Chapter 3
(Okay so I lied. I was sure this would be the final chapter of the story, but it ended up being a heck of a lot longer than I thought it would be. When I hit 62 pages in Microsoft word I decided to break it up into two chapters because I’ve made you all wait long enough.
The funny part is, all the installments in this little series I’m doing were all meant to be one long chapter each. But I got WAY carried away by this one. Not a bad thing, but expect them all to be one shots after this (unless I lose control again). Anyway, I apologize for the wait, enjoy!)
MLP: FiM
Head in the Clouds
By: Calm Wind
Chapter 3
The next few days were strange for both Rainbow Dash and Soarin. Neither found they could fully understand the situation. To Dash, Soarin’s explanation was wise, valid, and true from experience. Because of that, she didn’t feel upset or sad, but she felt extremely distraught. She knew it was right, but it wasn’t what she wanted. She couldn’t force herself to accept it no matter how hard she tried.
To Soarin, he was sure he did the right thing, but unlike every other time he was forced into this scenario, it felt wrong. Above all else he was just confused towards what made Dash so much different than any other mare.
With the two of them not quite depressed, the days continued in the same matter they had. Only they avoided each other. Dash continued her work on the Apple farm because she still wanted to follow her Wonderbolt related goals. Despite looking visibly put off, it’s not like she could talk about it. Applejack was completely occupied by the farm work and Big Mac, well, you could get more conversation out of a road sign.
It was hard for Soarin. He went on flights, hung out with the other Wonderbolts, and enjoyed the hospitality of the Apple Family, but kept catching glimpses of Dash down below, off to the side, and out windows of the Apple house. Each time he caught eye of her he found himself staring and quickly shook it all out of his head. As captain and long time friend of Soarin, Spitfire tried to get him to spill the beans on what happened between him and Dash, but he continuously replied with, “I’m fine,” or, “Nothing happened.” Despite the continuing outcome, Spitfire continued to press the subject.
Fleetfoot however, after watching Spitfire’s attempts, decided to seek a different solution. She knew how stubborn Soarin could be and she also knew how adamant Spitfire could be. That process was going to continue to the end of time, so she sought out the other half of the predicament.
Rainbow Dash was pulling an empty cart back towards the orchard when Fleetfoot spotted her from the sky. She immediately tilted down and landed beside her. Dash glanced at her briefly before looking back forward, with the intention to ignore.
“Hey Dashie, still workin’ on the bod huh?” Fleetfoot greeted with her usual casual tone as she trotted beside her.
“Mhmm.” Dash murmured in response, keeping her eyes in front. Fleetfoot sighed, keeping in pace.
“Heard you almost copied Soarin’s signature move in two tries, that’s pretty impressive.” She tried again.
“Mmm.” Dash replied nonverbally again. Fleetfoot furrowed her brow and rolled her eyes. She moved in front of Dash, baring her path. Dash’s eyes widened slightly in surprise as she came to a halt, face to face with Fleetfoot’s demanding glare.
“Alright, screw the friendly small talk, what the hell happened between you and Soarin?” She pointed a hoof at her. Dash lifted an eyebrow and shifted to pass beside.
“Nothing.” She didn’t get far. Fleetfoot stuck her wing out to stop her.
“Sure, I also heard pegasi can use magic, earth ponies could fly, and unicorns are known for their physical strength. Spill it.” She ordered. Dash just pushed passed.
“I don’t want to talk about it!” She yelled as she continued on the path. Fleetfoot narrowed her eyes as they followed Dash moving away. She suddenly smirked and pursued.
“Oh? Now I’m curious. Something you don’t want me to know?” She prodded with a snide tone. Dash gave her a confused look.
“Just leave me alone will ya?” She fumed and tried to pull the cart faster. Fleetfoot lifted off and landed in front of her.
“Denial and an escape attempt? This is ripe! Did you two have a little extra fun?” Her smirk widened. Dash picked up on what she was implying and panicked.
“What?! No! We—”
“Spent a night in a haystack?”
“ARGH! NONONONONO!!!!!” Dash blushed furiously, flapping her wings, and stomping her front hooves.
“Then why the all the angst? Seriously, you two have enough clouds looming over your heads to block the sun.”
“There’s—,” Dash looked her in the eyes, then at the ground, “nothing, nothing’s bothering me.”
“My flank there isn’t,” her quick response made Dash wince, “you’re a terrible liar. Spitfire’s been confronting Soarin endlessly, but trying to get him to talk when he’s frustrated is like telling a wall it’s in your way.” Content, she awaited Dash’s explanation, but she just stood with her head hanging. Fleetfoot frowned. “Please?” Defeated, Dash sat down on the dirt path with the cart still hooked up to her and sighed.
“Fine.” She finally agreed. Fleetfoot smiled and sat across from her. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but even though it’s been awesome having the four of you here, I don’t even know how to describe the time I’ve spent with Soarin. Getting to know all of you without the uniform has been great, but something was different with him. I just want to be around him, I feel drawn to him!” She pounded her hooves in the dirt. “Then I had to go and bring it up to him, it was so stupid! I should’ve just let it be! ARGH!” She thrust out her wings and smacked herself upside the head. Fleetfoot leaned back slightly as Dash briefly abused herself.
“Oh I can see where this is going. What did he say?” Fleetfoot commented as if she could see the outcome.
“He was quiet for a while and then warned me not to get attached to him. Said his career came first, that his lifestyle can’t have relationships like that. He didn’t want me to get dragged in.”
“Oooooh myyyyyyy GOD!!!!” Fleetfoot cut in, her head tilted back with her hooves pushing her ears flat to her head. Dash blinked in confusion as she fumed in front of her. “How stiff can you get?! You’d think he’d have a little more faith in himself after how quickly we moved up in the Wonderbolt ranks! Why does he always do this? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy? It’s like a train wreck I have to watch!”
“Um.”
“Sorry,” Fleetfoot sighed, “I had to let that out, if you’d known Soarin for as long as I have you’d react the same way. RRGH!” She stood up and trotted in a few circles as Dash continued to stare dumbly. “Okay, I believe that outburst requires an explanation. Soarin is an idiot,” she paused, “if only that explained everything. Soarin has this very, VERY, bad habit of turning our profession into the only thing that matters. Don’t get me wrong, it most certainly is the most important part of our lives, but Soarin lets it dictate EVERYTHING in his life regardless of whether or not it’s what he truly wants. It’s his universal excuse to avoid anything he can’t figure out.”
“Oh.” Dash barely answered half contemplating, half still depressed. She was knocked out of her haze when Fleetfoot clapped her hooves together.
“This is the last straw, I’m fixing this now,” she reached out and placed her hooves on Dash’s shoulders, “he’s heard it from Spitfire and I more times then we can count, it’s time he heard it from someone it’s affected. YOU are gonna tell him off.”
“ME?! But—” Dash’s eyes darted back and forth while trying to lean away.
“C’mon Dash, don’t stand for it! Where’s the sharp confident Rainbow Dash I hung out with before? Use that confidence! He needs it laid on him good and thick! With a chair to the face if necessary!” Fleetfoot encouraged her. Dash thought over her words, thought about what Fleetfoot was suggesting, thought about the new knowledge on Soarin, and then thought about what she really wanted. Fleetfoot was right since when was she one to not to go after what she wanted? Doing whatever it takes to reach a goal was one of her strongest traits.
“You’re right,” she stood up and unhooked herself from the cart, “the moping can wait, I have wuss to straighten out!”
“That’s what I’m talkin’ about!” Fleetfoot agreed and the two flew quickly towards the Apple Family house.
Fleetfoot was right. Now that she thought about it, Dash could see exactly why everything felt so wrong. His presence was different, he was a Wonderbolt, and because of that her usual challenging personality held back. If Soarin was really not thinking of himself, someone had to tell him. Since she was drawn into all of it, she would set him straight.
Soarin had spent most of the day moping around the apple house. He was doing his best not to look out towards the farm knowing that Rainbow Dash was out there. He just didn’t even want to think about it. For some reason turning down Dash was harder than any other mare. It didn’t matter, he needed to do it. He didn’t want a relationship to get in the way of his career. He worked too hard for it. The last thing he wanted to do was drag her into his hectic life.
A loud knocking came from his door. He rolled his eyes and approached it assuming it was Spitfire trying to prod him for his thoughts. Eventually she would give up, they would be out of Ponyville, and everything would go back to normal. He opened the door and froze, looking directly into the glaring eyes of a familiar blue, rainbow mane’d pegasus. He slammed the door quickly and blinked a few times, hoping he had only imagined it, but the door was forced from the other side, slipping the knob from his hoof. The door pushed him and he found himself backing away from Rainbow Dash as she advanced into the room. Spitfire and Fleetfoot peeked in from the doorway.
Soarin shook his head and regained his senses. Glaring right back at Dash.
“What are YOU doing here?!” He asked harshly. She got in his face, reached out, and poked him in the chest.
“Wondering how you can be such a numbskull!” she belted at him, swiping her hoof out to the side, “so quickly throwing me to the curb like that!”
Soarin wasn’t quite sure what to say. He never had to follow up after turning a mare down. It was usually left be. Dash was firing back. He felt he should’ve expected that, but failed to consider it.
“Throw you to the curb?! I was being honest! Is that really hard to understand?” His competitive side reacted to hers.
“So what if it makes sense? Is it what you really want? Or are you just tucking your tail between your legs?” She stood her ground. The two were nearly butting heads now, anger alight in the small gap between their eyes. She had struck a nerve. Soarin didn’t take well to being called a coward as was proven by his quarrels with Rapidfire. He fumbled for ways to lash back, unsure of where the argument was going.
“What’s it to you?!” He gritted his teeth. Why couldn’t she just let it be? This was for the best and she just had to accept it.
She narrowed her gaze even further.
“Why don’t you ask yourself that?” she said in a more hushed tone, grabbing his attention with a vice grip, “forget what’s right and what makes sense! What’s the point if it isn’t what you want? What’s it all matter if you’re miserable?” He stared directly at her. As true as it was, he felt as though she was speaking from his point of view. It was almost like she felt she knew him better he knew himself. It was beginning to irritate him.
“You know what I was talking about!” he finally found his words, “this isn’t just about me! It’s about you too! This isn’t a complicated thing you know! My life is going one way, yours is going another, getting them mixed up will only make things hard for both of us!”
“And I. Don’t. Care!” She stomped with each word, making it crystal clear for him.
“WELL YOU SHOULD!!!” He yelled at the top of his lungs right into her face. “If you cared you wouldn’t be a lazy freeloader who occasionally works for some stupid weather team!” His tone had completely shifted to harsh and cold. Dash was suddenly completely taken over, surprised that he was lashing out with insults. “If you cared maybe you wouldn’t be stuck in this stupid little backwater town! You want to be a Wonderbolt?! Forget it! It requires hard work, dedication, and a good sense of reason. Things that you clearly lack! So what if you have potential and talent?! It’s all worthless with your attitude and immaturity!” Dash’s confidence had completely shattered. Fleetfoot and Spitfire stared in disbelief at his outburst, “you are nothing but a useless, wishful thinking, idiotic, failure of a pegasus THAT WILL NEVER AMOUNT TO ANYTHING!!!!!!” He finally ended, breathing heavily, rage boiling from the pit of his stomach all over his body.
Dash felt like she couldn’t breathe. Every word he said was filled with hatred directed completely at her. She staggered backwards, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes, but she couldn’t even bring herself to cry. One of her biggest idols in life just completely berated her as a pegasus. With no other option she turned and ran. She ran right past Spitfire and Fleetfoot, past Applejack entering the house, and took off in the direction of her cloud house, the only place present in her mind.
Soarin glared at Spitfire and Fleetfoot, who only stared at him as he slammed the door to his room. Spitfire regained herself and turned to Fleetfoot, slightly frustrated.
“Gee Fleet, that sure fixed everything right up.” She commented sarcastically. Fleetfoot sighed and turned away.
“I’m gonna go lock myself in a room before I come up with anymore bright ideas.”
Rainbow Dash didn't emerge from her house. By afternoon the next day, her friends decided waiting was a bad choice. Dash was usually one of quick action before words. When she did nothing within the first few hours, they were already considering stepping in. The only problem was the cloud house. Because none of them could physically go there besides one certain pegasus, they weren’t sure what to do. But what could they do? If Rainbow Dash refused to come out, they had to send someone, and because of the drawbacks of Twilight’s wing spell and cloud walking spell, they were left with one option. One very shy and quiet option. In fact it was probably a destined to fail option, but one option was better than no option.
“Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy poked her head through the door of Dash’s house. She had spent ten minutes lightly knocking with no response and had finally built up the courage to open the door herself. She peeked left and right before letting herself in. The house was entirely devoid of noise or action. It almost seemed as if nopony was there at all. If not for the small swishing noise coming from upstairs, Fluttrershy would have assumed the house was empty. She followed the noise to the staircase, waiting at the bottom of the stairs for a few moments. Not because she assumed the noise was in her head, but because she was afraid of just plain bothering Dash.
It had taken a few good hours of convincing just to get Fluttershy to agree to talk to Dash. It took another few to get her to follow through with it. As they expected, it took her a long time to do it period. Fluttershy advanced one step every minute, reaching the top of the stairs fifteen minutes later. The swishing noise was much louder now coming directly from Dash’s room. Fluttershy approached the door and shakily put her ear to it.
“Okay Fluttershy, she’s probably very depressed and needs someone to talk to. That’s why they sent you up here, you have to go through with it.” Fluttershy coached herself on the situation while gently tapping her front hooves against the sides of her head. “Rainbow Dash?” She whispered with no response. She tried again three more timed before raising her voice just a little, “Rainbow Dash are you in there?” Again no response, just the swishing noise. She knew what she had to do. She didn’t like it, but she had to do it. She slowly and carefully pushed the door open.
She could immediately see that the room was in disarray, the pillows and sheets had been thrown from the bed. Small piles of seldom worn clothes were strewn about as well. Things had been knocked off the shelves and the bed itself was shifted from its usual spot. The swishing noise was coming from behind the bed. Fluttershy fluttered her way across the room slowly, flying above the bed and peeking over the other side. She blinked a few times at the site. It wasn’t what she nor the rest of them had expected to say the least.
Dash sat on the floor about a foot from the bed, hunched over, arms crossed, and mane a mess. Her face was scrunched in what appeared to be anger instead of anguish. The swishing noise was coming from her tail whisking back and forth quickly, brushing heavily against her bed mattress. Fluttershy’s long pink mane hung down over Dash, catching her attention. She looked up at Fluttershy, a heavy glare smacking the shy pony right in the nerves.
“What?” Dash asked flatly and harshly, directing her mood towards Fluttershy instead of wondering what she was doing in the house in the first place. Fluttershy squeaked.
“I’msorryibotheredyouishouldbegoingnowbye!” Fluttershy spun around and took off towards the door, but as she did her back hoof struck the bedpost, causing her to tumble from her course and crash into a pile of clothes by the wall near the door. Some of the clothes were tossed up into the air and floated down on top of her, burying her beneath them. Rainbow Dash sighed and rose from her spot. She approached the shaking pile of clothes and picked up the Wonderbolt shirt lying on top. Two wide eyes slightly covered by a pink mane were beneath. They stared up at her for a moment before squinting shut.
Rainbow Dash reached in and pulled Fluttershy out of the pile.
“I’MSOSORRYIDIDNTMEANTOMAKEYOUANGRYPLEASEDON’THURTME!!!!” She flailed and screamed on instinct.
“FLUTTERSHY!” Dash stomped her back hoof. Fluttershy instantly stiffened and stared at her with eyes wide like dinner plates and pupils small as gnats. “Calm down.” She set her down and trudged back over to her bed. Fluttershy took a moment to exhale and gather herself before approaching Dash again, who had plopped down on the unfurnished mattress facing away.
“Um, so—” Fluttershy haphazardly began while circling around, “how are you feeling?”
“I’m angry. Isn’t that obvious?” Dash spat while kicking a pillow still hanging on the edge of the bed. Fluttershy flinched, but kept her cool. Mostly.
“I’m surprised. After what happened with Soarin, I thought you’d be sad.” She flinched again as Dash let out a loud scoff.
“HA! Sad? Yeah right!” She laughed amusingly. Fluttershy was confused.
“So, um, if you don’t mind me asking, why are you angry?”
“Because he’s a JERK!” Dash pounded her hooves on the mattress, gritting her teeth.
“Oh my, um, I think—”
“He’s the biggest jerk in all of friggen Equestria!” She threw her hooves up in the air.
“I don’t think, I mean I—” Fluttershy began to slowly slide herself off the mattress, peeking over the top from the floor as Dash continued to rant.
“Sad? Why the hell would I be sad?! I’ve got no reason to give a damn about him! He walked all over me!” She stood up on the bed and turned towards Fluttershy, who was barely visible over the side of the bed. Dash walked over and got right in Fluttershy’s face. “He’s a jerk! A straight up, no good jerk!”
“Dashie, please don’t yell, I—” Fluttershy found herself pressing further and further to the floor as Dash kept yelling.
“I don’t need him! I don’t! I hate him!” Her voice started to choke up. “He’s an idiot! A loser! An asshole! A creep!” Her expression began fading and tears started forming in her eyes. “I hate him I hate him I hate him I h-hate himmmm…” she trailed off, sniffling loudly before turning around and burying her face in the mattress crying with her hooves on her head. Fluttershy poked her head out from below the bed and stared dumbly at Dash creating a puddle of tears on the mattress. She instantly switched from self preservation mode to kindness mode, hopped up on the bed and sat down beside Dash, draping a wing over her.
“It’s okay Dashie, let it all out, I’m here.” So Rainbow Dash really was sad. Fluttershy wondered why she hadn’t put the pieces together. Dash has a tough exterior, a trait that makes its way into nearly every situation she’s involved with. So most of the time even if it seems like she’s okay after something like this, she’s usually just sucking it up or playing it tough. After thinking more about it, Fluttershy realized she’d probably missed it out of fear for her own physical well being.
A loud knocking came from door across the room opposite to the window where Soarin had slumped with his chin on the sill. As he had the other five times today, he completely ignored it and continued to sulk while staring out into the apple fields.
This “vacation” of theirs had done absolutely nothing to relieve any sort of stress. Here he was getting all bent out of shape over a mare when he should be enjoying himself. Having the situation with Dash feel completely different still didn’t make any sense to him. He actually felt more stressed than before they arrived.
The knocking came again, surprising him because each time before he was given up on after the first try. He refused to go open it. He figured it was just Spitfire, but the last time he answered he came face to face with what was bothering him. It made him lose himself and his temper in ways nopony had ever seen before.
He didn’t feel good in the slightest about how he berated Rainbow Dash, but she just wouldn’t let it be. Every other mare just took it for what it was worth and left him alone. Why did she have to be so damn persistant?
“Soarin, open the door,” speaking of stubborn, Spitfires voice came through the door. Soarin caught himself moving and returned to his position. Screw her being the captain, she was also his life-long friend and he had made it quite clear he wanted to be alone. “Last chance Soarin.” She spoke again. That was a new one. He wondered what she meant by that. “Fine. You don’t mind big fella?”
“Nnnope.” A second voice replied. Before Soarin could put two and two together there was a loud crash and the door was forced open, breaking the lock and the bottom hinge. Soarin spun around in shock to see Big Macintosh in the doorway, a very casual look in his eyes as if he hadn’t just pulverized a door in his own house. Spitfire stepped around him while staring wide eyed at the broken door.
“Damn Biggie, that looked like a love tap, Applejack wasn’t kidding about your strength,” she spotted Soarin on the other side of the room, staring with his jaw agape, “anyway, sorry again for making you break the door, but thanks for the help.”
“Eeyup.” Mac replied, passing the string of wheat from one side of his mouth to the other before leaving to fetch his tools. Spitfire’s smile turned to a disappointed glare that she shot straight across the room in Soarin’s direction. He gave her nothing more than a brief glance before turning his back and staring out the window.
“Don’t you turn away from me buster,” she trotted over to him and tried to get in his view, but he kept turning to avoid, “oh so your just gonna avoid talking to anyone for the rest of your life? Sheesh Soarin, I always thought you were good at handling your emotions. Since when did you become a teenager that locks himself in his room?”
“Did you come in here just to insult me?” He muttered, still facing away. He flinched as Spitfire stamped her hoof hard.
“I came in here cause I’m sick of you moping! This whole vacation has been a mess, and I’ve spent all my time making sure the two idiotic stallions of my squad don’t kill each other or make us look bad!” she reached forward and forced his head around to look at her, “you are in no position to judge my actions Weeping Willow, now are you gonna shape up and act your age or do I have to kick your ass?” She was right in his face. Despite being bigger than her, Spitfire was very good at making him feel like she towered over him.
Soarin groaned, turned away, and smacked his head down on the window sill, pressing his hooves into his mane.
“I like Rainbow Dash.” He spoke into the wood, but Spitfire heard him loud and clear. She rolled her eyes.
“Newsflash Soarin, we’ve all got healthy vision,” she said with as much sarcasm as possible while pointing a hoof at her eyes, “although at the same time, the way you two went at each other recently—”
“I really, REALLY like her.” He added. Spitfire sighed, flattening her ears.
“Alright Soarin, I’ll bite. What makes Dash any different from other mares you’ve dealt with?” Spitfire knew Soarin liked to confide in her. Her intentions upon confronting him were not around starting a confession session, but if that’s what it took to get him out of mope mode she’d do it.
“Well she’s normal.” He said nothing further. Spitfire tapped her hoof waiting for more, but quickly realized he was done.
“I hardly agree. Care to elaborate?” She was growing impatient.
“She treats me as a friend. At least after all of her fangasms subsided. She made the effort to connect with ME. Not the Power Flyer. Not my fame. Me.” Soarin lightly bumped his head against the wall continuously as he relayed his thoughts.
“Well, it’s not like she’s a mystery or anything. She clearly wants to be one of us in the future—” Spitfire thought out loud. Soarin spun around quickly, shaking his head and throwing his wings out to his sides.
“It’s more than that!” he suddenly spoke loud and defensively, catching Spitfire off guard, “I’m sorry,” he slumped into a sitting position, “I’m just not used to being treated like a normal pegasus. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade my life for anything in Equestria, but sometimes I don’t feel like I can trust anypony. It always seems everypony is molding their actions based on my status. With Dash, it doesn’t feel that way, it feels genuine,” he groaned and flopped down to the floor, “but it doesn’t matter, I’m a Wonderbolt, and that comes first! Plus I just tore her apart AND made her cry! I’ve dug a hole deeper than I can climb out. I wish I never came here and got to know her, it’s only made my life hell!” He rolled over onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. Spitfire let him finish and scoffed before walking up to him and staring down into his eyes with an annoyed glare.
“Are you done whining?” She put flatly. Soarin flinched and brought himself back upright. He looked at Spitfire, his face wrought with both contempt and disbelief. She didn’t waver. “Will you listen to yourself Soarin? The only conclusion I’ve drawn from all this is that you feel attached, you don’t know how to handle it, and you decided to lock yourself in a room to hide from it. You’re being pathetic.”
“But—”
“NO!” she waved her hoof out in front of her, “I’ve heard enough,” she turned her back and started walking towards the door, “Soarin, get a grip. I know how you feel about relationships and your job, but for heaven’s sake, if you like her that much then compromise!” she stopped in front of the door as Big Mac returned to fix the door. “You’re dodging your own feelings. Nothing good comes from that. Now stand up and be a stallion dammit! The floor doesn’t suit you.”
Soarin just sat still as her words sank, no, stabbed roughly into his skin. He hated it, but no matter how many times she verbally kicked his ass, he could never disagree with Spitfire. She would always be right. Damn mares and their way with words.
He knocked his hooves against his head and shook it back and forth furiously a few times. She was right, as usual. Forget Rainbow Dash trying to tell him his problems, Spitfire had read and memorized his thoughts, wrote a review, and recommended against it for too much amateur writing and angst dialogue.
Nothing he had said was wrong. Dash was different. Why? Because for the first time in his life he felt he’d regret leaving a mare behind. Rainbow Dash had proven herself to be an odd breed of mare that also happened to catch his eye in more ways than one. Who was he kidding, she was brash, spunky, and competitive, but clearly had a caring center underneath the rugged exterior. More than anything else, she had a backbone. She challenged him, throwing his famous status into the wind and holding her ground. He couldn’t lie to himself. She had left an amazing impression on him. She was the most interesting mare he had ever met, and most certainly one he never wanted to let go of. What the hell was he doing trying to block her out?
