Sigil of Souls, Stream of Memories

by Piccolo Sky

Daybreak: With Friends Like These...

Rainbow Dash was left dumbfounded for a few more seconds, leaving Twilight and Sunset to glance between the two sides and wonder if this was a good or a poor development. Both of them took note of the fact that the faces of Gilda’s companions didn’t seem to change, and the fact that some of them had command of Anima Viris only made them more uncomfortable. The staircase up to the next level was in the back of the ruined chamber, but no one looked to it or made a move toward it.

Finally Dash spoke up. “Gilda? What are you doing here?”

She smiled a bit wider. “Heh, like what you see? I’ve moved up a bit in the world from bounty hunting.” She jabbed a thumb behind her at the crowd. “You’re looking at Griffonstone’s newest elite unit. Pretty sweet, ain’t it? They started rounding us up with offers to work for the government for a load of cash after what happened in Griffham City. Each and every one of us in the group has one of these on our hands. Some of us have a little extra too.” She flashed her teeth as she brandished her own, showing off her emblem on her sigil.

“Took us a while to figure how to get these to work right, but someone up in the government told us…I dunno…the ‘magic word’s or whatever. All we had to do from there was figure out the right names and titles to use with it, and we’re good to go. Check us out, Dash. Pretty sweet?”

Twilight and Sunset were practically dumbfounded to hear that last bit of news. After a moment, Twilight spun to her. “You didn’t let that out, did you?”

“Wha…me?” Sunset retorted. “I was trying to get rid of anyone with a Promethian Sigil! Why in the world would I have told anyone how to use the Anima Viris? So I could have more people being a pain in my neck? You and your friends must have said it too loud where they could hear you when you were in Griffham City!”

“There wasn’t anyone around us! And if there was, how would they have known?”

“Well I didn’t do it!”

“Neither did I!”

“Someone had to have!”

“Anyway, to your first question,” Gilda continued, looking slightly annoyed at having been interrupted. “It’s obvious, ain’t it? We’re taking Fillydelphia down a piece at a time, starting with this fort of theirs.”

Dash looked stunned. “Say what?”

She crossed her arms. “Come on, Dash. You can tell, can’t you? It’s not like we’ve got much of a choice. Ever since Trottingham had that Fire Witch go ballistic and start attacking Manehattan, that mess went down with the Nighttouched in Griffham City, and the night broke over Equestria, it’s obvious that the next top dog in the world is going to be whoever gets ahold of this new power. Everyone else is going to be running when they say go. We’re making sure Griffonstone isn’t left behind in the dust. In fact, that’s why the bigwigs have been pushing for getting into Equestria. We’re going to be the first to find out all the secrets they’ve been hiding. So far, it’s paid off pretty well.” She gestured again behind her, this time to the ones in her group who were glowing. “Each of them is as good as us, Dash. Well…almost as good.”

The three paused momentarily, before Dash smiled. “Well, heh…great catching up with you again, Gilda. I knew you’d make it out of those tunnels. And I’d hate to get in your way in your new line of work, so…” She reached out and began to motion to Twilight and Sunset. After a moment, they slowly began to start walking for the back of the chamber. “Have fun and I’ll catch you later.” She turned and took a step toward the stairs herself.

“’Fraid it’s not that simple, Dash.”

Several gun clicks echoed at the same time.

Sunset turned a shade pale. Twilight gulped. Dash herself maintained her composure, but one look in her eyes showed she wasn’t feeling nearly as comfortable as she had been a moment ago. The three slowly turned back around. Gilda hadn’t moved, but those with her that had guns now had them up and aimed at her.

“You see…you happen to have the Fire Witch with you right here, right now,” Gilda continued, gesturing over to Sunset. “I’d recognize her anywhere from all the wanted posters Trottingham has thrown up. She’s a wanted criminal in most of Greater Everfree…and yet, here she is, running around inside an actual Fillydelphian prison. And with you, no less.”

None of the three liked how she said the last part. And given their position, it took only a few moments of silence for the three to realize what kind of stew they were in and how carefully they needed to choose their next words.

“I know Fillydelphia seems to want to stick with gunpowder and iron for how they wage their wars,” Gilda went on, “but if that’s the case, what are you three doing here?” She pointed to Twilight. “That one’s got a symbol too just like us, Dash. This isn’t the first time we would have been hired for different jobs on either side of a paycheck, would it?”

“Now wait up just a moment,” Dash retorted, holding up her hands defensively, “we’re just passing through. They nabbed us when we tried to get through Fillydelphia.”

“Through Fillydelphia? And going where? Or, more appropriately, where with her?” Her head nodded toward Sunset, who was beginning to look very uneasy. “Trottingham’s best authority on these symbols and how to use them? I don’t suppose you’d be going to Griffonstone, would you? Because if you aren’t, we have a problem here.”

Twilight began to inch back a little. Her hand bearing her symbol began to lift slightly, but at once two of the Griffonstone soldiers aimed their guns squarely at her. She stopped soon after.

Dash seemed to be picking up on the rapid change in mood quickly too. She forced a smile. “Look…yeah, I know that Huntsmen can end up on opposite sides of a paycheck, but once in a while we can look the other way too, right?”

“Just not your day for luck, is it, Dash?” Gilda said with a faux head shake of sympathy. “You see, we’ve got some intelligence you don’t, courtesy of the same source that helped us use these Promethian Sigils. They said that there’s a weapon running around out there. It makes anyone who gets one of these symbols on their hands go ballistic. Start attacking their own friends and soldiers. And no way to stop them except to kill them. Pretty neat weapon to counter folks like us, huh? We don’t know how it exactly works or what it looks like, but apparently the tip we got is that there’s someone running around with a symbol on their hands that can set it off.”

Both Twilight and Sunset reacted as one. “What?”

“Oh yeah. And I’m afraid that means that we can’t let anyone with these sigils who isn’t one of us just run around willy-nilly then.”

Twilight stared open-mouthed at what Gilda had just said, not quite grasping the second part. Sunset likewise looked confused a moment, but soon focused more on the pressing matter at hand. Dash began to perspire, in spite of trying to maintain a bold face. However, it was rapidly starting to break in view of the stares of the other Griffonstone people. They weren’t nearly as friendly or casual as Gilda.

“I’ll cut you a break, Dash, for old time’s sake. I’ll let the three of you head back to Griffonstone with us, but that’s the best I can do.”

The three didn’t move. Sunset glanced between Twilight and Dash, but neither of them clearly had any idea what to do next. They couldn’t even equip their Anima Viris right now without tipping the Griffonstone soldiers off. In spite of the sound of distant fighting, the area went deathly silent.

Finally, someone did make a move…albeit an unexpected one.

One of the Griffonstone soldiers carrying a gun aimed at Twilight slowly began to lower it, although his eyes stayed forward and stared at her intensely. As he did, his comrade nearby noticed. She raised an eyebrow. “Gabe, what are you doing? Slacking off on the job?”

He didn’t answer. He continued to stare at Twilight, his expression unchanging. A few of the other soldiers glanced in his direction. Twilight herself stared at him. For a moment, she continued to look worried and a bit confused.

Then a stroke of realization hit her.

“Oh no…”

“Gabe. Gabe!” the comrade shouted to him. However, he didn’t react. He let the gun fall the rest of the way. His jaw began to tighten. His teeth slowly started to poke out from his lips.

