//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8: Rainbow - Part 1: Gladiator 
// Story: When We Saw the Universe 
// by KKDW 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 8: Rainbow – Part 1: Gladiator


By the time the resistance had liberated the mine on Olacia almost every Bolkarn in the universe knew about Rainbow Dash, whether they’d heard the truth, rumors, wild exaggerations or absolute lies.  Almost every Bolkarn knew about her, and every Bolkarn that knew about her was afraid of her.

– Extract from When We Saw the Universe by Captain Twilight Sparkle

It was almost night period aboard the Domiantor II.  Rainbow Dash was returning to her cabin after spending some time in the canteen, on her way back she thought she’d pay a quick visit to Twilight’s cabin to say goodnight.  Their cabins were in the same corridor so she didn’t have to go out of her way for that.
“Hey Twilight,” she said as she knocked on the door to Twilight’s cabin, “you in there?  It’s me.”
No answer, that was odd.  Rainbow had checked with the computer earlier to confirm that Twilight was in there.  She was about to knock again when the door opened.  The lights were dimmed but still active with most of the light coming from one of the wall mounted screens, and there was Twilight sitting at the desk in front of them.
“Twilight?” Rainbow Dash said quietly as she stepped through the door.
She walked towards Twilight, moving slowly.  It took a few seconds for Twilight to notice she was there, and this was when Rainbow was standing right next to her.  Twilight looked up at her and Rainbow saw that her eyes were red and she could see a few tears on her face.
“Oh, gosh!  Twilight what’s the matter?” Rainbow asked.
Twilight sniffled and brushed aside a few tears.
“Oh, sorry Rainbow, it’s nothing,” she said.  “It’s just… well, seeing Apple Bloom again I started thinking about… Applejack.”
“Oh.”
“I just… I just…”
“Look Twilight, you went through enough self loathing when Applejack died and I really don’t want to see you go through any more,” Rainbow said.  “So please stop blaming yourself.”
“But it was my fault, the whole thing was my fault,” Twilight said.  “General En was right, we should’ve tried rescuing her, or I should’ve come up with a better plan.”	
“Twilight, stop it.” Rainbow grabbed Twilight by the face and glared at her, staring straight into her eyes.  “It wasn’t your fault, understand.  Now just say that it wasn’t your fault.”
“But…”
“Say it!”
“It… it wasn’t… wasn’t my fault.”
“Again!”
“It wasn’t my fault.”
“Louder!”
“IT WASN’T MY FAULT!”
“That’s it,” Rainbow said and smiled.
Twilight took a few deep breaths, and then she began to cry again.  Rainbow Dash hugged her and gave her a pat on the back.
“It’s okay Twilight,” she said gently.  “I don’t blame you, I’m sure Applejack wouldn’t blame you.  So you really shouldn’t blame yourself.”
“Thanks Rainbow,” Twilight said as they broke out of the hug and she wiped away her latest fountain of tears.
“Don’t mention it,” Rainbow said.  “I understand how you feel, after all you know I’ve been through something similar.”
“But you didn’t have anyone die on you.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“You know what the worst part is? I mean about Apple Bloom and her friends,” Twilight said.  “They came close to being rescued twice before they got stuck on those two planets?”
“How?”
“Well, based on what Sweetie Belle told me about when Scootaloo was killed, it sounds like that was when the resistance made its first attempt to attack Celo-7.”
“Oh yeah, I heard about that.”
“And their failure was what killed Scootaloo.”
“NO!  How?”
Twilight gave Rainbow a quick run through of the events that led up to Scootaloo’s death and the aftermath.
“Whoa, that’s harsh.”
“I know.”
“What was the other one?”
“The ship they boarded was the Dominator III, the first ship captured by the Red Starfighter.  Looking at the info in the escape pods I think they were on board around the time the Red Starfighter attacked it, in fact I think they ejected only a few hours before the attack.”
“Ouch!”
Twilight nodded in agreement.  There was a lull in the conversation after that.
“Rainbow,” Twilight eventually said, “I’m getting a little worried about the others.  We haven’t found Pinkie Pie or Rarity yet, and it’s been two years.  I’m worried something might have happened to them.  I mean, Applejack’s dead, Scootaloo’s dead, Sweetie Belle came really close and Apple Bloom could’ve been left in that pod forever.  What if… what if they’re both already–?”
“Don’t say that,” Rainbow said.  “Don’t even think it.  I’m never going to give up on either of them or anybody else, not until I find them or I’m dead.”
Twilight smiled. “Me to,” she said.
Then they both heard the ship’s computer speak.  “Attention all crew, night period begins in ten minutes,” it said.
“Well, best get going then,” Rainbow said.  “Night Twilight.”
“Goodnight Rainbow,” Twilight said as Rainbow Dash left the room.
Rainbow Dash trotted back to her own cabin.  She didn’t have much in there, Twilight had managed to fill her cabin with stuff thanks to having never left Equestria by the time the resistance arrived so she was able to pick up some of her own possessions.  Rainbow Dash on the other hand had been carted off to a mine and subsequently had nothing to work with.  She desperately wanted to personalize her cabin; the far wall would look great with a Wonderbolts poster on it.  All she had where a few books on the shelves which she’d borrowed from Twilight and a broken collar sitting on the bedside table.  She’d glance at it at least once every day, it used to get her thinking about her own time in the Bolkarn mine but that had stopped quite some time again.  But now, after her conversation with Twilight it was happening again.  They weren’t all bad memories though.  Some of them were the best times of her life.
