//------------------------------//
// 264. Cold and Darkness 
// Story: Azure Edge 
// by Leaf Blade 
//------------------------------//

Rarity and Rainbow Dash’s breathing was heavy, both of them. The iron wagon the pair were bound and secured in the back of had no windows, no way to let the heat escape, and the bags over their heads as they were hurried to wherever destination they were headed didn’t help matters.

The two had struggled a fair amount, but Rarity couldn’t access her magic for some accursed reason— likely a residual effect of the gas she had inhaled before being captured— and with the oppressive heat and complete lack of vision, there was simply no way to keep up a prolonged struggle without exhausting one’s self.

So Rarity and Rainbow stayed put, the only thing keeping them going were their fingers intertwined with each other’s.

Eventually, the door to the wagon was creaked open, and Rarity breathed a sigh of relief as the winter wind bit into her sweat-drenched body. She couldn’t see past the bag on her head, but she was at least glad the wagon had stopped.

Someone came into the wagon; Rarity could tell by the weight they put on the wagon, and on the shelf that Rarity and Rainbow were sat upon, that they were still heavily armored. They unfastened the ropes binding Rarity and Rainbow to each other, and to the wagon wall, and then shoved the pair out of the wagon, Rarity landing on her stomach into the snow.

The bag was untied and then harshly slipped off of Rarity’s head, and the light burned her eyes, though that might also have been a lingering effect of the gas. She could feel that her makeup and mane were in absolutely disgraceful shape, and while yes obviously there were more important things going on, it didn’t help her humiliation any.

An armored figure grabbed Rarity’s mane and roughly yanked her up to a kneeling position, and then to her hooves, Rarity grunting in pain into the cloth gagging her. She stared with contempt at the armored figure, who judging by the horn in his helmet, was most likely Blueblood.

Wind Rider, for his part, treated Rainbow Dash just as cruelly, dragging her to her hooves without a second thought paid to her comfort or even safety.

“Let’s go, Rarity,” Blueblood said coldly, pointing over to a nearby river. Rarity refused to budge. She looked over at Rainbow Dash, who similarly was refusing Wind Rider’s commands. “Let’s go, Rarity.” Blueblood growled, grabbing her mane and trying to tug her forward, but she fought back and released herself from his grip.

Honestly, she didn’t know what she was trying to pull; there wasn’t much chance of waiting out for a rescue with Rarity and Rainbow both captured, and it was not like Rarity could rely on Celestia. But Rarity couldn’t just go along with her captor’s demands if she could avoid it.

Which, when Wind Rider pulled out a knife and put it to Rainbow Dash’s throat, Rarity realized she could in fact no longer avoid it.

“You better do what the man says, Rarity,” Wind Rider said, Rainbow huffing furiously at him.

Rarity wasn’t going to risk it; her dignity wasn’t worth Rainbow’s life, so she got to hopping beside Blueblood as he walked slowly over to the river, Rainbow groaning into her gag and following suit.

Hop. Hop. Hop. Rarity’s cheeks burning with each movement. She had never felt more degraded in her life, and while she couldn’t see Blueblood’s expression behind his mask, she knew that he was enjoying every second of this and it made her sick. She couldn’t even imagine how furious Rainbow Dash was.

Sitting by the river was a pile of pre-prepared cinder blocks, and Rarity’s stomach dropped as she saw them. Rarity’s hopping was halted as she reached the river, her breath getting heavier as Blueblood prepared a coil of rope.

And just as she feared, he fastened it around her legs, and then tied the other end around the cinder block, Wind Rider of course doing the same to Rainbow Dash.

Rarity couldn’t help struggling, looking for any slack in her bonds and trying to slip a hand or a hoof free, but she was stopped by a slap across her face from Blueblood’s armored hand.

He took off his helmet and sighed, shaking his head and staring at Rarity with a disappointed frown.

“Such a pity. But this is what happens to bitches who get in the way of the Pristine Army,” Blueblood said coldly, and he grabbed Rarity’s cheeks again, her entire body burning with anger. “Though I will admit, seeing you like this brings me a great deal of joy after you jilted me at the Gala.”

“You’re still mad about that?” Wind Rider laughed, and Rarity grunted in confusion and arched an eyebrow at Blueblood.

“I didn’t ask for your input,” Blueblood growled at Wind Rider, before turning his attention back to Rarity and donning a paper thin smile. “It was bad enough that you turned down my invitation, but then you didn’t come to see me at the Gala like you promised, instead running off with your dragon friends, no doubt. How do you think that makes a man feel?”

Rarity panicked for a second, worried that Blueblood knew about Twilight and Fluttershy, but it was far more likely that he was simply making baseless assumptions out of anger.

“It’s a damn shame,” Blueblood sighed and shook his head, putting his hands on his hips and looking Rarity over. “You have a perfect body, so ideal for a trophy wife.” Rarity’s eye twitched and she growled into her gag. “But, I am a gentleman. If you aren’t interested in me, I can’t force myself on you. So…” Blueblood put his hoof on the cinder block attached to Rarity’s legs and her eyes widened. “Goodbye, Rarity.”

Blueblood pushed on the cinder block.

Nothing happened; he didn’t push hard enough and the block didn’t budge. He tried pushing harder, but just visibly winded himself. Then he started kicking it a few times, and it moved an inch. Rarity rolled her eyes.

Blueblood cleared his throat and picked the cinder block up in his magic, though he was quite clearly straining to lift it, and he hovered it over the river.

“Goodbye, Rarity.”

He dropped the cinder block, Rarity yelping as she watched it go, and then everything felt like it happened at once.

The momentum brought her to the ground, her head hitting the earth with a painful thud, and then she was dragged by the block under the freezing water, Rarity trying desperately to find some slack in her ropes as she got farther and farther from the surface, Rainbow Dash being dropped in quickly after her, and struggling just as fiercely and just as impotently.

Finally the cinder blocks reached the bottom of the river. Rarity looked over at Rainbow Dash, who was too caught up in struggling to get free to look at Rarity. Water went up Rarity’s nose and she started to choke, her eyes shutting instinctively.

She tried to think of something, of some way to free herself with her hands tied and her magic locked, but between panic and the residual deliriousness from the gas, Rarity’s mind was a complete blank.

Rarity thought about Twilight, and Fluttershy, and she wondered what would happen to them if Rarity—

No, she couldn’t think like that.

She couldn’t think… at all, really.

Her struggles were growing fainter, her eyelids were getting heavier.

Everything was cold.

Everything… was… dark…