MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind
Chapter 98: Nimbus Rising
There were no words that could describe what Spitfire and Silver were seeing with their own eyes.
The Wonderbolt compound…
Their home that was marked for destruction…
Tearing itself right out of the land they thought it was built upon and slowly rising skyward.
All this time and all these years… they had been oblivious to the true nature of the compound? The capabilities of their symbol of pride and power? The security of its walls, the very beds that they slept in… all within a massive flying vessel all this time?
Multiple propellers had sprouted from the top, including one much larger and higher than the rest. Propellers had appeared below as well, helping the compound rise up from its foundations. Three smoke stacks behind it spewed flames and large puffs of smoke.
They thought they had seen all of it, but as it continued to rise, large, wing-like apparatuses extended outward from the base platform. They looked to be on a rotating axis. Finally, a large structure ripped up through the grass of the backyard from the base of the middle smokestack, ripping through the grass the compound had brought up with it to reveal what looked like a massive tail fin.
What was this?! It was unlike anything Spitfire and Silver had ever seen!
Unbelievable…
But…
While it was rising, the thin theories of the former captains proving to be true, they were NOT out of the frying pan just yet!
Spitfire forced her eyes away from the awesome site, looking around frantically at all the Wonderbolts and Renegades who couldn’t tear their gaze away from the phenomenon of the compound. Her eyes moved from them, landing upon the Shadowbolt fortress.
The cannon was moments away from firing. While the compound was slowly moving upward, it was still within firing angle. Spitfire did multiple calculations in her head as she took in everything she saw.
The Shadowbolts had only just now started pulling back, many were pouring out of the compound as well, mostly startled by the sudden movement, some chased out, some looking as though they were aware of the cannon being fully charged. Assuming that whoever was in control of the fortress had any heart at all, they would wait for the Shadowbolts to be clear, or at least the commanders. As she studied the speed of the compound’s ascent and its apparent acceleration…
It looked like it would be clear of the attack angle before the cannon could fire!
Where the Wonderbolts and Renegades currently sat, they were also much closer to the compound than the Shadowbolts were to the fortress.
Spitfire made up her mind. It was a judgment call… one HELL of a steep judgment call. But she knew her Wonderbolts well and knew Descent’s Renegades were just as capable.
They could do this!
“EVERYPONY!!!” Spitfire yelled out, drawing all attention away from the steadily rising compound to her. “FALL BACK TO THE COMPOUND!” she yelled. As expected, everypony looked at her as if she was crazy, especially Descent.
“HAVE YOU GONE MAD?!” Descent yelled out from above. Spitfire glared up at him as he floated above her, pointing towards the compound.
“Use your damn eyes Descent!” she yelled while moving her hoof towards the fortress. “It’s going to clear the angle of attack!” she turned and looked around at the rest. “We can all gawk LATER! COME ON!”
Without another word, Spitfire took off towards the compound, wincing as she felt the massive wind pressure pushing from the compound propellers.
“What is she thinking?!” Descent shook his head, but then his eyes widened as all the Wonderbolts began taking off, following right behind Spitfire, forcing themselves through the heavy cross breezes as they forged back towards their rising home. The Renegades all looked towards Descent as he continued to shake his head. “Fools, ALL FOOLS!”
“Faith,” Silver spoke up from right below him. Descent blinked and looked down as Silver pushed his goggles back over his eyes.
“What?” Descent lifted an eyebrow.
“You heard me,” Silver snorted. “Spitfire is the lead captain for a reason, you know. We believe in her to make the right decisions and we trust her judgment,” he turned and painfully extended his wings. Descent scoffed.
“You say that after her breakdown earlier?” he growled. Silver looked over his shoulder.
“Yet you went along with her split plan to make this happen?” Silver pointed at the compound. Descent remained silent as Silver turned and followed behind his fellow Wonderbolts, clearly struggling as the strong gusts from the propellers battered him from left and right, but he flew on.
Descent watched as all the Wonderbolts fell back. He gritted his teeth, looking back and forth between the compound and the fortress, slowly realizing that, while once again incredibly slim, there was a chance of success.
“Grr…” Descent growled to himself. He felt like an idiot, but… there was something about the passion and drive of the Wonderbolts that seemed to be having an effect on him. He found himself believing in the unbelievable. Hell, watching the Wonderbolt compound sprout propellers and tear out of the ground had him believing anything was possible at the moment. So… he caved. “FALL BACK! TO THE COMPOUND. LET’S GO!” he yelled, the Renegades’ eyes widening further as they stared at their leader. “ARE YOU DEAF! MOVE IT, OR GET LEFT BEHIND!” Descent added as he pumped his wings, propelling himself after the Wonderbolts. The Renegades hesitated, but…
“What are y’all floating around like dumbasses for?!” Lightning Dust flew out in front and rotated her arm. “You heard him! COME ON!” she turned and followed.
There was doubt and uncertainty. But as with their leader, if there was anything that rang true in the minds of the Renegade Shadowbolts, it was that anything was possible after all they’d been through. As reckless as it felt, they remained loyal to their leader, following right behind him and Lightning Dust.
“RGH!” Silver grunted painfully as he forced through the pain in his body. It was already enough of a struggle flying against the rapid, powerful cross winds generated by the propellers of the compound, but the state of his body wasn’t making it any easier.
Forget catching up with the Wonderbolts, the Renegades were beginning to shoot by him.
“This is nothing!” he yelled as he forced through the pain.
Pain? Why was there so much pain anyway? He was on pain meds, he wasn’t supposed to feel it. Unless… there was so MUCH pain coursing through his worn out body that the painkillers weren’t even enough to completely hold it back.
His eyes widened as he felt a sudden sharp pang of agony shoot through his right wing…
It had been a very long time since he had engaged in action or combat scenarios, not to mention three days in a row. As his right wing seized up and he felt his flight stabilization collapse, he wondered just how broken his body really was.
The crosswinds were now in control of his path as he tilted sideways and began to tumble.
Of all the times for his body to give out…
Of all the times…
“COME ON! COME ON!” Spitfire forced herself to turn around and hover in place as she reached the edge of the newly uprooted platform. The heavy gusts from the propellers were strong, far stronger than any wind she had flown or held herself against, but she was capable, as were the rest of the Wonderbolts. “Let’s go! Everypony inside!” she pointed as she took careful note of every Wonderbolt passing by. She tallied them all off in her head as they passed, knowing exactly how many were out there, but before she could count the last few, she saw Descent, Lightning Dust, and the Renegades approach.