Rainbow Dash just stared at it and smiled.  “Nanencran Drashiga,” she whispered to herself before climbing into bed as the lights went down for night period and memories flowed through her mind.

When the Bolkarn first came to Equestria and emerged from their ships almost everypony who saw them fled in the opposite direction.  Rainbow Dash was one of the exceptions.  She’d been sleeping on a cloud when the Bolkarn launched their assault and the noise of screaming and gunfire had woken her.  The moment she realized what was going on she dived out of the sky towards the invaders, with nothing but her bare hooves to fight with.  She shot towards them as fast she could, ramming into any Bolkarn who happened to be standing in her way.  They tried to take her down but she managed to dodge every shot fired her way.  Before long other ponies were joining her in her retaliation against the Bolkarn, they weren’t so lucky and most of them were shot down almost immediately.  Finally one Bolkarn managed to stop her with a lucky shot.
Some time afterwards, she didn’t know how long, Rainbow Dash woke up.  She’d only been stunned.  She found herself somewhere dark and she could hear a humming sound coming through the whole place.  As her eyes adjusted she was able to see that she was in a large room lined with metal walls.  The place was full of ponies, she recognized a few that had tried to take on the Bolkarn and failed.
“Rainbow?” she someone say, it was a voice she recognized.
“Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
Rainbow Dash flew the short distance over to the back of the room where Fluttershy sitting in a corner away from most of the other ponies.
“What the hay happened?” Rainbow Dash asked her.  “And where are we anyway?”
“I… I don’t know,” Flutershy said.  “But I think–”
Fluttershy was interrupted when a door at the other end of the room opened revealing a Bolkarn.  Almost immediately Rainbow Dash leapt into the air, ready to fight again.
“Okay buddy, you ready for round two?”
She didn’t wait for an answer.  Rainbow Dash shot towards the Bolkarn who just rolled his eyes and raised a fist, punching her to the ground.  The ponies gasped, and the Bolkarn laughed.
“You’re either very brave or very stupid,” he said.  “Do you even have any idea where you are?”
“I’m where you’re gonna have your butt handed to you!” Rainbow Dash shouted before taking off towards the Bolkarn for another try.
Once again the Bolkarn punched her to the floor before grabbing her by the back of the neck and raising her up to his face.  He spat in one of her eyes.  Rainbow just snarled at him.
“If you’re thinking of trying to escape, don’t bother.  Let me show you why.”
The Bolkarn carried Rainbow Dash through the door which closed behind them.  He marched along the corridor outside until they came to a small round window and held Rainbow Dash up to it.  Through the window Rainbow Dash could see the night sky, a vast blackness dotted with stars.  She could see the moon as well, and a short distance from it was something that she’d never seen in the sky before.  A vast sphere covered in shapes she recognized, shapes she’d seen on maps and globes.  Her eyes when she realized what it was.  She was staring at her home, and it was slowly getting further and further away.
“Take a long look,” the Bolkarn said, Rainbow looked back at him when he spoke.  “It’s the last you’ll ever see of it.”
Rainbow Dash just stared at him with her mouth hanging open.  Finally a wicked smile formed on her face and she looked back towards home.
“No, I’m coming back,” she said.

Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and all the other ponies onboard were taken to a mine on the planet Olacia.  The planet was dark and cold thanks to being a long way from its sun.  When the sun was visible in the sky it was tiny and even when it was there the sky store bore the black of night only without any stars visible.  Unlike a lot of other planets occupied by the Bolkarn Olacia was inhabited.  When the planet had been invaded its leaders surrendered very quickly and allowed the Bolkarn to occupy their world and set up the mine on the condition that none of their own people were used as slave labor, with the exception of some convicted criminals.  The Olacians themselves were a humanoid race.  They had orange skin, three eyes, two thumbs on each hand, and thick strands of hair that weren’t really hair at all.
In the mine Rainbow Dash and most of the other Pegasus ponies were tasked with transporting the material extracted from the mine to the local spaceport where it was loaded into the Bolkarn ships and taken back to Bolka.  The spaceport was right in the middle of the city of Aicil which the mine was a short distance outside of.  The city itself was in the middle of vast rock desert.  Rainbow Dash had flown over it countless times bearing her heavy load to its destination.  When she flew over it she could see an area filled with spaceships on the opposite side of the city, spaceships that were covered in rust and falling apart.  She’d tried asking one of the locals in the mine what the place was but thanks to the language barrier she didn’t get an answer and she wasn’t going to ask a Bolkarn what it was.
Aicil was a perfect circle with high walls around the outside.  Towards the edge the buildings were small and basic and Rainbow Dash assumed they were all just small houses.  These buildings were all the same brown reddish color as the rocky landscape that surrounded them.  As they got closer to the center the buildings became bigger, more elaborate and painted in many bright colors.  Not too far from the spaceport Rainbow Dash could see a large round structure that looked like it might be a stadium.  Sometimes she’d see activity in there though she was often too far up to see it clearly.  On more than one occasion she’d thought about flying down there to take a look, but she knew that if she took any too long with her task the Bolkarn would punish her.  She’d seen them punish other slaves before, often fatally.
