Everything had gone wrong; there was no longer any hope to stop Ataxia, or to save her. In her worst-case scenarios, she had never imagined that it would end up like this. That Luna would be… She could not even think it. It did not matter anyway; she would soon be joining her aunt. Ataxia… she was just too powerful to slow down, much less stop. They had been fools to even try. Princess Cadance closed her eyes as the jaws of death enveloped her, her last sight was of the clock in the distance, the one that stubbornly said they had only managed to hold back Ataxia for eight minutes. Eight minutes that would change the face of the world forever.

It was a lot to take in, a lifetime had occurred in those eight minutes. They had fought, bleed, and even died in those eight minutes. Cadance saw her own life flash before her eyes. It caused her to smile. Sure, there were a few regrets, but was not that always the case? She dismissed them all, hers was a life filled with love and happiness, with family and children. Cadance had loved deeply, and in return, she knew the love of others. She could not ask for a better life, even with a million wishes she doubted one of them would change things for the better.

The roar caused her to open her eyes. It was not what she was expecting. Cadance had been expecting pain as the razor sharp teeth clamped down on her flesh, than nothing. She had not been expecting a roar, a cry. That roar… it left no doubt that the one that made it was in pain, for that is all that could be. It was a roar of pain and anguish. The type of yell that one gives out when suddenly stung or cut in a most unexpected way.

She quickly figured out why. Cadance saw the cause in a flash, for Ataxia pulled back with a speed that should have been impossible for such a large creature. Even with only a snapshot to go on, that magical energy was unmistakable to the Princess of Love. Fifteen blades were sticking out of Ataxia’s upper mouth. They imbedded themselves into the soft areas, the areas that her scales and other defenses did not protect. The area only a crazy pony would ever think to attack.

The area her son just attacked.

When she looked around, she saw him standing directly in front of Ataxia. He was the very image of the gallant prince coming to rescue his princess. Cadance wanted to laugh; in this case, that is precisely what he was. Although she doubted he would see it that way, after all, his princess was in the hospital, Radiant was coming to rescue his mom. Part of her wanted to yell at him, she never ever wanted to see on this battlefield. It was definitely not part of the plan.

Radiant stood between Ataxia and the hospital, His white coat and red mane flowed in the cool breeze of the night. His eyes, the resolve on his face, Cadance hated that look, the look her son’s eyes carried even now. She had hoped never to see that look on her son’s face. Truly, she had hoped never to see it again, it was the type of look one had when they were facing down certain death. The type of look one has when they take a stand against impossible odds, knowing, without a doubt, that their cause is just, and death does not matter. Cadance could never forget that look, no matter how hard she might try. Radiant Star had the same look in his eyes that Shining Armor had when she buried him.

It was a laser focus, the look you get when you block yourself off from all other things in the world, when you concern yourself with one task and one task only. For Shining Armor, it was stopping the attack, keeping as many of the creatures as he could from reaching The Crystal Empire; all for the cause of protecting his home, his family, and his son. For Radiant, his focus was on Ataxia, the being that almost ate his mom. If history truly does repeat itself, Princess Cadance knew her son would end up dying for the same reason Shining Armor died….

The shield behind him, the one that Radiant Star had to keep up at all cost, the one that was protecting his wife and unborn foals, it sputtered and died. Unlike his father, Radiant Star’s special talent was not in shields, but in swords. Something that was self-evident by his cutie mark of two swords clashing. He could not maintain the shield and save his mom, it was simply too much for the unicorn to attempt all at once. Therefore, the shield failed, and with it, their best defense for keeping Firestar and her unborn foals safe.

“What have you done?” Cadance asked, shocked about her son’s reckless behavior. In her opinion, her life did not matter, not as much as his or his foals. Every fiber of her being wanted her son to get back in there and undue that stupid mistake. She knew he could not. It had taken her son some time to set it up. Ataxia would not give them that long.

“Get to the hospital, I’ll deal with her.” The tone in his voice, it did not allow for any disagreement, no conversation. This was not a request, but an order. He had made his choice; he had made it for everyone. There was nothing Cadance could do about it, what was done was done.

Cadance kept crawling to the hospital; she only moved a few hooves before the team of doctors that stayed behind came out and put her on a gurney. Her last sight before the ponies took her inside was of Ataxia fishing the last sword out of her mouth with a claw before angrily glaring at the small white unicorn that dared attack her.

“I love you.” Cadance called out as the door shut them off from any further conversation. She said the words she wished she had been able to tell Shining Armor before he died.

Radiant held his ground as Ataxia stared down the unicorn. He did not flinch as she roared directly at him, her breath hot enough to cause the temperature in the air to rise by several degrees. She was angry with him, angry that he had stolen her prize seconds before it should have been hers. Radiant met her gaze with his own. He would not back down, not now. He had too much on the line. Failure was not an option.

Radiant was never the powerhouse of any of the alicorns, he could never match the ability of his mom, much less any of his other relatives. He did not have the natural talent of Dayspring, the pure power of Twilight, the experience of Luna, the exceptional ability of Night, or even the speed and grace of Aurora.

He did one thing well; one thing was his claim to fame. It was his talent; it was his raw natural ability. Sure, Dayspring could create and design spells the likes of which no pony had ever seen before. Aurora could charm you into signing over your home with no other expectations other than to see a smile flash your way. Cadance had a way with love that could cause even the starchiest of dicks to break down in tears. Twilight… well, she could do anything. No Radiant, did not have any of those abilities. His claim to fame was simple skill with swords.

In practice, he was unmatched. He had bested Luna and Celestia in the rings with his swordplay. Radiant could create, manipulate, and control up to twenty-seven magical blades all at the same time. A number that was only increasing as time went on. Even with everything that had happened over the past year, he never, ever, skipped a day of training with his swords. Well… he had on his honeymoon, but only because Firestar said she would neuter him with one if tried.

At swordplay, he was the best, the best of the best. He would put all those skills to the test now; in front of him was the dragacorn, Ataxia. A former friend of the family, that was now hades bent on killing everyone he loved. Behind him, in a now unprotected hospital; were his mom, his wife, and his unborn foals. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to go. Here and now, he drew the line in the sand. A line he would hold with his life. He would defend everyone he cared about.

Well, not exactly defend. As they say: ‘The best defense is a good offence.’

He would put that old saying to the test now. Radiant charged forward, that action alone gave the dragacorn pause; that such a small pony, that one so tiny, one that could not even fly would dare attack her head on. It was unthinkable to Ataxia.

Fortunately, no pony bothered to tell Radiant Star that. He charged ahead at full speed, directly at Ataxia’s front legs. It was the very definition of a called shot. Ataxia responded quickly enough; she roared back and went to swipe at him, exactly as he wanted her too. A last second teleport put the unicorn on top of a nearby building. He lashed out with his real attack, Radiant conjured two sets of eight swords, and sent them flying forward, directly at Ataxia’s eyes.

