//------------------------------//
// Well, Of Course 
// Story: Innavedr 
// by Imploding Colon 
//------------------------------//

	Rainbow Dash stumbled forward in her armor, an increasingly difficult feat, due to the metal plates having broken and melted away in various places from her most recent battle.  The bottom portion of her helmet had shattered loose, exposing a grimacing face as she continued galloping down the long, dark corridor that Roarke's rockets had exposed through the arena wall.  As she led the procession of frantically fleeing prisoners, the concrete walls shook with the echoing thuds of several muffled explosions, emanating from the far ends of Searo's Hold.

"Okay, I've got just one question..."

"How can we commit mass suicide and avoid torture once the metal mares get ahold of us?" Imre's voice droned.

"Where the hay does this goddess-forsaken tunnel lead?!" Rainbow Dash barked, her suit rattling.  "And, furthermore, can it take us and all these poor saps somewhere safe?"

"That's two questions, genius."

"Y'know, you're waaaaaay to sarcastic to afford being that literal."

"Nnnngh..."  Imre grunted, marching halfway down the line of stumbling ponies.  "From what I hear, there's a passageway that leads all the way down to the foot of the mountain.  There, a chamber opens up to the outside world, where a huge garbage dump of all Searonese refuse collects.  Beyond that, a winding path leads west into the Sapphire Ravine.  Beyond that, Franzington and the Southern Lands."

Rainbow Dash blinked beneath her helmet.  "Huh..."

"There.  That any better?"

"You're ironic with surgical precision.  I like that," Rainbow Dash grunted.  "I once had a friend with the same gift, but instead of being a jaded stone of an equine being, she loved to bounce around and shove cupcakes into others' mouths."

"Was that supposed to be a compliment?"

"Girl, I'll throw you flowers if it means getting us all out of here..."  Rainbow Dash droned, gazing left and right as they came upon a junction of intersecting walls.  "Where in the wild world of Luna's blue-coated showerdrain do we go now?"

"You mean to find that passageway I talked about?"

"Yeah.  That."

"Solution should be pretty simple," Imre said with a shrug.  "Smell the air for garbage and let your hooves do the walking."

Rainbow Dash paused in her steps, halting the group entirely.  She lifted her helmet just long enough to sniff the air with flaring nostrils.  After a few seconds, she made an ugly face, and spoke over the thudding echoes of battle high above.  "Yeah.  That is totally something like roasted cat crud wafting in from the right tunnel."

"Feline excrement?  It's probably the smell of uncooked manticore meat."

"Which means..."

"Your nose isn't lying to you."  Imre pointed with her horn.  "That's gotta be the way out of here."

"Okay, cool."  Rainbow Dash motioned towards the group.  "Alright, everypony!  I know the trip isn't exactly gonna smell like flowers, but it's our only ticket out of here—"

"Raaaugh!"  A metal mare popped out of a stone door, glaring at Rainbow Dash.  "That's as far you go, you miserable pile of runts and breeders!"  She flicked her shoulder.  "Blood for Searo—"  Nothing happened.  The warrior's jaw fidgeted beneath her helmet.  She flicked her armor again.  "I said, Blood for Searo..."  Only an ineffectual shower of sparks rained loose.  "Uhmm..."

Rainbow Dash didn't waste another second.  She ran forward, shot a burst of thrusters, bounced off the tunnel's left wall, and slammed both of her rear hooves across the unsuspecting mare's cranium.

"Unnngh!"  The warrior fell to the ground, and her helmet flew off in the other direction, rotating to a loose clatter against the wall.

Rainbow Dash landed, panting for breath.  "I'm not sure I can really stand to bump into more of these jerkfaces."

"I dunno," Imre said.  "You seem to be jerking their faces just fine."

"Whatever.  We gotta jet."  Rainbow motioned towards the group.  "This way!  The coast is clear!  Run towards the smell!  I don't care if you wanna throw up—freedom is this way and downstairs!"

The diamond dog, anteloupes, stallions, and various other innocent prisoners shuffled quickly by her.  She was about to run alongside them, when she noticed one body in particular not moving.  "Huh?"  Glancing back, Rainbow Dash did a double-take.  "Imre?  What the crap!  Move it or lose it, girl!"

"You're obviously a natural-born leader, Rainbow Dash," Imre droned.  She wasn't running.  As a matter of fact, she was plopping her flanks down onto the ground beside the fallen metal mare.  With a sullen sigh, she said, "You'll take care of them just fine on your own."

"Who gives a crap about all of them?"

"Uhhh... you do?"

Rainbow winced.  "Okay.  Yeah.  Sure.  Fine.  But you too, girl!  Now move it!"

"What's the point?"

"What's the—Snkkkt!"  Rainbow Dash hissed and loomed over the unicorn, growling.  "Oh no, don't you do this stupid crud!  Not now!  Not after all the junk I went through to get you out of that darn arena, safe and sound!"

"That was different," Imre muttered.  "You were in danger too.  Now... you've got a handle of the situation."