On this occasion Rainbow Dash wasn’t the only Pegasus in the sky, there were several behind her and getting close, a few had passed her earlier and others were returning to the mine.  Flying alongside her was Fluttershy.  Normally Rainbow Dash would be making the journey from mine to spaceport as quickly as she could but this time she was keeping pace with her friend.  Fluttershy was struggling with her load, she almost always was.  Sometimes Rainbow Dash would empty some of Fluttershy’s cargo into her own load when the Bolkarn weren’t looking.  But she hadn’t found a chance to do that this time.
Originally they carried the load in two very large wooden boxes slung over their backs like a saddlebag.  But the boxes were far too big and got in the way of their wings so the system was changed.  Now the boxes hung under them like hot air balloons and to make up for the fact that they’d only be carrying one the boxes were now much bigger then they’d been before.
“Come on Fluttershy,” Rainbow shouted over to her.  “Keep it up, I know you can.”
Fluttershy didn’t answer.  She was too exhausted and panting for breath.  Seeing her like this made Rainbow Dash feel guilty that she could carry such a heavy load with ease.  She was wondering if she should just fly ahead, drop of her own load and come back to help Fluttershy the rest of the way.  She glanced towards Fluttershy and noticed that her wings were slowing down.
“Come on Fluttershy!” she shouted.  “Don’t give up just yet, we’re nearly there.”  They weren’t but Rainbow thought it might help encourage her.
It didn’t work.  Fluttershy’s wing movements slowly became weaker and weaker and her altitude slowly decreased.  Then suddenly her wings stopped altogether and she fell out of the sky.  She was too exhausted to even scream.
“WHOA!”
Rainbow Dash reacted almost immediately, darting downwards towards her falling friend.  As she shot down her cargo flew upwards, trailing behind her with the sheer force of the acceleration stopping the rocks from falling out of the box.  Rainbow Dash caught up with Fluttershy and caught her easily.  But she didn’t have time to pull up when her speed brought them both crashing through the wall of a building and out the other side.  They slammed into another building on the opposite side of the street and fell towards the ground.  Rainbow Dash managed to slow down their descent just enough for them to be unharmed when they landed.  Fluttershy’s box had been smashed to pieces when they hit the first building and Rainbow’s had survived until they struck the side of the second one.  Now the pieces of the box and its contents were strewn across the street.  Rainbow Dash got to her feet and immediately rushed to check on Fluttershy.  She was okay, but breathing heavily.
“Are you okay?” Rainbow asked her.
“I… think so,” Fluttershy said.  “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it,” Rainbow replied.
Fluttershy tried to stand up but fell back down again.  She was still exhausted and the shock of the fall and landing certainly didn’t help.  Then Rainbow Dash realized that they weren’t the only ones in this street. They were being stared at by several Olacians along with a group of Bolkarn that had been patrolling the streets.  The Bolkarn marched towards the two ponies, shoving aside anyone in their paths.
“Pathetic creature,” one of them scoffed, and kicked Fluttershy hard in the back.
Rainbow reacted immediately, she jumped upwards and straight into the Bolkarn’s face knocking him off balance.  Another moved towards them, Rainbow rose into the air and gave him a hard kick in the chest with her back legs.
“Don’t you touch her,” she growled at the Bolkarn as she landed back on the ground, putting herself between Fluttershy and the Bolkarn.  Rainbow Dash didn’t care what they did to her, she wasn’t going to let Fluttershy suffer any more then she already had.
Two of the Bolkarn glanced at each other.  One of them whispered something to the other.  Then one of the two raised his gun, pointing it straight at Rainbow Dash and pulled the trigger.

Once again Rainbow Dash found herself waking up in darkness.  This time she could feel a hard stone floor beneath her and there was also something wriggling in her left ear.
“Hey look, it’s awake,” said a voice in the darkness.
“I told you not to say ‘it’, they’re female, I checked.”
This was followed by the sound of someone being slapped.
“Don’t say that in front of her you idiot!”
Rainbow Dash got to her hooves, as her eyes adjusted she was able to see who was talking.  One was a four legged creature whose front feet looked like they could be used as hands as well.  They each had something that looked like a thumb and each finger or toe, whichever they were, ended in a short curved claw.  The creature’s back was covered in something that looked like rock that was divided into squares and covered with studs.  Some of it also covered the creatures head.  It also had a long and very flexible tail.  The other one was far more unusual.  Its lower half consisted of a spherical body covered in scales with four legs sticking out of it that reminded Rainbow of a crab.  Sticking out of the top of this body was something that resembled a humanoid torso covered in the same scales as the lower part.  The torso had two arms with had two elbows each.  Its head seemed to be conical with a pair of pincers instead of a mouth and two insect like eyes.  Then she noticed that both these beings were wearing a tight black collar around their necks, and each collar had a small glowing red circle set into it.  Rainbow ran a hoof around her own neck and discovered she was wearing one as well.
She needed to find out where she was and these two creatures were the only ones she could ask.  She was surprised that they were speaking English but at least that meant she’d be able to talk to them properly.
“Where am I?” she asked them.
“In the arena,” the rock covered one said.
