Rainbow Dash fell rapidly to the ground, her aerodynamics thrown off by her wing awkwardly outstretched in a broken position. As the spiraling ground grew closer and closer, she did everything she could to push the pain out of her mind and use her free good wing to stretch wide to soften the fall. She caught the wind current and by the grace of Celestia there was a steady updraft. She glided drunkenly closer to the ground, still warbling terribly in the air and was no doubt bound to crash, but she felt a wave of relief wash over her once she pulled out of the free-fall.
The victory was short lived as she discovered that she was sailing directly into the forest below her. In moments, she descended below the tree tops, and try as she might with her broken wing she could not regain altitude and collided roughly into a tall evergreen, then fell towards the ground, slamming into branches on the way down. One branch struck her broken wing, causing her to send out a high pitched scream that echoed through the forest before she collapsed on the hard ground awkwardly twisting her right fore hoof as she landed on it.
She lay for a few minutes breathing hard, trying to calm down. Now that the impending danger was gone the pain in her wing came throbbing back, coupled with the bruises incurred by hitting the tree and the ground. After her pulse dropped she sucked in air, and using her good legs and a nearby tree for support, she forced herself to her hooves. Testing her twisted hoof lightly on the ground sent a coursing pain up her leg that told her she wasn't galloping anywhere for at least a couple of days. She looked up to the sky. The sun had completely gone down and strange stars were over her head. She felt a gnawing in her gut that screamed out for home, but this wasn't the time to be homesick. She had to get back to the Equus back to the fight she thought as she stepped forward. The pain set her leg on fire as it climbed up her body, her knee buckled as she collapsed back on the ground. She let out one last cry of agony before her world went black.
It had been relatively quick, albeit a quiet, ride back on the small transport airship to Canterlot. Spitfire had it arranged for the injured Wonderbolts, Derpy and herself to be transported back. She kept telling herself that she needed to ensure the safety of her team, deliver updates to Princess Luna and that they needed to replenish their ranks. All of it lies. True, all those were things that she needed to have happen, but she could no longer stand the looks of the wolf and griffon commanders. They had been the toast of the evenings when they brought victories, but the devastating loss at the hands of one foe was too embarrassing to endure.
Now here she was, kneeled before the Princess, her head held in shame as she delivered the news of what had happened. Her men were rushed to the Canterlot hospital and royal guards were dispatched to the homes of those who didn't make it to inform their loved ones. She felt sick to her stomach as the words of failure spilled from her mouth, drawing horrified looks from Princess Luna.
"I offer you no excuses Princess," Spitfire concluded her report. "Several good ponies were lost under my leadership, and upon engaging the enemy in combat I was defeated and lost possession of the Blade of Equestria. My life was spared only by the noble sacrifice of Soarin'." She choked a little prepping herself for what was to come next. "I accept full responsibility for our failures and am prepared to announce my resignation."
"NO!" Princess Luna shouted out surprising her as well as the guards in attendance. "While my sister is away on royal matters I have the final say in matters that involve the Equestrian Military, and I refuse your resignation!"
"Princess Luna?" Spitfire questioned? Slowly raising her head to view her monarch.
"Your service to Equestria has been stellar, you are bar none the most premier fighter of the Equestrian Military. Your dedication and drive molded you into the finest soldier we have in our modern rule. Nay, your resignation in refused, Equestria is threatened and needs you to be her shield! Equestria has enemies and needs you to be her blade!" Luna said using her royal Canterlot voice, thundering through the chambers. Spitfire trembled at the voice and lowered into submission at the sight.
Princess Luna focused and a brilliant purple light began to emanate from her horn, a dazzling flash filled the room and once it receded a dark mist filled the space between the royalty and the warrior, strewn with millions of star like particles caressing a magnificent deep blue set of armor accented with shimmering silver and a sword whose appearance was that of quicksilver in the moonlight with engravings and decorative art etched into the blade along with words that no common tongue could utter that hovered in the starry mist.
