**Rainbow Dash**
For a few wonderful moments, there was only an enveloping blanket of comforting warmth. Then, as Rainbow Dash's mind came fully awake, messages started pouring in from all across her body. Every single one of her muscles seemed to be competing in some sort of cramp competition, and the niggling sharp pains coming from her wings indicated she'd stripped out a couple of feathers somewhere.
Oh, great, another crash. I think I have bruises on top of my bruises, she thought groggily. I better not be stuck in Ponyville General again.
An involuntary groan escaped Rainbow as all of the little pieces of pain started to pile up, but it died in her throat as she forced her eyes open. Fragments of memories, sensations and emotions, swam in and out of the edge of her awareness.
She wasn't in a hospital. She was in a prison.
The whole thing seemed to be several sizes too big, but nevertheless the lack of any obvious exit was enough to pile a little claustrophobic shiver on top of everything else swirling around inside Rainbow's head. The room didn't even have the common decency to include the stereotypical tiny barred window near the ceiling, so there wasn't even a glimpse of sky to grab on to.
She lay on something resembling a large metal shelf, atop a thin mattress that seemed to be the only thing in the room not made from greyish metal. At some point in the distant past it had probably been white, but it had long since been permanently stained a sickly yellow-brown hue. A stitched floral pattern was just barely visible through the grime. The mattress - if something so hard and lumpy could really be called a mattress - was unusually large, easily big enough for three or four ponies, yet seemed proportionate to the few other features in the room.
Ugh, when was the last time somepony washed this thing? Gross. Rainbow's muzzle wrinkled as she tried to somehow shut her nose down. Stinks, jeeze. Where the hay am I? Her efforts to piece together a coherent record of the recent past didn't produce much, and what little was there made about as much sense as every other adventure she'd ended up involved in since Twilight had moved to Ponyville. Not that I'm complaining, but spending this much time around both Twi and Pinkie is probably not good for my sanity. Actually, is this - nah. Pinkie would have started giggling by now if this was a prank.
A square in the middle of the ceiling maybe as large as Rainbow herself was emitting a dirty off-white glow, illuminating the room's only other furnishing - what looked like a comically-oversized metal bucket. It sat on the bare metal floor in one corner, opposite a large inset panel reaching from the floor almost to the ceiling. A simple vertical bracket halfway up one edge of the panel - probably marking it as a large sliding door - stood too far off the floor for anypony to easily open the door by hoof. Maybe if they reared up and really stretched for it, but it would probably take wings or magic to use. Even then, the door itself looked large and heavy enough that it would be a struggle to pull open.
Okay, I am not getting an encouraging vibe from all of this. Why is everything so big? Looks about the right size for that horse- A piece of a memory flickered across Rainbow's awareness. A black, empty void in the air, twin to the one that had spawned the enormous alien. The sensation of falling, and the sickening loss of balance - of not being able to feel which way was up or down, of not being able to control her fall. No. No way. This can't possibly be...
Her eyes darted around the room as Rainbow Dash tried to find something that might prove her treacherous mind wrong, some sign that she was still in Equestria, but each passing moment seemed to be throwing up fresh indicators that something was very, very wrong. Everything was grey and lifeless, even the dull metal seemingly drained of colour. Her own coat looked washed out, and the tail curled around her didn't seem to be faring much better. She could still make out the colours of the most radical mane in Equestria, but the rainbow bands seemed desaturated somehow. Dash felt as if that maybe should have bothered her more than it did, but there were more important things to worry about right now.
Rainbow Dash shuffled towards the edge of her perch, slowly working a few kinks out of protesting muscles. The initially overpowering stench of the stained old mattress seemed to be easing somewhat, although Rainbow guessed that might be because her nose was just shutting down rather than because it was getting any less unbearable. Poking her head over the edge, she peered down at the floor. It looked like the shelf on which she lay was around eye level, leaving only a short hop to the metal plate below.
"What the hay is going on?" she asked the empty chamber. Her voice came out dry and raspy, and Rainbow was overtaken by a brief bout of coughing. Her mouth felt horribly dry, as if she hadn't had a drink in days - and as soon as her thoughts turned to nourishment, Rainbow Dash realised she was absolutely starving as well. Trying to ignore the rumbling protests of her belly, she carefully rose to her hooves. Teetering on the edge of the shelf, she almost pitched forward over the edge.