Before she saw Silver…
Spitfire’s eyes widened as she landed and galloped up to the edge, feeling more secure against the wind with her hooves grounded. She peered over the edge as the Renegades shot by, following behind the rest. It didn’t take her long to find her target because he was the only Wonderbolt left… and he was falling.
“SILVER!” Spitfire yelled as she instantly kicked off the edge and dove. She was struck and battered by the cross breezes again, but she quickly stabilized herself. Despite her dive, she felt like she was being slowed down by the constantly crossing gusts. Silver was in her line of sight, tumbling with what looked like a hurt right wing, and she wasn’t sure if at her current speed, that she would be able to catch him before he crashed. She wasn’t sure if it was smart to try using any acceleration methods either, because who knows what effect they would have with the blasting winds of the propellers around her. They might knock her out of the sky instead of helping her.
Her options took a turn for the worse. Not only did she feel she couldn’t reach Silver in time, even if he survived the fall and she retrieved him, could she fly back up to the compound before the Shadowbolt fortress fired? The compound was rising, making her flight back longer, and would she make it while also carrying Silver?
Such terrible, terrible decisions that she had to make on the fly.
It was her responsibility as the lead captain to do everything necessary to protect her fellow Wonderbolts, but if she couldn’t reach Silver in time…
It would be her duty to survive for the rest of them.
Spitfire gritted her teeth, cursing herself for having to make such an awful decision, but if… if she didn’t turn back now…
She slammed her eyes shut and readied to turn back around.
“I GOT HIM!” a voice called out from above.
Spitfire’s eyes shot open just in time to see Lightning Dust shoot by her at an incredible speed, her wings folded backwards at right angles as she kept her body perfectly straight. She was cutting right through the powerful winds in a way Spitfire had never seen anypony do before. It was almost like she was flying with no wind resistance at all!
Obviously the sight of Lightning Dust instinctively sent a bit of tense anger through Spitfire, but she did her best to force the thought aside for the time being as she saw Lightning Dust effortlessly shoot through the cross breezes, catch up to, and grab Silver. Spitfire’s dashed hopes of Silver’s survival rekindled and she stayed on course to meet the two as Dust put Silver’s arm over her shoulder and began forcing the old Wonderbolt back up.
Spitfire took a quick look at the Shadowbolt fortress before she reached them, glaring at Lightning Dust for a moment before placing Silver’s other arm around her shoulders.
Silver had his eyes slammed shut beneath his goggles, his teeth grinding together, and releasing painful hissing breaths between them with faint groans of pain. His right wing was completely limp, but twitching with intense muscle spasms.
“Come on!” Lightning Dust yelled as she began to pump her wings. “We can still make it!” she encouraged.
Spitfire didn’t say a word to her in response, but completely agreed. They could make it, and they would. Working together, they quickly built up vertical speed, working against the heavy downdraft from the propellers towards the platform.
Spitfire could see Descent and Air Mach looking over the edge, beckoning for them to hurry as they kept glancing at the flying fortress. The Shadowbolts didn’t look even fazed by the new development, the cannon still charged and about to fire as if the compound was still sitting right where it started. Perhaps they felt confident the explosion would engulf the compound despite its sudden rise.
Spitfire stole a glance at Silver’s face as he continued to grimace and wince in pain.
She suddenly couldn’t believe that she was about to turn and leave him behind. She almost felt ashamed that a Renegade ended up being their key to saving him, as if she should have been able to do it. She didn’t know what Lightning Dust’s strange flight method was to cut through heavy winds with ease, but it didn’t matter.
She almost left Silver behind. That thought alone tore at her.
But there was no sense dwelling on what didn’t happen. That was something Silver himself was famous for telling many of them over the years.
If anything, she was more miffed that she now more or less owed Lightning Dust for helping her save on of their most valued members.
That thought had her fuming.
“Come on! Come on!” Air Mach encouraged them as Dust and Spitfire managed to get Silver over the edge and onto the platform. They quickly handed him off to Descent and Air Mach before they all broke into a gallop towards the front doors of the lobby, where High Winds and several other Wonderbolts were flagging them down.
The intense pink glow from the Fortress cannon grew brighter.
“THEY’RE FIRING!” Descent yelled as they drew near the doors.
Spitfire looked back. They had risen to a point where they were level with the fortress, the cannon was still pointed down, but were they high enough to completely avoid the attack? Spitfire quickly turned her head around facing the doors as Descent and Air Mach got Silver through with Lightning Dust right behind them.
A deafening noise exploded from behind her. It sounded like a magical discharge mixed with an ear piercing thunderclap.
Spitfire didn’t look.
She just dove forward through the doors.
A blinding flash of pink light illuminated the area as the built up energy within the cannon discharged. Just as it had been the night before when Luna held her ground against it, an enormous, constant stream of pink magical energy shot from the cannon barrel and careened towards the Wonderbolt compound’s former foundations.
The beam looked even wider than the day before, an increase in power confirmed by how the Shadowbolt fortress itself was slightly pushed backwards by the recoil.
The fortress had not shifted to compensate for the Wonderbolt compound’s sudden rise from the ground, but the blast was so large that it was on course to still clip the bottom of it.
The Wonderbolt compound continued to slowly rise, even as certain doom was flying towards its general location…
Closer…
Closer…
Closer…
The blast reached the compound…
And struck the large propeller hanging off the bottom. The propeller was blown right off, the metal ripping and tearing away from the base of the compound. But even without the massive downward rotor, the rest of the propellers compensated and it continued to rise.
Yet despite the close call, the cannon blast struck the ground below the compound.
The explosion that followed was of catastrophic proportions.
The ground shook as an explosion of pink magical energy expanded outwards in all directions, sending dirt, dust, and debris up everywhere. The tremors caused by the shockwave were felt throughout Canterlot, or at least by those who were left in the city. Anypony and anything within a few miles of the city likely felt it as well as the echoing shockwave of the blast following the flash of light slammed against every surface, shattering every window, and crumbling any building with weakened or old frames.
Even Canterlot Castle felt the pressure of the blast, miraculously holding itself together as it sat right beside the enormous explosion. The royal guards all pressed to the ground and held onto their helmets as the shockwave ripped by, pushing them along until they were up against the walls. Every stained glass window shattering to pieces, giving way as its strong foundations held firm against the pressure.
The Shadowbolts watched, protected by the shield that surrounded the flying fortress. The gleam of the bright pink light reflected off the lenses of their goggles as they watched. They sneered as the explosion extended outward, completely engulfing the Wonderbolt compound despite its attempt to take flight.
