If any star shed peace, 'tis thou,
That sendest it from above.
—T. Campbell
CHAPTER 4 – THE STAR OF THE SHOW
The night was eerily quiet as the flight of ponies made its way toward Ponyville. Ten blue-suited pegasus-ponies, one rainbow-maned flier and a chariot pulled by two royal guards bearing a scared purple unicorn made for quite a sight.
Rainbow Dash was in a subdued mood, keyed-up but not talkative. She couldn't stop staring at the marker-light-equipped steel boots she had been issued. They were simplified, brightly-polished versions of the shin-guarding boots which the Princesses wore... or was it the other way around, that the royal shoes were ornate versions of these? Rainbow Dash mentally replayed the words Nimbus had spoken as she had brought her the boots and buckled them on... "The Wonderbolts are going to battle. You'll need these."
As they approached the market-square of Ponyville, they could see that the trouble had already begun. Ponies were gathered, milling around, and at least two buildings had been hit and were on fire. Here and there red crystal fragments, the shattered remains of the fallen stars, reflected and refracted the light of the flames.
One of the Wonderbolts zipped ahead, calling "Make way!", clearing a section of the plaza for the chariot to land. Even as the chariot touched down, another pair of meteor-crystals streaked downwards. Spitfire surged upwards with uncanny acceleration, looped to parallel the shard, and bucked it as she passed; the shard veered off to one side to impact in an empty field on the outskirts of town. The other was dealt with by Soarin' in similar manner; though he couldn't turn as tightly as Spitfire or match speeds with the meteor until it was closer to the ground, his kick was much stronger, and actually shattered the crystal.
Twilight jumped out of the chariot before it had even come to a halt. The mayor of Ponyville ran up to her, accompanied by several of Ponyville's leading citizens. Twilight and Captain were soon in hurried conversation with the town elders, leaving Rainbow Dash to fidget uncertainly.
Nimbus drew Rainbow Dash aside. "They're going to be talking evacuation and what can be done on the ground to help with defense."
"Yeah, maybe I can help—" said Rainbow Dash as she started towards Twilight. Nimbus put out a wing to check Rainbow Dash.
"Let them worry about that," Nimbus said. She indicated the sky with a lift of her head. "Our problem is up there. We have to play our zone, and trust them to handle theirs."
Nimbus tickled Rainbow Dash's face with a wing, then leaped into the air. Rainbow Dash sneezed, then followed, catching up quickly. Nimbus looked over at Rainbow Dash, grinning widely. She got an eloquent "Thpppt!" in return.
"So you think you can keep up with the Wonderbolts, do you?" Nimbus taunted. "Let's see if you have what it takes... we're in for a long night. You're with me, stay close! We work in pairs. When in doubt, come up on my right wing. And watch my back, I'll be watching yours!" She gave Rainbow Dash a salute, received one in return, and began a figure-eight patrol a few hundred feet above town.
Below them, the crowd had become more orderly. Groups had formed, and a steady line of ponies was heading southwards; fillies and colts, escorted by adults. Rainbow Dash recognized the distinctive yellow and pink of Fluttershy, and there was no mistaking the hyperkinetic bouncing of Pinkie Pie as she moved from child to child. Rainbow Dash smiled to herself; leave it to Pinkie to turn an evacuation into a game. The foals wouldn't be frightened with Pinkie there.
As they worked their patrol, Canterlot was visible from time to time. The red meteor-streaks were making it nearly to the ground before slowing to a halt, then winking out. Occasionally parts of Canterlot were obscured by what seemed to be a dark cloud that was itself full of stars; the meteors vanished as they touched the cloud. Whatever it was that Princess Luna and the unicorn mage-guards were doing was as disturbing as it seemed effective.
Seeing how low the falling stars were getting before being dealt with in Canterlot worried Rainbow Dash. She asked "Shouldn't we be higher up with the others?" She looked overhead, and saw pairs of ponies high above spiraling up, then diving to parallel incoming red streaks. The ponies' marker lights would converge with the falling stars, then the falling stars would veer away from the town.
"We'll get our turn," said Nimbus. "You can't stay long in air that thin, that high up, and you're working hard. We rotate who's on high watch, and while we're down here we—"
Nimbus suddenly banked hard left and dived. Surprised, Rainbow Dash followed a moment later. A falling star-shard a couple of feet across streaked past them at a shallow angle, heading straight for Twilight's library-tree. Nimbus was ready for it though, and as it passed her she gave a hard buck. The shard was deflected upwards, missing the library by perhaps twenty feet, and continued beyond the edge of town where it gouged a deep furrow in a carrot patch. Nimbus extended her wings and pulled back up.
"—we watch for anything that gets through," she concluded. "And we don't let it hit anything breakable." Nimbus had a bit of a smug look to her. Rainbow Dash noticed, though, that sparks were trailing from Nimbus' hind-hooves for several seconds after the buck. It was a good thing those boots were tough... and heat-resistant.
