Dimensional Circumstanceby Winter RushChaptersChapter 1: The OrphanageChapter 2: The Everfree ForestChapter 3: Midnight MysteriesChapter 4: The Not-So-Great EscapeChapter 5: Dimension after DimensionChapter 6: An Unexpected SurpriseChapter 1: The OrphanageIt was raining outside the Ponyville Orphanage, though being inside was not much different to the outside, apart from there being no rain, and the icy, unforgiving atmosphere was creeping through the slight gap between the double doors at the front of the orphanage. The receptionist, Sunflower Shine, was sipping at a strong, sweet smelling drink of some description, sighing softly as an orange unicorn with a bright, flaming yellow mane dashed through the foyer with a green pegasus close in pursuit. There was the occasional shout or scream or cry of a pony who had got into a scrap with another or had stubbed a hoof on a small step or just wanted attention. This was a normal day for those at the orphanage. Ponies generally enjoyed being at Ponyville Orphanage and it was always a sad but beautiful sight to everypony when a pony was adopted, though for one, life was a misery. He had arrived at the orphanage on a similar type of day eight years earlier after being found wondering the backstreets of Ponyville with a broken wing and with nopony seemingly related to him. Sunflower Shine brought him in and had given him a room on the second floor. He had loved being at the orphanage and ponies had originally been friendly to him. However, as time went on, they discovered that he loved science and similar subjects and was cast out by the others who described him as a 'nerd'; He wasn't, he just had an interest, but they continued to bully and separate him from groups. Eight years later, he still had the same bullying. His name was Winter Rush. There was a sudden noise of galloping hooves and Sunflower Shine looked up from her desk to see the door squeak open and three pegasi step out of the torrent and into the dry reception area. "Welcome to Ponyville Orphanage! How may I help you today?" Sunflower Shine exclaimed in her soft, but confident tone. Standing before her was a large bluey-purple male pegasus with a short rainbow mane and a bright pink female pegasus with a blue mane. Between them stood a filly with a blue coat and rainbow mane. Each was stood in a growing puddle in the middle of the carpet. "We saw a flyer in town and thought that we'd get a sibling for our little angel here." replied the female pegasus, who had a bright and cheery tone, which contrasted with the weather outside. An angry cloud rumbled outside. "Well I hope that we can find the pony for you!" Sunflower Shine beamed. "Just follow me please." **************************** After half an hour of looking at all of the ponies there, not one had been right for the family. As they began to walk through the television room towards the foyer and the entrance, Sunflower Shine started apologising,"I'm sorry that we couldn't satisfy you today. Maybe you could come ba-", she hadn't finished her sentence when the young filly shouted, "What about him?" The three adults turned to face the filly who was pointing at a pegasus with a blue coat and dark blue mane hiding under the sofa. The colt had retreated under here from the hateful remarks by the other ponies and had lay there sobbing softly to himself. The male pegasus lifted the sofa with one strong hoof and exposed the curled up colt underneath. The colt blinked several times at them and the filly stuck out a friendly hoof towards him. He stared at the filly and then at her hoof. He slowly extended his own hoof and placed it on her's. "Oh! I had completely forgotten! This is Winter Rush!" Exclaimed Sunflower Shine. **************************** After all of the forms had been signed and Winter Rush had packed his bags, the two adult pegasi said their goodbyes to the the staff who replied the same to Winter Rush, closely following his new family. As the doors swung shut behind, Winter Rush felt something warm inside his body. He smiled to himself. It was a sense of freedom. Chapter 2: The Everfree ForestIt was late afternoon and the moon was already beginning to rise. The air was stuffy and hot and Winter Rush was getting restless. "Minuette!" He called from upstairs. There was a noise of a pony galloping up the stairs. Louder and louder, then silence. A head suddenly appeared around the door. "Yes?" The blue mare questioned. "I think we should leave for Ponyville. Not that I don't like it here at your grandma's, I love it, but I keep getting the same dreams lately about Dash." Answered Winter Rush. "What kind of dreams?" "Dreams of her calling me. Over and over." "Ok. I'll go and tell my grandma then." **************************** After they had packed, Minuette and Winter Rush kissed each other, shut the door behind themselves and set off on their long journey to Ponyville. Winter Rush had been living with his 'sister' Rainbow Dash for 6 years and had met his soon-to-be marefriend, Minuette. She loved him and he loved her. The two had bought a house together and had been living with each other for around a year. One day, they had decided to pay Minuette's grandma a visit and had been staying there for a long