Spitfire was acting like she was admiring Mac’s muscular body (unbeknownst to him of course), when in reality she was glancing back at Soarin for brief moments at a time. She smiled as she saw his expression go from deep thought to determined. She snidely complemented herself, knowing that it as long as they lived, Soarin’s mannerisms would never be a mystery to her. He wasn’t a blind foal that needed to be guided around, but she took pride in knowing she could lend a hoof if needed.
As usual, it took Spitfire to set his mind straight. Soarin smiled, wondering where he would be without her. In fact, he probably wouldn’t even have the career he was so quick to defend. Leave it to the one who got him where he is today to tell him he’s maybe taking it a little too seriously. He caught her glancing at her and she looked away with a smirk on her face. She knew he knew, and he knew she knew. Soarin chuckled and trotted towards her.
“Hey Spitfire—” he was quickly cut off as Rapidfire turned the corner frantically.
“Guys! Quick! We—” he ran face first into Big Mac’s side. Mac glanced over from his tool box and glared daggers at Rapidfire, who in turn whimpered and shied away. Spitfire, keeping her professional air, quickly addressed his eager approach.
“Look alive Rapid, what’s got you all worked up?”
“Uh—” he forced his eyes out of the chokehold of Mac’s gaze had and turned to Spitfire, “Captain, you better look outside.”
After having a good cry into the bed, Dash finally quieted down. Fluttershy waited patiently as Dash regained her composure and noisily blew her nose into dozens of tissues.
“This sucks,” she put plainly as she tossed a ball of tissues towards her trash can, missing horribly, “stallions suck,” she continued to grumble, folding her front hooves over her chest, and facing away from Fluttershy yet again.
“You’ll figure things out,” Fluttershy shifted towards her, “if I know you, you’ll have it all figured out in no time.” She comforted her. Dash turned and looked at her blankly.
“You make it sound so easy. Then again,” she lifted an eyebrow, “it did come pretty easy to you. Wish I had a natural disaster bag me the stallion of my dreams.” Dash sarcastically mused back to Fluttershy, who turned bright red in an instant.
“What!? But Macintosh and I, I mean we,”
“I never mentioned Mac,” Dash found it hard to contain a little bit of laughter.
"We aren't! I mean, but when we, actually I,” Fluttershy frantically stuttered, never finding words to defend herself. Dash only looked at her, eyelids flattened, wondering why she was even bothering because they all knew there was more to the kind quiet mare and the large silent stallion than met the eye. They were the quietest unsubtle couple in the history of Equestria. “Oh gosh.” Fluttershy turned away and hid her face behind her left wing, trying to conceal the blush that was already bright enough to make signals out Dash’s window.
Dash couldn’t help but chuckle, but also couldn’t help being slightly jealous. Fluttershy was lucky to find a stallion that was guaranteed to be in one place at all times. Why did she have to attach herself to someone famous and always on the move? It felt like she set herself up for a guaranteed failure.
Fluttershy jumped off the bed and began to pace around the room, saying “oh gosh” over and over again. Dash sighed, realizing she probably overloaded Fluttershy’s brain. She moved to alleviate that, but was cut off by a sudden crashing noise by her window. She spun around to see Tunderlane scrambling to his hooves, breathing heavily as if he had just flown across Equestria.
“Thunderlane? What the hell?!” Her first reaction was that of extreme confusion and slight privacy infraction, but his terrified expression suggested this was not the time to knock at the front door and wait patiently.
“Dash!” he yelled as he finally found his hooves, “Code five weather emergency! We need you! Hurry!” He was out the window an instant after.
With her mind mostly occupied by a certain famous stunt stallion, the words “code five” went in one of her ears and right out the other. She twitched as realization hit. The words ceased their escape and fired themselves right back into her head, her eyes widening.
While the weather team was responsible for controlling the conditions above town, at times natural weather shifts called for the team to ward off the unscheduled changes. Usually it was no big deal, but while seldom dealt with, the weather team was trained to respond to possible disastrous scenarios. For all of this, the weather team had a code system. Code one through code five. Code one represented nothing more than an unplanned drizzle or wind gusts, easily handled but had to be dealt with none-the-less. As the code number increased, the more severe was the weather condition to be prevented. In all her life, Dash had never experienced anything above a code three, which was a thunderstorm mishandled in Canterlot that landed on Ponyville. Yet even that wasn’t very severe. It wasn’t even strong enough to be labeled code four, which was used to describe an unplanned severe thunderstorm.
A code five however, was the worst case scenario: best described as an unplanned natural disaster, the signs of which had slipped right by the weather watchers and called for dangerous yet crucial action. Dash had a hard time believing it because a code five had never been recorded in the history of Ponyville’s weather team. In fact, Equestria hadn’t experienced one for at least two hundred years, if she remembered the weather team lecture she slept through correctly.
Forgetting all about Soarin and Fluttershy, who was still pacing, blushing, and oh goshing, Dash dove into her pile of clothes near her closet and emerged with a pair of flight goggles. Her emotions would have to wait. As much as the current events were prying at her, this was an emergency. A few tugged heartrings could hardly compete against the safety of Ponyville and her friends. She took to the sky through her bedroom window, strapping the goggles to her face while doing so.
The clouds were inexplicably dark and the wind battered against her from the side as soon as she cleared the walls of her home. It looked like a hurricane was about to hit Ponyville. She wondered how the weather team could have screwed things up this badly.
She sped up, catching Thunderlane right as the two met up with the rest of the team. Every member was present from each shift, confirming to Dash that this was beyond serious. All the Pegasi were fretting and conversing with no control or order. Dash looked around to find Cloud Kicker, the captain of the Ponyville Weather team, but she was nowhere to be found.
Then it hit her. Cloudkicker was out of town for the week. Ponyville’a weather team was without their head coordinator to handle a fabled code five. There was no time to over-think it, so she quickly tried to find out the situation.
“Cloud Chaser!” Dash pushed herself through the scrambling mass of pegasi, “What’s the situation?” she questioned Cloud Chaser, who was frantically fidgeting.
“Like, THAT!” She pointed a shaking hoof towards Everfree forest. Dash followed with her eyes and froze, nearly falling due to her wings going numb as well. There was a large, full funnel, tornado heading straight for Ponyville from over Everfree that looked almost quarter mile in around. Dash stared, mouth agape. How did such an incredible natural disaster appear out of nowhere? She knew there were reports of strange weather activity over Everfree, but how did it escalate to this in such a short time? Secondly, without Cloud Kicker present, who was going to direct? As proven by the cacophony around her, the rest of the team was in dire need of some directing. A solution quickly came to her, and there would be no time for arguing or debate. Dash had only one objective in mind: she had to prevent the tornado from destroying everything.
“Flitter! Cloud Chaser! Thunderlane!” she called to the three closest to her. They all turned and looked at her with fear stricken eyes, bracing themselves against the harsh gusts. Dash approached them quickly and pulled them all into a huddle, “there’s no time to panic or over-think things! I know Cloud Kicker isn’t here, but we’ve been trained to handle this. I’m going to take over as coordinator, and if any of you have a problem with it, have fun watching Ponyville destroyed!” She glanced among them briefly. None of them showed signs of fighting her on it. “I’m glad you all agree, now I need your help!” she paused as a powerful blast of wind knocked them and the entire weather team ten feet from their current spot before they managed to regain their balance. Dash refused to waver and acted like nothing even happened. “Flitter! Go into town and organize a few ponies. Make sure everypony has found shelter! Thunderlane and Cloud Chaser, help me calm down the team and get them lined up! We are going to take the fight right to this tornado!” The three nodded. “Let’s get to it! Go! Go!” They dispersed, Dash catching Flitter by the tail before she could get away. “Make it quick Flitter, we need every pegasus on the weather team if we’re gonna pull this off!”
“Yes ma’am!” Flitter replied before speeding towards town as quickly as her wings could carry her.
This tornado had picked a wonderful time to appear out of nowhere. Dash felt weighed down enough by her personal feelings and now had to command the weather team on a whim. Not exactly the most welcome scenario, but it wasn’t like she had a choice. The weather team members were currently more hysterically disorganized than a group of infant changelings let loose on Hearts and Hooves day.
With the help of Tunderlane and Cloud Chaser, the team was rounded up quickly. Flitter returned just in time as Dash finished lining them up. The Tornado was rapidly approaching, now no more than two hundred yards away. The twister was getting thicker, filled with hundreds of pulled up trees and other debris from Everfree.
Dash hovered before the lines of Pegasi, noticing very visible unease in every single pair of eyes that met hers. This wouldn’t do at all. As frightened as they all were, she had to convince them that they were Ponyville’s only hope. She would need every single one of them if they were to have any chance at all against this freak monstrosity. Having no experience in the motions of guiding a weather team, the only weapon she had was motivation. She was an expert at self motivation, and if anything got her gears turning, it was telling herself she couldn’t do something. She pounded her hooves together and cleared her throat to grab their attention.
“Listen up! I’m looking at all of you right now and I’m downright sickened!” her choice of words came as a surprise to them all, “you all look scared, frightened, and pathetic!” All the Pegasi began to glance between each other. “Look behind me!” She suddenly yelled. They all stiffened and obeyed. The tornado would be upon them in minutes. “You see that!? If we don’t do something you can all kiss your home goodbye! From what I see in all of you right now, we’ll never stop this!” She braced herself as the wind grew even stronger. Even while struggling to hold her place she kept yelling. “You want to run away?! Fine! But think about what will happen if you do!” she thrusted a hoof towards the tornado. “Ponyville will be torn to pieces!” she pointed at Ponyville, “and not only you, but everypony down there will lose EVERYTHING! They rely on us day in and day out to keep the weather clean, clear, and on schedule! Right now they are taking shelter. They are scared. But they know they have us! We are their hope for safety right now! They are depending on us. Turning tail and flying away would mean that simple faith was misplaced. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t be able to face them if we caved.” Dash spun around to see the tornado less than 100 yards away. She turned back to the team and liked what she saw. Most of them suddenly looked determined. It was better than nothing.
“We are the weather team!” She yelled, pounding a hoof to her chest. Then she pointed at the tornado. “And what is a tornado?! IT’S BAD WEATHER!” she turned her back to them, “I’m flying into the storm,” she glanced back, “I don’t care if I have to try alone, I’m going to do my best to stop it. It’s going to be hard and I’m more than certain I won’t get out unscathed, but I’m gonna try anyway,” she faced forward and glared at the tornado, “I’m not about to let this storm destroy my home!”
She blasted towards the tornado. Rash? Yes. But she knew she wouldn’t be alone. She stole a quick glance. Every single Pegasus of the weather team was following close behind. There was no emotional reaction. She didn’t honor it with a smirk or even pride in herself for motivating them. They had a job to do.
“Counter Tornado Formation!” She yelled out Cloud Kicker’s commands from their training. The group of Pegasi expanded and they all took position into a large cylinder. “Counter spin!” Dash ordered. They all faced the opposite direction of the tornado’s wind. “Give it all you’ve got!”
On Dash’s command, the Pegasi all began to spin their cylinder formation. Slowly, they formed a tornado of their own that spun in the other way. They used the excess wind of the threatening tornado to add the required force they needed. The counter-tornado grew and grew until it was roughly the size of the natural one. Slowly, the two closed in. Dash knew there was a rough battle of willpower approaching, and braced herself for the initial impact. She could only hope that the rest of the weather team was ready to take the heavy hit.
There was a very hard and sudden jolt. Dash felt like somepony had just punched her in the side. The edges of the two tornados had met, and suddenly the pressure on the weather team had increased nearly threefold. She kept her composure, and kept her body stiff. Any loss in balance or strength from any of the pegasi in the formation would kill both their tornado and their chances of victory.
Stability was key, and extremely tricky in this scenario. The biggest problem was the debris. In order to fully negate the incoming tornado, the team would have to move theirs fully into it. The even conflicting winds would cancel each other out and dissipate the tornado. It would be a simple task if not for the pulled up trees and rocks from Everfree. Any dodge or shift would have to be corrected within two seconds or less. Any more time and the one small, miniscule imbalance would cause the entire team’s tornado to collapse.
Dash found herself dodging large splinters of wood as soon as she started worrying about the rest of the pegasi’s mobility. Luckily for her, the speech had sunk in. The ponies were being battered and beaten by stray flailing stones and sticks. Occasionally they had to dodge large rocks or tree trunks, but every time they moved right back into position as quickly as possible, never compromising the formation.
After a lot of effort, the tornados were atop one another. Dash was beyond thrilled, confident she had successfully commanded the weather team and Ponyville would be safe.
