Ponyville, Equestria

September 10th, 2012 BCR, 19:22 PM.

While Twilight was walking through Ponyville asking ponies around if they had seen Rainbow Dash, none of the ponies said anything.

Some of them even began to laugh in Twilight's face due to all the stories Gilda had told them. Twilight just left the laughers alone and went her own way, still on the search for the cyan pegasus.

Why were they laughing at that, anyway?

What did Rainbow Dash do?

Did she destroy Town Hall when I wasn’t here?

Is this all about me?

Because I’m from Canterlot? ...

Her thoughts rambled along. She tried to force the thought back in the depths of her mind, but it was to no avail. Her brain began to lose it. Her mane began to shrivel like when she was almost late with her assignment to the princess.

Her eyes began to widen again and began to grasp random ponies who crossed her way, stuttering random slurs into their faces. After she did this for about 10 minutes, her mind came back, slowly and thought...

'Fluttershy! Of course, she must know where she is!' She hastily trotted towards the little cottage of the yellow pegasus.

Outskirts of Ponyville, Just Outside The Everfree Forest, Equestria.

September 10th, 2012 BCR, 19:23 PM

Fluttershy had just made something for herself because all the little animals that she had in her vicinity were off to sleep. The pegasus didn't normally make something for herself to eat so quickly, but there were occasions that she would. Contrary to her friend Rainbow Dash, she was a pegasus that was indeed capable of cooking.

Just before she wanted to eat, there came a knocking sound. Fluttershy wouldn't be Fluttershy if she didn't squeak from the knocking on her door. After she hid behind her couch for a while, she braved herself enough to open the door.

Fluttershy began to walk to her door. The hard texture and the dark brown color of her door reassured her that she was safe. She had always knew that when she saw her door. She firmly grasped the cool, spherical shape that was her doorknob and thrust open the large wooden door.

To her surprise, there stood Twilight Sparkle, the purple unicorn whom she had befriended. "Oh... hello Twilight. What are you doing here?" she asked with her characteristically soft voice.

‘Good evening Fluttershy. There is something I like to ask you. It's about Rainbow Dash.’ said Twilight.

‘Oh, my...’ said Fluttershy.

‘What? Is there something wrong?’ said Twilight.

‘No, it's just.... *whimper*’

‘Fluttershy, there's no need for hiding from me. I'm your best friend, after all!’ reassured Twilight.

With that, Fluttershy opened a little bit. She was now more receptive for the questions that Twilight wanted to ask her about her oldest friend.

‘Well, Fluttershy, the thing is... This morning I received the newest copy of Daring Do, and since Rainbow reads the stories, I let her borrow it. Now, she said that she would give it back to me, but she hasn’t brought it back to me yet!’

‘Dash not bringing something back? That's unusual.’ said Fluttershy.

‘Indeed! Now, I'm on the lookout for her, and this is the first thing I want to ask you. Do you know where Rainbow Dash is?’

Fluttershy shook her head. She had to decline that answer.

‘Maybe it's something with Gilda. Their relationship  isn't good!’ said Fluttershy.

‘That is the other thing I wanted to ask you. While I was on the search for Rainbow Dash, there were ponies laughing at the mention of her name, and they told me stories of you and Dash. Now I want to know what they meant.’

With that, Fluttershy ears lowered a bit, and her face grew a darker shade of red.

'Oh, ehh... *sigh* There's no point anymore in hiding. Twilight, I have to make a confession, a confession for Rainbow Dash. I believe that those guys were laughing at stories from our youth?'

Twilight was surprised to see this different side of Fluttershy, but she nodded when she heard her answer.

‘What stories?’

"I recall something like a 'pissing incident', I think."

Fluttershy let a soft sigh, and spoke to Twilight.

‘Poor Dashie, she will be haunted with that story for her whole life. Well Twilight, that's not the only thing. Let me tell you all about it.’

After Fluttershy had told Twilight about Rainbow Dash, who as a filly had pissed herself from fear of flying, she was stunned!

‘ ... Poor Rainbow Dash!’

‘Yeah, Twilight, it was bad. And that's not the only thing that spikes her a lot these days! You see, Rainbow Dash's parents had died right after her birth and had to be put into an orphanage. A Helvetican orphanage! Cloudsdale, you see, still has a functioning Helvetican district!’

The Helveticans are the last remaining ponies from the age of queen Helvetica's reign. Queen Helvetica was comparable to the human queen Victoria, and just like her Human counterpart, Helvetica was a mother to all pony races. Unlike many Equestrian alicorn rulers,  Helvetica was a pegasus, and her rule brought an Golden Age for all pegasi!