while. The moon was high in the sky and the air was still. An owl hooted. Minuette shivered and Winter Rush turned to face her, reaching into his satchel to remove a blanket. He draped it over her and gave her a tight squeeze with his hoof. "Th-th-thank y-y-you" Stuttered Minuette. The night was getting colder. The branches of trees hung over them as menacing, bony claws. "Rush, do you think that we should make camp here and continue in the morning?" Minuette questioned, "This place is pretty nightmarish and I'm starting to get tired." "Sure." Said Winter Rush reassuringly, "You could have said earlier if you wanted to. I was starting to tire myself, though didn't want to ask to stop in case you were inclined to carry on." "I wouldn't ever leave you Rush! You must know that!" Minuette exclaimed. "I know, I know. I didn't want you to think that I was lazy and couldn't be bothered when we arrived in Ponyville." "I wouldn't think that at all! Now come on, let's set up that tent..." **************************** "There we are, finished." Said Minuette. They crawled into the tent, with some difficulty, lay down in each other's arms and fell asleep. It was the middle of the night. Everything was still. Suddenly, there was a strange rustling outside the tent. Neither Minuette nor Winter Rush stirred. The rustling came again, this time louder. Still, neither stirred. The rustling was replaced with a growling and a shake of the tent. This time, both woke up with a start. "R-Rush...?" Minuette questioned, "What was that?" "I-I-I don't know." He replied. Both looked out of the tent at the same time. What was standing there made them both gasp and dart out of the tent. A large lion-like creature was staring at them. Bearing its white fang like teeth, it slowly plodded towards them. Minuette let out a high pitched scream. The creature roared. Both Minuette and Winter Rush held on to each other for their lives. "How will we deal with this?" Minuette screamed. "I don't know... Wait, I have something back in the tent that may just scare it off!" Winter Rush said breathlessly. "Yes, but we can't get there because that... thing will see us! I'd use my magic if I could see the bags, but I can't do anything as he'll see me." "I know a way." Winter Rush reassured her, gesturing with his wings. He quickly darted into the undergrowth without the creature noticing him and appeared a few seconds later, silently gliding across the moonlit sky towards the tent. The creature still hadn't seen him and continued to growl at Minuette every time she moved. He returned with a long, black object concealed under his wing. "What's that?" Questioned Minuette. "You'll see..." *BANG* The noise made every creature in the Everfree forest start up. The lion stared wide-eyed at them and ran off as fast as it could into the depths of the forest. Minuette sat there in shock, staring at Winter Rush as he holstered the MK3A1 Jackhammer shotgun on the strap down the front of his body. "What was that!?" Cried a stunned Minuette. "I came prepared. I thought that we'd end up in a bit of trouble out here, so I brought my shotgun. Only working one in the whole of Equestria. Shall we carry on for Ponyville then?" Grinned Winter Rush, putting an arm around his marefriend's soft fur. **************************** It took them two hours to reach the outskirts of Ponyville, though it was only around 1:30 in the morning. "Ponyville looks...so different at night." Sighed Winter Rush. "Where is...Ah! There it is - Rainbow Dash's house!" He said, pointing up to a large cloud hanging above the outskirts of the town. "There's one problem however. You're a pegasus. Only pegasi can walk on clouds. I can't." Said Minuette disappointingly. "Can't you do that spell you learnt from Twilight on yourself which enables you to walk on clouds?" "Oh! Of course, yes!" No sooner as she had said this, there was a blinding flash and Minuette started levitating above the ground from the power of the spell. Then the light disappeared as quickly as it had come and Minuette was back on the ground, though not looking any different from before. "That should have worked. Let's go!" Said Minuette, forgetting that the spell only lasted for a short length of time. Winter Rush helped Minuette onto his back and soared up into the sky to Rainbow Dash's cloud house. They landed with perfect precision in front of Rainbow Dash's door. "Okay, there's only one way to see if that worked. Try hopping off my back, and don't worry, I'll hold you." Winter Rush reassured. Minuette stepped cautiously off Winter Rush and onto the cloud. "I think...I think it worked!" Exclaimed Minuette, testing the soft, puffy ground. "So this is Rainbow Dash's house then?" "Yep! Lets knock." They knocked and promptly heard a moving of bed sheets followed by a long yawn. The door opened as far as the chain allowed it and a tired, blue face appeared in the gap. "Who is it?" Came Rainbow Dash's sleepy voice. "Hey sis! It's me, Rush. Oh and Minuette's here as well." The door closed and the rattle of the chain came from inside. The door opened again and Rainbow Dash appeared and hugged them both. "Rush! I haven't seen you in such a long time! So how are you my awesome bro?" **************************** After