But something was wrong. The tornados were perfectly aligned. One stood directly on top of the other, the powerful gusts blowing in opposite directions. Then why wasn’t the tornado dying? She was well aware how weather conditions worked. The reverse gusts the team provided should have been more than enough to counter it.
She shook the thought from her mind and continued to pump her wings up and down, up and down. She would for an eternity if it meant saving all she loved from harm. She kept her eyes fixed on the flank of the pegasus in front of her as they group maintained the false twister. She did, at least, until said pegasus suddenly fell, tumbling to the ground. Dash looked to all of the weather team and watched as four, five, six more inexplicably fell from formation. Each time one fell, it looked as though they had been struck roughly by some unseen force. Soon not even half the pegasi remained in the false tornado. The wind vanished and the pegasi left in the area were thrown from the tornado in every direction, Dash included. The whole way down, she tried to figure out what went wrong. There was no way they could have just lost concentration. The falls were too rough and sudden. She braced herself as she struck the earth, luckily not on her wings or her head. After tumbling to an uncomfortable halt, she put herself upright and shook the dirt from her body while staring up into the tornado.
She glanced behind her, seeing Ponyville in the path of the disaster, glaring as she looked back at the tornado. Something wasn’t right. The tornado was incredibly strong, but they had performed every necessary measure to counter it. Pegasi didn’t just fall from the sky due to wind gusts. Something made them fall.
The thoughts left quicker than they had entered, desperation to save her home taking full control of her body. Rainbow Dash didn’t care what happened to her, or if her actions were beyond the definition of suicide. She would take on the tornado by herself if she had to.
Unfortunately, being rash and brave doesn’t guarantee success. Dash was repelled back to the ground before she could even touch the edge of the funnel. After three more attempts with the same result, a grim future for Ponyville was the only image alive in her head.
But as her fifth attempt to single-handedly destroy the tornado left a mark across her face, and as the last trace of hope for her home became dust within the very wind she was fighting, she spotted four figures in the distance. Her eyes widened as they grew closer, realizing just how lucky she and the rest of Ponyville was. Four of Equestia’s greatest fliers just so happened to be on a secret vacation at Ponyville’s very own Sweet Apple Acres. This Tornado would never know what hit it. Dash smiled and chuckled to herself as the lead squad of the Wonderbolts passed overhead, with both their flight goggles and game faces on.
The Wonderbolts rocketed into the scene two by two with Spitfire and Soarin up front, Fleetfoot and Rapidfire keeping up two feet behind. They effortlessly cut through the powerful winds as if it were a clear sunny day.
“Spearhead!” Spitfire yelled, falling back beside Fleetfoot as she shifted behind Soarin. They now flew with Soarin in front, and the other three directly behind. Spitfire and Rapidfire slinked back, grabbing hold of Fleetfoot’s back legs, while Fleetfoot pressed her front hooves against Soarin’s back hooves. All at once and in synch they began to pump their wings hard, picking up as much speed as they could. As their fastest flyer, Fleetfoot was the main power source in the formation. She pushed herself to the limit, with Spitfire and Rapidfire helping her accelerate. Their efforts were all for one purpose: to make Soarin into a living missile. After passing his own top speed, he flattened his wings and angled them back, ready to glide. A very large air cone formed around the formation, about four times larger than one created by a single pegasus hitting the air barrier. Right before it broke, Fleetfoot pushed her hooves against Soarin’s as hard as she could.
A loud boom echoed across the landscape as Soarin was fired right through the forming air cone, and sent as a screaming projectile towards the tornado. He crossed his hooves in front of his face to shield himself as he crashed against the mighty gusts. Unlike Dash’s attempts, the sheer force of the impact created a large hole in the tornado that quickly began to close up. With plenty of speed still built up, Fleetfoot grabbed hold of Spitfire and Rapidfire, dragging them at her pace through the hole before it completely closed. They all made it inside and were instantly battered by the spiral gusts.
“Let’s counter this breeze! Expanding circle! Go!” Spitfire called out. They huddled together in the center of the tornado, facing opposite of the wind rotation. They flew close, in a small circle at first. As they picked up speed they began to expand the circumference of their path. Having practiced this thousands of times, the increase in speed was perfectly in synch as they flew faster and faster, expanding their formation wider and wider. Soon they were spread out to the ends of the tornado, flying slightly faster than the wind blowing against them. They formed a perfect counter tornado, using their hard trained refined abilities. It was even better than the tornado made by entire Ponyville weather team. It looked like they were about to have everything under control.
The counter twister was fully formed, but the tornado didn’t weaken even slightly. Spitfire noticed immediately, the other Wonderbolts noticing soon after. This wasn’t the first time they had countered a massive tornado. Why wasn’t it dying?
Out of the corner of his eye Soarin spotted something above them. Something was careening down through the tornado at an alarming speed. It was heading right towards,
“RAPIDFIRE! ABOVE YOU!” Soarin shouted at the top of his lungs. But as soon as he did, the object collided with Rapidfire. He cried out in pain as he was forced from the formation and driven straight to the earth with a loud crash. Soarin was ready to break and assist, but the missing pony in the formation caused their counter twister to capsize, pulling him, Spitfire and Fleetfoot all the way back to the center uncontrollably. Soarin grunted, forcing himself upright as he neared the middle. He spotted Spitfire and Rapidfire tumbling uncontrollably towards him. He focused and braced himself, reaching his forelegs out. Spitfire and Fleetfoot crashed into him. He grunted in pain, but quickly latched his arms around both of them and thrust his wings out, successfully halting their movement. They regained their senses, and Soarin released them.
“What the hell is going on? Why didn’t it work?!” Fleetfoot panicked while glancing between the two of them and holding herself steady in the winds. “And why is the wind so weak in this tornado? You’d think by the size we’d be struggling to stay put!”
“Something’s amiss here,” Spitfire observed the spiraling winds on the edges of the tornado, “We should be straining ourselves to not be whisked away. This can’t be a natural tornado. Rapidfire broke formation?” She looked around for him. Soarin shook his head.
“No, I saw it all happen. Something fell from above and knocked him out. It drove him right from his spot all the way to the ground,” Soarin paused and looked below, a cloud of dust was rising from the ground and being sucked into the tornado, “down there!” He pointed. They all looked down in time to see a silhouette disappear from the impact zone. Rapidfire lay motionless in a small crater, covered mostly in stray dirt and grass. “And it looks like whatever attacked him, knocked him out. No doubt about it, somepony is controlling this tornado.” Soarin glanced around quickly, all three now wary that they weren’t alone. On instinct, Spitfire glanced up,
“LOOK OUT!” She yelled, throwing herself forward and pushing Soarin and Fleetfoot. Two more shadows zipped passed them from above, barely missing. Without a moment of thought, Soarin fired downward after the shadows. He didn’t know what he was chasing, but he had had enough of the sucker punches.
The two silhouettes broke formation and went in opposite directions. Soarin followed the one that broke right, glancing briefly to keep an eye on the other. They had split off and began looping back towards each other. He smirked, easily recognizing what they were doing. They were going to fly at each other, and the one flying opposite was going to intercept. He didn’t know who or what these things were, but they clearly had no idea who they were messing with. The shadows aimed at each other, Soarin close behind one of them. Just as he had predicted the two began converging. Soarin kept pace directly behind the one he was chasing. At the last moment before the two shadows crossed, Soarin veered himself slightly to the right, ready to give the interceptor a face full of Wonderbolt hoof.
They collided. A loud bang sounded out as two air cones collided and blew each other out. They had stopped dead in their flight paths. If that wasn’t enough of a shock for Soarin, the sight he laid eyes upon was more than enough to cause more. He was locked face to face with a dark grey pegasus stallion, slightly bigger than himself. He was wearing a uniform that reminded Soarin of the Wonderbolt uniform, only the color scheme was dark purple and black. He couldn’t see the pony’s eyes through the green tinted flight goggles, but the sinister smirk was enough to tell him he wasn’t friendly. Even worse, the pegasus had caught Soarin’s striking hoof in the collision, which seemed impossible. Before he could think or demand answers, Soarin found himself being swung around and thrown downward.
“Argh!” He grunted in frustration while trying to level himself out. In the corner of his eye he spotted another figure blazing towards him from the side. It was a light blue pegasus mare, wearing the same uniform as the stallion. Soarin was still not in control of his flight. Impact was imminent. That was, until Spitfire came shooting from above. The dark mare turned and shielded herself as Spitfire drove her front hooves into her, shifting their flight path completely away from Soarin in a trail of fire.
Soarin didn’t let himself worry about Spitfire, he knew his captain was more than capable of taking care of herself. He focused on the stallion diving towards him. Upon assessing the situation, Soarin turned and picked up speed towards the ground. Upon nearing impact, he rounded out and slammed hard to the ground, digging his hooves into the earth. He proceeded into his motions for a sonic blastoff. He fired from his spot, quickly banking into a hard turn and angling up towards the stallion. They smashed into one another, the stallion exhaling loudly on impact as Soarin drove his hooves into his stomach. The blow thrust them back up into the air. As they ascended, the stallion spread his wings and forced them against their movement. They eventually stopped and broke apart, slamming back together quickly, both of them punching with one hoof and evenly blocking said punch with the other. They were locked face to face, glaring and grimacing.
“Heh, you’ve got some nice moves for an amateur!” The stallion jeered at Soarin in a low, refined voice. Soarin gritted his teeth and pushed harder.
“I’m full of suprises!” He pushed the stallion towards the edge of the tornado, if he could get him caught in the unnatural, repelling wind flow it would be an easy victory. But a few feet from the edge, the stallion sneered and halted them in their path. No matter how hard Soarin pushed against him, he wouldn’t budge.
“Well? What are you waiting for? Surprise me.” The stallion taunted as Soarin failed to move him any further.
“Who the hell are you?!” Soarin demanded as he strained himself, determined to move his enemy.
“More than you could ever handle colt!” With little effort the stallion spun them around, shifting Soarin towards the edge of the tornado. Soarin found himself being pushed closer and closer to the razor sharp winds of the tornado’s edge. The stallion had taken his plan and turned it on him in an instant. Try as he might, Soarin couldn’t stop the stallion. The Wonderbolt “Power Flyer” was being outmuscled, and slowly being guided towards a very painful experience. Soarin pushed with all his strength, pumping his wings as hard as he could, straining his muscles against the stallion as his head grew closer to the wind’s edge, mere inches away from being swept into the uncontrollable torrent.
“Hooves off jerk!” Fleetfoot streaked in, ramming the stallion in the side. He proved to be sturdy, not wavering much despite being struck full speed by Fleetfoot. But the impact threw him off just enough for Soarin to rip his hooves free and glide away from the edge. Soarin looped around, glancing down to check on Spitfire, who was locked in combat with the pegasus mare. His concern for Spitfire, while well placed and routine, was the brief hesitation that got Fleetfoot knocked out.
The stallion, roughly twice her size, grabbed Fleetfoot around the neck and tossed her up into the air. Soarin quickly turned back towards them as he heard Fleetfoots choked cough. His eyes went wide as a third pegasus appeared, a lavender one, colliding at top speed into Fleetfoot. The two flew right into the tornado’s edge, the tornado seemed to open up for them as the pegasus pushed Fleetfoot out of the funnel. Soarin wanted to help her, but remembered he had his own problems to worry about. He shifted to the side to avoid a diving elbow from the stallion. Soarin exploded upward, deciding to change up his strategy. If he couldn’t rely on his strength, then he would use his speed. The enemy was larger than he, and clearly wasn’t the quick type.
As he had predicted, the stallion grew further away. Soarin arced and dove down, careening towards his target once more. The stallion smirked, aiming his hoof right for Soarin’s face, but Soarin knew better than to try a battle of strength again. Inches from colliding, Soarin twisted his body to avoid the incoming strike. He slid by so close to his enemy that their bodies nearly brushed against one another. Soarin grabbed hold of the stallion’s back leg and pulled him down with him. He was in control now. He would slam this creep into the ground and rush to help his teammates.
But then he felt a hoof against the back of his head. Once again, the situation had been turned on him. The stallion had a firm grip on his body, the free back hoof placed against the back of Soarin’s head, using his weight, gravity, and the speed Soarin had built up to aim him right into the earth. Soarin could only shut his eyes as the ground grew closer and closer, before he was driven face first into the ground.
