Rainbow Dash's Unstoppable Ego

by MagicS

Rainbow Dash Rises IV

“We don’t have the time to gather up more soldiers from across the city!” Summer Rains yelled to Crescent Moon as they flew at high speed over the city towards the Ice Sentinel station.

“And we have no idea how many of Blizzard’s soldiers there actually are guarding the crystals,” Fierce Current said.

“I’m very well aware of this, okay?” Crescent Moon frowned and kept his eyes ahead. “We’re just gonna have to do it ourselves!” He tried to sound as confident as possible but if what Blizzard said about them being badly outnumbered was true they could be in for a difficult, if not impossible, fight.

“It’s okay, we can do it,” Wild Wind tried to reassure the others.

“Baseless confidence? I’m all for it!” Skychaser sarcastically said and threw up his hooves in resignation.

He found himself slapped on the back of his head by his cousin. “Stop that, we’re all going to need to give it everything we have. No whining.”

“Yeah whatever...” Skychaser whined.

“Just think about who you’re fighting for,” Clear Skies said with a look of steely determination in his eyes as visions of his brothers played in his head. “We’ve all got families.”

That was true. Whatever was waiting for them they just needed to think about how important this was and what failure would mean. Rainbow Dash had left saving the city up to the seven of them while she fought Blizzard all alone, there was no way they could let her down when she was willing to do that. All of this was to save the Empire and make it a better place for the pegasi who lived here, if they didn’t have the courage to fight against such odds for its sake then what were they even doing? Rainbow Dash wasn’t even from here and she was willing to do that. This was their home, and they were going to show the resolve they had to save it and fix it.

---

Two blue pegasi faced off against each other. One a lighter sky blue, the other a darker deep-ocean blue. Besides that though they hardly had any similarities. Blizzard thought he knew Rainbow Dash well, thought she was rather alike him in ways like wanting a challenge, wanting to be the absolute best at something and not taking second place for anything. But he had misjudged her too. He thought she would’ve been a perfect fit for the true pegasus way but didn’t acknowledge all the problems she had with it. He didn’t see how much she valued friendship and freedom and everything else that made Equestria so great. He didn’t see how much she hated others getting hurt for no reason. And he didn’t accept how she could become so strong following the traitorous ways of Equestrian ponies.

Besides Rainbow Dash’s friends and allies there were a few other civilians peaking out of windows and watching them. Scared, but far too awed to look away entirely. All of them had heard about the previous fight between these two. And now all of them knew how important this rematch was. It was the fight to decide the fate of this city and all the lives in it.

“You don’t stand a chance,” Blizzard said to her.

“You’ll never keep me down for good,” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “I’m stronger than you and now I’m gonna prove it.”

“The only thing that’s going to happen is I break your limbs. Again.”

“No way dude, you’re fighting a different Rainbow Dash today, and we aren’t in the coliseum either. I’m gonna fly circles around you,” she grinned.

“You can flit around like an obnoxious fly all you want. It’s not going to change anything,” he glared.

Dash’s grin got even smugger if that was possible. “Your whole city is about to see me beat you. How does that make you feel?”

“You’re living in a fantasy world if you believe that!” He yelled and crossed his wings over his chest before snapping them back at lightning speed and unleashing a blast of wind at her.

Rainbow Dash effortlessly flew over it, the wind not even tickling her tail. Blizzard didn’t have the advantage of fighting inside a relatively cramped coliseum now. Out here Rainbow Dash had so much more room to fly and Blizzard couldn’t take control of the air currents either. She was already a bit faster than him and she knew his tricks, it wasn’t just hot air when she said she would fly circles around him.

“You know you’ve gotta be faster than that!” Dash taunted him.

The Commander was in no mood for banter considering the situation, his rage fully overtook him and he flew at her like a missile. “Graaaahhh!”

Rainbow Dash knew how to deal with hot-heads (especially since she was often one herself) and she dodged to the side of his head with fairly minimal effort. She could easily make tiny adjustments to her position in the air thanks to the great talent she possessed and how strong and accurate her wings were. While he passed by her she even lashed out with her hoof and kicked his helmet off his head, the metal object falling to the ground.

Not like he needed a helmet with how tough he was but it was more a hit against his ego than anything.

Blizzard sharply turned around, his mane wildly being tossed around in the wind, and came back for Rainbow Dash again. Like the skilled fighter he was he didn’t allow his anger to cloud his judgment this time, stopping short of just trying to fly into her and instead punching and jabbing at her with his hooves and wings. His speed was impressive and his reflexes like lightning, something Rainbow Dash had learned well in their previous encounters, but it wasn’t enough for him to actually land a blow on Dash when she was keeping focus. She ducked and weaved through all of his attempted punches with a dexterity matching and even surpassing his own.