Sunset turned to Twilight, noticing her stare. “What’s wrong?” She turned back to the Griffonstone soldier and she realized the same. “Oh hell…not now…”

Finally, the soldier lowered her own weapon and moved forward, standing in front of ‘Gabe’. “Hey! I’m talking to you! What’re you-”

She got out no more. Raising his gun, he swung it forward and clubbed her along the side of her head with the butt of the weapon. The soldier cried out as she was nearly flung to one side, and Gabe immediately began to move forward…eyes still locked on Twilight.

However, his attack spurred the others into action. Two of the nearby soldiers lowered their own weapons and immediately rushed on him, seizing him from behind by either arm. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Stand down now! That’s an order!”

He didn’t answer, only gnashed his teeth and began to struggle violently in their grip. Both of their looks became amazed as he viciously tore at them; clearly shocked that they were barely able to hold him back. They grit their own teeth and tightened their muscles, but barely managed to keep him from only slowly inching forward.

“Gracie!” one of them shouted, turning his head and yelling. “Help us out here!”

The soldier being shouted at didn’t move. She kept her own gun forward, aiming steady and keeping her eyes firmly on the three in front of them.

“Gracie!”

The soldier hesitated a second longer, and then her own face turned into an enraged scowl. She suddenly began to fire at the three. Twilight would have been hit, had not Dash noticed the change coming over her. Just in time, she darted forward, grabbed her by the arm, and practically tackled her to one side as several rifle shots impacted where she had been.

Another soldier immediately seized her rifle barrel and pushed it to one side. “What the hell are you-”

With an almost animal-like yell, she wrenched the gun out of his hand, then snapped her other arm up and smashed him across the face. This blow was even stronger than her companion, who was still wrestling with his own comrades, had done. A bloody tooth went out of his mouth as he fell to the ground. She immediately raised the gun again and struggled to aim at Dash and Twilight, only for another soldier to quickly leap into the fray and tackle her from behind. She went to the ground and he quickly shifted to try and pin her, yet to his shock she began to writhe and thrash about so violently she was beginning to break free in seconds.

One of the Warriors took a step toward them. “What has gotten into you-”

She too was cut off as something ran into her. It was another one of the soldiers, fuming, glaring, and charging right for the three. The Warrior managed to hold up a bit better, being shoved before turning fully around and bracing herself against her comrade, but she still had to reach out and seize her by the wrists and restrain her, and the struggle wasn’t an easy one.

By this point, everyone in the Griffonstone group was looking around in confusion. Gilda was no different as she glanced about her at her revolting comrades, growing increasingly incensed at the sight. “What the hell is happening around here? What are you all doing?”

“Damnit, I can’t hold him!” one of the soldiers grappling with the first said through strained teeth.

“Settle down, man!” another shouted as he wrapped his arm around that one’s throat, struggling to put him into a sleeper hold. It didn’t seem to be too effective. “Talk to me! Snap out of it!”

The one attempting to pin down the second cried out as she was flung off. ‘Gracie’ attempted to quickly scramble to her feet to go after Twilight’s group, before another soldier leapt on top of her and took her back to the ground. She immediately clubbed her in the back of the head with her own weapon, but it did little good. She barely seemed phased as she tried to get out from underneath her as well. “They’re not stopping! I’m hitting her and it’s doing nothing!”

Gilda grit her own teeth. “Well what the…”

She trailed off at that moment. Her eyes widened in realization. A moment later, she snapped around and stared at the three of them but particularly at Dash and Twilight who were still to one side. Sunset began to look far more uncomfortable than she had under any of the glares of the Griffonstone soldiers now going ballistic.

“You… It’s you doing it, isn’t it?”

Twilight looked panicked. “N-N-Now wait a second…”

“Gilda,” Dash began to respond, her own tone realizing what was coming. “It’s not what you think…”

“So you did have a weapon after all,” she muttered aloud, “and you did give it to Fillydelphia…”

“No!” Twilight insisted. “That’s not how it works! I mean…no, I…”

Dash didn’t stay down any longer. Her own body starting to tense up, she quickly got back to her feet and squared herself against her. “Gilda, listen… We’re not the ones doing this. Don’t do anything that’s going to make me-”

It was too late. Her own face igniting in fury, she pointed at the three. “Take them down! Hurry before anyone else gets affected!”

Unfortunately for her, the soldiers were either indisposed with their comrades or distracted by what was going on. None of them was in the position to immediately start firing or attacking them anymore. That gave Dash the split second she needed, and she quickly held her hand in the air. “Member of my house, I command you to come to me! Leader of the Wonderbolts—Captain Spitfire!”

Her own aura erupted, further distracting those in the room. As for Twilight, she continued to lay on the floor momentarily, tensing up at the increasingly degenerating situation. However, it lasted only a second before Sunset ran up to her and clapped her hand on her shoulder. She was jolted into awareness and spun to her.

“What are you waiting for? Bring out Starswirl!”

“What? But…but I can’t! It’s…it’s…”

“You think these people are going to listen to reason now? The only thing we can do is fight out of here!”

Twilight hesitated, but then she gave a resigned sight before she raised her own hand into the air. “Member of my house, I command you to come to me! Master of Sorcery—Starswirl the Bearded!”

Moments later, her own aura erupted as the role of the Caster began to be donned on her. Yet while she was still preparing her own Anima Viri, Dash was already emerging from her own transformation in the garb of the Disciple. She didn’t waste a second, but quickly ran toward one of the fallen Trottingham soldiers. By that time, two of the soldiers had finally gotten enough of their bearings to raise their arms and fire, but her speed allowed her to dodge them easily. As soon as she reached the fallen soldier she ducked down, snatched something off of him, and then quickly rose again and darted backward.

The Griffonstone soldiers nearly fired again, but stopped when they saw Dash fling something toward their entire group. It struck the ground in front of them, and they realized it was a grenade. Those in the Griffonstone group who were gaining their bearings quickly recognized the same, and moments later they were thrown into disarray, for they couldn’t simply back up and flee from it as they were also struggling to hold back their three allies. Soon it was a mad scramble to try and get back while also pulling the rioting soldiers with them.

Moments later the grenade went off, sending an echoing boom through the room and causing another eruption of dust and smoke between the two sides. Some cries were heard out from the Griffonstone soldiers, but not nearly all of them. At that moment, Twilight had finished her own transformation. She pushed herself up, grabbing a piece of wooden debris as she did in order to make a new wand for herself, and then promptly traced a symbol in the air. On executing it, the chamber was filled with a roaring, fierce gale that whipped forth from the area right in front of the three and the Griffonstone group. The dust and dirt cloud was blown away, only to be blasted right into their eyes and faces, causing them to recoil and shield themselves.

“Let’s go!” Sunset shouted as soon as the spell was executed, already starting to run up the stairs.

Twilight and Dash quickly followed suit. The staircase that loomed ahead of them was rather tall and broad, looking more suited to a palace than a fort, but there were a large set of iron reinforced double doors at the top. Doors clearly designed to protect and fortify what was inside.

In spite of the length, Twilight and Dash ascended the stairs with no problem at all, skipping two at a time. Sunset kept up as best as she could, but Dash easily reached the top first. Kicking back a fist, she formed a palm and readied herself to lunge forward and smash it open.

At the bottom of the stairs, a voice shouted.

“Member of my house, I command you to come to me! Final Monarch—King Guto!”

The sound of an aura erupting behind the three of them went out. It echoed for only a brief moment, as Dash, not hesitating, reached striking range of the door. As her fist began to come forward, Sunset suddenly felt a sharp gale race by her left side…so strong that it swept her forward and made her fall against the stairs on all fours. Moments later, a resounding “bam” resonated from above her.

She looked up and was shocked. However, her own alarm was nothing compared to Rainbow Dash’s.

