.

Cannon Ball bounced off the ground and took right back to the air, looking in all directions as little balls of magical energy shot around him in erratic patterns, following him as he flew in wide arcs to try and avoid them.

“Over here!” Ruin’s voice came from behind him. Cannonball swiped his hooves out to deflect two energy balls before turning around, but Ruin wasn’t there. “NOPE! Over here!” Ruin cackled. Cannon Ball spun with his hooves out to knock away three more blasts and turned to the voice, but once again, nothing.

“Dammit!” he cursed as he swung his hooves around to knock back two more balls before he suddenly came to a very abrupt, very painful halt. “AUGH!” he yelled out in pain that came directly from his plot. He turned around to see Ruin holding his tail in his mouth.

“GOT YER TAIL!” Ruin said while rapidly bouncing his eyebrows, his voice muffled by Cannon’s tail.

“Whoaaaa!” Cannon flailed as Ruin began to whip him around in circles before letting go, launching Cannon uncontrollably through the air, out of control. He zipped right past Void, who was chuckling to himself as he floated about twenty yards in the air, his crystals glowing in front of him, creating the vacuum wave as he angled the force towards the ground. Lightning Dust was holding onto the edge of the broken fountain for dear life, her wings pinned to her back by the suction force. Void had her stuck. Even the rain falling around him was bending in its path due to the force. She needed help…

Comet was looking over towards her as he glided along the ground. He didn’t want to get to close in fear of getting pulled in himself, but he also spotted Cannon Ball flailing out of control as he shot through the air. He saw an opportunity, but a bright flash of lightning alerted him to somepony overhead. He looked up as the thunder rumbled through the air to see Trance floating above him, his small spheres of magic still orbiting around him. With a smirk and a single spin, every single energy ball launched from around him, forming up in a scattered pattern as they fell towards Comet.

“Urgh!” Comet grunted as he was forced to start making his irregular shifts, barely dodging as the energy balls slammed to the ground around him.

“DANCE! DANCE FOR ME!” Trance laughed as he continued to create organized bursts of magic and fired them towards the ground. Comet continued to shift and lurch, but it worked perfectly to his advantage, using one final momentum shift to swing himself forward and fire from his spot, shooting through the air past Trance with the white streak extending behind his mane.

“Cannon!” he yelled as he approached his flailing wingmate. “CURL UP!”

Without responding, Cannon heard and obey, curling himself up into a ball as Comet shot up beside him. Comet swung his back hoof around and slammed it against Cannon, firing him like a projectile towards Void.

Void blinked and looked up, releasing his vacuum hold on Dust as he turned and shielded himself. Cannon Ball slammed directly into Void’s arms, causing both of them to tumble right out of the air. Cannon turned around quickly and put his hooves on Void’s back to drive him downward, nearly running into Pixie and Fairy as they passed.

The twins were still keeping eyes out in all directions, unable to completely keep track of Witch’s movements as she always seemed to disappear from the spot she fired her barrage of tiny bolts. They yelped and stepped back as a few bolts whisked by between them. They turned and knocked them away before the attack started coming from another direction.

The twins were forced down towards the ground by the constant barrage, but the moment they landed, several large spheres of magic shot up from the ground around them. It was a trap set by Devil. The two shrieked and guarded themselves as the sphere’s exploded around them, but when the dust cleared, they were still up, and surrounded by Bomber, Valkyrie, and Descent, who had deflected most of the explosion away. Blazetail and Flashwind landed beside the small group as they all charged forward again.

The battle raged, seemingly endless as the elite warriors clashed below, and the rest of the forces battled above. A battle raging within a raging thunderstorm as the lightning continued to illuminate the courtyard and the thunder continued to shake the premise.

“Wow…” Fleetfoot watched out the window with awe as she and the rest of the Wonderbolts remained at the ready in case any Shadowbolts decided to turn towards the compound. “They’re… amazing…” she said as she turned towards Soarin, Spitfire, and Air Mach.