He swung his wing out at her right at neck level, and when she ducked under it he leaned back and brought up his hindlegs in an attempt to kick her but Dash propelled herself backwards with her wings to avoid him. Aerial combat in the open sky like this really allowed for practically anything, you could fight on any level, move anywhere, twist and turn your body in ways you couldn’t if you were on the ground, Dash had limitless options for dealing with Blizzard. She just needed to keep her cool this time and not underestimate him.

Of course even all of her options for avoiding and dodging him didn’t give her a way for beating him. Everything she had thrown at him in their previous fights was like an ant trying to take down a manticore.

“Coward! Always flying around to avoid everything, you know that if even one of my punches lands it’s over for you!” Blizzard yelled.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah, totally sorry that I’m not just letting you beat on me. I guess it’s not very honorable or whatever. Get over it, jerk.”

“You’re still just delaying the inevitable,” Blizzard said and began flapping his wings as hard as he could in her direction, creating another, more widespread, whirlwind.

This one couldn’t be dodged, it was like an ever expanding cone of wind that he was at the apex of, but it wasn’t so powerful that it blew her out of the sky because of that. It wasn’t focused or precise enough. The force was spread too wide. The houses below and behind Rainbow Dash were also feeling the wind and the ponies inside them had to shut their doors and windows. Rainbow Dash raised a hoof up to keep the wind from her eyes and beat her wings hard enough to maintain her position. Even though she could’ve given in a little to make it easier for herself, letting his wind slightly take her away, she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of that.

Seeing that he couldn’t knock her away with wind like that he stopped and rocketed towards her again. This time spinning around like a turbine while Rainbow Dash recovered. The high-powered spinning he was doing made him more dangerous than if he had flown straight at her, his outstretched wings gave him more reach and the force from even a glancing blow would probably knock Rainbow Dash to the ground.

Rainbow Dash had to blow some mane out of her face and when she did she saw the spinning spear that was Blizzard coming right at her. With a click of her tongue she dove under him but Blizzard saw her movement and dove lower to to head her off. Rainbow Dash had to grit her teeth and push herself even faster to avoid him, barely making it under the spinning Blizzard in time before he hit her. Even then she could feel the air being blown around him scrape across her back. Once she safely made it past him though she dove up and watched as he stopped spinning and turned around to seethe at her again.

But this time Rainbow Dash went on the offensive. Zooming at him fast enough to leave an after-image where she was, she went right up to his face and rapidly pummeled him all over his big mug before he reared up and tried to smack her away.

She avoided his punches and kicked him in the chest, he didn’t buckle at all, partially cause unlike her he was still wearing armor over his body, and she had to swiftly fly to the side to avoid another punch aimed at her head. When she did he tried to bring his left wing down vertically right in the path of where she was going, but Dash was able to stop and punch his wing hoisting herself over it and letting herself jump past him.

Blizzard did something she didn’t expect though. When she was passing his body his tail whipped out at her, Dash’s reflexes were quick enough to keep her from getting smacked in the face by it entirely but it still snapped her across the cheek under her left eye and she rolled away from him, a sharp pain burning where he had struck her. She floated above the streets and rubbed the sore spot, it definitely had a bruise already forming.

“It seems the hair on my tail can hurt you more than your hooves can hurt me,” Blizzard said as he turned around to disdainfully stare at her. “What are you going to do now?” He was speaking loud enough for his voice to carry to the buildings and all the ponies below watching.

“Tch,” Rainbow Dash bit her lip. He had a point.

From below, Aurora and the others were watching this all play out, hoping for Rainbow Dash but deathly afraid for her as well. They, especially Aurora, wished they could help her. But how? Two of them couldn’t even really fly, the others weren’t fighters, and even if they were they couldn’t fight on the level of Blizzard and Rainbow Dash. Aurora winced when she saw Rainbow Dash get hit by Blizzard’s tail and her lip trembled when Blizzard taunted her. What was going to happen?

“We need to help her,” Aurora said to Snowshine, tugging on her braided mane.

Snowshine grimaced, she agreed with the sentiment but… “I’m sorry, there’s nothing we can do.”

