Domain of Friendship

by Cold Bolt

Episode 1-6

As the party marched on, the foliage once again parted, only to be replaced with a patch of dense fog. In spite of this, however, the crumbling spires of an old ruined keep were visible in the moonlight some distance away.

Twilight gasped. “There it is! The Castle of the Two Sisters, the last known location of the Elements of Harmony! We finally made it!”

Tank took a deep breath and let it out. “I really hope that book of yours was right about this, Twilight. If those Elements aren’t here, then we are in some seriously deep YIKE” Scrambling backward as his front hoof missed the ground, he quickly realized he’d just discovered the chasm standing in the way of their destination.

Rainbow Dash giggled. “Dude, what’s with you and falling off cliffs today?”

Tank grumbled.

Scarlet peered carefully over the edge beside the supports of a fallen rope bridge nearby. “Well, I imagine at some point in the past we might have crossed this bridge, but it seems of little use to us now.”

“Hey, don’t sweat it!” Rainbow Dash grinned. “Look down there, see? The bridge is still in one piece; it just came untied. Gimme ten seconds and I’ll have this thing back up.” Without further ado, she dipped down into the fog and snatched up the dangling end of the bridge.

“Be careful, Rainbow!” Twilight called after her, but got no response as Rainbow Dash flew back up and disappeared into the mist. Sure enough, one side of the bridge rose up and wobbled as the other end was fastened securely.

Then ten seconds passed, and the bridge was still only half tied. A minute followed along, with no change.

“Rainbow! What’s taking so long?” Twilight called out into the haze once again, but met only the sound of the breeze in reply.

“Oh no, what if she’s in trouble?” Fluttershy’s ears drooped. “What do we do…?”

Waterwing glanced in the direction of the chasm for a moment before giving Fluttershy a reassuring pat and a confident smile, then pointing at herself with her hoof.

“Huh?” Fluttershy blinked. “I, um… I don’t really understand…”

Waterwing blinked in kind, but settled for simply shaking her head. With hardly another moment’s consideration, she spun around, spread her wings wide, and bolted off through the air after Rainbow Dash, a faint “Wait, what?” from Twilight barely reaching her ears as the rest of the party faded into the haze behind her.

Quickly reaching the other side of the chasm, Waterwing slowed to a hover and peered through the fog at two barely visible pony-shaped figures a few yards from the bridge supports, with a pair of voices attached.

“But… Spitfire, I don’t get it. Why do I - ”

“That’s Captain to you, Rainbow Dash.”

Waterwing immediately recognized the first voice as belonging to a strangely uneasy-sounding Rainbow Dash, but she was quickly cut off by the second, which caused Waterwing to duck just below the cliff to avoid detection, peeking out over the edge for an indistinct view of what was going on as the second voice spoke again.

“You don’t get it? This is a test of your conviction. You are one of the best fliers I have ever seen, and you more than deserve a place in my squadron. I can even see you rising as far as my rank or higher before you know it, but only if you prove to me your dedication. Leave those nobody ponies behind you and walk the path of your destiny, Rainbow Dash!”

There was a pause, and one of the figures began pacing back and forth for a moment before coming once again to a halt. “You… really think I could be captain?”

“You have the skill and the presence of a leader. All you need now is that conviction! Show me that your aspirations for greatness are higher than your flimsy attachments to a bunch of worthless ponies. Prove to me you have what it takes to be Captain Rainbow Dash of the Wonderbolts!”

Rainbow Dash resumed pacing. “Oh man, oh man… Captain Rainbow Dash, that’s so cool…! Everything I’ve dreamed of for years, and it’s right here in my hooves…” She soon slowed to a stop once again, turning to face the other figure. “There’s only one choice I could possibly make then. Captain Spitfire?”

Waterwing held her breath, her ears drooping as she shook her head sadly.

“No deal,” came Rainbow’s answer.

Waterwing let out a sigh of relief, wiping beads of sweat from her brow.

“What.” Spitfire took an aggressive step forward, but Rainbow Dash held her ground.

“Those aren’t just ‘a bunch of worthless ponies’ - those are my friends! And in case you hadn’t noticed, we’re in the middle of something really important! The only way we’re going to stop Nightmare Moon is if we work together. If what the Wonderbolts are looking for is somepony who turns her back on her friends when they need her, then you can count me out!” With that, Rainbow Dash turned her back on Spitfire and made for the half-tied bridge.

“Poor choice.”

As soon as Rainbow’s back was turned, the silhouette of Spitfire seemed to dissolve with a loud RIP into an indistinct mass that immediately lashed out with a long appendage toward Rainbow, who emitted a grunt of pain as she tripped and hit the ground. The sound of hooves scraping the dirt and wings flapping desperately soon followed.