Stupid legs, stop... ugh!
Her front right leg threatened to collapse completely as the other three shook like leaves in a gale, barely able to support her weight. Gritting her teeth, Rainbow Dash forced herself upright. She was becoming steadily more and more nervous but, to her frustration, couldn't bring to mind a particular reason why. There was definitely something freaky going on, but whenever she tried to pin down the specifics of the last few hours the memories just evaporated, like dew in the midday sun. Even with nothing truly concrete to back it up - besides the whole waking up in an oversize prison cell thing - the uneasiness in Rainbow's gut continued to grow. She growled angrily at her unsteady legs.
Come on! Work, damnit! Gah, never mind.
Looking down towards the floor again, trying to judge the distance, Rainbow Dash spread her wings and gave a feeble hop forward. Even if her legs were slacking, she had two more limbs that wouldn't let her down.
Rainbow Dash barely noticed the lurching sensation of falling, or the pain as she slammed headfirst into the metal floor. She was far too preoccupied with the feeling in her wings - or rather, lack if it. Mind racing, she scrambled back to her hooves. Twisting her head back and forth in a panic, she at least managed to confirm they were still attached - but no matter how much she frantically hopped and flapped, she could barely feel anything. She might as well have been an earth pony flailing her legs in the air for all the effect her wings were having. She could feel them going up and down, feel the feathers twisting and adjusting perfectly - but it felt as if the air was just sliding right through.
What's up with the air?! With how hard I'm pushing this right now I should be a rainbow-coloured splash on the ceiling! Her breathing grew heavier as Rainbow Dash pushed herself to breaking point. I'm not even getting off the floor!
Rainbow Dash started to cry out, a shout of mingled frustration and rage tearing from her as her wings blurred. Her forehooves slowly lifted off the floor, but despite her efforts her wings steadfastly refused to catch the air. Her scream tailed off into an anguished moan as the strength left her exhausted body, and Dash slowly collapsed to the cold floor of the alien room.
Something poked at the back of her whirling mind. Alien... there was something important about-
What was that?
Rainbow raised her head from the floor to glance nervously around her, ears twitching after the slightest noise. She'd definitely heard something move.
The next time the faint whirring sound came, she zeroed in on it immediately. The source was a box up near the ceiling in one corner of the room, with what looked like a camera lens sticking out of the front of it. A camera lens that was now pointing right at her. That meant somepony was doing the pointing, probably watching her through the viewfinder.
An unsettling instinctual dread welled up from somewhere deep in the back of Rainbow's brain, carrying two pieces of information. She knew that she really, really didn't want to catch the attention of whatever was pointing that camera at her - and she also got the horrible, creeping suspicion that she'd just done it. Suddenly the oddly oversized room felt very small indeed, and Dash became painfully aware of the complete lack of any kind of hiding place or means of escape. Unless she wanted to put the bucket on her head or huddle under the bed like a yearling, she was going to have to face whatever came at her. If she wanted to find out where she was, and get back to her friends...
The only way out... is through.
Rising to her aching hooves, Rainbow Dash faced the door. As she heard slow, regular steps approaching the other side of the doorway, something started to prod at her awareness again. The slow, steady rhythm was either that of somepony really taking their time, or maybe someone with only two legs. Rainbow had barely started to sort through the confused sounds and images clamouring for her attention when the solid 'thunk' of a bolt drawing back recaptured her attention.
The heavy metal door slid open to admit a brown-furred biped in a battered, blue-grey coat and brown top hat. Despite the size of the room it only stood a little taller than Dash herself, and Rainbow was suddenly struck by an odd mental impression of a cross between Spike and some sort of prairie dog. Clawed paws instead of hooves at the ends of its limbs - although this creature's seemed to be of the blunt digging variety, more like a mole than a dragon - and the whole standing on two legs thing. It was even smoking, albeit in a slightly more figurative sense than the young dragon - a ratty, chewed cigar hung from one corner of its mouth, the tip glowing faintly as its yellow eyes focused on her.
"Okay, who the hay are you and what is going on here?" Rainbow Dash demanded angrily.