Outside the tornado, Dash’s eyes squeaked open. Her hooves went right to her head, groaning in pain. After four harmless landings she felt she could have at least pulled off one more. The fifth was directly on her head. She dwelled on the state of her noggin briefly as something crashed to the ground, quite violently, only a few feet from her. It kicked up dirt and dust everywhere. The intense winds instantly blew the small debris into her eyes, forcing her to shield herself. When she regained her vision, she gasped and fell back.
Fleetfoot was sprawled out in a small crater in front of her at the end of a crash trench. Standing over the fallen Wonderbolt, was a lavender mare wearing a Shadowbolt uniform. Dash rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. She was certain the Shadowbolts were only an illusion created by nightmare moon. Was that assumption wrong? She flinched as the Shadowbolt glanced at her, pushing herself away, clumsily shuffling her hooves over the ground to scoot herself backward. The mare smirked and laughed, not even acknowledging Dash. She spat on Fleetfoot’s defeated body, turned, and fired back towards the tornado, piercing right through the blades of wind as if they weren’t there.
Rainbow dash sat completely still, sweating, blinking, and wondering what was really going on. She was having trouble comprehending all of it. The Shadowbolts were real? The tornado was caused by them? The pegasi being knocked from the sky was definitely their doing, and the Wonderbolts were in COMBAT with them? She thought they were stunt flyers. Fleetfoot suddenly groaned painfully, reminding Dash that there was a situation at hand.
“Hey! Wake up! Sleeping? I thought you would be a challenge!” The words stabbed themselves into Soarin’s ears as he was jostled awake by a blow to the face. His mind was instantly occupied by multiple focused points of pain in his head, most notably in his nose, left eye, and forehead. As if his vision wasn’t already blurry enough as he tried to open his eyes, the pain in his head only made it worse. He wasn’t moving on his own. He was being hoisted up. “You still with us colt?” The voice seemed to have its own painful blow. His right ear was ringing like crazy. He couldn’t tell if he was being yelled at or quietly taunted. He tried to speak, but grimaced at the taste of blood in his mouth. His nose was bleeding, pretty badly. Even worse, his head was bleeding too. He was having a hard time focusing his vision. His goggles had shattered to pieces upon impact, and the blood trickling from his forehead was running into his eyes, causing an unbearable stinging sensation.
To put it simply, Soarin was a physical wreck. While his body was relatively unscathed, he just had his face driven into the ground like a fence post. Scramble the command center and everything else loses control.
Any other pegasus would have curled up and accepted their fate. Soarin, however, never learned to accept limits.
Through sheer determination and will, Soarin forced his hooves up and gripped the stallion's forelegs holding him around the neck. The action was met with amused laughter.
“Well lookie here! The little colt isn’t quite down for the count yet!” The voice struck another wave of pain into his already scrambled brain. Soarin grimaced and shook his head. He forced open his right eye, his left smeared in his own blood. He could see the stallion holding him by the neck, a grin extending from ear to ear, “you’ve got heart colt, I’ll give you that much.”
“Having fun Descent?” another voice. Soarin forced his eye up to see the light blue mare, holding the back hoof of Spitfire, dangling limply in her grip, covered in painful looking bruises. Soarin’s natural instincts caused him to move and squirm. His body wanted to help Spitfire but his head was so scrambled that he could barely control any motions.
“Heh, I like this colt. I crammed his face right into the dirt, full speed. But he still has the gusto to resist. I admire his determination and will power, but in the end he was just another weakling.” His grip tightened around Soarin’s neck. Soarin choked and glared with one eye, desperately trying to regain control. “How was your opponent Nightshade?” The mare glanced at Spitfire, holding her up so she could see the defeated Wonderbolt’s face.
“Spunky, but careless. She wasn’t much of a fight. I saw Starry Skies make quick work of the third, she’s already above making the storm clouds.” The mare scoffed and tossed Spitfire towards Soarin. Spitfire crashed and tumbled to a halt, a blank look of pain on her face as she lay unconscious. “Are these chumps really the head squad of the Wonderbolts? These weaklings took over for Blazetail and Flashwind? If this is the legacy of the legendary flyers, then all the apples have fallen hard from the tree.”
Her words were harsh and cocky. Soarin wanted nothing more than to shove it to both of them and then find the third and repeat. But he was currently having trouble just focusing his sight. In his blurry vision he could see Spitfire sprawled out on the ground. His captain was down, Rapidfire was long out of commission, and from what he heard he assumed Fleetfoot was knocked out as well.
“I’m disappointed really, I was hoping for more excitement. But hey, I shouldn’t have expected much from these fledglings anyway,” the mare shrugged. The third lavender pegasus flew down from above, and exchanged a few words with Nightshade. “Are the clouds are ready? Good. Let’s destroy this backwater town and go home before I die of boredom.”
Soarin forced his eyes open, both of them, ignoring the burning sensation from his own blood seeping into his left eye. His long time, irreplaceable friend had just been brutally beaten and the enemy was about to destroy the home of not only many innocent ponies, but the home of another mare he cared deeply for. All of his pain disappeared, his brain found itself and blocked out everything that didn’t matter. His mind ignored the hardships of his body and focused tunnel vision set on one goal, and one goal only: to stop these fiends.
Art by: colorstirke
He growled loudly and clamped his grip down on Descent’s arms, squeezing them like a vice turned three times past its tightened limit. Descent turned back to Soarin as a sudden pain clawed through his arms.
“What do we have here? Have some fight left in—” his taunting suddenly ceased as Soarin began to push Descent’s arms away slowly. Descent found himself struggling against Soarin’s adrenaline fueled strength. Instead of helping, Nightshade watched, a grin growing on her lips as Soarin threw Descent’s hooves off of him. Without hesitation, Soarin cracked Descent across the face with a powerful left hook, receiving a hoof straight to the stomach right after. The blow would have knocked him out under normal circumstances, but it was almost like his brain had shut off his nerves and he only cared about stopping them. He began exchanging blows with Descent, not having any other option. His body received harsh punishment, he felt cracks and pops as he was hit. His body was operating beyond feeling, pain, or hindering injuries. All of his focus was on throwing his punches.
This did not work in his favor. Descent was bigger, stronger, and sturdier than him. It wasn’t long before Soarin found himself falling down.
“Give it up colt. It’ll be a million years before you can match me.” Descent growled, slightly shaken up by a few of Soarin’s blows. Soarin however, knew nothing of giving up. Spitfire had permanently drilled determination into his head from the moment he trained to become a Wonderbolt. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, and you certainly can’t make him forget the one’s he’s perfected.
“ARGH!!!!” Soarin forced his body up and back onto all fours. His head hung low to the ground, blood dripping from his mouth and down from the wounds on his face and head. Nightshade continued to watch, the grin on her face becoming a full, slightly psychotic smile.
Soarin thrust out his wings and shot skyward within the tornado. Descent pursued with an annoyed scoff. With his body practically no longer under his control, Soarin arced and dipped down towards Descent, who sped up himself. The two collided, both delivering simultaneous blows to each other’s faces. They flew in opposite directions, Soarin getting a hold of his flight quickly. He banked around and dove straight at Descent’s tumbling form, tackling him and slamming them both into the ground. Descent gripped Soarin’s body as he regained his control, hoisted him over his head and slammed him to the ground.
Soarin just wasn’t built like Descent. His body felt like it was beginning to crumble. Even his determination began to show cracks and dents.
Descent snatched him off the ground, carried him up into the air, and spiked him towards the ground. Soarin flailed about as he fell, trying to prevent a heavy impact. He managed to right himself only a foot from touchdown, slamming to the earth hard and painfully on all four hooves. He immediately dropped, desperately trying to stand.
“If I can stand up just one more time”, he kept repeating in his mind over and over again. While it seemed out of place, this was bringing him back. Whenever he fell, he was conditioned to stand right back up. When he was young, he tried to be realistic and told himself he would never be on the level of the Wonderbolts. Now he wears the uniform. Never backing down, never giving up, and never saying I can’t. Words he lived by, and words he would die by if need be.
Descent landed nearby and scowled at Soarin’s perserverance. It was getting on his nerves. Starry Skies flew in and landed next to Nightshade. She quickly noticed something strange. Nightshade was shivering and her wing feathers were all flustered and bent out of proper form.
“Captain, you alright?” She asked while tipping her goggles up. Nightshade responded with a sharp jittery shiver, a deranged smile, and a creepy chuckle.
“Look at it Star. Isn’t it incredible?” She suddenly mused. Starry Skies followed her fixed gaze to Soarin. His body was beaten, bloody, and broken, but he was slowly hoisting himself back up. There was no fear in his gaze and absolutely no yielding in his movements.
“He looks like he got mauled by a timberwolf.” Starry replied, confused. Nightshade burst out laughing uncontrollably for only a few seconds before stopping in an instant and draping a hoof over Starry Skies. She pulled her teammate towards her tightly and pointed her other hoof at Soarin as he threw himself at Descent again.
“Look at him, look at the state he’s in,” she waved her hoof in a slow side to side motion towards Soarin as he and Descent continued to beat on one another, “Descent has beaten him within an inch of his life and he refuses to lie down and die!” she paused and released a few maniacal laughs, “isn’t desperation such a beautiful thing?!” she continued laughing. Starry Skies awkwardly glanced back and forth and tried to remove herself from Nightshade’s grip, but it only tightened and Nightshade locked her eyes with hers, “desperation is powerful Star. It can push us beyond anything we are capable of. It is so powerful that our bodies refuse to let us use it unless we are cornered or about to die. Desperation reveals the monster hidden inside all of us. Only with it can we see the true power and nature of a pony!” She ended with a deep, slightly pleasurable sigh. “It gives me goose bumps every time I see it.”
“Dandy,” Starry Skies pushed herself away, “look, just lemme give the report. The storm clouds are ready to be fired and the twister jewel is still functioning properly.” The information seemed to have an odd effect on Nightshade. She suddenly twitched, dropped down, and grabbed her head briefly. She stood right back up and shook her head, almost like it was a challenge to pull her eyes away from Soarin.
“Good,” she replied with her voice back to its normal tone and manner, “we might as well get on with it so we can move the tornado again and finish the job.
Descent threw Soarin to the ground. He landed roughly, bouncing and tumbling to a halt in a cloud of dust.
“That’s enough Descent,” Nightshade ordered, taking her place next to him as did Starry, “We are already way behind schedule, I don’t care if it takes snapping each of the bones in his body, let’s make quick work of this Blunderbolt and move the tornado into Ponyville.
Rainbow Dash desperately crawled over to the trench dug by Fleetfoot. She climbed over the edge of the small crater at the end, losing her balance and tumbling in. She frantically tried to stop herself, but fell right into Fleetfoot, who groaned in pain. She quickly turned over and supported her head,
“Fleet! Fleet!” She called to her. Fleetfoot’s eyes fluttered open slightly. She coughed, clutching her heavily bruised stomach. Her breathing labored with sputters and wheezing. “Fleet, what’s going on?! Was that a Shadowbolt?”
“S-,S-,” she tried to speak, but her throat was swollen from multiple blows to the neck. She could barely speak. She continued to try and say something. Dash realized this and quickly put an ear close to listen. “Sp-, Spitfire, S-, Soarin.”
“Spitfire and Soarin?” Dash confirmed, earning a nod and painful cough from Fleetfoot. She reached up and grasped Dash around the neck, tearing up from how painful simple breathing was.
“H-h-help, them!!” She forced through her throat, her pain threshold breaking her consciousness. She fell limp. Rainbow Dash panicked, but sighed heavily in relief after putting an ear to Fleetfoot’s chest. Her heart was beating, she just passed out. She lowered her gently and turned to the tornado.
There was nothing natural about this disaster. The Tornado had even been stationary for a while now and then she saw the Shadowbolt. It was all the evidence she needed. By the state of Fleetfoot, and her desperate plea to help Spitfire and Soarin, Dash knew the Wonderbolts were in danger. But what could she do? She already tried to get into the tornado, but her many attempts were all swatted away by the razor winds of the funnel.
She began to envision what was going on in the Tornado. Fleetfoot was left in this state outside by one Shadowbolt. In her brief experience dealing with them, Dash knew there were at least three. She remembered two mares and a large pegasus stallion that was almost as large as Big Mac.
Her eyes widened. Soarin and Spitfire were fighting that stallion along with two more and she wasn’t going to put her bits on Rapidfire still being in the fight. Spitfire was one of her biggest idols. She didn’t like the idea of her being abused.
