(note: takes place after 'pain')
Rainbow was sitting in a dark, cold pit. She was nothing but this darkness. It surrounded her, suffocated her, and prevented her from moving. Looking around, she saw nothing. Then, a light blinded her, and she saw a, vision, for lack of a better term.
She stood on a stage of sorts. She looked through the narrow slits of a helmet, or maybe a mask. She wore a tight fiting cloth shirt decorated with medals, a simple black tie, and a green shoulder cape with red trim. A sheathed sword hung on her side, and her forehooves were propped up on a podium. To her sides stood a pair of griffins; tall and muscular, much more so then the ones she had seen from griffinstone. They wore heavy armor and shoulder capes like her's but less ornate. Strange looking axes were gripped in their talons, with similar designed swords to her's on their belts. In front of her, stood a massive crowd. Minotaurs, griffons, diamond dogs, mules, and other creatures, as well as ponies were in the crowd. They all were cheering, at what she didn't know. However, she made out one phrase that was being cheered. "Long live the great liberator! Long live the Federation!" In addition, one more phrase she heard among the cacophony of cheering: "Hail Pryha!"
Then, the light flashed again, and she was pulled from the dream, and went back to the void of dreamless sleep.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
As Dash began to wake up, she felt stiff, yet warm and dry, which was a great improvement. She began to sit up, and looked around. She was laying in a bed, thick wool blankets pulled up to her neck. The room she was in was pretty bare; just a empty bookshelf in on corner, a nightstand next to the bed, and a potted cactus on the window. The walls were made of wood, with peeling red and yellow wallpaper. The ceiling and floor was bare wood planks. A fire burned in a brick pit, filling the room with a warm glow.
Before dash could get her bearings, the door opened up, and an earth pony entered. She wore a leather jerkin, a blue and white bandanna, and had a tray balanced on her back. Though she couldn't see what was on the tray, it smelled heavenly. The earth pony said, "Ah, yer awake! Dats good! Now, eat up!"
Rainbow watched as she set the tray over her, revealing a massive bowl of soup. The earth pony began to spoon feed her, the warm and thick liquid feeling like liquid bliss going down her throat. After a while, when the pony was getting a new spoonful, dash decided to speak up. "Where...am?"
The earth pony said, "Easy there. Easy. Your safe, two of the farm hands found you while out getting some water. You were all cut to pieces when the doc brought you in. What happened to you? "
Dash replied, "who....are?"
She blushed, then gave a nervous chuckle. "Where are my manners? Names iron plow, I run this here farm. The two who found you were Shepard and Garrett, two of the farmhands. The one that made sure you didn't bleed out was Doc Mitchell. There are a few others, but those the only ones you have met. Well, met isn't the right term. Ummm, been around while nearly dying is a bit better. Speaking of which, you still haven't answered my question. What happened? You don't have to answer, but it would put me at ease."
"I'm from *cough, cough* equestria. I was-"
With that, iron plows eyes widened! "Yer an equestrian!? You mean you used to be one of dem lazy bastards? Huh, didn't think they had the stomach for what happened to you."
" Used?" asked a confused rainbow. "What do you mean by 'used to'? "
"Well, my boys find you in the river, cut to pieces. Since your dis far south, I figured you weren't one. Would I be wrong?"
Rainbow thought. How far south was she? It had been over a day, well at least she thought so, so it could be who knows far away from the white tail woods. She then thought about it even more. Was she still an equestrian? Her friends likely thought she was dead (she knows she would if somepony went through those things), so, was this her chance to start over? To begin again? Figuring it was, she gave her response: "No, you wouldn't. I was done being a pawn."
"Got it. Hope you don't mind the questions. Dem ponies up north don't have the best rep down here. "
Ok, now to get some answers. "Exactly where a I?"
"You know how Appleousa is the furthest south equestrian town?" When Rainbow nodded, she continued. "Well, dis farm is about 75 miles further south."
75 miles!? Had she gone further then that in about 1 and a half days? Well, that may explain some of this mares ideas and accent. Before either could get another word out, the door once more opened. In stepped a smaller sized minotaur. He had on a set of glasses and some blue pants. In addition to his smaller size, he was also much smaller then most of the ones she had seen. And she hasn't seen many.
Plow said, "Ah, doc. Good to see you. I'll see you later" as she left with the soup. The 'Doc' pulled up a chair, and sat down next to her.
"Hi there. I'm Doc Mitchell, the one who saved your sorry a**. So, mind telling me how you got your injuries?"
So, She told him. Not some of the more, personal things, like how her best friends had betrayed her. She just said ponies some to her had done it to her. She also didn't say exactly what she was apart of. While she figured these creatures wouldn't, she didn't completely trust them not to try to ransom her back to them. So she lied and said she was in the royal guard. He didn't seem to buy it, but didn't press further.
Finally, she couldn't stand not knowing how bad it was. As the doc got up to leave, she broke the question. "Hey, doc. How bad was I hurt?"
You didn't know. Oh ok. Well, see for yourself. " He ripped off the blanket, and went to a closet. He came back with a large mirror, and laid it next to the bed. Rainbow looked to her side at it, and gasped.
Her body was almost completely covered in bandages. Her tail was nearly all gone, just a tiny stub of Rainbow hair. The bandages were head, covered everything save her head. On her head, which was all she could make damages out, was a mess. A long jagged crack ran along her forehead, like the crack in the element of loyalty. In addition, the side of her right cheek was skinned down far, to the point where she could see her teeth and gums. Her mane was also cut short like her tail, uneven and choppy. She then noticed that one side of her back was flatter then the other.
"I'm afraid we had to bandage the rest. It will be sometime before we can take it off. Now I must go." He got up, put the chair and mirror back, and headed towards the door. As he reached it, he suddenly turned back. " Say, I never got your name. What is if? "
Rainbow once more considered her hosts questions. Since this was a new start for her, should she get a new name? If so, what? After some time, she turned up with an answer for his question.
"Void streak. Call me void streak." With that, the minotaur nodded, turned, and left the room. leaving her alone with her thoughts. Soon, realizing she needed her sleep, and how tired she still was, lay her head back, and went out like a light.