Gilda, now gleaming with her own aura, and dressed in the form of a Disciple, was standing in front of the door blocking Dash’s own punch with one hand.

Dash only had a moment to react in surprise before Gilda’s other fist came forward, smashing her in the face. She snapped backward, and Twilight and Sunset were both forced to dart to one side as she tumbled down several stairs before catching herself below them, lest she bowl them both over. On halting herself, she turned her head back up to the Griffonstone Hunstman.

“You aren’t going anywhere, Dash!” Gilda yelled. “Not until you tell me what you did to my unit and how to stop it!”

“I don’t know because we didn’t do it!” Dash shouted back. “There’s nothing to tell you!”

“Want to do things the hard way? Fine, ‘Sonic Rainboom’! Just hope you realize you aren’t the best Huntsman anymore! Let me show you why!”

In a snap, Gilda had vaulted off of her current stair and let the natural incline send her sailing down to Rainbow Dash, reaching back with one fist and driving it against her as she came. Dash was forced to cross both arms in front of herself to block against the hit and not lose her footing, but even then the power resounded almost as loud as a gunshot and she was nearly tipped back. Gilda didn’t let up. As soon as she was done hitting she touched down on the upper stairway and used her height advantage to rear back and swing out her leg in a kicking move for Dash’s face. She was able to block the first kick, but the angle of a second follow-up was too much for her. The blow managed to connect with the side of her head hard enough to snap her neck back and send her falling again.

This time, however, she was ready, doing a nimble cartwheel backward before planting her feet, then launching off of that back up the stairs…just in time to get in Gilda’s face as she was rushing in for another blow. Instead, she countered with an uppercut of her own. Unfortunately, even with her choice of a move, Gilda still had the height disadvantage. She was able to sidestepped it and immediately bring her own fist down for another blow of her own, and then press her advantage with two more punches and a palm strike that Dash had to struggle to deflect. Even so, she was being driven further down the stairs, being forced to take another step down and toward the wide room below where Gilda’s allies awaited.

On Gilda’s fourth strike, however, Dash quickly swung her head out of the way to evade the fist all together, and using the timing quickly countered Gilda’s follow up strike with a swinging block that knocked her arm away and left her open. Rearing her free hand back, Dash got ready to bury it in her gut…

Only to notice that rather than look surprised, Gilda was almost smirking and looking behind her.

Dash’s eyes widened, and quickly she twisted around and shifted her body to one side. In spite of that, she still gave a mild cry as a blade that was aimed for her back thinly sliced against her side instead. She spun around only to see one of the Warrior soldiers behind her, having drawn her combat knife which had turned into a sword. However, no sooner had she evaded the thrust when she saw the Warrior not only pull her blade back for another strike, but her partner was rushing up and leaping for a slice for her head.

Quickly, Dash snapped her head down to avoid the blade as it slashed for her neck, and twisted and pivoted again to narrowly miss the second thrust. She readied herself to counterattack…only for a roundhouse kick to come from behind her and bury its heel into the side of her head, taking her off of her feet again and flinging her aside into the stair corridor wall. The impact resounded rather hard, prompting Gilda, still having her foot out from the strike, to grin and chuckle a bit. The Warriors, however, wasted little time, and quickly turned and ran for her as fast as they could to follow up. As for Dash, she slid off the wall, groaning a bit from pain, but quickly got to her feet just in time to evade the next blade thrusts.

Seeing all of this taking place, Twilight hesitated momentarily, needing a second to think up a proper spell. When one came to mind, she raised her hand and began to chant the appropriate script…

“Watch out!”

The warning from Sunset cut her off, however, and a good thing too. Breaking her focus, she noticed that the Caster and the Magician were both racing up the stairs as well. However, what truly shocked her was that the Caster was finishing drawing a symbol of her own and executing it. As soon as she did, the air cooled and shards of razor-sharp ice flashed through the air straight for her. She managed to see it in enough time to dodge to one side, but no sooner had she done so than the Magician followed up with a true fire sigil as well. She barely had time to recognize the incoming attack, especially due to her surprise, in time to throw up an ice sigil to counter it. Even then, by the time she managed to get off the counter-spell of her own, the fireball was nearly on her, and on striking the ice symbol the burst caused droplets of burning hot liquid to splash on her, making her wince as she pulled backward.

The two didn’t give her any breathing room. While the Caster held back and began to cast another spell, the Magician ran forward, drawing her own combat knife and causing it to morph into a saber as she neared. The latter of the two was going to land far sooner, and Twilight had barely regained her footing when she saw the incoming thrust eminent. Having no time to think of anything better, she quickly drew the ice sigil again and executed it just as the Magician reached striking range. With a sharp crackle, ice quickly formed out of mid air and condensed around the new blade, increasing its weight and suddenly pulling the Magician’s arm down to deflect her strike. Twilight quickly began to generate another sigil in hopes of following up…

It was no good. The Caster finished first and executed a green sigil. Moments later, Twilight cried out in alarm as the stone pavement of several of the stairs, including the ones she was on, rapidly gave way beneath her. Her concentration was immediately broken and it was all she could do to leap clear to one side before the stone flooring gave way all together and dropped down to the previous level far below. She raised her wand to try and fight back again, but once more was thwarted. The Magician used the moment to raise her own ice-coated sword and, rather than try to free it, used it to generate a blazing yellow sigil. Moments later, lightning erupted from the end of the blade, simultaneously shattering the ice and slamming into Twilight. More cries resounded as she was flung backward and up several stairs, beating into several of them before halting. When it was done, she looked anguished and sore, but had little time to recover as the Magician rapidly rushed in to try and finish the job.

Sunset watched her long enough to see Twilight manage to get back to her feet and retreat just in time to avoid another slice, before she heard another loud noise from Dash. She turned to her and saw her forced back again from another blow from Gilda. She quickly stopped herself by planting her feet and sprung back with an attempt at a counter, readying another kick. Yet just as she shifted weight onto one leg, the two Warriors sprang in her path with blades drawn. She was forced to abort and spring back on her bad leg to evade one swing of the blade, but she was so unbalanced that she nearly stagged back to avoid another swing. The two continued to come at her, swinging again and again with strikes strong enough to cleave the stone of the stairwell whenever they missed. She continued to back away from them for a time, before finally one of them thrust toward her.

Quickly, she darted to one side, hooked her arm around, and intercepted the incoming attack by the wrist. With her opponent now halted, she quickly cocked back a fist to drive it into his head. Yet once again before the blow could land, Gilda vaulted forward, leapt over the shoulder of her comrade, and swung her foot against the side of Dash’s head. Not only that, but she followed up with a second kick while still in midair that struck her square in the face.

Once again Dash went down against the stairs, tumbling a bit more before stopping herself. Gilda had already landed and was rushing up to her, and no sooner had she halted than she was at her side and readying an axe kick to bring down on her head. Eyes widening in alarm, she quickly arched her back and sprang up, narrowly missing the kick as it came down and fractured another stair. With one quick gesture, she managed to get back on her feet, but Gilda was already coming at her with another sweeping kick. She pulled back to evade it and quickly put her arms up to block and deflect a series of strikes she followed up with. When Gilda finished with a hook, she didn’t try to block but ducked under it, letting the fist swing harmlessly overhead and letting her become wide open. She nearly drove her fist into her midsection…

Only for one of the Warriors to kick one of the fractured pieces of stairway off of the foundations and directly into her side, just beneath the ribs. The stone made an audible collision on hitting her, aborting her attack again as she grit her teeth in pain and wrenched to one side. Gilda quickly retreated, allowing the second warrior to come in with weapon drawn and aimed to pierce her chest.

