Nightmares and Harmony

Shadowbolts

Later on, the fillies noticed a swish of what appeared to be lightning across the sky.

Then there was another one.

And another one.

They were coming faster now, more rapidly. It reminded Dawn of shooting stars. Stars which tend to stay in the sky. One of these streaks, however, fell right into the mares' path. Whatever it was continued to burn bright in front of them.

Not wanting to get singed, they all stayed a good 10 hooves (5 ft.) away. Soon enough, the group was able to make out a figure in the fire. It was that of a pegasus mare with spiky hair (a sure sign of a fast flyer).

"Is that a Wonderbolt?" Rainbow asked, squinting at the thing in front of them. It was definitely wearing flight goggles.

"No...." A new female voice croaked, her throat full of smoke. The figure within the fire was speaking, or, well, trying to. She had been able to make it to her forelegs, but quickly collapsed again on the ground.

Only one of the travelers noticed this figure, and Rarity began to think how to save her. Meanwhile various ways were tried to put out the fire. Dawn used her magic to summon water, but the fire was resistant. Apple tried flapping her wings to 'blow' it out, while Twilight literally blew at it. Neither attempt worked. Fleur tried going around it, but the flames seemed to launch themselves at whoever got near.

By the time Rainbow began her complicated plan of using a combination of vines, trees, and their forest materials to launch themselves over the fire, the white mare resorted to hitting the highest note she could muster. Everypony turned to look at her, surprised.

"Before you kill yourself," Rarity stated, throwing all of the cyan mare's supply into the woods. "Take notice of the fire itself."

The earth pony seemed to tug on a string on her camouflage before pointing at filly inside. "That girl needs help. Also, if you'd care to notice, there's no smoke, so the fire is obviously magical."

Wearing her now slightly shiny camouflage, Rarity cantered right into the fire and out with a night-sky blue pegasus on her back. The flyer's hair was a royal blue and she wore a full body suit that was midnight black with a single white lightning bolt. She was coughing up a storm as she was set down away from the fire.

"You poor thing! Are you alright?" The purple-maned mare asked as she began to preform various tasks to help the wounded flyer. She even started singing a soft tune to soothe the pegasus, and Rarity didn't sing in front of anypony.

The other mares stood shocked. Dawn herself mentally face hoofed. Of course, she should've noticed the magical properties of the fire.

That's when Rainbow pointed out other flyers in the sky who had the same coat and mane colors as the fire-filly and wore the same outfit. The flying group descended slowly in a circle formation around the wounded one. One of the stallions in the group spoke up, breaking formation to help tend to his fellow member. "Lightning Dust! Are you okay?" He touched her wing, and she winced in pain.

"I'm, I'm alright." Lightning Dust pushed the stallion away and tried to flap her wings. It caused her extreme pain, and while she did not confess, one could see how much it hurt. "I guess I can't fly."

"That would be correct. You should stay off that wing for a few days. Let it heal." Rarity intervened, looking sternly at the injured pegasus. She looked at the other, similar pegasi. "Are you darlings her friends?"

"They're my team. The ShadowBolts." Lightning interjected.

She was given another look from Rarity. "You guys will have to make sure she stays grounded. She could get seriously hurt if she tries to fly."

"Like this isn't serious?" The stallion in the middle asked.

The earth pony turned her stone hard gaze to said stallion. "If you think this is serious, you haven't seen anything yet."

The stallion stood straighter and saluted, intimated by the camouflaged mare. The rest of the troop followed his example, even Lightning Dust gave a small salute. Rarity nodded her head and got out of their way. The grounded pegasus was then lifted away into the air by her team. As they flew higher in the air, of few commands from Ms. Dust could be heard.

"Take note of this fillies and colts, this could work for a new formation. Let's call it: Shining Star."

Rarity then led her own group of friends as they continued their journey, for the fire had dissipated while the ShadowBolts had visited. A few minutes later, Dawn trotted along side the sapphire-eyed mare and asked her a question.

"How'd you get out safe? You're clothes could've caught on a fire, and fire protection is like a level 8 1/2 spell! Only the very top of the class at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns can perform that spell. I know of no unicorn seamstress, let alone an earth pony perform such a spell."

"The camouflage wasn't enchanted." Rarity confessed. "It was enforced with a fire resistant material."

"But even fire rest isn't material would get a little singed."

Rarity shrugged. "What really matters is that Lighting Dust is safe."

Dawn fell to the back of the group as she contemplated this new development. This mare was willing to risk her life for somepony she never even met.

All this thinking was starting to hurt the pink pony's head, but whether she was glad or not about being interrupted was something no one would ever know.

Help!