They had won. The cannon ceased firing as dust soot and smoke shot up from the impact zone. The fortress began to teeter again, the crystals flickering as the power had been all but completely drained. The commanders began using their crystals to slowly conjure a portal to move the fortress. It had been so satisfying to simply walk up to the front door of their target and blow them to smithereens. Some of them were so amused they were nearly brought to laughter. Many of them looked back out towards the expanding cloud of dust that was left in the wake of the explosion.
They had destroyed the Wonderbolts, completely eradicated them…
Or…
At least they had thought…
All the Shadowbolts looked back towards the dust cloud in disbelief as the remnants of the crumbling and collapsing noises, post-explosion had faded… and were replaced by the sound of propellers?!
The Wonderbolt compound suddenly launched from the cloud of dust, shooting off towards the northern mountains, spinning uncontrollably as if it had been pushed roughly by the shockwave of the explosion, thrown completely out of control.
“AH!” Dash yelped as she and everypony were thrown to the ground. They slid around on the ground uncontrollably as the compound tipped, swayed, and turned.
Matteo reached out and grabbed Dash, Twister and Storm as they were tossed about, pulling them both into his body as they slammed against the metal fencing that separated the control area from the creaking and groaning machinery.
Lightning Streak hooked his hoof around a railing as he reached out and grabbed Misty Fly by the back hoof. She frantically looked around for Fire, spotting him as he came tumbling towards them. She reached out for his hoof… but only managed to scrape the edge of it before the compound harshly shifted again. Her eyes widened and she began to claw at the floor, trying to go after Fire as he violently rolled around, slamming painfully into surfaces and crying out in pain. She kicked at Lightning Streak, but he held onto her tight. As much as he wanted to help his brother, he knew that if he let go, she would be caught in the same predicament as him.
Rivet held onto the levers and valves for dear life, staring up at the boiler with wide eyes as the irregular motion and inertia was causing pipes to burst and the fire to pulse uncontrollably. The firebox door unlatched and swung open, striking him in the chest and forcing him to the floor. He latched his hooves to the open grate, holding on as tightly as he could despite how painfully hot the metal bars were from being exposed to the fire. He slammed his eyes shut, gritting his teeth as he struggled, but in the end, the pain was too much to bear. He let go…
But Fleetfoot and Starry Skies caught him, the two moving towards him to the best of their ability when they saw him struggling. They dropped to the ground with him, digging their hooves into the floor as hard as they could in attempt to keep themselves in place. They all yelped as Swift and Shine both tumbled into and over them. Swift was attempting to grab Shine, but his efforts had only thrown him into a tumbling state as well. Playbitz skidded by on his hooves and opened his large wings, catching both of them before pulling them in to protect them as they continued to roll around.
A few Shadowbolts who had failed to retreat were also being thrown about, crying out in anguish as they lost track of their crystals, a few of said crystals being thrown into the machinery and crushed upon contact with the massive gears.
“I’ve gotta—AH!” Rivet yelped as he tried to get up and move back towards the boiler, but the lurching and shaking forced him back down. Fleetfoot and Starry Skies could barely hold their ground. There was no way he would be able to move.
All three of them looked up a set of light blue hooves slammed down in front of them, followed by groans of pain. Calm Wind stood before them, bloodstains running down the sides of his Wonderbolt suit from the re-opened wound on his back. He grunted and gritted his teeth, using his strength to hold himself steady against the violent motions of the compound.
Before Fleetfoot or Rivet could voice their worry, he reached forwards and latched the firebox shut before turning around and pulling the three back towards the boiler. He grabbed Rivet out of their grip and held him towards the boiler controls.
“I’ll keep you steady!” Calm yelled painfully as Rivet quickly came to his senses and began fiddling with the many levers and valves, his eyes dancing about at all the indicators as they spun in circles uncontrollably.
“I can’t do this all alone! I need help sealing the valve leaks!” Rivet yelled. Calm put Rivet down before reaching back and pulling both Starry and Fleetfoot forward, holding one in each arm.
“HELP RIVET!” Calm yelled as he released them and fell flat on his face, painfully pushing himself up right after to make sure they all remained in place.
“There!” Rivet spotted his tool bags rolling past them. He dove over and caught them as Calm reached out to pull him back in. Fleetfoot was fretting over Calm and the fact that he was bleeding profusely, but Rivet shoved multiple rags into her hooves, doing the same to Starry. “Use these to block the—AH!” They were all thrown backwards, slamming into Calm. But the large pegasus held his ground and pushed them back up, grunting and hissing in pain as he forced himself to stay in place. “Use these to block the steam leaks! Tie it around as tight as you can!” Rivet managed to say this time as he turned and began turning valves to fight the pressure, tossing any blocks of wood that were still nearby into the fire.
Starry Skies and Fleetfoot did as they were told, doing their best to block the leaks as Calm held his hooves to their backs, preventing them from being affected by the shaking and lurching.
Dash peered out from over Matteo’s arm as he held onto her, Twister and Storm, using his free talons to grip a railing and keep them in one spot. She watched as Rivet, Fleetfoot, and Starry fought to keep the boiler running. She cringed at the sharp screeching, creaking, and groaning noises coming from every piece of machinery around them.
Her ears perked up as she felt… a draft? They were inside, how could there be wind? She forced herself up in Matteo’s grip, turned her head to look past the boiler, and her eyes widened.
There was a hole in the wall at the far end of the engine room. It definitely wasn’t there a few moments ago, probably caused by whatever sent them into such a shaking state. She could only just see it over all the machinery and up the walkway opposite of the one they came down, but…
She could see outside. She could see Canterlot passing by below them!
They were airborne and moving! Well… more like spinning.
But it worked! It really had worked! They were airborne!
Now they just had to not die in a fiery boiler explosion. Hopefully Rivet was on his way to preventing that.
As the compound hurled away from the explosion and continued to spin out of control, multiple Shadowbolts were poised to pursue, but…
“YOU IDIOTS! STOP!” Blade yelled as he, the rest of the commanders, and multiple other Shadowbolts were straining themselves to help the fortress stay afloat in its weakened-post firing state. “You eight right there!” He pointed to a small group as the rest of the force moved in to assist with fortress. “Grab two Falcons and pursue! Shoot them right out of the sky!” he ordered. The eight Shadowbolts glanced between each other briefly. “NOW!” Blade added, startling them all before they frantically took off upwards towards the fortress itself.
As the Shadowbolts hoisted their fortress up and waited for their portal to grow in size, two giant hatches below the fortress platform unlatched and slowly slid open. Bright pink lights began to shine from within accompanied by the sound of small propellers beginning to turn.
