Shift in Spectrum

by Superdale33

3 - Side by Side

The Interceptor and the Leopards’ vehicles sped towards the destroyed bridge. The Leopards remained still at the sight of the canyon. It wasn’t until Pedant pulled himself up to his feet did he see the situation for himself. Instead of showing the fear like the other Leopards displayed, he huffed indignantly, climbing back onto the roof of the truck. He grabbed the arm of the closest man and pushed him forward.

“The sooner the Gazelle is killed, the sooner we can feast!” he proclaimed, turning to each person, giving them a crazed look. “If it gets away, we will have failed the Voice. Leopards always catch their prey!”

“Leopards!” the men bellowed, their fists in the air. They then swarmed for the Interceptor, fear dissipating, but their pushing and shoving hampered their movement. Several men at the front fell down on the hood of the lead truck, and the others behind them had to stop to step around them, and would trip themselves, making matters worse. Rainbow Dash just watched them with disbelief from atop the Interceptor, her heart thumping harder.

“These guys are crazy!” she proclaimed, glancing back to the approaching canyon. “I-I gotta do something!” She turned back to Pedant, who gazed upon her with a wry smile. She shivered, holding up a hoof to hide her eyes away from him. Her breathing was erratic, and she could only stare to the side at the hills of sand.

“Wait,” she whispered, lighting up as she looked straight down to the Interceptor. “That guy. Maybe he’ll listen to me.” She shivered again, hugging herself. “A-at least I hope so.”

Another bump on the road made several more Leopards fall onto the hood, their bodies and limbs tangling up and preventing any real progress. It was nearly impossible for them to make any headway in the crowd they formed. Pedant’s features hardened, yet he gave a hint of disappointment and impatience. Their incompetence made Max grunt, observing them with a loaded shotgun at the ready.

“Hey, mister!” Rainbow called, flying outside the passenger window, prompting Max to whip his shotgun over to her. Rainbow recoiled with her eyes clamped shut, and a shrill whine rang in Max’s mind. His aim faltered, baring his teeth while maintaining his glare on Rainbow Dash. “Don’t k-kill me with that thing, alright!?”

It took a few seconds before Max lowered his gun, the whine fading away like it was heading into the distance. His glare intensified, his gaze flicking over to his shotgun before focusing back on Rainbow. Opening one eye tentatively, she heaved a shaky sigh before putting a hoof on the door, pointing with the other to the Leopards still failing to reach the Interceptor.

“Okay, look, if we don’t stop these carriages or steer them away, everyone’s going to die!” Rainbow said blatantly. “The guy leading them is… not listening, and I don’t know what to do. Please, I just want to save these guys!”

A rumbling erupted from Max’s throat, closing his eyes as he took a deep breath through his nose. The wait made Rainbow anxious, eyeing the canyon that edged closer with each second. It was a kilometer away by that point. Max reopened his eyes, baring his teeth as he slammed a fist against the wheel.

“Fuck,” he hissed, scanning his feet with eyes furrowed. The jeers from the Leopards were sedated but still there, constantly reminding the two of them of the impeding threat. When Max locked eyes with Rainbow again, she flinched as he released the wheel, reaching underneath his seat. His hand came back with a bolt cutter, red from rust, and he promptly thrusted it over to Rainbow Dash, nudging his head to the back of the Interceptor. “Cut the cable.”

“Cut the cable,” Rainbow repeated, climbing inside. She tucked her wings in as her legs touched down on the passenger side, which lacked a seat, but suddenly leaned her head back as she gagged, her tongue sticking out. A terrible stench was strong within. Scrunching her face up, she sat on her haunches and held out her hooves. Max tossed the bolt cutter to her, and when she caught it, Rainbow swayed back and forth from the new weight, nearly dropping it.

The tool was nothing special, only able to cut metallic wires and the like. Rainbow glanced back to the cable connecting the harpoon. It wasn’t particularly thick, but she was already having troubles holding up the bolt cutter.

