Fire and Ice Don't Mix

Rainbow woke up to the sound of water dripping on stone, she raised her head  and looked around but saw nothing but blackness. Dash could only make out a little lump in the dim light that came from a small window in the corner of a....room? Dash shook the sleep from her head and propped up on her two front hooves, she looked around, and as she got her bearings back she could tell that the walls were made of stone and the 'window' had bars, so that when Rainbow put her hoof out into the light, it looked like she was wearing a prisoner's jumpsuit.She frowned, knowing for a fact that she wasn't in jail,(despite how much Twilight joked that she would end up in here one day, she was just playing an innocent, harmless, prank, sheesh).Then, all of a sudden the events of earlier came rushing back to her. To put it this way, it was like getting hit with a pan after staring at something for so long(not like it has ever actually happenedbefore). She looked over to the lump in what seemed to the corner of the room. After staring at it for a couple seconds she realized that it was breathing, the thing was rising steadily up and back down. Rainbow approached it warily, as she got closer she could finally make out what it was, She gasped and jumped back, running into the wall in the process. A soft thud came as the wall's protest, which earned her a groan fome the sleeping form of the Wonderbolt that was stuck in this this horrid place with her. Soarin looked like he just went through a-not-so-harsh-as-some-other-beatings-but-it-sure-as-Tartarus-hurt beating. His eye looked swollen a bit, and his wing was bent at an odd angll. She cringed as she looked over some of his bruises and cuts that blossomed all over his body, his Wonderbolts uniform was in tatters, and it looked as if he swam in dirt and debris. She checked herself for any injuries and found that she was perfectly fine, well minus the cuts and scratches she expected to get from flying around in the debris and trying to save that little filly. That little filly. Rainbow let a low growl escape her lips, anger started brewimg for that little fill-er stallion, whatever. And what was up with the hooded cloaked figuers? Why did Soarin look like he got beat up? Why did she see flames everywhere back in the stadium? Why? Why? Why? What was going on? Her head swam with al these unanswered questions. She looked over at Soarin, Rainbow didn't want to wake him, but she knew she had to. She sighed and walked over to the passed out Wonderbolt and gently nudged him with her hoof, she made sure to do so in a place that was free of bruises, which weren't a lot. Thankfully, there was a spot that Ranibow knew Soarin would be comfortable with her touching it. Dash whispered for him to get up.

  "Soarin, wake up!" Soarin groaned and curled up in a ball, Rainbow winced knowing that curling up like that has got to hurt with those injuries.

"Mmmmhm, just five more minutes mom," Soarin mumbled. Rainbow tried to kill the laugh that was trying to escape from her, but failed horribly, falling over while clutching her stomach. Soarin woke with a start,a wild look taking over his wide eyes. Rainbow stopped laughing wondering if she hurt him or something, which she normally doesn't do. Rainbow didn't worry about anypony else the way she worried about Soarin  just now. Why am I acting like this? she scolded herself. Soarin was breathing heavily in front of her, that scared, panicked, wild look he had in his eyes just a few seconds ago, dimmed, but it was still there.

  "R-rainbow Dash?"

"Y-yup the one and only," Dash put a hoof behind her head thankful for the dim light so that Soarin couldn't see her blushing.

"Um, sorry if I um bothered you or anything," Soarin seemed to relax somewhat, he let out a slow smile and put on a small goofy smile which wasn't as big as his signature one, but for reasons that Dash couldn't explain, and would really,really hate to explain, it made her heart flutter.

" No it's fine Dashy, I just....didn't expect to see you there," by now the wild look in his eyes vanished completely which relieved Dash, but her adrenaline had kicked up, Dashy, he had called her Dashy no one ever called her that except well, Pinkie Pie and........her parents, who were gone, they died during what every pony called the Rainbow Factory. It was a story she despised with all her heart, to this day she still cursed herself for being helpless when her parents were in need for her the most, in her head she kept telling herself that she should have done something, she should have been able to rescue her parents, but her heart told her that she couldn't have possibly done anything. Rainbow shook her head to try to block the torturing memories that threatened to come back. She watched Soarin as he took in their surroundings, she watched his emerald eyes scan the place over. A frown came upon his face, just as Dash had expected. The silence would have been maddening, save the occasional sound of water hitting stone from whatever expected,Rainbow didn't waist time on trying to figure out where the water was coming from. Soarin broke her thoughts.