“I gotta admit…” Air Mach smirked and chuckled. “The Great Animak… is heavily impressed. Check out those moves! Talk about some serious skill!”

“Yeah…” Spitfire agreed as she watched. “They are…” she sighed. “They’re really good…”

Silver, who was standing near the entrance to the west hallway, was staring towards Spitfire as she spoke. He exhaled through his nose as he looked back out a window near him at the battle.

“And here is why… I hate the retirement policy…” he said quietly to himself.

“Sir?” Wave stepped up to him, having heard Silver speak. Silver only shook his head.

“Nothing,” he said quickly. “Just watch and learn,” he encouraged Wave as he glanced at Spitfire once more.

“Unbelievable…” Matteo commented in awe as he, Dash, Storm, Twister, and Star watched from a window in the east hallway.

Dash had seen Descent, Starry, and Lightning Dust fight before, but the retired Wonderbolts… they were AMAZING! And these pegasi were forced to retire? They were FAR from being outclassed by the younger Wonderbolts. While it was true they didn’t look quite as quick or nimble as some of the younger members, their combat experience and awareness were very clear. It didn’t matter if they’d lost a step, they more than made up for it by just understanding combat.

It was now no wonder to her at all why Silver was so against the retirement policy of the Wonderbolt code. None of the retired Wonderbolts out in the battle looked like they were down and out.

Dash turned and looked at Storm. He had not moved his gaze from Descent the entire time. His eyes were wide with a mix of worry and awe. Dash smiled as she examined Storm, she was sure that seeing the pure power, strength, and skill of his father was beyond inspiring, especially since he had never known about it all until now.

She looked around at the other Wonderbolts in the surrounding area. They were all pressed up to the metal bars covering the windows, all watching as their former fellow Wonderbolts and their former rivals turned allies showed off their fighting ability. But as she looked towards the lobby, she saw Soarin sitting perfectly still. The rest of the Wonderbolts in the lobby were walking around, conversing about the battle, but Soarin was like a statue, staring up out the broken hanger window. She didn’t want to leave her post, but she couldn’t help but worry that something was wrong.

“Something is amiss…” Luna suddenly spoke from beside Spitfire. Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and Air Mach looked towards her.

“What is it?” Spitfire quickly asked, not feeling too good about the worried look on Luna’s face. Luna pointed out the window, specifically towards the large collection of pink magic that the Shadowbolts had arrived through.

“It’s still growing,” Luna stated. “The magic… it’s been steadily increasing in size throughout the whole battle…”

“Uh… that can’t be good,” Fleetfoot bit her bottom lip. “That isn’t good, is it?” she looked towards Luna.

“We do not know…” Luna shook her head, but she kept her eyes locked on it as the battle raged on.

“Ah!” Soarin suddenly yelped from beside them all. Spitfire perked up and quickly turned to Soarin. He was looking pale again as he bent down and started breathing heavily.

“Soarin?” Spitfire blinked and stepped towards him. “What is it?”

“Soarin!” Dash’s voice caught Spitfire’s ears. She looked up and growled for a moment as Dash blatantly left her post, but refocused on Soarin as Dash came up on his other side. “What’s wrong?” Dash pressed, but Spitfire cut her off.

“Soarin, is it the same thing?” Spitfire asked quickly. Dash gave her a curious look but then flinched as yellow sparks began cracking and popping over Soarin’s body, a yellow aura appearing over his horn and began rising from his eyes.

“It… yes!” Soarin stuttered as he gritted his teeth.

“Ah!” Dash stepped back as she saw the yellow magic, but came to an abrupt halt when she saw Spitfire remain nearby regardless.

“What? What is it?” Spitfire asked.

“I… I don’t know! Something… terrible… I can’t…” Soarin groaned.

“Commander Soarin…” Luna stepped up beside Spitfire, but hesitated, again locking her eyes on the yellow aura. For some reason, the sight frightened her. She had seen it before when she and Discord helped him separate the magic, but the way it was acting now sent unexplained chills down her spine.

