Henry walked casually for the first hundred feet, then broke into a run when he was sure they wouldn’t hear him.

When he reached his sister’s room he felt a small bit of happiness to see Rainbow Dash sleeping soundly. He didn’t want to disturb her. He wanted to believe that they would accept his explanation and leave, but he couldn’t be sure. The scent of money could be a powerful lure for men like him.

“Rainbow Dash! Wake up!”cried out Henry.

She mumbled sleepily, and then opened her eyes halfway. “What’s going on?” she complained. “I’m trying to sleep here.”

Outside the house John said, “Well, it’s time to go hunting. Let’s see how many shots it takes to kill a door.”

“What about the kid?” asked Peter.

“What ABOUT him? If he tries anything clever we’ll show him whose boss.”

Henry started to explain when Rainbow suddenly heard a sound that made her wake up instantly. It was that same deafening boom from before. Her heart started racing.

“That guy is here! And he brought his brother along with him. They’ve come back for you. I just can’t believe they’d go this far. We have to get out of here!”

He went to pick her up, but she pushed his hands away. “I can take care of myself!” she insisted, her voice trembling a bit. Her pride wouldn’t let her completely rely on someone else.

As she got down on the floor she tested her bad leg. With her hour of rest and the splint she could walk better than before. It was more like the feeling of standing too long than the throbbing pain of earlier.

“Fine, then,” said Henry in a short voice. She was so stubborn. “Downstairs in the corner room is a rug. Underneath it is a cellar door disguised as just a regular part of the floor. It’s the only way in and it was originally supposed to be a fallout shelter in case of a nuclear attack, so it has a lot of supplies.” Through her fear he saw her confusion. “A nuclear bomb is a weapon of unbelievable power. It has the capability to wipe out an entire city.”

Rainbow’s eyes went wide. The level of destruction he was talking about was beyond her scope to imagine.

“Anyway, I’ll hide you down there. When they’re unable to find you they might decide to leave. Knowing them, they’ll do all they can to find you, but even if they look under the rug there’s no way they’ll figure out that there’s a door down there. It blends in so well that even I have some trouble finding the exact spot you have to lift up on. Just stay behind me and be as quiet as you can. I won’t let them hurt you anymore. I promise.”

As they left the room Rainbow Dash kept staring at Henry’s back. Her heart was going a mile a minute. She knew it wasn’t JUST her pride that made her insist on walking. At first she had accepted his help out of sheer necessity, having no other options. As he had helped her and they had talked she gained a grudging trust and respect for him. She went with her instincts, and had decided he was one of the good guys unless he proved otherwise. Now those doubts she’d had about him were resurfacing. How had that man found her location? What were Henry’s true intentions?

“There are two staircases going downstairs,” said Henry. “I’ll go to the other one and make some noise to get their attention and lure them over, and then we’ll go down this one. The room with the secret door is really close to it.”

“Okay,” Rainbow said emotionlessly.

She watched Henry leave around the corner, and a short while later she heard a loud thump and the sound of him crying out, followed by several thumps in quick succession, like something falling down the stairs. The floor rattled as she heard the pounding of feet both below and in front of her. Henry came running up to her, saying, “Let’s go! They’ll figure out the trick in a few seconds. As soon as you’re down the stairs take a left and it’s the corner room on the right.”

Henry jogged down the stairs quickly, heading to the door. He opened it and ran inside. He would have to leave it to Rainbow to close it since they didn’t have much time. He yanked the rug up, getting on his hands and knees and feeling for the loose part of the wood. He lifted it up, feeling relieved it all looked fine despite the years it hadn’t been used.

“Alright! Let’s get you in quickly, Rain… bow…” He looked behind him to see only the empty doorway. He tried to make sense of it. He hadn’t heard her running down the stairs, but with her lightness it hadn’t registered as strange to him. She’d had more than enough time to get down the stairs and if she had fell he was sure he would have heard her cry out in pain.

“I just don’t know if I can trust you.”

Her words came back to him then. She wasn’t sure whose side he was really on. He cursed loudly under his breath. “Damn it!” he said angrily, hitting the floor. “She’s going to get herself killed!”

Rainbow Dash stealthily walked through the mostly empty house, straining her ears for anyone approaching her location. She had made her decision. She didn’t trust him. Not anymore. He had planned to lock her in an area only he knew about, with only one way out. She was on her own from here on out. She’d have to rely on herself, just as she had always tried to do before.

As she walked down the hallway she saw the bandages and felt the splint helping her walk. Guilt bubbled up inside of her again for her thoughts, but she couldn’t take any chances. She HAD to stay alive until her friends came to get her. She would trust and help other ponies first over other species, so she assumed he’d do the same. If it came down to his life or hers, if he was threatened with death to tell where she was, then surely he’d give her up to protect himself than get killed protecting someone he’d only met a little more than an hour ago.

Even if Henry truly did intend to keep her safe, how long could he do it for? If that other human beat him and tortured him for her location, then she’d be completely trapped. She couldn’t fly or hope to climb a ladder in her condition.

If she could just get out of the house she could slink away into the shadows. She’d find a safe spot to hide until morning, and then…

And then… WHAT? She’d have to scrounge around for food and avoid any more humans for the unknowable wait that was ahead. It wasn’t a very comforting prospect, but it was the only one she could think of.

With a sigh she thought that it was her personality that had gotten her into this mess. If she had just stayed in the general area of where she had arrived in this world, like she knew she should have, then she wouldn’t be in this situation.

