//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8 
// Story: Until Fairer Skies Beckon 
// by totallynotabrony 
//------------------------------//

Rainbow awoke in darkness.  Her whole body hurt.
 
She was curled up on something hard.  It was cool to the touch.  It might have been steel.
 
She tried to move.  Her hands and feet hit steel walls.  Struggling to sit up, she felt around.  She was inside a box.  It was too small for her to stretch out or stand.
 
Her fingers felt her neck.  It was still tender, and hurt even more than the rest of her.  She remembered the tazer.
 
She’d been caught.  Her escape had failed.  
 
Rainbow sucked in a stuttering breath.  Now what?  Could she try again?
 
What would they do to her?
 
A shot of pure panic went through her and Rainbow backed up until she hit the wall.  Her eyes darted around the darkness, but there was nothing to see.  No sounds other than her own breathing made it to her ears.
 
She was, well, not safe, but in no immediate danger.  Rainbow tried to force herself to calm down, but was only gradually successful.
 
When she was able, Rainbow tentatively felt around her prison again.  The box was crudely made, but solid.  There seemed to be a door on one side, but she didn’t find any means of opening it.
 
She took stock of herself.  She still wore her clothing.  Her pockets had been turned out and nothing remained.  Her pant leg was torn from the barbed wire and the skin of her ankle was scratched.
 
Rainbow lay down, because it was the most comfortable position she could find.  There was no way of knowing how long she would be in here, or even where “here” was.  She tried to go to sleep, but it wouldn’t come.
 
What had gone wrong?  Had she gotten careless?  Had a lucky patrol spotted her?  Would she have gotten away if she hadn’t stopped to search for food first?
 
There were many questions and few answers.  Rainbow was distracted by a faint light.  Her brow furrowed and she moved closer to the door.  Yes, it seemed like there was the barest trace of light coming in around the crack of the door.
 
Minutes passed and it got brighter.  It was morning, then.  Rainbow waited.  There was nothing else she could do.
 
The sun got brighter, to full daylight.  Rainbow started to hear faint sounds.  Maybe distant conversation.  Maybe machinery.  The sound of a jet starting up was distinctive.  Shortly, she heard seven planes taking off.  That was all of the pilots but her.
 
She kept waiting.  Under the sun, the metal box had started to grow warm.
 
Why were they keeping here?  To punish her, obviously, but it seemed strange that they would simply lock her up in solitary confinement without even taking the chance to heckle her.
 
Time wore on.  Rainbow was now sweating.  The roof of the box was too hot to touch.  She crowded the door, trying to feel any tiny breeze through the crack.
 
The jets returned.  Rainbow counted again: seven.
 
More time passed.  Rainbow felt a headache coming on, which figured, considering how hungry and dehydrated she was.
 
She tried to sleep, but the thought went through her head that it would be like giving up.  Of all the ways to die, in her sleep seemed like the easy way out.
 
It took her a moment to realize that she was hearing a helicopter.  Her headache was part of it, but also she’d never seen one at the base.
 
It came in for a landing and shut down.  A few minutes passed, and Rainbow heard several sets of footsteps coming her way.  However, it was still a surprise when the lock clicked and the metal door was yanked open.
 
The light blinded her, but the cooler air was heavenly.  Rainbow tumbled out of the box, eyes squinted to slits.  Someone kicked her over and a couple sets of hands grabbed her arms.
 
The dragged her.  Rainbow grunted and managed to get her feet under her without seeing where they were taking her.  She stumbled but was very nearly held off the ground by the soldiers.
 
Eyes adjusting, she managed to look around.  The big man who’d punched her in the face on her first day, Connor Clash, was the one who had ahold of her right arm.  He looked down at flashed a wicked smile.  “Thanks.  I’d been wanting to see how that tazer worked.”
 
Rainbow blinked, not willing or able to spare the effort to respond.  She looked in the other direction.
 
A man clad in a cape walked beside the soldiers that were dragging her.  He was bareheaded, and wore wire-framed glasses, with some kind of light jacket and slacks under the cape.  Rainbow’s eyes focused.  His cape was made of hide.  Thicker fur was piled around his shoulders.  Was that...a lion skin?
 