Rainbow Dash had little time to consider though, as three more low-angle shards came in. She put on a burst of speed, leaving a multicolored trail behind her. She passed underneath one of the shards, rolled to inverted and bucked upwards as she passed below, then finished the roll as she overtook another shard. This one she kicked to the left. Both shards missed buildings, one cratering an alley behind Sugarcube Corner, the other barely missing the clock tower as it sailed out of sight to land steaming in a pond.
Turning back, Rainbow Dash saw that Nimbus had taken care of the third shard. It had needed three kicks it to guide it past the town hall, and had crashed into a hillside just out of town.
"Not bad!" Nimbus called out as Rainbow Dash came alongside.
"That's how we do it in Ponyville!" Rainbow Dash grinned at Nimbus, but the grin faded as she looked down. A third building had caught fire, set alight by the already-burning home next to it. The flames were threatening to get out of control.
"Maybe we ought to bring in the weather ponies to rain out the fires," Rainbow Dash said. "I could go to Cloudsdale and—"
Nimbus shook her head. "That would take too long, and if there were clouds we wouldn't be able to see the incoming falling stars until it's too late... and that's assuming the weather-ponies don't have problems of their own." She banked about and pointed a hoof downwards. "Your friends have it covered."
Down below, a large group of ponies were galloping in to Ponyville from the direction of the apple orchards to the west, some pulling violently-lurching carts and wagons filled with barrels and pails. At the head of the group was a distinctive blonde-haired orange pony. The newcomers moved to one bank of the stream running through the town, and set up a line. The lead pony ran back and forth, giving directions, and within moments two bucket-brigades began relaying water to the fires. The ponies of Sweet Apple Acres had seen their neighbors in distress, and responded in force.
Rainbow Dash let out a cheer. "Go Applejack! You rock!"
Nimbus smiled, then pulled up to a hover as two panting Wonderbolts flew down. One had a scorch mark on his flight suit; both had soot on their hoof-boots. "High watch, Lieutenant!" panted one of them.
Nimbus saluted, "Yessir!" She looked over her shoulder to see that Rainbow Dash was following, then began the long climb.
Overhead, the incoming star-fall was intensifying, and the brilliant central star-shard was almost bright enough to cast shadows. Pairs of Wonderbolts looped and banked, and wherever they came into contact with a glowing red streak, the streak was deflected. Not all of the shards were intercepted, and it seemed to Rainbow Dash that the shards were also becoming larger.
Still they climbed, until breathing became difficult. The other Wonderbolts were below them, and as Nimbus and Rainbow Dash took their station they could see that the defense had come down to ground level. Splashes of light from the town square showed unicorn-magic of some sort at work. They had no time to wonder what those on the ground were doing, however. A swarm of several dozen shards suddenly blazed past, and the two pegasus-ponies dived down after.
Nimbus began dodging among the shards, giving each a modest kick as she passed. At first Rainbow Dash was puzzled as to why Nimbus was not bucking as hard as she could, but then she remembered: at this altitude, small deflections would be enough to make the shards miss the town. Nimbus was also right about conserving their energy; just keeping aloft this high up had them both gasping for air. This was a kind of flying which Rainbow Dash had thoroughly mastered, however. Nobody beat Dash at aerial dodge-ball!
Rainbow Dash began making quick, graceful arcs through the swarm, leaving her glowing spectrum-trail behind her. Each arc brought her within range of several of the shards, and she rolled and banked to kick at the shards as she overtook them. Forehoof, hindhoof, left side, right... all four steel-shod feet were in action. She looped up and behind, then dived down for another pass, and another, and another, twisting to strike in an almost dance-like rhythm. Nimbus, seeing the situation being handled, pulled up and began working at the swarm's trailing members.
They had almost reached the altitude of the next flight of Wonderbolts when Nimbus called for a return to station. Though there were a few shards still on their deadly course, the others would handle them. Both ponies pulled up, turning their momentum into regained altitude as far as they could before resuming their wingbeats to climb.
Nimbus was about to compliment Rainbow Dash on the skill of her flight, but hesitated as she saw a look of pain on Rainbow Dash's face. The reason was obvious; her hoof-boots were smoking, the steel discolored to a blue-tinged straw color on their edges. Nimbus' own boots were uncomfortably warm, and Rainbow Dash had deflected many more.
"Are you okay?" Nimbus called. "No bravado, I need to know."
Rainbow Dash held her legs downward where the most airflow could get to them and cool the boots. "It's kinda hot, but I'll be okay. How'd we do?"
Nimbus grinned, "Not bad for a beginner. No, really, that was amazing!"
Only the darkness of the night sky hid Rainbow Dash's blush. Blistered hooves stood no chance against a compliment from a Wonderbolt. Rainbow Dash did a little victory-roll, then formed up smartly on Nimbus' right wingtip, feathers almost touching.
The celebration was short-lived, though. From below, the pair saw the other Wonderbolts climbing urgently towards them. A glance upward showed why... the main star-shard, nearly as bright as a full moon, was almost upon them.
"Warm-up's over," said Nimbus quietly. She could not hide the nervousness in her voice. "Time for the main event."
...next chapter...