Chapters "Listen up griffons, our team's got to take over Equestria no matter what. We're tired of having just clouds to live in. We want our own freedom!" yelled Gilda, who was the captain of her Griffon Kingdom Freedom Army. They called this army the GKFA. Gilda was especially glad that this team was in shape, and she was also pleased that all of the Griffon Kingdom joined her team.
"We must kill all the ponies, then we don't have to deal with a rainbow of stupid horses trotting around our new land." Gilda said while moving her captain's cap down a little. She was wearing a pair of black sunglasses and a captain's uniform that shone a badge of captain honor. Her captain cap made it complete, showing who's the boss around here. Her team were all in their camouflage uniforms, all the same black and green colors.
"Uh, Gilda, how are we going to take over Canterlot with the princess there?" a voice from the back asked.
"Easy, we just shoot her with our guns." Gilda replied holding up a gun.
"Oh, right. But what about-"
"We kill all the ponies with our guns okay? That simple."
Gilda pulled down a trigger that made a large map come down. The map had marks on it, markings of different teams that will be attacking three different areas of Equestria. Green wings attacked Manehatten, Filly Delphia, and Baltimare. Blue wings attacked Dodge City, Appleloosa, and Los Pegasus. Red wings attacked Ponyville, Canterlot, and Cloudsdale. Black wings attacked other cities. One hundred and fifty griffons were in each team, making it about equal to attack each city in Equestria.
"Alright griffons, we got our teams all settled. Team leaders, you will be separating your team to each city. Talk it over with your team while I go have a meeting with my personal team." Gilda commanded. All the griffons grouped out, talking with their leaders. Gilda's team had fifty griffons were on her team though, which would make it hard to divide. They were about ready to attack, but they had to wait until all the teams were done discussing.
About fifteen minutes later, the teams were settled and had their plans all ready to attack.
Actually, they weren't.
"Good job griffons, you got ready in fifteen minutes. I will go to each team leader and ask what their plan is. Got it?" Gilda directed.
"Yes ma'am!" the griffons responded.
"Green team, what's your plan?"
"We got group one attacking Manehatten, group two attacking Baltimare, and group three attacking Filly Delphia."
"Good. Now discuss your attack equipment plan."
Gilda listened to the other two group's plans, agreeing to each plan.
"Well looks like all you griffons have some good plans. Discuss your equipmet plan, and when you're done, come to my office. I will give you your equipment." Gilda commanded. She returned to her office with her team members, which were the team of Red Wings.
"So, we need to discuss our attack equipment." Gilda started to discuss with her team, but then before she could say anything else, a griffon ran into her office.
"Ma'am, Black wings are ready." the griffon said while stepping back a little. Gilda nodded, but told him to shoo out, and she will give their team the equipment later. Gilda ran over to the equipment room, guns, bombs, dynamite, everything that can start a war and cause death. Then she ran out of the room and out her office.
"Attention GKFA, when you are discussing your equipment, write it down on a paper. Then give it to me in the office, one of my team mates will give you the equipment and train your team's attack." Gilda ordered.
Gilda walked back into her office, and finally started to talk to her team about their attack plans. She divided her teams into groups of ten, three groups attacking Caterlot and Ponyville. The other two groups will attack Cloudsdale.
Gilda directed the right equipment for each group to have, and each will have one gun, sixty thousand pistols, and thirty different bombs. The griffons received one of their equipment and practiced in an abandoned alley. The other teams did the same with one of their pieces of equipment.
After many hours of practicing, the griffons were about ready. All of the griffons were ordered to go get early sleep, and their attack will take place the next morning. Gilda stayed up with three of her loyal griffons. She was planning still, and making sure that everything was prepared and ready for the war. She mostly just stared at the attack map, just thinking of what will probably happen. Soething about it made her a little discouraged, but she couldn't think of it.
Gilda will not worry about that for now.
She will go to sleep for the night, and get up in the early morning with her army.
Prepared to fight for their freedom.
For their ways to live.
For the sake of the Griffon Kingdom.
It wasn't until four hours later that the party was stopping. Rainbow Dash was talking to Soarin all this time, and she never wanted to stop. She was upset that it was time for her to leave, she wished to at least stay for a little longer. Ponies were already leaving, shaking the Wonderbolts' hooves as they flew out the door.
"Well, I suppose I need to get going." sighed Rainbow Dash, her ears dropping down."Dash you don't need to go y'know." Soarin stopped her before she left. Rainbow Dash was confused. Was Soarin going to let her stay? Questions filled her head once again, so she stopped and decided to listen to what Soarin was going to say.
"You are such a great flyer, why don't you stay with us?" Soarin recommended.
Rainbow Dash's eyes widened, she was right. Soarin was going to let her stay. She felt like she could sqeal so loudly and hug him, but she needed to take it easy.
"Thank you Soarin, I would love to stay." she smiled.
The two of them walked towards the Wonderbolts, they were pretty much the last ones. A few ponies were just leaving, when Rainbow Dash and Soarin came up to them.
"Hey Soarin and Dash. Did you have a good time?" Spitfire asked.
"Well, we pretty much spent out times with our mouths." Soarin replied.
Spitfire nuzzle scrunched up, and her eyes were a little in disbelief. Misty Fly eyes widened and smiled. Surprise giggled. Soarin just realized what he just said, his face turning red. "Uh, we actually just mostly talked back and forth, that's what I meant, heh." Soarin corrected. Rainbow Dash noticed what he meant, and she slightly blushed and smiled guiltily. She felt really warm and embarrassed, but she tried to get it out of her mind. Spitfire felt a little better, so did Surprise and Misty Fly. They were all thinking the same thing.
"Anyways, I think that Rainbow Dash should hang out with us for like a few days. I mean seriously, she's such a talented flyer!" Soarin complimented Rainbow Dash. Spitfire thought for a moment. She had to agree, the rainbow maned pegasus saved them from falling, and she did such an extraordinary sonic rainboom.
Spitfire made her final decision. She agreed to let her stay with them, and so did the rest of the Wonderbolts. Rainbow Dash had her fangirl squeal, she was going to stay with the Wonderbolts for awhile.
"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! Thank you Thank you!" Rainbow Dash couldn't help herself. She grabbed the three Wonderbolts and hugged them. She let go of them, and hugged Soarin as well. "I've never been anymore happier than ever!" Rainbow Dash squealed. She felt like fainting, but that would create a big scene.
"Well, looks like you really appreciate us." Misty Fly said, and before Rainbow Dash could answer back, Surprise interrupted,"I suppose that we are her life or something!". Rainbow Dash finally agreed, her favorite team that she really did appreciate.
All five flew out of the building, leaving the janitors to clean up . Spitfire lead them to a cloud made building , which had the Wonderbolts symbol on the front top of the building. They went inside, a large front room with the floor checkered blue and white. Wonderbolts posters surrounded on the walls, and there was a long glass cabinet with three shelves filled with golden trophies. The biggest trophy was a grand prize flyer award, with four large pillars that stacked up to a golden flying pegasus. They went to a room on the second floor that looked like somewhat of a hangout room. There was an award that hung on the wall, and it had a name on it. It read "Spitfire, Captain of the Wonderbolts Award for Best Captain". Rainbow Dash laid on a fluffy cloud seat that sat on the floor, along with six other ones. The rest of the Wonderbolts threw themselfs onto one of the clouds.
"So Dash, since your here, what do you think of the place?" Spitfire questioned.
"It's awesome! I've always wanted to visit you guys!" Rainbow Dash smiled as she looked around the room.
"Oh oh! can I show her the secret room?" Surprise asked Spitfire. "Oh... um, well fine." Spitfire mumbled. She looked upset for a moment, a sad glare in her eyes. Rainbow Dash stood up at the same time as Surprise. They trotted out of the room back into the hallway. There was a door right next to the room they were just in. The two walked in, and Surprise turned on a switch that brightened up the room. Rainbow Dash's eyes glowed, the room had pictures of Wonderbolts with their signature from the past, and the present. There were ribbons and more trophies, it just glowed into her eyes. But there was a litthe corner of the room that had a table with a picture frame of a Wonderbolt and a bouquet of flowers next to the frame.
"What's this? Rainbow Dash asked Surprise. "Oh, that's a memorial of a Wonderbolt, his name was Grey Dust. He was one of the most fastest flyers of all the Wonderbolts. Let me tell you something, Spitfire just loved him. But one performance, he dared himself to fly fifty million feet in the air and come flying down to do a sonic rainboom. His trick failed though, leaving him to crash fall onto the ground and... die. Spitfire was upset ever since, and if somepony were to bring it up, she would slightly cry." Surprise told, and from telling the story, she mopped down a little. "So that's why Spitfire was really upset about Surprise going to show me this room." Rainbow Dash realized. Studying the picture frame, the Wonderbolt was a grey colt with a white and light blue streaks in his mane. There was also a black and white newspaper article that hung on the wall over the table. It said something similar to what Surprise said.
"Every now and then, Spitfire comes in this room just to come to this area. She felt like something would bring her there, like she's being controlled or something." Surprise added. Rainbow Dash suddenly felt a really sad feeling come to her, the same sadness that Spitfire had. Surprise decided that they should leave before anything else happened. The two left the room, turning off the light and closing the door. They returned to the room where Spitfire, Soarin and Misty Fly were.
"You're back. Did enjoy the trip to the mini room?" Misty Fly asked.