Exhaling in exasperation, Dash quickly threw her arms up and slapped her palms against the blade as it was incoming. They closed and held tight, catching the blade. The Warrior immediately shoved in for all she was worth, trying to overpower her, and causing Dash’s muscles to tighten and her teeth to grit even harder. For a few moments, the two struggled with both quivering but neither side backing down.

After only a few moments, however, the other Warrior quickly moved in from the side, meaning to strike her while she was exposed. Her eyes darted out and spotted the incoming attacker nearing. Having no other choice, she let out a loud grunt and, just as the Warrior began to come in, she wrenched her arms to one side and forced the blade of her opponent away from her and to the ground; nearly driving the tip into the foot of her partner. The other Warrior immediately halted while the one who had attempted to stab her was stunned.

Dash sprung back to her feet, cocked back her leg, and got ready to deliver a follow-up blow to hopefully take at least one of the two out. Yet again it never had the chance to come across. Even as she lifted her leg to strike, Gilda came at her from the opposite side in a near blaze and belted her across the face, hard enough to knock her up several stairs before letting her fall to the ground again.

The sound of a pair of eruptions nearby distracted Sunset, causing her to spin back to Twilight. Robe tattered and partially singed, she was fleeing the wake of two plumes of black smoke that were the result of a pair of fireball spells. She began to chant a spell for water, but was again cut off as the Magician lunged forward with a thrust, and her arcane words turned into a cry of alarm as she wheeled back. The Magician continued to pursue her with several more thrusts, just long enough for the Caster to generate a wind spell, and then quickly darted to one side to let her execute. A moment later, and wind like razor blades lashed out and pelted Twilight, forcing her to shield her face to avoid having her eyes stung by it. Even so, scrapes and slashes appeared on her arms as her clothing was ripped.

Once more she attempted to generate another spell, a faster one this time, but had no opportunity as the Magician moved in again as soon as the spell died down. She was forced to flee alongside the broken staircase and getting pushed closer to the edge of the hall all the time. What more, she was looking tired and strained from the physical toll she was having to spend to keep evading them.

Sunset hesitated, tensing up as she glanced between the two and realizing the current situation. She looked farther below and saw that the others were still occupied with their rioting comrades, but seemed to finally be getting the upper hand on restraining them. Finally, she turned and looked behind her at the iron doors. There was no way she could open them on her own, especially as she knew what had to be behind them…

Fear gripped her for a moment, and she was petrified as she had been in times when she had been on her own before. Yet after that moment, a light entered her eye. The spark of an idea.

Suddenly, she turned and began to charge up the stairs straight for the metal doors.

Somehow, in the midst of the beating she was getting, Dash managed to glance at her doing it. Even in the chaos of the fight she sneered. “Ha! I knew you’d bail the first chance you got!”

The yell, however, served to alert the individuals from Griffonstone. Both Warriors, the Caster, the Magician, and even Gilda looked up and spotted Sunset run to nearly the top of the stairs. Yet rather than make a move on the doors, she paused momentarily, composing herself and trying to think back to her more confident days, and then spun around. When she did, she forced the most smug, egotistical, superior look she could muster, put a hand on her hip, and grinned down at them.

“I think I’ve let you all play long enough,” she smirked. “Time to burn.”

Immediately, she held up her other hand and began to trace a sigil as she chanted.

Of course, not the slightest bit of mana came out, and her gesture did nothing but trace along the air. However, those from Griffonstone knew well of the “Fire Witch”’s reputation, and her merely beginning to look like she was casting a spell was more than enough for them. Gilda forgot about Dash in an instant as her eyes bulged, before her brow creased and her own teeth grit in determination. Leaving her opponent behind, she charged up three of the stairs at superhuman speed before launching off of them and aiming a flying kick at Sunset’s head.

However, the woman had been anticipating this even before Gilda began to move. Immediately losing her egotistical look, she abandoned her fake chanting and dropped herself to the ground as quickly as she could. Gilda’s foot just barely scraped a few of her hairs before the Disciple kept shooting straight past her until she made contact with the heavy metal doors. In spite of their reinforcement, the power of her blow snapped whatever locks or bolts were holding them and caused both doors to swing inward and expose the room beyond.

Gilda’s own eyes went wide with surprise an instant before a storm of gunfire erupted from within, mindlessly blasting away at whatever was trying to come in. It would have torn her apart if it wasn’t so wild, spraying the angled doors as much as the opening she had made in it. As for her, her body was partially shielded behind one of the iron portals she smashed in before she dropped to the ground, and as soon as she landed she immediately rolled to one side before the soldiers on the other end could draw a bead on her.

Everyone else instantly went down as streaks of bullets sailed over their head, pressing themselves into the rubble and the dirt. Sunset was already on the ground, going rigid as she heard the hot lead sail over her head for several moments, but somehow she closed her eyes, swallowed, and began to crawl down the broken stairs again. She kept her head down, not looking up and spotting the other Griffonstone warriors rapidly doing the same, and didn’t look up until she was several steps below the door.

Nearby, Twilight had already flattened herself to the stairs as the Magician and Caster she had been fighting struggled to descend further to regroup with their allies. Dash was further away, but her own attackers had given up the fight and she was making her way to Twilight as quickly as she could. Seeing that, Sunset bit down, concentrated, and forced herself to keep moving. She finally reached Twilight just as Dash finally managed to catch up to her.

In spite of the roaring gunfire, Dash looked at her with a half frown. “Alright…that was kind of cool.”

“Too bad I didn’t really have a plan past that,” Sunset grimaced. “This isn’t going to keep them down long and we still need to get up there. Now what?”

Twilight winced as she shrank down for a bullet that came too close, nearly taking off her hat, before being able to speak. “I’m going to have to do it.”

Sunset turned to her. “You?”

She shrugged. “I can teleport in there.”

“But you don’t know where you’ll land. Or how many people are in there already.”

Twilight grimaced, but in the end shrugged. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained… There’s no other way we’ll get in there.”

Sunset let out a sigh. Dash merely grinned back. “Alright. We’re counting on you.”

Twilight nodded, but paused again to take a deep breath and steady herself. She looked back at the two. “The moment you hear the gunfire stop, run upstairs. You both have to get in before I can try and seal the door.”

“But what if they’re stopping to reload?” Sunset interjected.

If Twilight heard, she didn’t answer. The moment that she was done saying her piece she immediately held out her hand, drew the magic sigil, spoke the proper incantation, and in a flash of lavender light disappeared. Sunset sighed.

“She’ll be fine,” Dash reassured. “She took you out, didn’t she?”

She didn’t respond. She only listened closely to the gunfire behind them. It didn’t stop, but she tried to pick up on if there were any interruptions indicating surprise or the changing of a target. She heard neither. She glanced back down the stairs. At the moment, they had the advantage of being the highest up save for Gilda, who was so close to the top that she couldn’t use the natural curve of the stairs for protection and was forced to stay flat. Below, however, it looked like they were trying to regroup. Some began to shout to those farther below, obviously coming up with some sort of plan.

Before anything could come to fruition, however, Sunset was deafened once again and slammed herself even more against the floor as an explosion much louder than the previous one that had signaled the Griffonstone soldiers’ arrival rang out. Her heart skipped a beat as another cloud of smoke and debris, this time far larger and more potent, rolled in from the entrance they had made for themselves. The Griffonstone soldiers were much the same, wheeling around in surprise just in time to see their comrades that were pinning down their crazed members getting blown off their feet and across the floor by the resulting chaos.

