Rainbow Dash beat her suited wings in rhythm with her colleagues; she was the show, and by now she knew it.
The turnout was spectacular. Through a triple barrel loop amongst the soft clouds she made out a glimpse of her friends, her princess, and her fans, their faces awash with awe as always. Now, it was time for the spectacular finish she had dreamt up.
Since its conception—at first a niggling thought in the back of her mind, steadily developing into a flier's magnum opus—she had seen the entire routine through herself, sparing no detail. From conceptualisation to actualisation, it was all hers. The crescendo would be spectacular, the Wonderbolts—she would be remembered for this feat for years, decades even.
The sun was being blotted out, the wind was picking up.
Not now, she needed to concentrate. Her mind reached for the stars. Her hooves outstretched, she pushed forwards, Fleetfoot floating loops around her as she steadily picked up speed. It was coming.
In the stands, Starlight sat casting her spell, and the water stirred as it was meant to. Weeks of practice taught Rainbow to recognise all of the signs: She knew her angle, her trajectory, the exact speed and altitude she would need to travel at.
The sky was howling in despair; Rainbow Dash sped on.
She could feel the rainboom beginning to cone, the mach speeds tickling the skin beneath her fur, the relief that came with wearing goggles. Fleetfoot's body pressed against her as she straightened out, and with a swift push she was catapulted forwards towards the sea. At the precise moment that her body left contact with Fleetfoot, she allowed the unbridled speed to take over, adrenaline coursing through Rainbow as the dolphins began to rise either side of her, jumping up in crescent arcs as she skimmed the surface of the sea, all enthralled by Starlight's spell.
Rainbow Dash could imagine the shock painted across the faces of her spectators, even as the sky began to fall and morph with the sky. Dolphins passed over her head as she half flew, half swam like a fuzzy blue missile, her coat's colour mingling with the sea, water spraying and gushing out from her high velocity propulsion.
Now, this was the climax. A trio of whales would rise before her, and she would have a very small angle to fly through them, to safely make it through to the other side without so much as touching any of them. Controlling her direction with such precision at this speed was daunting, but she was ready.
Behind her, Rainbow Dash thought she could hear screaming. Of course she could. The daredevil inside her reveled in the pressure, the fear, the—wait, what the fuck is that?
The dolphins were gone now. Before her rose a sinister, horrific creature that was anything but a whale. It had a great many tentacles, half as many eyes, and its size almost dwarfed the surrounding city, it was that immense.
Nope. Rainbow decided it was time to nope the fuck out of that one, but there was no avoiding that... that thing.
Swallowing a heavy gulp, the strength of her movement and conviction overshadowing any doubt that might have just surfaced, Rainbow redoubled her efforts, picking up speed where she should have been allowing it to dissipate, pushing down to summon any last minute water resistance she could before pushing up, looking to burst straight through the horrible creature and out to the other side.
It opened its maw, revealing hundreds, possibly thousands of serrated teeth, each one at least the size of a pony. Rainbow Dash tried to convince herself not to do what she was about to, but it seemed like the only option. She was in reasonable control of her flight, but there was no way she could angle far enough from it to escape, so this had to be her best course of action. At least, it was the only one she could think of in the half second she had.
Rainbow Dash would always be a fighter. When it came down to it, the thrill was what she lived for. Whether her expiry was years of seconds away, it didn't matter. Rainbow would chase the action either way.
With a primal bellow of determination and fear, Rainbow Dash flew into the creature's mouth at a thousand miles per hour.
"No... No, no, no!"
"Starlight, what is it?" Twilight asked, languorously laying on a sunbed, enjoying the Wonderbolt show.
This couldn't be happening, there was no way. "Alright, Twilight, don't freak out, but I've screwed up. Like, seriously screwed up."
"What's wrong, Starlight? I'm sure it isn't that—"
"Don't bother, because it is. Listen to me," Starlight steeled herself, chasing away the shivers that sought to inhabit her withers, "I used magic to influence the dolphins to jump around Rainbow. It should happen in less than a minute, now."