Radiant sent them at her with real speed behind them, but Ataxia was no slouch. The dragacorn shut her eyes as the swords came in, the tough texture of her eyelids were more than enough to break every sword that struck them. Overall, she managed to break twelve of the swords before they struck. The magic energy they possessed was laughingly insufficient to pierce the adapted texture of her eyelids. Her skin adapted from several deaths by attacks that were far, far stronger than his own were.

Unfortunately, for her, the other four had made impact before her eyes were fully shut, two in each eyeball. When she had reflectively shut her eyelids the rest of the way, the hilt of each sword broke off, leaving the blades in place. Radiant’s plan had worked; he had effectively blinded the dragacorn.

She lashed out, as her sudden loss of vision sent sharp pains into her brain. Tail and claws toppled buildings, searching for the pony that had injured her so. Her blows were dangerous, but random.

It was all for naught, Radiant was already on the move. When your enemy lashes out at where they think you are, do not be there. He went to the one place he knew she would never suspect him to be, the one place it would be absolutely stupid to be. After teleporting off the building, he ran directly underneath the dragacorn. Had she been normal, and not some crazy rage filled monster, Radiant knew Ataxia would have approved. That thought put a smile on his face.

His attacks found new purchase on Ataxia’s soft underbelly, a weakness shared by all dragons. He knew his blades could not penetrate the Dragon Steel Armor, he also knew he had no hope of piercing the tough scales. Therefore, he aimed his attacks as a surgeon would. He struck out at the gaps between the scales, the small openings when a limp would flail about randomly. Each strike caused pain in the dragacorn, but not once did he stop. His goal was simple: Keep her guessing, keep her off balance, and always defending. An enemy that is always on the defensive cannot attack.

For Ataxia, each blow was like a bee sting. They hurt her enough to cause pain, but not enough to do any real damage. Radiant knew this too, but he kept it up. While one bee sting would not kill you, get stung enough and you would soon be dead.

Not that he wanted that to happen. He knew enough that if Ataxia fell, it would be bad news for everyone. No, he would not try to put her down; he simply wanted to stall for as much time as he could. A quick glance told him that he had been fighting for a minute now; he still had to keep this up for another six.

That glance nearly cost him his life; while Ataxia could not see him, she was getting the generic location of where the attacks were coming from. With a speed that should have been impossible for a creature her size, Ataxia took flight into the air and swept her tail directly underneath her with enough force to level buildings.

Radiant saw it coming almost too late… almost. He had to concentrate for this one, with his attention focused on keeping the swords in existence that were still in Ataxia’s eyes, it took the rest of his magic to conjure two more swords directly into the path of the tail. These swords were special; they were a little thing he had been working on during his down time.

The molecular blades of the swords were thinner than paper. If one were to look directly at the cutting edge, they would miss it. However, that was exactly what Radiant needed right now. He conjured to the swords to be twenty hooves in length and struck the tips directly into the ground, pointed directly between him and the path of the tail. He had trained for this, but even in training his success record was not good.

It was a gamble to say the least; he was counting on Ataxia’s speed working against her, and the swords not breaking. If either of those were insufficient his heroic, or stupid depending on whom you asked, rescue would fail right here and now. If the swords broke he would die, same if Ataxia’s speed proved not to be enough.

Sometimes you just have to roll the dice.

This time, he came out the winner. Ataxia’s tail slammed into the molecular swords with more than enough speed, she, in effect, cut her own tail off. Radiant was not out of the woods yet, the tail was still traveling at an insane speeds, speeds that would easily crush him if he did not move quickly enough. He rolled to the left, barely missing the tip of the spikes as the tail impaled itself against the building.

Ataxia screamed yet again as this creature caused her even more pain. It would heal, in time every part of her would regenerate. However, it was still the indignation that such a creature, one that was not even an alicorn, could wound her the way he had, and more than once. She really, really wanted to kill him now.

She had enough. If this creature would not accept his lot in life and simply die, she would insure that he meant a swift end if it was the last thing she did. Ataxia landed and faced the direction of her attacker; she reared back on her hind legs and breathed in deep, summing up enough dragon fire to vaporize half of The Crystal Empire. She would end them all, even if it did cost her meal to do it.

Radiant saw it coming, in truth, he had expected this, as this was her trump card against him. He could not fly; he could not teleport any real distance. Besides, it would do him no good even if he could. Her dragon fire would be more than enough to destroy everything in the direction she was aiming it, the direction that just happened to have the hospital in it.

He could not allow that, he would not allow that. Whatever else may come, whatever happened to him, Firestar… the twins… his mom… they must live. He had vowed that when he left to help his mother, when Firestar kissed him goodbye and wished him luck before he left. She had understood that this was something he had to do, something that he could not live with himself if he did not at least try. Even though it broke both their hearts for him to have to leave, they both knew he must go.

She knew all of that, and even though it went against everything she wanted, she let him go. She let him go because of her love for him, trusting that he loved her enough to keep them safe, and if he can, to come back to her.

This was it, this was that moment, nothing else mattered but keeping the hospital safe. Radiant had no choice but to do what had to be done, what he needed to do in order to achieve that objective. Part of him thought it was funny; a year ago, he was seeking a good death, a good place to die in order to step out of his father’s shadow, and now that he was in that very situation, all he wanted to do was see his wife one more time.

‘Is this how you felt, dad?’ It broke Radiant’s heart to think of, he now knew that true strength of will came, not as he originally thought, from having nothing to lose, rather it came from having everything to lose.

His timing had to be perfect. Anything less and they would all die. As soon as Ataxia’s mouth was open to the fullest, Radiant conjured twenty-three blades in her mouth and sent them flying in all directions, directly into the weaker flesh of the and spun them around like a gigantic fan.

The effect was as devastating as it was gruesome. Ataxia muzzle came off with a sickening spray of dark dragacorn blood. As the blades severed the connections keeping it attached, it landed on the ground with a loud thud. Ataxia’s scales might have been enough to prevent most magical attacks, but they could not protect what they did not cover. Blood sprayed all around the dragacorn from the cut veins and arteries.

That was not the worst of it, she had summoned up the fire, and it was still coming; however, it was completely un-aimed. Without that, it went everywhere it could. No long focused, it sprayed all over the dragacorn’s face and body. Scales that were normally impervious to all attacks lost to a fire that burned hot enough to overcome any resistance. Ataxia’s eyes boiled and popped in their sockets. Flesh liquefied and fell off in rolling pools of ichor. The burned flesh left an aroma in the air that Radiant was not sure would ever go away. It made him want to gag.

It was disgusting and morbid to watch, yet Radiant Star would not look away. He had caused this suffering, caused it on someone he knew, someone he considered a friend. So he would not look away. He owed her that much at the least.

Her body fell to the ground, lifeless and still. He knew she would not be down for long, he could already see the chaos magic gathering around her, healing her, improving on the failed design of before. It was ensuring that she could not be killed the same way again. He had gone into this knowing what his trump card would be, that did not make it any easier to use. Of course, that left one other problem, he had no idea what to do now. He had hoped that this would not come until later. Sadly, no plan survives contact with the enemy.

