Equestria : After the Loss

Weaving my way through the tall skyscrapers that made up Ponyville was actually pretty fun, like flying a familiar obstacle course back at Wonderbolts academy. Twilight's castle had become the center of the city, so getting to the outskirts would typically take anyone else a lot longer to reach. Not me though.

In just a few seconds, I was crossing the border, soaring over the massive wall that protected all of Ponyville from any troublemakers that might want to threaten our peaceful little society. The land outside the city's limits was pretty desolate, to say the least. After such a long time, the lack of sunlight, rain, and proper care basically turned it into a sprawling desert.

Luckily for us we had the Lights. None of what we'd accomplished this far would've been possible without those two brainiacs. We'd never be able to do enough to show them how truly grateful we were, so we did all we could, where we could, when we could.

Once my eyes caught sight of the group Fluttershy had described I decelerated and dropped my altitude. Sight amplification had become a necessary modification for me as soon as I'd started patrolling outside the city. With proper amplifications seeing great distances became as easy as clearing the sky of clouds.

Lighting outside the walls wasn't exactly stellar, what with the constant darkness. With other ocular augments I could see about two miles perfectly clear, even in pitch black darkness. Examining the group confirmed one thing.

Fluttershy wasn't wrong, they definitely weren't the typical raiders we generally got.

Why don't they have any lights?

I couldn't really worry about that right now, I had to gather intel. One of the creatures was leading the charge while the other four followed closely behind it.

The unicorn in the front was obviously the leader, easily identified by the horn, though I couldn't tell if it was a mare or a stallion... probably a mare from it's smaller frame. Two pegasi, small enough to be mares as well, but could be weaker stallions or colts, a unicorn stallion, and a large earth stallion trailed directly behind their boss.

They were all wearing some crazy looking armor, from the appearance alone it was tech a few months behind what the Lights had created for us. That seemed... improbable. Tech had spread across Equestria, we already knew that... honestly, it had probably gone a lot further than those boundaries, but it had never been up to the level of the stuff we had in Ponyville, not even close.

This armor though? It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. If I made a hard pass, approached them at rainboom speed and just... didn't care, I could probably lop off the heads of the four in the back with my wings.

Unfortunately, Twilight insisted we show diplomacy to anyone and everyone that came to Ponyville. That policy was a double-edged sword, mostly for me. While it had netted us a whole lot more helpful hooves, it also meant we... or I guess I, often got blindsided by raiders that were posing as non-combatants.

I guess it was a fair trade, all things considered. It was my responsibility, after all. That was the job I had taken on. I would fight back anything and everything that threatened my family so that they didn't have to. If I got a little hurt in the process... or even a lot, it was worth it.

"Be careful, Dash." Fluttershy's voice echoed through the speaker in my head. She was watching. That was the job she'd taken upon herself, the eyes and ears of the city. If something important happened anywhere within or near Ponyville, Fluttershy was a witness of it.

"Always," I came to a landing about twenty yards from the trespassers, a loud boom echoing in the night, followed by the metallic clanging as I furled my wings at my sides. The new mods made me a whole lot heavier, but as long as they did what I'd requested that was fine. The five ponies came to an abrupt stop at my sudden appearance.

"So whatcha here for?" I asked them. It was the standard greeting I gave every creature that approached the city. Ponyville had been successful enough that the entirety of Equestria knew about us by now. Either they were here for refuge or for a fight. I cracked my neck, just in case the latter was about to happen.

"Testing," the mare in front replied calmly. She was cool as a cucumber. I had no idea what she'd meant by that, but as she slowly stepped back and the four behind her moved forward, I was able to make an educated guess.

"You sure you wanna do this?" I unfurled my wings with a smirk, ready to take off in an instant if need be.

"It is what I'm here for... She's already made you new wings and I barely..." Now she was irritated, though I had no clue who or what she was talking about. "It doesn't matter, number three, number four, show me what you've got."

"Last chance to leave peacefully," I prepared as the two pegasi crouched and unfurled their own wings.

They can't, I chuckled to myself. I launched into the air, the explosive sound of metal clanging against metal almost deafening. Pretty sure I'd left a crater where I had just been standing.

Once I reached an acceptable elevation I glanced back down at the ground.

No way...

I was so stunned they could fly I barely had any time to react to their assault. One threw a vicious hook at my face, forcing me to push myself back with a flap of my wings or risk a dislocated jaw.

The second actually caught me with a hoof to the chest, sending me tumbling backwards. The pain was unreal. I didn't have protection for my chest and the pony's hoof felt harder than steel.

Probably a glove or something.

I flapped my wings hard again, regaining my balance as the two ponies grouped together in front of me.

"This can't be the best Twilight has to offer..." The voice that came from one of the pegasus was the same as the mare's on the ground. She must be using some sort of speaker to communicate through them. "You know I could've killed you just now, right?"

"If that's true... you're really gonna regret that you didn't," I blasted past the two ponies in front of me, so fast I was a little surprised I hadn't created a rainboom. I descended back to he ground, landing in front of the remaining three threats as I stared them down.