When it spoke Rainbow Dash realized she was hearing two things come out of its mouth.  In her left ear she was hearing English and in the other she was hearing a series of animalistic growls.  While she couldn’t see it clearly in the dark what she could make out of the creature’s mouth movements certainly didn’t match the English speech she was hearing.  The arena, he’d said.  Rainbow Dash wondered what that was, then it came to her.  She was in the stadium.
“What am I doing here?” she asked.
“Well, you got on the Bolkarn’s nerves,” the rock covered creature said.  “So I guess they thought sticking you in this place was a fitting, if rather messy, punishment.”
“Messy?”
“Oh boy, kid you have no idea what’s about to happen do you.”
Rainbow shook her head.
“In a few moments,” the one with the crab legs said, again English in her left ear and in her right a series of clicking sounds, “the three of us are going to be sent out there to fight… something.”
“What sort of something?”
“Dunno,” rocks said.  “But from personal experience I can tell you that it’ll be something really dangerous that’ll kill us, and probably eat us if we don’t kill it.”
Then they heard the sound of a gong from outside.
“That’s our cue,” crab legs said.
The two of them moved towards one of the walls and after a bit of hesitation Rainbow Dash joined them.
“What’s your name kid?” rocky asked?
“Rainbow Dash.  And you two?”
“I’m Narx,” rocky said.
“Hhhhilp,” said crab legs.
Then the wall in front of them descended into the ground and the three of them walked out into the area.  Rainbow Dash looked up at the cheering crowds surrounding them.  Just from flying over it she never realized just how big the arena was, sure she realized it was big but not this big.  As the wall closed behind them three Olacians approached them, one was carrying a spear, another was carrying a sword and the third was carrying a spiked ball on the end of a long chain.
“Choose your weapons,” one of them said.
Hhhhilp stepped forwards and took the spear.
“I’ll be fine with this,” Narx said, he raised his tail and a long spike protruded from the end of it.
“Cool!” Rainbow Dash said as Narx withdrew the spike.
“What about you?” he asked her.
“Um… I don’t think I can even hold any of those weapons,” she replied.  “Never mind use them!”
“As you wish,” said one of the Olacians and they left the arena floor.
Rainbow Dash looked upwards.  She could see the night sky above them through the completely roofless arena.
“What’s stopping me from just flying out of here?” she asked.
“The collar,” Hhhhilp replied.  “If you try to escape, attack the audience or anything like that it gives you an electric shock that knocks you out for ten minutes.”
“And given what’s about to happen, you do not want to be knocked out for ten minutes,” Narx said.
Then they heard the gong again and the crowd suddenly became very quiet.  Rainbow Dash felt all the eyes in the area looking towards the wall directly opposite them, Narx and Hhhhilp were staring at it as well.  They heard a loud screeching roar coming from behind it.
“Oh no,” Narx said.
“What?  What is it?” Rainbow asked.
“A Drashig,” Narx replied.
“And what the hay is a Drashig?”
“You’re about to find out.”
“Well whatever it is I’m sure we can take it, right?”
They both stared at her as though she was mad.
“Take it?  TAKE IT!?  THESE THINGS EAT SPACESHIPS!” Narx shouted.
They heard some laughter from the crowd directly behind them.
“Oh dear,” Rainbow said.
Then the far wall descended revealing the Drashig.  As it moved outside and into the arena the first thing Rainbow Dash noticed bout it was that it didn’t have any legs.  The creature was like a long and enormous snake with brown rubbery skin with a few long hairs protruding from it.  Its head was taken up mostly by its long mouth which was full of long sharp teeth.  On the top of its head were six stalks, each one ending in an eye.  It also had a collar round its neck, though a much larger one.  And then they heard the gong again.
“Time for action,” Narx said.  “It’s been nice knowing you kid, even if was brief.”
Narx and Hhhhilp charged forwards, Hhhhilp with his spear lowered and Narx raising his tail over his head with the spike protruding from it.  Rainbow Dash stared at the creature in front of her unsure of what to do.  She glanced up to the sky wondering if she should try and escape.  No, she wouldn’t escape.  Even if she’d only known them a few minutes she couldn’t leave the other two to be devoured by that monster.  She lowered her body towards the ground and then took off.
She shot towards the Drashing as fast as she could and slammed straight into its skin.  It didn’t even notice, its skin was tough.  Just below her she could see Hhhhilp attempting to dig into it with his spear without success.  Rainbow pulled back to try again.  This time she aimed for its head, though she made sure to steer clear of its mouth.  She flew round it and struck it from behind.  It let out another screeching roar, it had definitely noticed that.
Hhhhilp was still trying to dig his spear in while Narx had climbed onto the Drashig’s back and was trying the same thing with his tail spike.  Rainbow flew at the creature once again.  This time aiming for its eye stalks.  She flew straight through them, knocking them about and disorienting the creature.  As she did so she grabbed one with her mouth and managed to tear it clean off.  A loud cheer erupted from the crowd when she did that.  She spat out the stalk, it tasted foul.
Then Hhhhilp managed to penetrate the Drashig’s skin and plunged his spear deep into it.  The Drashig roared again, much louder than before.  Then as Hhhhilp pulled his spear out it leaned down towards him with its mouth open.
“NO!” Rainbow yelled and shot towards Hhhhilp.