Radiant consoled himself with the fact that he had no choice. It was his trump card; he had been watching the battle the entire time, learning her strengths and weakness. All of it led him to the conclusion that she had no external weaknesses anymore. Her earlier deaths had corrected all of those errors. If he needed to stop her, if he needed to put her down for whatever amount of time she would actually stay down, he had to attack her on the inside. Her mouth, when she opened her jaw to unleash the fire, he knew that was when she was most vulnerable. It’s ironic fact of life that you are at your weakest right when you are about to win.

Still, that knowledge did not make it any easier to look at, or stomach for that matter. Seeing Ataxia’s mouth and nose cut off, then burned to a crisp in her own dragon fire, it was… disgusting to say the least.

Radiant did his best to shake it off. He did not have time for that; he did not have time to feel disgusted over his actions. Her regeneration was impressive; too freaking impressive if anyone bothered to ask his opinion. Which of course no one did.

She was only down for half a minute. He stared on in horror as her face, tail and burns all healed themselves. Without her actually being active, the magic was able to concentrate exactly where it needed to be. Her muzzle fully regrew, her tail followed closely behind, and all the while the burns healed in record time. He could already see the minor improvements when she flexed her newly reformed jaw.

“You truly are a monster, aren’t you?”

As soon as he finished the words Ataxia opened her eyes. They were fully healed. No swords to keep her blind. Radiant saw no sign that they just popped due to the extreme heat not less than a minute ago. He reacted quickly enough. Ten swords sought purchase into each of her eyes; seeking to remove that advantage one more time.

It did not surprise him that all ten swords broke upon impact with her eye. They did not leave a scratch on them. Her change… her evolution, it caused her eyes to come back in such a way that they would not be penetrated again. Not by something as basic as a magic sword.

Ataxia lashed out with a claw; one that caught Radiant on his flank as he attempted to roll out of the way. He had been quick, but not quick enough. Still, all things considered it was a minor cut, well, compared to what it could have been.

That being said, it bled, a lot. The gouge in his side was a stark reminder that this was a game for keeps, and unfortunately, only one of them had anything up for anti. He could no longer run at anything with enough speed to prevent the next blow, attempting to do so would simply be a waste of energy, or worse, cause him to bleed out and die.

Radiant teleported behind a nearby building; sadly, it was something Ataxia had anticipated; she followed his magic trail and knew exactly what building he was behind. Ataxia lashed out at the building with her other claw, crushing his hiding place to rubble in one hit. A quick shield spell prevented the debris from crushing him.

Radiant looked on in shock, shock that an entire building could suddenly go missing in the blink of an eye. To make matters worse, the debris blinded him. The dust and rubble prevented him from seeing Ataxia’s tail coming up from the other side. The spike tipped appendage swiped at him with breakneck speeds, enough force to easily impel the unicorn without even registering that he was there.

It never landed; it never landed because at that moment Rainbow Dash had made it to The Crystal Empire.

Rainbow slammed into the dragacorn with the force of a train. Milliseconds before they impacted, when Rainbow was sure of her trajectory, she wrapped her wings around herself while keeping the end as a pointed tip, she willed herself to start spinning. She struck Ataxia as a bullet.

Luna had been right, when it came to Ataxia the only two options were magic and brute force. Rainbow combined those two qualities as one. The force of her impact slammed Ataxia several thousands hooves back, she hit the ground a mile outside of the city’s limits with such force that the impact could be felt all over The Crystal Empire.

Rainbow had taken a page from Twi’s playbook for this and planned ahead. She blunted the attack just enough to prevent herself from going through Ataxia. The tip of her attack was not quite as dangerous as she could have made it. She knew better than to kill her, she just wanted to stop her from killing Radiant.

Radiant missed it, not the impact of Ataxia’s fall, but what had hit her. He missed it at the time because he blinked at just the wrong moment. It did not matter, the preceding rainbow trail and noise vibrations let everypony for hundreds of miles know exactly what had just occurred, there could be no doubt about it, as Rainbow Dash had arrived in The Crystal Empire.

“Hey kid, should you really be out here?”

Radiant glanced behind him, Rainbow had practically appeared right there, as if that was simply her spot. It still amazed him just how fast Rainbow could be when she tried. ‘There really is no limit to your speed, is there?’ He thought to himself.

“I had no choice, mom was about to die… she was about to eat her, and Luna…. LUNA!” Radiant yelled. He almost forgot all about the Night Princess in his rush to try to save his mom. He saw the spell backfire, he saw her horn explode, but that was all he knew.

Rainbow rubbed her ear lobe to try to get her hearing back. She did not know what happened to Luna, but it was obviously bad. “Go, see if you can help her, and then get back. I might need your help soon.” Rainbow said as she scanned the horizon, looking for any sign that Ataxia was getting up. The moonlight did not reveal anything about her location… yet.

Radiant did a double take, then a triple. ‘Did The Rainbow Dash, did she actually say she might need my help?’

“Oh, before I forget, Twilight said you needed to summon up a… a… a teleportation thingy.”

“A teleportation thingy?”

“Yeah, you know, something that would help her teleport up here, I forgot what it’s called. She said she can’t do it without you making the thingy first.”

“Oh, a teleportation beacon.”

“Yeah that, she said to have it ready in five minutes.” Rainbow looked around for a clock. Upon seeing one she smiled, “That was thirty-five seconds ago.”

Part of him was still awe that Rainbow had made it from Ponyville to here in such a short time. Radiant smiled, that was Rainbow, impressive as ever. “Ok, I’ll see if I can do anything to help Luna, then I’ll get right to it.”

“Don’t be late, I’ll need their help too.”

“It’s a promise.” Radiant did not know who they were, but he did not need to. If they were coming to help, that was all he cared about.

Rainbow smiled at that, she knew Radiant more than enough to know he would never break a promise.

Of course, that still did not solve her issue; one look to the north confirmed it, the dragacorn was getting up. Rainbow huffed and took off into the sky; she flew as high up as she dared go, to the point where the lack of oxygen in the air threatened to cause her to black out. She then put everything she had into flying straight down. Easily breaking several speed records she had previously set… well, without counting her attack on the Titan, but that was one record she would rather forget.

That much made her more than aware enough to check her speed, she simply put twenty percent less into it. It would not do to approach the speed of light, not again. The time with the Titan had taught her that much at the least. Still, she was going more than fast enough for what she had intended.

Rainbow slammed into Ataxia’s spine after six sonic rainbooms. She easily overshot the magical energy released by the explosions and hit Ataxia with enough force to break every bone along her vertebra. She felt, rather than heard, the bones along the dragacorn’s back shatter from her impact, along with a few of her own.

‘Physical force, I owe you a cider, Luna.’ Rainbow thought to herself with a smile. Her goal had been simple, keep Ataxia pinned in place until Twilight and Icarus arrive. From there… she had no clue, but she knew her wife enough to know the mare already had six different ideas she would want to try out, with different degrees of effectiveness, of course.

