“Wake up.” a voice spoke and Rainbow’s eyes snapped open seeing a woman standing over her amber eyes watching her carefully. Next to her was a short figure with light colored hair. He seemed very nervous glancing from the stranger to her.

“How are you feeling?” the stranger asked and Rainbow swore she heard this woman before. At the time she couldn’t place it, holding her head she decided to say. “I’ll be fine. Who are you?”

“Cassandra Pentaghast.” the woman told her as she helped the fast flier to her feet. The smaller figure next to them decided to speak up then. “It is good to see you’re alright.”

Now that voice she could place, it was Inkwell and the look of disappointment was evident. ‘Why did I have to be paired up with a pony even more insecure than Fluttershy?’ she thought forgetting she still had the look on her face. Cassandra placed a hand on her shoulder saying. “Even the most unlikely of person can prove themselves when given the chance.”

Rainbow Dash shifted uneasily at the statement before looking around asking. “Where are we?”

“I don’t know.” the black haired female told the two ponies as she looked around. Rainbow noticed the sword at her waist was similar to the one she had. Though the shield, unlike hers, had an eye and the lower half of the sunburst coming from the bottom. The shape was also longer and not as round as hers. Focusing on her the rainbow maned mare tried to get a read on what this woman was like. Words formed around her as images flashed through her mind. The first was of a group of people, one leading them, the same symbol on the shield hung upon flags. Though it was a slight difference, there was a sun surrounding the eye as well as a sword sticking through the top. She only heard one thing. “Inquisition.”

The next was of a woman laughing and joking with the both of them and the feeling of overwhelming loyalty. It was strange that this woman was loyal to loyalty and her friends. The final image was of her praying and the feeling of faith was what she got. Opening her eyes she looked at Cassandra who nodded her head. Rainbow knew that she wasn’t one to betray them, when she gave her word she would keep it.

“We should get going.” the dark haired woman told them helping Inkwell to his feet. “We are losing daylight.”

“Do you even know where we are?” the rainbow maned mare asked wishing that she had her wings so she could get a better look. A shake of the other human’s head caused her to sigh, but told them that they were heading East. The two ponies followed the armored woman through the trees each dealing with their internal issues. The one thing running through Inkwell’s head was. ‘My best friend is a fox.’

He was never going to tell Rainbow how thankful he was Cassandra was there. She taught him how to walk and didn’t mind his high pitch scream when he woke up with her standing over him. They were getting ready to make camp for the night when Cassandra took them aside. “I may not like doing this but you should think of new names. We do not know if Rainbow dash or Inkwell are common names here.”

The fast flier was about to protest this decision when Inkwell spoke up. “That is actually a good idea. We wouldn’t want to bring any attention to ourselves.”

Rainbow’s mouth snapped shut and she turned on heel and went about gathering wood. At first they gathered it around the outskirts of their camp to get the fire going. It would be their only way of knowing where the others were if they were out too late. Once that was done the two spread out, Rainbow going deep into the forest. At first she did fine gathering logs as well as taking stock of what she had on her. Simple clothes, a sword and hilt at her side and a kite shield on her back. Using her shield she found her hair short and red, her skin pale with slight freckles, she was thankful that her eyes were still magenta. One thing she noticed about her equipment was that it wasn’t the sword and shield gifted to her. This was basic, something she would have used for training. She didn’t like that, she wanted to use her own weapon. That wasn’t the only thing she didn’t like. ‘I don’t want to change my name. I don’t want to be stuck her. I want my friends. I want to be with Echo.’ she griped internally as she snatched up another log, not noticing how dark it got. She had lost track of time and didn’t notice a large figure behind her with a sack. A crack got her attention and she turned around only for the sack to snatch her up.

Inkwell was worried, not only was he the first to get back to camp with the firewood but Rainbow Dash hadn’t returned. It was already dark out and even Cassandra was a bit shocked that she hadn’t returned. They both knew the pony wouldn’t abandon them. Finally the human decided on an action. Ripping a part of her clothes off, she wrapped it around at thick stick and lit it on fire. Looking towards the writer she said. “Put out the fire, we are leaving.”