Aurora looked to the others. Elder Tornado’s eyes were glued on Rainbow Dash and Blizzard, Gale was shifting around and trying to avoid meeting Aurora’s gaze. As the filly looked at the buildings around the street she saw the other ponies watching too. But no one was helping. No one was doing anything. Rainbow Dash was the first one to do anything, couldn’t they pay her back for getting them this far?

Aurora couldn’t just stand there anymore. She ran out into the middle of the street while Snowshine called out for her to come back. Taking a deep breath she yelled as hard as she could:

“Rainbow Daaaaash! You can do it! Don’t let him win!”

Both of the fighting pegasi heard her and looked down in surprise, but Aurora wasn’t finished yet. The filly looked to the ponies hiding in their homes and Snowshine and the others behind her.

“Come on everybody, Rainbow Dash needs our help! Don’t be afraid! Cheer her on, tell her how much you want her to win!” Aurora looked back up at Rainbow Dash with a smile and started jumping up and down. “I know you can beat him, Rainbow Dash! We’re all counting on you!”

Seeing the filly fearlessly hooting and hollering in support of Rainbow Dash when Commander Blizzard was right there lit a fire in Elder Tornado’s heart. She was right.

The old pegasus stepped up alongside her and cupped his hooves to his mouth. “Go, Rainbow Dash! Knock his stupid block off!”

Snowshine and even Gale quickly joined in, yelling all the encouragement they could. And seeing all four of them courageously doing that in the middle of the street it drew something up from the ponies hiding in their homes as well. Windows were thrown open all the way, pegasi walked out onto their roofs, doors were opened and even more came back out onto the streets. And all of them yelled and cheered for Rainbow Dash.

“You can do it!”

“We believe in you!”

“Beat him, Rainbow Dash!”

“Win!”

“Rainbow Dash!”

The pony from Equestria smiled as she heard and saw everyone coming out and cheering for her, right in the face of their scary and dangerous Commander. It reinvigorated her, totally filling her up with fresh determination and a new fire. Blizzard on the other hoof had a rather negative reaction. The Commander clenched his hooves and grit his teeth as he looked down on all those pegasi proclaiming their support and admiration for Rainbow Dash.

“What is this disgusting cheering? It infuriates me just to hear it!” He growled.

“Heh,” Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s just the sound of you already losing. Don’t you get it? Things will never be the way you want them to, the ponies here don’t want to follow you, it’s over!” She pointed at him. “And now all I need to do is beat you for them.”

---

“Well, brother, look at the traitors who have come here to stop us.”

“A rather sorry lot I would say.”

East and West Wind looked out from their position within the broken window-frame at Crescent Moon and the rest of his squad as they hovered in front of the station. The two-dozen guards loyal to Blizzard also flew in between them, making it a standoff so far as neither side had attacked the other yet.

“Why don’t you fight us one on one—er two on two! And then we’ll see who’s sorry!” Crescent yelled back at the twin Captains.

“No can do, Lieutenant,” West Wind shook his head. “Our orders to guard the crystals are more important. You won’t be getting past us.”

Crescent and the others knew they didn’t have time, but they were completely outnumbered. Twenty-six versus seven. Not very good odds. If they had found some help on the way over it would’ve been really nice but they weren’t so fortunate.

“This aint looking so good for us,” Clear Skies rubbed the back of his head.

“No, but that’s pretty much what we expected,” Wild Wind shrugged.

“It doesn’t change that this is something we have to do,” Fierce Current clapped his hooves together.

West Wind laughed as he heard them pumping themselves up. “Oh please, you can’t possibly think this is going to end well for you?”

“Do you two even know what you’re doing?!” Flashbolt yelled at them. “Do you have any idea what Blizzard ordered the Ice Sentinels to do?”

“Yeah, we’re all in danger here!” Skychaser backed up his cousin.

“Whatever it is it doesn’t matter,” East Wind replied. “We’ll follow Commander Blizzard no matter what. You traitors can either fly away… or you can try to fight us.” He glared at them.

Summer Rains sighed and shook his head at the Captains and the other soldiers blocking them. “I wish we had the time to just talk this out, but we really don’t. We’re gonna have to force our way through them and destroy those crystals right now. I just wish we weren’t outnumbered almost four to one.” He took a deep breath to steady himself and prepared for the fight with the big group of soldiers.

“Well we’ll just have to do what Rainbow Dash would do in this situation then,” Crescent Moon said, a determined look on his face.

Fierce Current raised an eyebrow at him. “Beat the crud out of all of them?”

Crescent nodded. “Yep.”

Comments

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Great chapter!

Would it still matter to the loyal soldiers if the Sentinels were attacking and trying to destroy the civilians?