a long time chatting about what had happened while they had been away, they decided that it would be best to go back to Minuette's house nearer the centre of Ponyville. "It was so good to see you again sis!" "I'm glad too bro!" Said Rainbow Dash. "See you again Rainb...Um, guys! I'm sinking! Guys HELP!" Screamed Minuette. "Wha... Oh shit..." Cursed Winter Rush. He quickly grabbed Minuette as she was about to fall through the cloud. "I've got you Minuette!" "I think my spell has run out, Rush!" "You think?" Exclaimed Winter Rush. He lifted her carefully up onto his back, they said their goodbyes to a shocked Rainbow Dash and flew off the edge of the cloud to Ponyville below. Chapter 3: Midnight MysteriesThe night hung outside the window like some sort of demon. There was no noise outside. The only noise I could hear was Minuette's light breathing. I was confused. I had woken up due to a noise - seemingly from downstairs. I could hear nothing now. I admit I had been a little scared, but if whatever it was, I hoped I could fight it with Rainbow Dash-like courage. However, there was silence again. I had put my head down and as I had closed my eyes I had heard the door squeak and a sound rush by. I woke with a start but still couldn't see anything. I heard a squeak from behind and as I had slowly turned to face it, the thing swung something and I seemingly must have fallen unconscious. **************************** I blinked. There was a blinding light shining down onto me. I couldn't move - I was shackled to a table like bench made from thick concrete. I turned to the side and saw Minuette in the same condition as me. I shouted her. Nothing. Her eyes were closed but thankfully she seemed to be breathing. There was a sound of something moving and a shadow that didn't look like a pony. Suddenly, a face appeared. It took a few seconds to realise that it wasn't the face of a pony. It was a strange biped creature and it walked towards us on weird, long legs. It was wearing some weird clothes but before I could take too much in, the thing spoke. "Hello Winter Rush." "Who...who are you? What are you? How do you know my name? What do you want with me?" I cried. "So many questions; All of which will be answered shortly." It replied. "I see that your friend hasn't woken up yet. Let's get her awake shall we?" The creature turned to Minuette and slapped her across her face. "Don't you dare hurt her!" I shouted. "Aww, young love. How sweet." It said sarcastically. Minuette still hadn't stirred. He slapped her again. Still nothing. This time he got a large box with wires connected to it. He jabbed the other ends of the wires at Minuette's body. She woke with an ear-piercing scream. "An electric shock always works." He laughed. "Where am I? W-Who are YOU...?" Minuette screamed. "Because you are both wondering, I am Andrei Dimitriev and I am not from your...world. I am not a pony. I am a human and you are on Earth." We stared blankly at him. "We made a portal to...the unknown and ended up in some pony-land. You may have noticed that your town was very quiet, even for 2 O'clock in the morning. We captured many of your friends, including you two." "Where our our friends? Can you let us out of here? We will tell nopony anything that has happened." I cried. "You obviously don't understand. We have captured you and you will never be let out. You will be used for scientific research." There was a sound from the other end of the room and a masked guard stepped forward from the shadows. "Сэр, Радуга не спать." Spoke the guard. "В здесь." Replied Andrei. (Roughly translated, due to my limited knowledge of a similar dialect I had heard and studied in Equestria, this meant; "Sir, rainbow one awakens." "Bring in.") Promptly, a table was wheeled in with a familiar pony shackled to the top. "Lemmie' go!" It cried. "Sis!" I shouted. "Oh, she's your sister? This could be interesting..." The human carried on talking and eventually we were unshackled and walked at gunpoint along many corridors and finally into a cell. The door was slammed shut and we were left. We saw Rainbow Dash being brought to another cell further down the corridor through the tiny window in the white metal door. The cell was around 7ft X 7ft wide and around 8ft tall. It was modern-looking with white metal walls with curved edges. There were glowing blue lights embedded in the roof. "I-I can't get my head around this." Sobbed Minuette. "Neither can I. Come here Min." I hugged Minuette. Her body warmed me slightly - it was comforting having her by my side. Minuette started crying. "Come on Min, we're gonna get out of here. I promise I will get us out." "I put my faith in you Rush." I scanned the room to see if there were any obvious exits. There weren't. "If we are let out for anything, we need to look for a chance to escape; a grille, an unmonitored corridor, a place without guards, etcetera. And when we see something, we need to make a quick escape without screwing things up." "I do hope that it works. I really do." "If we do screw it up, we'll be tortured, or even killed." "Why don't you escape and I distract the guards so that when I return to my cell, you can come back and get me out, as well as all our other