The bodies of the two pegasi crashed to the ground behind me, their severed heads hitting the dirt a second later. I flicked my wings, intending to clean them of any blood, but they were spotless.

Great job girls, they work like a charm.

"Incredible..." the mare exclaimed, much to my surprise. It wasn't the typical reaction to seeing your friends get killed right in front of yourself. "One! two! Do something." The earth pony and the unicorn stepped forward with no hesitation at the unicorn's order. Guess demoralizing them wasn't gonna be an option.

"You sure you still wanna do this?" I spread my wings out again. "Don't think you'll get any mercy if you push me."

"Likewise," the mare's horn glowed eerily, forcing me to take a cautious step back. If she had some sort of ability like Rarity or Starlight things could get real bad real fast. As I tried to leap into the air my wings refused to move, forcing me right back down to the ground.

Crap...

I took another step backward as the earth pony and unicorn lumbered toward me.

"Dash, I'm sending App-"

"I'm fine, Fluttershy. Don't distract me!" I growled, pushing harder on my wings. They moved, but ponyfeathers was it difficult to get them to do exactly what I wanted. I definitely couldn't fly, but I could still use them to fight.

The earth pony bounded toward me, his speed making it obvious that his legs were enhanced to some degree. Luckily, he was no AJ. I ducked under the powerful buck he threw my way, sweeping a wing at his forelegs to try to knock him off balance while keeping the other wrapped around myself. That unicorn could be trouble, I had to be prepared for anything.

A loud explosion nearly knocked me onto my back, a flurry of projectiles hitting the wing I protected myself with.

Nice!

That was most likely buckshot and my new wings had been able to stop it...

"They can stop weaker shells? Interesting..." I heard the mare talking to herself, wonder saturating her voice. The unicorn must've had a fairly basic shotgun augment, though it was probably safer to assume it could do more than just fire off simple buckshot.

With nothing able to stop me, my attack connected with the earth pony's forelegs, doing much more damage than I'd have thought possible. Both limbs were effortlessly severed at the knee. These babies could probably cut through solid steel like butter if I tried hard enough.

With no time to spare, I jumped backwards, surrounding myself with both wings. It would be really helpful if I could see through them, playing defensively really put me in a wierd spot, but that was asking for way too much.

A second, harder impact, slammed into the metal protecting me, forcing me onto my flank.

Slugs, has to be.

I'd been shot with those before. They hurt like heck, even with a protective vest on.

"Seriously?" the mare sounded bored, like she wanted to be anywhere else doing anything else. "Slugs too, huh?"

Yep, that's what I figured.

I could hear the sounds of more shells being chambered so I made my move. That was the weakness of any gun augment, having to take the time to reload.

I stood to my hooves, spreading my wings out and flapping them as hard as I could to send myself at the unicorn. It wasn't too far away, which was lucky on my part, the stiffness of my metal appendages propelling me a lot slower than I would've liked. The unicorn lifted it's head in surprise, certain death inches from it's throat.

Something was off. I shifted my wings as quickly as I could, surrounding myself tightly with the metal sheets... and then everything became blinding flames and chaos.

The next thing I knew I was on my back, fire everywhere around me. The pain was unbearable, the ringing in my ears apparently never going to let up.

What the heck just happened?

I tried to sit up, but my wings were even more heavier than before. They were so heavy in fact, it felt like they were pinning me in place.

"D---A----OU--ALR---" as the ringing slowly died down, the panicked voice that bounced around in my head was just escalating the annoying headache. Whatever had happened must've put my radio on the fritz.

"...ong enough to survive that one too, huh?" I glanced in the direction the voice had come from, unable to lift my pounding head. "What's to stop me from killing you right now?" The mare aimed her glowing horn directly at my chest.

"Honest...ly?" I coughed, a bit of blood dribbling out onto my chin.

That explosion must've been something else.

"Pr-proba...bly Star...light..." I just hoped she wasn't still fooling around with Twilight.

"What... the... hell?" The unicorn's horn fizzled out immediately. Thank god. I started laughing, though it was probably more coughs than anything else. "Tch, this isn't over, you've still given me a lot of useful data, Rainbow Dash."

"So you... know my name... b-big deal... who doesn't?" I groaned. I should've probably just kept my mouth shut, but there'd never been a time I could resist talking a little smack.

"Oh, I know a whole lot more than just your name, Rainbow," she walked over to my body.

Okay, this is bad.

If she had a knife or something similar, I was a goner.

Starlight may have been able to scramble the mare's augments, but she could still just stab me or crush my throat. With how far out I was from the wall, it'd probably take ten minutes or so for anyone to reach me.

"Oh... yeah? Like... like what?" I bared my teeth at her. My wings were still useless and the throbbing in my head was getting worse by the second. I could hardly lift my hooves, much less defend myself, but I had to bluff or she'd have free rein of me.