“Everypony hold onto something!” Spitfire yelled out as ponies were thrown all about the lobby, some coming dangerously close to the new hole punched in the floor by whatever had risen from the center of room. Spitfire and Silver were shoved against a wall, Spitfire purposely trying to keep him from moving due to his current inability to hold himself steady.
Descent was reaching out, grabbing every pony he could and sliding them along the floor towards the walls, trying to get as many as possible to a position where they could stabilize themselves. However, he was only one of a few who was able to hold themselves against the motion of the violent spinning and lurching.
Bomber and Valkyrie each had multiple ponies hanging onto them as they gripped the edges of the walls leading into the east hallway. The rest of the retired Wonderbolts did their best to get as many ponies into the halls as possible, which were much safer than the punctured lobby.
“RGH!” Squall grunted as he was thrown to the ground. He reached out and held on to the edge of the mail counter, holding on with the will to survive alone. He was incredibly dizzy from all the spinning, which didn’t help the fact that he was already dizzy from the pain in both his face and now in his back from shielding Little Star from the Shadowbolt attacks.
The compound suddenly lurched hard, tipping the other direction and forcing many ponies to the floor.
“AH!” a scream caused Squall’s eyes to widen. He turned his head to see Little Star thrown over the top of the mail counter. She landed roughly on her back and began to roll towards the opening in the lobby floor. Squall gasped, his face wrought with pure terror.
“NO!” Squall yelled as he willingly let go of the mail counter, kicking his back legs against it to slide across the floor towards her. Star hit an upturned floor tile and bounced into the air, tumbling uncontrollably up and right over the gaping hole. Squall turned his body, spread his wings, and slammed his hooves to the ground while giving a hard flap of his wings. The force pushed him up and carried him over the hole in the floor. He collided with Little Star, catching her in his hooves and pulling her into his body tightly as the two flew over the hole, landing on the other side. The two tumbled along the floor and slammed into the wall on the other side of the lobby, Squall’s back taking the full force as he grunted in pain.
Star had her little wings covering her eyes, wailing and shivering as Squall held her tight, doing whatever he could to keep her from harm as everypony continued to be thrown about.
But after that one giant lurch that had thrown them all around, the compound began to… stabilize?
“What the…?” Spitfire looked around as she slowly rose up to her hooves. The compound was spinning, but the last major shift was in the opposite direction. She carefully moved towards the front doors, keeping her hooves grounded against the motion of the compound, and peered out. Their spinning motion had completely stopped.
As she looked out the glass doors, she could see that they were way past the outskirts of Canterlot, but they were heading directly for the northern mountain range!
“This isn’t good!” Descent yelled as he stepped up beside her. Spitfire looked back to see him as well as the rest of the ponies, both injured and healthy alike began to look up and around in confusion. They weren’t dead, but they had no idea what was going on. And if nothing else happened quickly… they were going to crash right into the mountains!
Spitfire looked down at the floor, her mind racing on what to do, they had gotten the compound up, and it was definitely moving. But since the plan was so farfetched, none of them had considered what to do if it had actually worked!
“We’re going to crash!” Descent yelled out as the first mountain grew closer and closer.
Suddenly, loud grinding sounds like those of rusted metal echoed from their left and right, and behind them. The compound began to tip gently to the right.
“HOLD ON!” Spitfire yelled out as she and Descent both dropped to the floor. The ponies all yelped and screamed as the whole compound shifted, but Spitfire kept her eyes looking out the glass doors. The compound not only tipped, but it turned, just barely avoiding the mountain.
“Is somepony… STEERING this thing?!” Descent yelled out as he too looked up and witnessed them narrowly avoid the mountain collision. They held on tight as the compound tipped back in the other direction, turning the other direction to avoid colliding with another mountain. They were flying low… and navigating through the mountain range. All the ponies who were up and able to stand were pressed against the windows watching as the compound continued to pitch left and right, turning and making small changes in altitude. Everypony yelped and winced as many near collisions were averted.
“Apparently somepony is!” Spitfire agreed as she and Descent continued to watch their flight path skillfully move through the packed mountains, moving further north and entering the snowy region of the range. “And whoever they are, they better keep this up, because I have NO IDEA what to do next!” she yelled as everypony yelped, the compound shaking as the compound grazed the edge of a mountain, but quickly stabilized.
Rivet leaned back from the boiler controls as he looked around him. He touched his hooves to the ground as he felt only slight motion moving forward as opposed to random, erratic shifts.
“Did we even it out?” Starry Skies asked as she landed beside Rivet.
“Somepony did something,” Rivet explained as he gave off a momentary sigh of relief. “All we can do from down here is make sure it all runs. I’m gonna assume whatever we activate worked, because we’re not dead.”
“We’re moving alright!” Dash called from off to the side as she, Twister, and Storm pulled themselves away from a very tired Matteo. “Look!” Dash pointed up past the machinery. Rivet and Starry looked up to where Dash motioned and saw the gaping hole in the wall.
Mountains, moving mountains… and judging by how it was navigating through said mountains, it was safe to assume something up above had taken control. The steady, smooth tipping back and forth as the compound moved indicated that.
“Aieee…” Starry sat down on the metal floor and exhaled. “This has been the weirdest day of my life… and believe me that’s saying something,” she whined as Dash walked around and finally got a look at all the loud creaking machinery without being thrown around.
Her eyes landed on Calm first as Fleetfoot tried to help him move. The sight of the large pegasus made Dash cringe, the way his suit was drenched in his own blood from beneath his suit. He was going to need medical attention and a lot of it. Her eyes shifted to see Misty Fly galloping past Rivet with Lightning Streak cantering behind her. Dash’s curiosity and worry over the look of dread on Misty’s face encouraged her to move and peek around to see what they were looking for.
It didn’t take long for her to see. She gasped.
Misty had flung herself to the floor, landing down by a very battered and beaten Fire Streak, who lay with his back turned. Misty had grabbed his shoulders and was looking him over frantically, shaking him lightly in hopes of getting a response.
As Lightning approached them, they both let out a heavy sigh of relief. Fire was cringing and groaning, showing signs of not being dead. They worked together, helping Fire turn over to reveal large portions of his suit around his chest and neck had been shredded by sharp surfaces, exposing a few nasty cuts with several bruises to go along with them. He had by far felt the worst of the sudden movements in the compound. Misty carefully lunged her body into his, hugging him as tightly as she could without aggravating any of his wounds.
