Spitfire glared uneasily towards the eastern horizon, glancing down at her watch on occasion.
"Why the hell isn't she back by now?" she wondered aloud.
"Is that some sort of academy record?" Thunderlane inquired with only a little bit of sarcasm.
"Not a good one." The captain replied. She turned on her rear hooves to face an assemblage of Wonderbolts and hippogriffs behind her.
"I want two squadrons to do a sweep of the perimeter in search of Rainbow Dash and Ocean Wake. We'll search all night if we have to, but we'll find them. Let me go get suited up and I'll accompany you."
With a collective nod, the air creatures began forming up and preparing to fly out. As Spitfire proceeded in the direction of the barracks and its locker rooms, General Seaspray made his concerns quite plain.
"And what if we don't find them, Captain?"
"I don't want to automatically assume the worst." Spitfire replied. "Dash is resourceful, and loyal to a fault. If she ran into a snafu, she'd do her best to get everycreature home safely. If we don't find them, we'll simply have to keep looking."
Rainbow Dash awoke in her cell that morning just as the sun was rising. Or, rather, she was woken up.
A loud clattering of keys and the creak of a metal door accompanied several grumbling guards. Her eyes popping open at the sensation of several hooves grabbing her, Dash was brought to hers and escorted out of the building, past countless sleeping mares, and through the courtyard of the camp to a small building which appeared to contain several offices. They set her down in a chair in front of a desk and took point at the door.
From across the desk, another chair swiveled to face hers. In it, a slightly larger, more imposing changeling sat, his hooves crossed with a stern look upon his face. He was virtually identical to his kin, except for his celadon eyes and carapace, and the larger, more noticeable spikes on his head and neck. Upon eyeing his newest prisoner, noticeable surprise crept onto his face. He levitated a small clipboard and pen over to himself.
"Name, rank, and serial number?" He said with a smirk.
Rainbow's face went expressionless. "Are you serious?" she thought.
"Judging by the look on your face, you already know who I am."
"Yes, I do." The changeling replied, a subtle insectoid clicking coming from his throat as he spoke. "I just vant to hear you say it."
She sighed in loathing. "Airpony First Class Rainbow Dash, #0922-1010, Wonderbolts." She tilted her head and eyes towards the opposite corner of the room as she continued reciting annoyedly. "Born September 22nd, Equestrian Year--"
The changeling officer held up a hoof, halting her. "Yes, yes, zat's very good, Miss Dash. I have all ze particulars I need."
"Don't you ever call me 'miss' again." She bit her tongue as she held in the thought. She knew that if she wanted to stand any chance of making it out of here, she would--occasionally, at least--have to act civil towards the changelings. That much she remembered from Spitfire's class: when you find yourself in a hole, quit digging.
"I am called Colonel Chitin. I've got a few questions for you, and if you cooperate mit me, I can facilitate your return to Eqvestria. Now, vhy don't you tell me vhat you know about zis 'rezistanz' you ponies are putting up, hmm?"
Rainbow Dash straightened herself in her chair, trying to appear noble while not injuring her wing further.
"I'm sorry, sir; I don't know anything about big military plans. I'm simply a Wonderbolt." It was a common tactic, Spitfire had taught in class, to give the bare minimum information to one's captors: if they pressed the issue, either subvert it, or lie through your teeth.
"But you are also a hero of Eqvestria, no?" The changeling responded, leaning forward against the desk. "A bearer of ze Elements of Harmony, and zerefore, of great importance to Princess Celestia? Heh. Believe me, Vonderbolt, Our Glorious Queen Chrysalis taught us plenty about you and your friends in ze officer's program."
Chitin leaned even further forward, spanning the desk to invade Rainbow's personal bubble like Flash Magnus crossing the Rubicolt. The mare leaned back slightly, trying her best not to appear unnerved--or worse, annoyed.
"If I recall, you are ze bearer of ze Element of Loyalty, are you not?" He said, his breath smelling less repulsive than Rainbow had anticipated. "Zat means zat you vould be faithful to your friends, and to your nation, to a fault, yes? Zo naturally, I do not expect to get answers from you easily, Miss Dash, zough I do have my vays."
He shifted back into a more natural sitting position and ruffled some papers on his desk. He gave a shit-eating grin. Rainbow wished she could make him eat literal shit.
