//------------------------------// // While You Were Dashing // Story: Odrsjot // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// “I can't exactly carry these things,” Rainbow Dash sputtered, trying not to vomit. “I'm like—chaos-intolerant—or some crap.” “Then how will get get these strips to that place you were talking about?!” Gold Petals exclaimed, watching as Windthrow citizens fled from sweeping swarms of monstrous bat creatures. “I don't think this place is gonna last another minute! I can't even see Mom or Dad—” Silver strips fell into the young mare’s hooves. She glanced down at the glowing artifacts. “Uhm...” “I may not be able to carry these stupid things,” Rainbow Dash said. “But I definitely can carry you.” “Carry m-me?” Gold Petals blinked, then gasped as she was hoisted off her hooves and carried towards the mountain face. “Daaaah!” With trembling forelimbs, she clutched the strips to her chest. “You just got drafted, girlfriend!” Rainbow sped the two of them towards the mines. “Hey! Fart-faces!” She shouted behind her flapping wings with daredevilish vigor. “This way to freedom, you winged pieces of demon luggage!” The leathery abominations of chaos spiraled about and chased after the two ponies with ear-splitting banshee screams. Rainbow Dash gripped her ears, writhing. “Nnnngh… so loud… can still… can still hear them…” After a few agonized seconds, Rainbow felt a hoof on her shoulder. Her teary eyes flew open. Kera bit her lip. At the sight of Rainbow regaining consciousness, she smiled somewhat. “Hey. You’re in one piece!” Rainbow Dash blinked. Her limbs flexed, and she tried to propel herself forward, but her whole body collapsed in a heavy flop. “Unnngh… Where… the book… where…?” “Somewhere close by,” Kera said, stepping back to reveal a cramped, brightly-lit prison cell. Instead of jail bars, a force field of highly charged manacrystals barred the three ponies--Rainbow, Kera, and Zaid--from the rest of the brig. From a distance, intimidating guards stood at their stations, speaking with one another while keeping their eyes trained on the captured equiens. Rainbow’s breaths were thin and ragged. Fighting nausea, she slumped against a wall and rubbed her head. Kera fidgeted. “You’ve been asleep for a long… long time…” Rainbow gulped. “How long?” Kera avoided her gaze. “Two days.” Rainbow’s eyes bugged. “Two… days…?” “I gave you some water, but you might wanna eat.” Kera pointed towards a dish full of gray mush. “It looks like crud, but it tastes better than crud.” “Yeah.” Zaid smirked. “Especially when you sprinkle the cell’s fleas over it.” Rainbow took a deep breath and glared at the stallion. Zaid winced and shuffled tighter into the corner. “Right. I’ll… uh… just be sitting here. Quietly.” He gulped. “Trying not to fart.” “I’m so glad you’re awake again,” Kera said. “At least now I have somepony else to talk to.” “What’s it matter?” Rainbow Dash muttered. “All I seem to be as of late is useless--” Her eyes widened. And she flung two hooves to her neck. She sighed with relief to feel the pendant still in place. “They… uh… they took your satchel and stuff,” Kera said. “What matters is this,” Rainbow muttered, feeling the weight of the ruby lightning bolt. “This and nothing else. I just… I just don’t get why…?” “I think Nightshade talked them into leaving it on you,” Kera said. “I can’t guess half the stuff that stuck-up freakette knows, but it’s apparently enough to keep you safe… for whatever reason.” “It’s not my safety I’m worried about,” Rainbow Dash said, nervously eying the other two ponies inside the tight cell with her. She shuddered. “Celestia, I got us in deep this time…” “You… uh…” Kera squinted worriedly. “You were having a really bad dream when you came to. Heck, you were kind of fitful and squirming about the entire time you ‘slept.’” Rainbow Dash sighed heavily. She tried standing up again, but only collapsed even harder. Kera jerked to rush over and help her, but Rainbow Dash let loose a deep grunt. The filly stood her ground as Rainbow slumped back onto her flank. Kera finally opened her mouth to say something-- “She was a mare who was very special to me,” Rainbow Dash said. Kera blinked curiously. Rainbow looked halfway towards her. “I know what you were gonna ask.” She shuddered. “Let’s just leave it at that, ‘kay?” Kera slowly nodded. After a few seconds, she asked, “Are… are the others okay?” “Others…?” Rainbow Dash clutched her aching head. She winced from the pulse of lavender light glowing through the walls to her vision. “Nnnngh… the others…” “Belle!” Kera’s mouth hung open in earnest. She leaned forward. “And Pilate! Eagle Eye! Propsy! That fat stallion who burps a lot?!” “They’re fine. At least, I hope so.” “Rainbow Dash…?” “They were in one piece when I left to find you, okay?! That’s all I know! Will you chillax?!” Kera clamped her mouth shut, digging at the floor with her hooves. Rainbow sighed. She rubbed the pain away in her head momentarily and leaned forward. “Look, kid, I’m sorry. I… I-I don’t take losing well. Especially when ponies I care about have their lives on the line. I came all this way to save you, and look how it ended up!” She rubbed her head again. “Unnngh… Everything was… was so fine! We had freedom! We had the Jury! Just give it a few weeks, and we would have had a strong tailwind out of this stinkin’ continent!” “I shouldn’t have jumped out of the ship and tried to get the book back,” Kera said. “That’s why all of this happened.” “No, you shouldn’t have.” Rainbow Dash said. Kera hung her face. “But…” Rainbow hissed in pain as she nevertheless crawled over and scooped Kera into a weak side-hug. “I’ve done loads of stupider things myself, and what makes me able to still boast about the crud today is how I’ve gone about fixing crazy situations while still in free-fall. Somehow, I always end up landing on my hooves.” She smiled dazedly. “For all the tumbles you’ve taken, I’d say you’ve made it this far in really good shape.” Kera blinked up at her with worried green eyes. “How are we gonna fix this situation?” