Ordeal of the Crystal Princess

by PostNinja

Chapter 5: Daring Plans

Rainbow Dash rested on a blanket on her back, staring at the ceiling above her. The stone floor wasn't exactly comfortable even with the blanket, but it was better than nothing.

Well, if you could even use words like floor and ceiling in a cave. The ground was slightly tilted too, so sleeping comfortably was basically impossible. Not that any of that was what Dash was thinking right now.

All the pegasus could really think about was how incredibly bored she was. She had already maintained her prosthetic wing, counted every single crack in the ceiling and then maintained her wing again. This assignment had sounded seriously more exciting than it actually was.

Dash sighed, turning on her side towards the mouth of the cave and Soarin who was leaning on some rocks, staring into distance with binoculars in his hooves. "Anything happening?"

The other pegasus did not turn, mostly to hide his own sigh. Patience wasn't exactly one of Rainbow's strong points. So, he just said the same thing he had said the last six times Dash had asked the same question in the last hour or two. "Nothing yet."

Dash groaned aloud, standing up. If she stayed still for a minute longer staring at the insides of this cave, she would start talking to the rocks and ask did they know Boulder. An hour more and they would probably start talking back to her.

"I never thought that bad guys could be this boring!" The pegasus stretched her legs and then walked to Soarin to stare at enemy camp in the distance below them, lines and lines of tents flanked by trees. They had a good view up from this cliff. "It has been four days and all they have done is stand there!"

Soarin didn't answer, because Rainbow Dash had also done this speech three times already, and the pegasus knew from experience that answering wouldn't affect it in the slightest.

Still, on second thought, he had to try. Again.

"We have our mission, Crash. We should be happy that Sombra's forces haven't attacked again. This is the first real break they have given to us in weeks. If they want to help us out more by doing absolutely nothing besides sitting in their base, I'm not going to argue." Soarin concentrated on the camp again for a moment just to make sure he wasn't missing anything. "Knocking out their boss really hit them hard."

Dash's mood improved somewhat at remembering that. It had looked so awesome when that unicorn had collided with his troops like a bowling ball! And she had been right! The crystal ponies had retreated almost immediately, holed up in their base, and then stayed there.

That was probably why Spitfire hadn't been as hard on her about the whole disobeying orders thing. Or maybe being tasked to stay here and get bored out of her mind was her punishment.

She looked at the enemy camp some more, and then at the forest itself. Fluttershy would have loved to come camping here. Only real sounds besides the wind were the birds singing, insects buzzing and all other critters the shy pegasus would have probably been able to name just by the sounds they made.

Dash's thoughts started to wander. The pegasus wondered how her closest friend was doing back home. Maybe if things would finally quiet down a bit, she could take a week off and...

"Wait! Something is happening! It's that unicorn!"

Dash was on Soarin in an instant, grabbing the binoculars from him and starting to look down at the camp herself. It was him! But then she frowned at what she saw.

The unicorn had walked out of his tent, even if "stumbled" could have been a more fitting way of describing it. The unicorn was still wearing that same armor, now battered with dents and tears, pieces of it missing. Now Dash could actually see that he had a blue mane below all that metal.

But it was strange. The unicorn was swaying from side to side, the green light in his helmet flickering on and off again. Dash could swear that the thing was leaking off smoke. Really weird looking smoke too, some strange combination of green and purple.

The other crystal ponies were looking in confusion at their commander. One came closer and they seemed to talk with each other, from this far away and with them both wearing those helmets it was kinda hard to tell.

Then, the light in the lenses of his helmet disappeared and unicorn suddenly jumped back in clear surprise, starting to look around him like he was confused. At that same moment the other ponies tensed, starting to encircle him. It looked like they were all going to attack him!

However, then the helmet started glowing and the unicorn stopped moving, all other ponies around him relaxing. There was more talking and then few of the soldiers led the unicorn to the edge of the camp. Now he was acting like a sleepwalker, not really moving on his own without being pushed to move by other ponies.

Dash followed how they led him to cages normally reserved for captured ponies and then locked him in one. Unicorn collapsed on the floor of the cage, his helmet still leaking that weird smoke. After that, the situation seemed to calm down.

"Well, that was interesting." Soarin put down the binoculars he had taken from Dash's own bag. "They just locked up their own commander."

