Rainbow Dash
Rainbow stood in the centre of the garage, watching as the rest of her friends worked on their jetbikes, as they had been doing so for the last week. Ilithia had told her that the team’s colours would need to be changed to better reflect the midnight blue of the Lightning Fang, but that was not all that had to be changed.
With the exception of her own bike, the jetbikes the team used were using cannibalised tech. The first thing Rainbow had done was to set about procuring new bikes for them specifically for the arena, and while their old bikes would be reserved for raids, their new bikes needed to be engineered simply for speed. The only one of them who used the same bike for both races and raids would be Rainbow herself. The biggest complaint so far had been from Gilda, the Griffon not wanting to give up her tank of a bike, but eventually better sense had prevailed.
Now they were all putting the finishing touches on their new bikes, stripping the armour down as much as they could and overclocking the engines, as well as drilling out new holes in their air-foils. At high speeds, each of their bikes now sounded different, and while it was almost negligible to most of their ears, Rainbow assured them that it was easily discernible to Eldar, or those with highly trained ears.
“Alright, time’s up then,” Rainbow called, stamping her hooves to get the attention of the others. “Race is in fifteen, no more mods. This is going to be our first race, so your bikes better all be ready, I really don’t want to see them falling apart mid-flight.”
“Anything we should know about this race?” Spitfire asked as she popped her head up from behind her bike, her muzzle hidden behind a streamlined rebreather.
“You mean other than the fact that a lot is riding on this?” Rainbow asked. “It’s a team against a team, we don’t have to get the entire team across the line, just one of us.”
“So why not just give us our heavy bikes and let us rip against the other team?” Gilda asked.
“Because unless you can hit a target moving at the sort of speeds we all will be moving at while going subsequently slower, while avoiding the return fire, you’ll be a hindrance rather than helping,” Rainbow pointed out. “We’re not fighting slaves, or humans, or even Scourges this time, Reavers are some of the fastest things in this city, and the reactions of their pilots is legendary. Avoid their fire when you can, kill them as soon as possible. Remember, they have more experience riding their bikes than we can probably ever dream of, but we are born of the sky. Use your wings, they’ll never know what hit them, trust me.”
“Well then, we best get ready,” Wavechill murmured, adjusting his race suit slightly.
“Nice touch on the suits by the way,” Spitfire whispered as she walked closer to Rainbow. “Wish you could have made them look less like our rivals though.”
“Yeah, sorry,” Rainbow shrugged. “Wonderbolts doesn’t exactly…”
“Strike fear,” Spitfire finished. “I know.”
Rainbow nodded with a chuckle, looking at her own race suit. They had been modelled after the Shadowbolts, the form fitting clothes now coloured in black, yellow and purple, the rune of the Lightning Fang emblazoned on one of their flanks, while the skull of the Shadowbolts, which had become the team’s new symbol, rested on the other. Everything was covered by the suits, save for their feathers, muzzles and eyes, even the leading edges of their wings being covered by the frictionless material. Like Spitfire, the rest of the team had rebreathers designed to cover their muzzles and make them more streamlined when they lay low to their bikes, as well as allowing them to travel at the highest of speeds without passing out. This, when combined with the yellow goggles that they all had would make them almost indistinguishable from one another, meaning the only difference would be between their bikes, which would draw more crowds.
The only difference to their appearance of solidarity were clearly Gilda, whose physique as a Griffon made looking identical impossible, and Rainbow herself, who instead of wearing a hood and rebreather, wore a full head helmet, the front of which was entirely covered in dark, tinted plexi-glass, a skull emblazoned over the top. The helmet, apart from making her stand out as the leader, gave her detailed readouts about the team, her bike, and all the other small details she would need to know to be an effective team leader.
“Are we ready then?” Gilda asked, mounting her bike and pulling her goggles down.
“Mount up,” Rainbow nodded, straddling her own bike as she maneuvered onto the lift to the track.
A few moments later, the ground began to rise, taking the team on the short journey towards the arena, the roar of the crowd growing louder the closer they got.
***
“That was reckless,” Lightning sighed as she looked over Rainbow’s wing. “You’re lucky that it wasn’t a poisoned weapon, it could have been a lot more complicated to sort this out.”
