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Gimme Shelter3,573 words
Bad Company2,497 words
Land of Confusion2,076 words
All Along The Watchtower3,007 words
Limelight3,243 words
What Do All The People Know?3,646 words
Sympathy For The Devil2,717 words
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More Than A Feeling3,989 words
With A Little Help From My Friends2,423 words
Learning To Fly3,039 words
Closer To The Heart4,242 words
Refugee4,509 words

Gimme Shelter

“Rainbow Dash, get up.”

The command and a hearty shake roused the pony mentioned from a restless slumber. Magenta eyes cracked open, the world before her blurred by sleep and grogginess. She could make out vague shapes and colors, mostly a lot of grays with a big blob of orange and yellow right in front of her.

Besides her obscured vision, the sensations of intense pain shot through her body. It was mostly focused on her left wing and her head. As her brain woke up a little more, it was assaulted with more and more pain signals from her extremities. To add to it, she still couldn’t see. Where usually she could blink away this kind of fuzziness, now it wasn’t going away.

Other than that, she could tell she was on a cold stone floor. The rough cracks and edges digging into her skin. Dash tried to shift, but that only made her body protest more. It felt like she had flown a marathon or two in a hurricane with weights on her hooves.

“What did they do to you…?” The yellow and orange blob in front of her spoke again, now it’s voice filled with genuine worry. “Gods, he’s going to be angry.”

“Wait… Spitfire…?” Through all of the pain and weariness, the dots finally connected. The blob in front of her was none other than the Captain of the Wonderbolts. What was she doing here? Where was here? So many questions rattled around Rainbow’s head as more pieces fell into place.

“Right. Hang on.” Spitfire grumbled out as the sounds of hooves rummaging through a bag came to Rainbow’s ears. “You need these, I almost forgot.” Something slipped over the prone pegasus’ head, the familiar sense of flight goggles it felt like. As soon as they slid over her eyes, the world before her came into focus.

The light of the full moon was the only source of illumination, and it was just bright enough for Dash to make out some details. The room was made of rough hewn stone, old and cracked with vines and other plants clinging to the cracks. Across from her were what looked to be new iron bars that gleamed in the low light of the moon, the door in the middle busted off of its hinge.

Why did Spitifre think she needed goggles? Why had they wiped the blurriness of the world away? Sure, Dash wore flight goggles when she was… well… flying, but that was for safety reasons. It wasn’t like she needed them to see before or anything.

While that was all curious, it was the other pony in the cell that was the most surprising. Spitfire’s dark orange eyes were narrowed to slits as she looked over her shoulder, showing off her flaming orange mane shaved into a mohawk. Shining crystal armor the color of onyx adorned her body, hugging her form and bringing quite the contrast to her coat.

“What… what’re you wearing? What’s with your mane…?” The pain took a backseat for a moment to the burning curiosity now searing into her skull. She’d never seen that kind of armor before, and Spitfire was proud of her windswept look.

Orange eyes like two flames stared back
Happy, eager and young
“I can’t believe they actually accepted me”
It wasn’t hard to believe at all.

Rainbow brought a hoof to her head and screwed her eyes shut as a memory washed over her. It left her head swimming and pounding like a jackhammer had been taken to it. It was a fragment of something that had pushed its way into her mind without any prompting. It wasn’t even something she recognized, it sure wasn’t something from her life.

“They really did a number on you.” Spitfire replied with a sigh before offering a hoof. Rainbow Dash gladly reached out and took it and was roughly pulled up to a standing position. Every single muscle in her body protested and she groaned out in pain, nearly falling down again. It was the Wonderbolt captain quickly propping her up that saved her from meeting the stone floor with her face. “We don’t have a lot of time before they find out we’re here, we need to get outside and get you home.”

“Where is here?” Rainbow croaked out, the question punctuated by a cough and yet another groan as her sore ribs complained. “I...I don’t even remember how I got here. I was…” She searched her memories for a moment, just trying to figure out what led her to this place. There was nothing, though. Anything she tried to recall that wasn’t just a general fact, like her friends or where she was from, refused to come to the forefront of her mind.

“Some old castle in the Everfree Forest. I’m not even sure how they found this place.” The Castle of the Two Sisters, at least that was the only castle Rainbow knew about in the Everfree. “I was hoping to fly out of here, but…” Spitfire’s eyes trailed to the left side of the injured pegasus. “...that’s not going to happen. So Plan B, get outside and warp out of here.”

