//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: The Prisoners 
// Story: The Time Before 
// by LegitTheKid 
//------------------------------//

	Rainbow Dash jolted awake in a cold sweat. All she could hear was her heavy breathing and the loud thumping of her own heart. She thought she had gone blind, but soon realized that she was in a dark room as her eyes started adjusting. There was a barred window revealing the dark blue night sky, painted with stars. She slowly stood up and tried walking, but saw that all four of her hooves were chained to the floor.
"H-hello?" Rainbow Dash moaned. "Anybody there?"
She tried pulling against the chains, but they were tight on her hooves, causing them to rub and burn her skin with every tug against them. The only way they'd come off is if they were taken off, or broken off. There wouldn't be any way for her to pull away, and there was no way to break them. She also had no key, so she was stuck there.
Rainbow Dash tried not to panic, but she was in total shock. Just a few minutes earlier, she was being tortured. She remembered being rotated around hundreds of flaming balls like suns and hearing an eerie ringing noise relentlessly penetrating her sanity. She also saw images of silhouettes of other ponies in crazy places. Most of which she couldn't remember. All she knew was that what she was seeing was greatly disturbing, and she was just recovering from it. The more she thought of it, the more she panicked. She could no longer hold it in.
"Somepony," Rainbow Dash cried, "Help me! Please!" She started trying to fly away in all directions, but the chains kept her down. They rubbed against her skin, but Rainbow Dash could hardly feel the pain any more. She just wanted to get out of that place. She began sobbing loudly, feverishly moaning for help every few seconds. But after about two minutes of constant struggle, she gave up. Rainbow Dash dropped herself to the ground.
She began to softly cry, hardly loud enough for even herself to hear. She never felt more helpless in her life. Being trapped, bound to chains like a prisoner, but had done nothing wrong. And just before that, she felt like her ears were being pulled off, her skin stuck to burning flames. It all had happened so suddenly. She wondered, was she dreaming? Was all this a disturbing figment of her imagination? Her thoughts jumped from idea to idea, and were suddenly interrupted by the echo of hoofsteps coming from outside the room.
The 'clop, clop' sound of hoofsteps could be heard from down the hall. Rainbow Dash breathed a sigh of relief. Somepony had finally come to save her, or at least interrogate her. A white mare with an inky black mane appeared from behind the wall, and walked down the staircase towards her. She was carrying a sword with her magic. The mare stopped about five feet from Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash stood slowly stood up.
"You must be Rainbow Dash," The mare said. She sounded young, even younger than her. Her voice was soft, but unsympathetic.
"Um...yes," Rainbow Dash stuttered, "I am. Who are you?"
The mare pointed her sword towards Rainbow Dash. "My name and my reason for being here is of no importance to you right now." Rainbow Dash stepped back. The mare paused for a brief second, and then lowered her blade. "I need to know where you are from and why you fell out of the sky."
Rainbow Dash gave her a confused look. Then she started to give an answer to this strange question. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Are you sure-"
The mare stepped forward, holding her sword just inches away from Rainbow Dash's throat. Rainbow Dash took a half step back, too frightened to take a full step.
"Don't you dare play dumb on me, Rainbow Dash," The mare threatened. "I was ordered to end you here and now if you give an unsatisfactory answer." There was a look of calm anger in her eyes.
"Wait!" Rainbow Dash protested. She took another full step backwards, but the mare stepped closer. "I swear I don't remember anything about falling from the sky! I actually just woke up a few minutes ago!"
"The reports say you were first discovered falling from the sky, and you landed in a cart full of hay. When soldiers arrived to investigate, us unicorns detected powerful magic emitting from your eyes, wings, and chest. I can't sense anything now, but again, I was ordered not to take anything you say for granted. Explain to me."
Rainbow Dash felt herself slowly walking backwards. The mare stepped with her, getting closer every time. Soon Rainbow Dash felt the chains tug against her once again. She had run out of room, and the mare was just a foot away, with her sword just as close as it was before.
"Okay, I'll tell you everything that happened!" Rainbow Dash nervously said.  "I was checking out an old house with Twilight Sparkle because we were sent to see what was going on there. And there actually was something. It was some crazy colt who beat both of us up, and teleported us to some crazy place...where..." Flashbacks of the place they were sent to for what felt like an eternity came back. She held back her tears, immediately shunned those memories, and tried continuing with her explanation. "...I don't remember anything else after that..."
The white mare gave her an indifferent look. Rainbow Dash never broke eye contact, and tried ignoring the sword hovering right at her neck that could end her life if the mare found one thing to be unconvincing. But to her relief, the mare lowered her sword once again. She gave Rainbow Dash a threatening look.
"Can't say I'm convinced," She started, "But it seems possible, to say the most. I'll spare your life for now, but you will have to explain to Prince Galaxy about the dilemma. If you can't convince him..." She raised her sword a final time, no more than an inch away from her face. She held it there for a second, and then lowered it. "You'll be out of those chains before 15 minutes are up."
The mare walked out of the room and back up the stairs.


******


A large crowd gathered around the center of a street. Twilight Sparkle looked up. She decided she would go take a look and see what was going on. In the center of the street, royal guards stood atop a large podium, waiting for somepony else. A large crowd gathered around. Twilight patiently looked around, her mind now focused on the question of, "what's going on?"
After a few minutes, somepony from the crowd yelled, "The prisoners are here!"
Prisoners? Back in the future Canterolt, the one Twilight lived in, crime was one of the more uncommon activities. And when it came to war prisoners, that was unheard of in their current culture. The latest war had happened years before Twilight was born. Twilight looked to the left, which is where everypony else turned to look, and sure enough, four carts full of what was apparently full of the prisoners were being pulled toward the podium by more guards. Soon, the guards escorted every single prisoner up onto the podium. Then, the guards bound each prisoner's hooves to chains.
Twilight looked around at each prisoner. They all looked scared, or angry. Or both. They came in all shapes and sizes, all colors and genders. Twilight wondered what they all could have possibly been convicted of. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed what looked like a familiar face. It looked almost twice as frightened as everypony else up there. But when Twilight made it out, she could hardly believe her eyes. She did a double take.
It was Rainbow Dash.