“It wasn’t luck, I saw him licking his knife at the beginning of the race to try and unnerve Scootaloo over there,” Rainbow smirked, looking at the youngest member of the team. “If it was poisoned he would have been long dead.”
“Well he’s certainly dead now,” Scootaloo smirked. “And it will take more than licking a knife to unnerve me.”
“What, you mean like almost completely destroying your bike?” Wavechill asked, groaning as he looked up from Scootaloo’s bike. “Honestly, you need to learn to keep the acceleration steadier, rather than gunning it then braking and gunning it again. It taxes the system to no end, keep it up and you’ll destroy it mid-flight, and at those speeds there won’t even be enough to scrape off the sands.”
“Which is why we need to do a lot more training,” Rainbow nodded, getting up and flexing her organic wing, wincing slightly at the cuts on it, before folding it against her side. “Two hours free time, then we go back on the track. We could all use the extra training time. Then we’ll move to the cages, a lot of the fighting you’ve been doing has been won by luck alone, and looks very stiff and unmoving. We’ve got to win the crowd, so we’ve got to step up our game, make ourselves stand out.”
“We’re an entire team made of a different species,” Spitfire pointed out. “How much more do you want us to stand out?”
“It’s not enough,” Rainbow shook her head. “The novelty will wear off soon, we need to change, keep ourselves in the spotlight, then we get to the Torn Scar. We need to be champions, so that’s what we’ll be.”
“And how does one become a champion, in your mind?” Spitfire asked with a smirk.
“We never fucking lose,” Rainbow laughed, pushing her bike into its bay, before turning and walking out of the garage.
“Rainbow, wait up,” Gilda called, hurrying after Rainbow, before matching pace with her. “Where are you going?”
“My chambers,” Rainbow replied simply.
“Mind if I tag along?”
“If you must,” Rainbow nodded. “Any particular reason?”
“Well, I thought I’d try and pick your brains a bit,” Gilda smirked. “You know, get an inside tract into my superiors mind. Advancement is measured in the bodies of those above you here after all.”
“Remind me how many times you’ve beaten me in the cages?” Rainbow laughed, reaching her room and slipping inside, Gilda following after her.
“Once or twice,” Gilda admitted. “After you’d been fighting for a while.”
“And don’t you ever forget that.”
Rainbow sat down heavily on her bed, quickly stripping the Shadowbolt suit off and casting it aside, before reaching for her wraithbone wing. Gilda stayed silent as Rainbow slowly disconnected the limb, sighing as she placed it beside her and looked at it pointedly. For a long time Gilda stayed silent, before finally having enough and opening her beak.
“Is everything ok, Rainbow?” she asked hesitantly.
“It played up in the race,” Rainbow admitted. “It seized up. Just for a nanosecond mind you, but it was just enough to throw me off balance, which is why I got this,” she held up her other wing to show Gilda the cut.
“It’s not ideal,” Gilda agreed. “Maybe we can talk to Wavechill about looking at it, or maybe there are some Dark Eldar who…”
“I don’t want a bionic anymore,” Rainbow cut her off. “It’s not me. It’s ugly, it’s heavy, and for all the control I have over it, it’s not as good as the real thing.”
“Yeah, but you told me the other one was fairly comprehensively destroyed,” Gilda pointed out. “I don’t see how you could get it back.”
“I do,” Rainbow sighed. “I haven’t told the others this yet, mostly because I don’t want them to think I’m considering it.”
“Considering what?” Gilda narrowed her eyes.
“Eethron….told me that his Covern was good at developing biological replacements for lost limbs, rather than mechanical ones. He said for a price, we could talk about getting mine replaced.”
“You’d let Eethron fiddle around with you?” Gilda asked in disbelief. “He is the leader of something called the Covern of Mutilation, that doesn’t sound like something that’s nice. Why are you even considering this?”
“I’m not considering it,” Rainbow snapped, before sighing. “Well, ok, maybe I am a little bit, but it’s not something I’d do lightly. I tried to come to a decision on my own, but…”
“I can’t say that I know what you’re going through Rainbow, if I lost a wing I don’t know what it would do,” Gilda began, putting a wing around Rainbow. “But I do know that making deals with monsters isn’t the way.”
Rainbow let out a soft, snorting chuckle, before nodding, placing her head on Gilda’s shoulder.