"How?!"  Rainbow gestured all around as dust and debris fell down the walls from the resounding thuds through the Hold.  "How does this count as having a handle on anything?!  Uh uh, girl, you're coming with me whether you like it or—"

"I'll just be running away again," Imre droned.  "Just like I've been doing all of my life, whether it be in Xonan Territory, Ledomaritan, or Searonese."  She sighed and ran a hoof through a nonexistent mane.  "At least here, as horrible as this place is, I had things made—"

"Until I came along, blah blah blah..."  Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.  "Forgive me if I've heard this disgusting kind of speech before."

"Of course it's disgusting.  And, quite frankly, all of this mess began rolling downhill long before you even arrived, long before Pestiferous, Terra, and whoever felt it necessary to give Roarke a shove.  I knew my days are numbered.  It doesn't matter if it's here, there, or anywhere else.  I'm ready to just let it happen..."

"You know..."  Rainbow Dash leaned forward, raising her helmet high enough to glare at Imre with naked eyes.  "A life can be lived on the run.  You just gotta find the right courage—or the right ponies—to be running with."

"I don't think I can afford that, Rainbow," Imre droned above the thunderous rumbles above them.  "It's far too late.  There's too much that's staining my name."

Rainbow squinted.  "Staining your name?!  What in the hay do you mean—"

"Hey!  What's going on back there?!" one of the stallions called out from far ahead.  "We think we've found the passageway!  Aren't you two coming?!"

"Yes we are!" Rainbow called back.

"Go ahead, Rainbow—"

"Yes... we are!" Rainbow snarled this time.  "Even if I have to drag you there myself."

Imre frowned, her horn glowing red.  "You're welcome to try, gorgeous—"

Just then, a huge clap of thunder exploded through the tiny chamber.  Chunks of concrete fell, sending bursts of concussive energy in every direction.  Imre and Rainbow Dash were knocked off their hooves.  As the dust settled—as well as the ringing in their ears—they stirred and crawled up to their hooves.  Rainbow Dash was the first to stand.  As she helped Imre up, she glanced behind her shoulder and hissed outright.  "Oh, sonuva..."

The passageway was completely blocked.  Aside from a few slits of dim light, there was nothing to be seen from the other side.  Rainbow Dash leaned in and shouted as loudly as she could against the cluttered debris.

"Hey!  You in one piece over there?!"

After several wheezing, coughing breaths, one voice replied.  "Yes!  We... we're all in one piece!  Where are you two?!"

"We're stuck on this side!  The ceiling caved in!"

"Are you injured?"

"I'm liable to wring this emo unicorn's neck at any given moment, but otherwise, we're just peachy!" Rainbow grumbled.  "Darn it!"  Rainbow glared down at Imre.  "You friggin' happy?"

"Do you forget who you're talking to?" Imre droned.

"I'm starting to frickin' wonder."  Rainbow stomped her hooves.  "Dang, dang, dang!  And we were almost out of this junkhole!"

"The others may still be able to make it," Imre said, wheezing from the dust.  "Not many mares patrol these recesses of the Hold.  Unless a few errant warriors just happened to be milling about the trash heap in the valley outside, they should be able to gallop uninterrupted to the Sapphire Ravine."

Rainbow Dash blinked.  "For real?"

"I've lived here for a long time, remember?"

"Hey!"  Rainbow shouted through the debris.  "Did you hear that?!"

"Yes!  I-I do believe w-we did!" a frantic voice squeaked back.

"Head on down.  Don't stop for nothing—not until you are out of a stone's throw of this cruddy place!"

"What about you two?!"

"Don't worry about us!  We'll make do with what we've got!"

"Shouldn't we wait and try to carve you out—"

"Fat chance of that working!  Besides, this whole place might collapse in on us at any second!  Just go!  Like I said!" Rainbow Dash hollered, backtrotting from the mess.  "I'll find a way—someway—to get to you dudes on the other side!  I promise!"

"Very well!" the ponies on the other side called back.  "Spark be with you!"  And Rainbow heard the sound of their hooves galloping away.

"Don't I friggin' know it..."  Rainbow Dash swiveled around.  "You."  She yanked Imre up and forced the two of them into a brisk gallop.  "We're moving.  Now."

"Gah!"  Imre grunted, painfully trying to keep up.  "Where the devil to?!"

"Wherever there's a sure-fire-flight out of here."

"How do we know anything works well enough for us to fly out of this place anymore?"

"Roarke's armor works," Rainbow Dash said.  "This metal junk you fitted me with works."

"Only because it has special components..."

"Like what kind of components?"

"The same thing that's been running Searo's Hold for months now," Imre said.  "The same thing that these intruders—whoever they are—are likely here for."

Rainbow Dash blinked.  "The heck are you going on about?"

Imre sighed.  "Look, if it will get you to stop yanking me around everywhere, I'll show you."  She frowned  "Then you gotta promise to let me be.  I've done all I could for you, now you gotta pay me the same respect."

"Girl..."  Rainbow Dash muttered as she dragged the unicorn down an adjacent passageway.  "...have I got a thing or two to teach you about friggin' harmony..."