“I feel…” Soarin grunted as the yellow aura intensified, it shined brightly and then disappeared, just like it had before. Soarin looked up, an expression of completely dread on his face as his ears flopped down. “Something terrible is coming…” he said as he stepped towards the closest window. “THEY'RE IN DANGER!”

“What are they doing?” Starry asked curiously as she hovered beside Descent, the downpour of rain washing any loose mud from their now slightly battle damaged uniforms.

“I don’t know…” Descent answered honestly as the rest of their comrades hovered around them. The fighting had come to an abrupt halt. The commanders had retreated back towards the portal along with the rest of the Shadowbolts. The clones were disengaged from around the real Shadowbolts as well, all disappearing as they retreated, leaving the entire force of Renegades in confusion as their enemy pulled back.

“Did that big ball of magic get… bigger?” Lightning Dust pointed at the portal that the Shadowbolts initially came through. Descent looked over the portal carefully.

Dust was right… but… why? What was the purpose?

They got their answer…

And it wasn’t a pleasant one.

An ENORMOUS silhouette appeared within the collection of magical energy and slowly became more and more defined.

“What is it?” Valkyrie asked from behind Descent.

“What?! No…” Descent’s ears flopped down and his jaw dropped.

“HOLY SHIT, WHAT?!” Starry exclaimed.

“Uh… please tell me I’m seeing things!” Lightning Dust freaked out as all three of them slowly lowered to the ground.

“Oh… this isn’t good…” Blazetail gritted his teeth.

With a harsh flash of lightning and an ominously low roll of thunder… the large silhouette came through.

It was the Shadowbolts’ flying compound.

“It can’t be…” Descent shook his head. “The flying fortress was DESTROYED! Completely blown to pieces!” he exclaimed as if he was staring up at a ghost from his past.

“Looks like they glued it back together…” Starry pointed out, her hoof shaking as she pointed at it.

Indeed, the fortress looked heavily modified. It was still flying with its numerous massive propellers atop the long poles that rose up around it, but the deck and the building atop it itself were littered with gigantic pink crystals jutting out all around it. The crystals illuminated the area with the pink glow as the flying fortress slowly edged its way through the air, the Shadowbolts moving with it.

“WHAT… WHAT?! WHAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!” Dash freaked out as she pressed her face to the window, disregarding the fact that rain was coming through the broken hangar window nearby. Soarin ran up and joined her side, not believing what he was seeing.

The Shadowbolt fortress… the very same compound they were held in as prisoners… it was here? But they saw it break apart themselves! The explosion from Nightshade had torn it asunder! They even searched the wreckage afterward, the whole thing was unsalvageable!

“Descent! What do we do?” Lightning Dust asked as she turned to him. Descent squinted and growled shaking his head out.

“I have no idea what they plan to do with it, but I’ll be DAMNED if we give them the time!” he leapt up into the air. “FOLLOW ME!” he yelled as he and the rest rose up to rejoin the rest of the Renegades.

The Renegade force all looked towards him as he lifted up in between them and instantly began barking orders.

“NO FEAR AND NO HESITATION!” he yelled out. “TAKE IT DOWN!” he yelled as he charged. True to his orders, none of the Renegades hesitated, all following right behind him. The Shadowbolts did not react to their charge. They simply held their positions around the flying fortress.

As curious as Descent was about the Shadowbolts’ lack of reaction to their attack, he pressed forward, refusing to be intimidated by some patched up specter of his former home.

But then… as they drew near… something started happening all over the fortress.

Descent’s eyes widened as multiple shutters and doors all over the structure of the fortress began to open and contraptions that looked like cannons started shifting out and pointing forward. Each one of them had a very large pink crystal mounted within the barrel. There had to be at least forty of them mounted all over the building structure.

As the Renegades drew near... the crystals within them began to glow… brightly.

“EVASIVE MANEUVERS!” Descent yelled on instinct.

Massive blasts of magic began firing from the crystals within the barrels, confirming that that’s exactly what they were… cannons. The blasts they fired were twenty to thirty times larger than the eye beams that were fired by the clones.

