Rainbow awoke from her sleeping place. She yawned as she stretched outwards. She rolled over, instantly jumping up from the sudden pain in her wing.
Rainbow’s fur was a bit stiff from not properly drying. A faint musty smell lingered in the air around her. As she stood, trying to sooth the pain in her wing, she realized that the stench was coming from herself.
Rainbow stretched one last time before resuming her journey to get out. She looked up, and saw the sun in the middle of the sky.
Seems like it’s around point 12. I hope I get out soon.
Rainbow galloped around the many rocks along the bank of the river. Her limp wing swung behind her, causing more pain. She stopped, grabbing her wing and holding it carefully.
How do I keep this from hurting?! It hurts so bad!
Rainbow looked around for anything that might work as a bandage, like the ones she had made before. Instead, all she saw was rocks, sand, and water.
Without any more ideas, Rainbow lightly bit the tip of her wing, carrying it from her mouth. It caused a lot of discomfort, but she didn’t mind. As long as it didn’t swing around behind her, she was fine.
Rainbow continued her gallop along the river again. She took in the details as she went. The cliffs either side of her loomed overhead; they seemed to be getting a bit shorter, but still too tall for her to get up. There were some spots on the cliffs that small, dried-out trees would hang over the edge. Some small bushes of grass hung over as well. The sky was its normal light blue with the bright yellow, glowing ball in the center, beaming down with incredible heat. The river widened out, following all of the little curves and twists that the canyon made.
Rainbow galloped closer to the water, and saw little creatures swimming around.
Rainbow smiled. She liked the way the wind felt as it ruffled her mane. It felt natural... just like flying. For once, in a while, she felt good. Her wing was basically useless, but she didn’t mind too much.
Life had other plans though. Rainbow’s hoof had gotten caught in a small space between a couple rocks, causing her to trip. She flung forward. She threw her forelegs in front of her, attempting to catch herself without the use of wings, avoiding the inevitable pain.
She hit the rocky ground, rolling over a few times from her momentum.
Rainbow laid there for a moment, breathing sharply through gritted teeth. The pain in her wing was overwhelming, as well as the newfound pain in her right foreleg.
I should take it slower from now on, to avoid anymore pain.
Rainbow pondered the thought for a moment, then giggled.
Who am I kidding? Going fast is awesome! Pain is nothing! Actually, it’s something. It’s... well, pain. It hurts.
Rainbow slowly stood back onto her legs. She bit the end of her wing softly, holding it in her mouth once again.
Just then, she heard a loud boom resonate throughout the walls of the canyon. Small rocks and dust came down from the cliffs either side of her. The ground shook from the loud noise.
What was that?!
Rainbow ducked behind a large rock, frantically looking around, trying to find the source of the noise.
The echoing in the canyon ceased.
What... the hay... was that?!
Rainbow slowly came back out from behind the large rock. She kept looking around; the sound seemed to have come from everywhere, and nowhere at the same time.
She resumed her walk, keeping a keen eye out. She had completely forgotten about the pain she was in.
Rainbow grabbed her wing again, then began running. She wanted to get as far away as she could from whatever was making that loud noise.
She ran as fast as she could on the uneven rocks of the river bank. She kept caution as she ran, not wanting to recreate what happened earlier. Her hoof bothered her a bit as she ran, but she ignored it.
Whatever that was, it doesn’t sound good.
The farther she ran along in the canyon, the bigger the boulders got. She was soon hopping from rock to rock. Somehow, she had kept most of her momentum from running, so she was able to jump over a few boulders.
The canyon seemed to curve left, as well as the river. The closer she got to the turn, the more jagged the boulders got, rather than the normal smooth ones.
As she came around the turn, she saw a giant structure.
She stopped dead in her tracks as another boom went off, this time louder and more resonant.
Rainbow looked at it in awe.
The structure towered all the way up to the top of the canyon walls. It was narrow and it clung to the side of the cliff. It seemed to be made up of long pieces of wood, held together by rope. At the base of the structure, stone was used to keep it stable. There was a platform in the middle of the rectangular prism-shaped structure that looked like it was going up along the shafts that ran the whole way through the center. There was large gears that rolled in place, hauling rope that lifted the whole platform upwards. At the bottom, on the ground, there was a small makeshift bridge that ran over the river, with a flattened trail on the other side that lead to a cave in the cliff-side.
Rainbow stumbled forward.
I-is... is that... Those are... There’s...
Rainbow fell to her knees, having a hard time breathing.
T-those are... T-there’s more of me!
Sure enough, there were ponies in and out of the cave, on and around the tall structure, and all over the area. There was also another boom, sending dust and rocks flying up into the air.
I knew it!
Rainbow stood up and ran towards the others, quickly biting her wing again.
Finally! This is amazing!
As she ran as fast as she could towards the others, she noticed that they were all hitting rocks with strange “T” shaped items.
She threw caution to the wind as she dashed over the many jagged rocks. The only thing that mattered now was to get to the others.
She jumped over a final rock before skidding to a halt on the flattened ground. Most of the others stopped what they were doing and looked at her, confused.
She smiled at them as she turned in circles, looking at all of them. Each of them wore the same outfit: a yellow vest with black boots and a helmet that was white. None of them had any wings. Instead, most of them had a horn that protruded from the center of their heads, and all of the rest didn't have anything, both of which Rainbow found strange.
Her smile faded as all of them did nothing. They just gazed at her.
She dropped her wing from her mouth, letting it dangle at her side.
“Well, well, well... What do we have here?” said one of them as they stepped forward.
Rainbow turned to the one that had spoken. She quickly noticed that they were wearing a bright red vest, rather than the yellow ones.
Rainbow didn’t know what to do.
Before Rainbow could do anything, she fainted, falling to the ground, unconscious.