She nodded. ”Oh hell yeah. I can’t wait to go again,” she said, still smiling. Then she realized how close she was to Aaron. She blushed and took a step back. She looked away for a moment and rubbed the back of her neck. ”So, uh . . . now what?” She glanced around at the other people in the gym. A few looked away very suddenly when she met their gaze. She seemed to become smaller than she already was, her red face shrinking into her black hoodie.

After an awkward moment, she looked at Alexa and regained her composure. ". . . y-yeah, I kinda did. Like, rainbows and stuff. I remember falling too, and then hearing laughter . . ." Her voice cut short. Her mind was going a hundred miles a minute, and her expression slowly changed to show her understanding. ". . . like Rainbow Dash. So my dreams were about my astral all along? Were they even dreams?" She sat down on the nearest machine, seemingly overcome in shock.

Rainbow stopped squirming when she saw her. She may be immobile and on the verge of death, but she was determined to go out with dignity. She spat out a mouthful of blood and gritted her teeth, staring into those big orange eyes. And she burned holes into them when that giant claw was raised. Her quiet defiance was her last bit of pride in her defeat and she was going down with it.

But the end did not come. Her hand came close to her face and she snapped at it like a wild animal. But the hostility was not returned. This mech - this girl - acted kindly to Rainbow, and she felt it was sincere. Her expression softened, and under the blood and the dirt was a mare like her, looking for another friend in the world. All her feelings toward her, the great bloodlust, undying rage, everything she felt before was gone. She smiled as warmly, knowing she would die at the hands of an opponent worthy of her victory.

She closed her eyes.


Scarlet awoke in the gym, somewhat confused and disoriented. She tried to walk but found it awkward and difficult. The sudden urge to get on all fours overwhelmed her, but she soon found that this was not only less desirable but also quite embarrassing. Thankfully very few paid much attention since she was not the only one. She saw one boy specifically try to flap his arms like a bird, much to the amusement of his friends.

She looked back at the machine and immediately felt an adrenaline rush just thinking about it. On the screen showed Wukong battling the energy dude, with her own opponent ready to join in. This was not a dream. This is real. "That," she said, pointing at the machine, "was really f*cking cool."

 "I only have one shot," she said to herself. She could barely make out where her opponent was from her cloud perch several kilometers away. Acting on instinct and instinct alone, she put on a pair of aviator goggles, took one last deep breath, and jumped off the cloud. After a brief moment, she spread her wings and flew towards her, gaining speed, moving faster than she could have thought possible. She felt like her face was about to be torn off, but she kept going. She could see the mech now, and a mach cone formed around her.

And then she did the impossible: she performed the Sonic Rainboom.

The explosion shook the earth. Its shockwave could be felt - and seen - for miles. Behind her as she traveled lay a rainbow trail, and she was on a collision course with her target: the mech who shot her friend.

Rainbow, surprisingly enough, relaxed. "Really," she said, expressionless. "You're making it that easy for me? I mean come on, the last thing you should do is tell your opponent you biggest weakness. Now come on, let's go," she said, hunched over again and now smiling. "If we're going to have a duel, then let's duel!" She trod the ground, flared her nostrils, and stared her opponent down with flaming, passionate eyes.

She nodded and flew after him, easily keeping pace, and landing as quietly and carefully as she could in the trees. From there she could see a strange, colourful boy and an equally strange . . . thing. She didn’t even know how to describe it. Some half-mechanical humanoid with antennae and long blond hair. She may not be the smartest tool in the shed, but Rainbow could figure out that this was the one who sent that little drone at them, which meant the other created the energy blast. She shuddered at the memory; she was fighting the mech.

Wukong plucked off a hair and sent a clone at the two as he looked around. She slinked back into the brush and circled the other way instead. She wetted her lips and crouched, wings spread, poised to jump into the fray. When Wukong leaped, Rainbow followed suit, pouncing onto her target with a solid punch aimed at her jaw.

