The next day, Rainbow Dash traveled once again into the market square to follow her morning routine. Dropping down in front of the muffin stand, she stretched out her wings and smiled at the warm muffin already waiting in front of her. She snatched it out of the clerk's hoof and admired it up close, licking her lips slowly. Just as she was about to take a large bite out of it, a thought entered her head that made her pause.
The stallion behind the counter noticed this and looked between her and the muffin worriedly. "You alright, Dash?"
"Yeah..." she mumbled, staring at the ground. After a moment's thought, she looked back at him and added, "Actually, I'll take another one."
"Really?" He looked surprised. "Two days in a row? Is Rainbow Dash on a new diet?" Rainbow shook her head. "Are you sure you want two? You're already getting a bit husky."
Rainbow stared down his smirk and growled. "Give me the muffin, Celestia help me--"
"Okay, fine, fine. Here you go, Rainbow Fat." Rainbow took the pastry with a snarl, slamming down her other hoof on the counter with the payment.
"I don't have to shop here, you know."
The clerk scoffed and began putting the bits away. "Dash, please. I know you. Believe me, you do."
"Whatever." Rainbow turned and stomped away from the shack, carrying the delectable delicacies away on her wings.
Ditzy awoke to the loud clops of hooves coming down the stairs, and her eyes shut tightly in the hopes that she would go unnoticed for once. Unfortunately for her, the stallion tromping down into the room was intent on finding her for today's visit.
"Ditzy, come." She could feel his cold eyes rake across her trembling form, but she still feigned sleep, too frightened to react even though she knew he could tell she was awake and alert. Loudening hoofsteps approached her, and she yelped when a hoof suddenly smashed into her side, crushing her already-mangled wing against it.
"Did I say you could sleep?!" he roared, pounding his hooves against her back. She screeched as more and more additions appeared to the collection of fractures all over her body; after a few moments, the blows finally stopped, and her voice quieted into whimpering sobs.
Her father watched her for a few seconds, uncontained glee dancing in his eyes, until they hardened once again. "Take your scraps, ditz," he seethed. Ditzy flinched, though she was unsure whether it was from the malice in that voice or from the dirty tray that was hurled at her. Once her father had exited the basement again, she silently observed her daily allotment of food--that is, if she could even call some bread crusts and dishwater 'food.' She ate half the bread crusts and lapped up a bit of water, but they only tasted worse than usual after the muffin that mare had given her yesterday...
Ditzy pondered her first encounter with that pony. Who was she? She had never even mentioned her name... Perhaps that was something Ditzy should ask her, if she ever saw her again.
A loud chirping noise caught her attention, and she looked to see two small birds sitting on the windowsill, looking down into the room. Ditzy smiled softly and picked up the rest of her meal, limped over to the window and stretched up on her hind legs to hold the crusts out for the birds to eat. As she absentmindedly watched them nibble on it, her thoughts eventually settled on that delicious treat she had received from the pegasus. Her mouth watered again, and before she knew it her stomach was rumbling loudly. She moaned, and once the birds were finished eating, she nodded to them and sat back down as they flew away.
It had never occurred to Ditzy how truly lonely she was until that moment; she had never been familiar with the idea of 'friends,' and now that she had been introduced to the only living pony who had ever been nice to her, she craved love and attention the way she had for months after she had watched her mother die.
I shouldn't get my hopes up... She slouched against the wall as memories flooded her mind: of her wishing for her mother to come rescue her from this prison, of her wishing for her father to realize how evil he was being and apologize, of her wishing for anypony to be nice to her... all memories that had died long ago and left her empty inside.
Ditzy sighed sadly, not noticing the shadow creeping over her shoulders until a voice startled her out of her sorrowful reverie.
"Ditzy! What's up?" Ditzy craned her neck to look up at the smiling rainbow-maned pegasus standing in front of the window, holding what appeared to be...
Muffins... Ditzy smiled. She had come back! And she had brought food! Could this day get any better?
"Hi, um..." Oh, right; she was going to ask what this pony's name was. "Um... what's your name?"
"Did... did I forget to...?" The blue pony facehooved and groaned. "I can't believe I did that. Anyway, my name's Rainbow Dash. Nice to actually meet you."
"Yeah," Ditzy murmured, her attention obviously on something else. Rainbow followed her slightly-lowered gaze to her own hoof, and the muffin it was holding. Oh, duh!
"Oh yeah, I brought you this!" Rainbow held out the muffin and dropped it into Ditzy's eagerly awaiting hooves, and she giggled as the grey pegasus immediately began scarfing it down.
"Mmm!" Ditzy licked her lips and grinned. "Thanks, Rainbow Dash! I was real hungry!"
Maybe she missed breakfast... "Have you eaten yet today?"
Ditzy laughed. "Well, of course, silly! You just gave me a muffin! Thanks again, for that."
"No prob," Rainbow replied, taking a bite of her own muffin. "But I actually meant before I came over."