"Rise, Captain Spitfire! I present you with the Eclipse Armor, steel poured by the solar flares of the sun, given form by the strikes of meteors and hardened in the sea of tranquility herself! May it protect our Champion against all who would wish ruin upon Equestria! And yay! Behold with thine eyes the Solar Vindicator! A blade hewn from the star clusters on Orion's Belt! Her edge ever fine, eager to root out evil even in the blackest of nights! You, my Champion shall be clad in the finest armor! You, my Champion will armed with our mightiest of steel! You shall strike fear in our enemy's hearts!"
The armor and blade hovered to Spitfire who looked on in astonishment at the Princess, unable to respond.
"Once my sister returns you will be given your orders, until then rest well. I'm certain you'll need it.
Spitfire bowed low to the princess before taking her leave.
Pinkie Pie was doing everything she could to keep the Cutie Mark Crusaders from crying their eyes out at the news; however she was largely unsuccessful, probably because she was bawling herself. When Twilight had announced the Princess had requested an audience at her tree house library, that the Wonderbolts had returned home, the whole town of Ponyville and most of Cloudsdale flocked to welcome home their very own Rainbow Dash. The event turned deeply sour when the news came that the only one who came back was Derpy who only seemed welcomed by the small purple filly Dinky that Rarity's parents had agreed to watch while she was gone.
The cause of despair was the message that came with Derpy and the Princess, that Rainbow Dash had sacrificed herself to save everyone. Once more that the Princess had called the ponies closest to Twilight Sparkle to inform her that the Elements of Harmony were in danger. As Derpy recounted the events of the battle the ponies hung on her every word, cringing in horror at the violence described, as she came to the close everypony was speechless save for one.
"So you don't know what happened to her?" Scootaloo piped up, her voice hard to understand over her tears.
"Well the last I saw was her flying away into a Sonic Rainboom with the monster hot on her heels," Derpy explained.
"So you mean she can still be alive then?" Scootaloo pressed on. "That means we can go save her!"
"Well, uh..." Derpy fumbled for words to tell the small pegasus but was interrupted by Applejack.
"Darn tootin', we just can't ignore anypony that needs our help, 'specially if that pony is Rainbow Dash! Whaddaya say gals, are you ready to go get our friend?"
A cheer rose up in the room as all the ponies cheered in agreement save for Fluttershy who cowered behind Sweetie Bell and Applebloom, Twilight Sparkle who kept relatively pensive, looking to the Princess for guidance, and the Princess herself who seemed to be thinking long and hard, before responding to the crowd.
"I'm not sure you all understand the dangers of what is going on over there, but together you have saved Equestria from a nesting dragon, saved the Crystal Empire, and stopped Discord as well as Queen Chrysalis. I have faith that there is nothing you all can't do if you work together."
Twilight Sparkle nodded and then addressed her friends, "Alright everypony, get ready, we leave tomorrow to save Rainbow Dash!"
Rainbow Dash opened her eyes to sound of heavy rain. Her body ached and her back was stiff from lying on a cold stone ground.
Wait a minute... stone? She thought to herself craning her neck, she also noticed the rain wasn't falling on her. As her vision adjusted she saw that she was lying on the floor of a cave and the rain was falling heavily outside the mouth of it. A figure was standing by the entrance, but it was too dark for Rainbow Dash to make out who it was, so she groggily called out to whoever it was.
"Hey, where am-" She began to ask but before she could finish her question the figure moved from where they stood to on top of her in the blink of an eye. Rainbow Dash felt the weight of the stranger pressing on her limbs, keeping her firmly on the ground and a hand placed firmly on her muzzle shutting her mouth forcefully and keeping it shut with a firm grip. Rainbow Dash panicked and tried to fight them off with all her might but she was too weak and too sore to overcome them. She tried to scream out but all that could come out was almost inaudible whimper through her closed mouth.
Lighting cracked across the sky outside, illuminating the cave for an instant revealing her captor. Rainbow Dash trembled as she caught sight of his blue spiked quills, even though he was preoccupied with the entrance to the cave enough to not be looking at her, Rainbow Dash could tell it was the Monster that had fought the Wonderbolts. He must have captured her after all, but where was his armor? Why would he take off his armor? She felt a wave of terror wash over her as a far more important question suddenly arose. Where in Celestia's name was her armor?! Tears began to well in her eyes, as her mind reeled with thoughts of what was about to happen to her. She began to cry, emitting more whimpers this time drawing a response from the monster.