"Actually, I found it a little-" Surprise wanted Rainbow Dash to stop before Spitfire got upset again. But Spitfire decided to tell her experience story. "Listen Dash, I'll tell you my story okay? You don't need to be so cautious with your words." Spitfire began her story.
"Well, it all happened like seven years ago. It was a performance in Canterlot, for the celebration of the Sun. We were all ready to perform the most greatest stunts. But my fellow coltfriend, Grey Dust, wanted to take it to the next level. He wanted to do a successful sonic rainboom. Unlike for you Dash, you did it just amazingly. But, you see, Grey Dust never got to complete that challenge. Fifty million feet in the air, and soared down. But, the worse happened. He didn't do it successfully, and instead, he failed and fell to the ground. He...didn't make it through-*sniff* the crash landing. I couldn't stop crying-*sniff* all day." Spitfire stopped. and sobbed slightly. Misty Fly and Surprise came over and comforted Spitfire. Soarin stayed with Rainbow Dash, and Rainbow Dash looked over at Soarin.
"Gee, I feel bad for Spitfire. Her one friend died from a crash landing." Rainbow Dash said. Soarin couldn't agree more. Spitfire felt a little better when Surprise cheered her up by making a balloon animal and played with it. Spitfire wiped a tear that was rolling down her cheek.
"Feeling better?" Soarin asked.
"Yea, I'm better." Spitfire replied.
A strange silence filled the room. Spitfire didn't feel like herself anymore, she felt like something was wrong. She felt like she needed to do something... like save Equestria from something, but she didn't know what it is. She didn't want to share her feelings with her friends though, just to herself.
Rainbow Dash yawned, and looked at a blue clock on the wall. Eight thirty at night. She was surprised that it had gotten so late quickly. She thought for a moment, and decided to ask where she would sleep.
"Hey Spitfire, where will I be sleeping?" Rainbow Dash questioned.
"Oh yea, you'll be sleeping in our room." Spitfire answered. She stood up and told her to come with her to see the room. The rest of the Wonderbolts decided to followed Rainbow Dash and Spitfire. When they got to the room, Rainbow Dash was surprised to see that Soarin, Misty Fly, and Surprise were right behind her.
The room had six beds, all made of clouds. All of the blue sheets had a Wonderbolts symbol on them. The room was lighted by a ceiling light, and brightened up the white walled room. Three beds were on each side of the room, making it about equal. A window on the middle of the front wall showed a dark night sky of the outside.
"Awesome room guys." Rainbow Dash complimented as she explored the room.
"Thanks RD." Misty Fly thanked.
The Wonderbolts, including Rainbow Dash climbed on the beds and laid down. "We should order pizza." Surprise suggested. "Yea, lets go ahead and call it up." Soarin agreed. Spitfire picked up a phone next her and called it up.
Later, the doorbell rang, and Spitfire ran to go open the door. She paid for the pizza and ran back upstairs with the warm pizza in her hooves. She handed everypony a slice and put the box on a nightstand right by her bed.
"We should play truth or dare." Surprise suggested once again. "Dang Surprise, you're like the slumber party planner around here. You remind me of my friend Pinkie Pie." Rainbow Dash brought up. "Well, I might be a relative to her or something, does she like parties?" Surprise asked. "Yep." Rainbow Dash replied.
"Cake?"
"Yup."
"Balloons?"
"Defiantly."
"Does she like to dance?"
"Of course!"
They finally finished with the questions and answers. Spitfire interrupted them and asked why they haven't started playing truth or dare yet. Rainbow Dash remembered, and wanted to start.
"Okay, let's start. Who's going first?" Spitfire asked.
"Oh oh, Me!" Surprise pleaded.
"Fine. Surprise, truth or dare?" Spitfire began.
"Dare."
"I dare you to take your pizza and smash it on your face." Spitfire dared.
Surprise did exactly what Spitfire told her to do. Rainbow Dash, Soarin, Misty Fly, and Spitfire cracked up, laughing like no tomorrow. Surprise stopped, and licked her face a little. Misty Fly gave her a napkin instead. "Okay, that was a little funny" Surprise giggled.
"Okayokay, my turn. Uhh, Rainbow Dash! truth or dare?" Surprise questioned.
"Hm, uh truth?"
"Okay, admit your crush!"
"My WHAT?"
"Your crush silly!"
Rainbow Dash was a little stunned, in fact she did have a crush. Soarin. But she didn't want to admit it. "I can't tell them that I like Soarin! They will tease me and not leave me alone for days!" Rainbow Dash thought. Her face turned red and hot. By the time the mares started giggling, her face was as red as a chili pepper. She wanted to zoom out of there, but that probably wouldn't work. The rainbow maned pony kept her mouth shut.
Surprise was getting bored. Spitfire and Misty waited, and waited, and waited. After five minutes, Surprise was already snoring. Spitfire was getting quite sleepy too, and Misty laid on her bed beginning to close her eyes. Soarin, was still awake, sitting up on his navy blue bed. Rainbow Dash was surprised that he was still awake, She glanced at the white clock hanging on the wall by her bed. Five minutes until ten. Rainbow Dash sighed, she didn't want to talk to Soarin for the night. She yawned and got under the soft cushions. In less than a minute, she had fallen asleep.
Soarin thought for a moment. He wondered if she actually had a crush on him. "What if she does like me, but she wouldn't want to admit it?" He kept thinking. He then, threw himself onto his bed, and closed his eyes, leaving questions resting in his mind.
"Rainbow Dash, quickly, get up now." a voice commanded.
The light blue mare woke from her late night sleep. She looked around, unfamiliar of the room that she was in. Then she remembered, she was in the Wonderbolt's bedroom The window showed grey skies, but she was unknowing that it actually was smoke.
"Wha-what's going on?" Rainbow Dash asked, stretching her wings.
"No time to explain, we need to get out of here immediately." a yellow mare in her Wonderbolts outfit replied.
Rainbow Dash jumped out her bed, curious of what was happening. She followed Spitfire as she rushed downstairs to the front room of their building. There, were the rest of the Wonderbolts, Soarin, Misty Fly, and Surprise, all in their Wonderbolts uniform.
"Seriously guys, I need to know what's happening. Is there something going on around here?" Rainbow Dash asked, still a little sleepy.
"A whole bunch of griffons are taking over parts of Equestria. I heard gunshots ten minutes before I woke you guys up to see what's going on." Spitfire replied, holding a Wonderbolts uniform. "Rainbow Dash, you must be a part of our team. We need you." Spitfire told.
Rainbow Dash held the uniform in her hoofs. She stared at it, for a long time. After her long life of being a huge fan of the Wonderbolts, her dreams, her hopes, had finally came true. Her smile grew bigger just thinking about it.
"Uh, Rainbow Dash, not to interrupt the happiest moment of your life, but go and put it on, we need to save Equestria." Spitfire commanded.
Rainbow Dash then realized what she must do. She quickly put the suit on herself, it fit just perfectly.
"Ready captain." Rainbow Dash reported.
The group of Wonderbolts zoomed outside, flying towards their first destination. The griffons had taken over Canterlot, and Gilda, their captain, kept a lookout for Rainbow Dash. The team of Wonderbolts flew into Canterlot. Spitfire ordered Soarin, Rainbow Dash and Misty Fly to go to one area to fight the griffons. Spitfire and Surprise went the other direction, seeing the once beautiful city, being torn apart, griffons using guns and swords killing the residents of Canterlot one by one.
"Rainbow Dash, stay by me, I don't want you to get killed." Soarin said, taking a right turn towards Canterlot castle. Parts of the castle were on fire, burning quicker the second. The three Wonderbolts landed in front of the castle and ran in. The grand hallway leading towards Celestia's throne was abandoned, glass from the stained glass windows scattered on the floor. The thrown was burnt and destroyed, leaving only small pieces scattering the floor.
"I think we're too late..." Rainbow Dash worried. "Wait, my friends! I need to go see if they're safe!" Rainbow Dash realized in her thoughts.
"Guys, listen, I have some friends, I need to see if they're okay." Rainbow Dash begged.
"They will be fine, don't worry." Misty Fly replied.
"No they won't!"
"They are fine!"
"No! Please!"
A tear rolled slowly down the light blue pony's cheek. Soarin felt sorry for her, he didn't want to see the mare cry. He trotted over to her, while the mare wept, her hoofs smooched in her face.
"I'll let you go, and I'll give an excuse to Spitfire." Soarin promised, putting a hoof towards her.
Rainbow Dash looked up at the navy blue maned colt, dressed in his Wonderbolts uniform. She took grasp of his hoof, and stood up. She felt embarrassed crying in front of her friend. Wiping a few tears off her cheek, she thanked him and gave him a small hug. Before Misty Fly and Soarin knew it, Rainbow Dash was already gone, off to check on her friends.
* * * * * * * *
"We've got the Wonderbolts in Canterlot ma'am." A black griffon ordered to Gilda, the captain of the Griffon Kingdom Freedom Army.
"Good. I've got a plan. How's the destruction in Ponyville going?" Gilda asked
"It had just started six minutes ago ma'am."
"Keep up the work."
Gilda flew off to Canterlot,flying above a few towns that have been bombed. The sky was filled with smoke, once just cloudy skies after a rainstorm late last night. When Gilda had arrived in the Canterlot castle, she saw only two of the Wonderbolts, gripped in two griffons claws. Surprise and Spitfire had been captured by the griffons when they attempt to stop them. Spitfire struggled, trying her best to get out of the claws of the griffon. Surprise had given up, and decided to not use her strength against the griffon grabbing her.