It took a moment before he realized that the other pegasus hadn't answered in any way. Soarin turned to look at her and then blinked in surprise when he saw that Dash was just staring into distance, her forehead creased in a thoughtful frown.

Well, that was uncharacteristic. What was up with her? "Crash? What is it?"

Dash was silent for a moment longer and was just about to speak when both pegasi jumped in surprise at the sound of another voice coming right next to them.

"You two so enamored with each other that you don't even keep track of your surroundings?" Soarin turned just in time to see Spitfire step out from behind a rock on the side, flashing them both a smile.

Before either Soarin or Dash could answer, mostly to adamantly deny that there was something going on between them, the commander of the Wonderbolts folded her wings and then stepped inside the cave. "I have good news and then I have some bad news. Which ones do you want to hear first?"

Dash swallowed her retort to Spitfire's tease about him and Soarin and then just flashed her a smile of her own. "You know me and how awesome I am. Bring it on."

However, when the two other pegasi saw how Spitfire's expression sobered, neither of them were smiling.

"Sombra is coming. With a lot more of his friends with helmets. The scouts came in with the report just before I left the base."

For a moment, all three pegasi were silent. They all remembered the last time they had met the unicorn tyrant and all of them tried not to glance at Dash's prosthetic wing. They were hard pressed already, if Sombra was bringing even more soldiers...

Finally, Soarin spoke, rising his hoof in a questioning gesture. "And the good news?"

Spitfire started smiling again, pointing with her hoof at the cave wall, towards south and Equestria. "Princess Celestia is coming too, along with a fresh group of reinforcements."

Both of the pegasi smiled to that, their spirits uplifted. With the princess of the sun with them, there was nothing they feared and every pony in the Equestrian Army shared that belief with them.

"Perfect!" Dash clapped her hooves together with a smile. "Beating his lackey was a good practice run, next we beat Sombra! I have wanted to drop a giant rock on his head for weeks!"

The two other Wonderbolts smiled to their friend's proclamation, even if they knew that it wouldn't be that easy. Spitfire just nodded her head and then asked, "You were so distracted when I came. Did you see something interesting in the enemy camp?"

Dash and Soarin blinked, both only now remembering what they had just seen before Spitfire's arrival. They looked at each other and then at her, starting to explain. Spitfire listened and once they had finished explaining, took binoculars herself and looked at the camp of the crystal ponies, seeing the now imprisoned unicorn.

"Looks like that beating you gave him broke his helmet." The yellow pegasus lowered her binoculars, turning to look at Dash and Soarin. "Must have been really lucky. Usually they won't come off that easy. We have holding cells full of crystal ponies who have to be locked up because we can't remove the damn things."

Dash turned her head to look at the distant camp again and after a moment of thoughtful silence her eyes widened in realization. Then, she said in calm, matter of fact tone: "We should go and rescue him."

Seeing how both of Soarin and Spitfire were staring at her without even trying to cover their surprise, the pegasus continued. "Isn't it weird? We knock him out and the whole army suddenly turns around and runs, and then just sit there. On the next day, Sombra suddenly decides that he wants some fresh air and starts running here from whatever hole he has been in for all these weeks!"

Now it was turn for Soarin and Spitfire to look at each other. Dash had a point. But even if it were just a coincidence that Sombra and Celestia had both started coming back to the frontlines at the same time, executing a rescue raid for just one unicorn was reckless and risky.

In other words, they should really have seen Dash coming up with this idea a mile away.

Seeing that her fellow Wonderbolts weren't convinced, the pegasus quickly continued before either of them could start listing aloud the numerous reasons why this was a bad idea. "I know who he is! When we fought, it felt like I had met him before. I have never seen anypony else who is that good with shield spells!"

Soarin gave her a puzzled look, but the way how Spitfire's expression was turning from surprise to outright shock, Dash knew that the yellow pegasus was about to guess it too. "Now when I saw that he has a blue mane, I'm sure of it! It is Shining Armor!"

There was a moment of silence, until Soarin finally said what they all were thinking. "All this time, we have been fighting the captain of the royal guard?"

Dash gave Spitfire a look that dared the commander of the Wonderbolts to deny it, but she didn't. Instead she was thinking about what this meant. Could it be true?

Shining Armor and Princess Cadance had both become public heroes when the changelings had invaded Canterlot during their wedding. They had defeated Queen Chrysalis and driven off the rest of the changelings. When the Crystal Empire had returned, Princess Celestia had sent them to protect it.

