The Rainbow Trials

by Foxes33

Challenging Conditions

6. Challenging Conditions

Its been hours, my injury where Jasmin took out the tracking device hurts. My wings are sore, I can see a storm coming in, we will need to duck for cover.

It had been nearly all day, flying on sore wings that burned severely from the prickles of pain that spiked through her body. The wind made it cold, making Rainbow shiver and she could see the dark clouds swirling around, a storm was coming. They were flying in silence, but Rainbow was somewhat concerned from the fact that a storm was beginning to swoop in. It looked bad, Rainbow was partly getting shook off balance from the wind.

"Jasmin, a storm is coming, we have to land." Rainbow called up to her.

Jasmin's head looked back and she nodded, and Rainbow could tell she was struggling too. She slowed herself, coming back beside Rainbow.

"There is a mountain not far from here, I think we can make it." Jasmin explained and took the lead.

It was about fifteen minutes until they got to the mountain and they landed in a cave. Rainbow's heart was pounding, it was quite a struggle, they had only landed for food and bathroom breaks, and her wings felt like they were no longer there. She folded them up and went deeper inside, shaking the water from her body. Her mane drooped in front of her eyes, she used her right hoof and slid it to the side.

She decided to check her cut where the tracking device was, she slowly unraveled it and saw it was a little messy, but not infected. Rainbow knew it no longer needed to be covered, but still hurt a lot from the large cut. Her body felt numb from the cold, and when she walked she seemed to wobble slightly. She was unsure where they were, but Jasmin told her they had to escape first, so they had flown this way so they wouldn't find them. Besides it was getting late and they needed the rest to fly tomorrow if they were ever going to make it to Ponyville.

"Hey Jasmin," Rainbow turned from facing the entrance, "how far are we from Ponyville?" Rainbow asked.

Jasmin's head lifted and she answered, "We are still quite far, and still off course, tomorrow we will set a course that way, I think we are far enough away they won't find us."

Rainbow nodded and went to the back of the cave, passing Jasmin and laying down. She felt tired, and she knew she needed some rest. She didn't bother to say good night to Jasmin, who would maybe stay up a little longer. Slowly she fell under the spell of sleep and once again she dreamed.

Her friends were at the library and she was a ghost like figure. She watched them from the right and listened to there chatter.

"I miss Rainbow." Fluttershy said, and anyone could tell she was holding back the tears.

"But I am right here." Rainbow said, but she watched as she came closer to tap her shoulder, her hoof fell through.

Panic settled in, she knew that she wasn't alive, maybe she had died. However she remembered the hateful dreams, perhaps this was real.

"We all do Fluttershy, she'll me back. We all know that." Applejack said in a comforting voice.

All of it made Rainbow want to cry, and instead of staying she left through the wall and looked at the bird. She knew she wouldn't be back, she must have died in her slumber. She could feel tears leave her eyes and she knew she had failed them, until she heard a voice.

"Rainbow Dash! Rainbow, wake-up!"

Soon light came from the mouth of the cave and the world came back to life. That was when she saw Jasmin in front of her, and she seemed worried.

"You were thrashing in your sleep. I got worried." Jasmin explained.

Rainbow nodded to show her it was okay that Jasmin had waken her up. She also knew that he couldn't thrash like that anyways, her cuts and sores would only get worst.

"Besides, we have to get moving." Jasmin explained further and went to the mouth of the cave.

Rainbow got up fast and followed, there would be no breakfast which meant they had to go now. They took off together into the cold dawn. Rainbow yawned as soon as they took off, she was used to sleep the amount of time she wanted, but she understood the circumstances. They were flying a long distance in a different direction, until Jasmin stopped and gave the signal to land. Rainbow could tell by her face, there was something wrong and went down fast and landed into the trees.

"What's wrong?" Rainbow whispered, coming closer to Jasmin.

"There here, I don't know how they got here. We have to go on foot." Jasmin answered in a whisper and lead the way.

Rainbow's stomach felt hollow, did they go to Ponyville, did they have her friends? She felt nervous and almost wanted to scream with frustration, but she held her tongue and followed Jasmin. They weaved through trees and Jasmin lead Rainbow down a side of a cliff, but told her no to fly, perhaps there was a better reason. The stone was cold and it was afternoon and they were still going down, but Rainbow didn't complain. Soon Jasmin slid through a crevasse and Rainbow followed her into a small cave.

"I came here when I was a filly, we can stay here until they pass, if you flew down, you would miss it and I would too." Jasmin explained.

Rainbow nodded and they laid in the back, soon hearing the sounds of wings and wind swishing by. Rainbow wanted to hold her breath, but a large outburst would give away there location. It was nerve racking, and Jasmin and Rainbow huddle together, waiting.