"Ssshh! They'll hear you!" He said a hushed voice, the cheerful one he used when he dropped her. Rainbow Dash never understood how something so evil could sound so kind. That's when the sound of clinking metal outside the cave became audible. Straining her eyes to see what was coming she saw what looked like armored group of wolves walk by, their swords drawn and hacking at foliage as they went. Even in through the rain Rainbow Dash could see their red eyes causing her to hold her breath.
Is he hiding me from his own men? She thought, but her question soon was answered after a few tense moments when the wolves passed by and the threat of discovery was gone and the monster eased off of her gently before collapsing on the ground next to her.
"Sorry about that," he spoke out. "I just had the feeling those guys probably weren't looking for you to get an autograph. They've been looking for you ever since I found you in the woods. How ya' doing?"
Rainbow Dash was surprised and taken completely off guard, "How am I doing?" Then quickly gained her composure as s rush of rage filled her. "How am I doing?! Well let's see, you're responsible for countless deaths and the treason of half a country, you kill half my team, you snap my wing in two, leave me to fall to my death, and you drive a spear through the only stallion that I ever oh never mind! You've got some nerve!"
"Whoa, hold your horses!" The Monster raised his hands in surrender with a shocked expression on his face then he relaxed and chuckled a bit. "No pun intended."
"You got jokes! At a time like this!?" Rainbow Dash was livid, now he wasn't taking her seriously. She struggled to raise herself up but was unsuccessful and fell back down letting out a small yelp.
"Easy, easy, you got pretty banged up out there, listen I have no idea what your malfunction is, but you woke me up in the middle of the night when you yelled after you ran into a tree, looks like you hit yourself harder than what I thought, because I haven't done any of those things!" The monster explained as he moved over to a wood pile and struck rocks to ignite a flame which illuminated the cave.
"You liar!" She screamed at his hypocrisy.
"Look horsy, err, birdie...Whatever you are. I'm a lot of things but a liar isn't one of them! I found you in the woods, brought you to this cave, bandaged you up the best I could and fed you water and kept you away from those goons!" The monsters voice was getting irritated but still didn't change.
"You're ridiculous, I bet you can't even look me in the eye and say that with a straight face!"
The monster let out and angry sigh moved, closed to her, grabbed her by her shoulders and pressed his face an inch from hers. In the glowing light of the fire Rainbow could see him clearly and gasped at his features. Instead of piercing red eyes that still gave the young mare nightmares, there were warm, vibrant emerald green eyes that she could see no evil behind.
"I found you in the woods," He repeated, the anger gone from his voice, only sincerity remained. "I brought you here, I bandaged your wing, and kept you safe. That is all that happened."
For a moment the two just stared at each other, Rainbow Dash desperately seeking for any tells that he was lying, but found his words genuine.
"I" she said, still not believing how this was possible "I believe you."
The creature released her and sat down next to the fire, the air still tense. He poked at the tinder with a stick and gestured to the side of the cave. Rainbow Dash followed his gaze and saw that her armor was set aside neatly. "So, you're some kind of solider?"
"I'm not just some kinda soldier, I'm a Wonderbolt! You're talking to the fastest flier in all Equestria!" She bragged.
"Oh really?" the blue animal said with a cocked eyebrow and grin before quickly wiping it off his face. "So tell me how did the fastest flier in all of, Equaa...Equaa," He struggled.
"Eee Kwe Stre...Ahh" Rainbow Dash pronounced for him.
"Equestria," He repeated, pleased he was able to say it properly. "Sounds like a one horse town if you ask me." He said chuckling at his own pun which forced Rainbow Dash to roll her eyes. "So that's where you bird-horse things come from? Or is that the name of this place?"
Rainbow Dash struggled a bit but managed to prop herself along the wall of the cave to better talk to him. "Are you kidding me? What are you, new?"
The blue creature scratched his head, "You could say that, I'm not really from around here. I've just been hanging out in these woods for few months, you know, keeping to myself."
