Chapter 19: In the Bowels of the Beast

Three Hours Later, December 4, 1948
A Dark cell

Rainbow Dash’s eyes fluttered open. She felt an excruciating pain in her left wing and in her head. “I must have hit my head pretty hard back there,” she thought to herself.
She tried unsuccessfully to rise out of the chair she was in. Looking down, she noticed that she was tied to an uncomfortable, wooden chair. All attempts to wiggle free proved ineffective.

“Where am I?” thought the alarmed pegasus to herself.

Quickly looking around, she noticed that she was in a dark, grey room. The only available source of light in the windowless room was a solitary light bulb directly above her.

“I see our prisoner has awoken,” said a deep voice. Rainbow Dash tried to turn around to see who was behind her. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a male human advance from the shadows and approach her.

Walking past her, he reached his hand out and flipped a switch. Suddenly the dark grey room was light up by a series of bright lights. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes, the sudden brightness causing her head to feel like it was about to explode from the pain.

After her eyes began to adjust to the light, she began to look around the room, this time, completely able to observe the environment around her. On the opposite side of the room was her satchel. Next to it was a more disturbing sight. Laid out on the desk across her was a collection of scalpels and tweezers, their purposes abundantly clear to Dash.

“So Ms. Rainbow Dash,” said the human, “what were you doing flying in our country with a high resolution camera?”

“How do you know my name,” asked Rainbow Dash, shocked.

“It’s very simple. Your name was written on the inside of this ‘Daring Do’ novel that we found in your rucksack.”

Rainbow Dash cursed herself for that kind of a boneheaded move.

“Now back to my question. What were you doing in our country with a spy camera!” shouted the Russian.

“I have no idea what you're talking about! I’ve never been into your country!” lied Rainbow Dash.

“You were wounded resisting arrest by NKVD officers! We found a spy camera in your rucksack!”

“What makes you so certain! I could be some tourist who accidentally crossed the border.”

“People don’t ‘accidentally’ move 100 miles across a heavily defended border!”

Rainbow Dash realized that her captors weren’t going to be fooled by her lies. She had always been a poor liar, even worse than Applejack. Perhaps she should be considered the Element of Honesty.

“I see my attempts to elicit information through restrained methods have proven insufficient,” growled her interrogator.
Before she could react, his hand struck her across the face. Rainbow Dash simultaneously felt terror, shock, and anger surge through her. She lunged forward in an unsuccessful attempt to bite the Russian.
The Russian didn’t take kindly to this and sucker punched her on her right cheek. Rainbow Dash felt a jolt of pain course through her whole body. She felt as though she was about to pass out from the pain. In her mouth, she felt a metallic taste which she instantly recognized as blood.
“You’re going to give us the information that we want, and you're going to do so NOW!” yelled her interrogator.
Rainbow Dash defiantly refused to budge, remaining silent in the face of increasing violence and abuse by her interrogator.
After sustaining a brutal beating that seemed to last forever, she had yet to divulge a single bit of information about the purpose of her mission nor had she confessed to any of the wild charges being levied against her. Eventually her captor, tired of her non-cooperation, and opened the cell door, barking orders to some of his comrades.
Other guards came into the room and untied her from the chair and attached tight metal chains to her legs, making sure to keep her pinned down during the ordeal. Once she had been restrained, she was instructed to head outside. As soon as she stepped outside she began shivering uncontrollably, the cold Russian winter freezing her to the core.
“Fools,” she thought to herself. “They forgot to tie my wings up.”
Rainbow Dash then leapt upwards into the air and spread her wings out to take off. However, Rainbow Dash got no more than a single foot off the ground before crashing down onto the snow covered ground before her.
Immediately, the guards escorting her kicked her and barked at her to get up and to keep on moving. Rising from the ground, she continued to follow her captors.
Looking back over her left shoulder, she saw that a sight that nearly caused her to pass out. Rainbow Dash’s left wing was missing! The only part of her left wing that remained was a bloody stump. Her captors had taken away her greatest talent! Her ability to fly!
“You bastards!” she screamed as she lunged at the guard next to her.
Knocking him to the ground, she mounted him and began to pummel his face in. However, within a matter of seconds her violent outburst was brought to an end as a baton struck her over the back of the head.
Rainbow Dash’s world once again went black.