“HEY!” A voice boomed out from nearby, specifically up one of the long walkways. Dash and Lightning Streak both looked away and up the path to see Macho Savage with two Shadowbolts in headlocks beneath his arms. “A little help here, brothers! Got a few stragglers trying to quit the ring, OH YEAH!” he yelled out as he smacked the heads of the Shadowbolts together and knocked them both out. Point Dex and Lead Runner appeared behind him, both grappling with a Shadowbolt as well.
Lighting Streak was already galloping towards them, before Dash could give chase. With Lightning Streak’s help they would be able to handle the few over there. What had caught Dash’s attention were the three Shadowbolts nearby them who were curled up on the ground and crying.
Dash saw Storm moving towards them and quickly got up to follow, but before they could get close…
“Don’t even bother,” Starry spoke up, catching their attention. “Nothing you can do will help them.”
“That’s a very cold thing to say,” Storm grunted as he furrowed his brow at her. Starry shrugged and rolled her eyes.”
“Fine, kid… go ahead and try, it won’t work,” she said in annoyance. Dash stayed where she was, but Storm adamantly stepped over to the first of the ‘broken’ Shadowbolts and reached out to touch him.
“NO! NOOOOOO!” The Shadowbolt shook and frantically pulled himself away from Storm, slamming his body into the nearby metal fence divider and curled up again.
“See?” Starry said while giving Storm an ‘I told you so’ look. Storm frowned as he turned and took in Starry’s ‘triumphant’ expression. Dash couldn’t take her eyes off of the Shadowbolts on the ground. Twice now she had seen the immediate withdrawal effects of the crystals and it was terrifying to see a pony break so easily, as if they never had strength at all… only frailty masked by false power.
Her attention was drawn away as Rivet yelped, a cloud of steam from a loose valve blowling loose directly above him. He quickly turned the knob and shut it off.
“Sheesh!” he grunted as he shook his mane out and continued to work the controls.
“Are you sure you know how to work this thing?” Starry commented as she furrowed her brow. Rivet didn’t even look at her, concentrating on the boiler as he replied.
“It’s not a matter of ‘if I know how it works’ anymore…” he stated as he shifted, pulled a lever, loosened some valves, and opened the firebox to throw more wood in. “It’s—” Dash, Starry, Rivet, and the rest all cringed as a painful rusty creaking noise came from one of the nearby pieces of machinery. A couple of ugly sounding clanks and clatters later, it continued to operate normally. “It now depends on if this old machinery can keep working. The stuff I fixed will be fine, but all the stuff down here?” he shook his head, shifting to look past the boiler, up and out the hole in the wall at the edge of the engine room. “We better find a place and the means to land soon… because I don’t know how much strain some this old equipment can take,” Rivet pushed his goggles down and wiped his brow before replacing them back over his eyes. “As long as we have no more trouble it should be fi—”
The compound suddenly lurched violently again. All the ponies yelped as they were thrown off their hooves and to the floor. It wasn’t as harsh as the previous sudden movements, but there was no way the compound had made such a drastic shift on its own.
Dash frantically got to her hooves and looked up out the opening, wondering if they ran into a mountain, but the same lurch came again, the floor tipping forward as if something was striking the compound from behind? And it didn’t stop there. It happened again, then again, then again. It definitely wasn’t a collision.
Rivet got to his hooves, tripping over himself as the floor began to shake but quickly continued to monitor the boiler as the propellers compensated for the new movement. It was putting extra strain on the mechanical parts of the engines, especially the older ones close by that started to creak and groan.
“Me and my BIG mouth!” Rivet growled.
Spitfire yelped as she barely managed to keep her hooves, the sudden vibrations startling her and all those around her right after they believed they were in the clear.
“What’s going on?!” she yelled frantically as she looked outside. They were clearly not hitting any mountains and their mystery pilot was still managing to navigate even with the sudden disturbances.
“Are we being attacked?!” Air Mach stepped up and pressed his face and goggles to the glass doors. “Those bastards have a lot of nerve! I oughtta go out there and…”
“Don’t be an idiot!” Spitfire reached forward and pulled him away from the doors before he could force them open.
Spitfire let go of him mid-pull, causing him to crash to the floor. Why? Because something moved into her field of view outside before she could fully pull him back.
Two large… things… flew past the compound. They were both dark grey, just like the Shadowbolt fortress, but they were much smaller. Both were triangular in shape, about twenty yards wide at the back tips of it and twenty yards long from back to front tip. There were bright glowing crystals fixed on the back of them, which looked to be acting as propulsion as they were kept afloat by two propellers, located on the back tips.
“WHAT. THE. HELL. ARE. THOSE?!” Spitfire pointed as she turned at looked at Descent. Descent ripped his eyes away from the two contraptions outside as he glared and growled at Spitfire.
“After my reaction to the flying fortress, do you honestly believe I’d know?!” he yelled as they both looked back outside. The two small aircrafts crossed and arced around, heading back towards them.
They could see the front of them now, they had a large glass windshield on the front, revealing a Shadowbolt at the controls with one or more moving behind them. Mounted on the front beside the windshield were two smaller versions of the normal cannons sported by the Shadowbolt fortress. The crystals at the back of the cannons began to glow as they approached.
“GET DOWN!” Spitfire yelled as she, Air Mach, and Descent leapt away from the doors.
The two crafts aimed directly at the lobby doors and began firing their cannons, peppering the remainder of the courtyard all the way up to the lobby doors themselves with large blasts of the pink magic. The compound teetered and swayed as it was assaulted, the crafts pulling up and raining magic down upon the rest of the building as well as they pitched away to avoid the propellers.
They flew past and made another U-turn to continue their assault on the defenseless compound as it struggled to navigate through the snowy mountains under pressure.
Down below, Rivet fought with the boiler with every bit of effort he could muster. Point Dex and Lead Runner had left the Shadowbolt stragglers to Macho Savage and Lightning Streak, joining Rivet as he shouted orders at them.
“KEEP THE VALVES STABLE! DON’T LET THE SECONDARY BOILERS OVERHEAT!” Rivet yelled to them as the compound began to shake and jostle again.
Dash and Storm were thrown back and forth against the walkway railings as they both tried to move towards the opening in the engine room wall. Their hooves slipped and slid as the base continued to shake. They constantly ran into each other, but were quick to help the other stay up as they both wanted to figure out what the hell was happening.
They reached the top of the walkway and stopped beside one of the fixed engines as the gears thundered and screeched in effort to keep the propellers turning. They didn’t dare get close to the gaping hole in the wall in fear of falling out. With how much the compound was being pushed back and forth it wasn’t a risk they were willing to take but…
“WHAT THE—?!” Storm reacted suddenly. Dash glanced at him before following his eyes.