“What about you?” Rainbow questioned with no hint of malice; her voice was more desperate than angered.

“I let off the gas, this car flips,” Max stated, focusing forward. Rainbow raised a brow, tilting her head to the side. A cry was heard as a man dived through the back of the Interceptor, flailing his wrist-knife wildly. Rainbow jumped back, hugging the bolt cutter as Max took his shotgun and blasted the man in the face. Rainbow turned her head away from the noise, drops of blood splattering on her as well as everywhere else. The head fell to the floor with a wet thunk.

Rainbow’s breathe hitched in her throat, the blood sliding down her fur as she clenched her eyes closed. Blood pooled around the body and slithered around until it came in contact with her hind leg. Once it did, she let out a quiet whimper.

“This isn’t happening…” she whispered.

“Cut the cable!” Max barked, holding the shotgun at her. Rainbow yelped before hurriedly twisting around and climbing back through the passenger window, the bolt cutter hitting the door repeatedly before she was able to slide it out of the car. The weight was enough to make her hold it limply in her hooves, her wings working hard just to keep up with the vehicles. Max watched her for a moment before shaking his head, relaxing his shotgun.

The Leopards had finally detangled themselves from each other, three men already climbing along the Interceptor to Max, and more followed behind. With little time to spare, Rainbow soared around, searching for an ideal spot to cut the cable. Most of the Leopards were either on the hood of the truck or already invading the Interceptor. The safest place to cut the cable was directly on the harpoon, where one other person remained to keep a hold of it. Pedant had his back turned, unable to pay any attention to Rainbow falling back to fly behind the truck. Another blast from Max’s shotgun was heard.

Lining herself up beside the other cars still clustered together, Rainbow beat her wings furiously as she built up speed, racing straight for the man on the harpoon. She lowered her head just before impact, hitting the man right into the harpoon gun and knocking the air out of him without so much as a peep. He slumped to the floor, unconscious.

Pedant didn’t budge, allowing Rainbow to sigh in relief before positioning herself over the cable, a hoof holding each handle of the bolt cutter. “This can’t be too different from scissors,” she muttered to herself, setting the blades onto the cable. With the bolt cutter in place, she pushed both ends of the handles inward, her muscles tensing up and her cheeks puffing out.

All of her effort was in vain as she couldn’t get the two handles any closer to each other. Rainbow angled herself in different positions, from hugging the handles to hitting both ends repeatedly, but she lacked the strength to get the bolt cutter to do its job.

“Come on, come on!” she whispered frantically to herself, her hooves aching from putting so much pressure on them. “Think of how much Applejack would tease you for this. And how much you really hate losing to her!”

Growling, she pressed down even harder, and the blades incised just a little bit. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for Rainbow to give a wide smile. It was cut short, however, as Pedant sliced through her foreleg, causing her to cry out and drop the bolt cutter. Her hoof clutched the spot, blood oozing around it.

“Ow, ow, ow!” she cried, tears threatening to spill over. The gash was deep, and whenever Rainbow let off the pressure for even a second, the pain would double.

“That is the fate of all Gazelles,” Pedant mused with a smirk, reaching over and grabbing her mane, pulling it back so Rainbow would be forced to look up to him. His wrist-knife was dripping with blood as he held it aloft. “You should consider yourself lucky that you’re a sacrifice, otherwise your head wouldn’t be attached to your body.”

Rainbow struggled against him, but her wound was giving her the shakes, making her struggles weak. It just made Pedant laugh. “Pathetic!” he howled, bringing his head closer to her own. “This is why we are the hunters, and you are the prey. I look forward to cooking your flesh-”

Rainbow lashed out with her hoof, striking Pedant in the eye. Though she couldn’t muster all of her energy into it, her hoof was hard enough to get a good hit in. Clamping a hand over his eye, Pedant let go of Rainbow as he stepped back, using his other hand to lean on the truck. With a fierce glare, Rainbow used her wings to gain a burst of speed as she kicked his head with her hind leg. He tumbled off but was able to catch himself on the rails along the side of the truck, his feet dragging along the pavement.