"Well, if it isn't the leader of the Wonderbolts with her pesky little mare." Gilda said, walking towards Spitfire.
"You'll never get away with this! Somepony will come and save Equestria!" Spitfire yelled, still struggling.
"Oh really? Who will save all of you stupid ponies? Your princess or somethin'? Well let me tell you a secret. I killed her already, along with like two other princesses and six hundred guards." Gilda informed.
"Why are you killing all of the ponies?" Surprised asked.
"And why would I tell you? If you ponies were smart like us griffons, you would know."
"Dusty, give me the fire like maned pony to me." Gilda commanded. The griffon threw Spitfire towards Gilda. She grabbed the captain of the Wonderbolts by her neck.
"Now listen, you have two choices. Either die, or get killed." Gilda whispered harshly.
"Those are the same things, stupid." Spitfire replied angrily.
"What? did I hear either? Fine, getting killed then." Gilda said, dragging her. Before she left the room with Spitfire, Soarin and Misty Fly busted into the room.
"Hey! Stop you griffon!" Misty Fly yelled.
Gilda turned around, holding Spitfire around her heck as she struggled and squirmed around. She was surprised to see that there were more of the Wonderbolts. But that didn't stop her from surrendering. Instead she grabbed a gun inside one of her large pockets in her uniform, held it in one claw, holding it in front of the Wonderbolts.
"Come any closer and your dead." Gilda threatened. Misty Fly and Soarin backed off a few inches back.
"This girl's gonna be dead, unless you tell me where Rainbow Dash is." Gilda ordered.
The Wonderbolts stood still. Soarin wouldn't say a single word about where she was, to keep her safe from getting killed. Misty Fly knew that she probably shouldn't say too, so she kept her mouth shut.
"Well?" Gilda grabbed Spitfire even harder, aiming the gun towards her head. Spitfire was giving up, she knew if no one told, she would be dead. Still struggling around, she got even more worried as the gun was pushed more towards her head.
Soarin couldn't decide, weather to save her friend, or leader. But then he had an idea.
"Rainbow Dash is heading towards Ponyville." he finally said.
Gilda threw Spitfire on the ground and took off. Spitfire was relieved, but she was worried about Rainbow Dash.
"Soarin, what about Dash? She's gonna die." Spitfire worried.
"Right, stay away from the griffons, okay?" Misty Fly, Surprise, and Spitfire nodded, agreeing. Soarin flew off into the smokey skies.
* * * * * * * * * *
Rainbow Dash landed by Twilight Sparkle's library, and rushed inside. The library was completely normal, not a book out of place. But nopony was in sight.
"Twilight, you in here?" Rainbow Dash asked, hoping for an answer
"Rainbow Dash? Is that you?" a voice from upstairs called out.
"Yeah."
"Okay, good." The voice turned out to be Twilight Sparkle, as she trotted down the stairs, following behind her was Fluttershy, Rarity, Apple Jack, and Pinkie Pie.
"Dashie! We missed you soooooo much!" Pinkie Pie squealed, hugging Rainbow Dash.
"I missed you too Pinkie. In fact, I missed all of you. Are you all here because of the war that's going on?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Well, yeah." Twilight responded. "Also, is that a Wonderbolts uniform? How did you-"
"No time to explain, you gatta get out of here. The griffons are bombing all of the houses!" Rainbow Dash yelled.
"They are? But darling what about my fabulous dresses?" Rarity worried.
"And my animals?" Fluttershy added
"And Sweet Apple Acres?"
"And my delicious treats? They would get overcooked!"
"Woah woah guys, calm down, all the ponies will be loosing all of their things. A quarter of Ponyville is already being destroyed anyways. You guys need to get to a safer place, like Town Hall." Rainbow Dash stopped them.
"But the Town Hall is filled." Twilight Sparkle excused.
"Well, do any of you have a basement or something?"
"Oh oh! I do! I do!" Pinkie gasped, jumping up and down.
"Pinkie, why didn't you tell us that before?" Rarity asked furiously.
"Huh. I dunno!" Pinkie replied, hopping out the door. The five other friends followed her.
Later, they arrived at Sugarcube Corner. It was not yet destroyed, although a few other homes nearby have been torn apart or demolished. The six colorful equines trotted into Pinkie Pie's basement, where boxes of stored sugar, flour, and many other ingredients for tasty treats laid separated or stacked on top of one and another. The basement was not very big, yet not very small. In a corner was a bookshelf with a few dusty cookbooks and an old large history book, for what-so-ever reason. The ponies laid down on a red and pink carpet right by the bookshelf, and lit a candle right by them. Twilight Sparkle spotted the large old history book and levitated it down towards her. She opened the dusty aged book, and began to read. Rarity was luckily able to bring her sewing kit along with her, and began sewing.Apple Jack had the Apple Family's photo album that she brought along with. Granny Smith told her to take it with her, and the rest of the Apple Family would go to Appleloosa. Fluttershy brought along the girl's pets, and brought a saddlebag full of food for them as well. Pinkie just made sure that all of her friends were fine. She even started looking at one of the dusty cookbooks that was sitting on a shelf. Rainbow Dash was glad that she knew her friends were safe and sound, but she knew that the Wonderbolts would be worried about her.
"Okay guys, now that I know that you're safe, I need to go now. The Wonderbolts need me, and Equestria depends on us." Rainbow Dash explained, galloping towards the basement door.
"But Dashie, what if you... get killed?" Pinkie began to weep, she didn't want her to leave.
"I'm going to be fine Pinkie. Don't worry. Be safe guys." Rainbow Dash promised, then flew out of the basement, through Sugarcube Corner, and outside the smoke filled town.
"Dashie! Nooo!" Pinkie began to cry, but then all of her friends rushed over to comfort her and cheer her up.
* * * * * * * *
Gilda flew over the burning village of Ponyville, looking for the rainbow maned pegasus. The smoke made her cough, but that didn't stop her from looking. The griffon heard the sound of destruction, gun shots, explosions, screaming, and weeping. She kept her eye out on the lookout, every second left and right, left and right, left and right. With no sign of the mare, she wondered if the Wonderbolts had lied about her location. Just before she had given up and headed back, she noticed a pegasus flying faster than the speed of sound. Gilda followed her, catching up every second.
Rainbow Dash felt the wind blow onto her face, gliding quickly to Canterlot. Suddenly, something stopped her. A claw grabbed onto her tail, and pulled her back. Before Rainbow Dash could think straight, she was then grabbed by the neck and met face to face with a familiar enemy of hers.
"Gilda? What are you doing? Let me go!" Rainbow Dash struggled to get out of the griffon's claws.
"So we meet again Rainbow. You know, it's been awhile since I last saw you. And look at you now, your in a Wonderbolts outfit. Looks pretty tacky on you, I've got to say." Gilda said angrily.
"Shut up, Gilda, I've had enough of you and your stupid army." Rainbow Dash had the most furious face on her, angry with the captain of the Griffon Kingdom Freedom Army.
Gilda scrapped Rainbow Dash's cheek with her claw, leaving it to bleed.
"Aughhhh!" Rainbow Dash screamed. Her cheek had three claw scrape marks, bleeding faster the second.
"That's what you get for being an idiot." Gilda refused, pulling out her gun.
"No... No! Don't kill me! Please!" Rainbow Dash pleaded.
"Why? All the other ponies are going though the same exact pain. Now let's get this over with." Gilda said, putting the gun to Rainbow Dash's head.
Rainbow Dash began to give up. She had no other choice, no one will be saving her, no one will know where she is, and no one would even know who she is anymore. Suddenly, a colt kicked Gilda down onto a cloud, leaving Rainbow Dash surprised that it was Soarin saving her.
"Soarin!" Rainbow Dash squealed.
"Stand back Rainbow Dash!" Soarin yelled.
Gilda got up and flew at Soarin. She punched him throwing him to a cloud. Soarin fought back, fighting back and forth, then suddenly, Gilda got out her gun again. She grabbed Soarin by the neck, as she did with Rainbow Dash and Spitfire. Soain struggled, trying to fight back.
"So, you came back to fight huh? Well that's not how life works." Gilda groaned and aimed her gun at Rainbow Dash.
"That's your friend? I'm ganna kill her. Then I'll kill you." Gilda gave Soarin an evil glare into his emerald green eyes.
Rainbow Dash zipped at Gilda, pushing her to the ground. The griffon fell, scrapes, bleeding cuts, and dirt all over.
"Soarin, you came back!" Rainbow Dash smiled. She flew towards Soarin and hugged him.
"I would never let you get killed." Soarin calmly said.
"Now we've got to go. The Wonderbolts are worried about you. Come on now." Soarin began to fly along with Rainbow Dash, side by side, keeping each other safe. The two pegasi flew to Canterlot though the skies of smoke.
Two pegasi flew through the clouds of dark grey smoke, rising from the burning cities all over Equestria. Rainbow Dash flew weakly, often feeling light headed and close to falling. Soarin, who was right by her side, helped her whenever she was in need. He was thinking of putting her on his back, but they were almost to Canterlot when he thought about it. The two landed and closed their partially cut wings. They trotted to Canterlot Castle, where their three other friends waited in hope for them.
"Rainbow Dash! You came back alive!" Surprise gasped, running over to hug Rainbow Dash. The others rushed to give her a hug aswell. Soon, it seemed like a huge group hug.
"Yeah, it was tricky to come back, due to an attack." Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Misty Fly noticed Rainbow Dash's three bleeding cuts on her cheek.
