Rainbow Dash's Unstoppable Ego

by MagicS

Demons II

The Lion and Wolf monsters leapt at her first, which surprised Dash because she honestly wasn’t expecting that kind of agile movement from any of these things. The Wolf tried to jump on and crush her while the lion struck closer along the ground and brought out one of its huge metal claws to swipe at her legs. Rainbow Dash jumped backwards to avoid them both but had to immediately fly up to dodge the Crocodile trying to snap its jaws on her body. The Bear vaulted off the wall to jump at and try to swat Rainbow Dash out of the air so Dash flew down again and passed under the bear’s belly. That just put her at a level where the Ram and Boar could both charge at her though and Rainbow Dash found herself instantly having to dodge being pulverized by the Ram’s horns and gored by the boar’s twisted tusks.

Six of these things at once is kind of a pain… Rainbow Dash grit her teeth as she flew away from them and skidded to a stop on the metal floor, panting in exertion.

Resin just watched with an amused smile on her face. It was clear she had total confidence in these things to deal with Rainbow Dash eventually. There was no fear on the earth pony’s face when it came to Rainbow Dash, she wasn’t worried for herself at all.

Rainbow Dash looked around at how little room there was in here, and how those metal monsters were blocking the exit. She had to get past them and get somewhere she could really move. If it came down to it she could outrun them all easily, or maybe lure them into a place where their bigger forms were a liability and try to take them out one by one. She just had to survive for now and get out of this room first.

“Hey so are there any weak spots on these things I should know about?” Rainbow asked Resin.

“A sense of humor is unnecessary for praising the glory of the flame. I’m curious how long it will take for you to lose it with my guard monsters chasing you,” Resin smiled.

“Yeah...” Rainbow grimaced as the six metal beasts formed up in front of her. In truth she could tell that all the wires and hoses across their bodies were probably what she wanted to be aiming for when it came to fighting these things. And she definitely had the swiftness and precision to get at them. But breaking or tearing them could be tough, and maybe impossible if the others were trying to attack her at the same time. Right now she just had to focus on getting out of this room and going down the stairs to get elsewhere in the top levels of the city.

So without hesitation she ran right at the metal beasts at a dead sprint. The bear was the biggest of them, most had enough room under their legs for her to run or fly between them, but the crocodile obviously hunkered closer to the floor. The Wolf again went for the first attack, it ran towards her with the clamp at the end of its tail snapping open and shut. When it reached her the flames in its mouth also grew in intensity and its lower jaw split open, shooting a blast of flames right at the floor where Rainbow Dash was running. The flames were emitted in a cone, not much distance but they covered a wide area, and Rainbow Dash was running right at them.

Of course with her body and athleticism she could easily sharply turn away from the flames and run around the Wolf. Its tail came down trying to grab her as she ran by but she was too quick for it and it just smashed into the floor instead. Rainbow grinned and kept running towards the exit to the control room while the Crocodile now scurried at her on its short legs and the Ram and the Boar came around at her sides to try and pincer her.

The moment she jumped up to avoid them all the Lion came leaping at her. It was a well coordinated effort by the metal beasts—which made Rainbow Dash wonder just how smart these things were—and it would’ve succeeded were it not for one thing. The fact she could fly. She wasn’t limited to only moving one way, she could buzz around in the air anywhere.

So she flew to the left of the Lion, it did try and breath fire on her just like the Wolf had but another quick flap of her wings and she was well out of its reach. The Bear stayed on the ground in front of the exit but reared up on its hind legs to attack her and block off the easiest way out. Rainbow Dash easily flew over its head to get closer to the ceiling, but by this time the Wolf, Ram, and Boar had all ran around to get in range of her again. The Wolf hopped onto the Ram’s back and used it as a springboard to jump high enough to reach Rainbow Dash.

Well Dash decided she might as well take a page out of their book. Instead of changing direction she flew right at the ceiling and then twisted around once she reached it, touching it with her back legs and pushing off of it like a missile straight towards the Wolf that had been jumping at her. Her sudden speed surprised the metal beast, it couldn’t react in time and Rainbow Dash ended up smashing right into its face and knocking it back towards the Ram. The two automatons collided with each other and were launched backwards, ending up in a heap on the floor of the control center and trying to extricate themselves from each other. A difficult task thanks to their stiff bodies and all the wires and hoses.

Rainbow Dash though ended up rubbing her shoulder, hitting something like that with such force wasn’t good for her. She wasn’t as tough as a Yak or even a pony like Applejack. And these things were made of metal after all. At least she knew she could do stuff like that though and damage them directly.

The sound of clapping reached her ears and Rainbow Dash looked down to see Resin still smiling at her and clapping away.

“You’ve got so much energy, you really should’ve put it towards working and making our flame as great as possible! Down there in the work area you could’ve been so happy knowing you were doing something for such a good cause but here you are doing this instead.”

“You’re a nut,” Rainbow frowned at her.

“And you’re dead.”

