Rainbow had finished cleaning four guns when a loud bell rang.
“Break time!” one of the guards yelled after the bell stopped ringing. “Those of you that are new here, ya have ten minutes to eat once the food comes out. Keep the chattin’ to a minimum.”
Rainbow placed the gun she was holding down on the table. She then threw the wet cloth into the bucket of dirty water.
“What happened to your wing?” somepony said. Rainbow turned around and saw a small pony. They were really young.
Something inside of Rainbow... clicked. This wasn’t just a small pony. It was a young colt. She could... almost remember... being a filly.
The small colt was about the same shade of blue as Rainbow, but he had a white and black coloured mane.
“I-I fell...” Rainbow answered.
“Wow... Does it hurt?” the colt asked.
“Not really. Do you know where the food will be?”
“Oh, it’s over here! Follow me!” The colt began running over to a gate that was just being opened. “Right here!”
“Thank you. What’s your name?” Rainbow asked as she grabbed some bread for herself and the small colt.
“My name is London!”
“Where are your parents, London?” Rainbow asked.
London’s attitude seemed to change. He looked down at his hooves. “I don’t know...”
How could these ponies do this to a little colt like this!?
“What do you think the bad ponies are going to do to me?” London asked.
“London... I wish I could say you’re safe. Just stick with me, okay? Stay with me and I will protect you.”
“Okay!”
“Here, you can have the rest of my food. I don’t really want it.” Rainbow gave him the two pieces of bread she had grabbed, along with the two she grabbed for him at first.
The bell rang again. “Time’s up! Get back to work ya filthy ponies!”
Rainbow and London went to the closest table. There were three guns on each table, ready for cleaning.
Rainbow picked up London and set him down on the table. “Here, you can clean this one, I’ll clean these two.”
She gave London the cloth to clean with. Rainbow used the bottom end of her tunic to clean with after she couldn’t find any more cloths around.
The guns were a lot less dirtier than the ones from the night prior. These ones had one or two big pieces of dried mud with a little bit of dirt stuck in near the trigger area. Her and London finished the three guns and went on to finish another five more.
Rainbow was about to grab another gun that was slid down to her when the bell rang again.
“Alright, everypony walk in a single-file line towards the exit. We’ll be loadin’ y’all up in the wagons shortly,” a guard yelled.
Just then, a gate behind her opened. She turned around and saw that most of the ponies in the hole had already lined up. Her and London were the last two in the line.
“London, get in front of me,” Rainbow whispered.
“Okay,” he whispered back.
The line was moving relatively fast. Two ponies were being escorted at a time.
Once they got to the end, one of the guards said, “You two, with me.”
As they walked along a trail, the guard was filling them in on what they were to do. “Alright, Miss, you are gonna be inside of the wagon, since you have a colt with ya. You two are gonna be sorting through the supplies and making sure everything is in good shape for travelling.”
“W-where are we going?” Rainbow hesitantly asked.
“Well, we are headin’ into town. Y’all are gonna be sold to the ponies there,” he answered.
London looked up at Rainbow. All she could do was ruffle his mane... and hope for the best.
The trail lead to a larger trail that had wagons lined up. There were ponies being attached to the front of the wagons. There were also ponies being helped up inside the backs of the wagons.
The guard made them go left. They walked down the road for a little bit until the guard stopped them.
“Alright, here we are. Get inside.”
Rainbow walked to the back of the wagon and helped London inside first. She then jumped up behind him.
“Stay here. Don’t even think ‘bout movin’.”
Once the guard was gone, London looked over at Rainbow. He asked, “What is your name?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. My name is Rainbow,” she responded.
“Can... you be my friend, Rainbow?”
She felt like her heart melted after he spoke those words so softly. “Aw, of course I will be your friend!”
London leaned forward and hugged Rainbow. She couldn’t lie... it felt... nice. She hugged him back.
She placed her hooves on his shoulders. “London, whatever happens... you stay with me.”
“Always,” he whispered.
“Alright you two, stay quiet, we gotta get movin’,” the guard said as he climbed up into the seat at the front of the wagon. “Let’s go! Get to walkin’, ponies!”
Rainbow looked outside of the cover through a small rip in the fabric and saw dozens of guards walking alongside each of the wagons. Just then, the wagon lurched forward, causing London to fall down.
The guard looked back at them, holding a paper out to Rainbow. “I want ya to look at each item on this list and make sure it’s there, can ya do that?”
Rainbow nodded her head as she grabbed the paper from the pony’s hoof.
“London, can you read?” she asked.
“Yes!”
“Okay, you read them off, and I’ll check if they’re here.”
“Okay! Uh... what’s that word?” London asked, pointing to a word on the paper.
Rainbow leaned down and looked at it. “Oh, that’s ammunition. Um, yeah, that’s here. What’s next?”
“M-R-Es?”
“What? M-R-E?”
“It’s here. I put it up here with me, to make sure ya don’t take any,” the guard said.
“Alright, next one, London,” Rainbow said.
Once they finished the checklist, Rainbow had to switch out with a pony that was pulling the wagon. Every time the wagon train stopped, they would switch out. London was allowed to walk alongside the wagon if he wanted, but he had to be in sight of the guard.
The land around them had changed severely. It went from forest to desert to plains, and they were coming up on mountains soon.
Rainbow was walking the wagon along with another another pony... but something seemed... off about him. He never spoke, and he looked tired all of the time.
Suddenly, he jumped as if he were scared by something on the ground.
“Are you... alright?” Rainbow asked.
The pony walked a little bit more, then stopped. Rainbow tugged at the ropes to pull the wagon, but the pony wouldn’t budge.
“Hey, what’s wrong? We should keep moving,” Rainbow waved a hoof in front of his face.
“Get back!” the guard shouted, grabbing his gun from beside him.
Rainbow backed away from the pony. A loud bang rang out and the pony fell to the ground. Blood was puddling up around the body.
Rainbow closed her eyes. “W-why did you kill him?”
“Darn disease got’em. It spreads faster than mosquitoes in a swamp.”
“What disease?” Rainbow asked.
“Quit askin’ me questions and keep goin’,” the guard demanded.
“I can’t pull it by myself.”
The guard glared at her for a moment, then turned around to look inside the wagon. “Hey, you need to get out here and help’er pull the wagon.”
The other pony that had been switching out with Rainbow had come out of the wagon. He was larger than most of the other ponies, and he seemed to be nice.
“Don’t worry, Blue, just over this hill is the valley where the town is,” the guard said.
“Blue?” Rainbow asked, looking back at him.
“Yeah, that’s your name! Now get on with your duty!”
“Blue is not my na—”
“Do you want me to hit ya right now?! ‘Cause I will! I’ll call ya whatever I want. Now get goin’!”
Rainbow resumed walking. London jumped out of the wagon and ran up next to her.
“Are you okay, Rainbow?” he asked.
“Yes, I’m okay. What about you? You doing alright?”
“I’m fine. Just thirsty.”
“Well, hopefully they’ll give us water and food once we get to...” Rainbow’s words trailed off. They were coming over the hill and she saw the whole city.
The city was bordered by a large, towering wall that surrounded the entire city. The wall was off-white with golden pillars that looked to be holding it up. Each building inside of the wall was the same off-white stone with a red-brown roofing. On top of the wall stood many large weapons, stationed at each pillar’s end. There was a break in wall with a large wooden bridge that looked like it could fold upwards to block things out.
“Rainbow... I-I’m scared,” London said.
“Me too, London. Me too.”