The cloud didn’t last long this time. Soon, the roar of waters as well as turbine engines began to resound through the entire stairwell from the room below. The reason became clear as the dust billowed out. The skybridge that had connected the opening to the main tower was now fractured in two. Nothing but an empty chasm stretching over a fatal drop now spanned outside, before the broken, half-crumbled remains of the pieces of the skybridge that were still intact hung loosely on the opposite side. There was now a gaping opening into nothingness just outside the tower. Sunset was left as in awe of it as the Griffonstone soldiers.

The surprise didn’t last long. The dust abruptly was swept away like it was no more than a curtain, and the shadow of one of the Steam Wings came up in its wake. Its large gun was out and immediately it sprayed the interior with a hailfire of large caliber bullets. The sound the gun made was practically deafening in the small space and more of the chamber was ripped to pieces by the burst. The Griffonstone soldiers were driven into panic, quickly trying to pull back and away from the opening while they could. However, while the first Steam Wing only strafed the area before moving away, it was quickly joined by a second coming from the opposite direction, which put another burst into the area. This time, one of the soldiers cried out in agony before collapsing and going still, while the others struggled to drag themselves and their mad companions to the safety of the stairwell.

Sunset couldn’t help but half-smirk. “Guess we got a bit of luck on our side, huh?”

“Idiots!”

Hearing Dash’s sharp retort, Sunset looked at her only to see her frowning at the whole sight.

“They blew up the whole skyway and cut off one of the only ways for their comrades to get out just for a few pot shots? What kind of jerk is running that wing?”

“What has that got to…” However, Sunset trailed off in the middle of her response as she noticed that she was audible enough to be heard. She raised her head and looked back, realizing in an instant that the gunfire from up above had stopped. Immediately, she began to push up. “Now!”

Dash looked up, soon realizing the same thing. Before Sunset could protest, Dash was on her feet, seizing her by one arm, and half-dragging her up the stairs fast and strong enough to nearly pull her off her feet. In an instant, the two ascended the stairs the rest of the way and came face to face with the smoking, bullet-riddled, yet open doors. The movement was so fast that Sunset barely had time to recognize anything except Twilight running forward, beckoning them on desperately. In moments they had crossed the threshold.

“Shut it!” she yelled. “Quick!”

Sunset found herself nearly dumped on the ground as Dash released her, pivoting around and quickly pushing against one of the heavy metal doors for all she was worth. In a moment, she had managed to shove it closed again. Soon she did the other. Moments before it could close, Sunset heard one of the Griffonstone soldiers yell up to them. However, it was cut off by the metal clang of the door into place.

“Stand back!”

Sunset quickly got her feet underneath her and ran to one side as Dash went to the other. As for Twilight, she quickly brought more of her power to bare and risked a much longer and more complicated icy blue sigil. When she executed the spell, the temperature in the room plunged considerably to the tune of massive pieces of solid ice, over three feet thick in some places, materializing over the entire door frame and sealing it shut. After a resounding crackle, the three were left in the room with a practical iceberg between them and the Griffonstone soldiers.

Dash managed a smirk. “Alright. That’ll hold ‘em.”

“Considering they have two Warriors, a Disciple, a Magician, and a Caster?” Twilight panted, still winded from the spell as well as the earlier attacks. “I don’t think so.”

Sunset took the moment to spin to her. “How the hell did they know how to execute proper spells? Or even use the Anima Viris?”

“Don’t look at me! I have no idea!”

“They weren’t more of Celestia’s students, were they?”

“No! I’ve never seen any of them!”

“Forget where they learned it!” Dash interjected, pounding one fist into her hand. “Let’s just focus on taking them out when they bust in! Man, do I owe Gilda for those cheap shots…”

“Are you nuts?” Sunset practically cried. “There’s too many of them and we’re still trying to bust out of here!”

“She’s right. I couldn’t even get a spell off between two of them, and they have five with Anima Viris equipped. Let’s just find a ship in here and get out while we can,” Twilight immediately added.

Dash frowned and muttered a bit, but turned away and began to look about.

Sunset soon did the same, at last pausing to get a look at the new area. It was quite large and spacious, arranged in a giant circle. In the center of the room, lying in an unconscious pile, were a mixture of Fillydelphia soldiers and tech crew. It was clear Twilight must have gotten them all from behind with a sleep spell. Around the room’s periphery, however, there was a series of enclaves. Each one was lined with tools, hoses, smaller generators, tanks for fuel, and, to top it all off, a large door hatch that obviously provided a way for entrance and exit. It soon became clear that the area functioned as some sort of docking bay for the smaller aircraft. On the sides of the chamber were metal staircases leading up to the next level, apparently for docking the larger ships. None of them looked that way, knowing it no doubt led to more soldiers, save to glanceoccasionally to see if any were coming.

Dash went to the side of the chamber while Twilight and Sunset picked a side and began to move around the circular edge. However, they soon found there was nothing there. All of the bays had already been emptied, leaving only tools and supplies behind. It only took them a few seconds to walk the circuit, at which point they both turned to each other with uncomfortable looks.

“I think we’re a bit too late… I think all that was housed here was those Steam Wings, and they all must be out right now.”

Twilight grimaced. “Even if there’s a larger ship upstairs for us to take, I don’t know if we can man it with just three of us. Especially since Rainbow Dash is the only one who knows how to fly them properly…”

“You’ve got to be kidding me…”

Both Twilight and Sunset turned and looked at Dash when she muttered that aloud. They saw her to one side of the chamber near the entrance, at a small straight corridor entryway. Two sets of huge, heavy metal doors flanked either side of it. One was hanging slightly ajar, just large enough for someone to walk through, and Dash was currently staring through the threshold. She said no more, just stared a bit longer before she stepped inside.

Twilight and Sunset glanced at one another, but neither of them gave any protest. They turned back to the doors and soon rushed over to them. Soon they were passing inside as well.

There was a smaller subchamber within, also a circular room. It lacked the hatch openings of the main room, and the only illumination was from a few thin windows letting in gray, cloudy sunlight. Combined with the open doors, there was ample illumination to see inside. And after taking only a few steps into the chamber, both Twilight and Sunset hesitated and marveled at it.

The room was packed with Steam Wings, but they were unlike the kinds that the two had seen before. These ones were considerably older, which was clearly evidenced by some of them. They didn’t look so much dismantled or under repairs as falling apart. A few even showed signs of unrepaired damage. All of them had spots of rust around the bolts and gaskets. That being said, it was clear that when they were fully operational they were sleeker and smoother, with wings that were designed to imitate the natural world far better. They were made of interlocking metal pinions rather than more sleek and broad planes like the wings they had seen, and the turbines were smaller and embedded within them to make them look almost like they could fly of their own accord—like metal birds.

Dash stood a bit in front of them, marveling at them all. Especially the one in the center. That one alone was hooked up to a steam generator and seemed to be in reasonably complete condition, suspended by special cables and chains.

“I don’t believe it…” she half-muttered. “They’re all here…”

Twilight turned to her. “What is?”

“The Wonderbolts,” she answered, almost exhaling it in reverence. She took a step closer as she said it. “Their Steam Wings… They’re here.”

Twilight looked confused. She glanced around the room again before looking back at Dash. “That’s…that’s not possible, right? I mean…the Wonderbolts, they…they…” She trailed off, not wanting to say it in front of Dash. “I mean…didn’t they fly these into that last battle?”

