Rainbow Dash Around the World

by MagicS

First Clash

“TYLUCK! I’VE FOUND HIM!” Rainbow Dash shouted as loudly as she could.

The shadowy figure and its piercing eyes disappeared back into the darkness, but Rainbow Dash could hear heavy footsteps even as the wind raged around her. She saw where he was going, there was no way she was about to lose him. Before she could run off and chase him though, Tyluck and the others came to her position.

“What is it, Rainbow Dash?” Tyluck asked her.

“I saw him!” Rainbow Dash pointed through the trees. “I saw him right through there! We can catch him if we go now!”

Out of reflex she attempted to open her wings and fly after him but the bandages quickly stopped that.

“Tch,” Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue.

“Alright, but let’s go after him together, and be careful too! There’s no telling what might be between us and him,” Tyluck said.

“Right!” Rainbow Dash shouted and started running through the darkening forest with the three Trolls right behind her.

It was a difficult trip though, the ground was muddy and uneven, trees and bushes got in the way, and the Trolls’ large size made it tough for them to run the same way she was. But Rainbow Dash didn’t let up in the slightest. After hours of searching she had seen him, she knew she could catch back up to a big guy like that no problem. And finally pay him back for that rock.

They could see trees and branches bent out of shape from where the fugitive had traveled through, he wasn’t trying to hide his escape route at all. Heavy footprints were in the mud and bushes had been trampled underneath. Still far ahead, Rainbow Dash could hear the plodding of the Troll and the splintering of anything in his way as he ran. He moved surprisingly fast for his size and the obstacles in the way. It was impressive, Rainbow Dash would give him that.

Running along after him, Rainbow Dash almost failed to realize when her hoof hit a tripwire made from the spun sinew of plant vines and snapped it. A pulled back tree branch came slinging from around the tree in front of her with sharpened stakes tied to the end of it. It was high though. Too high to hit her but not the Trolls behind her. Rainbow saw it sailing right over her head and looked back to warn the others.

“Tyluck, look-“

His large hand stopped the tree branch cold in its path—wooden stakes harmlessly held away from his body. The big troll squeezed his fist and snapped the branch in two before tossing it over his shoulder.

He grinned down at her. “Don’t worry, we’re not so helpless.”

Rainbow Dash grinned back at him. “I can see that now.”

“But it seems he is leading us through where he has already lain many traps. We must be even more careful from now on,” Tyluck said.

“Yeah—but we can’t let him get away either,” Rainbow nodded and started running after the fleeing fugitive again.

The traps left behind, that had to have been made at least a day in advance, continued to plague them as they went through the forest. Whether it was more swinging branches with deadly stakes on them, snares, deadfalls that had to be carefully jumped over, or swinging logs that would come falling from the trees, it was clear their target had put a lot of work into all of this. What bothered Rainbow Dash the most though was that she could still hear him. She knew he hadn’t gotten that far away despite them being slowed down every minute or two by one of his traps.

She bit her lip and voiced her concerns to Tyluck. “He’s not trying to escape, he’s letting us stay close enough to him so he can keep leading us where he wants. He’s trying to kill us with these traps.”

“And if we keep running after him he might inevitably succeed…” Tyluck said. “Do you think we can actually catch him or should we slow down at try to tackle this a different way?”

“I think I can catch him. If you guys don’t mind me leaving you behind that is?” Rainbow said.

Tyluck frowned. “He is very dangerous, I would recommend you not try and fight him and just slow him down until the three of us can get there to help you.”

“Try not to get me too excited,” Rainbow couldn’t help the smirk crawling up her cheeks. “Don’t worry, I can take care of myself.”

It was already about ten times easier for her to move through the forest than any of the Trolls, and the fugitive’s traps seemed mostly designed to hurt or slow them or the Storm Creatures down rather than a small pony like herself. The fact that he could still move through this deadly forest, remembering exactly where all his stuff was and not tripping any of it on accident, made Rainbow’s heart beat even harder. Tyluck was right that he was dangerous and it was no surprise how he had managed to evade them and Fizzlepop for so long.

The issue now was that Rainbow Dash had started having to run uphill. It wasn’t terribly steep but the muddy ground and the need to check for traps made progress slower than she would’ve liked. And he was still somehow casually keeping ahead of her as if nothing bothered him. It was annoying. She couldn’t let herself get shown up or outran by anybody. She had to catch him.

Overhead the sky had gotten worse, much darker thanks to the storm clouds covering everything and the sun having recently gone down. Though it wasn’t that late in the evening it was dark enough to look like midnight. Now she would’ve preferred some lightning just to be able to see better for a split-second. The trees though were getting a little less thick and every now and then she still got glimpses of white ahead. That was him, still leading her on. Rainbow wondered what was going through his head, if perhaps he was frustrated that she had evaded his traps and was still coming after him. Or maybe if he was impressed and looking forward to deal with her personally.

She’d get to ask him soon.

Rainbow Dash jumped over a snare and rolled under a swinging log as she exited the forest and came to a stop on the muddy and rocky slope of the hill she had been running up. She paused at what she saw.

On the top of the hill he stood there, looking down at her. Lightning flashed and briefly silhouetted the both of them against the darkness. Rainbow Dash could see the cold look on his face. She could see his piercing eyes and how he stood up tall. She resolutely stared right back with not an ounce of fear on her face. Rainbow Dash went to take a step towards him when he reached down and picked up the end of a rope. Her eyes looked to where it was connected next to him. A wooden stake had been hammered into the ground and the rope was tied around it while also stretching off the other side to another stake and holding back dozens of boulders from falling down the hill.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened while a grin split the fugitive’s face.

