Rainbow Dash immediately charges. Her wings flash open as she uses them for an extra boost. Her speed is amazing, and when I begin to fire stunning shots down the field, her dodging is amazingly nimble.

As she nears me, I take off running too. When we are within a few meters of each other, her wings open to their full width, stopping her in the distance of a stride.

Unprepared for her sudden stop, I attempt to leap over her. Rainbow Dash is expecting this and flips as I reach the top of my arc over her. She does a backwards flap, pushing her upwards into me. As she nears me, she kicks her hooves out and catches me directly in the stomach.

The force of my leap and her kick combined sends me sailing over the sands. I hit the ground hard and try to take a breath, the wind knocked out of me from her kick.

Rainbow Dash is racing towards me again as I reposition my hooves under me. I start to back trot, moving in a straight line directly away from her. Once I’m sure I have her following in my exact path, I charge my horn and fire a shot where she will be. The bolt hits the ground at the same spot Rainbow Dash is running over. It misses her chest by a nanometer, but the energy from the blast forces her to pull up.

Her wings flare, catching the wind from the magical blast and shooting her into the air. I curse myself for making her take to the skies, a grounded pegasus is a far less dangerous than an airborne one.

Now circling me, Rainbow Dash begins increase her speed, she angles her wings and rockets downwards. Just before hitting the ground, she pulls up, drawing an ‘ooh’ from the crowd.

The wind from her dive sends sand flying. She starts to loop around the ring, causing sand to rush upward in the ensuing draft, blinding me.

Clouds of sand hover around me, making me blink frantically in an attempt to clear grains from my eyes. I see blue magic rising around the stands as the unicorns at the edge of the ring protect the spectators from the sandstorm.

The sand begins to settle with no more wind to keep it aloft, Rainbow Dash’s wings would make wind if she were flapping, I know she’s no longer above me.

I spin, trying to catch sight of my assailant. I spot a purple flash out of the corner of my eye and flip around. Rainbow Dash is approaching me quickly, a cruel and sinister smirk etches its way across her face. Her eyes are narrowed in a glare leveled at me. Her ears fold back, and her eyes twitch. She stops completely, and her tail flicks.

She opens her mouth and yells, creating a piercing shriek that grates against my ears. I know what’s coming next and quickly power up a shield. Her outstretched wings twitch, creating clouds, friction, and electricity from nothing for a Tempest Charge can drain a pegasi’s energy, especially one of such power.

Clouds form out of nowhere and race towards me, small flashes of electricity darting around inside. I back up pressing my ears down at the buzz of static filling my head. Hopefully this will tire her out enough that I won’t have too much trouble killing her afterward.

Rainbow Dash brings her spread wings closer to her, and the clouds simultaneously close in on me. Once her wings are fully closed, she looks to me again, her face softening slightly. A look of pity and regret encompasses her features, only enough so that I can see. Her wings snap open.

Electricity arcs towards me, shooting from the charged clouds. It hits, and I smell melted sand. My shield acts as a conductor, and the flashes glance harmlessly across my shield, leaving me safe inside. The force of the bolts puts strain on my shield, and thus my horn, almost breaking my concentration. The extra energy I have to put into my shield spell isn’t much, but it’s too much for my damaged horn.

Pain rockets through my skull, and I cry out in pain. My shout can’t be heard over the noise of the crowd, but they all see my shield go down, especially Rainbow Dash who is staring in shock, eyes wide.

A gasp echoes across the field as one of the last bolts hits me in the flank. It’s smaller and only burns... A LOT! I yelp and the smell of burning flesh making my snout wrinkle.

Rainbow Dash backs up, her mouth moving in what looks like ‘oh no, no, no no nononono’. Surprise and horror flash across her features as she looks at me.

I immediately take all weight off my injured leg and power up my horn in a healing spell. Rainbow Dash still appears to be having a mini freak-out giving me enough time to cast the spell. Magic surrounds the burn wound, and I sigh in relief as the pain fades as healing magic sets in.

Rainbow Dash regains her composure quickly; seeing my healing spell reminds her I’m still a threat. She takes off with a single beat of her wings, creating a fountain of sand where she blasted upwards.

She positions herself directly across from me on the other end of the field, right in front of the door I entered from. She flicks her wings in and out between flaps.

Concentration crosses the pegasus’s features, and her forehooves are drawn up to her chest. I shout, trying to break her concentration. I throw sand in her face with magic. I send up a blast of stunning magic, making my head throb. Anything to stop what’s coming.

She’s supposed to be tired, is all that I can think right now. A Tempest Charge so intense should have exhausted any pegasus.

