Rainbow Dash Around the World

by MagicS

Doubt

Harlequin Grey stood up after being punched to the snow by Rainbow Dash. He lifted a hoof and rubbed the sore spot on his cheek while staring disdainfully at her.

Rainbow Dash hovered in the air in front of him, scowling in confusion at him. “You’re a unicorn now… you’re not an Alicorn anymore...”

It was true. His body wasn’t as big and strong and his wings had disappeared.

Harlequin Grey raised an eyebrow at her in response to her comments. “What are you talking about? I’ve never been an Alicorn, you’re just misremembering things.”

A vein pulsed on Rainbow Dash’s forehead. “Well whatever! Doesn’t matter what you are, all that matters is I’m going to beat you!” She flew at him with a punch aimed at his face once more.

He didn’t move to dodge it. He didn’t need to. The moment her hoof made contact his body turned transparent and intangible. Rainbow Dash merely flew right through him while her eyebrows shot up and she accidentally crashed right into the snow behind him. She quickly jumped back up, shaking the snow off herself, and looked back at him with an angry frown on her face.

What just happened? She wondered.

Harlequin Grey turned around and tilted his head at her, mocking her. “Were you trying to do something just now?”

“How’d you do that?” Rainbow Dash growled at him.

“Who knows… why don’t you try punching me again?” He shrugged.

Rainbow Dash flew at him once more and indeed tried knocking his block off. Only for him to turn transparent again and for her to harmlessly sail through him. She clicked her tongue and sharply turned around, skidding to a stop in the snow.

“Can’t say I’m surprised you’re dumb enough to keep trying the same thing over and over again,” Harlequin Grey said to her.

“Haha, very funny,” Rainbow Dash spat and stood her ground.

“Not going to try one more time? Very well, I’ll come to you then,” Harlequin Grey said as his body went transparent and buzzed, going slightly blurry, before two copies detached themselves from him and now three Harlequin Grey’s stood before her. Not exact copies though. One earth pony, and one pegasus. The three together were a Harlequin Grey of each tribe.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes, looking between all three of them to try and see anything signifying which was the real one. Was there anything special about one or the others? They all looked exactly the same apart from their identifying appendages. She didn’t know what was going on and this was even weirder than him transforming into an Alicorn in the first place. Was it just another magical spell like his beams of magic? But his horn hadn’t been lighting up. None of this made any sense to her and she wasn’t smart like Twilight or Starlight to figure it out!

“Now then,” all three Harlequin Grey’s spoke at once before the earth pony one ran at her.

He threw a punch at her face that Rainbow Dash blocked.

Solid. He was definitely real. Or at least had to be solid to touch her. Behind him she saw the unicorn Harlequin’s horn light up before a red beam of magic was shot at her. Rainbow Dash flew up to avoid it and was met by the pegasus one flying at her as soon as she had moved. He threw a punch at her too that she ducked under and met with one of her own going right at his stomach.

But her hoof once more hit nothing as his body turned transparent and she flew through him.

Rainbow Dash grit her teeth but couldn’t dwell on it as another laser blast was shot at her, followed by more and more as the unicorn tried shooting her out of the sky. Rainbow weaved between them all, trying to figure out what was going on before an errant strike hit her or the pegasus came to attack her again. She could tell one thing for certain though: these magical lasers weren’t as powerful as before.

She glanced down at the one casting them. Is it because he’s in a unicorn body and not an Alicorn now?

“Tch, I hate it when I can’t just fly or punch problems away...” she muttered and flew low to the snowy ground.

A few lasers hit the ground around her and created explosions in the snow but Rainbow Dash didn’t care, she turned and flew towards the earth pony to put his body between her and the unicorn. She could tell by how things had gone so far that the unicorn at least was worried about friendly fire and hitting one of the other bodies. A quick glance above her and she also saw the pegasus hovering over her, ready to attack as well. That was also fine. She could take them if they tried to attack, she just needed to figure out how to hit them back.

When she started flying towards the earth pony Harlequin Grey he ran forwards to meet her and threw a punch at her. Rainbow Dash blocked on purpose instead of dodging because she wanted to physically touch him again to help figure out the trick. With her front hooves crossed and blocking his punch, she kicked out at him with one of her backlegs only for him to turn intangible. She fell to the ground as her hooves slid through him. Another punch came at her and this time Rainbow Dash tried to grab his leg before it hit her—instead grabbing nothing but also making his punch sail harmlessly through her head as his whole body turned intangible once again.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. At least she knew she could stop him from hitting her if she tried touching him at the same time.

The pegasus then came flying at her and tried to kick her in the back while smashing her to the ground. Rainbow Dash jumped out of the way at the last second so all he did was kick up a cloud of snow and ice. Both pegasus and earth pony Harlequin Grey still came at her together right after, each throwing a punch or kick in unison to put Rainbow Dash on the defensive. The pegasus shot behind her so she had to constantly look back and forth between them, blocking or ducking under their hooves. Any time she tried to kick out or punch one of them the same thing happened where they turned transparent and intangible. It helped if she needed to suddenly offset one of their attacks but it meant she still wasn’t getting anywhere.

Rainbow Dash ducked under a punch, jumped over a sweeping leg, moved out of a wing jab, flipped to avoid an uppercut to the chin. The pegasus Harlequin threw a hook at her body but Rainbow Dash matched it with a jab of her own to his face. He went intangible so she couldn’t hit him and he ended up going right through her. At the same time—Rainbow Dash ended up kicked in her other side by the earth pony Harlequin after taking her attention away from him for a second too long.

