It had been two days since she had begun to follow the river. For those days, while she had plenty of water, she had run out of food. She knew she had some time to find some, but she still didn't like not having it. She had also still not run into anything remotely resembling a sentient being. Sure, she had seen plenty of those deer things, once or twice a pack of those gremlin things, and even a bear, but nothing that talked or seemed to be able to at all.

She flew along with half-lidded eyes, by now confident that nothing could really harm her up here. The river bubbled along lazily below her as she scanned the land for anything that resembled something made by creatures. Instead, all she got? Trees. More trees. Even more bucking trees.

As she had flown along, the mountains, once far in the distance, became much closer and much more distinct. The worn gray stone of their peaks faded into the sloping valleys at their bases. She then saw the source of the river she had been following; a steep waterfall in between two of the peaks. She had reached the end of the bucking river, and not one house, sentient creature, or even a piece of shaped or cleared wood not done by her.

She hovered in the air, wings beating to keep her aloft as she contemplated. Still nothing, and she had come to the end of what she thought was her best hope. Maybe there was nopony else. Maybe Celestia, in her seemingly never-ending, out of nowhere cruelty, had sent her to some forsaken island in the middle of nowhere, populated only by animals and those gremlins. Maybe...she was all alone.

She considered this possibility. What if she was all alone? What would she do? What COULD she do? Just, sit around and do nothing, waiting to-to die? The thought made her shudder. Not even the that of death, necessarily. But the one of her dying alone, with nopony or nothing to remember her. Or at least whose last memory wasn't of anger or misery. But, what else could she-Wait...

She saw something. Out of the corner of her eye, a small brown line, cutting through the trees like the river had. Following it, she saw the point where it met the river. A decent-sized bridge, much like one she had seen outside the stadium when she went to Plotsburg for a Wonderbolts show with her cousin when she was younger. It was made of thick wood, the main body being a slab of wood with a few logs under it for supports. The brown line continued beyond the bridge, twisting and turning up the mountain as far as she could see. While she had never seen one like it, even in the rural town of Ponyville, she still knew what it was, and what it meant.

A road. An honest, Celestia-damned road! And with a bridge made of wood that looked that good, that meant that somepony had to be nearby.

She smiled, which then contorted to into a grimace. Her wings had been used near-nonstop for days, and that use was coming back to bite her in the flank. Well, there is a road down there. So, I suppose I can walk for the rest of the day.

She set down on the road next to the bridge, folding her wings into her sides. She sighed in relief, relaxing as the strain on her wings was lifted. She looked around at her. This defiantly had to be close to somepony. The road was decently well worn, and the bridge also looked in good condition. She then looked down each end, deciding on what way to go; Left, down across the bridge back toward the river, or right, up toward the mountain?

Shrugging her shoulders, she decided to go right. Not really for any reason, but the fact she could still have time to go back and explore down the other end. Either way, she simply went that way, following the path as it curved up the mountain.

The sun was falling behind the horizon as the path began to level out. Looking up, she saw the mountains loom high in front of her. Looking up the path, she saw it go straight for a while, then slowly begin to slope up again toward a gap in two of the mountains. Looking back down the road, she figured that she should set up camp soon, as not to move in the darkness. A little further, then set up camp.

As she trotted along, she began to feel a little uneasy. Like something was watching her. She looked from side to side, eyes narrowing. Suddenly, she heard a small clanking of chains and a faint whistling noise. Her legs jerked her together, bound up and held together. Losing her balance, she fell flat on her face, groaning.

She struggled, attempting to free herself from whatever she was trapped in, when she heard rustling behind her. Along with this came a gruff laugh. "Bene, bene, bene. Quid enim hic sumus?", said the same gruff voice as the laugh.

As Rainbow turned her head, she saw the source of the voice. It was an earth pony with a dark green coat and a pale green mane styled back into a mohawk. He wore a crude-looking set of armor made up of leather and scrap metal. A set of bolas hung from his belt, likely what he used to trip her, and he held a knife in the corner of his mouth. However, she looked far different than any other pony she had seen. He was thin, and his pale amber eyes were wild and a bit bloodshot.

He trotted up behind her, sliding the knife under the strap of her saddlebags. He then pulled them away, throwing them in front of him as he began to rummage through them. With the additional weight off her back, she was able to turn her head fully to bite at the bolas rope.

"Huh. Nemo scriptor. O bene. Ego coniecto et ad hoc valet-" He was cut off as Rainbow bit through the ropes and launched herself at him, bucking him hard in the side of the face. He staggered forward, before whipping around to face her. His face contorted in anger, he snarled, "Et bitch! Im 'agnus die esse extinerare vobis!"

He lunged at her, jerking his head back and forth to swing the knife. She used her wings to bolt backward, then try to fly above him. He switched his grip to one of his hooves, before leaping up and taking a swipe at her wing. He landed a strike, hitting her wing near the base. She tumbled to the ground, grinding a small crater in the ground.

He was upon her in nearly an instant. He brought down the knife, which only just avoided stabbing her by her gripping his foreleg. He added pressure onto her, with the blade slowly but surely inching closer and closer to her face. She saw him smile, a wicked, sick grin. In desperation, she rolled to the side, using her non-injured wing to beat him in the side. She scrambled to her feet, and quickly turned to face him. Only to be met with a sight that chilled her to the bone.

While rolling, he had accidentally stabbed himself in the throat. Blood gushed out of his neck as he gripped around the wound, desperately trying to close it and stem the bleeding. Yet, despite his best efforts, he couldn't, and the thick red liquid leaked out of the wound, more seeming to flare out as he rasped out gurgling, wheezing breaths. He shuddered, the blood now starting to leak out of his mouth. Finally, after at least a minute, tensed up, then went completely limp. He then just laid there, blood still coming out of his neck in spurts.

Rainbow just stared at his now dead body. Then, she turned to the side, her head poised over a ditch along the roadside, and emptied her stomach of whatever was in there.

PS: Plotsburg=Pittsburg. May not be the most noteworthy thing about the chapter, but I just didn't want anyone posting a comment asking it. For anything else; Comment away!