But she was too late.  Hhhhilp had tried to flee but the Drashig’s jaws closed around him, biting him in two.  Hhhhilp’s spear fell to the floor as the Drashig’s head rose back up.  Rainbow could see Hhhhilp’s body in its mouth being slowly shredded to pieces in the monsters teeth.  She glanced down at what was left of him, just the spherical bit with the legs attached and the spear lying on the ground next to it.  She looked into the creature’s mouth, then she realized that except for when it was eating Hhhhilp it hadn’t closed its mouth at all, it just hung open all the time.  A plan began to form in her mind.
“NARX,” she shouted, “TRY AND KEEP IT DISTRACTED, I’VE GOT AN IDEA.”
She flew down to the ground and picked up Hhhhilp’s spear in her hooves.  She gripped it tightly between them, she made sure it was pointing forwards and closed her back legs around the end of the spear’s shaft to keep it steady.  Then she began to fly around the arena, circling it again and again.  With each lap she got faster and faster.  She kept accelerating until she was absolutely sure she couldn’t go any faster.
The crowd below was staring at her.  Narx had stopped his attack on the Drashig to gawp at the rainbow striped blur that was circling the place.  Even the Drashig was watching the display.  It had stopped eating Hhhhilp and its mouth was hanging open once again.  Rainbow Dash changed course and headed straight for the Drashig.  She closed her eyes as she shot spear first straight into the creature’s mouth.  There was a loud gasp from the crowd and then she burst out of the back of the Drashig’s head.  Bits of its flesh, blood and bones rained down on the ground and Rainbow Dash was covered in the creature’s blood.  The Drashig keeled over and hit the floor with a loud slam.
A shocked silence descended over the crowd of a few seconds before they erupted in cheers and applause.  Rainbow Dash looked down at the dead Drashig, finding it almost hard to believe what she’d just down.  She’d dropped the spear when she burst out of the back of its head and it had sailed through the air to hit the ground point first near the edge of the arena.  Rainbow Dash punched the air in delight and let out a loud “YES!”  She descended back to the ground and landed next to Narx, in was staring at her in silent shock.
“That was… that was…” he said.
“Told you we could take it,” Rainbow said smugly.

Shortly after the fight with the Drashig Rainbow Dash learnt some more details about her new situation.  The Bolkarn had sold her to the owner of the arena to be a gladiator with the condition that she be put into a fight as soon as possible against an opponent that was guaranteed to kill her.  Clearly they’d wanted punish her in the most horrifying way they could think of, they must be regretting their decision now.
As a gladiator Rainbow Dash was still a slave but a slave with privileges.  Gladiators could wander through the streets of Aicil and go wherever they wanted so long as they didn’t leave the city and still showed up to take part in gladiatorial combat.  While exploring the city Rainbow Dash soon realized that she’d become a celebrity and the Olacians had started referring to her as Drashig slayer or in their own language Nanencran Drashiga.  When she walked through the streets the Olacians would stop and stare or point and some would call out to her or wave.  The Bolkarn patrolling the streets would just glare at her but some seemed to go out of their way to avoid her.  According to Narx even the Bolkarn were afraid of Drashigs, and someone who could kill a Drashig was someone they should be wary of.
Rainbow Dash first became aware of her celebrity status when she saw a crude attempt at her cutie mark gratified on the wall of a small alley.  Before long the image was popping up all over the city and not just as graffiti.  Some Olacians had given themselves tattoos of it and she’d often see banners bearing it amongst the crowds when she fought in the arena.  Once she a passing Olacian asked what the image meant and her answer wasn’t what they expected.  Apparently they thought it was meant to represent a weapon of some sort and several Olacians had given it names.  Some called it The Spectrum Knife while others gave it the name The Blade of Many Colors.  Rainbow Dash didn’t understand why they hadn’t worked out what the mark was but she worked it out over time.  During the time she’d been on Olacia she’d never seen a rainbow or a single storm, clouds would gather and they’d sometimes have rain but the Olacians had never seen lightning.  Some Olacians at least recognized the image of a cloud in her cutie mark which was why some called it The Spear from the Sky.
The idea of her cutie mark being a weapon could also be seen in the graffiti and some of the banners.  Sometimes she’d seen it stabbed through a dead Drashig or another creature she’d fought recently.  On one or two occasions she saw it stabbed through a Bolkarn.  She’d really liked that one, the Bolkarn clearly didn’t.  Once she’d seen a group of them assaulting an Olacian who’d been in the middle of painting the image on a wall somewhere.  Of course she’d intervened, though it turned out she didn’t need to do anything.  The moment she made her presence known the Bolkarn stopped what they were doing, took one look at her and stormed off.  Rainbow Dash had assumed that this was because they didn’t want to have to deal with the famed Drashig slayer but according to Narx it was because weren’t allowed to do anything to the gladiators, they could do whatever they liked to the Olacians but they had to leave the gladiators alone.
Rainbow Dash would sometimes go flying, though very rarely.  Even when she was flying she wasn’t allowed out of the city.  This didn’t feel right, she had the whole sky to fly through and yet she was limited to a confined space, yes a large confined space but compared to the vast sky it wasn’t very big at all.  In the arena seeing her fly had become the main attraction for the crowd.  All the gladiators who had come before her were all ground based, not a single wing between any of them.  Seeing a flying gladiator put a bit more variety into the combat and with her flying around the arena the Olacians in the higher seats would get to see her clearly otherwise the gladiators would just be vague shapes fighting a monster.  There had been talk of brining in a flying creature for Rainbow to fight though there were concerns that it might fly right out of the arena.  All the creatures the gladiators thought wore the same collars so if it did attempt an escape it could be knocked out but nobody wanted the crowd to have to wait ten minutes for the beast to wake up again.