friends." "There will be an armoury in this place, so I'll stock up there first and then come here." "Sounds like a plan!" We kissed each other and fell asleep on the cold, hard bed. **************************** The next morning, I woke early to see a plate with two slices of bread on it. I took one, tore off a small piece and ate it. It was moderately stale, but I ate it anyway. I saved the rest to eat if I ever got hungry throughout the day. I was laying back down when Minuette awoke. Her sleepy eyes blinked at me. She muttered something and went back to sleep, cuddling closer to me. Her light breathing resumed and I kissed her on the forehead. A smile spread across her face. I looked around the cell; not that there was much to see. There was not a single route of possible escape; air vents and the joints of the plastic walls were all covered with more of the same, white plastic. I sighed. It ended up more like a cough than a sigh. I still couldn't get my head around what had happened. I was thinking about Ponyville, when all of a sudden, a voice spoke. "Don't be afraid Rush. We are watching over you." "L-Luna?" I was almost speechless. The voice had appeared from nowhere and I couldn't tell whether that voice was coming from inside the cell, or in my head. It was faint, but noticable. "Yes. It is me, Rush. We are aware of the current situation. Neither me nor Celestia combined can get to where you are ourselves. It is too dangerous to use magic to open a portal into what is the unknown, as there is too much of a risk of opening an unstable portal. You must escape, freeing as many ponies as possible." "How do you know I can do it?" "You're a very brave and intellectual pony, Rush. We know you can do it." And with that, the voice disappeared as suddenly as it had spoke. I sat there, contemplating. I'd been thinking about ways to escape for a couple of hours, when Minuette woke up again. She stroked my mane. I giggled and cuddled up to her. I put my lips on hers and we kissed. I pushed her lightly against the wall and we made out with each other. It was amazing. I stroked her back and went further down to her plot. She didn't object. I carried on kissing her, but there was a sudden shout from outside the cell and a guard burst in and hit us both with the butt of his gun on the side of our bodies. We both groaned and held our sides in agony, lying on the hard, plastic floor as the guard exploded into a torrent of expletives. He obviously didn't like us kissing. Chapter 4: The Not-So-Great EscapeAuthor's Note Note: In this chapter, there is a little bit of moderately descriptive gore on the third paragraph and you can skip this if you want, as it isn't entirely relevant to the story. Chapter 4: The Not-So-Great Escape Nothing special or significant happened the next day, but it was the day after that that was. I had woken to the sound of the cell being unlocked and a guard shouting something in the foreign language, which most likely meant for us to "get out". We didn't know where we were being taken, but it was probably for torture or something horrible like that. We reluctantly got up and followed, a guard in front and a guard behind. We trotted down the dim, tiled corridor, guns trained on us. I nodded slightly at Minuette who, with great acting, clutched her stomach, as if in great pain. The guards rushed to her and I made my escape; I had seen a grate, though as I had dived into it, I had caught my hoof on the sharp metal and I lay inside the air conditioning pipes. I held onto my bleeding hoof, close to tears. I bit my lip and crawled on, and even though I had a lot of time, it wasn't to be wasted. **************************** Firstly, I made my way to the medical centre to get my hoof patched up. I didn't spend long there, so I carried on along the corridor. There many doors, most of which were locked, but a few were open. I trotted past a open door. I peeped my head around the door. I really wish I hadn't. Really, really wish I hadn't. Tied between two posts was a pony, or what was left of one. It was a purple pegasus who had had its ear cut off and had cuts all the way down its body. There was dried blood everywhere. There was a jagged circle cut where a cutie mark should have been. It was like something out of a horror movie or from the mind of a sick bastard as part of some fandom. I backed out of the room, feeling very sick and queasy. I'd always had a fear of blood. I made my way to the kitchens and as I entered I had to quickly dive behind a fridge. The camera swung the other way. It hadn't seen me. I climbed up onto the fridge and used a pair of kitchen scissors to slice through the wire making the camera rotate, as cutting all the wires would be too suspicious. I jumped down and opened one of the fridges. It was full of fruit and pie and cooked meat. I was abstinent, as a full stomach would just slow me down and it would make it a little obvious that someone had been there if all the food in the fridge had just mysteriously gone. After my small meal, I decided it was time to equip myself. "Right, to the armoury." I whispered to myself. **************************** I was smiling to myself. I had found my trusty MK3A1 Jackhammer shotgun. They must have taken it