Rainbow Dash stretched her legs as she saw Brandon coming over. Ever since she had befriended the It, he had been exceptionally nice to her. Hours had passed since Sir had slung her in the net, and now the sun had finally risen, but only for a few minutes. Since Celestia had apparently forgotten to raise the sun for pretty much all of the day, it was about the time to set the sun.
Brandon mirrored her thoughts as he came over. "Weird sunrise, isn't it?" he asked as he brought the evening meal.
"Yes," Rainbow replied without hesitation. It had once creeped her out to befriend her captor, but Brandon had convinced her he was on her side now. "Princess Celestia must have been really worried about me. She never forgets to raise the sun."
"Who's Princess Celestia?" Brandon looked confused. "And nobody raises the sun. It comes up by itself."
"Haven't you ever wondered which pony makes the sun and moon come out?" Rainbow was surprised at this It. "Like, every filly knows that it's the two royal pony sisters, Celestia and Luna," she added. Brandon only cocked his head. He really didn't know!
"Oh," Rainbow sighed. "You really believe that the sun comes out by itself?"
"Well, of coarse! Have you ever seen this Princess Celestia ever raise the sun?" he mocked playfully.
"As a matter of fact, I have," Rainbow looked so smug Brandon ruffled her mane and smiled.
"You win," he teased, holding his hooves up in surrender. He still had that crooked smile that Rainbow had come to like. The cyan pegasus smiled back, then started eating her hay.
She actually liked daisy sandwiches much better, though hay worked. Brandon didn't know that, but she didn't want to be snobby when he had already done so much for her.
Rainbow smiled.
"LAND HO!!!" an Its voice broke through Rainbow's thoughts. Land?!? she jumped up, slamming her head on the roof of the cage. Ow... she sat back down and held her spinning head with her hooves. She got up, slower this time, and looked out the bars. In the light of Luna's moon, she saw a huge mass coming up ahead.
She nearly started prancing, literally. Then she caught herself.
You are a grown mare, Rainbow, she scolded herself.
Oh, but I can't wait to get out of this stupid old cage! the inner-filly in herself argued.
"Want to get out?" asked a cold voice. Rainbow looked up at the hawkish face of Sir, freakish in the dim light. "Well, don't get your hopes up," he sneered. "You won't be coming out of there for a while."
"Sir!" Brandon came jogging up when he saw Rainbow being taunted by his boss. "We are ready to bring the horse out, Sir!"
"Very good. Bring her to the truck, and don't unload her until I say so!" Sir walked away, barking orders at the rest of the Its.
"Hey, Joe!" Brandon called to one of the other Its. "Help me lift this cage!"
Together the two Its lifted the cage, and slowly walked it to a large thing. Rainbow didn't know what it was, but it had four giant black hooves, glowing yellow eyes, and the Its were loading crates onto the monster's back. It growled softly, but didn't seem to react to the Its. Rainbow was facing Brandon, so she could only see his face, but that wasn't such a bad thing.
Suddenly his face got deadly serious.
"I've unlatched the door," he hissed. "Go!"
Rainbow didn't hesitate. When she pushed on the door, it opened freely. She jumped over Brandon, who ducked, thank Celestia, and she ran off onto a stretch of hard, black dirt. The Its chased her as far as the edge, but then stopped. Rainbow looked back in the middle of the dirt and stuck out her orange tongue at the horrified Its.
Then Rainbow realized that the Its weren't looking at her. They were looking down the strip of dirt, looking at something else on the track. Rainbow followed their eyes to see...
A monster. Hurtling straight towards her at speeds only the fastest pegasi could match. Its glaring yellow eyes looking right at her, and a strange honking noise coming from it, like it was telling her to get out of the way.
But Rainbow couldn't move. She was helpless as the monster's giant black hooves got closer, and closer, and closer, until...
THUMP.
* * *
The last thing Rainbow remembered was Sir's cold, smiling face, as if to say You will never escape me.
And then everything went black.