"Woah Dash, what happened to your cheek?" Misty Fly tilted her head curiously.
"Well, Gilda attempted to kill me, but luckily Soarin came over and fought her." Rainbow Dash explained.
"Soarin saved you? Aw! That's just adorable! You two make the cutest couple!" Surprise giggled.
"C'mon Surprise, shut up with that lovey dovey stuff. It's annoying." Rainbow Dash felt her face red hot.
"Well, it's the truth! I know that you like Soarin!" Surprise smiled really big, making Rainbow Dash guilty.
"Uh, seriously, can we stop now and get to the real priority now? Equestria is disappearing by the second." Spitfire suggested.
"Oh, right." Surprise realized.
All five of the Wonderbolts cantered outside, opened their wings, and began to take their flight towards Cloudsdale. They flew high above the smoke, where the sun was beaming onto the pegasi during the one of it's last sunsets.
Later, they had arrived in Cloudsdale, burning cloud built buildings were crashing to the ground, some were on fire, and a few were bombed. All kinds of debris surrounded around Cloudsdale, that once belonged to different ponies. The five ponies trotted around Cloudsdale, then stopped at the Wondebolts building. A part of the building was on fire, leaving grey smoke rising in the dark skies. Spitfire suddenly ran inside the burning building.
"What's she doing? Self-suicide?" Surprise questioned.
"But why? Is she just being-wait, I know what she's doing! The memorial of Grey Dust! She obviously wants to get it before it burns up." Rainbow Dash noticed. She rushed inside the burning building and started chasing after Spitfire.
"Rainbow Dash! No! Stop!" Soarin yelled, racing after Rainbow Dash.
"Well, we're gonna loose three of the Wonderbolts now." Misty Fly sighed, then sat down on the dusty cloud ground. Surprise joined her, then began to sleep.
Rainbow Dash galloped through the smoke filled building, coughing harder than ever. Spitfire ran inside a closet, and rushed to the memorial table of Grey Dust. She grabbed many of the items that laid on the table, including the framed newspaper on the wall and ran out of the building. Rainbow Dash looked over to the end of the hallway, being swalloed by the burning flares of fire. The fire seemed to be spreading quickly than she'd imagine. Rainbow Dash began to gallop when suddenly Soarin crashed into her.
"Wha-Soarin?" Rainbow Dash stumbled.
"Sorry Dash, we need to get outta here. Get on my back now." Soarin commanded, and Rainbow Dash did exactly what he told her to do.
They galloped to the nearest exit, but a part of the ceiling was on fire and fell right in front of the door. They kept going, until they had found the stairs to the main enteraance. Soarin raced downstairs and got out of the burning building just in time. The large cloud built building crashed down to the ground, in a burning pile of mixed things.
"Sweet Celestia Soarin, you keep getting me worried!" Misty Fly angered.
"Sorry sorry, but I only did it because Rainbow Dash was going through that burning building." Soarin told honestly. Surprise, Misty Fly, and Spitfire's jaws opened.
"You mean...you cared about me?" Rainbow Dash blushed. Soarin looked over to Rainbow Dash and nodded.
Suddenly, a large explosion was heard nerby, sending flying pieces of burning debris everywhere.
"Run! Run Guys! Go! Go!" Spitfire yelled as she began to run to her left. The others galloped behind her.
Rainbow Dash tripped, but quickly got back up. The debris landed here and there, and even one burning piece landed on a pink pegasus, which made her burn to death. Spitfire kept running,when suddenly, a large group of griffons stopped her. The others had also paused as soon as she stopped.
"Outta my way men." a harsh voice came from the crowd. It was Gilda. She was angrier than ever before. Her uniform was torn, and now she was wearing a bag, which had a gun inside.
"So, it's you guys again? You just never give up do ya?" Gilda roared.
"Well, we are the Wonderbolts. What do you expect, huh?" Surprise excused.
"Shut up. Where's Rainbow Dash?" Gilda asked, looking around. Rainbow Dash was behind Spitfire, hiding herself nervously.
"There ya are Dash." Gilda grabbed Rainbow Dash by the neck and glared into her magenta eyes.
"Gilda...Gilda..." Rainbow Dash stumped.
"What is it already? Speak up you stupid pegasus!" Gilda yelled.
"No matter what you do, I'm not going to get killed." Rainbow Dash mumbled.
"Oh is that so? Well let's find out!" Gilda threw Rainbow Dash on the ground, and grabbed the gun from her bag. She aimed it quickly towards Rainbow Dash and fired her gun. Before Rainbow Dash thought, she felt a large pain throughout herself.
The rainbow maned mare laid on the ground, her chest bleeding non-stop.
First there was dead silence. Not even a bomb or gun was shot that minute.
Then, everyone stared at the shot mare. The Wonderbolts' began to weep. Then, Soarin glanced at Gilda. He growled at his angriest, then zoomed at her. Unexpectedly, Gilda took a glimpse at Soarin then fell to the ground. Soarin noticed a knife nearby and grabbed it. The stallion took all of his might and stabbed the griffon in seconds. Gilda roared, her blood dripping from her chest to the ground. Finally, Soarin stopped, looking at the griffon furiously. He looked up at his Wonderbolt friends, then at the griffon troop. The griffons were backing off slowly, flying away. Spitfire kept close to Rainbow Dash, hoping for any sign of her breathing. Surrise and Misty Fly stood there, staring sadly, at the shot pegasus. Occasionally, the two glanced over at Gilda.
Soarin stood up, throwing the knife as far as he could. Then he galloped to Rainbow Dash, being held in Spitfire's arms. Soarin asked if he could get her. Spitfire kindly gave the mare to Soarin gently. He looked at the mare, while Spitfire trotted towards Surprise and Misty Fly.
"Looks like Soarin really cares about her, I suppose." Spitfire noticed. The two mares nodded in agreement.
"Yea, just look how sad he is. Does he uh... like her?" Surprise smiled, cheering herself up.
"Probably." Misty Fly started to slightly giggle, then the three started smiling at each other.
Soarin held the cyan blue pegasus in his cut hoofs, praying that his friend would respond. Suddenly, he heard something from her, a sound, a whisper. Silently, he heard Rainbow Dash whisper.
"Soarin...Soarin..." she said quietly.
"Rainbow Dash?" Soarin's eyes widened, listening to every word she was saying.
"Soarin...come here..." Rainbow Dash whispered. Soarin leaded in close to her.
"I...love you..." Rainbow Dash admitted. The colt was surprised to hear this.
Soarin couldn't help himself, but to just bring himself closer to the mare. Rainbow Dash had her eyes shut, but opened them slightly to see the Soarin. As she opened her eyes, she was surprised to see that the light blue colt had brought himself to her, kissing her softly. Rainbow Dash wasn't even expecting what she was being given, a gift of surprise from her...secret crush. She did although admit that she had love him.
"Hey. Hey guys check it out." Misty Fly pointed to Rainbow Dash and Soarin. Surprise and Spitfire looked over, then started giggling even more.
"Did you even expect the two falling in love quickly anyways?" Surprise smiled from ear to ear.
"I did, actually." Spritfire confessed, giggling right after she had said.
Soarin seperated from Rainbow Dash, slowly as he still hoped that she'd be alive. Rainbow Dash eyes closed, capturing her last glimpse of Soarin. The dark maned colt lookeed up into the skies of smoke.
"Dear Celestia, help me please..." Soarin whispered to himself, praying for hope, praying for her friend's way of life.
Spitfire thought for a moment. Her smile started to fade. She then realized something more into her future. She stared at the rainbow maned pony, eyes shut, chest bleeding, dirt covering her once light blue body. Spitfire blinked, then looked over to Misty Fly and Surprise. The two mares looked back.
"She can't be..." Spitfire mumbled.
"What do you mean?" Surprise asked curious, her messed up yellow mane flowing in a breeze along with Misty Fly's blue and white mane.
"She's..." Spitfire stopped. She then felt a teardrop rolling down her cheek, dripping onto the ground.
Surprise and Misty Fly peeked over at Rainbow Dash. The then just understood what Spitfire was trying to tell them, nodding their heads. The three trotted over towards Soarin and Rainbow Dash. Soarin looked up, surprised to see that three mares had appeared right behind him. He held Rainbow Dash in his cut and bleeding hoofs, waiting for any hope of his friend's life.
"There's no more signs." Soarin was heartbroken, his eyes back at Rainbow Dash.
"But... no..." Surprise started to mumble something, but the others couldn't figure out what she was saying.
"No... no! We can get her to-we can get her to..."Surprise stumbled. She then had a blasting idea; Rainbow Dash had told her before that she had friends hiding inside the basement of Sugarcube Corner. She remembered about two of Rainbow Dash's friends were unicorns, and maybe they could heal Rainbow Dash. Surprise then started explained the idea to her friends.
"You sure about that Surprise?" Misty Fly questioned, tilting her head to the right.
"Yeah, unicorns can do all sorts of magic! Why don't we give it a try?" Surprise started to smile.
"But it would be too late, the griffons probably already found them." Spitfire excused.
"Maybe not! C'mon let's get going! We still have time!" Surprise's wings opened.
"Um, can one of you guys help me get Dash onto my back?" Soarin asked, still holding Rainbow Dash.
"Yeah sure." Spitfire galloped over to Soarin, using her help to get Rainbow Dash onto Soarin's back.