One thing she’d sometimes do when flying was talk to the Pegasus ponies that were transporting materials from the mine, at least she’d try to.  Some would just ignore her while others would glare at her and then ignore her.  When one of them did speak to her they told her that the mine slaves weren’t happy that she’d found freedom.  She responded by saying that she wasn’t free, not properly, but that didn’t matter to them.  She was out of the mine, and that was enough.
While flying amongst the Pegasus slaves she came to realize something, she never saw Fluttershy.  At first she thought she was just flying at the wrong times but soon she grew worried.  One Pegasus she managed to speak to told her that Fluttershy was still alive and still in the mine but refused to say anything beyond that.  She couldn’t get any more information out of anyone else and after a few months she decided to try sneaking into the mine to talk to Fluttershy herself.
Of course there was a problem with this plan; the mine was outside the city.  She knew that if she went outside the collar would knock her out automatically.  She’d also found out that it kept track of her movements so it wouldn’t be long before someone came to retrieve her.  What she didn’t know was what would happen if she was caught trying to leave the city.  Before she could talk to Flutteshy she had to find a solution to this problem somehow.  Rainbow decided to ask Narx about the problem.
“Well kid, you’ve got yourself a tough one there,” he said.  “What did you have in mind?”
“Well, I was thinking of asking the boss but…”
“But you know that’s really not a good idea, don’t you.”
“Yeah.”
Rainbow Dash had met ‘the boss’ shortly after her fight with the Drashig.  She still didn’t know his name and everyone else just referred to him as ‘the boss’ whether they knew his name or not.  He was an older Olacian who’d lost most of his hair and was apparently going blind in his third eye.  When they’d first met he’d showered Rainbow Dash with praise and went on about how she was going to be the greatest gladiator Olacia had ever seen and so on but afterwards Narx told her that normally he was a much more unpleasant individual.  Rainbow had done her best to avoid ‘the boss’, not wishing to see his more unpleasant side.
“So what do you suggest I should do?” she asked Narx.
“Well, if you’re really insistent about sneaking into that damn mine…”
“I am!”
“…then there’s someone who might be able to help you.”
The following evening Narx led Rainbow Dash through the various tunnels and corridors beneath the Arena.  Down here was where the gladiators lived.  Their rooms were small, dark, and cold.  Most of the gladiators only spent their time down here when they absolutely had to.  Rainbow thought they’d probably spend more time down here if there were food facilities there but there weren’t so instead all the gladiators would find somewhere to eat out in the city.  Despite being officially slaves the gladiators were still paid, though not much, and what little they got was mostly spent on food anyway.
Rainbow soon learnt that the gladiators’ living quarters weren’t the only things beneath the arena.  Narx led her through a door at the end of one corridor into a room that was lit up by multiple computer screens.  The room had eight wide walls, each one with a console mounted along it and nine computer screens set into in rows of three all mounted on top of each other with a colored plate above each screen with something written on it that Rainbow Dash couldn’t read.  The only exceptions to this were the wall with the door set into it and the wall directly opposite which had one screen spread over its entirety.  The screen displayed a map of the whole city and some of the outskirts but not enough to show the Bolkarn mine.  Spread across the map were several brightly colored dots.  In front of this one screen was an Olacian sitting in a chair with his feet propped up on the far wall’s console.  He was fast asleep and snoring loudly.  Narx slammed the door behind them which woke up the sleeping Olacian.
“What?  What was…?  What’s goin’ on?  Is there any way of… oh, it’s you.”
“Hello Kyeil,” Narx said.
Kyeil was shorter than most Olacians Rainbow Dash had seen.  His clothes were dirty and ripped, one sleeve of his shirt was missing, and his feet were bare.  His skin was rather pale and his hair was a bright purple color which reminded Rainbow Dash of Twilight Sparkle.  She could see traces of black in the roots, his hair must be dyed.  Rainbow noticed that his chair swiveled but he didn’t rotate it to face them.  Instead he turned himself around, resting his chin in his hands, and his elbows on the back of the chair.
“So dude, who’s your friend?” Kyeil asked.
“Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow said.  “Though you’ve probably already heard of me.”
“Uh… no man, sorry.”
Rainbow was taken aback by this response.
“You know, the Drashig Slayer.”
“Oh, right.”  He sounded unimpressed.
“‘Oh right’?  Is that all you’ve got to say?”
“Yeah, that’s all.”
“Come on, I killed a Drashig, that’s gotta be worth some kind of reaction.”
“Nah, not really.  Everyone knows those fights are fixed anyway dude.”
Rainbow’s jaw dropped, she almost couldn’t believe he’d just said that.
“Kyeil, if that fight had been fixed it would’ve been fixed so she’d get killed,” Narx retorted.
“Yeah, sure she would.”
“I’m being serious here Kyeil!”
“And how exactly do you fix a fight with a Drashig so that one of the gladiators manages to fly right through its mouth and out the other side with a spear?” Rainbow shouted at him.