Despite Descent’s warning… the Renegades could do little to avoid them.

Multiple screams and yelps of pain filled the air as the Renegades tried to evade the blasts, but the cannons fired repeatedly, causing a barrage of large, powerful magic blasts that engulfed several Renegades at a time, blowing them right out of the sky and towards the ground in trails of smoke.

“RGH!”” Descent growled as he charged forward, watching with his own eyes as Renegade after Renegade was repelled. All the retired Wonderbolt elites went down. Even Bomber and Valkyrie were forced out of the air by the incredible offensive power of the base. Descent watched as Starry and Lightning Dust were blown away right beside him and sent spiraling towards the earth. “I WILL NOT FALTER!” Descent roared as he and roughly only twenty additional Renegades managed to make it through the blasts and close to the base, but all twenty of them were stopped by Shadowbolts and forced back to the ground.

Descent came to an abrupt halt as Blade, Sin, Devil, Moon, and Ruin all dropped down in front of him. Descent turned around, but Shadow, Void, Angel, Witch, and Trance had flanked him. All ten Shadowbolt commanders had surrounded him.

“I do hope you enjoy a painful landing…” Blade jeered as all of them focused their crystals directly at him. Descent tucked his arms and legs in to shield himself, but it would do little to protect him. All ten of them fired a powerful burst of magic, crushing him in between the forces.

“ARGH!” Descent roared in pain as he was bludgeoned by the attacks, his uniform was torn to pieces, his goggles shattering and flying off his head, and his whole body whipped backwards towards the barrage of blasts from the fortress itself. It was only a moment before Descent was back in the cannon range, and was struck by a blast that sent him careening towards the ground.

“NO!” Luna yelled as she stepped towards the window and saw the Renegades drop out of the sky like rocks, landing painfully on the ground.

Yelps and cries of terror rang out around the lobby and throughout the compound as the entire building began to shake. The Shadowbolt compound had turned its cannons towards the Wonderbolt compound and was showering its magic blasts down upon it. Loud explosions erupted all over the compound, the ceiling was shaking, the lights flickering, the foundations buckling, reinforced window shattering with the metal bars being blown off of them. The base was sturdy, and holding together, but it was not built to withstand such punishment.

Dash clung to Soarin, screaming as the building continued to rock and groan. Wonderbolts were stumbling and falling into each other all around as the attacks rocked the very floor they stood on like an earthquake.

“I…” Luna yelled out while holding her ground and glaring at the hangar window as a blast struck it and exploded, completely shattering what was left of it and showering bits of glass down upon the scrambling Wonderbolts. “SHALL NOT…” she extended her large wings. “ALLOW IT!!!!!!!!!”

Luna rocketed upward and shot right out the hangar window, the downpour of rain immediately causing loud, hard patters against her armor as she cut through the storm and angled towards the fortress.

The enormous blasts of magic shot by her as she skillfully spun and weaved in between them, all the while beginning a slow, powerful build-up of her magic into her horn. She eventually placed herself within fifty yards of the flying structure and faced it, locking her eyes to the dead center of the platform.

Her horn was alight, pumped full of her divine alicorn power as she angled and aimed it directly at the large base below the main structure with the intention of taking out what she believed was the source of flight with all the propellers leading down into it.

“RRRAAAHHH!!!!” Luna released a war cry as she fired her magic, manifesting it into a single, highly concentrated blast that was twice the size of those firing from the base. Her neck flew back from the recoil as she released it before she back flipped and looked forward to watch it go. The light blue blast blazed through the air, knocking aside every single pink blast that collided with it. It looked like a direct hit for sure, with nothing standing in its way.

But then the crystals around the fortress began to glow brighter and right before Luna’s attack could land, a bright sphere of pink light encircled the entire structure.

Luna’s magic slammed against it, clearly having an enormous amount of force behind it as it made the whole fortress lurch backwards, but her attack was stuck against the shield.

Luna’s eyes widened…

As her magic turned around and was PROPELLED directly back at her.

