South of Somewhere

by The Red Parade

Charged

“No.”

Rainbow froze in place as the hallway seemed to grow in length ahead of her.

Wind Rider’s voice was like thunder, and the walls and ceiling like storm clouds. Everything began to crash around her, like waves against the shore or a sea of leaves falling to the forest floor.

“No.”

She needed to run. But her body had locked up, her right foreleg half-bent and suspended in the air as fear seized her system.

Move! You need to go! Run!

Rainbow gasped, heart pounding out of her chest and a bout of dizziness hitting her full-on.

“Rainbow? What in tarnation is goin’ on?”

She whipped her head around to see Applejack lingering in the doorway, staring down the hall with a raised eyebrow.

“Apple--” Rainbow coughed, shaking her head vigorously. “Applejack, you said you wanted to help me? You can help me right now!”

“Sugarcube, what’s goin’ on?” Applejack asked again.

“There’s no time, you gotta keep those ponies away from me,” Rainbow whispered as the voices from the door grew in volume.

For a scant second, a hint of fear flashed through Applejack’s eyes. But she inhaled sharply and the look was replaced with a steely resolve. “You can hide in the loft,” she whispered. “Head out the back but be careful now, that door’s squeakier than a mouse in a box of cheese.”

Rainbow nodded and headed past her, to the back of the house.

“Mac, who is it?” Applejack called, before glancing back at Rainbow. “Be safe,” she whispered.

“I’ll try,” Rainbow answered through gritted teeth.

Every step on the floorboard seemed louder than a firework. Rainbow held her breath, easing one hoof onto the ground in front of another as stray muffled words filtered in from the doorway.

“We don’t want any trouble,” another voice said from the door.

Rainbow growled. Daring Do, one of the best trackers the Second Division had to offer. Of course they had brought her in… but how could she betray her like this? Daring was one of the few ponies Rainbow considered a friend, and here they were. On opposite sides of the door.

That’s why you don’t make friends, Rainbow, she chided herself. You’re in this alone. Always have been.

But what about Applejack?

Rainbow paused as her right hoof hit the ground. Wasn’t she putting an extreme amount of faith in her now?

She couldn’t afford to dwell on it. Right now, she had to get to safety, and that barn was probably her best bet.

After a few more lethargic steps, Rainbow found herself in front of the back door. As she raised a hoof to unlatch it, she noticed that it was trembling. Rainbow gulped, trying to stabilize herself with a breath.

“Easy, Rainbow. Whatever happens, happens. You’re the fastest pony in Equestria. They’re not going to catch you.” With a slight nod, Rainbow pulled the door open and surged forwards. “Gah!”

She recoiled, feeling her face collide with something. Quickly gathering herself, Rainbow groaned in disgust. “Stupid screen door.” With the problem located, she opened the second door and glided outside.

The warm glow of the sun bounced off of her coat, but Rainbow couldn’t take the time to enjoy it. A quick cursory scan of the nearby buildings told Rainbow that the large red structure on her right was likely the barn Applejack was referring to.

Rainbow sprinted towards it, heart pounding in her chest as she tore down the sleepy dirt path. She skidded to a halt in front of the large red doors and yanked on the handles, only for it to not budge.

“Locked?! You gotta be kidding me.” She glanced up, noticing a wooden sliding window near the roof. With a quick hop she soared up to it, yanking it open. Thankfully this door moved, and Rainbow squirmed her way through the hole.

She appeared in a loft, with bales of hay stacked around the sides. Dark shadows draped across them, shades of black on yellow, offering plenty of places to hide. The ceiling was slanted, and thankfully high enough so Rainbow could still stand. She whirled around and pulled the door shut, just in time to see the backdoor open.

Rainbow dove away from the window for the nearest bale, pushing it aside slightly to make a hole large enough to hide in. With that done, and Rainbow about as hidden as she could get, she held her breath and waited.

Every noise seemed to be amplified in the damp barn. The structure creaked and groaned, but every miniscule squeak sounded like Wind Rider’s voice, taunting her. I’m coming for you, Rainbow. And I’m going to make you pay.

Rainbow squeezed her eyes shut and started counting, eager to do anything to block out the awful silence.

Her thoughts ended up turning to Applejack.

She wondered what was happening in the farmhouse no. Was Wind Rider threatening them? Would he arrest them and drag her back to Cloudsdale? He probably didn’t have the technical authority to do so, but Wind Rider was never one to let details stand in his way.

And instead of helping her, Rainbow was hiding in her barn.

Rainbow felt a twinge of guilt in her stomach. Coward, hiding there while Applejack sticks her neck out for you…

She gritted her teeth. Why was she feeling guilty? Applejack had lied to her, hadn’t she?

But even then, was she really going to sit aside and go down hiding like a mouse trapped by a cat?

Rainbow slowly rose to all four hooves, adrenaline still coursing through her veins. But it dissipated quickly as there was a large click from the front of the barn.

She slinked back into the shadows, eyes widening as the barn doors were pulled open. Please be Applejack, please be Applejack… please be Applejack, here to get me because they’re gone…

“Take the top, I’ll take the bottom.” Rainbow’s hopes died in her throat. “I want to get out of this horrid little place as soon as possible.”

“Y’all can’t do this!” Applejack shouted.

“Stand aside,” Wind snapped as two forms entered the barn.

Rainbow pulled her head back into the bales, biting down hard on her tongue. She tried to remain as still as she could, listening as hoofsteps and muttering reverberated throughout the barn.

The steps drew closer and closer, along with the shuffling of straw as one of her pursuers began poking through the hay bale next to her.

Then, they moved over to Rainbow’s bale. Rainbow tensed, firing off a quick mental prayer to whatever angel she had left, and coiled herself like a tiger ready to spring.