“Thanks, G.”
“Anytime, Dash,” Gilda laughed, pulling Rainbow subtly closer, enjoying the feeling of her friend beside her.
***
“You summoned me, Ilithia,” Rainbow asked as she walked through the door to Ilithia’s personal office.
No matter how many times she came in here, and it wasn’t that many truth be told, the sheer number of trophy’s that lined the walls were ridiculous. There were countless heads of Orks, humans, other Eldar, Tau, even a few heads and claws of Tyranids, but the most impressive display was directly in sight of the door, covering the end wall. Five full suits of Space Marine power armour, all in different colours, lined the base of the wall, four normal, while the central suit was a set of Terminator Armour.
Ilithia had told Rainbow that it had belonged to a captain of the Salamanders Chapter, and had been taken during the fighting when the Space Marines had managed to pierce the veil into Commoragh. The fact that she had killed him in single combat all those years ago stood as testament to her skill, and her age.
Above the five suits were countless helmets of different chapters, and as Rainbow knew for a fact how highly valued each suit was to the humans, she knew they had not been given over lightly.
“Ah, yes, I did, Dash,” Ilithia nodded, looking up from one of her knives, placing the small crystal she had been using to sharpen it aside. “Your Shadowbolts have been doing well. Three races to your name, and not a casualty. If you keep this up maybe you will be able to keep your team as it is, and not recruit new members, though I digress. I need to know one thing. How long have you been here?”
“Three weeks, six days,” Rainbow replied after a brief moment of thought.
“No, not in my Reaver clan, in Commoragh?” Ilithia shook her head, standing up and taking hold of the knife, spinning it idely as she came closer to Rainbow.
“I’m not sure I follow,” Rainbow replied slowly, reaching for her own knife, which she had taken to carrying at all times instead of the large and clumsy Ravenous.
“It’s a simple question,” Ilithia purred. “How long have you been here?”
“Six weeks, give or take a few days,” Rainbow answered. “Why?”
“Because, and you’re not going to believe this, but ten scourges, went missing, six weeks ago,” Ilithia began, letting out a laugh. “I mean, it’s baffling, who kills scourges? That’s a crime even we not permit here, so clearly the one who did it would not try and then raise their head above water again, and certainly not in a fashion like you have done, so it couldn’t have been you.”
“I’m not hearing a question,” Rainbow guarded her words carefully, watching Ilithia as she paced before her.
“And I’m not asking one,” Ilithia growled, suddenly stopping and pointing the knife at Rainbow. Rainbow did her best not to flinch as the razor sharp blade stopped millimetres before her face. “This is not a question, this is a fact. If I find out that you killed those messengers, then champion or no, you will find yourself on the arena floor, not above it.”
“I did nothing of the sort,” Rainbow growled back. “And you think putting me on the sands would be enough to silence me, you do not know me well, Succubus. Was there anything else?”
“I’ll be watching you, Dash,” Ilithia sheathed her knife, turning her back on Rainbow. “Leave.”
Rainbow let out a soft snarl, before turning and stalking out of the room. Her heart was racing as she left, partly from how close she had come to being discovered for committing the one uncommitable crime in Commoragh, but mostly because of the fact that Ilithia had honestly thought that just putting her in the arena like a common slave would be enough to finish her. That was a blow to her pride she could not allow to stand.
***
Rainbow stood silently as she watched Spitfire and Wavechill sparring across the floor of the garage, having yet another one of their impromptu sparring sessions.
Their fights were always interesting, the pair being very evenly matched in their personalities and techniques. It was also interesting because the pair of them usually distain fighting with swords, preferring to keep their foes at range. Rainbow had insisted that the pair learnt however, and while Wavechill still didn’t see eye to eye with her on it, he had done as she had asked, building his skill very quickly alongside Spitfire. Soon they would be close to the levels of Scootaloo and Lightning, which Rainbow saw as more than adequate.
Finally, Spitfire gained the upper hoof, knocking Wavechill’s wingblades aside with her rapier, before capitalising on her advantage, pressing the thin blade against his throat, drawing a single drop of blood.
“You should watch your flank, Wavechill,” Rainbow noted as she walked forward. “Remember you have the strength advantage to her speed, capitalise on this.”