"Oh. Yeah, I had some bread crusts. They didn't taste very good, though." Ditzy replied as if it was normal for her.
"That's your breakfast?" Rainbow peered down into the room. "Wow, no wonder you were hungry."
The grey pony cocked her head. "What's 'breakfast'?"
"You know, breakfast. The morning meal."
Ditzy put a hoof to her chin thoughtfully. "Well, today's meal was in the morning, so I guess that was my breakfast."
"Today's meal?" Rainbow gawked at her. "You mean, you only eat one meal per day?!"
Ditzy appeared confused by Rainbow's incredulous reply. "Yeah, don't you?"
"No, I have three! I thought everypony did."
"Wow," Ditzy breathed. Three meals? Rainbow sure was lucky. Actually, everypony seemed to be lucky, except her. Maybe she was just unlucky?
"So, Ditzy, what do you like to do?"
Ditzy perked up, her eyes shining with enthusiasm. "Oh, I like to feed the birds! And, um, sometimes I see how high I can jump! I almost reached the window once!"
Rainbow looked at her strangely. "Really?"
Ditzy's face fell. "Well, no... only about halfway."
Rainbow stared at her. Didn't she do anything fun? Did she even leave the basement? Like, ever?
"Well, that's cool," she finally said. Finishing off the last of her muffin, she decided to invite the other mare along with her for the day. "Hey, Ditzy, want to hang out with me today?"
Rainbow swore she had never seen pure joy until she saw the other mare's current expression. "Really?" Ditzy squeed. "I'd love to! What are we gonna do?"
"I dunno... I thought you might wanna go for a walk, get a bite to eat, maybe have a race, or something..." Rainbow trailed off as Ditzy stopped and frowned.
"Oh."
"What's the matter?"
"I... I can't." Ditzy looked away and lowered her head, her whole body seeming to sag as disappointment washed over her.
Rainbow looked equally crestfallen. "Why not?"
Ditzy imagined what her father's reaction would be to her asking to go have fun with her first friend. She didn't even want to know what would happen to her... or to Rainbow, for that matter. "My dad won't let me leave," she said simply.
"Oh, is that all?" Rainbow waved a hoof dismissively. "Psh, just don't tell him! You can just go out this window and we'll be back before he even knows you were gone!"
Ditzy considered this. Her father never really checked on her, other than when he was drunk, angry, or bringing her her daily meal. It was very likely he wouldn't know she had left. The only problem now was the window. "Okay, but how do I get up there? Can you fly down and carry me out?"
Rainbow shook her head. "I can't fly both of us. I might hurt you. Or me." She looked curiously at the pegasus below her. "Can't you fly?"
"No," Ditzy answered sadly. "At least, not with my wing like this." She raised her left wing, and Rainbow let out a choked gasp. The appendage was horribly mangled, looking more like a crumpled ball of paper than a wing, with feathers growing in at odd angles. "If I could fly, I'd have run away long ago," Ditzy continued. "He probably could have boarded up the window, but I think he leaves it open to torture me... it's always just out of reach." Her voice faded to a whisper, and her eyes filled with tears as she imagined it: a life free from oppression that was barely beyond her hooves.
After a few moments of silence, broken only by Ditzy's occasional sniffle, Rainbow had an idea. She crouched down and crawled in through the window, and once her upper half was inside, she spread her wings and glided down to the floor. Ditzy didn't appear to notice her until she had been scooped up onto Rainbow's shoulders, where she let out a squeak of surprise. Rainbow then planted her forehooves on the wall beneath the window and stretched as tall as possible on her hind legs.
"There," she grunted. "Climb up." Ditzy didn't move for a moment, still in utter shock that she might actually escape from the basement, but she finally snapped to attention when Rainbow cleared her throat impatiently.
"R-Right, yeah." Ditzy gingerly perched herself on all four legs, and once she had her balance, she reached up with her forehooves and just managed to grab the edge of the windowsill. With enough effort, she finally raised herself up onto her elbows, and Rainbow pushed up on her rear until she could scrabble outside. Ditzy lay there for a moment to catch her breath, and Rainbow soon followed her through the window, where she waited for the grey pony to regain her strength. Once she had sat up, Rainbow grinned.
"Ready?"
Ditzy could barely contain herself. She had never felt the grass beneath her hooves, the calm breeze in her mane, the faint sunlight reaching between the buildings... it all felt so...
"Magical," she muttered aloud.
"Huh?"
"Oh, I mean, um, yes." Ditzy stood up and followed her friend out of the alley and into the main street, quivering with excitement. She had never gone behind her father's back like this! She had never even had the chance to! The thrill of defiance raced through her, leaving her a combination of confused, happy, and anxious... and she had never felt so alive. A wide grin stretched across her face; nopony was around to beat her, or scream curses at her, or torture her within mere inches of insanity. Nopony could touch her now.
Nopony.