A hoof began shifting through the bales in front of her, when it suddenly stopped. “Rain--”

Rainbow leapt out of her hiding spot, wings flapping furiously to give her a boost. She smashed into the pony, and with a startled yelp the two flew off of the loft. Even with the pony underneath her, Rainbow winced at the hard impact. But she couldn’t rest for long.

Quickly Rainbow rolled onto all four hooves, giving a glance at the pony she had tackled. Daring groaned, clutching her chest in pain as she looked up at her, eyes wide with shock and betrayal.

Rainbow could only spare a second to feel guilty, because Wind Rider had whirled around to face her. His shock quickly gave way to a sneer as he dropped to a fighting stance. “Finally showing your face, traitor?”

“Nice to see you missed me that much,” Rainbow spat back.

Wind Rider straightened himself, flicking out his foreleg and extending his baton. “Surrender, idiot,” he demanded.

Rainbow responded by flinging a ball of mud in his direction.

With a furious roar he lunged at her, closing the distance in a matter of seconds.

“Bring it!” Rainbow dropped right, but not fast enough to fully dodge Wind Rider’s swing. The baton came crashing down upon her right foreleg, drawing a cry out of her. She hissed and made a quick spiral up into the air.

As she glanced backwards, the pain shooting through her body was finally enough to overwhelm the adrenaline. Her foreleg screamed and a warm sensation shot all the way up to her wingtips, increasing tenfold with each flap.

She cursed herself, knowing the Wind Rider had to be on her tail.

Glancing backwards she kicked at him, forcing Wind Rider to weave a bit, but her former lieutenant recovered easily, a swing of his baton narrowly missing her.

Rainbow ran through her options quickly. For all his arrogance, Wind Rider was still scarily effective in hoof-to-hoof combat, and the crackling of electricity from his baton reminded her that it would most certainly not be a fair fight.

So her best option, as usual, was to keep running.

But as she mentally braced herself to put on another surge of speed, she glanced down at the ground and saw an orange form staring up at her.

Applejack.

Rainbow hesitated as she looked at the mare far below her. But her mental lapse quickly dissipated when she felt a painful surge of electricity against her leg.

The pain was searing hot as it shot through her body. Rainbow’s wings locked up and she plummeted towards the ground.

She never registered the impact.

When Rainbow blinked again she was flat on her back, eyes facing the sky. A silhouette descended with the sun behind them.

Rainbow tried to move but her body refused. She gasped for air, forelegs writhing uselessly against the dirt.

As the smell of grass and dirt filled her nose, Wind Rider stood over her, sneering. “I’ve changed my mind,” he said, voice dripping in malice. “I might just take you back dead after all.”

Rainbow wasn’t sure how much time passed. All she knew was the pain flooding through her system. All she heard was the blood roaring in her ears as she writhed in pain. But somehow, Rainbow Dash didn’t scream.

No matter how much Wind wanted it.

“Come on!” he shouted, ramming his baton into her chest, the electricity crackling in the air. “Scream, damn you! Beg!”

“Go to hell,” Rainbow spat, as hot tears trailed down her cheek.

As she turned to look Wind in the eye for the last time, she barely registered an orange blur coming up behind him.

Wind Rider whipped his head around at the last second, only to be tackled head-on by Applejack. The two went flying to the ground, the electric baton flying out of Wind Rider’s hoof.

“Maybe I wasn’t clear, but you ain’t welcome here!” Applejack spat, raining down punches on Wind Rider’s face.

“Applejack,” croaked Rainbow as she tried to sit up.

“You pig!” snarled Wind Rider. “You’ll die like your friend then!”

As Applejack threw another punch Wind Rider blocked, leaping back to his hooves. Applejack responded by spinning around and delivering a powerful buck, driving both rear legs into his ribs.

Wind stumbled backwards, but as Applejack charged forwards he scrambled for something in the grass. Just as Applejack reached him, Wind jammed his baton into her side and charged it.

“No!” cried Rainbow.

Applejack screamed, collapsing onto the ground.

Wind Rider stood over her triumphantly, spitting blood onto the grass. “I hope it was worth it, scum.” There was a crackle of electricity, and Rainbow squeezed her eyes shut.

Her heart stopped beating.

The ground beneath her fell away, leaving behind a void as if the world were holding its breath.

There was one question left in Rainbow’s mind: why?

“Hey.”

Rainbow registered Daring’s voice and opened a bleary eye.

Daring stood over Applejack, a foreleg extended in her direction.

Applejack blinked wearily but accepted it. As Daring pulled her to her hooves, Rainbow summoned up the last of her strength to sit up.

She saw another baton in Daring’s wing, and she saw Wind Rider crumpled in a heap on the ground.

Daring smiled tiredly at Rainbow. “You good Rainbow?”

“W-what happened?”

“Come on, Dash,” Daring laughed. “You didn’t think I was really gonna go back to Cloudsdale, did you?”

Comments

[PonyJosiah13]

flicking out his foreleg and extending his button.

Whoops! That actually confused me for a while.

registered Daring’s voice and opened a bleary eye.”

A lone quotation mark appears!

In seriousness: while it was really nice to finally see some action sequences, and to see Wind Rider get knocked down a peg, that felt rather sudden. I hope that's not the end of the story: what's the fallout from this? What happens next?

Also:

“Maybe I wasn’t clear, but you ain’t welcome here,”

I personally think that that sentence would benefit from some exclamation marks to emphasize the action.

Hope this doesn't sting too much.

[The Red Parade]

10837064

O7

There's like one more resolution chapter probably? Definitely hoping to wrap this up soon because I really dropped the ball on actually finishing it lmao