Rainbow Dash ignores it all. She's preparing a Thormira and even a princess would struggle to survive one from such an horribly powerful pegasus. Rainbow Dash, a skilled flier, ridiculously amazing at lightning related abilities, is so powerful I’m not going to survive this.

I realize I don’t want to die. I don’t want to leave my parents yet. I need to do something about this.

I start sifting through every spell I know, trying to find something, anything that could save me. Teleportation: no. Levitation: no. Time travel: no. Shield: no. Magically lightning-proof my armor: not strong enough. I CAN’T THINK OF ANYTHING!

Wait! I’ve got it! A power-absorbing spell. It’s meant for ponies that need one or more of the abilities of another race or a pony that needs to supercharge their own abilities. A unicorn absorbing another unicorn’s magic can become up to twice as powerful, and if a unicorn were to cast the spell on a pegasus and then said pegasus were to absorb from a fellow pegasus they would be doubly as fast and agile. If a unicorn were to cast the spell on themselves and then absorb power from a pegasus, they would be able to fly with magic aura wings. Whomever has their power absorbed loses their abilities until the spell wears off.

Power absorption can also be used to take in and collect the force of a hit or fall (if said impact is not so forceful that the pony can’t take it), and then expel that force back out. It’s the perfect plan!

I turn my attention back to Rainbow Dash and jerk at seeing she already has sparks flitting across her fur. I don’t have long to cast the spell, and power absorption spells are extremely complicated and taxing.

I begin. Power flows into the leylines on my horn. A pressure begins to build behind and at the tip of my horn. I hold the spell in until it’s fully charged. The crowd watches in heated anticipation and suspense.

Finally, at full power I release the block I’m holding and let the magic flow. A magenta aura surrounds me, and my skin gets the familiar tingle of magic. Solid lines of magic sketch out floating symbols around my forelegs. My fur glows a soft magenta, and the highlights in my mane and tail stand out in stark contrast to the dark blue.

I’ve never cast a spell this complicated while injured, and I don’t know if I can hold it long enough for it to fully set in, at least a minute. I don’t get a chance to find out as Rainbow Dash has fully charged her lightning.

The pupils of her eyes are gone, replaced with a solid shining white. Lightning zings down her coat in bolts as thick as my legs. Her cutie mark is burning white on her flank. Sweat slides down her forehead, and she is gritting her teeth so hard they seem as if they might crack from the sheer force she is putting on them.

Rainbow Dash focuses on me and narrows her eyes. Lighting lances off the edges of her hooves as she hovers and shoots small bolts towards me. I don’t bother moving and just let them hit me. The first shots are small, test blasts, and the spell easily lets me absorb the power.

She starts to circle me again, making quick loops on her agile wings. As she goes, she fires shots at me, and I have to start dodging them as they get bigger and stronger. I throw up small shields to knock off most of the force and absorb the rest. I can feel the energy flowing through my veins just waiting for a release.

We continue our deadly dance. The crowd has faded away, and the only thing I see is the winged pony flying around me. White has started to dance on the edge of my vision due to pushing my power to the breaking point. I ignore it. All I want is to get out of here. Alive.

Pain on my side makes me scream and I stumble, ending up with a mouth full of sand. Rainbow Dash sees my lapse in concentration and circles back towards me building up energy at the tips of her hooves. She hit me.

I gather my hooves under me and watch as death stares me straight in the face in the form of bright white electricity. I run. Not away, but towards her. Rainbow Dash has to fly backwards to keep me in range of her bolts, throwing off her aim for a second.

I leap, and at the same she slams her front hooves together to create one giant blast of lightning. I fire all of the charged energy at once, screaming in pain and desperation as a bolt of blue lightning materializes from my horn.

Time freezes as I look up while not moving my angled horn. I lock eyes with Rainbow Dash. They have returned to normal, the energy from this final bolt using up the last of her reserves. All the energy she has left is going into keeping her airborne. Desperation and fear fill her eyes. She’s screaming too.

Time resumes its pace, and our blasts meet. White light fills the air and blinds me. Blue envelopes the stands as shimmering shields protect the crowd. Heat and electricity wash back over me, singeing my fur. I scream and cry in pain. My spell fails. I can’t see through my tears. Black clouds my vision as I hit the ground hard. Landing ungracefully from my leap, I try to scream louder, only to find my body not responding.

I can’t move my legs.

I have no magic left.

I won’t get help.

Darkness comes rushing in, and I welcome the numbness. The last thing I see before my vision fades completely is a cyan body crashing down across from me, her rainbow mane glossy with sweat and her eyes clenched shut. Then blackness surrou…

Author's Note

Chapter has been updated with editing now, yay!
Have fun with this