She stumbled away but kept on her hooves, glaring back at the two Harelquin’s.

Who jumped out of the way.

Rainbow’s eyes went wide for a split-second before a wave of red magic smashed into her and knocked her onto her back, rolling through the snow and coughing from the pain of the attack. She clenched her jaw and slammed a hoof down before standing back up. Before her were the three Harlequin’s, confidently standing together.

“Which one of us is the real one, Rainbow Dash?” They all spoke in unison. “Perhaps we all are.” Their bodies flickered and became transparent for a second. “Or perhaps none of us are.”

“You’re really annoying,” Rainbow Dash snorted. “That’s at least something I know for sure.”

“Well I’m afraid that won’t help you,” they said and came at her again.

Three on one was obnoxious enough but they fought with an impossible sense of coordination too. They could attack at all angles and in multiple different ways thanks to one of them being a unicorn. Normally Rainbow wasn’t one to complain about a fight being a little tough, but considering who she was up against and the reason for the fight being tough, it was pretty aggravating.

She blocked a punch, jumped up to kick at the pegasus, and then flapped her wings quickly to shoot higher up and avoid another laser blast. At least if she stayed in the air the earth pony one could never get her. It was her best bet to keep flying and keep the amount of opponents she had to deal with to two at the most. She was only going to go back down when she figured out how to actually attack them and do something. There had to be something going on she was missing. Earlier she had hit him, but even before he “split” he had started evading her attacks. How?

“Help me out here, Twilight. Really counting on you...” she mumbled.

The pegasus Harlequin Grey came flying at her while the unicorn had its horn lit and ready to use. Rainbow Dash stopped and met the pegasus in the air, matching his swift attacks blow for blow, never dodging, always blocking. He wasn’t any stronger than the average pegasus, that was for certain. Nor was he as fast as she was either. If it wasn’t for everything else he wouldn’t be hard to beat.

A red laser scoured the sky and Rainbow Dash flew away from it, the beam following her until the unicorn below ran out of energy for the moment. Still just in time for the pegasus to again attack her and not let her catch her breath.

A kick came at her head that she blocked with a hoof—throwing a punch at his open body after. He phased right through the punch and solidified again behind her. When Rainbow Dash turned to attack him she had to back off as a laser blast almost burned off her face.

Darn it! This is really annoying right now! Rainbow Dash scowled as she perpetually had to fight on the back hoof.

The pegasus flew at her and tried to strike her throat with his wing as he went by. Rainbow Dash ducked under it and flew to the side to avoid a few more lasers. The lasers didn’t let up for now either and Rainbow had to fly to her best to avoid them all. While in the middle of the deadly barrage she caught a glimpse of the pegasus flying on the outskirts and getting ready to attack her again the moment he had a free shot. Rainbow Dash focused on his wings and thought back, back to a long time ago in the True North.

That was the first time I saw you… you were flying right beside me. Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. I know for sure you were a pegasus the very first time I saw you.

The barrage of lasers finally let up and the pegasus Harlequin came directly at her. He had a hoof already pulled back and ready to punch her with.

Rainbow Dash huffed and got ready to punch him instead. “I don’t know what your deal is or how you’re doing this—but you’re the real one, aren’t you?!” She shouted and threw her hoof at his head.

He quickly turned his head aside to avoid it and frowned.

Rainbow’s eyes went wide.

He dodged it… She thought. I would’ve hit him…

The pegasus Harlequin flew back down to the snow and landed next to the unicorn and earth pony Harlequin’s. Who now all stood together once more and glared at her—the unicorn in the middle, the earth pony to her left, and the pegasus to her right. A cold breeze blew by and lifted up a trail of snowflakes to drift around in front of them.

Rainbow Dash calmly flew down and hovered slightly over the snow. Her eyes searched between the three of them before stopping on the pegasus. She grinned. “Guess I found you out, huh?”

“Think you’ve figured something out, do you? You don’t know anything, Rainbow Dash.” The three said and their forms started changing once more. In an instant the one on the left was now a pegasus, middle was an earth pony, right was a unicorn. Then they changed again, and again. Suddenly there were three pegasi, then two unicorns and one earth pony, then three earth ponies.

Rainbow Dash’s pupils were spinning before he finally stopped and there was a pegasus to the left, a unicorn in the middle, and an earth pony on the right.

“Now then, care to guess which is the real one this time?” They raised an eyebrow in unison at her.

Rainbow Dash exhaled and bit her lip. She was frustrated, but not back to square one. She still didn’t know what was up for sure but there was something deep inside that was telling her she had figured out something important. Now she just needed to realize what the hay it was.

Comments

[RoboRed]

A few lasers hit the ground around her and created explosions in the snow but Rainbow Dash didn’t care, she turned and flew towards the earth pony to put his body between her and the unicorn. She could tell by how things had gone so far that the unicorn at least was worried about friendly fire and hitting one of the other bodies.

I wonder if she can trick him into hitting himself but I'm not feeling it likely.

[redmar]

This is getting complicated but it was already obvious that Harlequins aren't ponies even if they look like them. Grey must be having some difficulty coordinating al those bodies which should be something Rainbow Dash can use.

[Cosmic Potato]

I bet it's that Rainbow has to believe the one she's hitting is the real one to actually hit him