She ran. The hard packed earth of the city's streets was painful and unfamiliar to her hooves, which were used to the soft springy clouds of her home. But home was nothing but a far away dream, practically nonexistent in this horrifying reality. Rainbow Dash dared sneak a glance behind herself and almost sobbed in relief, they weren't there, she had lost them, she was free. Regardless of this, the Pegasus didn't dare slow down, didn't stop. They could get back onto her trail in an instant and she needed as much distance between herself and this place as possible. Rainbow resolved herself to not stop until she dropped from exhaustion, then maybe she would be far enough away. Of course that point wasn't far off, even with an adrenaline boost she wasn't going to get much farther. The mare cursed her weakness, a month ago she would have been able to go for three times as long.
Of course, a month ago she had been free, a month ago she had food and water whenever she felt like it. But that had all been taken away from her, along with her safe home in the clouds, away from the dusty earth that dulled her previously bright coat. Her wings were scarred from many whippings when she had resisted her captors, and, after many escape attempts, were clipped. The feathers would hopefully grow back soon, but until then Rainbow Dash, the greatest flyer in cloudsdale, (and every other city for that matter) was flightless, stuck on the ground like a common earth pony.
Rainbow took a blind turn, her matted mane falling unhelpfully into her eyes as she ran. The pegasus angerly flung it back with a toss of her head, to her right, the sun peeked over the horizon, though it was mostly blocked by the houses along the street. A few early risers peeked their heads out into the early dawn, and were struck by the sight of a rather ragged looking pegasus rushing at a breakneck pace through their dirt streets. A few gasped at the sight of a pegasus, they didn't often come down from their cloud cities, much less run through the streets like a mare gone mad. Rainbow Dash payed no attention, she had her sights set for the edge of town and the open plain beyond, freedom. A short rush of energy ran through her veins, if she could just get to it there would be plenty of places to hide and rest.
The pegasus took another turn as the houses thinned out, the vast expanse of space stretched before her, seeming to go on forever, almost like the sky. Dash nearly flung herself into the warm, safe embrace of the sky, but remembered at the last second that she couldn't. That they had taken the sky from her as well as everything else. The pegasus glanced behind herself again and felt panic stab through her body, a sizable crowd had gathered in her wake, the curious residents of the town watching their unexpected visitor. She was among them, glaring at Dash's retreating flank, her powder blue face twisted in rage, horn glowing faintly. She had to be contacting her goons, then they would come for her with ropes and whips and it would be all over.
With a desperate scream building in the back of her throat, Rainbow Dash turned back to the road before her, determined to get to the plains outside of town. She would taste freedom at the very least before they recaptured her. Unfortunately for Dash, her plan was interrupted by the impressively sized tree that seemed to spring up in her path. The pegasus automatically attempted to pull up, as though she were in the sky, wings spread to their full length, but her hooves had no grip on the dusty ground and Dash all but spun out of control, hitting the door (since when did trees have doors?) hard enough to fling it open, her wings smacked painfully on the door frame as she attempted to flap, again reacting as though she were in the sky. Unfortunately she was not able to stabilize herself and instead crashed into the far wall.
The mare panicked as an avalanche of something rained down upon her, half rising before she slipped and fell once again onto the ground. The avalanche stopped and the projectiles revealed themselves to be…books? Dash's eyes darted frantically around the room, books were everywhere, and a majority of them were on their shelves in orderly she lay panting in the destruction she had caused, Rainbow Dash nearly felt the hoof falls above her in her very soul. Feeling rather like an inmate hearing the footsteps of their executioner, the pegasus cowered in the pile of books. Rainbow dash watched as a light purple unicorn rushed down the stairs, followed by a like colored…dragon.
Ignoring the dragon, Dash focused on the real danger, the unicorn was coming closer, saying something in a worried tone. In a flash the pegasus was on her hooves, books flying as she rose. Dash's wings spread wide on pure instinct, her hooves in a wide stance, head lowered, tail lashing, and a snarl worked itself onto her face. She would not be taken back. The purple unicorn stopped dead, eyes wide with surprise, and the dragon backed away, looking scared. The pegasus didn't dare drop her threatening stance, they would get over their shock in a moment, and then go for the ropes. There would be a fraction of a second when the unicorn focused her magic that Dash could use to rush them. There was only two of them, she could take them. She hoped.
Twilight Sparkle sighed happily and burrowed deeper into her blanket nest. Spike snored contentedly in his makeshift bed near hers, the young dragon had his own room, with a real bed in it, but preferred to stay near her. When he was younger, Twilight let him share her bed, but as the dragon grew older he developed several nighttime habits that she didn't want put up with. Namely kicking, snoring, and hogging the blankets, for a small dragon he took quite a lot of blanket, and kicked rather hard.
For a moment, Twilight felt contented peace settle over the room. Despite her initial worry over Celestia's suggestion that she live in Ponyville, things had turned out well. She had made a few friends, Pinkie Pie, Apple Jack, and Rarity and that was enough for the unicorn. The peace was shattered by a deafening crash from downstairs in the library proper. Spike yelped and practically flew out of his bed, Twilight jumped to her hooves in equal shock, though without Spike's less than masculine cry. They looked at one another for a second and on unspoken agreement, they dashed for the origin of the noise.
Neither was prepared for the sight of a ragged pegasus sitting in the library, surrounded by the contents of one of the shelves. Twilight gasped at the sight of a pegasus looking so disheveled. As Princess Celestia's star student, Twilight had been in Canterlot castle quite a bit, and had seen her fair share of pegasi, though they had all been immaculate, with brightly colored feathers proudly on display. Pegasi were a far cry from the regal forms of Celestia and Luna, but they all had a certain proud air around themselves.
This pegasus was pitiful compared to those that visited the castle. Her coat had once been a shade of blue, but now it was nearly a dull grey with all the dirt in it, her mane and tail were ragged, half matted and greasy. But it was the pegasus' wings that truly drew Twilight's horror, the leading edge and base of each wing was striped with scars, small downy feathers that were supposed to keep a pegasus warm in the high altitudes that they lived in were truly in poor condition, and colored the same dull greyish blue as the pegasus' coat. The flight feathers were almost in a sinful disarray as well, bloodstained and ragged, what was worse though was the unnaturally straight edges of the primaries. Someone had clipped the pegasus' wings.
"Are you alright?!" Twilight burst out, rushing forward. She pulled abruptly to a halt as the pegasus rushed to her hooves, sending books flying. The blue mare pinned her ears flat against her skull, and flared her ragged wings wide. Twilight could recognize the stance, it was defensive, as well as a warning, the unicorn had no doubt that if she approached the other mare she would be attacked. "Spike, back up, slowly." Twilight said in a calm voice as she listened to her own advice. The pegasus watched them warily, keeping a sharp eye on Twilight's movements she glanced to the door. The pegasus cried out sharply and pressed herself back into the bookshelf as she saw who was at the door. Twilight whipped around to see who or what could draw that reaction out of a pegasus, the winged ponies were often renowned for their courage and cowering was not something they unusually did.
A powder blue unicorn stood in the door, holding herself in what Twilight thought was supposed to be a regal pose. The newcomer looked down her nose at Twilight, looking like she thought herself an alicorn. With a toss of her blue-white mane the newcomer declared "The Great and Powerful Trixie demands that you return her property!"