Rainbow Dash awoke with a groan. She blinked wearily, and rose to her hooves. She took a moment to look around the room. Off in the distance, She spots some form of contraption, and two ponies in the middle of it. One of them is a unicorn, the other... “Fluttershy?!” Rainbow Dash yells, shocked to see her friend on the business end of the machination.
“Well well, awake from your nap, Rainbow Dash?” The familiar sights and sounds returning.
“You... What's the big idea of you dragging Fluttershy into this mess?!” She snaps, a tone of resentment in her voice.
“Simple, really. I want to see where your loyalties lie.”
“What kind of answer is that?” Rainbow Dash asks, still very much upset.
“Here's the challenge set before you: a large spiked plate hangs over both your friend, and the stranger to her left. The moment either one of them moves off the pressure pads they're standing on, both of the plates will drop. You won't have enough time to save both of them. The moment you move off your pad, the doorway out will begin closing. You will have sixty seconds before it closes, and anypony not on the other side of that door won't have a ghost of a chance when it closes. Of course, fail to make a decision in five minutes, and you won't even save yourself, Rainbow Dash. You'll need to think fast, and act even faster if you want any hope of making it out alive.”
The voice disappears, their ultimatum delivered and the countdown begins. Rainbow Dash looks over at the two captives. Fluttershy hunched herself in to as small a space as she could, all she could do was regard the looming spiked plate with terror. The other was a unicorn, somepony she'd never seen before. I just can't either of these two die, she thought. Rainbow dash begins racking her brain, searching for a solution that would save both of them. But she can only think of one, the plan hinges on the hopes that he knew a certain spell.
“Hey you,” she said, addressing the unicorn, “you know any spells?”
“Well, I can use levitation” he replies.
“Good. Let's go!” Rainbow dash says, triumphantly. She then takes off, running full speed in his direction. As she steps off the pad, a click is heard, and the doorway of the exit begins closing. At first her comment struck the unicorn as odd, but when he looks to his right and sees the cowering pegasus, he realizes the plan and readies a levitation spell. As Rainbow Dash closes the gap between her and the unicorn, and takes a leap, throwing her self headlong at him.
The unicorn sees this and braces himself, making sure to maintain the spell he was casting. She collides into him, pushing the unicorn out from under the plate. Rainbow Dash looks to her left, and sees Fluttershy being pulled out of harms way. It worked, she thought, glad that nopony had to suffer a horrible fate. The group hit the ground, safe from the plate. The plates landing shortly after them, And Fluttershy lets out a bloodcurdling scream.
Her heart sunk and a lump forms in her throat after hearing her friends scream. She looks to her left. The unicorn's efforts hadn't been enough. Her right hind leg is trapped under the plate. She runs over to Fluttershy and attempts to lift the heavy plate. “Just go on without me...” she cries meekly, with tears in her eyes. “Nothing doing” Rainbow Dash replies with effort, as she musters her strength, lifting the plate off her friend's leg. “A little help here!” she addresses the unicorn once more. He levitates her from under the plate and she drops it. She picks up Fluttershy and tosses her over her back.
Her friend in tow, Rainbow Dash makes a beeline for the door, which is about half closed at this time. As she nears the door, she could feel Fluttershy slipping off her back. She begins running at a faster pace, in the hopes that she'd clear the door before Fluttershy fell. Crossing the doorway, she slips off Rainbow Dash's back, landing in the path of the closing door.
Turning in her step, she reaches out and grabs her front leg, and in one swift motion, pulls her away from the door. The door shuts, and a wave of relief hits Rainbow Dash. A few moments later, a loud crash is heard from the other side of the door, and the ground shakes. The group stares at the door, feeling an equal mixture of shock and solace, glad that such an outcome had not befallen them.
“You saved me again...” Fluttershy says, looking up at Rainbow Dash.
“Like I always say, I'd never leave anypony hanging” Fluttershy smiled at her friend who would risk her life to save hers. “Though, I can't take all the credit, I did have help after all” she says. “Oh, and thanks again, I couldn't have done it without-” She turns to look at the unicorn, but he was nowhere to be seen. “Where'd he go...?”
---
Twilight spots the end of the long hallway in sight. It wasn't the way out of here, but it was a fair sight better than the dark and narrow hallway. As she drew closer to the exit, she heard a voice ask “Who's there?”. The voice sounded familiar.
“Applejack?” she replies.
“Twilight, is that you?” Twilight crosses the exit of the hallway, and there is her friend standing in the room. “Oh, aren't you a sight for sore eye, Twilight.” Applejack says, relieved to see one of her friends.
“Uh-huh” she agrees, turning her head to look at Applejack. But this causes a bolt of pain to shoot down her neck, and she winces at the sensation.
“Is something the matter?” she asks, seeing the pain on Twilight's face.
“Oh, I injured my neck earlier...” she says, rubbing her sore neck.
“Here, lemme see” Applejack says, bringing a hoof to her neck. She rubs the back of her neck a bit. “Hmm, does it hurt when I do this?” she asks as she twists Twilight's head to the left.
“Owww... Yes...”
Applejack places her right hoof on the left side of her face. She then places her other hoof on the backside of her head, opposite of the other hoof.
“What are you-?”
“This might sting.” With a swift twist, and a pop, the pain in Twilight's neck vanished.
“Ow! Hey, it's gone! Thank you, Applejack.” she says, glad to be rid of the neck pain.
“Ah, no trouble at all. Just glad to help out a friend is all.” She then let out a sigh.
“What's wrong, Applejack?”
She closed her eyes, hoping to shut out the memory. “Its... a long story...” At this time Rarity emerged from one of the hallways on the other side of the room.
“Rarity? What happened? You look awful...” Twilight asks her, with a look of concern. She just winces, refusing to answer. “let me guess, long story?” She nods.
Next it was Pinkie Pie's turn to show up. She joins the group and sits down, places a hoof to her cheek, and begins rubbing it, with a pained look on her face.
“Is something the matter?” Twilight asks. She nods but says nothing.
“May I see it?” Pinkie opens her mouth. Twilight casts an illumination spell, and takes a peek in her mouth. Her cheeks, tongue, and the roof of her mouth are covered in numerous cuts and scrapes. She recoils in shock at this sight.
“What happened...?” Twilight asks, a notable tone of concern in her voice. She just looks at her with a sad look as tears begin welling up. She brings Pinkie in for a hug, pats her head, and says “It's okay, you don't have to answer that now.”
The group hears hoof steps off in the distance. They all turn to face the sound, wondering who was coming next. Its Rainbow Dash, and she has a worried look on her face. “We've got a problem!”