“AH!” Luna only had time to put up a magic shield that was weak due to the short amount of time she had to focus. Her own magic collided with her shield, dissipating some of it, but ultimately going right through her defense and knocking her right out of the sky. “BLAST!” Luna grimaced and coughed, her armor thankfully still in one piece, doing its job in protecting her. She rounded herself upright and put her hooves beneath her just in time to slam roughly to the ground.

She shook her head out, panting as she looked directly up into the rain. A bolt of lightning shot down from the clouds behind the Shadowbolt fortress, illuminating the sky behind it as it tipped itself up to face the Wonderbolt compound again.

Luna was ready to try again, but then something else happened…

The cannons suddenly retracted, moving back beneath all the shutters and doors littered about the structure. At first it looked as though the attack had ceased, but that was far from what was happening. The massive crystals studded all over the fortress began to glow brighter and brighter as a large door on the platform of the fortress itself opened.

A massive cannon, several times larger than the cannons littered about the base slowly began to rise up from underneath the platform, turning and aiming at the Wonderbolt compound.

Luna gasped and her eyes widened, taking note of the she sheer size of the crystal fixated within the enormous cannon. If the smaller cannons were as powerful as they were… a single shot from this one…

Would surely destroy the Wonderbolt compound completely… killing everything inside in the process… and everything surrounding it.

Luna frantically looked around at all of the renegades strewn about on the ground, rolling and writhing in pain if they were still conscious. She stared back up at the fortress as the crystals shined so brightly that they were illuminating the whole area, the crystal within the cannon sparking and popping as a buildup of energy formed at the tip of the barrel.

“No…” Luna growled. “No!” Luna pushed herself up off the ground and fixed her eyes on the fortress with determination.

“I REFUSE TO LET IT HAPPEN! I REFUSE!” she shouted as she set her hooves firmly in the ground and began to concentrate with all her might.

A bright, blue glow surrounded her body as she conjured up any and ALL magic she could from her body. The glow around her grew brighter and brighter until she forced ALL of it towards her horn. She winced as the magic collected, pushing more magic into her head than she ever had in the past. The overload came with a splitting headache, but she would forge on.

The aura that surrounded her horn was so heavily concentrated with her magic that glimmers and sparkles of light began rising up from it.

“Ahhh…rrghh…” Luna grunted and cringed as the magic build up clawed at her nerves, shooting pins and needles of pain all over her head and down her body, but it was done, she had gathered it all. “I SHALL NOT ALLOW IT!” she yelled out.

The magic exploded upward from her horn, sparks and streams of light shooting from the base of her horn as the incredibly powerful stream of alicorn magic fired directly upward into the sky.

When it reached three stories above the Wonderbolt compound’s highest point, it collected and expanded, slowly covering everything in an enormous, spherical magic shield. The entire compound, the courtyard, and all of the fallen renegades, everything covered by Luna’s might, even locking the rain out from falling down upon the area.

The moment the shield locked in place…

The massive cannon upon the flying fortress platform fired…

A continuous blast, roughly fifty times the size of those fired by the smaller cannons rushed at Luna’s shield.

“AARGHH!!! AHHH!!!!” Luna cried out in pain as the beam struck against the shield, the entire surface of it buckling dangerously upon impact. The beam split and splintered as it rushed against the shield, the smaller chunks flying out of control and shooting all over the surrounding Canterlot district. Buildings collapsed and structures fell as the splintered beams rained down from the sky. The Wonderbolt flight track and all of their outdoor facilities got hammered by the wild, falling blasts. Canterlot Castle took some punishment, the royal guards surrounding it dispersing and crying out as the broken blasts shot by and exploded all around them.

“NO! NOOOO!!!” Luna wailed as her shield continued to buckle, turning from blue to purple. “UUH! AHH!!” she fell to the ground, but kept her magic flowing. She felt like her head was going to explode… she wouldn’t be able to hold it for much longer…

And the fortress showed no sign of letting up.