The four of the Wonderbolts started to fly, Soarin cautiously flying slowly so that Rainbow Dash wouldn't fall off. With Surprise leading their way, they began to fly lower to the ground, then landing in front of Sugarcube Corner. Surprise lead them into the basement, where five other ponies sitting in a corner of the basement. Twilight Sparkle was the first to look up to the five Wonderbolts rather surprised.
"It's the griffons! Hide!" Pinkie screamed, hiding behind boxes of stored flour.
"No Pinkie! It's just the Wonderbolts!" Twilight Sparkle stood up, along with four other ponies that were sitting on a rug. Pinkie came out of hiding.
"Whoopsies! My bad!" Pinkie apologized.
"Why are y'all doin' here?" Apple Jack asked, looking curiously at the Wonderbolts.
"Bad news... your friend Rainbow Dash... got shot." Spitfire exclaimed. Soarin came up, then showed the mares their shot friend. The five girls gasped, Twilight Sparkle began to feel herself sinking into despair, while Rarity starting weeping.
"Dashie!" Pinkie started crying, falling to the ground as she cried.
"Surprise here wanted to ask if you two unicorns could think of a healing spell, we don't want her to die now..." Spitfire explained, looking at Twilight Sparkle and Rarity.
"I think I can think of the healing spell that I studied from the medication spell book that Princess Celestia gave me a few months ago." Twilight began thinking for a moment, suddenly then remembering the exact spell for healing ponies.
The purple unicorn walked over to Rainbow Dash, then starting her spell. Her horn lighted up, pink magic starting to sparkle. Then a huge boom was heard throughout the room. The room was filled with screaming, then the room glowing with pink magic. Suddenly, everything stopped. The spell that Twilight used had ended. Twilight Sparkle was exhausted from using so much of her power and strength to help her friend Rainbow Dash. All the ponies uncovered their eyes, staring at Rainbow Dash, who laid on the ground. The light blue mare opened her eyes, then beginning to stand up weakly.
"It worked! It worked! Yes!" Twilight sparkle wiped sweat off her head, then smiled at Rainbow Dash.
Soarin helped her get staple, then kissed her cheek slightly. The others were relieved that their friend was healed, squealing and gleeful cheers coming from each of them.
"Dashie! I was soooooo worried about you!" Pinkie pie zoomed towards Rainbow Dash and gave her a hug.
"What do you mean? I was fine." Rainbow Dash pushed Pinkie Pie away from her.
"Uh, Rainbow Dash, do you remember what happened earlier?" Soarin began to worry if Rainbow Dash lost her memory.
"Yeah, I got shot and killed. Then that's it. Nothing else I can remember until I woke up somehow in here." Rainbow Dash told.
Soarin was confused. "Doesn't she remember that I kissed her?" he wondered in his head. " I should ask her later, just so that the others don't hear." Soarin finally decided. He was still standing next to her, his wing over her body to comfort her.
"Well Dash, were glad your back on the team. So what do you say, C'mon, we've got some Griffons to defeat." Spitfire encouraged Rainbow Dash. The rainbow maned mare looked at her other five friends, smiling back at her. Then she looked at three of her Wonderbolt friends, then up at Soarin. She nodded, then looked back at her five other mare friends.
"Rainbow Dash wait, before you go, here's a bag that I sewed for you. Inside it is first-aid items, just to keep you all good to go!" Rarity levitated a navy blue bag, with rainbow outlines on the shoulder strap. And just as Rarity said, there were first-aid items inside the bag, such as bandages, medication, and even a small photo of the six friends, Fluttershy, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Apple Jack, and herself, group hugging each other and smiling. Seeing this made Rainbow Dash happy, and thanked Rarity for her bag, the medication, and the photo.
"Your very welcome dear, now make sure you stay safe with your Wonderbolt friends!" Rarity and the others waved goodbye to the five ponies walking out the basement. By the time they had gotten outside, it was already dark outside.
Rainbow Dash put her new bag over herself, and zipped it up. The five pegasi widened their wings, then began to take flight. Spitfire was leading the way of the Wonderbolts, although she didn't know where she was going. Rainbow Dash finally wanted to ask her.
"Spitfire, uh, exactly where are we going?" Rainbow Dash asked curiously.
"I have no idea, to a place that's being attacked I guess? I really don't-" Spitfire paused. She didn't move any farther, then the others stopped along with her.
"What's wrong Spitfire-" Misty Fly stared at exactly what Spitfire was looking at. Below them was a huge pile of burning debris and clouds, then they all realized, it was Cloudsdale.
"How in Equestria did THAT happen? Surprise was literally surprised.
"Cloudsdale is gone...including the Wonderbolts building, all those trophies and medals, gone..." Misty Fly sighed, looking upset at the four Wonderbolts.
"Try not to think about that now, we gatta defeat those stupid griffons." Rainbow Dash looked ahead, then seeing something lighted and moving in the distance. The light was brightening up the darkness around it, like the sun or a lightbulb.
"Guys...look at that light over there." Rainbow Dash got their attention and pointed at the light.
Soon enough, the light got closer and closer to the five pegasi. It was luckily not a griffon, but it was defiantly a pony waring a velvet black hood. They couldn't see her face, but they could also tell that it was an alicorn, seeing the horn levitating a lit candle by the handle of the candle holder.
"Who are you?" Rainbow Dash asked the alicorn.
There was no response from the mare. She was just a few feet away from them.
"Hello?" Rainbow Dash asked again. Suddenly the alicorn turned her head to grab something from a saddlebag that she had on. She then threw it towards them, Spitfire then caught it.
"What's this?" Spitfire asked the mare.
The alicorn levitated the candle towards them so that they could read the note that she'd given them.
"It says:
"Beyond the greatness of Equestria was the power of the Griffon Kingdom. We saw the signs,
but no one believed us when we told them the dark secrets of the Griffon Kingdom's attack.
Before they knew it, an attack was held three days later, without warning, over sixty hundred
ponies are killed. Many still struggle to live, including us. But we've only watched the sadness rain
upon ourself as we watch in despair, the many helpless ponies getting killed by the beastly griffons.
Therefor, we want the many souls to find themselves to the new life of heaven. We do hide ourself
to protect us from any danger, camouflaged in the dirt and ash environment around us." Spitfire read exactly from the note.
"But I still wanna know who you are, please just take off your hood to show us?" Rainbow Dash begged.
Finally, the alicorn decided to reveal herself, flinging the velvet black hood off of her head. The mare appeared to be Princess Luna. Her starry night mane sparkled, as she started to clear her throat.
"Many hopes depend on you five ponies tonight." Luna wished to the ponies. She then levitated the candle back towards her, then putting the black hood back on her head. She turned around, flying back the same route as she did when she appeared. In just a minute, the light of Princess Luna's candle faded into the darkness.
"What did she mean? Is there danger that lies ahead of us?" Misty Fly asked.
"Not sure, but she did leave us with the note. Dash, put it in your bag." Spitfire gave the note to Rainbow Dash, and she did exactly what she was told to do.
"Didn't that note mention that Luna wanted to warn all the ponies about the attack, but they ignored her?" Rainbow Dash questioned.
"That could be it, let's just be cautious of where we're going tonight.." Spitfire said.
"Can we find a place to sleep? I'm really tired." Surprise yawned.
"Sure, let's go find a cave or somethin'." The others agreed, and started yawning.
All five of them started soaring high above the smoke clouds. Rainbow Dash knew a great place for them to sleep for the night. She suggested that she'd lead them to the cave that Apple Jack, Applebloom, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and herself stayed at for one night for camping. They let her lead the way, and in no time they were nearby the exact cave. As they got closer, they heard something in the cave.
"Oh no, it's bears!" Surprise whispered worriedly. Rainbow Dash took a peek inside the cave.
"No, even worse...some of the griffons have made a camp inside that cave!" Rainbow Dash whispered loudly to them.
"Great. Where else are we gonna sleep?" Misty Fly asked while yawning.
Rainbow Dash tried to think of an idea. Yet she did in a split second.
"Clouds! Why not gather up some clouds and sleep on them for the night? They are fluffy soft!" Rainbow Dash suggested.
"Heck yeah, why didn't we think of that?" Soarin was pleased.
Rainbow Dash and the others flew up into the sky, just above the smoke, and were surprised to see the beautiful moon shining along with the stars in the night. The blanket of dark blue and purple mixed in with each other, filling up the entire sky. All five of the ponies gathered one cloud each, and squished them together, making one large cloud. They all threw themselves onto the soft clouds, getting comfortable as they laid down. Rainbow Dash picked a spot where it was close to the edge, but not too close. Soarin joined her, and laid right next to her. Rainbow Dash looked up at the dark night sky, seeing the beauty of how many stars twinkled in the night. Soarin finally wanted to ask her the question that he had earlier.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash, you know what?" Soarin started.
"What?" She replied.
"Well, right after you got shot by Gilda... I held you close. Then you told me to come closer to you and... you said you loved me. Then we-uh kissed, do you remember any of that?" Soarin explained.
Rainbow Dash thought for a moment. She wasn't quite sure that she'd actually gotten kissed by her secret crush. But she finally remembered something, she had a flashback of that exact moment when she admit that she loved him. Then, the kiss.
Rainbow Dash looked up at him. Soarin looked down at her. Their eyes sparkled into one and another.
"Yes." Rainbow Dash whispered.
Rainbow Dash brought herself close to Soarin and kissed him. She then disconnected with him, but then started to snuggle with him.
"I love you Soarin." Rainbow Dash whispered.
"I love you too Rainbow Dash." Soarin whispered back.
The two began to drift off to sleep, and their secret is kept between them. Only them.