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. With a sudden sneer, she turned and growled towards Zaid, “Dude, what gives?!” She raised a hoof and pointed at her forelimb. “I thought you said this hooflet would--” She paused, realizing she was gesturing towards a barren fetlock. “Ungh!” She pointed wildly beyond the force field. “I thought yous aid the Odrsjot rune would keep the book from knocking me over the skull with its glowiness!” “And it was supposed to!” Zaid exclaimed, waving his forelimbs. “That’s what Khao said, at least! That’s why she had all of us wear it!” “Yeah, well, maybe she gave you all a bunch of phonies!” Rainbow frowned. “Did you ever think of that? I mean, the mare’s a cult leader. I’m pretty sure she has it out to deceive you suckers!” “Hey, for a place to sleep, a place to exercise, a place to call home that isn’t the underside of a bridge?!” Zaid shrugged. “It seemed pretty swell at the time! Things didn’t go super stupid until Nightshade stole Khao’s bones and decided to cash in on the Herald’s real estate! Sheesh, can’t a lady make her own church of steam and explosions?!” “Maybe you guys just weren’t using the rune thingy right?” Kera asked. “Pfft!” Zaid pointed. “She’s the goddess-damn sky horse of destiny and sparkles! Who else is supposed to use the rune?” Rainbow Dash swiveled about, clutching her aching skull with two hooves. “Nnnngh… what was it… what was the meaning…?” “Rainbow…?” Kera gazed at her. “I’m trying to remember what Belle told me about the stuff she learned while bumping skulls with the twelve kids Nightshade had held captive.” The pegasus hugged herself and rocked back and forth in a futile attempt to stave off the dizziness. “She had learned words… Xonan words… or at least the Xonans understood them enough to make heads or tails out of the stuff.” She flung a glance towards the filly. “You have any clue what ‘Odrsjot’ means?” “Hey, I only know how to pronounce the stuff!” Kera retorted. “You’re the one who should remember a simple conversation with her best friend from weeks ago!” Rainbow blushed slightly. “I guess I-I was too busy enjoying Ebon’s cooking at the time.” “Oh yeah?” Zaid asked. “What was it?” Rainbow limply shrugged. “Grilled cheese and--” “Son of a carpenter!” Zaid angrily bucked the closest thing to him. Zap! “Ow ow ow ow!” He raised his forelimb to his muzzle and blew at the fresh scorch mark that the force field had made. “Nnnngh. Darn it! Seriously! Is the whole universe out to sack-tap me?! Totally unswell!” “I wanna help you, Rainbow Dash,” Kera said. “Really, I do. But I’m just about as helpless as you are.” She sighed. “Kid, don’t. Please… just don’t…” Rainbow gestured weakly at her. “You’re… y’know… you’re young enough to pull back into the race. Just because I screwed things up royally doesn’t mean all is lost… for you, at least. I’ll figure us out a way out of here, and when I do, I’ll make sure you never see another beret again. You’ll live to kick a thousand flanks and eat a million grasshoppers by the time you’re my… my…” Rainbow’s ruby eyes crossed. “Shucks, Luna, how old am I by now anyways…?” “Rainbow…” “Just gimme a bit of time to think!” Rainbow tried yet again to stand up, reeling instead into the wall. “Mmmf! I just… I just gotta get my senses together. This stupid ‘book energy’ isn’t enough to take me out. Just you see! I’m strong! Stronger than… than…” She blinked. “Say, where’s Roarke?” Kera immediately paled. She hung her bushy head. “Kera…” Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “It ain’t cool to leave a fellow mare hangin’. Where is she? Are they interrogating the poor rusted sap?” “Wow, you were really swimming in vomitland for a long time, weren’t ya?” Zaid asked. “The heck is that supposed to mean?” Rainbow frowned. “You don’t remember, do ya?” Zaid shrugged. “She kicked the bucket, duuuude. Burst into flames from beret bombs.” Rainbow blinked. Her lips pursed as--sickeningly--her memories came floating back to her. “Sickest way to go down, though!” Zaid chuckled. “Y’know, we could all see that she was made out of metal. But in the end?” He stuck his tongue out and raised two hooves. “She was really… really metal!” Rainbow Dash ran a shivering hoof through her mane. As a lump formed in her throat, she sensed a dark shape to her right. She glanced aside with a start. Straker stood on the other end of the force field. His eyes narrowed on her, studying her colored mane and blue feathers. Just as the joint stare was starting to turn uncomfortable, the Ledomaritan Lieutenant swiveled around and marched icily out of the brig. Rainbow sat on her haunches, clutching the pendant around her neck as a cold shudder ran through her body. A flicker of yellow light splashed briefly across her eyes, and when she closed them she saw blonde bangs, the blur of lanternlight against mine tunnels, and the bristled coat of minotaurs. Straker trotted into a long hallway of the Lightning Bringer. His hooves shuffled to a stop. He stood in place, glancing over his shoulder towards the entrance to brig. Almost subconsciously, his hoof wandered up and felt a shape pressed between his chest and the inside of his uniform. After a moment, his nostrils flared, and he trotted down the hallway with finality. Before he rounded the corner, he had reached into a side pocket of his suit and telekinetically lifted a glittering sound stone...