"But, for now, I am a very busy changeling, zo I vill give you vone more chance to turn over any information you vish, and ve shall do zis again in a few days, hmm?" He eyed her expectantly, with an obnoxious look that said "Well?"
Rainbow turned her head indignantly to glare at him from the corner of her eye. She would say nothing.
Realizing this, Chitin's grin vanished. He raised a hoof to the guards. "Do it."
The two changelings standing by the door brusquely grabbed Rainbow by the shoulders and lifted her from her chair. She squirmed slightly because of her wing, but no words escaped her pained expression. They brought her outside to the muddy courtyard, where a small, temporary wooden stage had been erected. A row of guards stood in front of it, and two on either side. Facing the stage was a crowd of ponies and reformed changelings, both stallions and mares, all in the same drab uniforms as Rainbow. Some of them gasped audibly as they saw Rainbow being brought on stage.
A changeling captain, big and brawny, stood next to Rainbow as the guards, still restraining her, brought her center stage.
"Well look what we have for you today, you pitiful foals!" He barked, a slight joy in his voice. "Equestria mourns the capture of her flying ace extraordinaire, the one and only Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash!" In a fashion reminiscent of a circus ringleader, he gestured with his hooves to the Wonderbolt, who was held up by her forelegs, one for each guard, while her rear legs were shackled together. The look on her face was indignant, though moments of worry peeked through temporarily.
The captain looked over the new prisoner, her fur and mane slightly ruffled and dirty from her capture yesterday followed by a night in a less-than-spotless cell. After a moment of Rainbow casting angry glances his direction, the changeling noticed her bandaged wing and his eyes widened. With a smile, he shoved the guard to her right aside, taking up her forehoof in a flash of magic; she squirmed in protest, but was still so tired she couldn't do much to break free.
"Looks like this birdie's got a clipped wing, fillies and gents!" The captain said, unfolding Rainbow's injured wing above her at an awkward angle, causing her to wince in pain. "No doubt the work of one of Chrysalis' fine soldiers!" he continued boastfully. Dash grit her teeth angrily as she looked at him over her shoulder.
He locked eyes with her, giving a toothy grin of malice, before wrenching her wing with a quick twist. Rainbow gave a quick vocal outburst and bit her lip, trying to hold back the agony coursing through her body. She didn't think he'd broken it, thankfully, but she did feel the gash in her flesh tear wider and saw the bandage become reddened with fresh blood. Several ponies in the crowd gasped loudly at this; some tried to rush the stage, but the row of guards prevented them from coming to Rainbow's aid.
"Oops! My bad!" The captain said in a playfully coy manner before loosing Dash's wing, which she quickly drew back against her body.
"You've always thought you were hot shit, huh?" Her tormentor continued, walking around to her opposite side as the other guard took hold of her again. "We'll see if that attitude persists long. We'll teach you what kind of shit you really are: the plain kind."
With that, the captain reared back on two hooves and delivered a forceful gut punch, knocking the wind from Rainbow's body with a loud exclamation from her and the crowd. Before she could respond, he snidely called her a bitch before delivering another blow to her cranium. Momentarily dazed, Rainbow nonetheless tried to lash out at her attacker, the two other guards struggling to withhold her.
Reaching off the edge of the stage, the changeling gathered a hoofful of mud and proceeded to rub it into her mane and smear it across her face. She attempted to bite at him, which only warranted a slap across the muzzle. The captain gestured to the two guards, who threw Rainbow backwards off of the stage into the mud before beginning their departure.
Despite the injuries she'd been dealt, Rainbow let her rage guide her to her hooves, wobbly though they were.
"THAT'S IT!" she yelled "YOU'RE GETTING A SONIC RAINBOOM STRAIGHT TO HELL!"
Rainbow began to extend her wings on instinct, only to injure herself further. Looking around, she also noticed she was being targeted by several archers in the guard towers.
"I'm sure." the captain said back over his shoulder. "If anything that isn't a changeling flies higher than ten feet, we turn them into a nice, messy pincushion."
Glancing around her once more, Rainbow Dash cursed under her breath and began to head back towards the building that housed her cell.
"It's okay, Rainbow." she comforted herself internally, biting her lip to contain her pain "This isn't completely hopeless. Sure, you're gonna be here at least until your wing heals, but then, THEN! Then, you'll... you'll...