And Soarin? Yeah, he was a jerk. At least he was last time she talked to him. Actually she was the one who barged in and instigated it. She shook her head roughly. Now wasn’t the time to get all emotional. She didn’t care if they had butted heads and she didn’t care who was to blame, if he was angry with her, or that he had recently insulted her pride. She cared about him dammit, and she was going to help him whether he liked it or not.
A wave of determination rushed into her as she looked the twister up and down, squinting to prevent any tossed up dirt and dust from plastering her vision. She recalled the way the Wonderbolts had pierced through the tornado. They used Soarin as a living projectile, using all their speed and extra force to accelerate him beyond anything they could generate alone. She had to find a way to replicate that, but how she would do that exactly was far from figured out. Knowing she had little time to act, she forced her head into overdrive, she had to do something, how could she do it, how could she get through, how could she-
“That’s it!” Her own tornado of ideas halted as the one thing that just might work appeared in her. She scanned the area around her, looking specifically for a sturdy object to use as a platform. Since debris had been tossed everywhere, it didn’t take long for her to spot a large boulder that would fit her needs perfectly. She approached it, gave it a few kicks to test its sturdiness, and took to the air once satisfied.
The difficulty of flight made itself known quickly with the tornado so close. She hadn’t considered that, but it was a little late to be doubtful. She looked down as she ascended, noticing the distinct wobble in her flight path.
This would require perfect control and timing. If she missed the rock, or was unable to keep her course steady, she would miss and—.
Dash looked towards the tornado. It was still stationary, and she hoped it would stay that way until she could attempt this move. But as she was thinking before, if she was off target at all, she would hit the tornado at roughly twice the speed she had on her previous attempts. Since she was trying to more than quadruple her speed, it would only end in a crash, one possibly very hazardous to her health or worse.
But no more doubts. This was no time to think about failing. Dash knew if she were to succeed she needed not only to be perfect, but to believe she could do it perfectly. Any shred of doubt was more than enough doubt to make her screw up. Fighting the doubt was easier than it might have seemed. She filled her head with thoughts of Spitfire and Soarin suffering and in pain. While it was morbid thinking, it only made her more determined. Nothing meant more to her than protecting those she held close and as of recently, the Wonderbolts (save for one) had become very precious friends to her. Especially Soarin, who had shown her sides of herself she had never truly accepted.
She reached her desired height. She braced herself as the wind proved to be even stronger at her altitude. She focused on the boulder below, and clapped her hooves against the sides of her head to psych herself up.
“I’m coming guys!”
Soarin cried out in pain as his body struck the ground violently once again. He twitched and squirmed as the three Shadowbolts approached him.
“This bastard just won’t die.” Starry Skies growled with discontent.
“His mind has completely overpowered his body. I doubt he’d stay down even if we ripped his legs off.” Descent stomped down on Soarin’s face. It was just as Descent said. Soarin had not felt a single bit of pain for the past few minutes now. All he could feel was the pressure caused by the blows and his stability equilibrium constantly changing where he thought his hooves were. He wasn’t even sure how he was still able to move because he was certain a lot of his bones were broken. His wings had luckily avoided most of the punishment he received, allowing him to keep the hopeless battle up. He no longer felt victory to be even a sliver of an outcome, but he was going to fight until there was nothing left of him if he had to. He pulled his face out from beneath Descents hoof and forced his body into the air.
Descent quickly leapt up and put him in a full nelson from behind. His wings were completely pinned between him and his captor. Nightshade hovered up and slowly got in Soarin’s face with the devilish smirk forming again.
“You are quite a piece of work,” she punched him hard in the gut. Soarin felt all the air leave his lungs, “I’ve never seen a pony fight so hard past their limit. You are a rare find indeed.” She grabbed his head and head butted him, “As much as it pains me to kill you,” she slinked closer and whispered into his ear, “It has been beyond satisfying!” She ended with another sharp punch to his stomach. Following with another, and another, and another. Each blow cut off any attempt to breath. Soarin felt like he was going to suffocate. Without anything to exhale he could only sputter and cough up blood. Yet despite the tortuous beating, he forced his head up and glared at Nightshade. She grabbed his head and pressed her face against his, laughing like a crazed maniac while smearing his blood on herself. “YES! CLING TO LIFE! SHOW US JUST HOW STRONG YOUR DESPERATION IS!”
PenumbraGlow0290 Deviantart: bonnama
“HEY!” Descent pulled Soarin away from her. “Captain, cut it out before you start rubbing yourself all over me too! Save your twisted fantasies for another time!”
Nightshade looked annoyed at Descent’s prevention of her interests, but Starry Skies came down and draped a hoof over Nightshade quickly.
“Look captain, I know his agony is tickling your fancy, but now isn’t the time to be your crazy sadistic self. We need to move the twister jewel into Ponyville before Celestia is informed and our cover is blown. I’ll help Descent kill this apparently half-immortal dolt and you start moving the tornado okay?”
Nightshade looked down, blinked a few dozen times, and shook her head.
“Y-yes. That’s a good idea,” she sounded reluctant to comply, “Make it quick, I’ll take care of the tornado.” She turned away and flew up, leaving the two others to exchange disturbed glances before continuing to beat Soarin.
Rainbow Dash dove towards her target. The wind battered her from all angles, trying to force her from her path. It was just another opponent she refused to yield to. If the wind pushed her hard right, she would push back harder. It was as simple as that. The pressure around her grew stronger as an air cone began to form. This was far and away the longest shot with the smallest chance of success she had ever attempted. But that didn’t matter to her. It wasn’t the time to be logical, nor was it the time to think of her safety. If she couldn’t pull this off, it was over for everypony, plain and simple. She was the element of loyalty, it didn’t matter what the situation was, letting them all down would go against her very nature. Plus she was awesome. What could possibly go wrong?
The wind ripped and tore at her body as it threatened to collapse her acceleration. At her current speed she couldn’t afford any movements off course. Luckily, her goggles prevented the wind from snapping against her eyes, she was entirely focused on the rock below, mere seconds away from it.
She suddenly dipped down, purposely going off course for only a moment, then pulled up hard, leveling herself out into a straight line along the ground. The boulder approached rapidly.
The air cone broke, shattering into a sonic rainboom only a few feet from the boulder. Even with the intense blast, her eyes remained focused. It was only for an instant, but an instant was all she needed. As she blasted over the rock, she was at just the right height to touch her hooves to it.
She touched her front hooves first, planted her back hooves right behind them, then fluidly pushed off the front, followed by the back without breaking the flow of the movement. In the instant she had over the rock, she applied Soarin’s Sonic Blastoff technique.
Dash didn’t even have time to blink, much less breath. She felt like her head was nearly ripped off her shoulders and she lurched forward as if being whiplashed by a bungee cord. A second sonic explosion echoed out, leaving a double rainboom by the rock, which was pulverized to pebbles as soon as she launched.
Her ecstatic internal response to the successful maneuver had to wait, as she braced herself for an almost immediate impact, shielding her head as she struck the tornado. She felt a giant lurch, but nothing that felt like pain. She peeked out from under her arms, just in time to see the face of a surprised Shadowbolt directly in front of her.
“WHAT THE FLYING F—” Starry Skies shouted as something suddenly came hurling towards her. Rainbow Dash collided with her, hooves to face, knocking Starry’s goggles right off and sending her twirling to the ground. Descent had to double take to make sure he actually saw some random blue pegasus mare come flying in like a screaming missile and knock out his teammate.
Soarin saw the whole thing as well. He both wondered how Dash managed to break through the tornado, and began to worry about her getting involved in a battle. Both quickly took a back seat when Soarin realized his opportunity. He thrust his head back, smashing the back of his skull right into Descent’s nose.
Nightshade stopped and turned around as she heard Descent yell multiple swears. She was just as perplexed as the others upon seeing Starry Skies unconscious with a blue mare flailing to control herself along with Soarin free from Descent and heading upward. She huffed in annoyance and turned back down.
Now free from the hold, Soarin stole one glance at Dash, who was tumbling, but slowly regaining control of her flight. He had to admit, if this was the break that won the day, he owed her big time. Pouring all the strength he could find into his wings, he went skyward. He wasn’t sure what he was in for, but he remembered hearing something about a tornado jewel and cover being blown after long. So either he had to destroy whatever was powering this tornado, or buy enough time for Celestial herself to get involved. The situation was FUBAR, but it certainly wasn’t lost.
“Oh that’s it! I’m going to smash your smug little head until your eyes pop out!” Descent was visibly enraged. If you asked him, he had never had anypony last this long or fight back this hard. It was annoying him to no end.
Soarin knew he couldn’t outrun Descent in his current state, but he could finally see Descent’s weakness. His pride. Soarin spun around right as Descent caught up.
“Better watch your own!” He jeered as he grabbed Descent’s goggles in his teeth, pulled them back, and snapped them onto his face. Descent roared out in pain, rubbing his eyes. Soarin retracted his wings, let himself float up, and fall back down towards Descent.
“I’LL KILL YOU!” Descent was already flying upward as his eyes refocused, just in time to see Soarin clasp his hooves together and drive them down with all his weight into Descent’s forehead. Descent reared back and fell towards the ground.
Soarin sighed and forced himself upward again. But something latched onto him, and quickly restrained him,
“Oh I just CAN’T get enough of you.” The familiar sinister voice slithered behind him. Nightshade had snuck up behind him and put him in a chokehold. Normally he’d have been able to break out, but in his broken state there was no resisting. “It’s too bad I have a mission to carry out. If I had it my way I’d chain you to a wall and test your limits,” she rubbed her free hoof down the side of his body, “in more ways than one, I assure you.”
Soarin struggled, finding a little extra incentive to break free from her unbelievably sadistic and creepy actions. The way she seemed to be aroused by his pain was beyond disturbing.
Close by, Rainbow Dash finally got her head to stop spinning. On first glance, she realized she was inside the tornado. She remembered a brief instant where she made out a Shadowbolt uniform followed by a very head jarring collision. She blinked and glanced all around her, spotting Soarin and Nightshade above. Not only did she see Soarin in a chokehold, but she also saw the Shadowbolt licking him?!
“OH HELL NO!” Dash rocketed towards them. She aimed her front hooves right at Nightshade’s head. Nightshade smirked and turned Soarin towards Dash. Dash’s eyes widened and she put on the brakes. Nightshade grabbed hold of Soarin’s arm, spun him around and tossed him into Dash, following right behind. Dash grunted as Soarin crashed into her, and before she could do anything Nightshade drove her hooves into Soarin’s back. She pushed the two down towards the earth, looking to literally kill two birds with one stone. Dash opened her eyes, finding herself face to face with Soarin as they fell. She tried to fight the fall, but Nightshade was too strong. Soarin’s eyelids squeaked open as well. Since they were pressed together, the only thing he could see in the entirety of his vision was the terrified look on Rainbow Dash’s face. He considered the situation she was in. Dash somehow managed to get into the tornado, and found herself in combat. He would have some explaining to do to her if they lived through this, but it was clear she was scared and confused.
“HRRGH!!!!” Soarin forced his wings out, causing just enough of an airbrake to make Nightshade lose her hold on him, and crash into his back. He reached around and grabbed her hoof, slinging her over his shoulder and sending her hurling away from them. Soarin quickly turned and grabbed hold of Dash, stopping them before they hit the ground. Dash immediately looked him over in a panic, seeing the brutally beaten state he was in. He was covered in scratches and bruises, had a black eye, a swollen cheek, and was bleeding from multiple places including his head. His body twitched and shuddered as his cracked limbs and bludgeoned joints struggled to keep him stable. His eyes were all red, irritated from the blood trickling down his face into them.
“Oh my gosh Soarin you’re—” She was stopped dead as his hoof pressed against her mouth.
“Listen, I don’t have time to explain! I’m going to stop the tornado! I need you to keep her busy!” He pointed to Nightshade, who had already leveled out and was looking for them.
“But—”
“NO BUTS! I need your help Dash! This is our only chance!” Those words from him were all she needed to hear. His body may have been nearly ground into a swollen bloody eyesore, but the spark was still in his voice and the fire still alight in his eyes. Her expression flipped from worried to determined and she gave him a nod. He nodded back and turned, but she grabbed his foreleg before he could take off.
“You better not die. I’m not done with you.” She glared with a smile. Soarin gave her a confused look, but quickly replaced it with a smirk.
“Who the hell do you think I am?” He jeered back, taking off instantly right after.