"But, the creatures of Baltimare's sea were immunized from compelling spells thousands of years ago..." Twilight stammered, suddenly worried, "Celestia told me it was to protect us from—"
"I found a way to break through it," Starlight stated. She couldn't be bothered to walk on eggshells, this was serious.
"M-maybe nothing will happen!" Twilight sat up with a sheepish smile, her eyes desperate, "Maybe the danger went away centuries ago!"
Starlight grabbed Twilight by the chin, craning her neck upwards. "...Oh. Shit."
Above them, dark clouds were beginning to coalesce, the sun's shine was growing dim, and the sky was seemingly falling. It wasn't long until other ponies were beginning to point it out. Before Starlight could say much more, Princess Luna had teleported straight before them.
"This is bad. Very bad."
"I'm sorry, princess, I didn't mean for this to happen, I—"
"You wrought this upon us?!" Luna shouted, her voice shrill, "Do you realise what you have done?"
Before them, the dolphins began to rise, jumping around Rainbow as she skidded along the edge of the water, a scintillating rainbow mist left in her wake, brightening the water. Starlight had to admit that amongst all of the cacophony, it was strikingly beautiful, contrasting with the sky's darkening red hues.
"And you did it with dolphins," Luna spat, rubbing her temples with a hoof, "are you a complete imbecile?"
"I didn't realise the species mattered..." Starlight admitted, "when we tested it at the aquarium, there wasn't any issue!"
"Aquariums aren't connected to the sea! Did you not consider that there were restrictions on spells affecting sea life for a reason? The fact you managed to circumvent them is astounding, but only goes to show that for all your intelligence and magical ability, you haven't an ounce of sense."
"Really, Princess Luna," Twilight stood between the pair, holding up a hoof, "I know this is bad, but you don't need to berate her so harshly. She was just trying to help a friend."
"...You 'know this is bad'?" Luna stared daggers at Twilight, who pushed her glare back in equal force, resolute on defending her friend. Behind her, an insurmountable wall of water formed before crashing back against itself as a true abomination rose from the depths, its tentacles scaling the water and pulling it to the top as if it could find purchase on the liquid. Luna didn't even bother to look behind her, the look on Twilight's face clearly said it all. "You know nothing, but you will now."
"Wh-what... What is that thing?!" Starlight stammered. In all of her wildest imaginings, she never could have anticipated that such a monster would be produced by her spell. She knew that there could be some small negative repercussions from her actions, but this was unreal, this was—
"That, Starlight Glimmer, is a kraken. And if I were to guess," she began, her body enveloped in a midnight aura as she became clad in ethereal armour, shining indigo and jet black mixing with her coat, "it is rather upset at your treatment of its children."
"Ch-children?" Starlight's eyes bulged as she attempted to comprehend the statement, "But that's—"
"Very possible. The kraken is the mother of all the seas, and she doesn't take kindly to their mistreatment. Me and my sister control the sun and moon. Did you not think there was another to control the water?"
"Alright, this is all very interesting," Twilight weighed in, "But can we not let it detract from that fact that that thing just swallowed Rainbow Dash?!"
"It what?!" In a flash, Starlight was floating in a field of magic, speeding towards the creature at full throttle.
She heard a sigh emanate from Luna, who now flew beside her. "How did you beat it last time?" Starlight panted, not taking her eyes from her target even as she charged a blast of eldritch energy.
"We parlayed with it," Luna growled, "This is just the beginning, Starlight. Did you not witness the sky above? When we struck a deal with the kraken, we made an accord with many other creatures, entities with power unlike anything you have seen before."
Starlight let a blast loose as soon as she was in range, slicing one of the creature's tentacles clean off. "Okay... One down, three hundred more to go."
"That won't stop it! You need to attack its hearts, it'll kill us otherwise!"