Unfortunately, she didn't care much for the pegasi fillies who didn't have parents, in fact she hated pony orphans as a whole. But pegasi orphans were the pinnacle of her hate. She had built an enormous system of orphanages. There really weren’t any 'Rules' that stated how one would become staff in the houses, so practically anypony could be one. And for the most part, they were ponies who had criminal records or were involved with drugs. Not quite the ponies you would let handle the fillies. Fluttershy recalled a story Rainbow Dash told her once...

Orphanage #17, Cloudsdale, Equestria.

March 20th, 1760 BCR. 12:00 PM.

The mostly bustling city-center of Cloudsdale fell silent, because it was lunch-time. Ponies are known to be on time, especially when it depended on food. The Orphanage, known as #17, was no exception on the rule.

The fillies were driven like cattle to the dining room, which was also known as the  ‘Municipal Feeding Room’. One of the fillies who was taken there was a scared little filly named Rainbow Dash, and she was being taunted by the caretakers who were supposed to ‘provide the nutrition to help the future Helveticans survive.’ That was how the official story went, and was forced into the minds throughout the orphanage... orphans like Rainbow Dash.

‘Come on, ya worthless piece o’ foal! Move to ya trough!’ screamed one of the caretakers, an old mine-pony who was forced out of his home. ‘We don’ have ta time ta stand 'ere!’ and kicked Rainbow Dash in her flank. Dashie kept on walking, she didn’t have a choice anyhow.

When she eventually came to the dining room, she saw that the seats were all taken, so she was forced to choose to eat on the ground with the rest. While she was being taunted and kicked by both the caretakers and the other fillies, she eventually came to the lobby where the food was stashed.

The Helvetican government issued that the fillies in the orphanages were given Grade-A quality of food, but in reality they couldn’t give two sh*ts of what they gave their young foals. Rainbow Dash saw this time, however that the lobby contained food she never had seen in her life. French fries, roasted chickens, tomato’s as red as apples and so much more. Dash had seen colors she never had seen in her life on those trays. Unfortunately, her ‘Mother’ Miss. Bolt saw that Rainbow Dash was looking to the trays of the caretakers, so she ordered that two takers would bring Dashie out of the the lobby to the other orphans.

Two bulky pegasi then ran to Rainbow Dash and began to beat the living cr*p out of her, and put her back in her place. Crippled, bleeding and crying, they shouted in her face that if they saw her in the  lobby again, they would place her in the coal shack again.

Dashie just nodded while crying like a newborn foal. She received a small bowl of plain, cardboard-looking pasta and a small piece of semi-stale bread and walked to the farthest corner in the room where she could eat her food in silence...

***

Many members of the staff in those houses were pegasi who were working class ponies or criminals. These weren't ones who held the children's content to heart. Helvetican orphanages were usually 'ruled' by a lead caretaker or ‘Mother’, but they were usually the most violent. The fillies who were in these orphanages were destined to go through hell. The fillies were given more beatings than food, and most of them worked in the mines beneath Cloudsdale, or the factories. The conditions in these were just like the Victorian orphanages described by Charles Dickens, but ten times worse.

The Helvetican districts are still alive in many great Equestrian cities, but pegasi cities have the most. Cloudsdale has the largest running Helvetican district in all of Equestria, and many pegasi know about those orphanages, especially the ones from the generation of 1750 BCR.

The generation of 1750 BCR is singled out in Equestria because the year brought the most orphans that Equestria had ever seen. All over Equestria, hordes of orphan pegasi fillies were drifting around, and Helvetica was disgusted by them. The year 1750 wasn't the only year that there were orphans, the whole rule of Helvetica had orphans. But the year 1750 had by far the most.

While Twilight was recovering from the shock, she thought about Helvetica, the Helvetican districts, and the generation of 1750, and listened to many a story of Rainbow Dash's youth. Fluttershy had told her the time when Gilda came into the story.

"Gilda came into picture when Rainbow Dash was flying around as a punishment. She had to fly around until it was evening. When she was ready, she flew back to the barracks where we all slept and saw the griffin that was called Gilda. They clicked immediately. But the cracks began to show later.

‘I’m not going to tell you about those other incidents, but if I know where Gilda would lock Rainbow Dash- then I think Gilda has locked her in the cellars of The Great Theater!’

"Of course! How could I not think about that!" screamed Twilight She ran through the door and towards the cellars of The Great Theater, to save her pegasi friend...

Next Chapter: 5; The Rescue Estimated time remaining: 29 Minutes