He yanked on the rope and undid the knot tying it to the stakes. It fell away and the boulders came with it, rolling and rolling down the hill towards Rainbow Dash. They went from the size of just a coconut or slightly bigger to being bigger than her entire body. She frowned and grit her teeth but on the inside she found the situation kind of laughable—if her wings were working this wouldn’t even be an obstacle. And yet here she was, now with death rolling down the hill at her and her wings bound to her sides. It was pretty funny how things worked out.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and ran at the boulders.

After all, she still had a Troll to catch.

She didn’t bother looking to see if he was surprised by her actions. Instead she sprinted through and evaded the rolling boulders, jumping, diving, dodging, moving between the rolling rocks like a master. She ducked her head under one that bounced up and almost caved in her skull before jumping to the side and avoiding another that would’ve pulverized her completely. All the while going up and up the hill. There were still more to run past but not as many and not as big, more rolled down that were basically just smaller rocks that all she had to do was make sure not to trip over. From side to side Rainbow Dash jumped and ran before she finally cleared the last few and made it to the top of the hill.

In front of her, twenty feet away on the summit of the hill with her, was the fugitive Troll.

He stared back at her in the darkness with only his piercing eyes visible unless lightning flashed again.

“The pony who was flying in the sky south of the island. I had figured you died when you fell down to the water,” he said.

Rainbow Dash snorted and flipped her mane back so none of it was in her eyes. “Sorry, but you underestimated me a little bit. And the name’s Rainbow Dash. You’re Berten, right?”

“Names are cheap. Did you come here just to find me? Helping those other pitiful traitors and the pony who was already here?” Berten asked.

“No actually. I was just flying when you hit me with your rock, didn’t know you were here at all,” Rainbow shrugged and then frowned at him. “And what do you mean by ‘traitors’?”

“That has nothing to do with you, pony,” he spat that last word out with derision. “You and the other one and the lumbering Storm Creatures here should’ve let me be. This is a quarrel between me and my former countrymen that none of you should have ever gotten involved in.”

“They said you’re a dangerous criminal… and after meeting them and chasing you I’m kind of inclined to believe they’re right. So sorry, but if that’s the case I can’t let you just go. That’s not the type of pony I am. And by the way, you’re the one who involved me when you threw that rock,” Rainbow said.

A low laughter rumbled up from the Troll’s throat as he nodded once at her. “Very well then,” Berten narrowed his eyes.

Lightning once more flashed between them and Berten kicked up a rock next to him and grabbed it out of the air before throwing it at Rainbow Dash in one quick motion. It practically broke the sound barrier with the force he chucked it with but Rainbow Dash still ducked her head out of the way in a split-second and ran at the Troll. He seemed surprised by her speed and the ability to dodge the rock he threw and stepped back into a fighter’s stance, raising his big arms in front of his body and face. Rainbow Dash jumped up when she reached him and punched him as hard as she could where he was blocking. Up close she could see the muscle packing his body beneath his fur and feel the iron strength in him when her hoof landed. He wasn’t pushed back by her punch and instead just easily took it standing before pushing her away with his arms. He lowered them slightly as Rainbow landed on the ground but still kept his fists balled and ready to fight with her.

“You’re pretty strong for a pony,” Berten said to her.

Rainbow Dash scowled and looked down at her hooves briefly, wondering if she had the strength to beat him without using her wings. “And you’re pretty strong too. But I’ve fought stronger.”

He didn’t rise to her bait. Instead he just held back and waited for her to come at him again.

But that was ruined when the sound of several large creatures rushing through the trees and up the hill reached their ears. Rainbow Dash looked and could barely see shadowy figures moving through the darkness on the same trail she had gone. Tyluck and the others were coming up here and would be with them soon.

“Tch,” Berten clicked his tongue and started to run off in the direction of the cliffs beyond the hill.

“Hey! Don’t run from me!” Rainbow Dash yelled and ran after him.

They were close to the edge of the island, up on the rocky cliffs a hundred or even two hundred feet above the ocean. Several streams of water from the forest or higher up on the mountains of the isle came down and turned into waterfalls that went off the side of the cliff. Rainbow Dash didn’t know why he bothered running like this, for someone who couldn’t fly there wasn’t really a place to escape to. She could even see ahead to where the ground ended with a split in the rocks caused by a river running through it below. The southern side of the island was going to be his prison.

He skidded to a step at the edge of the embankment and turned back to face Rainbow Dash.

She stopped too and glared at him. “Gonna fight?”

“No,” Berten shook his head. “But you can keep coming after me, if you’ve got the guts.”

Without another word he jumped off the embankment and into the river. Rainbow Dash gawked in disbelief and ran to the cliff where she saw him get carried by the river right over the edge of the cliff and down to the ocean below. It was too dark for her to see all the way, but a few seconds later she heard the splash of him landing in the water.

Rainbow Dash continued to stare down into the dark ocean for a while longer, even as she heard Tyluck and the others approaching. “Alright. I underestimated you too.”

Comments

[redmar]

I hope we learn what exactly Berten has done that he became a fugitive.

[RoboRed]

11592003
If you don't want to wait too long there's more hints/details in MagicS's other story Rarity Gets Enslaved.