Kyeil raised an eyebrow.  “Is that what you did?”
“Yep.”
“Sounds messy.”
“It was.”
“Okay look,” Narx said, “we’re not here to discuss whether or not these fights are fixed or not.”
“No, didn’t think you were dude,” Kyeil said.
“And by the way, they’re not.”
“Whatever you say dude.”
Narx rolled his eyes.  “Look, the kid has a problem which I think you can solve for her.”
“I’m listening.”
Narx then began to tell Kyeil about how Rainbow Dash had wound up as a gladiator and that she wanted to get to the Bolkarn mine.  While Narx was explaining all of this Rainbow noticed Kyeil pick something out of his nose and flick it across the room where it landed on a computer screen and remained stuck there.
“…so we need a way round to get her there without her collar knocking her out.  Can you do that?”
“Hmm…”
Kyeil stuck a finger in one ear and starting digging in it for something.  Rainbow suddenly became aware of the thing in her own ear.  She’d managed to get used to it now and could ignore it most of the time but now she could feel it in there again.  Sometimes it itched a bit.  She stuck a hoof in her ear and began digging around herself, and she saw that Narx was doing the same thing.  Whatever was her ear Narx and Kyeil must have one too.
“You do know that we could all get into a lot of trouble for this dudes,” Kyeil said, and then a wide grin spread across his face.  “I’ll do it!”	
“Excellent,” Narx said.
Rainbow Dash on the other hand wasn’t convinced.  “Wait a minute, if you think you’re gonna get in trouble for doing this then why do it?”
“Dude, do you even know what I do down here?”
Rainbow shook her head.
“You see that thing behind me?” Kyeil said pointing a thumb over his shoulder at the screen with the map.  “That’s a map of the whole city, and you know what those little dots are?  Those are all the gladiators, or to be exact their collars.”
“And what about these other screens then?” Rainbow asked.
“Oh those are showing life signs and all that stuff, you know, heart rate, breath rate, whether you’ve just been zapped by your collar or not.  That sort of thing.”
“That one,” Narx pointed towards a screen with a dark rate plate above it, “is mine.  And there’ll be a red dot on that screen on that screen showing where I am.”
“Which one’s mine then?” Rainbow asked.
“Not a clue,” Kyeil said.
Narx looked up at the map screen, searching for his dot somewhere in the Arena.
“Well, I’m right there,” he said and pointed at the screen.  “So you must be the black dot next to me.”
Rainbow looked round the room at all the screens and the plates above them before spotting one with a black plate.  It was in the middle of the set on the left side of the door.  She gazed up at it.  There were various lines and bars across it along with words she couldn’t read and several numbers.  None of it made any sense to her.
“So, do you just sit down here watching screens all day?” she asked Kyeil.
“Pretty much,” he replied.  “I really don’t need to do much since the collars knock you out automatically when you try and leave, I just need to let the guards know when that happens and where you are so they can come and get you.”
“What about if we try and escape when we’re in the arena, or attack the crowd or something?”
“Oh I keep an eye on that to, when that happens I trigger them myself, same goes for the monsters.  You know you lot really should try and escape more often, give me something to do.”
“So, you’re just going to help us because you’re bored?”
“Yep.”
“I’ve heard worse reasons,” Narx said.
“So what can you do then?  Can you stop the collar from knocking me out?”
“‘Fraid not dude,” Kyeil said.
“Then what can you do to help?”
“Easy, I screw around with the collar’s systems and increase the range it allows you to move around in.”
“Okay, that’ll work.”
“But I’ll have to change it back not too long afterwards.”
“Why?”
Kyeil shrugged.  “Someone might notice, that’s all.”
“Alright, that’ll have to do.”
“Great, so how far should I set the range?”
“Just outside the mine, I’m not going any further than that.”
“Okay.  So when d’you wanna go meet this friend of yours?”
“When’s the soonest you can sort this out?”
“Well, if you’re asking me that then I’d think the soonest you can go is tomorrow night.”
“Great, that’ll do fine.”
“Okay dude, but you’ll need this.”
Kyeil got off his chair went down onto the floor.  He opened the door to a cupboard under the console and pulled out a box that was full of random knick knacks and bits of technology.  Some of these were broken and others were just a random mess of tangled wires.  Kyeil began rummaging around in the box, throwing things aside as he did so.  Eventually he found what he was looking for.  It was a small hemisphere with a short cylinder protruding from its flat side that looked like it was supposed to be inserted into something.
“What’s that for?” Rainbow asked.
“This goes in your ear,” Kyeil said, grinning.
Rainbow felt the wriggling thing again and she made to scratch at it once more.
“Ah, the other ear I’m guessing then.”  Kyeil stepped towards her and rammed the thing it her right ear.
“So what’s it for?” Rainbow asked him, now slightly annoyed.  He’d been rather rough when inserting it.
“A radio,” Kyeil said with a tone of voice that suggested that the answer should’ve been obvious.
He went rummaging around in the box before pulling out another one of the small radios.
“I’ll use this to talk to you, let you know when I’m ready for you to go, and when to pull out.  It also has a translation function so you won’t have any problems there.”
“Okay, how long will you give me?”
“An hour at most, that’s all?  Is that enough?”
“It’ll have to do.”