“Uh…” Dash blinked as her eyes widened, spotting the two flying contraptions that were assaulting the compound. She slowly shook her head. “I’ve seen more messed up stuff in the past couple of days that I have my whole life… and I know some weird ponies…” Dash really didn’t know how to react. Just what was the extent of the Shadowbolts and their endless bag of unbelievable tricks? Magical cannons were one thing, but small flying ships as well?!
“AH!” Storm quickly dropped to the floor and pulled Dash down with them as the ships turned and fired on the compound. They braced themselves as the compound shook and rumbled.
“Well that explains the shaking!” Dash yelled as she pushed herself back up.
They’re attention was drawn away as a painful crackling noise of metal straining came from below. They both turned and looked back down the pathway to the boiler, spotting multiple sparks flying from the old, rusty machinery down below.
“RIVET!” Fleetfoot yelled as she pointed to the old grinding contraptions.
“I KNOW!” Rivet yelled back as he looked over his shoulder. “I DON’T KNOW HOW MUCH MORE THIS OLD MACHINERY CAN TAKE!” all the ponies below winced and shielded themselves as one of the nearby engines screeched and a few pieces snapped, flinging metallic pieces away from it with loud clattering noises. “It’s starting to break apart-AUGH!” he yelped as steam valves began to burst around him, one of the valve handles shooting right off and bouncing off Rivet’s arms as the steam rushed from it. He barely ducked in time before taking the super-heated steam to the face.
“AIE!” Dash shrieked as the compound lurched heavily, causing both her and Storm to trip and fall over each other. The two tumbled down the walkway, grunting and yelping all the way to the bottom until they sprawled out on the floor beside one of the old engines.
“Yikes!” Storm quickly covered Dash with his wing to shield her from sparks that showered down over them. Dash looked up, grabbed Storm, and forced her other hoof down, shifting them across the floor as a large gear snapped right off of the engine and landed with a loud clang where they once lay.
“This isn’t good… this isn’t good!” Rivet yelled out as he fought the valves, cringing as the heat of the nearby steam blasts caused him to sweat. The pressure was increasing with how much the engines had to compensate, the old mechanisms continued to groan and creak as more and more pieces began to break off. “WE CAN’T HOLD OUT MUCH LONGER!” he yelled as the boiler itself began to groan under the pressure.
Outside, the two crafts turned about and followed behind the teetering compound. They gave chase and this time aimed their cannons for the propellers, as if the previous attacks were meant to just toy with the Wonderbolts.
The small ships angled upward, getting some altitude before tipping down and firing their cannons down upon the compound from above. Pink explosions erupted all over the roof, slowly zeroing in on the propellers on the right side. Painful grinding and snapping noises echoed out as two propellers on the right snapped off and hurled away from the compound driving into a snowy mountainside. A third was blown off near the front, whipping backwards and colliding with the massive pillar that held the large central propeller.
Smoke trails began spewing behind the compound as it heavily tipped to the right, its uplift now uneven. Yet even as the Shadowbolt aircrafts passed, the compound tail fin shifted heavily to the left, the wings tipping up and down to slowly move back upright. It continued to navigate around the mountains, compensating for the loss of the propellers by keeping the rudder locked to the left.
But no matter how many clutch maneuvers the unknown pilot of the compound made, it was only a matter of time before they were brought down by the attacks.
“HEY! WE’VE GOTTA DO SOMETHING!” Air Mach yelled to Spitfire and Descent as the ponies within the lobby and around the compound continued to scream and yelp in horror. Nopony had control of anything, their faith being placed completely in Rivet and whoever was steering. What else could they do? They had bet on a farfetched long shot and woke up a beast that none of them knew how to operate. They were trapped in motion, at the mercy of the Shadowbolts and their continuous string of strange, frightening technology.
“Colt, if you’ve got any ideas, I’d like to hear them!” Descent yelled.
Air Mach growled and got directly in Descent’s face and butted heads with him.
“HOW DARE YOU REFER TO ME AS A COLT!” he shouted at the top of his lungs. “I AM A STALLION! AND A STALLION DOESN’T LIE DOWN AND WAIT TO DIE! HE ACTS!” Descent shoved Air Mach off and pointed towards the doors.
“If you’re so willing to go out there and attack those flying contraptions then be my guest! By now you’d think you’d considered that they’re probably shielded just like the fortress!” Descent snapped back at him.
“He’s right, Air Mach!” Spitfire pushed her hoof over Air Mach’s head to force him down and away from Descent. “Attacking what we know nothing about is asking to get killed!”
“So we’re just going to sit here and be—” he was cut off as the compound shook again. An explosion from above was followed by the compound slowly tipping to the right again. They all yelped in surprise as a massive propeller blade fell down in front of the doors and jammed into the courtyard platform. “Either we try or we die! Isn’t that how we got this far to begin with?!” Air Mach continued while shaking Spitfire’s arm off.
“The idiot’s got a point!” Silver’s voice suddenly caught their attention. Descent, Air Mach, and Spitfire turned towards Silver as he hobbled towards them. His left wing was folded, but his right was still extended. He kept whipping his right wing as if trying to get it to unlock. “I have an idea!”
“Oh no you don’t!” Spitfire shifted to Silver and placed a hoof on his chest. “You are NOT going anywhere with that bad wing!”
“Even if they’re shielded,” Silver kept talking regardless of Spitfire’s concern. “I doubt those things will stay afloat if we bring an avalanche down on them!”
“Silver are you listening to me to me?!” Spitfire growled. Silver looked at her briefly.
“No!” he yelled in her face before turning to Descent and Air Mach. He pulled his right wing in, and with a final effort, thrust it outward as hard as he could. A loud CRACK came from his joints and he cringed, extending his neck outward in pain. “WHOOOOOAAAAAHOHOHOWWWW!” he yelled out, but after moving his right wing about, it seemed like he had control over it again. He folded it up at his side and stared sharply at Air Mach and Descent. “They just made a pass and we’re moving around one of the largest snowcapped mountains in this range as we speak! If we can cause an avalanche, we could get them caught under the pressure of the falling snow!”
“SILVER!!!!” Spitfire tried yelling, but he continued to ignore her.
“BOMBER! VAL!” Silver turned and yelled towards his two former wingmates. Bomber and Valkyrie both turned and moved towards him quickly. “With me! Are you two coming?!” he asked as he turned to Descent and Air Mach.