Rainbow was brought from wherever the box was located, across the runway, and over to hangar four.
 
The other seven pilots and several soldiers were gathered around.  Rainbow’s plane sat outside the hangar.
 
“Where’s the mechanic?” Clash called.
 
Soarin’, quickly but obviously reluctantly, stepped forward.
 
“Have you got the straps?”
 
Soarin’ picked up a few pieces of thick nylon webbing, the kind used to strap down cargo.  Rainbow was pulled over to the plane and her arms raised, facing the propeller.  Soarin’ strapped her wrists to the propeller blades and the others let her go, backing away.
 
“Stand up straight,” he advised quietly.  “It’ll be easier on your arms.”
 
Rainbow did, taking the slack off her wrist bindings.  The propeller spinner pushed against her chest.
 
Soarin’ lifted his hand, a blue and yellow piece of cloth in his palm.  He pushed it to Rainbow’s lips and in the state she was in, she accepted it in her mouth without question.  It was only after he’d backed away that she began to realize what was about to happen.
 
She turned her head, looking over her shoulder as well as she could.  The man in the lion skin stood about ten feet behind her, his hands folded in front of him.
 
“So begins the sentencing of Rainbow Dash,” he said.
 
Rainbow tried to turn in her restraints to see him better.  He didn’t move.
 
“She attempted to run away. Throughout history, desertion has always carried a high penalty.  As it should.”  He cast his eyes over the assembled crowd, focusing on the other pilots.  “Cowardice will not be tolerated.  I had thought this lesson could have been learned from other’s mistakes, but I will teach it again as often as it is needed.”
 
One of the soldiers opened a metal briefcase.  Lion Heart reached in and took out a rolled up whip.  He held it in his hands and looked back to Rainbow.  “I sentence you to ten lashes.”
 
It could have been a hundred.  It could have been worse.  Rainbow couldn’t believe she was actually feeling grateful.  She’d been spanked more than ten times as a kid.  This wouldn’t be so bad.
 
She knew she was fooling herself.
 
Lion Heart raised his arm.  Rainbow flinched.
 
The first lash slapped her shoulder.  It hurt, but Rainbow rationalized that she’d been injured worse playing sports.
 
Lion Heart moved.  Perhaps he took a step backwards to better take advantage of the length of the whip.  Rainbow wasn’t looking.  The second lash laid into the center of Rainbow’s back.  It felt like it was going to leave a welt.  
 
She heard Lion Heart reposition his feet.  The third lash snapped harder.  Rainbow gasped through the cloth in her mouth.  
 
The next lash sounded different, a hum in the air.  Fire lanced Rainbow’s back.  She felt a breeze.  It had torn her t-shirt.  She tried to control her breathing.  She told herself she was almost halfway through the sentence.
 
Lion Heart moved again.  And then, he struck a lash so hard the whip whistled and cracked as it split her skin.  Rainbow sagged against the propeller, body utterly unable to stand against the pain.  Her teeth felt like they were going to bite straight through the cloth and her eyes were squeezed so tight that she saw white.
 
And then, five more lashes just like that one fell. 
 
Rainbow’s entire world had narrowed to nothing but pain.  She didn’t even feel the straps digging into her wrists.  For a few seconds, she even forgot to breathe.  She didn't even recognize the sound coming out of her mouth.  It sounded like a kicked puppy.
 
A heavy hand came down on her shoulder.  Rainbow just barely cracked her eyes.  She saw glasses.  Why did he approach?  Would he hurt her more?
 
“Do you regret it?” Lion Heart asked quietly, a voice meant for her alone.
 
“Yes,” Rainbow whispered, and truthfully.
 
“Good,” he said.  “Because this is your last and only chance.”  He started to turn away.
 
“Who was it?” she managed to ask.
 
Lion Heart paused.  He knew what she meant, and it seemed to amuse him.  “Well, you would find out anyway when someone got out after only ninety nine missions.  It was Lightning Dust.”