“Yeah, easy for you to say,” Wavechill wiped the blood away. “You’ve been fighting for years.”
“We’ve all got to start somewhere,” Rainbow shrugged. “But anyway, gather round, I have new orders for all of us.”
“Another race?” Scootaloo asked easily.
“Nah, it’s a speed fight, isn’t it?” Gilda asked with a gleam in her eyes. “What, those losers from the Second Strike don’t want another go do they? You already killed their champion.”
“Neither, it’s a raid,” Rainbow sighed, holding up a hoof before anypony could object. “I know all your feelings on the idea of raids, we’ve spoken about it for hours on end, but we don’t have a choice here. If we want to continue our existence here, we need to toe the line. We’re not strong enough to resist the Triumvent.”
“Maybe if we recruited some more riders,” Gilda huffed.
“I don’t want to work alongside Dark Eldar, too risky,” Rainbow shook her head. “The bottom line is, we’re going on a raid for slaves. We have to be present, what we don’t have to do is give into our baser desires like the Dark Eldar do.”
“Where are we going?” Spitfire asked with a sigh.
“It’s an Agri-World. I wasn’t told the name, but it’s lightly defended, only a few Imperial Guard Regiments in total.”
“We’d be helping round up civilians for the factories,” Scootaloo whispered. “And for the work gangs, and for currency.”
“Yes,” Rainbow nodded solemnly. “I’m not going to lie and say that this is good, or that it will be easy to keep our consciences clear, but that’s why I’m telling you what we’re doing now. We still have a week to plan what we will be doing, and we can use that time to come to a group consensus on exactly how we will be persecuting our part in the raid. So far all we have been commanded to do is occupy Imperial Guardsmen outriders so the rest of the raiding force can…they can take slaves.”
“We’d be taking away all their defences,” Lightning shook her head. “We’d be consigning them to this hell.”
“We don’t have a choice,” Rainbow sighed. “I’m sorry, but at the moment we’ve managed to score here. All we have to do is kill soldiers, and yes that’s still shitty because we’re fighting for a cause like this, but we don’t have to take the slaves, and our goal is worth the lives of a few. Without Applejack we don’t the Elements of Harmony. Suppose we have something that only they can defeat, without her, and myself, they’re useless. We’re protecting our planet, isn’t that worth the lives of a few? I don’t like it, but it’s what we’ve been dealt.”
“It was a shit deal then,” Lightning snapped.
“Yes I know it was,” Rainbow snapped back. “Do you think I like the idea of doing this? I’ve killed humans before, but always with good reason. Killing them to take slaves? That’s evil, and willingly walking through this door. I am your leader, so the stain is on my hooves. If I do this it makes me lesser in my own eyes, let alone all of yours, but I will gladly do that if it means you can keep your hooves as clean as possible. If there was any other way…but there isn’t. This is it, so I’m going to ask you once. Will you stand with me on this, and help me to find my friend, a mare we all owe our lives to, or do you want to leave Commoragh. If you want to leave then we will, we will make a break for freedom and do our best to succeed, but if we failed there, we’d end up back here, on the end of the lash. Even succeed, we have no leads on Applejack except here. Cast your vote please, because I don’t know if this is right or wrong.”
“I’m with you, Rainbow, if you think this is right then I’ll stand by you till the end,” Gilda smiled, patting her larger jetbike. “Besides, I can get a chance to use this baby again.”
“I’ll…I’ll stay here with you Rainbow,” Scootaloo nodded after a second.
“It’s not nice, but like you say, we’re fighting for a bigger cause than us,” Wavechill shook his head. “If we think this is the only way to go about it, and I’ve got to admit that I don’t see an alternative, then I’ll do it.”
“I’ll do it under sufferance,” Spitfire nodded in agreement.
“Fine,” Lightning looked between the others as she spoke. “But I’m with Spitfire, this is under sufferance, this is not a first choice.”
“I understand,” Rainbow walked towards Lightning and pulled her into a hug. “Thank you Lightning, it means a lot to me that you’d stay with me.”
“Hey, I abandoned you once already,” Lightning managed a small chuckled. “What sort of friend would I be if I did it again?”
“A pretty awful one,” Rainbow laughed. “Now come on, I want to step up your training, this is going to be heavy, and I will not see us going in half-trained.”