“Rrrgh, ow! Let me go, you - ow! You little…” Whatever attempts Rainbow was making to free herself were quickly proving fruitless.

Waterwing shook off her hesitation, darting out of her hiding spot and racing toward Rainbow Dash. Peering through the fog as she approached revealed the assailant to be an animate mass of thorny vines, one of which was wrapped firmly around one of Rainbow’s hind legs. The remains of a badly ripped jacket lay nearby.

Rainbow Dash gave a small start as she recognized Waterwing flying toward her. “W-Waterwing? Wait, stop!” She flailed her forehooves as she struggled, prompting Waterwing to come to a halt in midair. “If you get too close, it’ll grab you too! Find something to throw at it!” As Waterwing’s response to this was merely to look left and right for a moment before turning back to her, Rainbow continued. “I don’t know, something heavy! A rock! Anything! HELP!!”

Waterwing winced at Rainbow’s yell, quickly rising higher in the air for a better look around. Her eyes darted this way and that in search of anything at all that might help Rainbow Dash, but her heart sank a little further with every oversized rock and dead tree over which her gaze passed. Suddenly, however, what might be her one chance made itself known in the form of one of the aforementioned trees, its barren trunk standing tall in spite of all the rotten wood at both its base and its severed top, only a few feet from the vine creature.

Taking up position in midair a little ways past it, Waterwing stared at a spot near the top of the trunk. She had to be certain it would fall just right - a second shot was out of the question. Backing up just a little more for momentum, Waterwing dove straight at the tree as quickly as her wings would carry her and collided, bits of bark flying everywhere as she crashed clear through the rotten wood. The base of the tree crumbled just enough from the impact to send the whole thing toppling over… right on top of the vine creature, resulting in a loud SPLAT.

Rainbow Dash’s struggles finally came to fruition as the vine around her leg loosed its grip, and she toppled forward a few feet in her haste before coming to a stop in the grass. Waterwing landed gently a few feet away, taking a moment to brush bits of wood from her mane before trotting up to Rainbow to have a look at her leg. Blood trickled from numerous puncture wounds dotting a large bruise that circled the spot where the vine had gripped her.

“It’s not that bad, really! I can - ow.” Rainbow winced, the pain in her leg causing her to falter as she attempted to rise. Glancing around for a moment, Waterwing quickly found and retrieved the torn jacket from beside the defeated vine creature, brought it to Rainbow’s side, and began tearing strips of fabric from it with her teeth. Rainbow’s wincing continued as Waterwing gripped a wadded scrap of jacket in her mouth and used it to gently mop up some of the blood from the wounded leg.

A few moments passed before Rainbow spoke again. “You’re, uh… not gonna tell anypony I said all that sappy stuff, are you?”

Waterwing quirked an eyebrow and smirked at her in response.

Rainbow glanced away. “Oh… right.”

Waterwing’s smile faded, and she pointed her hoof directly at Rainbow’s face.

“Huh?” Rainbow blinked. “Wait, you think I should do it?”

Waterwing nodded, her smile returning as she gave Rainbow a hoof getting up. A second scrap of fabric was tied neatly around the injured leg, at which Rainbow stared for a moment. “Wait. That’s the uniform Spitfire was wearing, but…”

Waterwing tilted her head.

Rainbow continued. "...but if the monster was using some kind of magic to look and sound like a pony, then why did it need to wear a real jacket?"

Waterwing could only stare for a moment as she pondered the question. Before any epiphanies struck her, however, she gave a silent gasp and pointed in the direction of the bridge.

Rainbow looked over her shoulder and gasped in turn. “Oh man, the bridge! I almost forgot! Quick, let’s - ow.” She looked down at her injured leg and gave Waterwing a sheepish grin before gently taking flight as the two made to finish the job they’d started.

---

“Sorry to keep everypony waiting!”

A collective gasp came from the assembled ponies as a familiar pair of blue pegasi emerged from the fog and landed on the now-completed bridge in front of them.

Tank scratched his head. “Geez, what took you two so long?”

Twilight gasped, pointing at the makeshift bandaging on Rainbow Dash’s leg, into which a bit of fresh blood had already begun to seep. “Rainbow, your leg…!”

Tears began welling in Fluttershy’s eyes. “Oh no, you got hurt… I should’ve been there too, I’m so sorry…”

“It’s okay, I’ll be fine!” Rainbow Dash flashed a reassuring smile, giving Fluttershy a gentle pat on the shoulder. “Man, have we got a story for you guys, though.” She grinned at Waterwing, who smiled in turn and gave a nod of agreement. “C'mon, let’s go! The road to the castle is open; we’ll tell you on the way!”

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

What is this a crossover of?

[Cold Bolt]

7894742 An original setting of mine. I'll admit it's not what most people are going to expect from the tag, even if it's technically accurate.