• Published 13th May 2012
  • 53,443 Views, 8,236 Comments

Austraeoh - Imploding Colon

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Volley

Rainbow Dash tackled one creature, flung it into another, headbutted a third, bucked a fourth, and galloped muderously into a flank of charging monstrocities.

“Rrrrgh!” She ducked one creature's lunge, spun about, stabbed her half of the polearm into a second, then hoisted it's twitching body so that it slammed across two more. As soon as she spat the wooden splinter out of her mouth, she spun and bucked all of the tumbling creatures over the edge of the platform. “Hah!” She reared her hooves victoriously. “How's that for a slice of bananabread—Ow!” She hissed as a monster leapt up and stabbed her backside with several spidery legs.

“Rainbow!” Gold Plate shouted. She stared with wild eyes while driving back a circle of drooling creatures.

“I'm alright!” Rainbow Dash grunted and struggled under the creature. She was flung forward by its weight into a heavy wall of leathery attackers. “Wait! Scratch that! I'm not alright! Ohhhhhh that hurts. Ow! Ow ow ow ow ow ow!” Seething, she clamped her hooves onto the platform, spread her wings wide, and spun in a circular fashion. “Nnnngh-Gaaaah!”

The one attacker was flung off her flank while several more reeled from the spinning impact of her wings.

Rainbow Dash panted, limped, and leaned against a loose stack of barrels. As she dealt with the throbbing pain, she tiredly gazed at an angry line of creatures diving down at her. Just then, she made a face. Rainbow's nostrils flared a few times as she sniffed the air.

Before the monsters could land a single blow, a very angry stallion was charging in and tossing a wooden crate full of rusted horseshoes at the lot of them.

“Grrrr!” Ironhoof knocked several of them into the walls of the cacophonous battle scene. “I didn't march all the way here to spend my first night at home playing pinata with scum-sucking tartarus spawn in the middle of the night!”

“You ever thought of breathing on them?” Rainbow Dash wheezed.

“Guys!” Gold Petals rushed up, leaning on her polearm and pointing up at another incoming swarm with her hoof. “There's more of them coming!”

Ironhoof glared at her. “What's with your voice, kid? Did one of them bite you where the sun doesn't shine?”

Growling, Gold Petals didn't bother changing the pitch in her retort. “What do those things look like? Your wife?”

“Hahahaha!” Rainbow Dash guffawed.

Ironhoof slapped her backside. “Don't encourage him, Equestrian!”

“Owwwwww...” Rainbow Dash winced and hissed towards the mists. “I am so killing you right after I kill them.”

“Get in line behind my wife.”

“I mean it, guys! What are we going to do?”

“Get in line behind his wife.”

“No, about the creatures!”

“You ask any more redundant questions, then I'd say we toss you at them.”

“Some help you are, Equestrian.”

“Fine... FINE!” Rainbow Dash stepped ahead of the two, wincing. “Okay, here's the plan. Ironhoof, you start a fire. Gold Pe—er, Plate, you get another polearm to make a tourch—”

“A torch?!” Ironhoof gasped.

“You featherbrain, we're in a city made of wood!” Gold Petals added.

“Oh, right.” Rainbow Dash's ruby eyes blinked at the incoming swarm. “Guess we're dead, then.”

Shrieking, the final band of attacking monsters dove low, their legs and fangs slicing through the air. Gold Petals and Ironhoof ducked, covering their heads in fright. Frowning, Rainbow Dash shaddowed them. She summoned all her strength and stretched her legs up ominously to face the aerial charge.

“Let's see what you got, ya gutless flying bagpipes!”

No sooner had she shouted this, but a huge wave of arrows and barbs flew from the center of town and impaled half of the creatures in midair. The remaining monsters squawked in surprise and banked off to the side.

Rainbow Dash, Gold Petals, and Ironhoof flashed a look to their right. A solid line of Windthrow miners had arrived at the scene with crossbows and barb-launchers in mid-discharge. Standing beside them was Hushtail's son, Sladesteed, and he was shouting at the top of his lungs.

“Send them back into the mists!”

The earth ponies shouted a battle cry and let loose another volley. Several more creatures plummeted bloodily to the platforms as the remaining few who could still fly darted off for the moonlit haze of night.

Finally, the chaos and noise of the evening dwindled, only to be followed by a loud roar of cheering earth ponies. The citizens of Windthrow celebrated their brief victory, before eventually gathering around Sladesteed to assist in tending to the wounded.

“This is getting out of hoof,” Sladesteed muttered to his fellow workers. He wiped sweat and soot off his brow as he frowned into the foggy distance surrounding the village. “If my workers and I had gotten word of this just a little bit later, we wouldn't have come in time to provide backup. I don't know how much more of these attacks our village can stand. Father has to be convinced to change things...”

Several weary ponies around him murmured and nodded in approval.

“Let's form a triage for the wounded.” Sladesteed glanced Rainbow's way. He squinted. “Outsider,” he spoke in a solid tone. “Your assistance is appreciated, but I fear we'll need more than just a single pegasus' timely intervention if we are to stave off these monsters once and for all.”

“Hey. More than happy to help. Nice crossbows, by the way.”

“Yes, they most certainly are.” Sladesteed sniffed the air. “Blast. Is it enough that they attack us so heartlessly but we must deal with the stench of their decaying carcasses as well?”

“Nah, that's just Ironhoof here.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“That's it.” Ironhoof bumped his way past Rainbow Dash and limped down the street, groaning, “I'm going home.”

“Heh...” Rainbow Dash smiled and reeled dizzily. “All in... a day's work...”

“Rainbow...” Gold Petals walked up to her and murmured hushedly, “I think you need to sit down.”

“Why? Sitting down is for pansies.”

“I mean it! I think you've got a lot of blood loss?”

“The heck are you talking about?” Rainbow Dash blinked. Something warm and wet dribbled down her face. Her eyes shot up in time to catch a thin curtain of crimson trickling down her coat from multiple bite and stab wounds. “Oh, hey. Check that out.”

She then collapsed in a dry heap, unconscious.

Gold Petals could only gasp.

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