But weeks later, Sombra's armies had started marching towards Equestria and no pony had heard of Shining Armor or Cadance ever since. Spitfire had assumed with everypony else that the unicorn tyrant had killed them.

More she thought about it, more the yellow pegasus realized that this shouldn't even be surprising. This whole thing had Sombra's hoofprints all over it. It was exactly the kind of cruel irony he enjoyed inflicting on others.

They had seen that first hoof with Rainbow's wing.

In the light of this new information, Spitfire couldn't really argue with Dash's logic. Retrieving the captain of the royal guard alone would have been enough, but Shining Armor was one of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria, able to shield an entire city with his magic if he had enough time to prepare for it. They couldn't leave somepony like that to Sombra.

Then, Dash told her last good point. "I don't know anything about dark magic, but I can bet that those crystal ponies are going to stop acting like zombies the moment when Sombra gets here. This is our best chance!"

Spitfire couldn't argue with that either, but she still shook her head. "Crash, we don't have enough troops to assault their base even if they aren't exactly smart without having Sombra there to command them. Princess Celestia and reinforcements will be here any day now, we can just wait and..."

"So will Sombra!" Dash yelled as she slammed her hooves on the stone floor. "We don't need to assault their base! Shining Armor's cell is right at the edge of the camp!" The blue pegasus rose her hoof to point at the camp in the distance as she continued, "All we need is a distraction! Three of us can just fly there and carry him out before any of those idiots figure out what is going on!"

Spitfire turned to look at Soarin who first just shrugged, but then said, "I think it is worth the risk. I doubt we can do much anything after Sombra arrives with his own reinforcements."

The commander of the Wonderbolts sighed, but then turned back to look at Dash again. "And I guess you also know already how exactly we are going to pull off a distraction like that?"

Dash didn't even try to hide her smug smile as she said, "Actually, I do!"

Seeing the suspicious stares of her peers, the blue pegasus deflated just a bit and then corrected herself. "Well, not exactly how we can do it. But I know somepony who can put up a show! She still carries that lame wizard hat and cape around!"

As the two other Wonderbolts started warming up to Dash's idea, none of the three pegasi realized that they were being eavesdropped. It had squeezed itself into a narrow crack under a large rock and the ground next to the cave mouth of their hideout, space too small for any pony to fit into.

Unlike Rainbow Dash, it had been very patient, listening to the words of the pegasi tirelessly for days. It could have told Spitfire that there probably wasn't anything romantic going on between the two other Wonderbolts. All it had heard were complaints of either boredom or lack of pies, bickering and more bad jokes than it could count. Not much love in the air.

But now it had finally heard something actually worth reporting. Since the ponies were so engaged in their discussion, it decided to take this opportunity to leave.

It crawled out of its hiding place, moving very slowly and with stealth of a natural predator. Then, it stretched its limbs and crept away, taking into the air after the first few steps.

Even if one of the ponies would have heard the sound of it leaving, they would probably have mistaken the buzzing of its wings for the natural sounds of the forest.

---

The rumbling sound of hundreds of hooves hitting the ground in perfect unison filled the air. Cloud of dust rose as the army of crystal ponies marched down the road towards south and Equestria. They had been marching for a day and night without a break and would continue to do so without complaint.

King Sombra sat in the large throne of his equally massive chariot, pulled by over two dozen ponies. In front of him was a table with maps of both Equestria and Crystal Empire. The dark unicorn was already planning on how to advance after he would break Equestria's last line of defense.

He would have preferred to just keep the army marching, but soon he was going to be forced to give his soldiers a break. They would keep marching until they would faint out of exhaustion, but that way they wouldn't be any use on him by the time they made it to the battlefield. His helmets turned ponies into perfect soldiers, but in the end they were still just ponies. They needed sleep and food.

Then something caught his eye and the unicorn turned to look up in the air. There was a figure in the horizon, rapidly coming closer with speed that rivaled that of Rainbow Dash. It was a pegasus, flying right towards him. But Sombra wasn't worried and just finished his line of thought, looking back at his maps.

Unfortunately, his helmets did not come without downsides. Turning his subjects into perfect soldiers also meant that they were not going to be very useful when it came to doing anything else. The improved helmets like the one Shining Armor wore alleviated the issue but didn't completely solve it.