Rainbow Dash spent most of the next day flying around the city though not with her usual hectic speed.  She was gazing out towards the mine and thinking about how she’d get there unnoticed.  She’d decided the best thing to do would be to move quickly but to keep as low to the ground as possible.  Normally nighttime would help cover her movements but here it made very little difference.  In fact with the stars visible at night she suspected that the planet might have more light at night then during the day.
Eventually the sun set though hardly anyone would’ve noticed when it did.  Rainbow flew down to the wall surrounding the city and settled herself on top of it, flattening herself against it as best she could.  She sat there for just over half an hour before she heard Kyeil’s voice in her ear.
“Okay dude,” he said, “time to go.  One hour remember.”
And without a word Rainbow was off.  She dived down the side of the wall and shot across the ground.  She could feel small bits of rocking jutting up from the ground skimming underneath her as she went.  It didn’t take her long to get to the mine and she quickly shot down the edge of it and darted behind a rock.  From here she was going to have to be stealthy.  She peered over the top of the rock, there were a few Bolkarn dotted around the place but they didn’t seem to be paying attention to their surroundings.  One wandered away from where he was standing to talk to another.  All the slaves were spread around the place, all of them sleeping, but Rainbow Dash couldn’t see Fluttershy anywhere amongst them.
Rainbow slowly made her away around the mine, keeping herself pressed against the walls.  Still no sign of Fluttershy, she’d have to ask somebody.  She glanced around for a pony, and then spotted someone she recognized.
“Psst, Lyra.”
Lyra’s eyes opened partially and she looked around to see who was talking to her.
“Huh?  Whassat?”
“Lyra, where’s Fluttershy?” Rainbow whispered.
“Uh… oh.” Lyra raised her left foreleg and waved it around a little while pointing across the mine, then she went back to sleep.
“Thanks, that’s really helpful,” Rainbow muttered to herself sarcastically.  But she followed the vague direction anyway, it was all she had.
Rainbow remained close to the wall.  She’d lost track of how much time she’d spent there.  Eventually she spotted Fluttershy, she was a long way from where most of the other slaves were and she was still awake.  She was facing Rainbow and looking up at the starlit sky.  Rainbow decided to move a little bit closer before making her presence known.
“Hey, Fluttershy,” she whispered.
Fluttershy let out a panicked squeak and dived behind a rock.
“Relax, it’s me,” Rainbow said as she began to move closer.
“Stay there!” Fluttershy squealed at her.
Rainbow froze where she was standing.
“Why?  Come on Fluttershy, what’s wrong?” Rainbow asked.  “You can’t think I’ve abandoned you do you?”
“No.”
“Well then, come out and talk to me.”
“No! Fluttershy squeaked.
“Why not?  What’s wrong?”
“I… I don’t want to talk about it, please, just go.”
“No way, I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s wrong,” Rainbow said.  “I’ve been worried about you Fluttershy.  I even thought you might be dead.  So please, come out and talk to me.”
A few minutes passed in almost utter silence, finally Fluttershy spoke.
“Ok,” she said quietly, so quietly that Rainbow Dash barely heard it.
Fluttershy stepped out from behind the rock, she moved slowly and she was staring at the floor the whole time.  Rainbow’s jaw dropped when she finally saw her properly.  Her wings had gone leaving two long scars where they should’ve been.  Rainbow Dash had sometimes had nightmares about losing her wings and she’d injured them plenty of times.  When that happened she felt like she’d lost some of her freedom, she was trapped on the ground.  But that had only been temporary, her wings had healed.  But for Fluttershy, this was permanent now.  Sure she wasn’t much of a flyer, yes she could show great skill and speed when she pushed herself, flying wasn’t something she obsessed over or really bothered with but she’d still lost a part of herself, and they must’ve been removed by force against her will.
“They… they did this to you, didn’t they.”
Fluttershy nodded. “They… they said that if I couldn’t do any flying for them then I shouldn’t fly at all.”
“Oh Fluttershy…”
Rainbow walked towards Fluttershy and embraced her gently.  Fluttershy began to cry, Rainbow could feel Fluttershy’s tears flowing onto her shoulder and down her back.  Rainbow stayed there, holding her friend for quite some time.  After a while she heard Kyeil’s voice in her ear.
“Okay Rainbow Dude, times almost up, you better be getting outta there,” he said.
Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth.  She didn’t want to leave Fluttershy, not like this.  But she had to.  She led go of Fluttershy who went back to looking at the floor.  Rainbow gently lifted up her face until they were both gazing into each other’s eyes.
“Flutteshy, I’ve got to go now,” she said.  “But I’ll come back, and I promise… no, I swear that we’re getting out of here, all of us.  And the Bolkarn will pay for doing this to you.”
Flutteshy stared at Rainbow Dash, and then gave a small nod.  Rainbow smiled at her friend before turning to leave.  As she prepared to take off she heard a voice.
“Hey,” it said, trying to whisper but be loud enough to be heard at the same time.
Rainbow turned towards where the voice had come from and saw a brown Earth pony hiding behind a nearby rock.
“Not now,” Rainbow said.  “I need to get out of here.”
“Okay, but I heard what you were saying,” the Earth pony told her.  “The name’s Battle Plan, and if you’re planning some sort of escape I think I can help.”
“Thanks, I’ll remember that,” Rainbow said before taking off and heading out of the mine and back to the city.