When Rainbow landed, she realized one small issue with her plan. The force of the attack broke her back legs. She lay on the ground and wrapped her wings around them, watching as Ataxia howled and lashed out at nothing with her mouth and front claws. She could see the chaos magic at work trying to heal the damaged nerves and shattered bones.

From the howls of anguish alone, Rainbow knew it must have been very painful for the mare, however, right at that moment; she could not bring herself to care. “You’re lucky I didn’t just cut you in half, Ataxia.” She doubted the dragacorn would appreciate that, hell she might even prefer it. However, Rainbow knew enough to know killing Ataxia actually benefitted her. That was the last thing Rainbow wanted to do.

That part still did not seem fair. Only one of them had anything to lose. However, as they say, these are the cards you are dealt. Rainbow would play her cards, even if the dealer was sitting on two kings.

“Let see which of us heal quicker.” Rainbow watched as the magic went to work on Ataxia’s back. She was quickly getting feeling back in her own hind legs; still, she was not sure who would recover first. That part worried her; if Ataxia could heal such an extreme injury before her own magic could heal a few broken bones… they may not have a chance. Rainbow shook that thought off; she knew that Twilight would find a way, whatever it took.

……

Radiant arrived at the sight of the failed ritual in no time flat. Despite the bleeding from his flank, he ran for all his worth. The wound would close in time and his body would replace the blood. Whatever the cost was, it would be worth it. A life was at risk, possibly lost. He had to prioritize here.

The dead were all over the place… each one marked by bloodstains. It did not take a genius to figure out what had happened. One of them screwed up, too exhausted or overburdened to do the spell properly a second time. It was not their fault. They never should have tried it twice; even he would never try something that foolish.

Well, that was not quite true, if he was being honest with himself. If Firestar, or the twin’s lives were on the line, he would do anything to try and save them. They simply meant that much to him. Perhaps, that was why Luna did it… He cursed the logic of the situation.

‘I guess. I can’t really blame her.’ He thought to himself. Still, seeing the shards of her horn sticking out of several ponies necks… it was hard to look at. Although, not as hard as seeing what remand of the Night Princess. He was lucky that his earlier view of what he did to Ataxia hardened his constitution to such sights.

Luna’s body lay on the ground, motionless, and still. Her left legs were broken, how she had even stood was a mystery to Radiant, one he did not have time to solve. Her horn… the horn of a unicorn, or for that matter an alicorn, was one of the toughest objects around, so much so that a unicorn could use it to impale their foe without risk of breaking. Never in his life had he heard of one breaking. Yet here was the result of that.

Luna’s horn was shattered, broken into all the pieces around him. Some of the pieces claimed the lives of the ponies that were standing too close, others embedded themselves into the ground and rocks that were around the ritual site. What remained on top of her head could only be described shards of broken glass.

Some found their way into the alicorn princess herself. Bloodstains coated her black fur, brightening it with a tint of red. One of them, a very lucky shot from the looks of it, took out her left eye. A shard, half an inch thick, stuck out of it.

It was as gruesome as it was horrifying, yet Radiant did not look away. Compared to what he just made Ataxia go through this was nothing, although, unlike Ataxia, Luna would not be getting up from this. Neither would any of the other thirty unicorns used in the formation. They had all given their lives for this one task, this one job. Just to keep Ataxia at bay another few minutes; it had cost the lives of thirty-one ponies.

Sadly, one of those ponies was the last of the alicorn sisters.

He did his best to harden his heart to it, his mom’s words from a few days ago replayed in his mind. When he found his resolve, Radiant said aloud. “The price of victory. Of course, that’s assuming we win…” He sharply saluted the dead and turned to leave, no longer wishing to look at the death site of those who had given their lives for the good of Equestria. They spent their lives to buy precious seconds for everyone else.

When he was almost out of earshot, when he would have taken one more step and missed it, he heard the impossible. Somepony behind him, one of the thirty-one, moved.

One of them was still alive.

………

As with anything that involved any race once so ever, Rainbow Dash won. Was there ever any doubt?

She stood up on her legs with time to spare. Stretching her wings wide, she took flight. It was good to be back in the air again, even if it had only been a minute on the ground. Any amount of time she had to spend grounded sucked. It brought back memories of the short time she could not fly, that had been an experience she did not want to go through again. Well, that was not exactly true; those events led her to marry Twilight, so… maybe it was not as bad as she remembered.

‘No time for that now.’ Rainbow thought. While she had beaten Ataxia in the race to see which of them would heal faster, Ataxia was not that far behind. Rainbow watched as the dragacorn got to her feet. Her spine already back to normal.

To Rainbow’s eyes, she looked even angrier, and all that anger was directed right at her.

“What you going to do about it?” Rainbow teased the mare, with the preverbal poking of the bear. Ataxia roared with barely contained fury and stretched her wings wide. The left one, the new one still felt stiff, it did not matter. The wing would get more than enough of a workout now to overcome any sort of stiffness that built up.

She took wing, shooting straight up for the mare that had broken her spine. Rainbow just laughed as she easily avoided the attack. Sure, Ataxia might be an impressive flyer, quite possibly the second greatest flyer in terms of sheer speed alone. However, that is a spot she would always be stuck in, she would always be second best. As with everything, Rainbow Dash was first.

Rainbow avoided each blow with ease. With no one to show off for, with no other distractions, and memories of their last fight still fresh in her mind, Rainbow brought her A-game this time around. She would not let herself get distracted this time, there was far too much at stake for that.

“You can come back a million times Ataxia, but you will never be fast enough to catch me.” Rainbow taunted the dragacorn again. Laughing as she flew around a tail swipe.

Ataxia changed tactics, single blows were not cutting it, so she had to go for area attacks in hopes of catching the cyan blue pegasus off guard. Ataxia spun around and lashed out with one of her huge wings, a sloppy, choreographed maneuver that Rainbow easily read.

That was not the point; it left Rainbow with only a few options in order to avoid it. Something Ataxia took advantage of as Rainbow flew above the wing, just in the path of her dragon fire.

The fire lashed out, she directed it right above the bridge of her wing. Rainbow saw it coming almost to late… almost. Rainbow, using the speed she was so well known for, rolled to the right. However, that still left one little problem, the fire was on a direct course for a large portion of The Crystal Kingdom, worse, it was the portion that contained the hospital.

Rainbow poured everything she had into her will and flew in front of the fire. She began to fly in a vortex, trapping the fire in a large funnel of pure wind pressure. With a small correction, Rainbow used that pressure to cause the fire to move up and away from the city, it landed to the west, destroying a large portion of the forest in a fiery inferno that spared nothing it came in contact with.

Rainbow saved the city; she saved her family, but in doing so, she could not save herself. Ataxia flew up behind her when she was not looking and lashed out with her right claw, the blow hit Rainbow who could not dodge what she did not see. She was sent careening into the dirt with the force of a meteorite.

While she had not seen the blow coming, she felt it all the same. She had gotten off lucky; most of the blow was simply physical force from Ataxia’s claw, most of it.