Within the compound… all hope had been lost. Everything happened so suddenly and so quickly. There was no opportunity for them to assess the situation, and no time for them to run. Even if they could run, only the pegasi would escape, leaving so many behind to die.

Dash and Soarin held onto each other, watching out the window in horror as Luna struggled to hold against the crystalline power showcased by the Shadowbolt Fortress.

All around them, the Wonderbolts were silent, not a word spoken as if they all realized all too quickly and suddenly… that they weren’t going to get out of this one alive.

Soarin looked up from Dash and glanced around.

Fire Streak was clutching Misty Fly as tightly as he could. Behind them, squad Foxtrot and Storm all stared with hopeless expressions out the window. In the west hallway, Silver simply stared. Soarin had never seen Silver look so defeated before. Blaze and High Winds were holding each other’s hooves tightly.

In the lobby, Air Mach had removed his sunglasses and simply watched with no strong words or anything ridiculous to say. Fleetfoot had dropped to the ground and was holding her hooves over her head, whimpering.

Soarin watched as Spitfire slowly slumped down, plopping to the floor on her plot as if she didn’t even have the strength to stand. She just stared with her jaw hanging open.

It had all happened so suddenly… way too fast… way faster than they could have done anything about it. They had finally learned everything and were ready to join the fight… only to be confronted by something they never imagined could have happened. Not even the Renegades or Luna seemed to be ready for it… so even if they had avoided the whole incident beforehoof… this seemed like it was inevitable.

Inevitable?

They were doomed to all die here?

Was this really how it was supposed to end?

Soarin blinked and shook his head out. He felt Dash shivering against him. His eyes locked on her as he held her in his arms.

Fate?

No…

SCREW fate…

He’d be DAMNED to die now… to let everything go to waste!

NEVER!

“Dash…” Soarin forced her to let go of him and she stared up at him, a look of pure terror in her eyes. “Stay here…” he said simply, before turning and stepping away from her.

“Soarin…?” she blinked, finding that she was unable to move. Her eyes widened as Soarin looked towards the hangar window. “SOARIN?!” she exclaimed as she realized what he was about to do. But she couldn’t move… she could only watch as Soarin seamlessly executed the motions of the Sonic Blastoff… and exploded from his spot, causing an epic shockwave and sonic boom as he fired out the hangar window. “SOOOOOOOOOARIN!!!!!”

“Give me everything!” Soarin gritted his teeth as he began concentrating and pouring every bit of magic he could muster into the horn. “EVERYTHING! DON’T LEAVE A SINGLE DROP!” he encouraged himself as his horn began to glow blue. The aura grew brighter and brighter, increasing in intensity as he felt the magic rush through his body and into his head. His eyes began to glow, the streams of magic seeping out from beneath his goggles. A ribbon of blue light streamed behind him as he pumped his wings, pushing him faster and faster towards Luna.

“GOTTA PROTECT THEM ALL!” he continued to encourage himself, remembering his lessons in the use of shield magic from the former captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard himself.

He was going to protect them… he knew he could, he was going to do it!

“LUNA!!!!” Soarin yelled as he slammed his hooves to the ground and skidded hard through the muddy surface of the courtyard, coming to a halt a yard from her and stepping up beside her. “STAND UP!” he yelled at her as he set his hooves firmly into the ground. The magic was swirling violently around his horn, his eyes glowing so brightly that his pupils had nearly disappeared.

“S…SOARIN?!” Luna exclaimed in surprise as she continued cringe in pain.

“WE CAN DO IT TOGETHER!!!!!” Soarin yelled to her as he tipped his head down and slammed his eyes shut.