Dash hesitated, before almost absent-mindedly shaking her head. “They never had the chance to get to them…” she nearly whispered, almost too soft for the two women to hear as she stepped in closer to the machine in the center. “I thought they got ruined too when Cloudsdale fell. That they got left to rust or fall apart. But they’re here…”

Sunset stepped in a bit further, glancing up and down the surrounding machines. She reached out to the nearest and touched one of the metallic feathers. “If I had to guess, I’d say Fillydelphia must have brought them here as spoils of war. They’ve been researching them ever since. Trying to reverse engineer them to make those Steam Wings they’re using now.”

Dash moved up to the side of the wing in the center. Slowly, she stepped around until she was across from the cockpit area. She stared at it a moment, seeing the places where the legs would insert and lock into place, and then looking over the padded backside and the arm controls. She stared at them for a few moments, and then took another step forward. Her hand reached out and put it on the left control arm.

Slowly, her fingertips traced over the individual buttons and controls, but eventually it moved the entire arm to one side, exposing the inner portion.

Etched into the metal was a lightning bolt with wings.

She stared at it a moment, almost unconsciously beginning to smile. “This was Soarin’s…”

Twilight looked around the craft a little more, and finally back to Dash. “Can you fly us out on this?”

Dash didn’t answer. She kept staring at the emblem. She ran her finger along the etching.

“Rainbow Dash?” she called a bit louder.

She still didn’t answer. Her smile slowly faded as she kept staring.

A loud noise came from the reinforced doors. Like a blow had hit them. Sunset, stiffening, turned and looked out the entrance to the side chamber and winced. Twilight began to grow uneasy as well. “Rainbow Dash!”

Finally, she snapped out of it and looked to her.

“Can you fly us out on this?”

“Huh?” The question almost seemed to leave her paralyzed for a moment. She stared back blankly. An odd hollow look came over her for a moment…one that neither Twilight or Sunset had seen before. She looked at the Steam Wing a moment, still in that daze. Then she blinked and began to look around it a bit more normally, in particular what it was hooked up to.

“They kept it fueled…reasonably serviced… I…I guess so…”

Sunset frowned. “Can you or can’t you?”

She blinked. “Yeah…” After a pause, she spoke more forcefully and readily. “Yeah…yeah, I think we can. It looks a little old, but these things were built to last. It’s going to be one hell of a bumpy ride though.”

Another blow, louder this time, rang out against the door. Sunset grimaced. “I don’t think we have much choice. If we don’t get out of here soon, we won’t get out at all.”

“What do we do to get it ready?” Twilight asked.

Dash paused a moment, looking around, old memories coming back. She moistened her lips and pointed. “Right… Start disconnecting the gaskets to knock off these hoses. Nevermind the cables. We’re going to have to start from a drop. Then get over here and start fastening yourselves into the passenger attachments. Let’s hope they didn’t let this thing get too cold…”

After saying that, she stepped forward to the main harness. Twilight noticed that she paused again, and actually shrank her hand away for a moment, but then swallowed and began to go about opening the various restraints. Once they were undone, she quickly climbed in and began to lock her legs into the foot controls.

Sunset, fortunately, seemed to know about the gaskets better than Twilight. She ran over to them and began to undo the flanges. As soon as the first was off, it gave a burst of steam and nearly exploded off of the Steam Wing, causing her to recoil in alarm, but as soon as it was on the ground and slowly thrashing about she left it and went for the next. Twilight soon helped her. As they worked, more blows were heard along with the sounds of breaking ice. Not only that, but loud voices began to come from upstairs. And all while explosions and gunfire continued to echo from the whole facility.

Once inside the harness, Dash began to rapidly fasten herself in. “Looks like they must have run a test or something on this recently. Otherwise it would have taken us an hour to get it ready for takeoff…”

Twilight and Sunset didn’t answer, just finished detaching the final hose before moving up to the sides of the Steam Wing. It took them a moment of looking around, but eventually Dash, in the middle of beginning to throw switches, gestured to a collapsible compartment on either side of the main body that had doors that screwed in on special hatches. Both of them grabbed one, rapidly undid them, and threw open the metal doors. Smaller, simpler harnesses came out as a result.

Both of them grimaced a little on seeing them, but hearing more ice break in the other room quickly got them to go to work fastening themselves in. There was a waist belt that came between the legs, a regular belt buckle, and a shoulder harness. They quickly donned all three.

However, on finishing, Dash motioned to them. “Tighten those up as much as you can and then lock the buckles into the flanges. Then grab the rods and lock your feet into those mounts down there. Trust me…you’re going to want to be really fastened in.”

Twilight let out a small whimper while Sunset grimaced, but both of them quickly did as they were told to tighten themselves up along the body of the Steam Wing as much as possible. Once their feet were locked in and they grasped the handles, another break was heard from the door. However, far more concerning was a smaller noise rushing in with it—the sound of footsteps running down the stairs from the upper floor.

“Rainbow Dash…” Twilight began to say.

“I know, I know! Don’t rush me! It’s been years!” She let out a tired sigh, and then looked over the controls again. “Ok…primed…set…safeties released… Let’s fire it up. Switching the wing turbines on now.”

Moving her thumbs over either control, she threw a master set of switches on either arm. The sound of steam beginning to rush through the inner workings of the Steam Wing went off, and soon after mechanical noises followed as the steam turbines came to life within the metal pinions. Each one was soon igniting and producing small jets of vapor.

“Alright…” Dash said with a half smile. “Powering it up…”

Shifting her hands to a dial on either arm, she gave both a turn. The jetting sound increased as the turbines picked up speed. As the sound of footsteps became closer, both Twilight and Sunset gave a short yelp as they suddenly lifted up on the cables and chains supporting them. In moments, they realized they were hovering. Sunset swallowed while Twilight clutched the handle harder.

Seeing this, Dash nearly whistled. “Don’t freak out just yet. The wildest part is still to come. Hang on… I’m throwing the cable release!”

She threw another switch, and loud poppings followed by metallic twanging sounds rang out overhead. Twilight let out another yelp as the entire Steam Wing began to fall to the ground a little, but Dash quickly increased the turbines and soon they leveled out and the aircraft was left hovering. A moment later, she moistened her lips and began to adjust the wings slightly, flexing them ever so gently. In response, the entire Steam Wing began to slowly hover forward just a foot above the ground.

Yet as they advanced, the doors suddenly pulled open the rest of the way. Fillydelphian soldiers burst through, each one armed and at the ready. They paused only a moment to gape in surprise on seeing the Steam Wing active and advancing. Moments later, they snapped out of it and began to raise their weapons to fire, which made both Twilight and Sunset panic as they were exposed.

Dash, however, responded by shifting both of her arms, and in response the hovering Steam Wing suddenly spread out its metal wings as well as it could in the enclosed chamber before giving a mighty flap forward. The turbines surged when it did, sending a blast of concentrated pressure forward and through the chamber. The soldiers cried out as they were swept off of their feet, some of them losing their weapons in the process, before the force flung open the doorway and cast them threw it back out into the hall beyond.

“Ok! We’re clear!” Dash shouted. “Let’s get out of here!”

Sunset winced again. “You sure that doorway is big enough for us?”

“Little late to worry about that now, ain’t it?”

Sunset let out a whimper of her own and pressed herself in as tightly as she could as the Steam Wing picked up speed, headed straight for the opening. Twilight pressed herself in as well and both women shut their eyes. Moments later it made contact, and both of them felt a chill down their spines as they heard a slight scraping noise from the folded wings as they pushed through. However, aside from hearing a few bits of door frame come loose, the aircraft made it. They were now out in the main chamber.