Starlight almost paused in midair. "Wait, hearts?"
"Yes, Starlight, hearts. All seven of them need to be stopped, and quickly. If it reaches the shore, this city and its inhabitants will not survive."
"What can we do then?" Starlight wondered aloud.
"I'm not expert on their anatomy, but I have a rough idea of where their hearts are. I'll fly close and puncture the right areas, you blast the openings with magic."
"What about Rainbow Dash? She's still in that thing!"
"You sure about that?" Luna smirked, pointing towards the sky. There, laying on a cloud, was a blood and slime covered Rainbow, panting and resting.
Starlight instantly forgot about the kraken, rushing over to her friend. "Rainbow! What happened?!"
"Flew... through... its neck," she said between breaths, coughing up a fresh shot of slime once she was finished. "It's nasty in there, Starlight," she wheezed and stuck her head over the cloud, looking down at the creature as she spat away the taste, "Real nasty."
"Well, Rainbow," Luna started, inching closer, "You've proven the creature to be fragile, weak enough to fly through. Do you think you could detonate another Rainboom inside it?"
Rainbow blanched until she was the exact opposite shade to Luna. "You want me to go back in that thing?!"
"If you can cause it internal injury, you should make an opening large enough for me and Starlight to finish it off before it reaches the shore."
"Screw that!" Starlight shouted, looking between the pair, "If she goes in, I'm going with her!"
Luna took a look back at the monstrosity, raising a tentacle as if it was about to swipe at the trio. "Whatever! Go in with her or don't, I don't care which!" She broke away from the pair, blasting one of the creature's eyes with a searing charge of magic, gaining its attention, "Just do something!"
Casting a quick cloudwalking spell, Starlight landed on the cloud next to Rainbow, checking her over for wounds. When she appeared to be alright, Starlight exhaled a breath of relief. "Are you coming with me, Rainbow?"
The pair cast their eyes to the herald of destruction, and for a few moments there was nothing but the sound of the splashing water as the thing moved, the zapping blasts of magic from Luna, the screams of the fans as they ran and hid. "Of course I am," she smiled, "couldn't have you stealing the limelight, could I. Ponies would think I was going soft."
A joint nod, and they sped off. Starlight held onto Rainbow with a tight hoof as she sped towards it, this time angling at one of its large nostrils. As they prepared to enter once more, an invisible barrier send them sprawling away, and in half a second they had back landed on the cloud they had been perched on moments before.
Looking ahead, Starlight saw that half of the creature was being held above land, its tentacles desperately trying to pull it back below water. Starlight looked about, confused, eventually finding the source of their disruption sat right next to them.
Discord wore a merry smile. "Was she giving you trouble, ladies?" His smile became a thin, serpentine grin, and he began to float closer to the gargantuan sea monster, lifting it higher without an inch of effort. "Hello, miss. What seems to be the problem?"
Until now, none of them had heard the kraken make a noise. When it did, Starlight clutched her ears hard, a bloodcurdling screech disorienting her and almost making her fall to the sea below. She erected a sound bubble around Rainbow and herself, watching the insane display.
Through the sound bubble, Starlight had no clue what was being said. All she knew was that Discord's magic was seemingly repairing the kraken's broken eye and severed tentacle, and that its thrashing seemed to calm with time. That was until Luna let loose a torrent of power that she had surely been charging for minutes, the deluge of impalpable force denting the side of the kraken's head, causing it to scream so loudly that it smashed the sound bubble completely.
The first thing they heard was Discord, who sounded reasonably unimpressed. "You really are a brute, princess. Here I am trying to reason with the poor girl, and all you've done is serve to make her more angry!"
"How was I to know?!" she responded, "All I could hear was the blasted creature's inane screaming!"
"Well, looks like we're doing this the fun way. I'm sure father will be annoyed."
Starlight wasn't sure if she had heard that right, or if by this point she had succumbed to delusion. She seriously hoped it was the latter.
