The stormy rain pounded against the metal roofing of the shack. The building had no electricity, and the only form of illumination crawled its way from under the ragged wooden door. Rainbow Dash looked up from her slumber and down to her watch. It was supposedly midmorning. What light sunk in from underneath the doorframe was saying otherwise. She stilled her breathing. Where was she?

Rainbow Dash looked around the cramped space she spent who knows how many nights in. There are no windows, no furnishings, nothing hanging from the shanty walls, nothing. There is nothing.

The confines of the shack weren’t comforting her either. She looked down to the dirt floor, the light brown of dry soil amused her considering the storm that was raging outside. How is this building still standing, if you could even call it a building? Wind rattled the walls, swaying the shack from side to side. Rainbow Dash tried to spread her wings but couldn’t; they were tied down. A rope wrapped itself around her abdomen rendering her wings useless. The pegasus tried to stand but fell as something held her back. She looked beneath her and found a large metal stake driven straight into the ground, clamping down a metal chain into the earth. Her eyes steadily followed the chain as it entangled itself and up to her hooves; zip ties making the connection between the two.

So that’s why I’m so cold… Rainbow Dash thought and rolled off the pile of metal and onto her side. The chains that held her to the ground were no more than a meter long. Mobility is drastically limited. Her mind wanted to race, adrenaline wanted to surge, but her body simply didn’t care. Rainbow Dash gave a tired pull on her restraints but they defiantly held. Her breathing increased slightly, and she pulled again. Nothing budged.

“Fluttershy… Scootaloo…” Rainbow Dash trembled, biting her lip in a failing attempt to calm down. The three promised they’d never separate, a day at most. She promised them she'd be back in only a day. At least a week had gone by. They would get home. Somehow.

A lone drop of water splattered on her muzzle. Her eyes narrowed and she watched the pool of liquid quickly dry, exposing the brighter cyan of her coat from underneath the layer of dust. Another drop landed on her nose, and her breathing slowed down. Rainbow Dash watched as the droplet scurried its way down her snout and out of sight. Sighing, she shuffled her way to the other side of the room to avoid being hit again. She was already cold and didn’t need to freeze to death. That’d be a stupid way to die.

A low buzz began over the sound of storm. The sound became a familiar roar as a vehicle pulled its way up to her terrible excuse for a shelter. Rainbow Dash learned to fear that noise on countless occasions. It was how humans preferred to travel. Humans were the hunters. They hunted her, Fluttershy, Scootaloo, each other, everything. Most humans were, anyway...

Fluttershy…

The door opened, blinding gray light flooded in and consumed the shack. A dark, bipedal figure moved into the doorway blocking out the sky and allowing her eyes to slowly readjust to the new lighting. Her face got pelted with the uncomfortable sensation of water as wind blew the rain through every gap to get its way into the room. The door closed and the human walked into the room, bending down to get a closer look at her.

“Freaking aliens,” was all it said. It stood back up and threw down an apple in front of her, half expecting her not to eat it. Rainbow Dash cautiously looked up to the enormous figure and slowly outstretched her neck, getting the stem of the precious apple caught in her teeth. Still looking up to her captor, she slowly dragged the precious apple closer to her body and began mercilessly devouring the gift. The first fruit she had in days stung her throat every time she swallowed. But she didn’t let up, gluttonously eating the whole thing, core and all. The human angrily looked down to her, a rope in his hands and a knife in the other.

“Don’t make me use this.” He flashed the blade, reflecting a shimmer of nonexistent light. He bent down to a knee and wrapped one end in a knot around her neck. He then took the knife and cut the plastic zip ties around her hooves and gave a sharp tug, dragging Rainbow Dash across the dusty floor. The roped tightened and choked her, burning her skin as it slid up from the base of her neck.

“Come on! Up! There’s got to be some sort of reward for you.” The human barked, pulling on the rope again. Rainbow Dash jumped to her feet and stood on all fours, her legs shaking under her weight combined with the cold. This human was tall, likely the tallest of all the ones she’d seen over the past few months. Her muzzle came up to as high as his stomach, so he’s probably six and a half feet tall. She had time to familiarize herself with the humans’ units of measurements, but this still was just her best guess. The human turned and opened the door, the storm outside all too eager to greet them.

With another sharp pull of the leash, the human led her outside and through the mud to the rusty, idling pickup. He opened the back and picked her up, tossing her into the bed. A small metal cage, somehow smaller than her previous prison, propped itself up. A single, damp blanket rested across the top to prevent the inside from getting wet. The human made his first mistake and jabbed Rainbow Dash in the flank to get her to go into the cage.

Rainbow Dash took the opportunity and kicked out, nailing the human with a bone-shattering kick to the jaw. Her captor staggered, releasing his grip on the rope he held in his hand. Rainbow Dash leapt from the bed of the truck and on to him, pinning the human to the ground under her hooves.

She bit. She kicked. She stomped. She rammed her head into his. The nonsensical beating continued until Rainbow Dash was in control. The human lay on the ground bloodied and broken, but alive. Rainbow Dash triumphantly walked off him, breathing heavily. She had never done that before. It was the instinct to survive. This planet it was bad, its magic compelled her into the fury. Its magic compelled the humans to attack her. Her friends...

Scootaloo...

Rainbow Dash turned to the human who desperately tried to crawl into the cabin of his truck. Her breathing slowed, but adrenaline still pumped throughout her system.

"The knife. Give me your knife."

The human looked at her dumbfounded, his mouth agape and eyes wide. Had this creature just talked?

"The knife. Give me your knife." Rainbow Dash repeated, taking a step towards him. He quickly snapped out his trance and fumbled in his pockets producing the short blade and tossed it to the ground.

"Get out of here." And with that the human returned to his crawl to get into the the truck, but more frantic than ever. Rainbow Dash walked over to the blade and picked it up, holding it in a hoof. Her magic wasn't tainted. She could still hold objects without the need to completely grasp them. She carefully took the knife and cut the makeshift leash that choked her. Afterwards she started delicately removing the rope from her wings.

The rope fell to muddy ground in a sickening pile. Rainbow Dash dropped the knife and sighed heavily, looking to the human. He wasn't on the ground anymore. The engine of the truck revved, its headlights flickering to life. The truck reversed slowly, and continued to back up before it came to a slow stop a hundred feet away. The headlights cut their way through the rain, covering the pegasus in a shower of light. Her cyan coat and rainbow mane drooped to the ground, soaked in water. The human devilishly grinned from behind the windscreen and planted his foot onto the accelerator.

Rainbow Dash spread her wings and took to the air. The truck harmless passed underneath her and smashed through the shed behind, destroying it a brilliant shower of wood and twisted metal. Rainbow Dash took off through the Nevada desert to where she thought the cave would be. Hopefully her friends were still there, and doing better then she was. Hopefully they were still alive. Next Chapter: Chapter 01: Wandering Storm Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 2 Minutes