Rainbow Dash opened her eyes as the box jostled a bit. The rest woke up from their slumber as their stomachs dropped straight into their hooves, their eyes widening as they moved. It had been a few months since they had been put into the box, and since then they had only been moved a little now and then. Now though, they were actually moving.

Fluttershy bent her hooves low, trying to flatten herself against the cardboard beneath as she shook. “Wh-what do you think is going on?”

Applejack yawned as they started to bob, most likely from their carrier walking. “Well, I would hope that we’ve finally gotten to the store Sugarcube, so nothing to worry about.”

Rarity batted at the strands of cloth that made up her mane, trying to make sure they were slightly curled at the ends for her own unique look. “Ooh, I sure do hope you’re right. I’m ready to make my grand debut for the world.”

A growl escaped Rainbow as a blade stuck itself through the box, just inches above her face. “As long as it’s not Walmart, I’m fine with wherever we are.”

Twilight tapped her hoof as the blade made a clean cut through the top. “I don’t know Rainbow. We all only heard of these places as cloth, before we ever even got our stuffing. Maybe it won’t be so bad. In fact, I heard you can meet the most interesting people there! Wouldn’t that be interesting?”

Rainbow winced as the cardboard was pulled away, and light came in, but now all six stayed perfectly still in the positions their minds instinctively told them to be in. Their threads and stuffing told them to stay like this, so like this they would. They could still talk though, and Rainbow gave a terse, “No,” as their little cardboard rectangle was removed from the larger box, and they began to be moved downwards.

For now, none of them could see, with the light being too bright to describe. In fact, the overhead lights were by far the brightest any of them had ever seen, and Fluttershy couldn’t help but let out small whimpers from the harsh brightness. Even Rainbow Dash felt compelled to lean against the cardboard walls that separated each of them for comfort. She knew no matter what those lights meant, the safety of that wall, the one that had been present from day one in their box, would be there to help them.

And then a hand from the person who had just set them free grabbed the box.

Rainbow’s eyes widened as she saw the first hint of movement, and could hear cardboard scraping against cardboard. She stretched her neck out, tilting it just enough so as to get caught on top of the brown paper. Soon, her hooves left the ground as she was carried upwards with it. Twilight saw the act and screamed, “Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?”

The blue pegasus looked back and yelled, “He has protected us this whole time. I will not simply let our comrade down and let this thug take him away!” She then looked back to the human that was currently tilting his head. “You hear me? You will not take this one!”

Pinkie pouted as she watched the exchange between the giant and the five inch tall pony. “Man, I wish I had thought of that. Imagine all that Rainbow is seeing right now. I bet it looks amazing.”

Twilight frowned for a moment as the thought did strike her that they would need to wait to be examined by possible owners to learn anything of their environment, and Rainbow Dash probably wasn’t even going to check. “Rainbow, make sure to look around while you’re up there. Did we end up at a JC Penneys or something?”

Rainbow looked back to her comrades. “Are you kidding? JC Penneys is almost as bad as-” She was abruptly cut off as the young man holding her and the cardboard lightly tapped her. She fell off of the cardboard, and began to plummet. The rest of the mares in the box held their breaths as they watched their friend plunge towards certain doom, all thoughts of other matters having vanished from their minds.

The employee shrugged as he stood up, not concerned like the mares as he had only raised Rainbow maybe a foot, and had other things to stock.

Rainbow got one last look at her enemy though. His short, blonde hair, matched by a very scruffy, unkempt beard. It was disgusting, especially when mixed with pale brown slacks and a stupid light blue polo. He even had the gall to wear a stupid… blue vest. Rainbow’s stuffing chilled as she looked to his back, and saw the yellow lines that made up the company’s logo.

She was at Walmart. They were all stuck at Walmart.

“NO!”