Even with the pain, Rainbow still responded with the reflexes of someone who could fly at such insane speeds. She wrapped herself into a wing cocoon and cushioned the fall, preventing any major damage as she impacted against the ground. She rolled with the landing, bleeding off most the speed and only suffering minor scraps as a result. Far better that than the full impact of hitting the ground in a fight like this.

When Rainbow unwrapped her golden wings, she saw that something was very wrong long before she felt it, her brain registering too many different sources of pain to try and prioritize any of them right this second.

When she looked down, when she brought her head down to inspect the damage she no doubt suffered as a result of that last blow. She saw it; she saw what was wrong, or more precisely, what was missing.

Her front right hoof, it was gone. Cut off cleanly at the joint from Ataxia’s claw. Seeing it, registering it in her mind, it caused her brain to focus on it. It caused that pain to come to the forefront, and to override all the rest of the pain she suffered, including a few broken bones, bruises, and scrapes that covered the rest of her body.

Oddly, only one thought came to her mind at that moment, ‘Twilight’s going to kill me.’

She laughed at that, she actually laughed. Rainbow knew from experiences that the only thing her magic could not fix, the only damage she could not heal, was when a piece of her was no longer attached. Her two ear tips being personal reminders of that fact.

Twilight could fix her leg; she could fix anything, well… almost anything, the only thing she could not fix was one of her ears. When asked, Twilight had said it since the injury occurred when she was dead; she was somehow unable to restore it. Rainbow had told her to leave the other ear, much to Twilight chagrin, but Rainbow liked it when both sides matched. It made her look that much cooler. Rainbow knew that Twilight could restore the leg, but not right now, not with her son blocking her magic. Rainbow would be without her leg until the foal was born.

Of course, that was assuming she lived through this night. That thought made her do the oddest of thing at that moment, Rainbow laughed. She laughed even louder when she saw that it had attracted the attention of Ataxia. Somehow, that just made it even more hilarious. Part of her wondered if there was a word for it, finding humor in a situation that was in no way, shape, or form, funny. She made a mental note to ask Twilight about it when this was all said and done.

Rainbow saw her coming, even without her leg, even with the pain; she could still fly. Her flight was based purely on will alone. She willed herself up and she went up, she willed herself to fly at sonic rainboom speeds and off she went.

So yes, she could still easily avoid Ataxia’s attacks, but there was one thing she could not avoid, regardless how fast she flew. She could not avoid the blood loss from her missing limb. You can run from a lot in this world, but irrespective of how fast you move, you cannot run from yourself.

Rainbow knew all of this, so she prioritized, she knew that her blood loss had to be stopped first and foremost. With that in mind she flew straight up, a sonic rainboom occurring her wake. The force of which knocked Ataxia back several yards, blinding her to Rainbow’s location. Which was her plan all along.

Rainbow came down and landed next to the area that she had directed the flame into. She had done so in order to save a large section of The Crystal Empire. Still… seeing it in such a state was hard to look at. There were nothing left but burned cinders; entire acres of forests were just gone. The ground where it used to be, nothing but ashes.

She supposed, given time, as with all things in nature it would grow back. Nature had a funny way of doing that. Even the worst destruction could be healed if left alone. Well… that was not entirely true. The scars Rainbow had left on this world would never heal. The time when she almost cut the world in half trying to save Twilight from the Titan came back to mind. As well as breaking the moon. That part made her chuckle. Whatever may come, the world could never forget Rainbow Dash.

Farther reminiscing would have to wait. Rainbow found a smoldering patch of debris, it was in an area that was outside of the main blast but still close enough to catch the heat. The smoke coming off it was more than enough indication that it would serve her purpose. She stuck her severed limb into the ashes.

Rainbow could put on a brave face when she needed to, but not for this. This was too much to act as if it did not hurt, or to even avoid screaming. She yelled out in pain within seconds of sticking the missing limb into the heat. It achieved the desired effect; it cauterized the wound in an instant. Rainbow knew that such an action would eliminate the risk of losing any more blood. However, the pain was such that she could not avoid giving away her position.

The dragon fire hit next. As soon as Ataxia heard the yell, her eyes zeroed in on Rainbow’s position and she let loose with the flame. It was a good shot, one that would have ended all but a hoof full of ponies, but against Rainbow, she might as well not have bothered.

Sure she was in pain, but when you life is on the line you find the will to fight on, to fight through the pain, and since Rainbow’s flight is controlled by willpower, that was all she needed. Rainbow took wing and easily avoided the fire. Her improved reflexes granted her more than enough forewarning to avoid it. Unfortunately, it also got her a front row seat to what exactly the effects were of the dragon fire when it hit a large patch of land. It was something she had never wished to see this close, but she could not turn away at the sheer destruction it caused.

Rainbow’s mouth gaped as she saw the fire hit the trees and rocks that had somehow avoided the first attack. Everything it hit incinerated as soon as the fire touched it, some of the more combustible material bust into flames second before impact, the air pressure around them heated up to such a degree that their very substance caught light.

It was like nothing she had ever seen before, and from a mare that watched her own wings get cut off by a changeling queen that was quite the statement. It happened in an instant but with her reflexes an instant could be a long time. Rainbow knew from that little bit that to be caught anywhere near that fire would be instant death. The magical properties of the fire allowed it to burn anything, which is precisely what it did. Sure, the fire would eventually put itself out, but only after consuming all fuel sources in the area. The Crystal Empire would be relying on the crops of other towns for years after this.

Rainbow made a note of it and flew off, leading Ataxia on a chase through the sky. It did not surprise her that Ataxia was able to keep up, as that was only because Rainbow did not want to lose her. Every once in a while she would slow down just enough to allow Ataxia to come in range of an attack, just to make sure she did not lose interest and try to attack something else.

Rainbow was just trying to buy time, she knew that Twilight would be here in a few minutes, but that was a few minutes longer then she felt comfortable with anymore. Twilight was already going to kill her about the loss of a leg, and several broken ribs if her breathing was any indication to go by. Still… a part of Rainbow did not want Twilight here at all, she would give anything, do anything, if it would keep her wife away from all of this.

The broken ribs were quickly becoming an issue; fortunately, Rainbow did not have to breathe hard, her willpower kept her going in ways that simple breathing did not. She would lead Ataxia on a flight around the North Pole and back, that should buy more than enough time for Twilight to get back.

There was one flaw with her plan; something she had forgotten about, Ataxia was not just another dragon, as she was a dragacorn. The mare combined the aspects of a dragon with the magic of a unicorn. When Rainbow had just left The Crystal Empire airspace and turned her head back to taunt Ataxia one more time. Ataxia conjured a huge magical wall directly in front of Rainbow.

Rainbow slammed into the wall with such force that she lost consciousness for a few seconds. Those seconds were enough to send her careening into the ground. When she came to, Rainbow awoke to her old, lifelong friend: Pain.

Her wings were already wrapped around her, they had done so instinctively as a way to try and save her life. She fractured her skull, every single breath hurt, no doubt from a few more broken ribs, but that was not her number one concern right now. Ataxia was hovering right over her. Rainbow could only watch, horrified as Ataxia reared her head back, her moved choreographed as she was about to douse the area Rainbow lay in with her magical dragon fire.