"Um you don't happen to know where we are do you?" Rainbow shook her head , and Soarin let out a frustrated sigh.

  "Hey Soarin?"

"Hmm, yeah?" his eyes were still exploring their surroundings-or rather what he could see of them.

"Uh...if ya don't mindme asking, what happened to you? You look like you took a short trip through Tartarus" Soarin looked at her blankly, then realization hit his face.

"Oh uh, heh guess I was more a handful than they thought," Rainbow said nothing to this, she just stared. What did Soarin mean 'they'? Rainbow was lost, she had no idea what he was talking about. Soarin now realized this by the confused look she gave him.

"Oh well I coudn't really find out much as they were dragging me down here, but apparently these ponies are part of an ancient tribe and..." Soarin hesistated before going on."Their tribe is located underground in the middle of the Everfree Forest," he put a hoof behind his head not sure how Rinbow was going to take this in. He saw her eyes widen, and her stance stiffen for about a second.

"So this means we are underground, in the middle of the Everfree Forest, where no one can find us?'' Rainbow did a pretty good job of hiding the fear from her voice, but she couldn't keep her pupils from shrinking. She hated being underground. Whenever she was(which wasn't often) she would feel as she was trapped, not being able to take to the sky in a moment's notice made Rainbow nervous though of course she would never admit it. Not being able to see the sky didn't really improve her mood. Being closed in like this made her feel like one of those poor helpless animals Fluttershy always cooed over, which didn't precisely go well with Rainbow Dash. Besides, Rainbow knew she could totally take on whatever fate had to throw to her. She was the awesomest pony in all of Equestria for Celestia's sake. Yeah she could totally handle this.....right?  Dash jumped as she felt Soarin wrap a wing around her. It felt weird but....comforting, and at that moment she was so happy that she didn't go though this alone.

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Soarin felt so guilty for being glad that Rainbow- or anypony- was stuck here with him. It created a twisted feeling in the pit of his stomach, half of himself being guilty, ashamed, and disgusted with himself. The other part of Soarin felt happy, relieved, and in a weird twisted way excited? His mind went back to the horrible events of earlier, the screaming filly; the stadium succumbing to nothing but dust and debris; Rainbow and him meeting in front of the victim of their.....incredible heroic act. Well now that Soarin looked back on in the only heroic thing he did was nothing really, just tried  to get himself and the little filly killed. Wonderful display of heroism on Soarin's part right? Soarin's head snapped up as a thought occurred to him and he cursed himself for forgetting. His ahem, subtle sign language didn't go unnoticed by the rainbow maned mare standing next to him who was lost in her own thoughts. Soarin whipped in front of Rainbow Dash causing her to yelp from surprise, and recover quickly gathering back her composure. Soarin grabbed her by the shoulders and started shaking her.

"The filly, what happened to her? She didn't get hurt  right? We got her back all safe and sound right?'' the words tumbling out of his mouth at Pinkie speeds, all the while still shaking Dash.

"Dude-chill!" Soarin realized what he was doing and hastily stepped back a moment, embarrassment flooding his cheeks and clouding his mind. He was too ashamed to open his mouth and just watched as the other Pegasus pondered his question for a second a scowl and disgust draped itself over her athletic features. "That little filly buddy-," the door of their dungeon swung open and slammed the wall silencing Rainbow and earing a shocked yelp to blossom out of Soarin as he whipped around. In the doorway stood two bulky figures draped in thick, black cloaks. This was Soarin's first real close-up at their 'escorts' from earlier. And Soarin had to say, it was not a pretty site.