The creature stared at her, but didn't reply. Just as she was considering charging it and making a break for the exit, a second figure shouldered its way through the door. Rainbow looked up, and then leaned back to look further up, and took an involuntary step back. The second creature was huge, easily three or four times her own height at the shoulder. It stepped into the room with the twin thumps of a pair of heavy work boots, and Rainbow Dash realised she didn't even come up to the large buckle on the belt holding up the biped's blue leggings. A similarly blue jacket adorned with golden yellow buttons covered its torso, and there was even a matching military-style peaked cap atop its strange head.
Overall the creature seemed to bear the same relation to a pig that a minotaur did to a cow. It was hard to be certain about its body with all the clothes, and the legs didn't look quite right - but the porcine snout and bare pink skin of its head made the comparison unavoidable. A pair of triangular ears poked out from beneath its cap, and Rainbow caught a flash of a curled pink tail through the gap between its legs.
What the hay is that, some sort of giant pig-minotaur?
Her wings spread a little nervously, instincts telling Rainbow Dash to take off in more than one sense of the phrase. The newly-named pigataur made a series of low sounds interspersed with more typically porcine grunts, and it took the small furry creature responding in a higher-pitched wheezing voice for Rainbow to realise they were talking to each other. The sly, condescending grins on both of the strange creatures' faces were doing nothing to help her confidence.
What are they planning to... are they laughing at me? The odd empty feeling as her wings moved in the air mingled with the annoyance she felt at being mocked, and Rainbow Dash snorted angrily. She extended her wings and pawed at the ground with renewed fervour, preparing to make her escape. That is definitely, one hundred percent not cool. Okay... time to do something a little Daring!
Even without her wings to aid her, Rainbow Dash knew she was fast. She thought she could outrun the smaller biped, and was expecting the giant pig-creature to be even slower off the mark given its size. Forcing the complaints from her exhausted legs out of her mind, she rushed straight for the gap between the larger biped's legs. As soon as she saw the pair react Rainbow threw her weight sideways, sending her hooves skidding across the metal floor. The pigataur all but fell down trying to block her path between its legs, but that was exactly what Dash had been hoping for. Her wings spread wide - more from reflex than any actual intent to fly - Rainbow Dash slewed to one side, re-orienting on the smaller creature. One hurried hop and skip later, her hind hooves sent a resounding bang through the metal floor as she kicked off and launched herself straight for its face.
As she had hoped, the furry creature ducked to try and avoid her rush. Rainbow Dash planted herself on top of its head before kicking off toward the doorway beyond, crushing the creature's top hat down over its eyes and sending it sprawling onto the floor.
"Too slow!" Rainbow shouted joyously, as the familiar euphoric rush of adrenaline surged over the tiredness and pain in her limbs. She barely even stumbled as she landed back on the ground at a full gallop, hooves pounding out a staccato rhythm on the hard surface.
The door's open, and I... am... outtahere!
She couldn't keep the triumphant grin off her face, or out of her voice. "Hah! Later, losers!"
Sounds of frantic movement and angry cursing echoed from behind her as Rainbow Dash jumped over the raised bottom of the doorframe, the noise spurring her onward. She found herself in another metal room, bigger than her cell and with a lot more furniture - an oversized table and storage cupboards, and several massive chairs - but Rainbow only had eyes for one feature. Another large sliding door, which hadn't quite been closed all the way. Unfortunately the gap between door and frame was too small for her to squeeze through, and the handle was as awkwardly-placed as before.
A less awesome pony would probably give up, but not this mare!
Sliding to a stop in front of the heavy door, Rainbow reared up and pushed her forehooves into the gap. Muscles straining, she struggled to force the door open wider.
Come on, stupid... ugh! Move damnit!
Slowly the door began to move aside, much more easily than its size would have suggested - there seemed to be oiled rails built into the insides of the frame, making the large piece of metal less of a burden. Just as she forced the opening wide enough to allow her to escape, Rainbow's ears twitched. Something was coming up behind her, fast. Before she could scramble through the opening, something hairy and reeking of stale cigar smoke slammed into her.
Fast Rainbow Dash might be, but wrestling was hardly her strong suit - and her opponent had the twin advantages of weight and grasping hands. Unless she could break away quickly, she knew she was going to be overpowered.
After a couple of frantic seconds of rolling across the cold floor, Rainbow Dash felt a strange sensation begin to crawl over her. It was an odd sort of comfort, like the feeling of stepping back in through her front door after a long day - or settling into bed with a good book. A little extra colour seemed to bleed into everything, and a slight tingling sensation spread from her chest where it pressed against the strange creature holding on to her.