The morning sun rose above the cotton white clouds. The sky beamed a beautiful pink color, reflecting the colors onto the clouds. The dark and choking grey smoke way a few feet below the hovering clouds. Equestria was still being attacked, burning down every minute. Many ponies have died from the horrifying catastrophe, and only a couple hundred ponies are still left to live. Most griffons were still asleep, but a few troops have woken up early and start blowing up a few buildings.
Five Wonderbolts were asleep on a large cloud, Surprise sleeping on a large puffy part of the cloud, Spitfire sleeping nearby Surprise, Misty Fly laid along with Spitfire, Rainbow Dash and Soarin were cuddled up by each other on a edge of a cloud.
Rainbow Dash was dreaming about her future. She dreamed of the war finally ending, all the ponies rebuilding the buildings, and Equestria shining once again. She would be flying through the glistening sun with her Wonderbolt friends, showing them her most awesome stunts, their jaws wide opened. Rainbow Dash dreamed of herself going to her other five friends, and all of Ponyville enjoying a celebration of peace at Sugarcube Corner, with Pinkie Pie as the host of course. She couldn't forget how silly her crazy friend was with her zany pranks and strange surprises. Then she thought about Apple Jack, her honest friend. She knew how epic it would be to go out to Sweet Apple Acres and steal a bucketful of apples and laughed her head off when Apple Jack curiously wonders where her apples went. Then she recalled her generous friend Rarity. She thought about the one time when Rarity dressed Rainbow Dash up in a large puffy dress and made her wear the biggest hat, making Rainbow Dash disgusted. She then remembered Fluttershy, the most quietest pony of them all. She thought back of when she was at a boring animal watching weekend. Watching little bunnies eat their grass dinner, stare at birds joyfully tweeting songs back and forth, and oversee butterflies flying here and there. Then she thought back Twilight Sparkle, and the two of them having a reading competition to see who can read the most books. Obviously, Twilight won. That dream made Rainbow Dash feel good, and she could almost think that it was real, even though it wasn't.
Suddenly Rainbow Dash felt a shake on her head. Soarin was waking her up from her dream.
"Good morning, Rainbow Dash." Soarin said cheerfully, like there was absolutely nothing to worry about.
"Ugh...oh...it was just a dream..." Rainbow Dash sighed. She'd wish the dream were real, just thinking about it made her upset.
"I see you had a futuristic dream, huh?" Soarin guessed.
"Yeah, the most greatest dream too...but I know that it'll never happen."Rainbow Dash turned her head and sighed.
"Don't doubt it. You just gotta believe that it will happen." Soarin told.
Rainbow Dash looked up at him. She loved those words, they sounded very almighty to her. She thought for a moment, thinking about those words, and how she had said that the dream won't come to reality. "He's right...I should really just believe that it will happen, just as he said." Rainbow Dash thought.
Spitfire opened her eyes slowly, then shut them back closed. When she opened them gain, she was startled to see the Surprise was right in front of her. Spitfire screamed quickly and pushed Surprised off.
"What were you doing?" Spitfire asked, her heart prancing.
"I was wondering if you were awake, Duh." Surprise excused quickly.
"Well don't do it again. You scared me half to death." Spitfire walked over to Misty Fly to wake her up.
Misty Fly woke up quickly and stood up. She glanced at every bit around her. She then looked back at Spitfire.
"Shouldn't we be saving Equestria?" Misty Fly suddenly asked.
"Yeah. But I think first we should figure out where we're going and how were gonna do it." Spitfire trotted over to Soarin and Rainbow Dash.
"Good morning you two. C'mon over here, were gonna discuss stuff and save Equestria." Spitfire then walked back to where Misty Fly and Surprise were.
Rainbow Dash and Soarin stood up and followed right behind Spitfire. The five of them all sat down to listen to Spitfire in a corner of the cloud. As they listened, Spitfire began giving orders about what they will be doing.
"Aright, we've still got a bit of Equestria left. We can either save the ponies and Equesria, or we all die from those dumb griffons." Spitfire directed.
"I say let's eat first, I'm starving." Surprise interrupted.
"I say let's eat after we've gotten rid of all those griffons. They spread around Equestria like parasprites!" Spitfire yelled.
"Fine. But if I die of hunger I'll blame you even if I'm dead." Surprise excused turning her head armed crossed. Spitfire rolled her eyes.
"As I was saying, we need to get more ponies to team up with us. Rainbow Dash, how about your friends? Spitfire glanced at Rainbow Dash.
"Oh yeah, we should totally team up with them." Rainbow Dash smiled.
"Great. We may need a few more ponies."
"How about that alicorn mare that we ran into last night? I think she was Luna or somethin'." Misty Fly wondered.
"I have no idea where she is though, who knows if she had gotten killed already. Or maybe not. Whatever, if we run into her, we'll ask her to team up with the rest of us." Spitfire explained.
"I think us and Rainbow Dash's friends are enough, we've got ten ponies to defeat the griffons." Soarin told.
"Yeah, and if we run into any other ponies, they can join us." Rainbow Dash said.
"Great, I think we've got the plans all settled then. Come along Wonderbolts, we've got our beloved land to save!" Spitfire stood up, the others following along with her.
Rainbow Dash opened her bag that Rarity made for her, and grabbed the photo of her friends. "I'll get us all out of this. I promise." Rainbow Dash whispered quietly as she looked at the photo. She put it back into her bag and zipped it up. The five of them began to prepare for flight. Together, their wings opened, and flew off the large cloud.
The five of them soared through the morning. There was barley anymore smoke covering the skies, leaving the sun to beam throughout the burnt land. A few clouds here and there, but not many. Soon, all five landed safely beside Sugarcube Corner. This time, Pinkie's dessert gallery palace was now half damaged. Only the entrance rooms and parts of the basement entrance stood. Rainbow Dash began to worry more and more as she began walking inside the damaged building. The roof had cracks and holes in it, leaving sunlight to shine through.
When Rainbow Dash trotted down the stairs of the basement, she screamed. Her five friends had bleeding cuts and were tied up.
"Rainbow Dash! Help!" Twilight shouted. The mares were all looking at Rainbow Dash, teared eyes and cuts and bruises covering themselves.
"Sweet Celestia, what happened to you guys?" Rainbow Dash shrieked.
"These griffons came in and tortured us! One of them was Gilda!" Pinkie explained while struggling.
"WHAT? Gilda? Soarin killed her already!" Rainbow Dash grew angry.
"Darling, why don't you stop talking and help us! This rope really hurts!" Rarity complained.
"Sorry, I'll get you guys out." Rainbow Dash helped untie the backs of the five girl's knots that tied their bodies up.
Just then the Wonderbolts cantered downstairs. They were surprised to see the five ponies cut and dirty.
"Thank you Rainbow Dash." Twilight Sparkle glanced over at the Wonderbolts, who appeared behind the mare.
Rainbow Dash realized that she had her bag full of first aid items for her friends. She opened her bag and spotted seven band-aid boxes. She then gave four band-aids to each pony, even the Wonderbolts. Now there was only a few boxes of band-aids left. Rainbow Dash decided that it would be best to not give any to herself, to save some band-aids, just in case. All nine of her friends were all set and bandaged up, ready for further instructions.
"Alright you five ponies, uh, Twilight Sparkle I believe?" spitfire went over to the purple unicorn.
"Yes, you got the name. What do we do?" Twilight asked.
"Well, we need all of you to help us with our task, which is to defeat the griffons." Spitfire exclaimed.
"Hold on a second! I wanna use my party canon! Can I use it? Pleasepleasepleaseplease?" Pinkie hopped up and down impatiently.
"Use it if you want." Spitfire moaned.
"Where are the griffons? Have you seen any around?" Twilight Sparkle asked.
"I'm not quite sure, I haven't seen any since we've gotten up this morning." Spitfire wondered.
"Huh. That's strange." Twilight Sparkle tilted her head and started thinking.
"We should get going though. This building could fall apart any minute now and trap us in here." Rainbow Dash inturrupted.
"Okay everypony, come with me. Stay together." Spitfire lead the way, and all the ponies tried their best to stay in a group as close as possible.
The ten ponies walked outside carefully, aware of their surroundings. Spitfire guided the ponies through the town of ashes. The sky was beginning to grow cloudy, a storm was brewing up in the land. The wind blew the group's manes in the air. The group of ten were by a nearby park, at least it was a park. The grass was gone, replaced by dirt and ashes. The trees no longer had beautiful green leaves. Flowers that once grew all over the park disappeared. Spitfire stopped and told the directions that she had planned while she lead the group.
"Okay team, this is how we will be doing it. This team will be split in half. I will be with the Wonderbolts, including Rainbow Dash. The rest of you are a team, Twilight in charge. Next we will each go a different direction for hunting down the griffons. If one of you guys spots a griffon, you are to use one of your teammates to be sent over to go find me. It may take awhile, but you may want to use a quick and fast teammates. Make sure that your group stays in that exact place where the griffon is. Try to beat it up if you can while that teammate gets to me. Is that clear?" Spitfire explained.
"Yep! We got the plan all settled!" Twilight Sparkle said boldly. The others nodded their heads.
"Good. Now, my group will be heading north, and Twilight, your group goes south." Spitfire ordered.
"Okay. Let's get to it!" Twilight Sparkle gathered with her group of five, but then turned around to Rainbow Dash.
"Rainbow Dash, stay safe. I don't want you getting killed." Twilight Sparkle worried.