Rainbow wrapped her wings around her as tightly as she could, doing her absolute best to make the cocoon as airtight as possible. It would come down to which magic was stronger: That of her wings, or that of Ataxia’s fire. The prize for winning this competition was whether Rainbow gets to live for another minute.

The fire struck with the same fury as it always did, everything in a ten-acre area was incinerated as the magically imbued fire made short work of the landscape. Nothing living was speared from the fiery inferno of death Ataxia unleashed on the land.

Well… almost nothing.

Magical dragon fire, fire imbued with magic of the God Chaos himself. It met the magic of Rainbow’s wings, wings created from the God Gaia. While Chaos may have been the God responsible for creation itself, Gaia was the God of Life and Magic, the source of all magic in the universe. The fire never had a chance of hurting those wings. They easily withstood the heat.

The fires burned all around, charring the landscape. A minute later, when they finally died down enough for Ataxia to see, she was in shock. The golden cocoon was still there. When Rainbow emerged from the wings, it surprised both of them, but Rainbow was the first one to capitalize on it. With her wounds healed from the time she spent in the cocoon, Rainbow flew out, directly at Ataxia’s stomach, the area directly below her Dragon Steel Armor. She impacted with such force the scales cracked and broke. It bowled over Ataxia, forcing the mare out of the sky and on her back.

When she hit Ataxia with that much force, it surprised Rainbow. Rainbow had not intended it to do any real damage; she was merely attempting to stun her opponent so she could get away. It was then she noticed a strange light emanating from herself. When she looked down at it, she saw the reason why. A golden light surrounded her; it was the same magic that surrounded her during the final fight with Blood Dawn, that golden energy. The energy empowered her with the magic of Gaia.

Rainbow laughed, she actually laughed about that. In a way it made sense, she had risked it all and even lost a limb to save others, and protect the life of those she loved. Naturally, her power would be at its strongest now.

Of course, that led to one small problem, she did not want to overdo it. While she might be at her full power, Ataxia had no such limit. If she overdid it, she would easily kill the dragacorn. That mistake had been made more than enough times already.

Ataxia stood up and glared at her, an action that surprised Rainbow. Every time she looked at Ataxia, she saw the hurt and the rage. The rage and anger in Ataxia’s eyes were easy to see. Truly, Rainbow thought they would haunt her dreams for the rest of her life. However long that might be.

Ataxia lashed out with claws, tail, and teeth. If Rainbow thought her moves were slow before, this was almost comical. Every move seemed to take a minute to land, every blow easily choreographed and avoided. In all reality, Rainbow was getting bored.

It was that boredom that gave Rainbow an idea. She would try the idea she had earlier, but first she wanted to know something, Rainbow took a page from Twilight’s playbook and ran a test. She grew her wings and lashed out at Ataxia’s. The golden wings cut right through Ataxia’s own, and for the second time that night, another massive wing fell to the ground. Just as she suspected, she could now cut Ataxia. Given, that was not something she wanted to do, but it was still good to know.

‘After tonight, we're going to be able to build another you.’ Rainbow jokingly thought to herself.

Ataxia did not share Rainbow’s humor about the situation. She lashed out with her dragon fire, directly at the golden mare. Rainbow laughed as she avoided the attack. She watched in fascination as the wing she had just cut off regrew right before her eyes. In half a minute it was restored, just like new.

“I could keep cutting you.” Rainbow said to the dragacorn. “But that’s a little disgusting, even for me.” She flew up, Letting Ataxia follow her in the sky.

Ataxia stretched her wings, her new one and old one each extended to their full wingspan. Rainbow whistled at that, than extended her wings to be slightly longer than Ataxia. As if to say, ‘mine are bigger’. It was a message that did not go unnoticed by the dragacorn.

Ataxia shot straight for her, a sonic rainboom in her wake. Rainbow looked on, even that speed was far too slow for someone like her. “C’mon, you can do better than that.”

Ataxia went to eat the golden mare; she bit down on her location, hard. Her jaw snapped shut on nothing. The jarring impact left a tingling sensation in her mouth and several broken teeth fell out of the sky.

“Lets try that around the pole flight once more.” Rainbow said with a grin.

Ataxia glared at her, she watched as Rainbow took off to the north. She tried to follow, but Rainbow’s speed easily left her in the dust. Either every wall Ataxia conjured was far too slow to appear in front of the golden mare or Rainbow broke through it without even trying.

When she was about fifty miles away from the North Pole, Ataxia felt a pull, a strong desire to turn around. It was the same one that she felt when she woke up in the cave. It called her, it compelled her to return, to go back, that her true target was not the golden streak that avoided every thing she threw at it. It was back the other direction, back in the direction of the crystal city.

Rainbow’s speed worked against her, she was traveling so fast that by the time she looked back, by the time she went to taunt Ataxia again, it was too late, as she was gone. Ataxia was out of sight. She knew only one location that the mare would go, she would go back to try and finish the job.

“Buck me.” Rainbow cursed at herself. She was showing off again, even though there was not anyone around to see it.

Rainbow flew at all speed back to The Crystal Empire. She might be fast, but in this instance that speed worked against her, it put her too far ahead of the dragacorn, causing her to have to backtrack and catch up to Ataxia.

When she finally caught sight of her again, Ataxia was already over the empire, she roared back and went to unleash her dragon fire directly at the hospital. “No!” Rainbow shouted as she lashed out with her wing.

The golden wing extended out a mile in length. Her speed and sudden increase in length allowed her to stop Ataxia’s attack, but at a cost. Ataxia’s head flew from her body. The fire had been stopped but only by killing the dragacorn yet again. Her body fell to the ground, landing directly next to the hospital. The head flew off, landing just outside of The Crystal Empire.

“Horseapples.” Rainbow cursed as she saw the dragacorn’s body crush several houses with its massive bulk. She had just made the fight that much more difficult and destroyed several buildings in the process.

It was a mistake Twilight would not have made, but then again, she would not have done a lot of the stupid ideas that Rainbow had tried. She remembered the many, many times Twilight had lectured her about showing off. None of which were helping right now. Thoughts of Twilight caused Rainbow to look once more at her missing hoof. “She’s going to kill me.” Rainbow said again.

Rainbow could feel magical buildup; her first thought was that Twilight had just arrived. When she looked around it became obvious that was not the case. Ataxia was regenerating. Rainbow watched as the magic energy coursed around Ataxia’s fallen body. It was starting to regenerate a new head. Briefly, Rainbow wondered if there would now be two Ataxias, if the head might also be regenerating a new body.

‘That would suck. Well, as Twilight always said, it’s better to know than to not know.’ Rainbow flew over in search of the head. It took her a while to find it but to her infinite relief, there is no sign of the magic that was cascading around the body.

Thoughts of the body caused Rainbow to rush back to the where it lay. She let out a breath she was not aware she was holding when she saw that the body was still in the process of regenerating.