The Lion jumped up almost from directly beneath her, its metal claws wide open to grab her and tear her to pieces.

Rainbow Dash grinned and decided to do something unexpected again. She moved slightly and brought her hooves down to just barely tip herself off the outstretched claws of the lion and then flipped over its backside. When she was midway down its back she kicked off it, launching the lion away and shooting herself towards the floor right at the Bear’s feet at high speed. She landed and looked up at the Bear with a grin, its red eyes flashed back at her and flames shot from its mouth. The Bear went from standing on two legs to coming back down at her to try and grab her with its jaws and make sure she couldn’t escape the room by going between its legs at the same time.

That’s what she wanted.

Whether the bear wanted to crush her between those huge metal teeth or breathe fire on her it didn’t get the chance to do either. Rainbow Dash backstepped and then hopped up on top of its head and ran along its back. Smoke, exhaust, and minor flames came from a series of pipes and vents on its backside. She ignored all of that and jumped down right past is back, clear of the control room and now back in the circular hallway of the top level. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings to rise up and flew left in the direction of the stairs.

Let’s see how good these things can chase a pegasus like me! She thought.

Turned out they were decently aggravated and really wanted to catch her, all six of the metal beasts fought to rush out of the control room in a chaotic mess. The Wolf made it out first by squeezing past the Bear with the Crocodile coming next and snapping its jaws at Rainbow Dash. The rest followed in pursuit soon after that but despite their surprising capabilities they couldn’t really match her speed. She made it back to the stairs easy with the Wolf and Lion bounding off the walls after her. Rainbow Dash flew down to the next level and shot into a hallway, she was going to try and drag them out and separate them so she didn’t have to fight six at a time.

“Now I just need to hope I don’t hit any dead ends or get lost. Those things probably know where they’re going better than I do,” Rainbow Dash said. She then frowned as the seriousness of the situation caught back up to her. “And I need to get back down to the lower levels to open up that door or everyone...” She gulped. “Gotta hurry.”

And so the six automatons strained their systems to run after her.

---

Resin had her radio turned on with her headphones on and the microphone gripped in her hoof, she stood at the control panel and patiently tapped her other hoof on it. This was the third call she had attempted but Crush wasn’t picking up. He was usually so diligent about answering her transmissions.

“Is he not in the security headquarters right now?” Resin wondered. “Hmm, what to do, what to do...”

She needed him to start the evacuation and then the expulsion of all the useless parts of the city. And she needed to tell him to keep an eye out for that Rainbow Dash pony just in case.

“Oh, I know!” Inspiration suddenly hit Resin and she smiled, walking over to a different speaker built right into the control panel. “I’ll send a broadcast out for him through the whole city. Perfect!” Resin said as she settled down in the spot from where she made her daily broadcasts about the flame’s glory. In truth she wasn’t sure if she wanted to use it for this but it didn’t look like she had any other choice.

There was a single switch below the speaker with a red light next to it. Resin flipped the switch and the light turned green, signifying she was broadcasting to the entire city now.

~This is a special broadcast from your leader, Resin. Would the chief of security and his entire security team all drop what they’re doing and come to the control center at the top of the city? There are important matters that must be discussed. For everyone else in the city, do not be alarmed, there is no emergency and nothing to worry about. Just keep believing in the beauty and glory of the flame and work hard for its benefit. Thank you!~

She flipped off the switch and smiled to herself, delighted. Crush and his security team shouldn’t take too long to reach her.

That brought something else to mind though and she walked over to the other panels that had to do with the metal beasts she unleashed against Rainbow Dash. That pony was fast, and small, and she should probably make sure some of those monsters were always up here with her. Resin hummed to herself as she thought of what she could do before she smiled again. “I’ll send some of the small ones after her and keep the Crocodile out. The rest can come back. The flame should never be without its guardians for long.”

A few buttons were pressed and new orders were given out to the beasts pursuing Rainbow Dash while others activated at the same time…

---

Unbeknownst to Rainbow Dash most of the metal beasts chasing after her had given up the chase per Resin’s orders. That didn’t stop her from flying through the top levels because she could still hear the metallic rampaging of something coming after her. Of course there was something else now waking up too and coming out of the vents and hidden in special berths throughout the top level. A dozen pony-sized metal crabs and spiders had been turned on by Resin, their red eyes flaring to life as they skittered across pipes and beneath the floors, going through passageways too narrow for the larger monsters and most ponies who couldn’t flatten themselves down. They now all clattered about looking for their unsuspecting prey.

Comments

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Great chapter!

Are the lower level ponies going to find out what’s going on and give chase to Crush and his security team?

Will those metal beasts be enough to stop Heartless if they and Rainbow Dash encounter her?

[MagicS]

10667579
They'll figure out what's happened shortly. As for Heartless we'll have to see.

[StarzGecko]

10668317

Oh wait I read that wrong never mind

[StarzGecko]

10669238

Indeed, been having health problems so needed a story to relax in the last few days.