Dash turned her head to get a clearer look at exactly why flying wasn’t an option. Her wing was hurting, but she was no stranger to flying through some pain. Late into the Wonderbolt show season, it was practically an inevitability.

Where once a cerulean blue wing sprouted from her back was now a bloody stump haphazardly bandaged. Breath caught in Dash’s throat as her heart thundered against her ribcage and her mind went fully blank. Not even Spitfire could stop her from falling back onto her haunches.

“M-my wing…” The words slipped out between gasps of air as pupils the size of pinpricks stared at the missing appendage. A blue hoof reached up to prod the covered stump to make sure it was real, the sharp pain let her know that it was. “Nononononono!”

“Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash please!” Spitfire shushed her and reached a hoof to cover the mouth of the panicking pony beside her. “I know it’s shocking, I know.” The usually cold steely gaze of the Captain gave way to something softer and warm. “I know, but we can’t stay here. If you want any chance of getting that fixed we need to get out of here now.”

“R-right.” The panic was pushed down and Rainbow summoned every last drop of bravery and courage she could manage. It wasn’t much in the face of her current condition and confusion, but it would have to be enough to escape this dungeon.

Her future as a Wonderbolt weighed heavily on her soul. The wings on her back meant more than the sun in the sky, they gave her life meaning. Everything she had ever accomplished came from determination and her raw talent for flying. Without that, who was she? Who would she be? For now she would have to put her trust in Spitfire to get out of here and fix this like she promised.

“Can you stand?” The question hung in the air for a moment as Rainbow pulled herself to her hooves. Her legs were shaky as the soreness took hold again, but she pushed through. With a mighty dollop of resolve and effort, she steadied herself and nodded to the armored Wonderbolt. “Good. The way out should be clear, but stay behind me just in case.”

Spitfire finally turned away and trotted out of the cell. Outside of the glimmer of the pale moonlight, her armor was practically invisible in the shadows of the dungeon. A helmet was picked up and placed over the head of the Wonderbolt, completely covering her mane and face and making her fade into the shadows even more. If Dash hadn’t known where to look, she wouldn’t even know that Spitfire was there.

To make sure she didn’t lose the camouflaged mare in the darkness, Rainbow quickly trotted out of the cell and behind her rescuer. Her ribs protested, as did her legs and lungs, but she used every last drop of strength she had to stay upright. She would’ve used the wall as a crutch but considering it was on her left side, she tossed that idea away. Standing and walking through the pain would have to do, at least until she could lean on her right side.

The mare in front of her started off down the hall, and Dash was close behind. Despite the crystal armor covering her hooves striking stone regularly, Spitfire made almost no noise. One would have to really focus to catch the soft clinking with each step that the practiced hooves took.

Each step was a labor, each corner they took was a herculean effort for Rainbow Dash. It was slow going, but at least it was going. Sometimes Spitfire would get entire hallway lengths ahead before realizing how bad Dash was lagging behind and waiting for her to catch up. Those moments seemed to bring out the nerves of the armored mare, her head swiveling around and checking every possible crack and shadow as she waited.

“Sorry…” Rainbow groaned as she caught up to the Captain again. Sweat was covering her face, matting her mane to her forehead. Ragged breaths escaped her lips and they never seemed to get rid of the winded feeling that plagued her body.

“It’s alright.” Spitfire grumbled as she stuck her head around the corner they were at. “I wasn’t expecting you to be this beat up, or else I would’ve been in something lighter so I could carry you.” Rainbow didn’t need to see the face of her comrade to know that she was grinding her teeth. “They’re gonna pay for this, trust me.” There was no room for even a shred of doubt in those words.

“Hey!” The shout pierced the quiet darkness from behind the pair. Two heads whipped around in time to find a pony in a dark blue tunic coming from the direction of Dash’s cell. “Stop right there, you’re not supposed to be out!” It was a stallion with a pale gray coat and black mane, a horn covered in a green aura poking through.

Rainbow’s bravado was as fast as she was, her chest already puffed out and her eyes narrowed into slits as she stared the stallion down. As his horn charged, time seemed to slow down. The fatigue that had been weighing her down vanished beneath a deluge of adrenaline and instinct. Her one good wing flared out and her teeth bared at the incoming assailant. Even injured and weakened, she wasn’t going down without a fight.