Sunset and Twilight opened their eyes and saw the area was now filled with multiple Fillydelphian soldiers. Several of them tried to raise their arms again, but now Dash had even more room and she held out her wings to flap twice. It caused them to sink to the floor a little each time, but the powerful gusts of the engines were too much for the people to withstand. Each one was blown back and away with several of them being thrown into enclaves. She increased the thrust afterward, and more steam and winds were blasted into the chamber. It soon enveloped everything in a tempest that started to throw about tools and parts as well as soldiers, and all while the Steam Wing moved faster.

Nevertheless, neither of the passengers relaxed too much. As the Steam Wing spun away from the main doors to the chamber and toward the circle of hatches, Twilight caught a glimpse of the rear door as a huge slab of ice broke off of it, completely freeing one of them. “We need to get out of here!”

“I know that! So get busy casting a spell!”

Twilight blinked in alarm, and looked up to her. “Ex-excuse me?”

Dash motioned her head forward with an impatient look. “I can’t open those hatches from in here! Blow us a way out already!”

Twilight’s jaw dropped. She looked forward and saw they had already crossed half the chamber and were headed straight for an unoccupied enclave. The hatch was still sealed, however, in spite of the fact Dash was picking up speed.

“We haven’t got all day! Get it open! I don’t have any guns on this thing to do it myself!”

The Caster swallowed. Very slowly and reluctantly, she removed her hand from the handle. Shaking, quivering, and still nervous about being strapped to the Steam Wing, she held it out. She tentatively began to draw a sigil, but she messed it up in moments. She tried again soon after, chanting a bit this time, but she fumbled over the syllables, and soon had to correct herself once more.

By now, they were only twenty feet from entering the enclave. “Twilight! Now, please!”

“I’m trying!” she cried back. However, the yell was enough to jar her to focus. Closing her eyes, she rapidly focused out the spell and the sigil. Moments later, a fireball erupted from her hand and sailed forward. While it was a bit close, and all three women winced from the heat and blast when it went off, the resulting explosion did the work. It blasted the hatch doors clean off of their moorings and out into the world beyond. In moments, the resulting smoke was blown away by the powerful gusts of the sea outside, and a gray sky beyond was exposed.

“Oh yeah! Here we go!” Dash yelled. Pushing the throttle forward, the Steam Wing rapidly advanced and went to the now-open hatch. Moments later, it crossed over and came outside.

Neither Sunset nor Twilight had much presence of mind of what happened next. Both were too busy screaming in terror. The moments the Steam Wing cleared the threshold, it arched over and went into free fall, and soon all three of them were shooting down for the razor sharp rocks and sea below them. They hardly noticed the other Steam Wings and ships in the air or the sounds of the gunfire as their stomachs rose to their necks and death seemed imminent. However, Dash rapidly extended the wings and held them rigid, and after falling for only a second or two enough lift was generated from the airflow along with the turbines to catch them, and instead of crashing the Steam Wing sailed out in a graceful arc before leveling off and then rising into the air. The steam turbines went up to full power, and their stomachs went into their feet instead as the world rapidly fell down below them and the prison rapidly shrank around them until they could see all of the complex at once…while hanging upside down from the bottom of the aircraft.

Dash gave a yell as the winds blasted by them. “The ol’ girl’s still got it!”

Between the roar of the engines and the wind, Twilight could barely hear a word of that and merely clutched the handles even more tightly. As they picked up speed, she continued to do that for several seconds along with Sunset, struggling to not be nauseous or terrified as the prison continued to get smaller and the sea began to stretch out far below them.

However, it didn’t last. As they continued to shoot away, both Sunset and Twilight were able to eventually see two plumes of steam arch around and orientate themselves behind them. Soon after, they spotted a pair of Steam Wings, these ones Fillydelphian made, both aimed toward them and not getting any smaller. In fact, after a few moments, it looked like they were getting bigger.

Sunset’s eyes widened, and she managed enough bravery to remove one hand from the handle and tap Dash’s leg. She shouted as loud as she could. “We have company!”

“I know!” she yelled back over the roar, glancing toward what looked like a mirror built into the harness. She immediately gunned the engine a bit harder, squeezing a little more speed out of it and making Sunset rapidly hold on once again.

Unfortunately it didn’t seem to make much difference. The two shapes continued to get closer, until Twilight and Sunset could just make out the outline of their pilots. Soon after that, both of them heard faint noises that were scarcely audible over everything else. However, what they saw was unmistakable. Yellow periodic streaks of light shot out from either wing, and trails of the same light whizzed past Rainbow Dash’s steam wing on either side. They were only in a short burst, but a second later both wings pitched inward and fired again. The streaks were much closer the second time.

“They’re shooting at us!” Twilight shouted.

It was unclear if Dash heard that or not, but in any event she cracked a grin. “Time to see if I still got it… Hold on tight!”

Twilight and Sunset barely had a chance to tighten their grips before Dash launched into a half spin and veered sharply to the left, just in time to evade the third burst of gunfire from the steam wings behind her. Undeterred, the two pilots immediately reorientated themselves as they continued to close in and fired their second burst, but just as quickly Dash veered the other way, pitching the wings to shoot across the other way and evade the next set of streams.

The pilots responded by both fanning out on either side of her, meaning to catch her from both directions at once. They closed even nearer before erupting in a fresh blast. Twilight and Sunset both sweat a bit on seeing Dash grin, before the Steam Wing launched into a barrel roll. Both of them felt like their stomachs were being pumped as she nimbly spun between the two steams of bullet fire, evading them too.

“Aw yeah!” Dash cheered as she leveled off again, right before veering again to one side to avoid another burst. “I still got the moves!”

“You’re going to kill us before they have a chance to!” Sunset cried back in between retching. “Just outrun them!”

“Too late for that!” Dash shouted back. “I try and outrun them, I’m going to burn off all our steam when we’re still over the sea!”

“Then we have to lose them!”

“Lose ‘em? Hello! We’re over a sea!”

“Then we have to fight back!” Twilight shouted.

“Fight back with what? We don’t have weapons!”

Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but instead retched herself as Dash was forced to drive the Steam Wing into another drop to avoid another burst of gunfire. After taking a moment to swallow she shouted again. “Can we outlast them?”

“They’re still closing on us! We don’t have time!” Sunset yelled back.

Dash paused momentarily, looking at her harness mirror and quickly making some judgements. She finally cracked her neck a little. “Well…I think I still got a couple tricks yet we can try. But if you thought that ride was rough until now, you’re gonna need to really hold on this time.”

Neither woman liked the sound of that, but answered by shutting their eyes and holding on tighter.

Gritting her teeth and almost grinning, Dash dropped the Steam Wing again to evade the next burst of gunfire. The two pursuing aircraft immediately went into a partial dive, letting gravity help them maintain speed, and fired again. Dash dropped even more to evade that burst of fire, this time continuing to let her altitude drop. The two Steam Wings cut off the gunfire again and fell in hot behind.

Finally, at about a hundred feet from sea level, Dash leveled the Steam Wing out. The two bogies, hot in pursuit, immediately fell in behind and fired again. However, she didn’t drop any further this time or try to ascend. Instead, she rapidly pitched and spun in a circle to avoid the gunfire burst. It was much narrower this time, as her pursuers were much closer. It took them no time at all to right themselves and fire again, but she countered by once again spinning and strafing. They continued to close, now getting quite near. Twilight and Sunset opened their eyes again only to see that they were close enough to start making out details on their uniform. The next gunfire burst prompted such a strong and abrupt reaction from Dash that the two felt like they were nearly ripped out of their harnesses when she spun. Even so, Twilight actually felt the heat of one of the bullets from how close it came.

“Rainbow Dash!”

“Not yet! Just a little more!”

