In Search of a Rainbow

by Aswad Zeev


Chapter 7: Tied in a knot

It was mid-morning when Daring and Spitfire finally touched down at the edge of the jungle. Having flown with no real weight to slow them down. They made much better timing than to this point than Lightning and the Changing who had walked the whole way.

"So, what do you think now that you've seen what your up against?" Daring asked. "You think you can manage to fly through Pandora's box of tight twists and turns?"

"Hmm" Spitfire considered. Are you sure it's actually faster to fly?"

Daring nudged Spitfire in the shoulder, "I thought you said you were the best? Not up to the challenge?"

"I asked if you were sure it was faster, not that I couldn't do it."

"Well let's give it a go, and if your not happy, then we can stop and walk the rest of the way."

"Hey, that doesn't sound like daring." Spitfire poked Daring in the head. "Why are you being so considerate all of a sudden?"

Daring shrugged. "I wouldn't say I know the jungle like the back of my hoof, but I think I'm pretty good at traversing it. But a few broken wings have taught me not to underestimate the jungle."

Spitfire shrugged, "Just one more question. How much further through the jungle is it?"

"Well, if we flew over the top, it would take maybe about 40 minutes, So maybe 10 miles?"

Spitfire blinked. "Seriously? 10 miles of this? Are you sure we can't just fly over?"

Daring face hoofed. "Like I said, if we fly over, they'll see us coming in an instant. We want to give them as little warning as possible if we're going to rescue Rainbow."

Spitfire replied "Well they kidnapped her for a reason. Lightning Dust obviously has a score to settle with her, and this Ahuizotl probably wants to use her as bait to lure you in to a trap anyway."

"Damn, I hadn't really thought about it until now. Well, I guess we don't want to keep them waiting do we?"

Daring trotted up to the very edge of the jungle and was preparing to take flight into the jungle, when suddenly they were jumped by a bunch of cats and Lightning Dust. Lightning quickly pinned down Daring, while the cats surrounded Spitfire leaving her with no place to go. She could go straight up, but she couldn't abandon Daring.

Lightning Dust purred like a cat "So this is Crash's new friend? I'd almost approve, if you weren't both such hopeless losers!" Lightning then looked up at Spitfire and blinked in surprise.

"Sp. Sp. Spitfire? What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here!"

"Well, I was out flying with a friend, and all of a sudden what I find? A Wonderbolt reject playing with some cats. Seriously Lightning Dust, I still had some hope for you if you'd just learn to stop trying to show off. But after this stunt, your out of chances for good."

"We'll see about that. You're not getting out of here and with you gone, Soarin and the others will be begging to take me on now with Two Wonderbolts missing!"

It was Spitfires turn to face hoof. "There is No I in Team Lightning! I thought I made that clear when I threw you out of the Academy after that stunt you pulled?"

Lightning yelled back "Team is all about Me!" Addressing the cats she ordered "Tie them up! Oh and gag that one, I don't want to hear another peep out of her." Indicating Spitfire.

Daring had remained silent, given she was already pinned while Spitfire struggled pointlessly against their feline captures. They were swiftly tied up and carried off in to the dense undergrowth. When no-one was looking at either of them, Daring smiled and nodded at Spitfire to let her know she had a plan. Spitfire winked back in understanding.

A couple of hours later, they entered into a clearing that seemed to be a makeshift camp about halfway to Ahuizotl's camp. The cats decided to take a break from carrying their cargo and shoved the two tied up mares into an overhanging cage above the clearing. It looked like it was normally used to keep wild beasts trapped for food.

Lightning Dust had not been impressed by the cats slower pace, but then they were carrying the ponies. So she decided to leave the cats behind, and go on ahead at a faster pace to report back to Ahuizotl on her own about their capture at the jungle edge. She was sure he would be pleased with the news of an extra captive, another one of the prized wonderbolts no less. Maybe this could get her a little bonus pay off? If not, she still had Spitfire captive to torture for all of the Wonderbolt's hidden secrets.

Daring had been able to cut most of her bonds some time ago, and now that they didn't have prying eyes on them, she quickly also released Spitfire.

Spitfire whispered now that she was finally ungagged. “So you knew this camp was here and they'd stop.”

“Well not exactly here. But I figured they'd want to stop somewhere that would be a good place to escape from, and this was better than I hoped.”

“You know if we had proper room to move, I'd hit you right?”

“I thought the wonderbolts didn't do violence.”

“It's not a wonderbolt thing, it's just a lousy plan. So how is this better?”

“Simple, I break the lock, and then we pound them, they're all tired out, and we've had a nice relaxing trip being carried along.”

Spitfire rolled her eyes. “You do make a good point. So about breaking the lock?”

“Just move over a bit Spitfire, and I'll buck it like THIS!” Daring gave the lock an almighty buck that made the cage shake wildly on it's rope, but the lock snapped and went flying through the trees as the door swung open.

The pair of pegasi jumped out of the cage and landed on the cats below, who were both caught off guard and too worn out to put up much of a fight.

After a little interrogation, they learned that once the message of the capture had been signalled back using 'long range communications'. The cats were not looking out for any more flying targets and had abandoned their lookout posts. A story which was almost too good to believe, but it's just what they wanted to hear, a chance to stretch their wings and cover the rest of the distance in a relatively short time.