Chapter 2: Dark Days
Rainbow Dash's vision slowly returned, along with all her other senses. She felt heavy chains around her neck, legs, and at the base of her wings, meaning that she had very little chance at escaping. She lifted her head, straining her neck muscles with the chain, feeling as if it weighed a whole ton. She groaned in pain, but still looked around. She was in a dark, cold, large room, and she wasn't alone. She fought back screaming in rage when she saw the mass number of other kidnapped ponies. She tried to stand, but the chains limited her movement lots. She let her head drop back to the ground. Rainbow Dash breathed deep and started thinking, hoping for a way to escape this prison.
Hours passed, to no avail. She shook her head and realized that there was another chained pony, about 5 feet away. She didn't move, and seemed to be asleep. She had an orangish coat. Rainbow Dash quietly said, "Hey. Hey, you okay? Hey, you!", bringing no response. "Are you okay?" She said again, much louder this time. The orange pony looked at Rainbow Dash pleadingly, revealing many marks from being beaten heavily. "Please, save yourself. Keep your mouth shut if you don't want to end up like me." She said, her voice cracking. Rainbow Dash flinched and lowered her head, trying to think again, but not being able to. Then she heard steady hoofsteps nearing, and the occasional clink of iron. She raised her eyes and saw an armored stallion strolling past, surveying the captives. He stopped when he noticed Rainbow Dash, and walked up to her. "You. Your name. Speak." He said sternly. Rainbow Dash just looked angrily at him, saying nothing. "You're going to give me your name. Last warning." He said, louder. She stayed silent. "You're going to regret this." He grumbled, walking over to the orange pony. "You. You're going to teach that one," he pointed at Rainbow Dash "What happens when you don't answer demands.", he said in that same, evil tone. She whimpered and tried to back away, the chains rattling. He grabbed the chain around her neck and yanked hard, pulling her forwards. She let out a gasp of pain, and lay still. He pulled out a key and unlocked the binds on her feet, allowing her to stand. He firmly grabbed the neck chain again, and dragged the orange pony over infront of Rainbow Dash.
"Don't. She did nothing!" Rainbow Dash pleaded desperately. He lifted her by her neck, and hit the orange pony hard in the face. Again. Again. He drew back for another swing. "RAINBOW DASH!" Rainbow Dash shouted out before he could strike the pony. The guard chuckled, re-chaining the beaten pony, and then he continued down the line, investigating. "I'm so sorry, please, are you okay?" Rainbow Dash said, tears streaming from her eyes. The beaten pony looked at Rainbow Dash again, "Say nothing." She warned.
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"You mean to tell me..." A voice said, "That Rainbow Dash, is in our prison? Right now?"
"Yes, sir"
"Describe what she looks like."
"Sky blue coat."
"Mane?"
"Rainbow colored mane and tail."
"And she said her name was?"
"Rainbow Dash, sir."
The voice laughed, unable to contain the excitement. The ultimate prize, the ultimate weapon, all to himself now.
"Bring her to me."
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Rainbow Dash was almost sleeping, when she heard a voice. "Get up, you're coming with us.". She looked up, looking to see who was about to be taken, only to see three guards staring down at her. She lifted her head, curiously, staying silent. One of the guards brought a key, un-locking her feet so she could walk freely. She darted for it, only to feel a crushing force on her neck, as a guard yanked on a chain attacked to the neck brace around her. She felt her legs swept from under her, causing her to land roughly on her back. She gasped for breath as the three guards walked up to her, forcing her up to her hooves. She stared with hatred at the guards, as she firmly planted her hooves, refusing to move. Crack. Rainbow Dash yelped in pain as she felt a whip cracking off her back.
She submit, and slowly began to walk, being led like a dog, out of the prison and out into the out-doors.
It was dark, really dark. Never was it this dark anywhere in Equestria, or anywhere she'd ever been before. The stars were crystal clear, a sight she would have enjoyed if she was able to be free, able to fly, to feel that crisp winter air on her wings, rushing across the sides of her face. She snapped back into reality, and continued to walk. She wondered how the guards could see where they were going, and why they weren't shivering. It was freezing cold! "Wh-where a-a-are you t-t-taking m-me?" Rainbow Dash asked, between jittering teeth. "Don't talk." One guard said. "B-b-but I w-want to kno-w" She replied. Crack. Rainbow Dash flinched, feeling the whip crack painfully again.