The canyon was nearly upon them; a few more seconds and it would be too late. Holding her wounded leg up to her chest, Rainbow hobbled over to the bolt cutter, taking a hold of it with her mouth. She gagged, nearly spitting it out, but remained tough as she used her other foreleg to pick it up. Her wings were able to help her position the bolt cutter back where she had it before, the indent from her previous success easily visible.

A motion of panic swept through her, freezing her up. Her eyes wandered up and down the bolt cutter and cable, her confidence draining. That is, until she saw that one of the bolt cutter’s handles could easily be braced against the truck’s bed. Rainbow let go of the bolt cutter, which remained propped up. She shot up into the air without hesitation, gaining altitude so quickly that the rebound nearly threw her back. Just as fast as she went up, she flipped in the air and hurled herself straight back down, her wings pumping. She held her uninjured foreleg out, aiming it at the bolt cutter with one eye open to get it just right.

It all came together as she twisted mid fall so that her shoulder could slam into the bolt cutter. The force was enough to clamp it shut, cutting through the cable flawlessly. Despite the victory, Rainbow yelled from pain shooting through her shoulder as she slid onto the bed, but didn’t stay long before she took to the air again, her body hanging limply.

The sound of the cable retracting echoed through the air, catching Max’s attention as he jolted like electricity had struck him. The edge of the canyon was meters away, and Max gripped the steering wheel with both hands, turning it as much as possible while flooring the gas pedal.

The Interceptor changed course sharply, escaping the push of the Leopards’ vehicles as it drove to the side. One of the cars nicked the corner, and the Interceptor spun out. Max held on tight, his body leaning to the side. The men that were hanging on to the Interceptor flew off, landing on the surrounding sand dunes.

Only then did Pedant get back into the truck’s bed, just in time to see the canyon before him. The truck skidded to the side in an effort to steer away. It was futile as the truck hurdled off the broken bridge and plummeted into the canyon. Several of the cars did the same; trying to turn away only to fall off, spinning around in the air. Only one was able to brake in time.

By the time the Interceptor came to a complete stop, the screams from the canyon could be heard, followed by explosion after explosion as the cars smashed into the ground, metal debris ricocheting in the canyon as fire erupted from within. Rainbow saw it all, and could only gape in horror, the screams cutting off instantly making her look away.

The car that had managed to stay a top of the canyon turned to the side, the driver waved his hand at the other survivors, who were pushing themselves onto their feet from being flung off the Interceptor. They rushed for the car, hopping inside before its wheels squealed from the burning rubber. Dust kicked up as it slowly accelerated, quickly building up speed as the car took off down the road it had came from.

Rainbow could only watch as the survivors fled, and squinted her eyes as she saw one man stick an arm out and hold up his middle finger, along with a shout that was nothing more than a noise from the distance.

The car shrunk as it neared the horizon, leaving the area near silent. The engine of the Interceptor still rumbled, but the earlier noise of yells and cars were gone. Rainbow remained in the air, hovering in place as she slowly turned her head to the bridge, where thick, white smoke billowed out from the canyon, flowing away from her.

“They’re…” she said, her eyes glazing over as her ears folded back. “They’re gone.”

Max remained still, his breathing labored. His eyes also remained unfocused, closing them after a minute as he relaxed his shoulders. It wasn’t until he looked out the window did he spot Rainbow Dash still there. He studied her again with uncertainty, spotting blood trickling down her foreleg from the laceration.

“She is real,” he grumbled, grunting afterward with begrudged acceptance.

Comments

[Thunder-Bolt]

That awkward moment when you realize that you and your car were saved by a colorful horse with wings.