Then again, a while to Rainbow Dash was seconds to other ponies.

‘What to do, what to do…’ Rainbow ran her one remanding hoof through her mane. She laughed as she realized just how much of a sorry state it was in. She was sure that if the golden energy were not coursing throughout her body, it would look a lot worse. No doubt, Rarity would have a field day lecturing her about the proper way a lady should look.

If she was still alive, that is. Thoughts of fallen friends were not helping the situation at all. Rainbow was a mare of actions instead of words, or plans for that matter. Of course, that was the problem, right now what they needed more than anything else was a plan.

Rainbow had no doubt that her power, her trump card was used up. While she still had her speed, as that was something no one, dragacorn or otherwise, could ever hope to match. She played that game once before, it was a proverbial stalemate. Well… not exactly. A look down at her missing limb reminded her that this was a game the house always wins, and she was not the house.

If this continued long enough, if the fight simply kept going with no way out of it, Ataxia would, eventually, get another lucky shot in, and that would be that. Rainbow would be killed, or worse, someone she loved would die instead. Thoughts of having to attend Radiant, Cadance, or Firestar’s funeral came to mind. It filled the mare with a sense of dread about this whole situation.

For a mare like Rainbow, thoughts are the enemy of action.

They continued on, she might already have one funeral to attend… there was no word on Luna, but then again, she had not expected an update. She left the princesses fate in the capable hooves of Radiant. If she were still alive, if she could be saved, Rainbow trusted that he would find a way.

Rainbow was trying to all hades not to think of the worst-case scenario, this was a scenario that did not involve having to attend any of her friend’s funerals. It was her failing the one pony that mattered more than any other, it was having to attend Twilight’s funeral. That she would not be able to save her own wife. That thought would destroy her, it would end any chance she had of stopping Ataxia.

Trying to stop the thought almost cost her that anyway.

Simply trying not to think of it was almost enough to see her dead. She missed Ataxia’s rebirth. One of the many she had just tonight. Ataxia shot out with her dragon fire. Aiming squarely at where the golden mare was hovering in the sky. The same one that seemed lost in her own head.

Rainbow dodged it just in the nick of time. Then the next three as she sought to gain her bearings, to reinvest her mind back into the fight. That had always been a personal failing on the mare; she knew it was too easy for her to lose focus on what was important.

When you have that much confidence, self-doubt is your worst enemy.

She could not help it now, even with Ataxia closing down on her, other memories began to come to light, all of them bad, all of them of times when she failed ponies she loved. Memories of almost selling Fluttershy into indentured servitude for a Daring Do book came to mind. Needless to say, it was not one of the high points of their early years after Twilight came to town. The mare had forgiven her, as was Fluttershy’s way, but Rainbow had not quite forgiven herself. Fluttershy always had been Dash’s oldest friend. Certain things were just, unacceptable , regardless of circumstance.

Dash went to slap herself in the face, as she was losing focus yet again.

She missed.

“How the hey?” She looked down; she had tried to slap herself with the missing hoof. The golden energy that surrounded her body blocked out the pain. However, she was not use to the fact that it was gone… not yet anyway.

She moved to the right side just to avoid another blast. It was almost funny, in her efforts to stop distracting herself; she continued to distract herself. Unfortunately, for Rainbow, this was one time too many.

Ataxia aimed the last attack a little to Rainbow’s left side. Any other time, at any other event, Rainbow would have noticed this slight change and known that Ataxia was up to something. However, her thoughts were not quite into it the way they should have been. She was too worried about possibilities, a little issue she had picked up from all the years spent at Twilight’s side. She supposed, logically, it could not be helped. After so much time together, it was only natural that they would pick up each other’s eccentricities.

So when Rainbow dodged to her right, just as Ataxia knew she would, the large dragacorn teleported directly in the mare’s path. Rainbow hit the Dragon Steel Armor that made up Ataxia’s chest with a loud bang. The sudden impact shook her, not from any real damage, but just due to the surprise of such a large creature magically appearing directly in her way.

Ataxia capitalized on it, she smacked Rainbow out of the sky with a downward blow as one would smack a fly with a flyswatter.

Once more, Rainbow found herself several hooves deep in the dirt, although there was something different about it this time. This time, there was no pain. She felt… nothing, nothing broken, nothing bruised, or aching for that matter. A split second test of her limbs confirmed that everything still worked the way it should. The magical energy that surrounded her body had protected her from any further harm.

How long it would last, Rainbow had no idea. She also did not know how much damage it could actually stop. Nor did she want to know, you did not have to be an egghead to understand that it would be a bad idea to put something like that to the test.

Sadly, it looked like that was about to happen. Before Rainbow could get up, Ataxia slammed down into the ground and pinned her to the dirt with one massive claw. The sheer weight of Ataxia bore down on Rainbow.

Rainbow had no doubt that it would have crushed every bone in her body, but the magic field did hold. She lashed out at Ataxia with both wings, seeking to get her off before something really bad did happened.

As she suspected, she could no longer cut the dragacorn. Her last evolution fixed that little issue. While the magic around her kept Rainbow safe, she did not know how long it would last, or if it would stop what was about to happen. Rainbow could only watch as Ataxia stretched her jaw wide, with her claw on Rainbow’s body preventing her from using her fire, it only left Ataxia with one option. She would eat her pray.

When the bite was about to come, Rainbow screamed her denial at this turn of events. She lashed out with everything she had at Ataxia. Even managing gouge out one of her eyes. Ataxia fought through all of the pain. This mare, the one who was even faster than she was, she had caused her enough pain to last a lifetime. Any pain now was better than what she would go through if this one got away again.

Suddenly, the weight pressing down on Rainbow lifted. There was no longer any real pressure behind it. Rainbow simply reacted to this turn of events without question. She poured everything she had into her flight, willing herself forward at all speed.

She was free, she flew out of Ataxia’s grip milliseconds before the bite came, Ataxia ended up eating dirt, literally. Rainbow looked back in shock as a part of Ataxia came with her. Ataxia’s claw, the one that had pinned her to the ground. It followed the pegasus as friction alone carried it away from the limb it used to be attached to.

Ataxia looked up in shock as she spit out a mouth full of dirt. Her pray, the one that had caused her more pain than any other, had gotten away, again. Moreover, the claw she had used to pin her to the ground was no longer attached to its limb. It stayed with the pegasus for a little bit before falling off, a trail of blood left in its wake.

She roared as her body finally registered the pain. She held up her limb, looking at it as the stump gushed blood. Her pain and confusion only fueled her rage as whatever had done that went unnoticed. Magical energy started to surround the stump, but it was not as fast as before, something was slowing it. It would eventually regrow, but it would be unusable for some time.

Rainbow hid behind a nearby building. Her breathing rapid over the sudden adrenalin from her near death experience. Her heart felt like it would burst out of her chest, a feeling that was amplified ten times as she felt something new. Rainbow felt something else coming, someone was about to use magic, a very powerful spell at that. Living in a household with so many magic users gave her an instinctual feel for when a spell was about to be cast. She had joked once to Twilight that it was a survival instinct parents got when their foals could use magic.