“You’re crazy… but I’ll be damned if this day hasn’t already been crazy enough!” Descent grunted, admitting to himself that Silver had an effective idea, one that he was impressed he came up with so quickly under pressure.
“You know I’m ready!” Air Mach yelled, spreading his wings and waiting for the rest.
“NO!” Spitfire placed herself in front of them and forced her wings out to bar their path towards the door. “I’m not letting you take such a stupid risk! You’re staying right here! That is an ORDER!” Spitfire yelled.
“Captain…” Silver growled. “After all we’ve just gone through here, NOW you’re worried about risk taking?” Silver pointed out.
Spitfire’s eyes widened. Silver had a point, she took a massive risk just to get to where they were… why was she being so stiff about it now? Actually, she knew exactly why. The circumstances had shifted from a situation where they had some control to a situation where they had no control, Spitfire’s bane. She switched from believing in them, to worrying endlessly about letting anypony get in the way of danger.
“Wake up, Spitfire!” Silver yelled into her face. “This is no time to play things safe! Either we take chances, or we all die! We’re heading out there!” his expression softened for a moment and he placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Let us handle this. Everypony in here is frightened. Stay with them, the sight of their captain gives them hope,” he said as Spitfire remained still, blinking at his words as Silver turned and nodded to the other four.
Spitfire unfroze as the five galloped past her and towards the doors.
“WAIT! STOP!” she tried to stop them, but Blazetail and Flashwind rushed forward, grabbing ahold of her and pulling her back. They understood Spitfire’s concern, and as the lead captain it was her JOB to be concerned, but she was still young. She had never been in such a situation before, and she would have to learn how to send her faithful wingmates into danger. “SILVER!!!!!!!!”
Silver grunted, his body still incredibly stiff as he took off into the pressure of the propeller drafts. Descent, Air Mach, Valkyrie, and Bomber all following right behind him as they flew right over the edge of the compound platform and dipped down to remain out of sight of the two flying ships.
Valkyrie pulled up beside Silver as he continued to grimace.
“You okay?” she asked in a flat tone. Silver lifted an eyebrow and turned his head to her, staring as if Tartarus had just frozen over.
“Are you going soft on me, Val?” he asked with a snort. She glared at him.
“I could make the pain worse if that’s what you really want,” she hissed back.
“Heh heh heh…” Bomber chuckled behind them.
“That’s what I like to hear,” Silver chuckled as he smirked at Val. “I’ve had worse, I’ll be fine. Let’s do this!” he encouraged them all as they glided along the snowy mountainsides. “Air Mach! Descent!” he yelled back to them. "I need you two to get their attention and draw them towards the mountains as close as you can. Keep one eye up though, I don’t want to explain to the rest how I buried you two in the snow!”
“YES SIR!” Air Mach broke off immediately and fired towards the ships as if he was eager to take them on despite their capabilities. Descent chuckled as he turned to follow.
“Idiocy can be refreshing when it comes with grit,” he said to himself as he followed behind Air Mach.
“Bomber! Val!” Silver yelled out. “Formation attack pattern! Delta Sky Sweep! Target: high altitude snow caps, nine o’clock! Let’s move!”
It had been a long time since Silver had called out battle formations… this was one that wasn’t even used anymore, but he knew the moment he called it out, Valkyrie and Bomber would close in behind him. They did quickly, bringing a smile to his face as waves of nostalgia hit him like a brick wall. Flying in formation with his old wingmates made him feel like he was back in the last Griffon-Drake war.
“Hold steady! Wait for the others to get their attention!” Silver yelled out, grimacing at the continued pain throughout his body as the three made a wide turn towards the targeted mountain.
Air Mach sneered as he shifted up below one of the aircrafts. He got as close as he could, a magic shield appearing and preventing him from touching it about a yard from the hull. Regardless, he moved RIGHT in front of the ship and landed on the top of the shield, looking directly into the window at four Shadowbolts, three stallions and a mare, who all stared out the window at him in surprise.
“Hey, hey, hey, HEY, HEY, HEY, HEY, HEY!” Air Mach yelled while knocking a hoof against the magical shielding. “You call yourself stallions?! Hiding in mechanical doodads and behind magical shields, I bet your balls have sucked so far into your crotches that it doesn’t even hurt to take a bat between the legs! ESPECIALLY YOU!” he pointed at the mare. The ship began lurching back and forth trying to throw him off, but he remained firmly on the shield. “Listen up and listen well you sorry excuses for stallions! You think you’re cute little helicopter triangles scare me?! Who the hell do you think I am?! I’m the great Animak! A name you better remember because it’s going down in history as one of the most stallionly stallion names ever! Now how about you come out here and fight like a-WHOA!” he yelped as the ship came to an abrupt halt.
Air Mach grinned and quickly spread his wings, turning up right and around while smacking his plot in their direction.
“If you’ve truly got the balls, come and get me!” he yelled as he turned and started flying towards the mountain. The cannons on the ship trained on him and began firing as the Shadowbolts piloted it after him.
Descent was much more straightforward with the other ship.
“RAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!” Descent yelled as he dove from above and drove his hooves into the shield as hard as he could. It sent a shock of pain through him, the shielding absorbing most of his force, but he hit it hard enough for the ship’s flight path to buckle and force it to regain control. Descent shook his hooves out as he flew in front of the ship and charged at it again. However, it was not meant to be an attack. He waited specifically for the ship to turn its cannons towards him before he veered off and began dodging the magic fire. Upon looking over his shoulder, he smirked in satisfaction. The ship had changed course and was going after him. If there was one thing he knew about a lot of his former comrades, they would often drop an objective for a moment in favor of giving somepony a piece of their mind. They completely fell for it and were coming after him.
Descent looked about until he saw Air Mach being chased by the other ship, and pitched hard to move towards him. The ship followed right behind, the two ships forming up side by side at the same time as Air Mach and Descent. The two flew them as close to the mountainside as they could.
“It’s our turn!” Silver yelled as he, Bomber, and Valkyrie flew up over head and pumped their wings to get ahead of the ships below. “Staggered drag pattern! Drive on my mark!” Silver yelled. Valkyrie shifted behind Silver, and Bomber behind Valkyrie. Once they were in a line, Valkyrie rose up a yard higher than Silver’s flight path, and Bomber rose up two yards, creating a staggered formation that put each of them at different levels. They flew directly beside the thick snowy mountain side about twenty yards above the ships. Silver waited until they were a good thirty yards ahead of the ships below before giving the order. “NOW!” he yelled out.