She stopped and raised her head in thought. She had already made it back to the end of the hall, and stood outside her cell.
"What am I going to do?"
Dash sighed loudly, stepping behind her bars and slamming the door shut. As she leaned on the door's crossbar, she looked across the tight hallway into the cell across from hers. In it sat a frail, scrawny Pegasus mare, mostly legs, with pale pink fur, almost white, and a sun-bleached, mint green mane and tail. From what Rainbow could tell, hers was the kind of coat that once glistened in the sunlight, shimmering like diamonds as she walked past. Now, it was grungy, matted, and falling out in places. The Cutie Mark upon her flank was barely distinguishable, but it looked like fluffy cotton candy on a stick.
The mare noticed Rainbow looking at her, and upon turning her own bright blue eyes towards the newest prisoner, she shrank away towards the rear of her cell nervously.
"No, no, it's fine!" said Rainbow, trying to ignore the gradually strengthening pain in her head. "You don't need to be scared! I know I look a little rough around the edges, but you can thank the guards for that."
The candy-colored mare looked Dash up and down nervously. Rainbow tilted her head to one side, perplexed. Perhaps an introduction would break the ice?
She put a hoof to her chest. "I'm Rainbow Dash. What's your name?"
The mare across from her glanced towards the floor before looking back and responding. "I-I-I'm Fairy Floss..." she whimpered. "Y-You're a Wonderbolt, aren't you?"
"Why, yes." Dash cracked a smile. "How'd you guess?"
"I w-went to a Wonderbolt airshow once..." Fairy Floss continued, now almost shivering. "I think I saw you perform."
"Oh, well cool!" Rainbow replied, leaning casually on the bars now. "I'm your favorite, aren't I?" She gave a winning smile. Fairy's expression didn't change.
"A-Actually, it's Fleetfoot…" she replied meekly "I think she's way underrated..."
"Oh." Rainbow's face lost its expression. In her cell, Fairy Floss began shaking more, and covered herself up with a ratty green blanket from her bed. Rainbow Dash, noticing this, became confused.
"Are you cold?" she asked.
"I have low blood sugar." Fairy replied quietly from across the hall. "When I start to run low, I get cold and shaky..."
"Oh shoot, it's that time again?" came a mare's voice from one cell over. Rainbow turned her attention to the bars adjacent to Fairy's. Out from under the bed covers rolled a dark purple unicorn, her fur short and fuzzy like velvet. Her mane and tail, colored a deep red, were long and billowy, beautifully styled despite her living conditions; indeed, she could've made Rarity jealous. Her Cutie Mark appeared to be a lute with a tankard next to it, overflowing with, presumably, cider.
The unicorn, after checking the hallway for guards, ducked her head beneath her bed and retrieved a small wooden box, held shut with a metal clasp. Contained within were a few personal affectations, among them a comb and mirror, a hoof file, and a small pouch full of sugar cubes. She grabbed two in her mouth before hopping up against the wall, slipping them through the tall, barred window between the cells as best she could. They clattered to the floor, and Fairy Floss scooped them up and quickly ate them. As the unicorn tucked her contraband away into hiding once more, Rainbow got a better look at her face, which sported dazzling brown eyes underneath which sat semi-permanent dark circles. Clearly, this prisoner didn't rest well.
"Why didn't you just use your magic?" Rainbow inquired innocently.
The unicorn sighed disdainfully. "Because ever since my first breakout attempt, these damn bugs reinforced my cage with MAGIC-PROOF IRON!" She yelled down the hall with her forehooves propped up on the door.
"Now, I can barely lift anything more than a couple inches with this horn." She made herself calm down and take a deep breath. She turned a kind gaze upon Rainbow. "The name's Festive Aura."
"Rainbow Dash." The cyan mare replied.
"I think I read about you in the papers." Aura continued. "You're the princess' friend, right? Helped bring down the Storm King?"
"Uh, yeah... that's me." Dash had forgotten just how well-known she and her friends were across Equestria.
"Aw, shoot!" Came yet another mare's voice, this one from the cell right next to Rainbow's, and much deeper, with an accent. "Ah remember ya from the news all the way back when ya defeated Discord!"
Since she couldn't fly, Rainbow Dash couldn't look through the thin, high window to see the pony in the adjoining cell. From the sound of her voice, she seemed to be a farmpony, like Applejack, but definitely bigger.