Rainbow’s first thought was of Ataxia, whatever the mare was about to cast would not be good. She rushed out to interrupt the spell casting, one swift blow to the horn would prevent anything she was about to do. Rainbow knew she had the speed to stop her from casting… whatever it was she was about to cast.

As soon as she left the cover she had been hiding the spell was completed. Although, Rainbow had been wrong about one thing. The slight hint and tells of magic at work were not the result of Ataxia going to cast a spell, it came from someone completely different.

Rainbow found herself flying right up into a roof; the sudden change of location caught her completely by surprise. She almost put a gigantic hole in the building; although, it would not be the first time.

When she fell to the floor, with her eyes still closed from the impact, Rainbow felt a hoof wrap itself around her. She felt the heartbeat of the one who owned that hoof, the texture of the fur, and the rapid breathing. When the smell hit her, there was not a shadow of a doubt left in her mind of who had teleported her away.

“Hey Twilight.” Rainbow said without even opening her eyes.

The tears fell next. That part broke Rainbow’s heart. It had not been intentional, in all reality she had just done as Twilight asked, but she still made her wife cry. Rainbow wrapped her one good hoof around the mare. There was no doubt that was what Twilight was crying about.

“It’s ok, Twi.” Rainbow softly ran her hoof through her wife’s mane. Regardless of its condition, or how much prep work she had done, it still felt like silk to the mare.

“Rainbow, I was so scared. She… she… she was going to eat you, and… how are you gold? And what in hades happened to your hoof!” Twilight yelled the last part.

Rainbow sighed a little at that, “It the same magic I told you about before, the one that came out when I fought that shadow creature in the Griffin Empire. I lost my hoof saving the hospital. Don’t worry it doesn’t hurt, and you can just restore it anyway, right?” Twilight nodded at that, she had heard the story from Rainbow, but she never actually thought she would be able to see it. Although she was still pissed about the hoof, that conversation could wait for another time.

“How did you stop her from eating me anyway?” Rainbow asked her own question.

“I didn’t, Icarus did.” Twilight pointed out the window. Rainbow glanced over. Sure enough, Icarus was out there fighting Ataxia. His last experience against the mare taught him a lot; he was using quick cuts with Siros’s Vengeance.

The blade was a masterwork. Rainbow knew that the like of it did not exist anywhere else on the planet. Forged in the strongest metals that could be found, it was imbued with the magic of four alicorns. Officially, it was a gift from Equestria to the Griffin Empire, but Rainbow knew better. It was a present from Twilight to Icarus, a way to insure that events like ‘Blood Dawn’, that they never occur again. Icarus would have the ability to protect his wife, Twilight’s daughter, from any foe that dared threaten her again. That alone made the hassle of forging such a blade worthwhile in Rainbow’s eyes.

It could not have been wielded by a better master, it only took Rainbow a moment to deduce that Icarus had not slacked off at all in his training. When she left Warclaw, Rainbow had been worried that Icarus might relax a little. Seeing him now, watching him work was like nothing she had ever seen before. His training had paid dividends in ways that not even Rainbow had suspected.

Icarus would lash out at subsonic speed, slicing off a random limb here and there. Then immediately seek new cover. Siros’s Vengeance leaving a gleaming trail that only Rainbow had any hope of following. It was like watching a master at his craft.

Icarus never made the mistake of slicing a vital organ; he always made sure that wherever he cut off, it would simply anger Ataxia more. He knew that killing her would only cause more of a headache.

“He’s good.” Rainbow said.

“I know, we discussed it in length before Radiant got the beacon up. His royal guards are on standby just in case things do go down, but that shouldn’t happen.”

“What do you mean, and where is Radiant?” Rainbow tore her attention away from Icarus to stare at her wife.

“I don’t know, when we got here, Radiant wasn’t anywhere around. As far as what I mean, well, watch and learn.” Twilight said with a smile.

Rainbow went back to watching. She knew from personal experience, experience that had come at a cost, that Ataxia was not some mindless beast. Yes she was full of anger and hatred, yes that anger could be used against her, but she would adapt her strategy to tricks that were used against her too many times. This one would be no exception.

When Icarus made his fifth such attack, one that Rainbow could tell Ataxia was suspecting. Rainbow spoke up. “Twi, he’s in trouble.” She spread her wings, ready to hop back into the fight.

“Rainbow, trust me on this one.” Twilight saw it too, when Icarus flew out, Ataxia was indeed ready for him. Rainbow could only watch as one of her newly regrown claws came out to take his head off. She cringed as the blow landed… save it did not land at all. Ataxia’s claw lashed out at air.

It fell off shortly after. Icarus attacked from an angle neither Rainbow nor Ataxia suspected. When Rainbow looked at twilight for an explanation. She saw that knowing smile on her face, that and the tell-tale magical residue coming off Twilight’s horn.

“I’m helping with what I can, when she adapts, I teleport him somewhere else, and let him continue his attack from a new, unexpected angle. In that way she can never truly adapt to his tactics.” Twilight said with a smile on her face, one in which Rainbow did not share. As to Rainbow, something fundamental seemed off with that plan. Although she could not quite place her hoof one just what that was.

“I guess that will work, for awhile at least…” Rainbow said with uncertainty in her voice.

“It should work fine, we should be able to buy all the time we need for you to go get Night and bring her back here.”

“I… I… I guess.”

“What’s wrong?” Twilight noticed the concerned look in Rainbow’s eyes, she would have seen it earlier but Icarus needed another teleport.

“Well…” Rainbow thought for a second. She looked at her wife, noting the use of magic coming off Twilight’s horn; she looked back at Ataxia. It was then that she saw it; she finally put two and two together. “What about when she senses you in here?” Rainbow’s question came a millisecond before a shout out by Icarus.

“LOOK OUT!”

The building the two were in was completely covered in Ataxia’s fire. It incinerated everything in a two-block radius instantly. Nothing remand in the area save charred ashes that the fire could not simply burn away.

Icarus looked on in shock as the hiding spot of Princess Twilight, his step mom, was… was… it was just gone. Nothing remand from where it stood. He looked back at Ataxia, her horn was giving off the tell-tale signs of a spell of her own, she had traced the magic that Twilight was using to teleport him to safety. His only saving grace was that she would be incapable of capitalizing on this new development, too many of her body parts were still regrowing.

“Aurora’s going to kill me.” Icarus said with a gulp.

Author's Notes:

"Hey Aurora?"

"What's up?"

"Remember your parents?"

"What do you mean, remember?"

And then the entire city of Warclaw was completely annihilated from the rage of a Pissed-off Pregnant Princess Pegasus Pony.

(Say that three times fast.)

Sorry, bad joke.

You may have noticed that this chapter does not have any indents. I was told that you should only have indents or spaces, not both. (Hey, I'm still learning here.) As such, I removed all the indents from my stories.

Side note, I'm still looking for another editor, even if all you can do is preread and point out obvious mistakes any help is welcome.