Rainforest Dash

by LeoFalsetto

Chapter 2: The Escape

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" A thickly accented voice asked.

Rainbow Dash froze in fear, before slowly turning to face the source of the voice. There, staring back at her, was a light red pony with a tan mane and tail. He bore a slight smile, rife with a feeling of internal malice and mental insanity. He had a satchel across his back, which appeared to hold some sort of machete or instrument of the sort.

He would look not unlike any other intimidating pony, were it not for his eyes. Large, bloodshot spheres, each holding a dark grey iris. His left eye was slightly closed, and had a very noticeable scar adorning it, leading from the base of his mane to the tip of his nostril. His eyes, unfaltering, stared at Rainbow Dash, causing her very soul to shiver.

"I-I..." Rainbow Dash couldn't form her words properly, as the sight of this pony halted her mind.

"You really think that you're just going to be able to grab your things and leave? Hmm?" The pony asked, his voice holding a seemingly caring nature to it, yet still frightfully intimidating.

"I-I just wanted to--"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" The pony screamed. The sudden change in tone startled Rainbow as she felt herself adopt a defensive pose. "You really think that we're just going to let you leave, after we went through all the trouble of catching you in the first place?"

Rainbow Dash noticed his tone change back, and she went for her opening.

"The trouble of catching me? You hit me with a rock and put me in a cage!" She protested, refusing to be forced down out of intimidation. "Everything you did to catch me you did while I was unconscious!"

The red pony's eyes narrowed, and his frightful smile faded. Rainbow Dash held her defensive stance as she awaited his rebuttal.

"What's the matter? Got nothing to say?" She added, trying to get her captor to slip up in some way.

"No. I have nothing to say. You think that since you're a captive, that I need you." He pointed out. He was right. Rainbow Dash had counted on the fact that he wouldn't hurt her as long as he needed her.

"That's it then?" She asked, not sure of how she wanted him to respond.

"Let me tell you a little something... I don't need you. You are a luxury to me. If I have you, I can milk anyone who wants you back for money, but I have enough money as it is. Tell you what..." The pony paused. He motioned to a zebra standing a few meters from him that Rainbow Dash had failed to notice. "Let me show you a little something..."

The red pony reached his head back to his satchel and with one swift motion brought forth a blade, and swung it at the zebra. He re sheathed the blade, leaving Rainbow Dash slightly intimidated. Immediately afterward, she noticed a crimson liquid begin to taint the white stripes of the zebra's coat. He gripped at his neck, illuminating a large gash across it. His legs gave out as he fell to the ground, a puddle of the unfamiliar liquid beginning to form around him.

Rainbow Dash's eyes went wide, and she felt herself holding back tears and vomit as the zebra bled out before her.

"THAT IS WHAT I WILL DO TO YOU, IF YOU DON'T GET BACK INTO THAT DAMN CAGE! I DON'T NEED YOU, AND NEITHER DOES THIS PLANET!" The red pony screamed, his voice echoing within Dash's mind. She couldn't move her gaze from the zebra, and the sight stayed her legs from movement. "DID YOU NOT HEAR ME!?" The pony screamed again, this time much louder, commanding Rainbow Dash's attention. She shivered in fright as she backed herself into the cage.

"Good." The pony said, his voice holding a tone of displeasure and anger. He approached the cage and removed some rope from his satchel. He tied her fore hooves above her head and to the back of the cage. "Don't think I didn't see how you got out last time. You used this... You're good wing. Let's keep that from happening again."

The red stallion pulled Dash's wing through the cage wall and picked up a large stone from the ground.

"You're other wing didn't do to good when we hit it with a rock. Let's see if this one does any better!" The stallion slammed the rock into Rainbow Dash's functioning wing repeatedly. Breaking bone and cutting skin, the stallion relentlessly battered her wing with malicious blows. Rainbow cried out in pain as each attack hit.

The stallion finished his assault and backed away, breathing heavily, his breaths sounding almost relieved. Rainbow's blue wing was stained a red, darker than the red in her mane. Rainbow openly sobbed as the stallion departed, leaving her once working wing nothing more than an erratic mess of feather, bone, and blood. Rainbow Dash tried to hold her tears of pain back, but to no avail. After a few minutes of the most painful experience of her life, she passed out.

Rainbow awoke several hours later, still in the cage. It was daytime now, and she knew that if she was going to survive, she had to find a way out of this hell. Rainbow thrashed her hind legs a bit, testing to find if anypony nearby could hear her. No one approached, so she knew she was in the clear. Quickly checking her surroundings to verify, she tried to pull her fore legs forward. Thankfully, the cage was still cracked from the zebra's intimidation the previous night, and the section of the cage secured to the rope binds broke off seamlessly.

As she leaned forward, her wing caught a bar in the cage frame, sending a jolt of sharp pain through her body. She quickly moved her still bound hooves to her mouth, muffling the screams of pain that tried to escape. Rainbow gritted her teeth and pulled forth from the cage, freeing her wing.

She clumsily stumbled to the table holding her gear, her fore hooves still bound. She quickly checked her inventory and verified that nothing was removed. She threw the saddlebags over her back, wincing in pain as they touched her wings. She removed the machete from her bag and carefully cut her binds free.

Her movement now unhindered, Rainbow began her escape. She was pleasantly surprised to find that the majority of her captors were either passed out outside, or asleep inside. The corpse of the zebra was still laying just at the entrance to the path. Rainbow gulped, yet pushed back her emotion as she stepped over the body.

Sticking to the foliage as she moved, and avoiding the still conscious guards, Rainbow Dash found her way out of the camp, and was soon standing at the gate between two hells: The camp, and the rainforest. Rainbow Dash gulped as she trotted carefully into the jungle before her, when suddenly, a familiar color caught her eye.

Rainbow turned her gaze to the left, to see none other than the red stallion who had crushed her wing and murdered in front of her, passed out at the entrance to the camp. She felt a pulse of hatred and spite strike her body, as it moved without her total consent. She reached into her bag and silently withdrew the machete.

She held the blade in her mouth as she reared her head back, never once breaking visual contact with this deplorable excuse for pony-kind.

Just as she was about to bring her head back with deadly force, the red stallion's eyes shot open, looking directly at Rainbow Dash.

"Surprise, bitch!" The stallion bucked his hind legs, nailing Dash in the chest. She clenched her teeth as she winced in pain, refusing to part with her weapon. The stallion leaped to his feet, standing mere feet from Dash. Neither one wanted to be the first to make a move.

Rainbow Dash's impatience got the better of her as she lunged at her unarmed opponent. The stallion dodged her attack flawlessly, swinging a hind leg at Dash's, causing her to lose her balance. Rainbow quickly recovered and swung her head at the stallion once more. This time, the stallion reared his hind legs and kicked the blade, sending a jolt of force through Rainbow's head. The machete shattered, leaving Dash holding only the bottom half of her machete. Taking the momentum he had forced at her, Dash swung back, catching her opponent off guard, and landing a slice horizontally across his left eye.

The stallion fell to the ground and clutched his face as blood began to flow from behind his shut eyelid. Taking her chance, Rainbow Dash bolted off into the depths of the rainforest, leaving her wounded opponent behind.

"YOU BETTER RUN, BITCH!" The stallion screamed, waking the others in the camp, "REMEMBER THE NAME TARIK, BECAUSE IT'LL BE THE LAST ONE YOU EVER HEAR!"

Author's Note:

So this was one of my first attempts at writing in an actual fight scene, short as it may have been. Let me know how I did in the comments, and feel free to include any concerns you may have. Thanks for reading!