The morning sun was peeking in the east, casting an eerie platinum glow to the billowing skies as Rainbow Dash threaded her way north through the burning lengths of Foxtaur. All around her, everything was melting and collapsing. She hissed through clenched teeth as her ruby pendant carried her through the fog and mess of the conflagration.
"Come on... Come on guys..."
She panted and panted, dipping up and down and dashing left and right to avoid collapsing trees and falling branches. Plumes of flame erupted beneath her as panicked woodland creatures fled the spreading blaze. It was too late for the blue pegasus to save them. It was too late to save anything...
"Just hang on a little longer. You'll be okay. You'll be okay..."
A final line of trees lingered ahead, just before the Foxtaur plateau dipped into a low valley of smoldering debris.
"Please be okay. Please be okay. I'm coming to get you. I'm coming—"
She emerged through the trees. A burst of platinum dawnlight flooded her features.
Rainbow Dash froze, braking in mid-air and hovering to a standstill. Her face paled.
The tell-tale signs of the managliders carrying Belle and Pilate were mere dots against the horizon. The Steel Wing was facing towards her from a mile away... and it wasn't alone. The other two battlecruisers had returned, along with a dozen support ships. No less than fifteen Ledomaritan zeppelins faced the edge of the forest, and before Rainbow's quivering eyes, a hundred glistening lights flashed as every cannon in that part of the continent fired off simultaneously.
She gulped.
"I'm screwed."
The world exploded.
Chunks of Foxtaur erupted to her left and right. A patch of stony earth vomited into her flinching figure. Rocks and clumps of debris rained down on her flapping wings as she shouted into the fray, spun, and blurred immediately to her left. Skimming the northern face of the Foxtaur plateau, Rainbow Dash weaved and juked as shell after shell impacted the charred forest below and past her. Entire trees were thrown from their roots. The shredded bodies of unlucky wildlife sprayed past her face.
Gritting her teeth, she pulled up and soared towards the smoldering sky, desperate to gain altitude. As if reading her mind, a volley of shots exploded high above, sending flak and shrapnel flying through the Ledomaritan heavens.
"Grrrrrrghhh—!!" Rainbow Dash twirled, banked right, and flew north, bravely surging into the face of the incoming fire. Her every breath was a heated thing, punctuated by bright flashes of erupting shells below and above her. After a few breathtaking seconds, she could no longer register the continuous thunder, for her ears had been filled with a hideous ringing noise. Through squinting eyes, she detected the dark shape of the Steel Wing where the managliders were landing. In a fitful burst of energy, she flapped her wings harder and glided towards the vessel—
A shell exploded above her. The sheer concussion the blast knocked her completely off balance.
"Gaaaaah!" her voice cracked as she toppled, tumbled, and fell like a dead blue weight towards the amber-lit vistas of Foxtaur's burning canopy below. She flapped her wings, trying to even herself out amidst the rising heat and vaporous bursts of air. "Nnnngh—Darn it!" She held her breath, angled her body, and dove bravely into the smoldering mess.
The shells going off were distant thuds now as she took her suicidal plunge. She threaded her way through the sparkling foliage, hot leaves and branches slapping her body and face. Weathering the jolts and fresh cuts, she spread her wings out, ducked under a pair of collapsing trees, and squeezed across a forested clearing exploding with ashen debris.
Pulling up, Rainbow Dash dodged flinging wooden limbs, spiraled in her ascent, and steeply re-approached the distant battlecruisers. The forest exploded immediately behind her, missing her body by mere seconds. She rode the wave of thunder, accelerating towards her destination. The cannons fired again, but this time the shells blew up in sporadic fashion, missing her by hundreds of meters.
Yelling for good measure, Rainbow Dash twirled past several more blasts and approached the first of the dozen escort ships. The zeppelin veered east until its starboard side faced her. At first, she was confused, until she took breathless note of six managliders taking off from its hull. With twitching eyes, Rainbow Dash saw every other ship unleashing entire squadrons of flying aircraft. Soon, the entire sky was full of the vibrantly humming interceptors.
"Oh for Pete's sake!" Rainbow Dash nevertheless slapped her hooves together. Her ruby pendant glinted in the morning sunrise as she flew up, angled her wings, and dove sharply against the incoming phalanx of death. "Gaaaaaaaah!"
