//------------------------------// // Chapter Thirteen – Put to Work Part I // Story: Reality is a Blur // by lLoveRainbowDash //------------------------------// It was nearing the dead of night when Rainbow finally came to her senses. I-I need to get away from here. Rainbow pulled herself along with her hooves. The cut on her side was unforgiving as pain still came. I need to patch myself up to stop the bleeding. The farther from the main road she got, the higher the sand dunes were. Once she reached the top of a dune, she looked back towards the wagon train. She noticed ponies separating from the wagons and coming towards her direction with bright lights. Rainbow quickly turned back forward and crawled through the sand as fast as she could. I cannot let them get me. She attempted to stand, but couldn’t get up. C’mon! She tried again, but her legs refused to stand. Please! She rolled over onto her back. She breathed in... then out. I... I-I’m gonna die here... aren’t I? While she watched the beautiful sky, Rainbow thought of the past few days. I... I’ve gone so far... just to die here. I... might not know anything about my past... but I know... that I’ve gotten far. I’ve learned a lot in these past several days... and I don’t want to lose that. It’s not fair. She lost sight of the ponies that were, most likely, looking for her. They drew near, but Rainbow was in no place to move. At this point, she... almost accepted it. Rainbow felt herself growing more and more exhausted as time went on. She felt weaker. “She’s over here!” a pony yelled. He was equipped with a brown strap that went around his back. Attached to the strap, was a large... thing. Most of it looked to be wood, while the longer part was a shiny gray. The wooden part was thick, compared to the long, thin shiny gray piece. He walked up towards Rainbow, glaring at her. “Didn’t get far, did’ya?” he snarled. Rainbow couldn’t speak. She slowly left consciousness, seeing nothing but darkness. Rainbow gasped as she awoke to the sound of laughter... and the smell of smoke. She blinked a few times, and saw that she was tied to a tree, facing towards a large fire with five other ponies around it. “Look, she’s awake. Better put’er to work straight away,” one of the ponies said. This one was larger than the others, and their voice was rough. “Go untie her, Rook,” one demanded, hitting another in the side. He stood up and worked his way towards Rainbow. Once he got to her, one of the ponies at the fire yelled to him, “Do not let’er get away.” “Yeah, yeah, I know,” the pony, Rook, shouted in response. He grabbed a knife from his strap and used it to cut the rope. He held a hoof to Rainbow’s chest to make sure she wouldn’t move. “P-please...” Rainbow whispered. “Shut it,” he said as he finished cutting the rope. He turned back to the others, his hoof still holding Rainbow against the tree. “What do you want me to do with her, Jack?” “Make her join the others. She can help them while we get ready to set out in the mornin’,” Jack replied. “You heard him, let’s go,” Rook said, lifting his hoof off of Rainbow’s chest. She dropped to the ground, slowly getting back up. For some reason, she felt better. Rainbow looked back at herself. She noticed that she had bandages that went around her body, covering the large cut. There was also a stick that was stuck to her wing, keeping it straight. I completely forgot about my wing⁠— “Get a move on! Let’s go!” Rook shouted, shoving her forward. Rook pushed her along. They walked down a long trail. This gave Rainbow some time to cope with her new surroundings. They were encompassed in a large forest. The trees towered high above them, slightly swaying in the faint breeze. The moon was bright, lighting the dark forest. The sun was long gone, from what Rainbow could tell. Through the trees, she could see other fires, with more ponies around each one. There was also tents scattered around. They were all a green-brown shade. They reached a large opening in the trees that was surrounded by tall, thick poles with bright lights facing inwards, illuminating a deep hole with at least seventy other ponies... all having wings. They were each wearing the same thing: an off-white tunic with brown hems. Rook stopped Rainbow, holding the tunic in front of her. “Here is what you will be wearing. Now, once you go down there, I want you to follow these exact instructions... okay? You will see tables lined up down there with guns on them. They aren’t loaded, so—” “Guns?” Rainbow asked. “Yes, guns, rifles, same thing. Don’t interrupt me. Okay, when you get down there, walk up to an open table, and start cleaning the guns that get passed down to you. You know how to do that?” “N-no.” Rook sighed, rubbing his head with a hoof. “You grab the cloth that will be on your table, dump the cloth in the bucket of water, and then rub the gun with the cloth. It’s literally as easy as that. Hurry up and get into your uniform; I don’t want to be here all night.” Rainbow grabbed the uniform from Rook’s hoof. She put it over her head, then pulled it down over her body. As she was about to walk down into the cut-out in the ground, Rook stopped her by placing a hoof in front of her. “Listen, I know how you acted back in the desert when they were transporting you here... so don’t you dare try anything like that again here, or you’ll be killed. Any questions?” “Why don’t you sound like the others?” “What? What do you mean?” “Why don’t you talk the same as the others? And why do you look younger than the rest of them?” “Know what, just get down there.” Rook pushed Rainbow down the dirt steps. She tripped on the last step and fell into mud, dirtying her tunic. She heard a few laughs here and there amongst the guards behind the fences that surrounded the hole that she was in. Rainbow stood up and looked around. The hole seemed to be dug out very precisely. The walls of dirt seemed to be perfectly straight. On top of the dirt walls was a fence that added to the height of them. The hole was large and oval-shaped. “Get to work!” one of the guards yelled from above. There were three ponies at each table. There was a table at the end where nopony was, so she headed for it. Once she got there, one of the guns were slid down to her table. She picked it up and looked at it. It looked like the same gun that the pony that found her had. There was dirt in the small cracks and holes. Rainbow picked up a cloth that sat on the table beside the gun. There was a bucket on the ground under the table that was filled with water. The water was dark brown with pieces of grass floating on the surface. She dipped the cloth into the water, then brought it back up to the gun and started working at some of the bigger spots of dried mud. As she worked, the light of day slowly ate away the darkness of the night, giving way for the sun. Rainbow looked around one more time. Out of all the ponies in the hole, none of them were talking. They all worked at the guns in front of them. They seemed... dead. Rainbow slowly looked back to the gun on the table, scrubbing off some more dried mud with the wet cloth. Once she finished with the longest part, she moved on to the wooden piece. She looked up at the guards surrounding the hole, shielding her eyes from the bright lights. From what she could see, there were about nineteen guards, all equipped with the large guns that the ponies were cleaning. How am I gonna get out of here...?