Using dirt the stallion put out the already small fire and followed the armored woman into the dark. They headed in the same direction that they knew Rainbow went looking for any sign of what may have happened. Heading in deep enough they found a pile of logs but no sign of the fast flier. Fear gripped at Inkwell’s heart as the thought settled in that something had happened to her. That was when a light caught his attention. Nudging Cassandra he pointed out the figure in the dark, it was tall with what seemed to be a pointed hat. She nodded her head and they both moved forward having the intent to find out where Rainbow Dash was.

Rainbow struggled as she felt herself thrown onto a pile of squirming creatures. All yelling at the addition of the new weight. One of the squirming people kicked her in the shin causing her to yell out.

“What you got there Tom?” asked a gruff voice as there was more yelling and the sound of a crank being turned. “Thought you was out getting more wood for the fire.”

“Found that human just wandering in the woods I did.” replied the one that she assumed was carrying her. “Not as skinny as the farmer but I ‘ope she isn’t just muscle. Doesn’t taste really nice. Yet I think she’ll add some nice flavor.”

That really got the fast flier struggling, she did not want to become some creature’s dinner. Soon a voice spoke up talking quickly about how to cook Dwarves. Yelling increased from around her and she quickly latched onto the fact that this person was just trying to buy sometime. Focusing quickly she found that he was loyal to the simple things in life. He wasn’t the type to bargain for his own, he cared deeply for all living things. One of these Dwarves moved under her kicking one of his companions and they went silent for a bit. Soon they began agreeing about being infested and she decided to speak up. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, we’re just about to get eaten.” a voice behind her said and she went silent. “I wouldn’t say it would be painless, it is probably going to hurt a lot. You’ll probably get eaten after Bombur.”

“Well that’s comforting.” she growled, there was more shouting before a new voice, an elderly one, spoke loudly and clearly. “The dawn shall take you all!”

“Who’s that?”

“I have no idea.”

“Can we eat him too?”

A crack and roaring began to sound from somewhere behind her. There was a moment of silence as the Dwarves got helped up as well as the mare. The sack was removed from her head and she found herself staring at a friendly looking male with a strange looking at hat. He smiled at her saying. “Sorry about that. Thought we were going to get eaten, Bilbo managed to stall for time.”

“Who is this?” a dark haired dwarf, clearly the leader as the group quieted down as he spoke, he glanced towards a tall elderly man. “You said this was it.”

“I did say that yes.” the older man spoke moving to the side revealing Inkwell. “But young Fairbanks here said that it would be best to travel together until they are safe so something like this doesn’t happen again.”

“And what do you do?” the leader questioned his eyes landing on the light haired stallion. The author cleared his throat saying. “I am an author. I was travelling East with my companions wanting to write a book on the world of Men, Elves, and Dwarves. These two are my travelling protectors Cassandra Pentaghast and….”

“Anduin Lothar.” Rainbow said deciding on the name she wanted. “I am Master Pentaghast’s student. Who are you?”

“None of your business.” growled the dark haired dwarf before looking around. The old man talked about how the trolls were from the Ettenmoors. They never traveled South, not since a darker time and mused that there must have been a Trollcave nearby. The three travelled with the group to the cave but did not enter. They didn’t want to get on the Dwarves bad side by taking the gold they had their eyes set upon. Inkwell did pick up a journal near the entrance finding it in good condition and thankfully blank. Cassandra began to teach Rainbow on how to take care of her weapon properly. They were in the middle of sharpening it, the dark haired woman having a few whetstones on her, when the Dwarves finally emerged again. They were talking about their loot and the tan skinned woman rolled her eyes holding her tongue. It was clear she did not like this sort of behavior, though one of the Dwarves took quick notice of that. He was balding on top with a long white beard, walking over to them he decided to introduce himself. “I am sorry for how Thorin behaved himself around you. My name is Balin, a pleasure to meet you.”

“It is not the first time I have dealt with Dwarves like that.” Cassandra told him sheathing her sword. “It will not be the last.”

Before Balin could speak anymore something caught there attention and they moved quickly into the forest to find the source. It ended up being a crazy old man on a sled being pulled by rabbits. ‘I’m not sure how Fluttershy would take that.’ Rainbow thought tilting her head to the side.

Author's Notes:

I do not own MLP or any other series mentioned in this fanfic... especially the Dark One