Downstairs, John and Peter saw the remains of a broken object at the bottom of the stairs. “Hmph!” said John. “It’s just a ploy to distract us. There has to be another staircase, but if they think they’re getting out of here they have another thing coming. I prepared for that.

“I’ll run to the other one. You go up this one and let’s regroup upstairs. If we have to we’ll do a room by room search.”

“Yes, oh wise one,” Said Peter sarcastically.

Peter slowly climbed the stairs, a part of him still having troubling believing this nonsense, but if it did pan out he could be rich. It sounded good enough to him. As he neared the top he saw that there were two pathways. One long one to his right and a short one to his left that quickly led to another turn. Most likely the second floor hallways were set up like a square. From the light downstairs he could see just enough to make out a light switch. As he flipped it on he heard a gasp to his right. When he turned to look his eyes went wide as he could see a blue horse with a rainbow mane. Her body was wrapped up in bandages so he couldn’t see if it actually had wings, but he had never seen a horse that looked like that, that was for sure.

“Darn it!” the horse cried out. “Just leave me alone! How many of you are there?”

Rainbow turned and awkwardly ran in the opposite direction. She had to get to the other staircase. She thought that Henry would probably be coming up it by now, but she’d at least take him over that guy and his brother.

Peter had clearly heard it talking. That was enough for him. Even with what his brother had told him he didn’t particularly want to shoot it. He thought that they should keep her alive.

As she reached the second staircase and was about to ran down it she stopped as she saw it wasn’t Henry coming up the stairs but John. They had split up! She had to keep going. She ran a little more down the hallway, glancing behind her until she looked forward and to her horror saw she had ran right into a dead end. As she turned around she saw John had made it to the top and was blocking her way back down the hallway.

She was trapped. There was a closed door to her right a little ways behind her, but it would take too long to get open, and they would just catch up right away. A little to her left was a hallway. If she went for it she might be able to buy some more time, but they would surely shoot at her before she could make it. No matter how she thought of it she couldn’t find a way out of her predicament. Nothing… except for the worst option of all: Death.

“So then, little horse, any last words?” He aimed the gun at her.

Setting herself down on the floor in a submissive position she said in a feeble voice, “Okay. I give up. You got me. I won’t run anymore.”

“Oho!” replied John with mild interest. “That’s lovely that you finally comprehend your own powerlessness.” Despite her anger Rainbow Dash stayed in her spot and didn’t respond. She would gladly take the humiliation in exchange for her life. “However, little horse, I asked you for your last words.”

Her eyes went wide as she began to tremble from his words. “B-but why? You said yourself that I was worth more alive. You just want to sell me off, right? I’d take that over dying.”

John gave one of his superior smirks. The fear and the terror starting to permeate inside her was glorious. He couldn’t wait to break her spirit before finishing her off. He’d be repaid in full for his embarrassment. "Oh, I’m sure you would, but you should have thought about the consequences before you attacked me and my dog.

“Yes, you’re absolutely right that you are worth more alive, but moneywise you alone won’t get me all I want. Do you remember? On the way to my house you helpfully told me that you had a group of friends who would come looking for you. I’m sure they love you very much, don’t they? And after traveling between worlds how do you think they’re going to react when, after all that effort, they arrive to find you dead? They’ll be overcome by sorrow, their hearts will break, and leave them shells of their former selves until I can capture them. Then instead of one little freak to sell I’ll have a small army.”

“NO!” she yelled out, her whole body beginning to tremble as terror began to overtake her. “I don’t want to die!” Tears were streaming down her eyes, all thoughts of pride forgotten. “Please! I’ll do anything! I won’t fight back anymore. I’ll be your obedient servant for the rest of your life. I… I want to live. I want to see my friends again.”

She looked up into his eyes for a small bit of pity, of compassion, but all she saw there was amusement. Her pleading and begging… was only an amusement to him. She knew the only reason he hadn’t yet killed her was simply because he was enjoying her torment and her frenzied plea’s for her life.

“A fine performance,” said John, moving his gun so he could clap. “However, it just didn’t move me.

“So, are you done now? I’d really like to get things moving.” He aimed the gun at her again.

“Hold on,” she said quickly. “My… my last words.”

John let out a bored sigh. “If you must.”

Rainbow slowly moved around as she began talking, trying to get herself in the best position to make a race for the hallway. This was her absolute last chance to possibly survive. “Tell my friends that I love all of them, and their friendship meant a lot to me. I would never have come as far as I did without them.”

Just a little more, she thought. A few more steps, and she could make a run for it.

“Okay, enough with the sappy talk. I can’t take it anymore.”

“Fine, then!” She went to dash towards the hallway, but with a flash of pain she stepped on her bad leg wrong and crashed to the ground.

“Truly pathetic. Was that your best attempt at an escape you pitiful creature?

“Well, time’s up! Goodbye!”

Rainbow closed her eyes tightly, not wanting to look her death in the face. Her friends popped up into her mind, the only thing she wanted to think about before she went. It was all over for her. Now she hoped with all her heart that her friends wouldn't be able to find this place. Better for it to always be a mystery than for them to find out the truth. At least then they could always hope.

Sounding extremely muffled to her ears she heard the bang go off.

At first she couldn’t understand what was happening. She felt nothing. She was still alive. She suddenly felt something fall right in front of her. Cautiously opening her eyes she at first wondered why she couldn’t see John and his brother. At least she did until she heard the raspy voice calling her name right in front of her. Her eyes went wide as saucers as she looked up into the face of Henry.

"You!" she cried out in surprise. "W-why... why would you...?"

With a pained smile he said simply, “Because I made you a promise. I said I wouldn’t let you get hurt."