"I will try not to Twilight. You guys be safe too." Rainbow Dash hugged Twilight, then went over to her five other mare friends and hugged them one by one too. Pinkie was beginning to cry.
"Dashie... don't go!" Pinkie cried.
"Pinkie, I'm gonna be alright. I promise. Cross my heart, hope to fly...stick a cupcake in my eye." Rainbow Dash tried to do the Pinkie Pie Promise as best as she could, then hugged Pinkie.
"Okay Dashie...sniff." Pinkie wiped her tears away.
"Bye guys, be safe." Rainbow Dash wished to her friends.
"You too Rainbow Dash." Twilight Sparkle was starting to gallop away south with her group. Rainbow Dash watched sadly as her friends went off into the south, disappearing into the fog.
"C'mon Dash, we've got to go." Spitfire said to Rainbow Dash while spreading out her wings. Rainbow Dash turned around, and widened her wings.
The five of the Wonderbolts started to fly off north. The skies were darker, since the storm was coming from that direction. The group searched for any sign of griffons, but no sight of any yet. Rainbow Dash sighed, searching for griffons wasn't very easy for everypony. Eventually, the ponies began seeking hunger. Surprise whined while her stomach growled.
"Ugh, can we get some food? I'm really hungry." Surprise complained.
"Fine. Stop complaining now, I'll find some food somehow." Spitfire wasn't sure how she would get food though, there was no sources at all.
"Spitfire, it's impossible to find food." Misty Fly excused.
"I know. But if we find any along our way, we'll stop for a few minutes to eat." Spitfire sighed.
Rainbow Dash was flying nearby Soarin. She hadn't spoken to him since last night. It seemed like she has been ignoring him for a long time. She thought for a moment, deciding whether or not that she'd dare to speak a word to him. Rainbow Dash made her final decision.
"Soarin?" she asked.
"Yeah?" Soarin replied.
Rainbow Dash didn't know what to say to him.
"Uh...did you sleep well?" Rainbow Dash smiled guiltily.
"Well, yeah, I sure did, heh." Soarin smiled back at Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash looked at herself. She barley even realized that her Wonderbolts uniform was torn and ruined, showing cuts, and parts of her light blue skin. She noticed that even her friends had also gotten ripped Wonderbolt suits.
"Did you...have any dreams?" Rainbow Dash asked Soarin, trying to brew up a conversation.
Soarin looked at the rainbow maned pony. Rainbow Dash looked back at him, and to Rainbow Dash, it seemed like a staring contest between the two of them.
"I had the most greatest dream...The war had finally ended, and Equestria was back in peace. I was flying alongside with you...back to our newly rebuilt Wonderbolt base. When we got there, we saw the most greatest surprise, all the ponies in Cloudsdale were in there, and greeted us with a warm welcome. There were new Wonderbolts, including the recent ones that we have now." Soarin explained.
Rainbow Dash sighed. She wished that the stupid war would end already.
"Guys, guys! We've got a swarm of griffons heading towards us!" Spitfire yelled suddenly.
"What are we gonna do?" Surprise asked.
"Kill them!" Spitfire roared.
"With our hoofs?" Surprise lifted up her two hoofs.
"Yeah! They're coming closer! You know what to do team!" Spitfire shouted.
The herd of griffons were in fact heading towards them. Gilda, captain of them all, was leading the griffons. She glared at the five pegasi, who were flying towards them aswell. Gilda no longer had her captain's suit, and instead, she had cuts, scrapes, and a large cut in her chest from when Soarin stroke a knife into her. Dirt and bits of blood covered her feathers on herself. Gilda then stopped, her army followed her lead. That's also the time when Spitfire stopped, and the four other Wonderbolts paused along with her. Spitfire stared at Gilda, and Gilda stared at Spitfire.
"Why are you still alive? We killed you already!" Spitfire demanded for an answer.
"Well, let's just say that we used some help from one of your pony friends. Midnight Flake! Pass me the pony!" Gilda commanded.
An alicorn was gripped to the claws of a griffon who appeared from the crowd. The Wonderbolts all realized that it was Princess Luna, who was beaten with cuts and bruises all over herself. Her left wing was damages, and unable to unfold open. There was a large claw scrape on her nuzzle, which was bleeding quickly.
"Luna?" Rainbow Dash was about to fight against Gilda when suddenly Luna was about to talk.
"Gr-greetings...good-good ponies o-of Equestria..." Luna weakly said, her whole body was trembling.
"Tell them your story you little foal." Gilda hissed.
"Well...well...these griffons-caught me...while I-I was flying...and they commanded me to-to heal...their captain...or else I'd get killed.I re-refused...but then they started t-to beat me up. I-I ended up healing the griffon... and-and now, I have used all my p-power for the healing spell...and now I'm unable to...to...do anything..." Luna stumbled.
"Seriously Gilda? That's so uncool!" Rainbow Dash yelled.
"I thought you were dead already Rainbow. Why are you still here?" Gilda randomly asked.
"We are just as powerful to be Wonderbolts ourselves. We don't leave one behind and just give up, we stick together and fight for justice." Spitfire blurted in. Gilda stared at Spitfire again.
"What do you mean? Your nothing but a few ponies and a weak leader." Gilda turned over to her army.
"We are even more powerful and stronger than you are. Take a look around you. What do you see? Smoke, burned up buildings, and ashes. That gives proof of how we can defeat you guys." Gilda grinned an evil smile.
"Your right, you do have the strength to kill the ponies and burn up Equestria. But that doesn't mean that you guys win. It also means that we still have a chance to bring back the land, and brighten up the days again." Rainbow Dash suddenly interrupted.
"Says who? The population of this pony land is pretty much gone. There may be a few more ponies left, but we know that there is no one who can stop us." Gilda told.
Spitfire had an idea burst in her head.
"Well, you do realize that we can stop you at this exact moment right?" Spitfire boldly said.
"As you can see, the five of us made it through the 'worst part of the storm'. If one of our teammates were to of fallen, we still kept together and helped each other. Misty Fly, the one who was always a part of any conversation that we were in. Surprise, the one who was always just as helpful to keep us entertained. Soarin, the one who was always there to help somepony. And me, Spitfire, the one who was always a leader to my four Wonderbolt friends." Spitfire exclaimed.
Suddenly, the five pegasi started to have a mysterious glow around them. Levitation it seemed, but there was no source of who was doing the magic. Princess Luna's horn wasn't glowing at all. The five of them were beaming with a magical blue glow, that shined onto the griffons.
Then, there was a huge boom, that sounded like a bomb going off, but it was them. Their magic was filling the land of Equestria with a blue haze.
* * * * * *
Twilight Sparkle was leading the five mares south of Equestria. All they saw was dirt and ashes, and every now and then, they might see a few burned up pieces of buildings.
There was then a huge explosion sound, that startled the girls.
"AAAAAAAH! What's going on? Why is the ground shaking? Is there a bomb nearby?" Pinkie shrieked.
"Girls look over there!" Twilight Sparkle pointed just north of them. The ponies turned around and were surprised to see a beautiful light blue glow shining towards them. The light grew bigger and bugger and closer and closer to them. Soon, there was a large gust of wind that blew the ponies out of a group.
"Everypony,come towards me! over here!" Twilight shouted at the top of her lungs.
The four mares gathered towards Twilight, as they watched the sky turn from a light blue color glow, to a hazy purple and blue color. Sparkles glittered onto Equestria, and over the ponies who were dead. The sparkles created trees, and green grass all over the land. The ponies trembled back to life, and assumed that they were in heaven. Looking around, they realized that they were actually in their own homeland, which was growing back to life.
* * * * * *
The Wonderbolts' creation of a blue beaming color shined from them, and showered onto the griffons. Gilda and her herd of griffons screeched as they were beginning to twist and turn and shimmer into the blue light. The next thing that the five ponies knew, was that the griffons were no longer alive, and had disappeared into thin air.
There were a few other griffons in Eqestria, and unexpectedly, they vanished as a blue glow twirled around them.
All five of the Wonderbolts landed safely onto the ground below them. As they looked around, they were surprised to see that the land had turned from brown dust, into a beautiful land of green.
"We did it Wonderbolts! We saved Equestria!" Spitfire shouted joyfully.
"YAY! Group hug!" Surprise grabbed the four pegasi and hugged them.
"This is just awesome! Hey, look! Our cuts are gone! And our Wonderbolts uniforms are fixed!" Rainbow Dash noticed.
"Oh my gosh! This is a miracle!" Misty Fly joined in the gleeful conversation of the ponies.
"Citizens of Cloudsdale, you have rescued our land. Thank you" came a voice from behind them, which was Princess Luna.
But behind Princess Luna, was a crowd of ponies, who were all wearing a flower crown on their heads. Princess Luna had made one herself, but as she discovered the ponies, she duplicated more for all the ponies to wear.
Then, out of nowhere, Rainbow Dash felt more hugging around her. But it wasn't her Wonderbolt friends. It was her other five great friends. They were all hugging Rainbow Dash, squealing of excitement and joy.
"Rainbow Dash, you and your friends saved us all! The griffons are no longer in the range of taking over our land!" Twilight Sparkle remarked.
"Yes, Rainbow Dash and the rest of the Wonderbolts, you have freed us from the fate of Equestria." came a voice from the large crowd of ponies.
All the ponies made a way of a white alicorn, with a colorful mane and tail. It was Princess Celestia, who was wearing her usual crown, necklace, and slippers.
"Princess Celestia!" Twilight Sparkle was astonished.