“Heh, show off.” Dash focused on Nightshade as the Shadowbolt looked up. She had clearly seen Soarin take off. Dash immediately set an intercept course, and met Nightshade right in her path. She connected a hoof with her face, throwing Nightshade off and forcing her attention towards her instead. “Where do you think you’re going?!” Dash put her hooves up in front of her face like a boxer. Nightshade glared at her, but suddenly relaxed, looking Dash over in sudden realization.
“Oh? My, I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you! What a small delicious world we live in,” Nightshade smirked and rubbed her hooves together, “if it isn’t the one and only Rainbow Dash, the only pegasus to ever resist our temptation. I’m still curious as to how you did it.” She slowly moved towards Dash.
“Like it was very hard.” Dash taunted, trying to hide the fact that she was both slightly disturbed and subtly edging away from the approaching creep.
“Oh but it is. You’re just so resilient that you brushed it right off. That’s quite an accomplishment,” Nightshade suddenly rushed towards her. Dash had no time to react as Nightshade rammed her right in the stomach, “such strong devotion. Such peerless loyalty! If only you knew your potential!” She grabbed Dash by the shoulders and turned them down towards the ground. Dash grunted and shoved Nightshade off, but spun and crashed to the ground roughly.
“AUGHH!!!!!” She quickly reached up and clutched what would clearly be a large bump on her head later. She wasn’t used to this. She had gotten into scuffles and fights in flight school side by side with Gilda many times, but this was different. She had never fought for her life before. She began to realize the gravity of her situation. She spun upright, but was caught around the neck by Nightshade. She hoisted Dash into the air.
“How awful of the big hero to leave such a damsel in distress to be beaten.” She spoke with false woe in her voice. Dash gripped the hooves holding her up and smirked.
“Funny--, you don’t seem--, too worried--, about him!” Dash didn’t like being roughed up, but she was keeping Nightshade busy like Soarin asked. Nightshade shrugged.
“Oh I’m not worried. I know a certain somepony who has blind pride and determination,” as if on cue, Dash saw something fire skyward after Soarin, “by the time Descent is done with him, Soarin will wish he’d never been born!”
Soarin approached A large mass of dark thunder clouds that were gathered near the top of the tornado. He deduced these were the clouds Starry Skies had gather for a use that had not been revealed. He surmised it had something to do with launching them from the tornado to torment Ponyville, but whatever it was, that plan was long gone. All he had to do was find the source of the tornado, this supposed tornado jewel. If he could destroy it, would bring instant victory.
“RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!” A fierce battle cry roared out below him. His eyes widened and he looked down to see Descent hurling at him, goggles cracked, face bloody, and snarling like a feral beast. The initial shock subsided and instincts took over as Soarin shielded himself the best he could. Descent rammed him full force, pushing them upward past the thunderclouds. Soarin grunted and glanced behind them as he was pushed higher and higher. If they reached the open funnel of the tornado they would both be thrown violently from the twister, ruining his chances to stop the disaster and most likely killing him wherever his flailing form landed.
Forcing his body to find strength, he grabbed Descent’s hooves and slowly forced them off his chest. He tucked his back legs in and kicked them out, right into Descent’s goggles. Descent lost his hold on Soarin, his goggles shattering to pieces as he tumbled back. Soarin quickly arced down, avoiding the top of the funnel by only a few feet. He didn’t bother going after Descent. It was clear that he couldn’t defeat that juggernaut in combat. He had to find the source of the tornado.
He glanced over his shoulder, luckily at just the right time. He twisted around mid flight and caught an incoming punch from Descent. He glared at Soarin, nostrils flaring, breath heavy, and growling. It was if his mind had completely snapped. The force of Descent’s punch drove them downward towards the thunder clouds.
As they fell, a bright pink twinkle in the corner of his vision caught Soarin’s eye. He glanced to his left and saw a jewel. A small, pink, spinning jewel that floated above the gathered clouds. It was spinning the same direction as the tornado. That was it. It was the power source.
Unfortunately, Soarin was not in a position to go after it. He tried to rip himself away from Descent’s hold, but his efforts yielded little reward. He hadn’t a fraction of his usual strength, how could he fend off a pegasus that was already stronger than him to begin with? Not to mention said pegasus was being fueled by rage. After a quick glance at the approaching thunder clouds, Soarin saw an opportunity.
Rainbow Dash yelped as she hit the ground hard, tumbling to a stop. She shuttered and slowly rose, a sharp pain gnawing at her jaw. Nightshade landed close by, grinning wider by the second.
“See what you could have had?” she tipped Dash’s chin up to look her in the eyes, “this power!” she delivered an uppercut to Dash’s chin, sending her upward. In the blink of an eye Nightsahde had whisked around, “this speed!” she brought her hooves down into Dash’s back, sending her downward. Nightshade was on the ground way before Dash was even close, catching her falling form by the neck, “but most of all, this enjoyment!” She said while licking her lips.
Dash couldn’t think straight. She had never experienced so much pain. It was unbearable. It made her want to curl up and cry. Then why did her body refuse to back down? She was terrified, but she didn’t dare take one step back. She felt no need to ask herself, because the answers were pretty clear.
Loyalty.
Devotion.
Perseverance.
Blood.
Sweat.
Tears.
The very building blocks of her character were stronger than any punch Nightshade could throw. Someone she cared about deeply had trusted her to hold Nightshade’s attention, and she was going to do it even if she had to cut off her legs and wings to succeed.
She grasped Nightshade’s hoof, squeezing tightly.
“Oh ho! Looks like I found another die hard. Go on. Struggle. Show me how much you want it,” she whispered into Dash’s ear with a little too much interest. Dash opened her eyes and glared at Nightshade, gritting her teeth, and letting out a low growl. She looked down at the foreleg holding her and changed her grimace to a smirk.
“Confident huh?” Dash began, earning a lifted eyebrow from Nightshade, “you’re tough, I’ll give you that. But honestly, you should be a little more careful!” Her words earned hearty laughter as Nightshade looked like she would burst. Dash waited patiently for her insane captor to settle down.
“This is rich! Enlighten me little filly. What sort of fight does the cornered mouse have to offer?”
“Well, nothing much,” Dash managed to shrug despite being held up. She released her hooves from Nightshade, placing one above the foreleg and one below, Nightshade observed, perplexed. “JUST THIS!!!” Dash slammed her hooves together from above and below, meeting Nightshade’s foreleg on opposite sides of her carpal bones. A painful, nerve stiffening snap echoed out between them. Dash felt Nightshade’s grasp instantly release, followed by an ear piercing scream of agony. Dash hit the ground and glanced up to see Nightshade with her head reared back. Her right foreleg was flailing about, bending in directions it wasn’t supposed to, with her left clutching the base of her mangled carpal joint. Dash shuttered and winced. The sight was mortifying, but what’s worse, she had never caused such a terrible injury to another pony before. Despite it being to save her own skin, Dash wished she hadn’t had to resort to it.
Seizing the moment, Rainbow Dash tried to get up and ready herself, but was cut short by something pinning her to the ground by her back. She grunted as her face smacked against the dirt and turned her head as far as she could to see Nightshade pressing her intact foreleg down on her. The Shadowbolt goggles had been removed, there was bloodlust in her eyes, her breathing was extremely labored, and she was slightly foaming at the mouth.
“You impudent little SHIT!” she stomped down on Dash’s head, “I’LL CRUSH THE LIFE OUT OF YOU!” she stomped again and again. Each blow forced Dash’s face to the ground, and made her more and more dizzy. She eventually went numb to the pain and could only feel the force behind each stomp.
As she began to slip from consciousness, she at least felt satisfied. She kept Nightshade busy as long as she could, and if nothing else she left a lasting impression on the psycho.
Nightshade pulled back for one final stomp, but another hoof reached out and caught it. Nightshade frantically looked to her left, meeting the intense eyes of Spitfire. bruised and bloody, but up with a second wind and lots of pain to repay.
“I believe I owe your flank a whooping.” She clutched Nightshade’s hoof and vaulted her over her back, slamming her hard to the ground. Without hesitating, she repeated the motion over her again, slamming Nightshade on her other side. “Hey, get up, I have more for you.” Spitfire pulled Nightshade to her hooves and delivered three heavy punches to her face and stomach, followed by turning around and bucking her in the chin. Nightshade was sent airborne and tumbled to the ground. Spitfire spat out some blood on the ground and turned to Dash, “You okay?” she reached down and helped Dash get on her hooves. Rainbow Dash’s vision was blurrier than it would ever be, but after focusing, shaking, and blinking dozens of times she managed to regain most of her balance.
“I’ve been better. Thanks Spitfire.” They both looked towards Nightshade, who rose shakily with only three working legs.
“She’s still up? Good. My hooves are going to have a few words with her. I need some answers.” She glanced up, squinting towards the thunderclouds gathered far above. “From what I saw, Soarin will have this Tornado down shortly and we can have all have a chat with the princess.” When Spitfire mentioned Soarin Dash forgot all about her pain and dizziness. She immediately remembered seeing Descent charge skyward after him.
“SOARIN!!!” Dash blasted off, heading straight up towards the thunderclouds above. Nightshade locked eyes on Dash and readied to pursue, but was cut off as Spitfire delivered a fierce right hook to her face.
“Oh no you don’t. Those two are the least of your concerns right now,” Spitfire removed her goggles and glared at the struggling Shadowbolt, “I’m gonna teach you what happens when you cross the captain of the Wonderbolts.” She pounded her hooves together.
Soarin continued to hold Descent at bay. The enraged beast was trying to force his hooves to Soarin’s neck, but without his wits about him, Soarin easily warded off multiple attempts. With the two locked in close combat, Soarin angled towards the storm clouds, eyeing the electrical charges pulsating through them. This was a long shot and very reckless, but he needed to buy himself time to destroy the jewel. This was the only way he could think of.
He bent his head as far back as possible in disgust, Descent hissing and snarling in his face. When the time was right, Soarin kicked his back legs into Descents stomach as hard as he could, yanking him free and propelling him straight into the closest storm cloud.
As soon as he entered, Soarin spread his body out and braced himself. The electrical charges of the lightning surged at him, filling his body with hundreds of volts of electricity. As he had trained, he braced his body, not allowing the energy to gather too much at any point. When he absorbed all he could handle, he erupted out the top of the cloud, eyes wide, teeth grinding, mane spiked, and ribbons of electricity pulsating around and through him. As soon as he emerged he saw Descent roaring towards him.
“THAT’S RIGHT YOU OVERGROWN BULL! COME AT ME!” Soarin beckoned, feeling literally supercharged by the lighting. He hovered completely still in the air, letting Descent charge right into him, taking the blow. Soarin clamped his hooves to Descents forelegs immediately upon impact. The lighting pulsated through his arms, flowing freely between the two of them. Descent cried out in agony at first, but growled loudly and met eyes with Soarin. The two were locked in a giant ball of undulating electrical pulses. It wasn’t having the effect Soarin was hoping. Descent was fighting against it. Soarin never predicted this scenario, but it should have been obvious. Descent was hell bent on killing him to the point where he seemed mindless.
It was risky, but Soarin saw no other option. He forced his limbs into his body, letting the energy concentrate. He instantly felt the unbearable shock, but because it was so sudden, all the electricity rushed into Descent. Soarin saw this, and tried to pull away, but his hooves were caught in Descent’s concrete grip. Even with the heavily concentrated lightning tearing at his flesh, Descent was dead set on killing him. Soarin had no avenue of escape, and was fresh out of options. He needed a miracle.
And he got one.
Rainbow Dash came streaking in out of nowhere, driving her hooves full speed into Descent’s side. Descent’s hooves were ripped free from Soarin, sending the two hurling towards the clouds. Soarin readied to help Dash, seeing her on a collision course with the thunder clouds, but caught glimpse of the determination in her eyes. She had risked her safety to come and help him. She would be undoubtedly hurt by the clouds, but he knew she’d give him what for if he ignored the opportunity she gave him to save her home. He forced his eyes away and poured everything he had left into his wings, aiming straight for the jewel.
Descent growled and snapped at Dash as she pushed him, she could feel some of the electricity passing into her, but she kept stretched out full length, remembering what Soarin had said about controlling lightning. If she let up at all she knew Descent would beat her to a pulp. She aimed them right at the group of storm clouds, pulsating with electricity, hoping to give Descent a double dose of thunderstorm to cool of his hot temper.
She drove him into the clouds, the energy stored inside instantly being displaced by the energy within him. It almost acted like a magnet, drawing the rest of the energy towards him. Dash tried to pull back, but ribbons of electricity crashed against her, surging through her body. She felt herself being dragged closer. She desperately shielded herself.