Yes, Sombra mused as the hooves of a pegasus known as Lightning Dust gently touched the floor of the chariot, sometimes it was necessary to use ponies who still possessed their own free will.

At least if they had the right kind of character.

Once she had landed, the former Wonderbolt bowed down in front of the unicorn. "Lightning Dust, reporting from Equestria." Before Sombra had time to even open his mouth to speak, the pegasus rose up with an arrogant smile. "In short, things are kinda going south." She turned her head around to look at the marching army around them and then chuckled. "And not in the way you would like them to, sir."

Sombra rolled his eyes even as his horn suddenly glowed and a bolt of dark magic exploded within inches from Lightning's face, almost causing the pegasus to fall off from the chariot where she would have been trampled by dozens of metal-clad hooves.

Ponies these days, no respect for nobility.

With his horn still smoking, the unicorn tyrant looked down at Lightning with an expression that showed clearly how much he cared for these antics. "Continue your report."

Most of her arrogance knocked out of her, Lightning rose up to stand and then did as ordered, this time raising her hoof in a proper salute. "Yes, your majesty. Celestia is on her way back to the frontlines, it took less time from her to put the nobles of Canterlot back in order than we thought. But no one has found out about your involvement in the matter. Or mine."

Sombra sighed in slight annoyance at the incompetence of those who were simply motivated by greed and then asked, "Are you certain about that?"

Lightning grinned again, but this time those who had trained along with her in the Wonderbolt Academy would have stared in shock at how vicious her expression looked and how much it mirrored Sombra's own. "Yes, your majesty. Extra bits took care of one loose end, and another one tripped from his balcony and fell down to the side of a mountain."

Sombra nodded, satisfied. Despite her flaws Lightning Dust was useful. The pegasus did things most ponies would never even dare to contemplate and was utterly ruthless when it came to advancing her own goals. Both were traits that he could admire.

After all, they had helped him to get where he was now.

The unicorn cast the nobles of Canterlot aside from his thoughts and then turned to look at the pegasus again. "Would you enjoy having a chance to best Rainbow Dash?"

"Would I?!" Lightning slammed her hooves against the floor of the chariot in excitement at the mere prospect of a chance to get back at her old rival. "I want to slam her head against a rock! I can't believe I ever wanted to join those lame Wonderbolts. They celebrate that crybaby like she is a hero or something! She is not even the best." The pegasus hit her chest with her hoof. "I am!"

Sombra smiled and nodded again, turning his head to the side. "Then, you are in luck. There has been a slight setback at the frontlines, I am on my way to correct it." The unicorn's horn glowed again and a wooden chest was drawn from the side of the chariot and dragged next to the pegasus.

Lightning gave the chest a curious look as its lock clicked and it slid open. Sombra levitated it's contents up in the air, arranging the pieces of metal to float in the air so they revealed what they were.

They formed a suit of armor, one made for a pegasus. It wasn't as heavy as the one worn by crystal ponies and glowing runes were etched on its surface. The helmet was more of a mask, more streamlined and elegant than the clunky and heavy helmets the soldiers around them were wearing. Most ponies would have called it scary or at least ugly. To the pegasus, it looked cool.

Lightning Dust didn't know a single thing about magic, but even she could feel the sheer power radiating from the armor. With something like that, nothing could stop her! The former Wonderbolt turned to look at Sombra with a grin and the unicorn just nodded, answering to the unvoiced question. "I need someone to drag Rainbow Dash out from the sky for me."

The pegasus felt giddy, taking the helmet to her hooves. Just holding it made her feel more powerful! She looked at the helmet, grinning at her own reflection, imagining Dash's expression of terror in its place.

"She won't even see it coming."

Author's Note:

Thank you for all the comments!

Since I'm not a native speaker, I always have this tiny underlaying fear of writing complete gibberish without realizing I do so, as silly as it is.

This part of the story with Rainbow is becoming a bit longer than I originally planned it to be...

Comments

[RDash]

This is really good, keep it up! Looks like Rainbow is going to get wreaked lol

[Siana]

This is really good so far, I can't wait to see what's next !

[TimeturnerJ]

It's a shame that this is on a hiatus, it's really good. War!Rainbow Dash is so badass, I just can't get enough. I hope you'll update this eventually.😆