"Well for starters, I'm not a bird-horse thing, I'm a pegasus, second we prefer the term pony, not horse, and yes, I'm from Equestria, but that's across the ocean, we're in the land of the griffons. The things that look like a lion and eagle smashed together." she explained
"Oh, I've seen a few them flying around. Well pegasus, so how did the fastest flier in Equestria crash into a tree?"
"Well that's the confusing part; I was flying when, well I swear it was you, you grabbed me and broke my wing, and took the-" Rainbow Dash clutched at her neck involuntarily. "Oh no no NO!"
"What's the matter, what did 'I' take?" he said concerned for reaction.
"The Element of Loyalty!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, seeing the strangers puzzled look she shook her head in exasperation. "It's a necklace. It's a necklace that's very important to me and my friends back home. I have to get it back!"
"Hold on, you're not getting anything like this, you need to sit tight."
"I suppose your right, but pegasus bones heal quickly so I might be able to get out of here in a couple of days."
"Days?! Have you seen your wing?"
"I'm a Pegasus, I know that might not mean anything to you, but our bones heal fast. I'll get better, return to the Equus, get some back-up, then kick whoever's butt that was and get it back!" she said rubbing her hooves together at her plan.
"Whatever," Then the monster look alike stretched out, slumped over and closed his eyes.
"Are you going to bed?!"
"It's late."
"But, but, what about the Element of Loyalty and the war going on!"
"Well the way I see it, you aren't going anywhere for at least the night, I have no idea about anything you're talking about, plus you seem to have it all figured out sooo" He said as he rolled over.
"Well," Rainbow Dash began to protest but feeling tired herself agreed with his logic. "I guess you're right." She let out a yawn and gently laid herself back down and closed her eyes. "So I've never seen anypony like you before, just what are you anyway?"
"I'm a hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog." He said as he turned and blew out the fire.
The Pegasus eyes shot open as she felt her heart leap in her chest.
"Are your orders clear Captain?" Princess Luna questioned her Champion. Celestia stood next to her in the Audience Chamber of Canterlot castle. Beside Spitfire stood Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Spike.
"Yes my Princess, I will accompany them in the royal Airship to Wyndia, once there I will escort them across the land Griffons to help locate the Element of Loyalty and rescue their friend Rainbow Dash. It will be my honor to protect them."
"Excellent, we have arranged with the Wolf commander to provide you with fresh supplies if you need it and additional support to aid you in your quest."
"Yes my Princess." Spitfire responded.
"Good luck and safe journey, to all of you," Princess Celestia said as she nodded her approval. The airship will be departing later this evening so everypony get ready." Then with a wave of her hoof she dismissed them. They all bowed and exited the chambers; Luna trailed after them taking her leave from her sister.
"Dear sister, stay awhile won't you?" Celestia called out to her younger sibling.
"Whatever for? We have important duties to uphold." Luna said doggedly trying to exit the room. She suspected her sister wanted to speak with her regarding Spitfire's resignation.
"Don't you use the 'Royal We' on me! Just how did you arrange for support from the wolves?!" Celestia questioned as she trotted over to her sister.
"Well if you must know my dear sister," Luna said turning up her head haughtily away from her sister. "I asked."
"Asked who?" her sister asked accusingly.
"A friend, well, a friend of mine anyway," She answered coyly and began to prance off teasingly.
"You know how I feel about you talking with 'him'" She shouted at her disapprovingly.
"What's the matter sister? Don't tell me you're afraid of the big bad wolf?" She yelled out mockingly as she exited the room closing the doors behind her with her magic, and headed to her chambers.
So pleased with herself at ruffling her sister's feathers, she felt she deserved a little time off in her room she decided as she crossed the grand hall with all of its stained glass art that depicted great moments of Equestrian history.
"Princess Luna," a whisper carried by the wind called out to her.
Surprised, the dark blue Alicorn wheeled around at the direction of the voice, her eyes narrowed at its origin as her shock gave way to anger.
"What do you want villain?!" She hissed.
"We must talk princess," the whisper responded.
"We have nothing to speak about Discord!"
Princess Luna faced one particular stain glass window. Staring into the eyes of the living depiction of Discord.
"That's where your wrong Princess. We have much to speak about."