"We thank you five brave ponies, for returning our land.The power of your bravery saved Equestria from falling into the griffon's claws of harm." Princess Celestia levitated five flower made crown that the other ponies were wearing onto the Wonderbolts' heads.
"But the buildings, all of them are destroyed." Rainbow Dash interrupted.
"Don't worry, we'll get the buildings all back to normal." Princess Celestia promised.
"Yeah, we can all work together to get everything back to normal! Right everypony?" Twilight blurted out.
"Right!" cheered the ponies.
"Now where can we get materials..." Pinkie giggled.
"We can get some from The Griffon Kingdom, right?" a pony asked from the crowd.
"Sure. We will need some pegasi though." said Rainbow Dash.
"Good, soon enough Equestria will be back to normal." Celestia smiled.
"Let's split up. Pegasi over here with the Wonderbolts and I. Unicorns over with Twilight Sparkle and Rarity. Earth ponies with Pinkie Pie and Apple Jack." Rainbow Dash directed.
The ponies did as Rainbow Dash asked them to do, and she was glad that her plan was going to work out well.
"Great. Shall we begin Dash?" Spitfire looked up to Rainbow Dash who was flying in the air.
"Yep! We got everypony all set to go! Your group leaders will tell you all what to do okay everypony?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"Okay!" The ponies shouted back.
"Now let's get to it!" Rainbow Dash beamed.
The ponies began going in different directions, according to what their group leaders told them to go.
Rainbow Dash knew that her dream was becoming a reality. It should be awhile to get Equestria back in it's original form though. Her time to spend with the Wonderbolts and showing them epic stunts are pushed aside for now, until the land of Equestria is back to normal.
:iconcolor-clouds:
Last Sunsets [Chapter 7]
Rainbow Dash awoke from her night sleep, realizing that today would be just amazing. She never felt so excited in her life, the Wonderbolts had invited her to a ceremony. The Wonderbolts were going to perform extreme tricks that nopony else could ever dare to do. A few minutes later she checked the clock. Ten minutes after nine.
"Pony feathers, I'm going to miss it if I don't hurry!" Rainbow Dash complained while scrambling around. She finally finished, then swooped out the door to her house. She flew as fast as she could to the ceremony. Suddenly she bumped into a grey mare. She turned around curiously, crossed yellow eyes facing Rainbow Dash's magenta eyes.
"Rainbow! Guess what? I got this muffin this morning, and then I ate it, but then it was all spicy and stuff, so I was screaming then..." Derpy told Rainbow Dash her long story of her morning.
"And then I was all like who made this muffin?! You poisoned it! So then a pony came-" Rainbow Dash stopped her and explained where she had to be. She shoved Derpy out of her way before Derpy could even get a chance to say anything. Rainbow Dash flew faster than ever before, and luckily she made it to the ceremony on time. The ceremony was taking place in Cloudsdale's Cloud Square. Pegasi swarmed everywhere, making it impossible to find the Wonderbolts. Looking left and right to find them, all she saw were a mix of different colored winged ponies. Rainbow Dash groaned while searching, when suddenly a voice was overheard from all the crowds.
"Fillies and Gentlecolts, I welcome you all to the Wonderbolts ceremony! I am pround to welcome you, the Wonderbolts!" A blue pegasus announced. Everypony cheered and hollered all around, except Rainbow Dash, who was in the very back of all the crowds. She decided to fly above all the crowds and hopefully find a spot near the front.
"Hello everypony! The Wonderbolts welcome you all very much!" A yellow pegasus in her Wonderbolts uniform announced. Rainbow Dash was luckily able to find an empty space near the front of the crowds. She landed to her space, while a few ponies kindly moved a little to give her room to stay there.
Spitfire passed the microphone to a light blue colt next to her. "We are very glad you all came to this special ceremony, and since we got enough of an audience, we will be performing the world's most impossible tricks for all of you!" Soarin called to all the crowds. Rainbow Dash looked up, then just stood there, eyes just glowing with excitement. Maybe if they get a chance after the show, she could finally get a chance to talk with them. Her chance at the Gala failed, and she barley got any time to talk to them at the royal wedding. But even if she doesn't get to, she will still be able to see the most impossible tricks, performed by them.
All six of the Wonderbolts talked about what tricks they were doing, then they finally told everypony to wait five minutes for them to get all set and ready. Rainbow Dash could just stand there smiling all day. All the pegasi were moved to another area to watch the Wonderbolts perform. It was a long mountain side, just enough for everypony to watch them. The view was clear enough and wide enough for the ponies to look left, right, up and down.
The announcer colt came out again on a cloud and called,"Fillies and Gentlecolts, the Wonderbolts!!!" Everypony cheered, including Rainbow Dash as she cheered along with the crowds. The Wonderbolts flew out from a cloud, swooping past the crowds. They did their usual tricks as they do every beginning of a show. The ponies cheered for each trick.
Then, the time had finally came for the Wonderbolts to finally perform the most challenging and impossible tricks of all time. It was going for a record to send out to all of Equestria. Ponies would be talking all about it, and how vivid it was. The Wonderbolts flew straight up into the sky, higher than anypony could see. Then, they all came down, while doing flips and turns. Half went right, and the other half went left, all of them flying straight up. The Wonderbolts flew even faster than when Rainbow Dash did her Sonic Rainboom, even faster than when all the pegasi used their wingpower to collect water up to Cloudsdale, even faster than anypony could imagine. Then, the Wonderbolts had came miles into the sky once more, spaced out 40 miles from each other in a straight line, then flew down one by one to perform a sonic rainboom.
But that wasn't the impossible. It was the turbo speed flip and fly trick. All the Wonderbolts flew at a high speed into the air. Some turned right, some left. While flying their direction, they flipped faster than anyone could count. Suddenly, all the wonderbolts circled, faster and faster and faster, creating a tornado. The tornado turned into millions of clouds, flying all over the sky. From that, the Wonderbolts flew horizontally, turned around and flew fast, their lightning-smoke trail following behind them. They did the most impossible trick ever, one Wonderbolt flipped, while the other Wonderbolts linked each other's flips. The crowds could not believe their eyes, the Wonderbolts liked each other's flips, making it a hoop of them flipping in mid-air.
Rainbow Dash was amazed, an impossible trick that had never happened successfully was being performed by her favorite team. She bet all the other ponies were thinking the exact same thing as her, all the cheers and amazement.
The Wonderbolts landed successfully on a cloud in front of the crowds. Applause was all Rainbow Dash heard, screams of delight from all the fans. She couldn't help but smile at the Wonderbolts. A fan called out from all the crowds at her loudest voice,"WE LOVE YOU WONDERBOLTS!" Some ponies next to her told her to not yell out at them, and others by her just nodded and agreed. Rainbow Dash wished she could be like one of them one day. "One day Rainbow Dash... One day..." Rainbow Dash told herself.
"Thank you all very much! We are very glad you loved the show! And not only that, but we made the record too!" Spitfire announced. This made the audience scream with joy. Rainbow Dash squealed, she just was so happy that her favorite team had gotten a record. "And it looks like since we got a world record, we are able to have a ceremony and a party!" Spitfire added.
Later, the ponies were lead to a building all decorated for the party. Rainbow Dash was especially happy, she would probably have the chance to talk to the Wonderbolts. But there was one problem, which was all the ponies. She may not have a chance at all, there were so many ponies that would defiantly talk to them. She sighed, wondering what to do. Then, she spotted snacks on a table. Maybe food might help her to think better. She was hungry anyways. She trotted over to the snack table, and ate a few snacks.
Rainbow Dash wondered if anypony else had any advice for her. She walked over to a light blue mare wearing a white bow in her dark blue mane. "Um, hey, can I ask you something?" Rainbow Dash asked her. "Sure what is it?" She responded."Uh, do you have any advice on talking to the Wonderbolts?" she questioned.
"Well, you can try to stay nearby them, and wait for a pony to finish talking to them. Then you go over to them quickly before anypony else does." the pony recommended."Okay, thank you!" Rainbow Dash thanked and flew off.
She still had a problem. Where are the Wonderbolts? They were no where in sight. Did they leave? Were they going to get ready for another show? She asked a few ponies if they had seen the Wonderbolts. None didn't even know. Worries and questions filled Rainbow Dash's mind. She began to loose hope, and maybe they weren't here.
But it was just before she had given up, she saw a Wonderbolt to her far left. Rainbow Dash ran over to him, excited that she could finally get her chance. She walked up to him, and he looked right next to him surprised to see the rainbow maned pony walking next to him.
"Hey, I'm sooo glad I can finally I can talk to you!" Rainbow Dash joyfully said, almost wanting to hug him.
"Oh, you're Rainbow Dash if I'm correct?" he said.
"Yea, the Rainbow Dash!"
"The one who saved my pie at the Gala, the one who I danced with at the Royal Wedding!"
"Yep, it's all true!"
"We hardly ever got to talk to each other!"
"Why don't we start?"
"Of course!"
They chatted for a long time, almost seemed like forever to Rainbow Dash. She complimented him on his tricks, and all his amazing shows. The colt, he had his goggles off, and his light green eyes shone from the lights reflecting everywhere. She supposed it was Soarin, according to Spitfire during the Gala. She was in super happy shape, and was very pleased she was finally talking to a Wonderbolt. A Wonderbolt that she knew. Soarin. The one that she saw at the Gala and the Wedding. She couldn't be more pleased than she already was. What more could she ever want? Rainbow Dash was already thankful for what she had.
There was nothing else that would happen.
Nothing.