A pitch black helmet whipped past Rainbow’s head at a speed she marveled at, with Spitfire just milliseconds behind it. First the helmet hit the advancing unicorn in the muzzle, a spray of red and a sickening crunch echoing in the small space. Next two armored hooves impacted his form and took him right into the solid stone wall behind him. The whole assault lasted less than five seconds, with the Captain being the one who stood up afterwards without a drop of sweat being shed.

“Sweet Celestia, Spitfire. Did you really have to do that to him?” Rainbow was aghast at what she had just witnessed. Such violence wasn’t in Spitfire’s repertoire, not that Rainbow had ever seen at least.

“What did you just say?” Was the response that was fired back at her as the two met each other in the middle of the hall. “Look”—Spitfire donned her helmet again and pushed by Rainbow Dash—”we don’t have time to debate methods here. Even if we did, look at what they did to you. You don’t think they deserve this?” Attention was brought back to her missing wing, which still throbbed with pain. The surprised expression faded from Rainbow’s face, only to be replaced with a frown. “Yeah. Now everypony in the castle probably heard that, so we need to get going.”

Nothing else was said on the subject of violence. Whenever they got out of here and got somewhere safe, she would make sure to approach the topic again. For now, Spitfire was right. They needed to get moving.

The surge of adrenaline helped the speed of the duo, easily pushing Rainbow into her current top gear. Which, considering her condition, was about her normal walking speed when she wasn’t torn to shreds. They navigated the twisting corridors of the dungeon at a good pace, the light of the moon streaming through barred windows and lit their way.

It seemed like in no time at all, the two were at the base of a flight of stone stairs. At the top was a wooden door that looked brand new, and it was slightly cracked open. The best guess was that it was Spitfire who had left it so, and considering how nonchalantly the Captain traipsed up the stairs and peered through the crack it was a pretty good guess.

The doors burst inwards, a beam of turquoise light the cause as it barreled into the stairway and sent Spitfire tumbling backwards down the stone steps. The gleaming black armor coating her body smoked and sizzled as the excess energy from the magic blast seemed to take up residence in the crystalline facets.

“Oh c’mon!” Rainbow groaned in frustration as she helped her friend to her hooves, the once full helmet on her head now cracked and exposing one of her ears and mane. “What now?” Both sets of eyes looked up to the top of the stairs and at the silhouette standing where closed doors had once stood.

“Now?” The cool chuckle from the silhouetted pony sent a shiver down Rainbow’s spine and made every hair on her body stand on end. “Well now it looks like we have two prisoners instead of one.” When Dash’s eyes finally equalized with the light from the room above, the breath caught in her throat and her heart stopped completely.

“Starlight…?”

The pony that she knew as Starlight Glimmer moved down the stairs, a confident grin on her face and a fire in her eyes. Her tricolor purple and mint green mane was split into bangs on either side of her horn, the same style that she had with her cult in Our Town. It was like looking into a memory that you couldn’t forget no matter what.

“Oh good, you still remember me.” Starlight chuckled again as she kept moving towards the two. “I was worried you wouldn’t anymore, not after what happened.”

Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure what was going on. Nothing here made any sense. Starlight Glimmer was reformed! They were even friends! There was no reason for any of this to be happening! But none of that could stop the dots from connecting in her mind and her temper from flaring. Starlight and these other ponies, whatever had happened to them to make them this evil, had taken her wing and left her in a dungeon.

“What’s wrong with you, huh?!” Rainbow shouted as she took to her hooves and slammed one onto the stone below. “What’s gotten into you?” Her wing flared out once more as she stood between Starlight and Spitfire, not wanting to give a chance to the once-reformed villainess to hurt her friend again.

That little outburst was all the time that Spitfire needed to collect herself and act. The armored pegasus sidestepped from behind the maimed mare and launched herself right at the unicorn before them. Starlight didn’t even have enough time to charge her horn before she was sent backwards from the tackle. Powerful wings propelled the two into the open room beyond the busted doors, leaving Dash alone in the stairway.

“Rainbow Dash, get outside!” Spitfire hollered as she rolled across the floor with Starlight. Rainbow quickly ascended the stairs and watched as the unicorn let loose a few blasts of imprecise magic, only to be met with a solid armored hoof across the face. “I’ll meet you out there!”