The two bogies cut off again, and this time stayed off as they got closer yet. By now, they were drawing into point blank range and dodging would be nearly impossible even for Dash. There simply wouldn’t be enough reaction time. Nevertheless, she kept presenting an easy target. She held the Steam Wing steady even as both ships fell in behind her and leveled themselves out for a straight shot. Twilight and Sunset uneasily waited for the next burst of gunfire to come at any moment…

Suddenly, the wing dropped from the sky. Dash put it into another short dive, headed straight for the sea. The two enemy wings followed in hot pursuit, desperate to maintain their target. This time, however, they got too zealous. They followed Dash right as she neared the water, seemingly about to plunge inside of it. Yet just when she reached the surface, she leveled out again and angled the tips of her wings downward. That close to the sea the combination of the turbulence on the wingtips along with the power of the turbines immediately kicked up a torrent of spray right behind her…and right into the incoming Steam Wings.

One of them quickly veered up and just barely managed to clear it as it came in. The other, however, more stupidly flew right into it. And for about a hundred yards, they were able to keep with it. That was when their own wing gave a massive sputter and shudder, right before the turbines gave a choking sound and cut out. The Steam Wing wobbled a bit in the air, then pitched down and crashed right into the briny water below.

“Ha!” Dash laughed as she pulled up again. “Haven’t worked out the pilot light being insulated in those things yet, have you?”

“That only took out one of them!” Sunset shouted back. “The other one’s still after us!”

Her warning hardly seemed necessary. A moment later, the other Steam Wing gunned its own turbines and soon was on Dash’s tail again, firing away with a fresh bout of gunfire. The Disciple stopped cheering just in time to quickly swerve the wing up and away, causing Sunset to gulp and clutch for dear life again, but this time evasion wasn’t so easy. The bogie quickly maintained speed and closed the distance until it was right on her tail. When the next gunfire burst came, everyone could hear the bullets just scrape the edge of the wingtips, and Dash barely got it aside in time. Soon things got even worse as she was forced to start twisting and spinning vigorously to avoid being tagged by the point blank shots. The enemy never gave up. It stuck to her like glue in between each burst.

“I…can’t…take…this…!” Sunset managed to choke out.

“Maybe you’d like to ask them to stop shooting at us then!” Dash yelled back as she went into another barrel roll to evade the latest gunfire. “Twilight, feel free to shoot back at them whenever you want!”

“I…can’t…!” she managed to cry out. “I could barely…concentrate back…back in the prison! They’re…moving…moving around too much…!”

Dash grit her teeth as she quickly evaded another stream of gunfire. This time, one of the metal pinions got hit, sending out a loud metal clang that caused Twilight and Sunset to look up. Soon after, they heard a whistling over the aircraft from the increased drag and could tell they weren’t as maneuverable.

Dash spotted this and thought for a moment, then looked back at Twilight. “Forget trying to hit them! Can you just shoot a spell straight in front of us when I say so?”

Twilight looked confused. “Well…yeah, but-”

“Then get ready!” Dash shouted back as she swerved to avoid the latest gunfire burst. Twilight was thrown for a loop along with Sunset, but she didn’t explain any more. As soon as she was clear, she immediately dove back for the sea once again.

The bogie picked up on this, and quickly began to fall back so they would have enough time to get clear of any sea spray that Dash kicked up while still maintaining a target lock. Yet in spite of what seemed to be a move already destined for failure, Dash kept going for the sea. And by leveling out, Twilight was able to open her eyes again. Although she looked sick and could barely lift her hand over the roaring of the turbines and wind, she slowly extended it just enough to start tracing a sigil.

Dash reached the sea and curled her wings again, meaning to move in and spray. The bogie remained in pursuit at a distance, falling in behind her and lining up a clean shot. However, it didn’t open fire this time. It was waiting for Dash to try and spray it with water vapor again first. Then it would be clear to move in above her and shoot. It was content to wait as it saw Dash nearly make the move…

At that point, the Disciple shouted. “Hold on as tight as you can!”

With that, she swung the control arms forward, and the metal wings angled down to create a stall.

Sunset and Twilight both felt like they were going to be flung away from the steam wing like a catapult. The former finally did throw up as she was nearly bent over her own harness, and Twilight’s wand went flying as she bent over her sigil from the deacceleration. However, their own shock was matched only by the pilot of the Fillydelphian steam wing, who soon found her target coming right at it. With nothing else for it, the pilot made a panic move and quickly ascended to get out of the way, breaking target lock and letting the opposing steam wing shoot right under it…

Dash waited until the precise moment that the Steam Wing was passing underneath the craft before angling the body of it upward, right as the enemy passed overhead…

“Now!”

Somehow, though the stall, Twilight managed to maintain control of the sigil. Without even thinking of what she was doing she executed it.

A bolt of lightning snaked out from the body of Dash’s Steam Wing and made contact with the opposing aircraft. While it missed the turbine, half of one wing was immediately snapped clean off from the rest of the fuselage. An instant later, it sharply angled downward and veered to one side. The pilot struggled to regain control, but there wasn’t sufficient time as close as they were to the sea. As Dash pulled out of the stall and began to level off again, her opponent sank straight for the water and connected with sufficient force to snap off both wings completely.

The Steam Wing leveled off soon after, reorientated itself, and then rose back into the air. Soon, the speed dropped to a cruise and evened out completely. When that happened, both Twilight and Sunset finally opened their eyes again and let out sighs of relief.

Dash, on the other hand, was still grinning. “Now that was awesome! I forgot how great flying one of these things could be! Feels like you’re a bird that can go anywhere and do anything! It was just like…”

She paused.

“Like…”

Her smile ebbed a bit. The light in her eyes faded a little.

“Like…old times.”

Sunset didn’t react too much to that, although Twilight noticed the change in her facial expression. Hearing her was a bit hard for both, as the rush of the engines and wind still made that nearly impossible. Finally, Sunset looked up to both of them. “So what now?”

“We need to go as far as we can in this!” Twilight answered. She looked up at Dash and tapped her again, getting her to look in her direction to read her lips as well as listen to her. “Can we get back to Manehattan?”

She shook her head. “Not a chance! These wings can’t run that long! We’ll end up getting as far as Griffonstone or Fillydelphia again! We could try for Mount Aris, but I think we’ll land in the mountains if we do that!”

Sunset saw their faces and frowned. “Griffonstone and Fillydelphia both want us dead!”

“We’ve got no choice!” Twilight interjected. “Let’s fly northeast, toward Appleloosa!”

Sunset looked at her. “That gets us even farther away from Manehattan!”

“We can’t help it! I don’t like it either but it’s that or being stuck in Mount Aris! We can at least move around in Appleloosa!”

She sighed but didn’t protest any more.

Dash shrugged. “Alright, Appleloosa it is! Let’s hope we got enough juice to clear the sea at least, because if we crash in the water I don’t think we can swim to shore!”

Both women looked down and around and saw, at this point, they were totally surrounded by water. Both of them gave an uneasy look as they tightened their grip on the handles, preparing for a rather long trip. As for Dash, she looked forward, adjusted herself a bit in the harness, and continued their long flight.

She failed to notice a shimmer of light run down the control arm to the hand bearing her sigil.

Author's Note:

This chapter took a considerably long time to get out, mostly due to the action sequences. It always takes me forever to get them down. I'm wondering, though...were they too wordy? Would y'all like to see me cut back on what happens in them?

Comments

[Marebook7]

Great chapter! Can’t wait for more.

[MegaPyro]

incredible chapter, full of emotion and action. 10/10

[PixelatedPerson]

Hope the magic rainbow has gives an upgrade to the wonderbolt wings