Rainbooms and Royalty

Everfree Rumble

It wasn’t long before Rainbow Dash realized the tiniest of holes in her otherwise brilliantly thought out plan: she had no idea where in the considerably vast expanses of the Everfree Forest this ‘Zecora’ lived. She considered going back to ask for directions but she just couldn’t bring herself to, not after her dramatic exit and her pointed reminder that she had to stop Nightmare Moon herself. After a moment of additional thought she realized that given how scared everypony was of her, they probably wouldn’t know where Zecora lived anyway. Probably someplace relatively close to Ponyville, if she can just stroll in, Dash figured.

Unfortunately that wasn’t her only problem. She groaned as she did a flyby over the edge of the forest. The trees were way too dense to spot anything from the air. At the least, she’d have to fly below the treetop level. At night no less. This is gonna reduce me to a crawl. Rainbow grumbled internally. She veered off and headed back to Ponyville in order to enter the forest from the edge and work her way inward.

Rainbow Dash was just about to swing by to enter the forest when three fast moving gray blurs caught her attention. She narrowed her eyes. They didn’t slow down or alter course the closer they got to her. That never boded well.

It wasn’t until they got close that she could see the purple and black of their uniforms to know for sure that they were hostile. The Shadowbolts.

At the last moment Rainbow dove right beneath them, the wind of their passing nearly knocking her head over hooves. She straightened herself out and whirled, waving her hooves at them. “Ditzy! Guys! Stop it’s me, Rainbow Dash!”

There was no answer. The Shadowbolts veered around for another pass. Growing, Rainbow Dash flapped once and put herself on an intercept course. The Shadowbolts neither slowed nor changed course. “Oh you wanna play chicken, huh? Bring it!” Rainbow smirked as she streamlined herself, straightening her body and letting her forelegs stretch out in front of her, keeping in line with her body. She did the same with her hind legs. The Shadowbolts weren’t slowing either.

“Do they really think I’m gonna pull away and let them jump me when I do?” She snorted. Amateurs. They were about a hundred feet away. A gleam of moonlight reflected off their goggles, giving them a fierce image. But there was something else…there! A reflection off the outer part of their new bat-like wings, the second finger it was called.

Rainbow felt her eyes widen as she realized what they were. “Wing blades!” Dangerous weapons that had been illegal for centuries, if not longer, wing blades were fitted over the edge of pony wings for aerial combat. From the deadly sheen of the Shadowbolts’ blades, those could cut her to ribbons if she wasn’t careful.

Dash snorted. Well, if they thought they were going to intimidate her with an overgrown scissor they had another thing coming! She poured on speed, going even faster as she aimed to collide with the Shadowbolt formation head-on.

Fifty feet. She could see the widening eyes of the Shadowbolts as they realized that she wasn’t going to pull up. And at the speed at which she was going…if she collided she’d easily manage to cripple one or two of them. And at these heights…

Twenty-five feet. Now Rainbow Dash was close enough to see the sudden tension in their wings, even as they flew on. Both sides coming ever close to each other.

Ten feet. The lead Shadowbolt and Rainbow Dash met each other’s gaze. Neither one of them had an inch of give within them. They weren’t going to be the one to pull away first.

Five feet.

Four…

Three…

Two…