Ignoring the odd sensation, Rainbow managed to free one foreleg. A wild swing caught her attacker across the jaw, loosening its grip enough that she could wriggle free. She delivered a solid buck to the creature's ribs as she departed, leaving it a gasping pile on the floor. As soon as she broke contact with the creature, the strange feeling faded as well.
A huge shadow fell across Rainbow Dash as she stood, re-orienting herself on her escape route. She didn't even bother to look round - instead she bolted straight for the doorway, pumping her useless wings along with her legs in a vain effort to produce more speed. No sound of heavy steps pursed her across the room, and she flung herself at the opening.
Almost-
There was an all-too-familiar swish-snap of flying rope. Rainbow Dash felt something tighten around her back left leg, jerking it sideways and throwing her leap off-course. Instead of sailing out through the gap she veered to the side, cracking her head and both left shoulders on the metal doorframe before falling to the floor.
As she lay on the ground stunned, Rainbow Dash heard slow, heavy footsteps approaching. The ceiling light swimming in an out of focus in front of her suggested she was on her back, but she couldn't seem to figure out how to roll over. Then the metal door slammed shut with all the finality of a coffin lid, and something began to drag her back across the floor towards the cell.
**Skuzz**
Despite having lost his precious cigar moments before, Skuzz was having even more difficulty breathing than usual. His wheezing and occasional hacking cough were a continual annoyance at the best of times, but it seemed years of smoking extremely suspect tobacco products had nothing on a two-legged buck to the chest. He had expected the little pony-thing to be fast and slippery, but Skuzz hadn't considered that even a very small pony could still kick like, well, a horse. Thankfully Hawgtie had been there to lasso the thing before it escaped, otherwise he'd have been in a whole heap of trouble. Again.
Skuzz pulled his collapsed hat off his head and tried to bludgeon it back into some sort of respectable shape. Once it was mostly straight again, he set it back atop his furred head and stood, dusting off his coat. As he clutched at his aching ribs, he felt a heavy lump in his inside coat pocket bump against one hand. Hurriedly Skuzz reached into his coat, and pulled out a small Kerium chunk he had lifted off a prospector that morning.
To his relief, the opaque red crystal seemed to be undamaged. It felt oddly warm against his palm, but that could easily be explained by its stay inside his coat. It was a respectably sized piece of the rare material - Skuzz could only just touch the blunt digging claws on his three fingers to their partner on his thumb when he wrapped his hand around it.
The sound of the cell door sliding shut behind him reminded Skuzz that he wasn't alone, and he hurriedly shoved the valuable piece of loot back out of sight inside his coat. He'd stolen it fair and square, and he wasn't going to lose it to Hawgtie of all people.
"You alright, half-pint?" Hawgtie asked with a derisive snort. "Hope the li'l pony didn't hurt ya too bad."
"Me fine," Skuzz replied angrily, before dissolving into a short coughing fit. He cast around for his lost cigar, and spotted it lying underneath the guard room's central table. Scampering under the table, he scooped the bent and grimy tube off the floor and placed it back in his mouth. "You put pony back in cell?" he asked, fishing a broken match out of his coat and relighting the extinguished cigar.
"Yeah," Hawgtie replied, glancing back at the re-closed cell door, "it stopped whinin' and strugglin' pretty quick after it went headfirst into the wall. Should keep it quiet for a little while."
Skuzz's features creased in annoyance. "Why we even keep pony anyways? Should just throw it back where it came from."
Hawgtie let out another derisive snort. "The boss wants it fer somethin'. Just gotta hang on to it 'til Tex comes by and picks it up. Plus we can't exactly throw it back after it blew the portal machine out. Gotta fix everything first."
Skuzz decided he didn't like the small pony creature. Because of it, he had to sit in the stuffy guard room with Hawgtie instead of doing something interesting. It had also kicked him, which had hurt, and damaged his hat.
A wicked grin spread across his features as he came up with a revenge plan. The little horse had humiliated him? Fine. Skuzz knew just how to get back at it for that. Wasn't like he had anything else to do. Skuzz looked up into Hawgtie's porcine muzzle, still grinning, and switched his cigar over to the other corner of his mouth.
"You got more rope?"