"Oh," she grabbed the helmet on her head slowly removing it and placing it under a foreleg. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Wha- what... the hell?" Before my mind could even process what I was looking at her hoof was hovering right above my face.

"Tell Twilight I said hello." Her hoof smashed into my face turning the entire world black.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

"... ah'm sayin' is we should be more careful with Dash's... well-being," as I came to, the sound of Aj's southern drawl was sweeter than a freezing cold glass of cider on a hot afternoon. We didn't get to enjoy those anymore. "Ah know she's essentially thuh law 'round here now, but-"

"She's waking up!" Pinks nearly shouted, quite the departure from her usual monotone voice. The loudish noise drew a tch! from the third pony who had yet to speak.

"Darling, raising your voice like that won't help Rainbow Dash recover any faster." Oh, It was Rare. That made sense, especially since Aj was here. I slowly opened my eyes to the blindingly bright light above me. As my vision struggled to adjust to the brightness, I found myself on an operating table, the same operating table I'd been on countless times to get upgrades.

The room was cold and sterile, pretty uncomfy, but a lot of good stuff happened to me here... painful stuff, but good nonetheless. The only thing that still really freaked me out were all the creepy machines in the room. I wasn't sure if Twilight or Starlight controlled em when they were doing operations, but they made me uncomfortable. Too sharp. Too cold.

Aj, Pinks, and Rare stood around me, concerned smiles on their faces. Not sure where the Lights were, but I knew Flutters was still at her station. We couldn't risk anyone or anything catching us off guard... even if the worst happened to one of us.

"Hey girls," I smiled, pain still coursing through my body, but it was a whole lot more subdued than before. Twilight must've given me some heavy doses of "medicine" while I was out cause I felt much better, though a little bit lethargic.

"How yuh feelin', RD?" Aj was keeping her composure, but I could see just how troubled she was by the state I was in. We'd known each other way too long for her to hide something like that from me. "Yer lookin' worse than an apple pie at one a muh family's reunions."

"Eaten?" Pinks tilted her head, a confused look on her face. Sadly, It was a genuine question.

"Y'all know what I meant, Pinkie," Aj gave the pink pony a wicked side eye.

"I'm... alright," I tried to sit up, but the stabbing pain that shot through my bones made sure that wasn't happening any time soon.

"DASH!" Pinks semi-shouted as I plopped back down on the bed. All three of them were already much closer, the profound worry on their faces both a comfort and a curse.

"Ugh, guess not," I groaned. My head was still pounding like a jackhammer and I couldn't move my wings at all.

"You really must take it easy, Rainbow Dash," Rare moved to place a hoof on me, but must've thought better of it cause she only gave me a kind smile instead. "You did just survive quite the ordeal."

"What... what happened?" I pushed a hoof against my head, hoping the pressure might alleviate some of... well, some of the pressure.

"Yuh got blown up, Dash," Aj said with an unbelieving chuckle, as if she herself didn't believe it was possible.

"Apparently, with a really big bomb." Pinks lifted her hooves into the air, but there was no excitement or doubt in her, just shock.

"I got..." I gaped at my hooves with my own disbelieving gaze. I remembered now. How had I survived? I remember fire and pain, but that's it, and then that pon-

"One uh thuh raiders was armed to thuh teeth with explosives or some such tech," Aj explained. "Blew 'imself sky-high tryin' to take yuh down," she carefully laid a hoof on my shoulder. "Guess he didn't know he was messin with thuh toughest pony in Equestria." I can't say her praise didn't make me tear up, but just a little.

"What about the mare?" As soon as I recalled that horse bashing me in the face I only cared about one thing, getting her back.

"Fluttershy did mention something about one of the troublemakers getting away," Rare stated.

Darn.

I guess that made sense. I'd definitely get my revenge. Wait...

"Girls something... there was... I don't really know how to put this," I looked at my friends, trying to decide whether or not what I had to say was... believable. To be honest, I didn't really believe it myself.

"What's wrong, Dash? You know you can tell us anything," Pinks offered a lifeless smile. What I wouldn't give to have the old bubbly Pinkie back.

"She's right, darling. We're here for you," Rare joined in the 'be nice to Rainbow Dash' party. Not that I didn't appreciate it, I'd just become pretty cynical since this all started.

"What is it, Rainbow?" Applejack looked particularly troubled. There wasn't any kindness in her question, just worry, as if she knew something disturbing was coming up. Like I'd said, me and Aj spent a lot of time together, she could generally read me like a book.

"That pony... the one that got me," I licked my chapped lips. "She looked exactly like-"

"Me," the mechanical doors to the room slid open, the Lights walking in together with Spike in tow, drawing our attention. Twilight looked at me with a sad half-smile on her face. It was... wierd, like she was already apologizing for something.

"Y-Yeah," I nodded at the lavender alicorn. "Just a little different in the colors department," I rubbed my eyes, seeing the mare I'd seen before right in front of me once again. "Why's that Twilight... who was she?"

"That..." she sighed, looking at Starlight who gave her a reassuring smile. "Was one of my best friends. Her name... is Moon Dancer."