He wanted to protect his home…

He wanted to protect the Wonderbolts…

He wanted to protect the Renegades…

Spitfire…

Fleetfoot…

Air Mach…

Silver…

Wave…

Blaze…

High Winds…

Fire…

Lightning…

Misty…

Surprise…

Storm…

Descent…

Starry…

Dust…

Absolutely everypony…

But Most of all… Rainbow Dash…

“RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” Soarin thrust his head upward, his magic ejecting violently from the horn and immediately encircling Luna’s stream of magic. His beam formed into hers, reinforcing it, tripling its strength as it widened considerably. Luna forced herself back up and poured every last bit of effort into maintaining the shield with the newfound strength added by Soarin’s magic. The shield hardened and returned to its original blue color, no longer buckling under the force of the incoming magical beam.

They roared out, forcing every bit of magic they had into the shield as it held strong, both with the desire to not allow any more death.

And it worked.

The cannon blast slowly began to die, becoming thinner and thinner against the shield until it completely stopped.

The flying fortress suddenly began to emit painful creaking and groaning noises, several of the propellers slowing down or stopping. The massive crystals all over the fortress structure began to flicker, looking as though they were completely drained of their power as the fortress itself began to lose altitude.

Descent grunted and groaned as a light drizzle of rain splashed down against his face. He looked up from the ground. His whole body ached as he stared up and saw an enormous magical shield slowly disappearing from over him. The rain now fell down upon them again, only it was no longer a storm, it was slowly dying.

“What…?” he blinked as he painfully shifted and watched as the Shadowbolts began… retreating through the portal? Despite the Renegades all being down and no doubt the Wonderbolts being completely vulnerable? However, he could also see the Shadowbolt fortress barely staying afloat. In fact, the commanders were generating an enormous amount of clones to push the fortress from below and help it move back into the portal.

The Shadowbolts were retreating…

They had won… but…

At what cost?

“SOARIN?! WHERE’S SOARIN!?!?!” Dash’s voice met Descent’s ears as he slowly forced himself up from the muddy ground and stood on all four, shaky hooves.

“DAD!” Storm’s voice caught Descent’s attention. He turned to see multiple Wonderbolts pouring out of the compound as the sun of all things came out from behind all the conjured clouds that were now dissipating. Descent watched as Storm approached, but looked back up just in time to see the flying fortress disappear and the large portal close, leaving no trace of the Shadowbolts. “Dad! Are you alright?!” Storm asked frantically as he stopped beside Descent.

“Urgh…” Descent’s legs buckled and he stumbled, but Storm caught him. “Augh… I’ve been better… but I’ll live,” he cringed in pain as his son supported him.

“Oh no…” Dash’s voice sounded out again nearby. Storm and Descent looked up towards Dash as she stood frozen about twenty yards away. Spitfire joined her side and looked equally speechless within seconds.

“Take me over there,” Descent requested. Storm immediately complied, helping Descent move. As they approached, Descent watched as several Renegades began rising up from the mud. He took note of Starry and Dust moving among them, as well as the retired Wonderbolt elites. He knew that a few heavy hits wouldn’t keep them down for long… but the rest of them. Descent growled to himself, knowing full well that it was highly possible a few Renegades were killed in the sudden powerful energy attacks from the fortress.

He still couldn’t believe it. His old home, the flying Shadowbolt compound… back from the dead and turned into a freakishly powerful weapon against them… a weapon the enemy had up their sleeve all this time, waiting for the right moment to pull it out. All the confidence they had, the numbers advantage, the skill and experience, the anti-magic tactics… it all meant nothing against a weapon that powerful, and…

Descent’s eyes widened when he and Storm reached Spitfire and Dash.

Luna was on the ground, conscious, but grunting and moaning in pain, barely able to move. Soarin… was right beside her, completely unconscious with sparks of yellow and blue magic bouncing around his body erratically.

Descent and Spitfire both looked up and stared at each other.

They now knew the true horror they faced… and knowing the quick turnaround time of the Shadowbolts… they had plenty of reason to assume that it wouldn’t be long before another confrontation. Only this time, they were minus one of the best Wonderbolts, several Renegades would need medical attention… and Princess Luna looked to be in no shape to help for a while.

Even the two proud, strong leaders were at a loss for words…

Because now there was only one question…

One that neither of them could answer…

Now what were they supposed to do?

---To Be Continued ---