"Geez, that was a long time ago." Rainbow remarked.
"Ah'm Peach Crumble," the accented voice continued "but you can call me Crumble or Peachy. I come from a peach orchard up near Vanhoover; Ah's a-runnin' supplies to the troops when mah caravan was captured."
"We've all got similar stories." Festive Aura chimed in. "I used to perform in my family's tavern to great reception. When this war broke out, I decided I'd take my show on the road to entertain the troops... aaaaand that's how this happened."
"I-I'm just a confectioner from Las Pegasus." Fairy Floss spoke up, now not shaking as badly under her blanket. "I wanted to go visit my older brother, who's in the E.U.P. Guard. I got lost somehow, and... well... the changelings lured me here with their disguises..."
"Well, I was ordered to scout around the camp." Rainbow Dash added with her own story. "Things didn't go so well... I'm the lucky one though, I guess. My partner, he... he didn't make it."
"Ah'm right sorry to hear that, pardner." Peach Crumble said from behind the brick wall. "Only a few o' the folks from mah caravan survived the attack, either."
"The three of us all wound up here at about the same time." Aura continued. "We've helped keep each other sane for... how long have we been here, Peach?"
Rainbow could hear the soft tap of a hoof on the wall as Peach counted the marks she'd carved into it.
"Little over a month." She replied. "Feels like it's been a lot longer. The days here last forever."
"Keep us sane?" Fairy spoke, more confident now as she rose to a sitting position. "Aura, you've kept me alive."
Aura smiled faintly. "Oh, I know, dear. It's not an issue, really. I don't have much use for sugar anyway. I'm nearly out, though... I'll have to see if somepony has smuggled any more in."
The three mares acquainted themselves with Rainbow, and they talked for most of the day. Come sunset, a changeling guard came strolling down the hallway: unusually though, this one was female.
"Alright, you mares." She snapped in a commanding tone as three other female guards began unlocking cells. "Follow me to the bathhouse."
"We only get to bathe once a week around here." Fairy Floss murmured to Rainbow Dash. "Worse still, it's communal. No privacy at all. I like being clean, but I hate having everypony's eyes on me..."
"We look away, you know." Aura added as she stepped out of her cell. "And we've offered to form a wall around you till you're done."
"Well, yeah..." Fairy squirmed uncomfortably in place "...but then I'd be way too close to your... business… the whole ordeal is already awkward enough."
Aura rolled her eyes.
As Rainbow stepped from her cell, eager to wash the caked mud from her fur, she met eyes for the first time with Peach Crumble. This mare was massive, bigger than any Rainbow had ever seen, and was clearly a workhorse. Muscles rippled beneath her golden coat, the color of ripe peach flesh, and she was a bit stockier than most mares her age, but that didn't eliminate her feminine figure. Her hooves were big and thick, and sat upon them were legs like tree trunks. She had to have been bigger than Big Mac, perhaps even approaching Rockhoof's size. Despite her burliness, she was still beautiful: her ochre-colored mane and tail, though cut short, were clearly well cared for, and her emerald green eyes were bright and cheery, and twinkled in the dimmest light. The Cutie Mark emblazoning her smooth, yet rock-solid, flank was a ripe peach with a peach half laying in front of it.
"...Peach Crumble?" Rainbow asked, awestruck.
"Haha, yep!" The farmpony replied. "Mah parents named me that on account'a when Ah's born, Ah's just so little and so fragile and so sweet! But look at me now! Bigger, stronger, but still just as sweet!"
Rainbow liked to think of herself as a strong and strapping athlete and soldier, even if she were a bit skinny. After standing next to Peach Crumble in the shower block, however, she felt downright petite.
After getting clean, which put Rainbow in a much better mood, despite her injuries and having to reapply bandages, the female guards returned the mares to their cells, and a short time later, male guards came through serving food from a cart. Instead of taking the risk of unlocking cell doors, they simply teleported the food inside, which had the added benefit of warming it up... slightly. Barely. Hardly at all.
"Oh, not this shit again." Aura balked. "Do you see this, you insect?!" She leaned against the bars and ran a hoof up her thinning abdomen. "I can count my fucking ribs!"