Rainbow nearly grazed Wukong and she flew by him while he was still mid-air. She tumbled down to earth but managed to land on her hooves. She shook out her mane and said ”I need to work on that,” under her breath. When Wukong spoke, she did not hear Aaron; she could barely hear herself, only one instinctual thought: fight. She crouched as well, wings spread and poised to take flight. She flared her nostrils and smiled menacingly. She could take him on easily, just fly really fast so he can’t hit you with that giant stick. But then he relaxed. He spoke. Aaron. Scarlet. Astral. These words held meaning to her.

This was her friend.

She returned to a natural standing position and smiled. ”Yeah, I got that feeling too. Nice astral, by the-” He hushed her. Her ears perked. A soft beeping noise. She nodded. He towered in front of her as if to protect her, but she knew she wouldn’t need it. Using her size to her advantage, she hid behind the Monkey King, ready to fly over him and into whatever lies ahead.

Then the beeping started.

”Yaaahhh!!!” she screamed and flew up and over him, flying head-first into the drone. Without hesitation, she grabbed the drone and tossed it at Wukong, hoping he was quick enough to swat it from the sky.

She watched as her colleagues slipped away into the unconscious to bind with their astrals. Aaron spoke of dreams, visions of a silhouette, a flash of colour, a rainbow. The sense of flight, freedom, breaking free from everything that has held her back for so many years. Scarlet heard stories of the Astrals, who and what they are. She had no doubt in her mind who her Astral was.

The big red button stared at her menacingly. Her tattoo glowed and felt like it was burning. Wind whistled past her ears and blew back her hair. She could take this feeling no longer. She pressed the button, clapped her hand over her thorny rose and closed her eyes.

Falling. Face down. Falling through the air. Nothing to catch her, nothing to stop her. Her heart was beating out of her chest and she tried to scream but the air rushed back into her lungs. Laughter. From a voice that was not her own came laughter, beautiful and carefree. She opened her eyes.

She wasn’t falling anymore. She wasn’t even moving, just standing. Not naturally, however; she was on all fours with her back horizontal. She wanted to stand upright, but that didn’t feel right either. She looked down at her haaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!! These were not hands! These . . . she sat down on her haunches and stared at her hooves. Bright blue hooves. She turned her head to look behind her; yes, she was definitely a sky-blue horse. With a rainbow-coloured tail too, and a mark on her flank.

She stood again, precariously this time, and swayed back and forth, back and forth, side to side. Getting her balance, she put one hand - no, hoof - forward, then a back one, then a front one, and so on, slowly lurching onward. Soon she was walking, then running, faster and faster, as fast as her powerful legs would carry her. There was an odd feeling in her back, and itch. She tensed the muscles and felt a light *woomf* before biting the dirt and tumbling over and over, landing upside down with her tail up a tree.

”What the-” She clamped a hoof over her mouth. This was not her voice. ”I sound . . . like this?” she asked herself. ”Sounds familiar.” But she had no time to wonder about her voice, she needed to know what brought her to a halt. Looking up at herself, she saw two blue protrusions from her back - wings. She couldn’t help but smile. ”Awwww yeah,” she proclaimed and clumsily rolled to her hooves. She got a better look at them and their beautiful cyan feathers. She flapped them once. Twice. Over and over until she was hovering. She couldn’t contain her laughter. It was as if she was born for this, made to fly. Acting on instinct alone she soared higher, faster, flying through the crisp forest air and perching on a cloud.

She fell onto her back and laughed. ”This is the best day of my life!” she yelled. Nothing in the entire world could stop her from enjoying this.

”Yup.” She was lying through her teeth. Her only experience with these machines was watching a few other fighters hook up to it, and now she was going to as well. What am I doing, she thought as she approached it nervously. On the outside, she was calm, like she knew exactly what she was doing. But inside, she was a wreck. You could poke her with a needle and all her tense emotions would explode into a fit of anxiety. But she remained calm.f anxiety. But she remained calm.