After a long walk in the cold, Rainbow Dash saw a large, wooden structure mansion. Something felt, wrong about the normal looking building. As the very large doors creaked open, Rainbow Dash looked around, and it was no ordinary mansion. It was structured similar to a church, minus the religeous symbols and stained glass windows. "We come bearing Rainbow Dash." One of the guards said. "Eeeeexxcelent." A voice boomed, echoing down the long enterance to the building. Rainbow Dash nervously stepped backwards, nervously stamping a hoof on the ground. Crack. Rainbow Dash yelped at the whip ripping across her back painfully. She couldn't take it anymore, she turned quickly, breaking free from the grip of the guard holding the chain. She pounced onto the pony with the whip and tackled him, bashing her hooves into his face, feeling blood splattering against her face, her eyes wild and bloodshot. She beat for a solid 3 seconds, doing as much damage as would normally be done in 3 minutes, before she was knocked onto her side, and stabbed with a sharp painful needle, bringing almost instant fatigue. Rainbow tried to stay awake, but her eyelids felt as if they were being pushed downwards with the force of one billion Wonder Bolts. She was un-conscious within 10 seconds.
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Rainbow Dash began to fade back into reality, feeling herself chained to what felt like splintery wood. She tried to move her head, but her neck had a brace on it, that was up to her chin, only letting her look side to side. She tried to figure out what was going on, she was chained and hanging upside-down on what felt like a wooden platform. She noticed that the rest of the room was dark, except for where she was bound. Rainbow Dash sneezed, being that the room was very dusty. At this, she heard a voice. "So.... The amazing Rainbow Dash awakens..." A voice said, coming from an un-seeable spot in the room. "Let me go!" She protested. Laughter. "It's cute, you acting as if you can command me around." The voice replied, causing a shiver to run up and down Rainbow Dash's spine. Reveal yourself, coward!" Rainbow Dash shouted angrily, feeling fearless. "As you wish." The voice said. A light flickered on dimly, at the opposite end of the room, revealing a very large, black wooden-framed chair, with red leather seating and backrest. It spun slowly, revealing a rather large dragon, scaling to around three times Rainbow Dash's size, his scales black. Then he looked up, causing her to flinch at the very appearance.
His face was scarred horribly, with cuts and burns. His eyes stared menacingly, a slow, evil grin curling onto his face, revealing very long canine teeth, reminding her of the appearance a vampire would have. He chuckled, seemingly only parting his teeth less then a centimeter. "You must want my name too, then" He said. Without waiting for an answer he said, "We have no time for names. You know more then enough already. You must want to know why you're on a wheel too then? That, I don't have to explain, you will find out soon enough." adding a small grin at the end of his sentence. He lifted one arm, and made a circulating movement with one finger, and Rainbow Dash felt herself beginning to spin, slowly gaining speed, until her vision was just blurs. She said nothing, working too hard on keeping herself from vomiting. With one movement of his arm, the wheel stopped entirely. Rainbow's neck violently hit the side of the brace, causing a surprisingly large amount of pain, along with dizziness. When Rainbow Dash was able to see again, she saw a large cardboard box, filled to the brim with many sharp knives. She gasped, knowing what he was about to do. "No, please!" she pleaded. He laughed manically and spun his finger, sending Rainbow Dash back into rotation. She screamed as she saw a knife hit the board and stick, the blade pointing through, missing her eye by inches. Thump. Her tail twitched nervously with how close the second knife was. Thump. Thump. Crash. One knife hit the board at the handle and spun off, gently grazing her leg, somehow not cutting it.
"Dammit." The dragon hissed, reaching for another knife. Rainbow Dash screamed as she felt her skin get cut, and felt blood getting all over her. She felt lots of pain rushing from her lower right leg, where the knife had cut through part of her leg while sticking to the board. "Ooooooooh, almost a new record there!" The dragon said, stopping the wheel of Rainbow Dash. She cried quietly, feeling pain, fear, and dizziness all at once. The dragon laughed, and enjoyed the scene, Rainbow Dash trying to hide behind her mane as she cried, bleeding, and chained. "How many knives was that?" He said, counting the number of knives he threw from his chair. "4 out of 6, one handle hit, one cut. Not bad." He said to himself. "And one more, to mark the end of the game." He said, picking up a small, metal, crude looking metal axe, spinning it, waiting for Rainbow Dash to get over herself. After a few minutes, Rainbow Dash raised her eyes, sniffling quietly, realizing that he was holding an axe.
He grinned, examined the blade. "It's a good thing that blood doesn't stain this huh?" He said. "I'd hate for you to see what happened to the last wheel victim."
He threw the axe into the air and caught it gracefully, aiming right at Rainbow's head.
He threw the axe,not bothering to spin the wheel.
Rainbow Dash yelled as the felt the cold metal blade pressing against the top of her head. It had stuck right above.
"Close one! Almost made you a unicorn!" The dragon said, laughing at his own comedy.
Rainbow Dash looked upwards, and saw the handle of the axe, the white cloth stained with a brown-ish red. Stained with old blood.
The feeling of near death repeatedly, and the pain, and the bleeding, and the bloody axe was too much. Rainbow Dash fainted.