Soarin found the jewel spinning innocently in the center of the funnel. He took no time to wonder or speculate. He clapped his hooves together, smashing it to dust between them. There was a bright pink flash, followed by the winds dying down. He glanced around and could see the visible gusts of the funnel grow weak, slowly dissappearing.
Soarin sighed heavily, his body feeling very heavy from pain and fatigue. He had taken an extremely severe beating. The only things that had kept him going were adrenaline and will power. He began to realize just how bad his injuries were, his body struggling to keep itself together. His wings could barely maintain a simple hover. He had to get down before they gave out on him.
But before he could rest, a loud crackle and boom echoed through the air. Soarin spun around to see all the thunderclouds get sucked into one big mass, followed by it expanding and exploding. Soarin shielded himself as stray ribbons of electricity shot in all directions. He peaked out from behind his arms, spotting two bodies falling below him. One was burnt to a crisp. If not for the size he wouldn’t have known it was Descent. The other,
“DASH!!!!!” Soarin tried to rush towards her, but his wings seized up and stiffened. He found himself helplessly tumbling down. After much painful effort, he managed to control his body into a freefall and glanced down at Dash. She was slightly singed with small trails of smoke rising off her falling form. She was clearly unconscious, falling like a ragdoll.
He straightened his body to pick up speed, forcing his wings outward. He was going to catch her. If he couldn’t fly, he would glide. If he couldn’t glide, whatever, he would swim. He didn’t care what he had to do. He was GOING to catch her. After many spasms and what he was sure were a few muscle strains, he managed to get his wings to fully agree with him. They were straight out at his sides, and were probably going to be stuck that way for a while. He angled himself to set an intercept course, drawing closer to dash by the second. He reached out and gently cradled her in his forelegs, tipping up to slow down.
Soarin examined her as they slowly spiraled towards the earth. He frowned as he spotted multiple injuries and electrical burns, both minor and cringe worthy. He now held in his arms the mare that changed him forever, a mare that finally broke him out of his “logical reasoning.” The mare that taught him it was okay to become attached to something.
Yet he looked upon her. Her brutally beaten state scarring him forever. It was because of her that they were successful, but he felt it was because of him that she had to suffer through so much pain. If he was faster or stronger, he felt he could have prevented this. Instead his weakness caused harm to somepony he cared deeply for.
Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes. Tears of shame. He lightly placed his forehead against hers.
“I’m so sorry Dash. I’m so sorry.”
Spitfire looked up, spotting Soarin slowly circling towards her. She gave a light kick to a struggling Nightshade she had in a head lock as Soarin prepared for a sloppy landing. He tried his best, but ended up tucking Rainbow Dash into his body as he bounced and tumbled to a stop.
“Ouch, that was graceful.” Spitfire began jokingly, but quickly became concerned upon seeing Dash, and the down-right horrifying state Soarin was in. Soarin set Dash down softly and fell back onto his flank. His posture was completely drooped, and his expression vacant. Spitfire could hardly tell if he was conscious. He was literally caked in his own blood, all of his limbs looked like they would fall off any second. His wings were painfully bent in awkward directions, and his breathing sounded weak and uneven. “Sweet mother of mercy Soarin—” Spitfire covered her mouth with her hoof, almost unable to look at him.
“Is Dash okay?” He spoke very groggily. Spitfire forced herself to look at him and examined Rainbow Dash. She was still out, but she was visibly breathing, and almost looked good as new compared to Soarin. “Is Dash okay?” He repeated. Spitfire nodded.
“She’s fine. Thanks to you.”
“Good.” He let his neck hang down, somehow managing to stay upright. Spitfire turned her focus towards the Shadowbolt in her custody, but was suddenly thrown off by a purple streak whisking by. Spitfire spun around and set her hooves, spotting Starry Skies a few yards away with a twitching Nightshade on her back and standing with one hoof on a severely burnt Descent.
“Oh no you do-argh!” Spitfire was prepared to charge, but pain from a heavy kink in her right wing forced her to her knees. Starry Skies held up a hoof and shook her head.
“Enough. We’ve been defeated. Any further confrontation is pointless. I’m leaving with my comrades before we can be apprehended.”
“Who said you could just walk awAUGH!!!!” Spitfire’s wing was throbbing, but she wasn’t about to let them get away.
“Save your breath. You’re better off not knowing our motives. I suggest you enjoy your ignorance. When everything comes to pass you’ll be glad you did.” She turned away. Spitfire broke into a gallop towards them. She didn’t even get halfway before Starry revealed a tiny pink, glistening shard from a pouch on her uniform. It blinked briefly and a small spiral of winds surrounded them. It became a small tornado that wrapped around them entirely and shot into the air. It was out of sight within seconds.
Spitfire slowed to a stop and stared after them for a moment before stomping her hoof in frustration. A moment later she rushed over to Soarin, whose demeanor almost looked ghostly. He had over exerted himself past the point of utter exhaustion and fatigue. Not to mention he had forced through more pain he had ever felt in his entire life time. If not for his natural stubbornness, Spitfire was sure he would have just keeled over and died by now.
“Ugh. AH!” Dash suddenly cringed and awoke. She instantly felt the pain spread across her body from the electric burns. She tightened herself into a shaking ball as her nerves adjusted.
She turned back to see Spitfire watching her next to somepony who looked like they’d been hit by a train. Then she gasped. “SO-AGH!!!!” Her first step sent her face first to the ground. She forced herself up, ignoring any pain or lack of control. She limped up to Soarin, Spitfire backing away to let her get to him. “Soarin—” she used her nose to tip his head up and force him to look at her. He blinked, taking several seconds to recognize Rainbow Dash in his blurring vision. He smiled weakly.
“Dash?” He spoke very quietly between wheezing breaths.
“Yes, it’s me.” She placed a hoof gently on his cheek, trying to help support his head. Hearing her voice made him happier than he had ever been in his life. It was a good thing too, because he suddenly felt very, very tired.
“Oh—,” he began to wobble, “thank—,” his eyes slowly shut and his legs gave way, “goodness—.”
They watched as Soarin fell lifelessly, his face slipping from Rainbow Dash’s hoof. It was a slow, gentle fall, his body spreading out. His head rested on the ground with a small, content smile curled on his lips.
Then he lay completely still. His body showed no signs of breathing.
“SOARIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
---To Be Concluded---
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Just curious, sorry if you already answered this- Any special reason some paragraphs start WITH A LOT OF CAPS?
And suddenly bad guys!
Well that came completely out of left field.
OH HELL NO!! YOU'D BETTER NOT!!!
AND WHAT THE BUCK ARE THE SHADOWBOLTS UP TO!!!!!
No offence here but..... FUCK YOU YOU HAD TO MAKE IT A CLIFF HANGER oh well i hope i dont have to wait to long
2454682>>2454987 The capitalized letters signal breaks where the narrative changes perspective (for example, when it switches from Rainbow's to Soarin's point of view or vice versa). The typical convention for this in professional writing is to add spacing between paragraphs, although the editor here has the horizontal rule tool for that purpose as well. Likely, using the capitalized letters was a style choice by the author.
Well first of all, I'm glad this fic is back!
EDIT: And now that I've read it...
AAAUUGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
I think I started bleeding myself just reading all that bad ass action and ass kicking. The pain and adrenaline was tangible.
Now I wait at the edge of this cliff.
Noooooooo ITS VIOLET HILL ALL OVER AGAIN!!!!!
2455101
Nailed it on the head. I do the capitalization at breaks where the story shifts to a different scene.
2456207
It's what now? If this is similar to something it was completely unintentional
2454717
'twas the intention. I like building cliche plots and throwing in curveballs
2455086
Heh you most likely won't, the last chapter is about halfway done already. I cut it off at the end of this one because it was way too long.
2456264 nah not really Violet Hill is another Soar Dash when Soarin dies, but he doesn't die and comes back six years later.... Makes more since if you read it
But you DO have the best SoarDash Fic EVER
in my opinion 
2456286
Oh haha I figured. Well I can assure you that isn't the case here, you'll see.
And thank you, I appreciate it
Ok fair enough when we expect the next chapter to come out
...fuck. Jesus. Fuck.
2459457
I just...that was...bagels...holy...I don't even know what to say...Yes?
Yes, that is word I was looking for to describe this chapter: Yes.
This awesome story reminds me that I should go update my half-assed Soarin' fic,
which I have been putting off for way too long now...
2456207 No.
Violet Hill has an overly dramatic plot with overly emotional characters and wack-ass pacing. It's a shame that Violet Hill is one the most popular SoarinDash stories out there, when there are so many better ones that need to be recognized (This fic being one of them). It's not a bad story it's just not a good one.
P.S. I would have died laughing if Decent had referenced Ben Stiller from the movie "Dodgeball" after Soarin' injured his face.
2469133
I would have accepted bagels
Thanks, I really don't know what to say. I just wanted to write a soarindash fic, i never thought I'd get this much praise for it.
Darn you dem feels
If I had to pick soarin's battle theme it would most likely be this
2469133 Yeah you're right violet hill does have a wack ass pacing something about the way the author writes that fic bugs the fuck out of me when i try to read it
2484222
I do nat want another sad Fic..... please.... UPLOAD QUICKLY!
2541765
It's about 3/4 done. Shouldn't be too much longer
Omygoodness ohmygoodness the last bit of the chapter just gave me a heart attack omg omg omg omg omg poor soarin .....And dashy ddaaawwwwwwwww
Sadly, this is how I feel right now... *sigh* Idk why I can't get over the past and leave it behind. Thinking about him makes me feel depressed and mostly everything reminds me of him, though it's been 2 months since we broke up. He's dating somepony else and so am I.
....was that a sex joke?
I have never been so inspired to write in a very very long time.
I also learned that listening to Hide and Seek while reading the last part of this chapter makes it very difficult to keep a dry eye
If he couldn’t fly, he would glide. If he couldn’t glide, whatever, he would swim.
Dispite the serious mood I laught so hard at this!!! I Zwas like
Even though I am crying like heck at the last part, does anyone else think the ending was a bit like the part where Flynn dies in Tangled?
It is hard to cry when you are a war veteran watching the matrix while reading this, but I did.
Ah, Fleetfoot...
It's a name, so the Apple house
Perhaps you need a small stallion to cuddle whilst thinking?
stubborn, Spitfire's voice
heard Fleetfoot's choked
created by Nightmare Moon
Here she knows about chapter 19, cos she wants the 'D'
How can Descent catch up to him, and then Soarin fall back towards him?
It was as if his
closer to Dash by the second
Welp, Soarin's dead. No point reading on, hug?
Although... his later... complications. I wonder if it affects him so as he destroyed this crystal?
what rainbow going to do, CPR?
Gotta give it to Soarin... he gives his all right to the very end.
But it definitely isn't his time yet, since there are two other stories following from this one! 
Please tell me that was a Gurren Lagann reference
I just wanted to correct something....
In the beginning of the chapter, U said fleetfoot as a girl.... But He's a boy isn't he? Or did I Just go through a gender changing sypho phase?
lol you sooooo did! XD
5512869 Fleetfoot is female, look her up on Google
Whoa, whoa, hold it. In Piercing The Heavens, Twilight was an alicorn at the banquet. But here, she is still apparently a unicorn. When did she spontaneously sprout wings and become a princess? Wouldn't the coronation stuff reach the Wonderbolts? Wouldn't Dash be one of the first ones to know?
Shouldn't it be Celestia?
well I still have alot of reading to since I just found this SoarinDash fic. Just an awesome chapter felt like I was reading an anime unfold. Can't wait to read through and get caught up.
That was pretty fucking epic.
I NEED TO MAKE AN ANIME OUT OF THIS FIC
SWEET CELESTIA
THANK YOU FOR BLOWING MY MIND
5798221 He actually wrote this when twilight wasn't a princess and I guess season 3 episode 13 was in between this and flying sky-high
6123228 totally agree because Piercing the Heavens is almost a year after Head in the Clouds .
Rainbow Dash is the captain of the Ponyville weather team not Cloud Kicker.
6580448 True that
This story..at first i wanted to punch soarin for what he did to dash, now i generally feel sorry for him. And good job with the shadow bolts, if you tried to make them into that additive that you just want to punch them in the face repeatedly then you got it XD
Holy throne, talk about intense!
._. Doarin, your suck a dork. And you try to damn die on dashie?!? HOW DARE YOU!!!