The guard scowled at her, clanging the metal dish against the cell bars. "You'll eat this and like it, then!" With a zap of his horn, the plate was on the other side of the iron only changeling magic could affect.
Peach Crumble and Fairy Floss, ever polite, thanked their captors for the food. Their kindness went unreciprocated.
Rainbow looked down at her own plate. It was full of a gross, greenish stew, full of what she assumed were some sort of vegetables, as well as crackers, or maybe hardtack.
"Are these... carrots?" She asked aloud, nudging something orange with her forehoof.
"Ah don't ask questions." Crumble replied. "Ah just eat. Might not wanna know what's in it, anyhow."
"Hey." Rainbow got the attention of a guard, then pointed across at Fairy Floss. "You need to give her something sweet with her meals. She needs the sugar." Fairy facehooved and turned away to hide.
The changeling got up in Dash's face through the bars. "I'm sorry, pony, but have you seen this place?! It's a shithole! We do good enough to get toilet paper this far out in the sticks!"
"You didn't give me toilet paper." said Dash with a hint of sass.
"With that attitude, you won't get any!" The guard barked back. "The prison isn't very high on Chrysalis' list of priorities, so what we get to eat isn't much better. Actually, I take that back..." He glanced at Fairy Floss out of the corner of his eye, who cowered away from his gaze. "...it's not half bad."
Rainbow wanted to sock him, but there was nothing she could do to keep the changelings from siphoning love from anypony they wanted, not even herself.
The guards departed shortly thereafter. One of the more antagonistic ones muttered a "fuck you" back at Festive Aura as he passed.
"You'll have to get me drunk first." She retorted under her breath.
As the sun snuck down below the horizon, the patrol teams found the body of Ocean Wake.
All the squads convened on the location to hold a brief vigil before bearing the corpse back to camp for proper shipment to its family. In the day or so it had lain, it was only slightly worse for wear, and hadn't had a chance to decay much. As it lay on a medical stretcher, another hippogriff soldier, a teal-green mare, hunkered over it, crying her eyes out. Spitfire noticed this, but couldn't get Seaspray to turn his attention away from planning with his officers.
"Well, fine then." she thought "If Seaspray doesn't have the time to comfort one of his own, I do."
The captain of the Wonderbolts softly walked to the mourning soldier and placed a gentle hoof upon her heaving back.
"You're Seafoam Mist, right?"
The mare looked up through teary eyes, nodding.
"He was a good soldier, Seafoam, I'm sure." Spitfire comforted. "You were close to him?"
She sniffed and nodded quietly. "He... he was... my best friend. We... we were..." She tried to hold back sobs as she spoke. "We were... going to be married... after the war... when we could afford it..." Seafoam broke down into tears again as she lowered her head to her beloved's still chest.
Spitfire felt her own heart sink as the sympathy for this mare washed over her. She wiped the corner of her eye and continued to speak, knowing she needed to be strong for her troops.
"Look, I... I can't do anything about this, though I'm sure we all would if we could. You'll get your leave for the funeral, and we'll give him the best one money can buy. And I assure you, I promise you, that come the end of all this, Ocean Wake will not have died in vain."
Spitfire gave the mare one last pat on the back before hovering off to address her troops. Seafoam's beak, with tears streaming down it, met Ocean's in a cold, yet sweet, one-sided kiss.
Spitfire glared at Seaspray when he turned his back on his ended conversation. He glanced at the bereft hippogriff, then back at the yellow Pegasus, cocking an eyebrow as if to ask "What do you want me to do?"
Spitfire gritted her teeth, then went to address her Pegasi.
After a nutritious, if foul-tasting meal, it was soon time for lights out.
Late that night, as Rainbow was beginning to drift off, a changeling came down the hall, quietly carrying a lantern to check on the prisoners. Looking out from beneath her covers, Dash locked eyes with this guard as he looked in at her. To her surprise, they didn't seem angry. As the dual blue shapes stared at her from the darkness, they glistened and glittered in the moonlight, giving off an air of gentleness, non-aggression, and perhaps even pity for her. The two stared silently at each other for a long while before the changeling turned and departed.
Rainbow Dash couldn't help but wonder if, even among Chrysalis' new changeling army, there were those who saw the world differently. As she pondered the world as seen through those glassy, luminescent orbs, her own violet eyes slowly closed, and she fell peacefully asleep.