//------------------------------// // Rainbow in the Sky // Story: Fact or Fiction // by Mocha Star //------------------------------//         Rainbow soared west as she thought of a plan.  She wouldn’t fly straight to where the gem was guiding her, that’d be stupid and after the sewer…  She was done acting without thinking, for now.                  She slowed, landing on a cloud, and looked to the gem that was held firmly between her left hoof and her chest.  She turned until it’s glow brightened.  “Okay, wherever I’m going it’s that way and,” she sniffed the air and then down to her coat.  She dry heaved at the stench. “Oh Nightmare Moon that’s awful.         “Being covered in centaur poop is a new one.  And one story I won’t be sharing, now, to find a place to scrub my fur until it’s sparkling.”         Rainbow peeked over the edge of the cloud and sighed.  Desert and rough roads as far as she could see.  Cacti and dead foliage decorated the landscape beneath her.  Not even a pony or human was in the area.         “Okay, enough wasting time.  I’ve got a job to do and only I can do it.  Look out, random whatever you are, Rainbow Dash is gonna awesome all over you,” she shouted then winced. “That, sounded bad.”         …         She stayed above the cloud layer and, unadmittedly, began to feel alone.  No pegasi were in the sky.  No earth pony technology.  No Pinkie with balloons tied to her.  No unicorn dirigibles.  Not even birds of prey were out.         She was alone and had too much time to think about Daring Do, Berry, and the others.  She had to find a way to free them without hurting them; but how?  She couldn’t fight them, that didn’t work.           “Maybe I can think like Twilight.  Okay, I’m an egghead.  I have to make a list and put every flap of my wings on it, then plan out every time I go pee and whatever, then…  Wow, being an egghead sucks!         “Okay, better idea; I fly to wherever I’m going and play it by ear.  Yeah, that’s better.”         Rainbow stayed above the cloud layer for another two hours before her stomach began cramping, from hunger.  She looked down to see nothing yet, just desert and cacti.  She wasn’t going to eat a cactus again, not since she was dared by Applejack years ago; before they were close friends.         With a frown she lowered herself and began flying around a small cloud, forcing it tighter and tighter until it darkened.  “A drink is something,” she mumbled and thrust her head into the nimbus and slurped several times.                  “Dumb local clouds are nearly dry, even when wet.”         With a buck the cloud dispersed and she took off in the direction the gem sparkled again.                    The sun had begun to near the horizon as she glided on a warm current of air.  Her eyes began to droop, she began to waver, and the cloud layer beneath her was thick and grey.  Her left wing dipped and she took that as a cue to take a rest.  She landed on the top of a cloud and lay down, yawned, and quickly fell asleep.         The feeling of weightlessness and the sound of rushing air stirred her awake. “Umhm.  Just, close the window, Tank, I need another hour or three…  Luna’s teats!”         She opened her wings and caught air as she neared the ground, an unfriendly cactus patch awaited her a mere fifty feet below.  She glided ahead and felt her heart racing as she looked around and grinned at the sight of a small herd of ponies galloping.  She turned after them and… lost them?         “What the hay?  Where’d they go?  It’s a freakin’ desert!”  Rainbow looked around and huffed.  She couldn’t find any tracks, no markings, not a feather, hair, or drop of sweat could be found.  Okay, maybe she wasn’t looking that hard, but she felt like it.  She flew high to get a better view.         “Okay, seriously… Hello?!” she shouted, her voice barely echoing in the distance against the flat savannah.         She listened intently and began to feel crestfallen.  “Hello?” A reply came, meekly.         “Fluttershy?!”  Rainbow turned to where the meek voice came from and flew down to it, a small bush.         “N-no.  I’m sorry.  A-are you a raindeer?” the voice asked before another whispered, “I, uh, mean a raider?  A Robert?  Huh?  Smithy?  Stop it,” a young female voice whispered harshly, “are you a bad pony?”         “Don’t ask that, of course it’ll say it’s a nice pony, then wham, we’re slaves again.  No one’s here!” a young male voice called out.         “Yeah, sure.  C’mon sport, I’m on the run from centaurs and if you can help me… or tell me what’s that way,” she pointed in the direction she was flying.  The colors of dusk were fading, casting the land into a chilly evening.  “Then, I’ll be on my way.”         A few seconds of hushed whispering. “Wait where you are.”         “Yeah, like I even know where that is.  C’mon, kids.  I’ve got a world to save, can’t wait here forever.”         There was a quiet giggle from the bush.  Rainbow leaned over, closer to it, just as something sharp pressed against the back of Rainbow’s neck.  “Stay still, and we’ll make sure you’re not a danger.  Move and you’re dinner for the dogs,” a young voice said.         Rainbow folded her wings and landed onto her haunches. “Look, kid, I understand your scared, but really, I’m cool.  You don’t wanna get hurt messing with me, I’m a friend, honest.”         “Oh, we’re sure of that.”         Rainbow huffed and turned to look at the child, her blood ran cold.         A tall Lepuric stood behind her, it’s talon pointed at her.  A broken toothed grin beset by a split jaw dripped yellow saliva.  It’s black orb eyes set in the center of its snout loomed as if looking at her, even without direct pupils.         “You are the rainbow one,” the child’s voice suddenly echoed in her skull, sending a wave of pain through her cyan head.  Rainbow whined in pain. “You are from the safe lands beyond the seas…  We know of you,” the voice whispered sweetly, like a little girl asking for candy.         “Gah, darn it… A-are you gonna try to kill me?  Emphasis on ‘try’?” Rainbow said confidently, opening her wings aggressively.         “...No,” a young male voice chided, “you are not to die by our claws, hands, hooves, paws, or poison…  The master wishes it.”         “Nay,” the female voice corrected as another Lepuric approached from the darkness, “it was commanded by the master.  However, while she can not die, it doesn’t mean we can’t feast on her legs,” the girl voice giggled mirthfully.         “Nay, indeed,” the boy replied lowering into a lunge stance, “she would die without help from her kind,” he said calmly and knowingly, “then we will have failed in our directives.”         “What are you two talking… thinking… ugh, what’s going on?” Rainbow asked, taking a step back.  She knew she was outmatched against them, even one on one.  She’d have to fly, soon.                  With a whoosh of sound the male voiced Lepuric slammed her to the ground with a meaty foot, it’s prehensile toes wiggling around her neck, sending a sickening stench across her and a nauseous feeling into her body.         “Ugh, sick!  And I thought I smelled bad after the sewer,” Rainbow groaned, “look, you can’t handle me at my worst, just let me go before I mop the desert with ya.”         “She is sure strong willed,” the boy said.         “And not worth it, Smithy.  Come, let us hunt some prey that will scream before we eat them,” the girl giggled.         “...You are correct, Silva, I prefer my meals to scream while I eat them, their flesh still wiggling as I tear it from their bodies, this one won’t wiggle as much, if at all.”         With a joined laugh, the two Lepuric’s turned and vanished into the night, literally.         “Okay, what the hay?  There’s gotta be some way to do anything in this place without getting covered in stink or into a fight with monsters.”         Rainbow took straight off into the air, back to the cloud layer, and sighed once she was alone. A tear left her eye. “Fluttershy… what I wouldn’t give to be in the same city as you about now.  Why’d I have to get involved?  Because Daring Do was going to.  Whatever, big fillies don’t cry, and I have a mark to leave on this land as the most awesome mare here too,” he said wiping her face and taking flight.         “And I’m gonna show everything that ponies aren’t dinner, pushovers, and that this place needs more bathhouses and spas, because this place stinks to the top of Canterlot Mountain.” There is only one o in Daring Do.