He entire vision was consumed with a murderous wave of bladed rockets.
and another one?
*commence reading*
----------
damn... o.o
I hope Roarke shows up to help RD...
Rainbow's daring act of flying head-first into a swarm of mana-gliders is a microcosmic analogy to her eastward sojourn, and symbolic of her boisterous nature as affected by loyalty via awesomeness. She is foolhardy, reckless, extremely inconspicuous, and all together an awesome bullet in the face of depravity. Let us hope the collateral damage is minimal.
Let the shitstorm commence!
FUCK 'EM UP, RAINBOW!
I'm tellin' ya, it's coming. Something I predicted a few chapters ago is about to come to fruition.
Brace yourselves people, this is just like the end of the last section. The final climax always arrives with a storm of new chapters.
...
Ok, so this story is getting really depressing. Not like it wasn't already, its just that you never feel how dark the world is until your last bright light has gone out. Not even a Bearer of the Elements of harmony can save this world. The forces that openly oppose that which is go are to strong, to numerous, and driven for a brief flash like Dash to ever have a lasting effect.
EDIT: Strike that, I think I jumped the gun. No finishing sequence today, but I can't help but get psyched about it.
EDIT^2: Then again, it just updated for the 3rd time in an hour, maybe I didn't jump the gun...only time will tell
Scolon, it's 2:30 over here. Why must you deprive me of sleep?
Great set of chapters, though, and I'm eagerly awaiting the finale!
if rainbow can do this on her own ill be very surprised..still hoping roarke2.0 shows up to help.
So begins the suicidal assault of a pony with nothing to lose.
come on roarke, you can't be out of the story yet.
I sense a rainboom coming.
I sense a Roarke. Whether she'll side with Rainbow or with Ledo has yet to be shown.
A clever, highly symbolic phrase right here.
IIIIIt's Dashie's Tenth Marathon Evaluation Time!
Oh...my...God. This is amazing.
Seriously, just - just try to imagine it for a minute. The sky is filled with literally a hundred battle ships all armed with cannons and bladed rockets. There's no way down and no way back. So Dash goes forwards. Bell and Pilate must seriously be important to her for her to put herself on the line like that...Which only makes me feel like something bad is going to happen to them. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. Okay, only eight left. HUT!
Roarke and her indestructible airship would come in really handy right now...
On another note, drama has now reached maximum levels! Because, seriously, how do you beat a lone Pegasus flying headfirst into a 300-esque storm of missiles in an attempt to free her two hostage friends, while another two of her friends duke it out with one of the deadliest warriors on the enemy side?
That's your cue, bolts-for-brains. Center stage!
Fifteen heavy airships. Never has Rainbow been so screwed, and she does know a thing or two about that after all.
Anyone else reminded of the Matrix, the assault on the machine city? No? Well, at least we now have a promise of quite a few wrecks to be. What more could we demand.
Thems some tall odds. But since when has that ever stopped Rainbow Dash?
I wonder if Roarke will come to the party?
Sonic rainboom enybody?(pony)
>The sheer concussion the blast knocked her completely off balance
fiks pls
damn. girl you cray.
"I know!"
Here comes Dash. You guys are doomed.
Let's do this! The final battle!
-Spirit
3689963
fuk pls
Well, here we go. Into the depths of hell.
4759649 hawt
This chapter deprived me of all hope
especially when Dashie saw the gliders escaping from her
I know that feel all too well
I don't see how Dash can escape this one on her own. Maybe a jealous Roarke will try to capture her again, or at least disrupt the gliders.
An entire air fleet? Knock them out of the sky with a rainboom, Dash.
Well, after you save your friends. Or maybe during.
For a moment there, I thought we were in trouble.
Cuz baby you're a firrrrrework!
C'mon let your colooorrrrrs (prismatic strands) burst.
Make 'em (rockets and Ledomaritans) go...
K this has to stop.
Oh boy, different insane action scene here. I sure hope Dashie gets her friends back, also, she can’t die yet, there’s 11 chapters left! I at least hope I’m right.
Damn dude, loving this shit here. Acrobatic boulder dodging