Dash nodded as another jolt of pure adrenaline flooded her system, giving her just that extra boost needed to comply. As she started off towards the doors she saw a turquoise glow envelope both Spitfire and Starlight and raise them both into the air, only for the same aura to slam them both back into the ground with considerable force.

Between Rainbow Dash and the door to the Everfree Forest, were even more of those ponies in dark blue tunics. Mostly unicorns with a few earth ponies mixed in. They were all looking right at her.

There was a goal, and that was all the motivation Dash needed. Just like every other goal in her life, she would reach it and there was no stopping her. Obstacles: ponies bent on stopping her. Disadvantages: hurt and couldn’t fly.

It wasn’t a problem.

The competitor’s mindset took over and Rainbow galloped at the ponies in front of her. Where certain injuries limited her physical skill, she made up for with technique and practiced skill. Three earth ponies charged her first, which didn’t afford any of the unicorns a clear shot and afforded her a bit more safety from a distance.

As an earth pony mare approached her, Dash used her one working wing to propel her to the left at the last possible second. The mare soared past her and hit the stone floor with a loud thud. Rainbow left her hooves with a leap, landing atop a stallion’s head and pushing it down with enough force that his jaw met with the hard surface below.

The final earth pony, a stallion with a blue coat and a darker blue mane, finally got hooves on her and took the pegasus to the ground. Rainbow squirmed and struggled, but even with the best mindset in the world and all of the might she could manage, she was no match for a fully grown earth pony.

A continuous stream of Starlight’s magic solved the problem as it cut a swathe across the room, hitting the stallion in the chest and sending him off of the prone pegasus. The blast of energy cut across the room wildly, scattering the unicorns in front of the door as they hurried to cover.

Rainbow Dash looked behind her to see Spitfire with Starlight Glimmer in a headlock, the unicorn using one last desperate outpouring of energy to free herself. The Wonderbolt Captain’s helmet was completely gone now, sweat dappling her face and a long scratch trailing from an ear to her jaw and dripping blood onto her yellow coat. The gritted teeth, ferocious eyes and slowly twisting legs told Dash that Spitfire was getting ready to turn Starlight’s neck until it snapped. If it weren’t for the lances of energy that Starlight’s disciples began unleashing in the general direction of the two mares, it would’ve happened too.

The volley of energy was enough to make Spitfire relent and opt to just bring a hoof down onto the back of the unicorn’s head with enough force to knock her out cold. The unicorns and the Captain quickly switched positions in the room, the unicorns going to check on their felled leader and the Captain reuniting with the pony she came to rescue.

“We need to hurry before they regroup.” Spitfire commanded as she thundered past Rainbow, her hooves loudly striking the ground below as she headed towards the exit with the other pegasus right on her tail.

The Wonderbolt duo threw the doors open together and spilled out into the forest beyond. It was a reasonably cool summer’s night, a slight breeze moving the branches overhead and carrying the scent of coming rain in the near future. If not for what she had just been through, Rainbow Dash would call this an ideal night.

“Really wish these things worked indoors.” Spitfire reached into her armor as she spoke and pulled out a few glowing purple crystals. One of her wings draped over Dash’s back and pulled the maimed pony close to her. Before Rainbow could object to such an act or ask what was about to happen, the crystals were thrown to the ground and crushed underhoof. “Canterlot Castle.”

A blinding flash erupted around the two and consumed them. The scenery of a dark forest illuminated by the light of the moon gave way to marble white walls and carpets of red and purple in an instant. The world spun as Rainbow fell to her knees, her stomach revolting against what it had just been put through and her eyes screwed shut in protest. She had been teleported a few times by Twilight, but it was never as bad as that.

“Gods, I hate that.” Spitfire stumbled on her hooves but stayed upright nonetheless. “Your Majesty, I retrieved Rainbow Dash!” She yelled into the chamber before them, Dash thought it was the throne room from the brief flash she got before the world turned upside down and she was forced to close her eyes.

“Oh wonderful. Excellent job, Captain.” The voice that responded was decidedly not Princess Celestia, nor was it Princess Luna. No, she knew that voice from somewhere else. It was deep and foreboding.

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes, just long enough to catch the sight of King Sombra walking into the room before she passed out.

Author's Note:

Ooh, a storm is threatening
My very life today
If I don't get some shelter
Ooh yeah I'm gonna fade away

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