//------------------------------//
// Chapter One 
// Story: Follow the Trail 
// by kayleigh1789 
//------------------------------//

Rainbow Dash dozed peacefully off in a cloud above Ponyville. She was unaware of the hooded figure underneath her. The smell of dust woke her up immediately.

"I'm up! I'm up!" She screamed. Looking around, Rainbow figured that it must've just been her imagination. Just as she curled up and was about to fall asleep again, a dusty bag was thrown over her head. The cyan pegasus thrashed around and tried to yell out, but the bag muffled her screams.

Rainbow Dash soon felt herself being carried somewhere. 'Ok, so my kidnappers are pegasi?' She thought to herself. Realizing that struggling would be no use at this point, Rainbow let herself be carried away. At least she would be able to see her kidnappers and see where she was. About a half an hour later, her hooves touched cold ground. The sack was pulled away and she gasped for breath.
"Jeez guys!" She wheezed. "You could at least wash the bag! It smells like Pinkie Pie when she claimed that playing in a skunk hole would be fun. And trust me, you don't wanna know what that smells like." Rainbow Dash tried to look around, but it was too dark. "Where am I anyway? Why did you take me here?"

Her captors came into Rainbow's line of vision and she nearly fainted. "Wait, the Shadow Bolts?! I thought you guys were just a part of Nightmare Moon's mist thingy that was supposed to split us up!"

The Shadow Bolts grinned from underneath their new uniforms. "So you believed. Nopony knows that we exist because we operate in the shadows. And as for where you are, you're in a very old pony morgue." Rainbow Dash nearly puked when she heard that. However, on the bright side...

"Ha ha! Idiots! You just told me where I am and that you really exist. Here's a note for the future. The next time you kidnap somepony -which you won't- try not to talk so much." Rainbow Dash spread her wings and took off to what she assumed to be the door. Slamming into the metal door, she expected that it would open from the impact. It didn't. She hit it with full force and was knocked out almost immediately.
The Shadow Bolts walked over to the unconscious pony musing about her stupidity. "Did she seriously believe that she would escape? We can talk as much as we please. Nopony has ever gotten out of here."
"Agreed. We have to prep her for the experiment immediately. There can't be any further delays." A different Shadow Bolt said. And with that, they dragged the rainbow maned pegasus away.





Rainbow Dash awoke sometime later to a bright light. Squinting, she realized that it was coming from the sun. Like, the actual sun. She was outside! Giving a holler of joy, the cyan pegasus got ready to leap up and fly. Only... she didn't fly.

"Wait, what? Why am I still on the ground?" She wondered aloud. Turning around, Rainbow Dash made a horrifying discovery. "Ahh! Where are my wings?!"

Rainbow Dash spun around franticly in a desperate attempt to see her wings. No such luck. Rainbow tried to calm herself down by taking deep breaths, but that only made her oxygen deprived. Clearing her head, Rainbow Dash tried to figure out where the hay she was.
She noticed a lot of trees around her, almost like a clearing in the woods. The sun was to her left, but she had no idea if it was setting or rising. A small brook was next to her, and it was filled with fish and tadpoles. At least she wouldn't have to worry about starving to death... did she really just think that?!

"Hey Shadow Bolts! Where are you?! Where are my wings?!" Rainbow Dash yelled out to the sky hoping that her kidnappers would hear her. Nothing happened. The young mare groaned in agony and plopped on the ground. What should she do? What could she do?
"I swear, she gets louder every time she yells." A Shadow Bolt commented to her fellow members as they watched the pegasus. The others nodded in agreement. "Do you think we should go see her?"

"No. She needs to go a week without her wings before she's eligible to join us. She relies too heavily on her wings. It will be interesting to see how long she goes without them."

"True, but how do we know that she'll want to join us? She has proven to be quite stubborn at times such as these." The fist Shadow Bolt replied. They kept watching as Rainbow Dash screamed in protest and called them cowards for not coming out.

"Trust me, my friend. I can be persuasive when I need to be." The first pegasus knew better than to question what her boss meant, so she suggested that they go back to the morgue. Nodding, her boss glanced back at Rainbow Dash before spreading his light grey wings and taking off into the clear blue sky.

"Hey! I see you guys! Get back here!" Rainbow screamed as she spotted her kidnappers flying away. When they didn't listed or even show that they had heard her, the cyan pegasus plopped down on the smooth grass in frustration. Great, now what? Did they just expect her to find a away to escape on her own? Hmm... Rainbow Dash could always try to find her way through the forest that surrounded her. How deep could it possibly be?

But Rainbow Dash couldn't help but think that she had placed here for a reason. The Shadow Bolts had left her in a place where she could survive. The sun was beating down on the wingless pegasus, so Rainbow walked over to the pond and splashed some cool water on her face. When would her friends realize she was missing? Would they look for her? Would they even find her? So many question swarmed through Rainbow Dash's head as she tried to comprehend her situation. The sun was starting to sink below the horizon, so she figured that way must be West. Ok, so was she West or East of Ponyville? Rainbow Dash really needed some sleep, but her head throbbed too hard for her to get any rest. Her only choice now was to just sit there and think.

'Oh girls...' Rainbow thought to herself. 'I hope you find me soon.'