Silver, Valkyrie, and Bomber all veered away from the mountain side before turning back in, tilting sideways, and ramming their front hooves into the snow on the mountain side as hard as they could. They kept pumping their wings, dragging their hooves through the snow as deep as they could in three lines, Silver the lowest, Bomber the highest, and Valkyrie in between them. The three separate heavy cuts in the snow caused a chain reaction. The heavy drifts buckled beneath the force, Silver creating the disturbance with Bomber and Valkyrie both using their great strength to knock it all loose.
With their efforts, in their wake less than a second after they passed, the drifts broke apart, and fell, dragging a lot of snow with them. They successfully caused an enormous avalanche.
“MOVE!” Silver yelled down.
Descent looked up and quickly turned, moving away from the mountain quickly with Air Mach following directly behind them.
The two ships couldn’t turn anywhere near as fast or tightly as Descent and Air Mach and the massive collapse of snow from the mountains thundered down against them. The shields activated, but the force was too much, pushing both of the ships down harshly. They were completely engulfed, disappearing in the falling snow as the avalanche rushed down and buried them.
“YES-ARGH!” Silver cheered, but suddenly cringed as his right wing seized up again. He tipped harshly to his side, but Bomber quickly shifted forward to catch Silver on his back.
“Got you,” he said simply as he and Valkyrie turned back towards the Wonderbolt compound.
“I think your age is catching up to you,” Valkyrie said to Silver with a smirk as she flew beside Bomber.
“Shut up and let me enjoy victory…” Silver chuckled as he grunted in pain.
Art by: Foxenawolf
"I don’t know if we can call it victory just yet!” Descent spoke up as he and Air Mach flew up beside them. He pointed at the compound as they chased after it. “I don’t know about you…” he shook his head as they drew near. The compound was swaying, multiple propellers had ceased working or were gone, and smoke was trailing behind it, some rising from the base of propellers that were still straining to turn. “But the compound doesn’t look like it’s doing so well!”
“Well, come on!” Air Mach yelled. “We can’t be left behind!”
“But are we flying back to our deaths?” Descent asked, but he was already being left in the wake of the rest as Air Mach, Valkyrie, and Bomber with Silver in tow all shot back towards the compound. “Well, we’ve come this far… A fool I’ll be.” Descent shrugged as he followed after them.
“COME ON!” Rivet yelled as more and more steam valves burst along the boiler and its pipes. “COME ON! HOLD TOGETHER!” he yelled as he continued to work with whatever wasn’t broken. Point Dex and Lead Runner were busy on the other side of the boiler, doing what they could to keep up what Rivet couldn’t see on his side.
Despite their efforts though, it seemed like a lost cause. There was no way the old machinery could keep it up forever.
Dash and the rest had taken to bracing themselves, as if they knew either a crash landing or an explosion was coming. They had huddled in groups on the edges of the lower engine room. Sparks were flying everywhere. The old engines continued to rip and tear apart, destroying themselves in their own decrepit, rusty state.
Metallic pieces were falling all around them, clanging against the fence that separated the work area from the engines themselves, a few sparks had caught fire, the friction of the old parts becoming too hot. The strain was ripping the engines to pieces, overheating and groaning immensely.
“Ah!” Rivet looked up and quickly pushed himself away from the boiler controls. The main pipe right above him creaked and split, shooting steam down where he stood, barring him from getting back near the valves. The fire in the firebox was roaring uncontrollably with the loss of pressure control and the frame of the boiler itself began to bend, edges bursting and shooting flames out of it.
Dash, Matteo, Twister, and Storm were all huddled together Matteo, keeping them all steady and in place. Squad Three was all together beside them, Lightning doing his best to anchor Misty and Fire down as Misty held tight to the injured Fire.
Dash clutched Matteo’s arm. She could feel it… a steady downward motion. They were going down.
The compounded swayed and lurched as it continued to move forward. Several explosions erupted from the mechanisms that turned the propellers both above and below. Most of the rotors came to a halt, leaving very few operating. If not for the giant propeller in the center still turning, the compound would surely have dropped like a rock.
The unknown pilot of the compound fought it the best they could. The descent could have been fast, but the wings and tail fins were stuck upward, using the passing air to tilt the compound slightly up and force it to stay afloat as long as possible as it continued to shift just enough to avoid hard collisions with mountains.
The compound made a painful turn around and straightened out as it came upon a stretch of straight, slightly uneven ground that extended between several mountains. It was just in time too, because the remaining small propellers failed, coming to a halt as the central propeller strained against the weight of the entire compound on its own.
It grew closer…
And closer…
And closer to the snow covered ground.
Spitfire looked up towards the lobby doors, she had been so busy making sure everypony was safe and secure she didn’t think to check outside until she felt a few unexplained tremors and downward motion.
It brought her relief when she saw Silver and his makeshift team return, but upon looking outside and seeing the ground fast approaching, she knew what was going to happen next. All they could do was hope they survived… and that whoever was piloting could bring them down as softly as possible.
“EVERYPONY!” Spitfire yelled. “BRACE YOURSELVES!”
All ponies dropped to the ground, holding onto railings and edges, friends and wingmates alike as they realized what was about to happen.
The compound grazed the ground, bouncing back up slightly, but came right back down. The front of the courtyard platform came forward and jammed into the snow covered ground, kicking up an enormous amount of snow as it began to skid forward. The propellers beneath the compound all creaked as they hit the ground, bent, crushed, or completely snapped off beneath the weight of the compound as it continued to forge forward along the ground.
Dash yelped and screamed as she and everypony else below were thrown about, the shaking even worse than when they were spinning as the compound dug through the ground.
Spitfire was thrown forward, nearly falling through the gap in the floor as she tumbled. She ran into Wave Chill, who reached out and pulled her in as he also held onto High Winds, the three were thrown into the wall beside the entry doors. Yelps and screams of terror rang throughout the lobby and the compound, everypony being thrown about violently by the shaking. Loose furniture and other paraphernalia were tossed everywhere, lights unlatched and fell, ceiling tiles dropped and broke to pieces on the ground and on top of ponies.
But everypony held on for dear life.
The compound continued to skid through the snow, still moving with all the momentum gained by the Shadowbolt fortress cannon blast.
It started moving dangerously close the end of the straight stretch, where a solid mountainside waited for it.
But as it grew near…
The compound began to slow down, the cushion of snow along the uneven terrain absorbing its forward motion. It grew closer and closer to the mountainside…
But as the edge of the platform closed in on the mountain, the compound slowed down…
And stopped less than ten yards from the mountainside.
Save for all the missing propellers…
They crash landed in one piece.
--- To Be Continued ---