when they came through the portal. I filled it with more shells and and continued looking for more weapons. I took my shotgun, a knife and a sniper rifle, plus ammunition for each. I found a uniform that roughly fitted me, but had to cut a hole in the back of the trousers so I could my tail through and shorten the length of the trousers so that they wouldn't be too long. I put on a pair of dark sunglasses and stepped out into the corridor. Nopony, (or would it be nohuman?), would be a match for me. I galloped as fast as my bandaged leg would allow me. As I reached the cell, I looked inside. Minuette wasn't there. I was frantic. I galloped down the corridor towards the torture room. I peered through the glass door. Minuette was lying there, shackled to a table, bleeding. She seemed to be alive but there were guards interrogating her. I did what was the only option. I stood back and fired a shotgun shell at the door. It shattered into a million gleaming shards, which flew through the air like needles. The guards stood there with their eyes and mouths wide open and Minuette had turned to face me, also with the same look on her face. She didn't look too badly injured. The blood was coming from her nose, which was most likely broken. "Ding-dong mothabuckers." I swapped to the sniper rifle and before any of the guards had opened fire, a bullet had slammed into the chest of each. I trotted across the room towards Minuette. She was staring at me, shocked. I brought my hoof down on the control panel and the shackles snapped open instantly. She threw herself at me any gave me a big, long hug. I loved it. "I'm so glad you got here! You look like you're in the...what was it called...the 'Russian Spetznaz'." "Umm...what?" I stared at her, blankly. "Oh, you won't know. It's apparently a 'special forces' thing which our guys here trained in." "Oh, ok...Anyway, are you injured?" "I think my nose is broken, but everything else is fine, I've got a couple of bruises here and there, but nothing I can't handle." "Good, because we need to get out of here." "So...where to?" No sooner as she had said this, then we heard a human approaching. I quickly grabbed Minuette and we flung ourselves into an open door. The steps were getting louder and we quickly crawled into another ventilation shaft. "Эй, что ад случилось?." ("Hey, what the hell happened?") The guard shouted. We heard the crunching of glass and a piercing, wailing siren. "Quick!" I whispered to Minuette. As we caught our breath, we heard many shouts and alarms. We crawled through the shaft, the sound of our hooves on the metal alarmingly loud, and went up a ladder, continued crawling and came out from the floor and into an unlit room. Suddenly, lights flickered on and we found ourselves in a glass cylindrical cage. The room we were in was massive. We looked up at a screen which had turned on to show the face of Alexei. "Ha! You really thought that I wouldn't notice that you were crawling through the ventilation shafts? I put movement sensors everywhere in them, so I'd know if anyone was trying to escape. I figured you'd end up here. It would have been a little awkward if you'd ended up anywhere else in the room, so I decided to place these tubes everywhere across the room. Literally everywhere. I can't be bothered moving them." We looked around. "You think these tubes will hold us?" I fired the shotgun. Nothing happened. "I also wasn't stupid enough to realise that you would acquire some hardware, so I made the tubes out of bulletproof glass. Oh, and also, turn around; I have a surprise." We did as he said. I wish I hadn't. Stood in front of us was an enormous robot. It was around 40ft tall. "What do you think? You're both fucked now!" The robot's arms swung up into the air and smashed into the glass in front of us. We were flung backwards by the blow, but managed to get back up before another hammer-like fist smashed into the ground, inches from where we had stood. I flew up into the air while Minuette used her unicorn magic. The robot fired a missile from its left arm. It flew towards me, though Minuette managed to redirect it with her unicorn magic and instead hit its right arm. An arc of electricity flew out of where the missile had hit. The arc struck my wings with a snap and excruciating pain shot through my body. I plummeted out of the air. I was about to slam into the solid concrete floor, when Minuette grabbed my body with her magic. She lowered me carefully down to my hooves, avoiding another colossal fist. After Minuette had saved me, I turned to the robot again. Two large rocket launchers extended from its arms. "Missiles? What the buck is this shit?!" I shouted over the roar of machinery. I skillfully slalomed around four heat-seeking missiles and brought them crashing down onto different parts of the robot, sending shrapnel flying. I was flying around the robot, trying to distract it, when the robot took Minuette by surprise and crushed her under a powerful arm. I spun round and saw the arm crush Minuette. "MINUETTE!" I screamed. The arm retracted and she lay there. This was the last straw. The anger welled up inside of me and I slammed my own body into the glass screen that protected Alexei inside. The glass cracked. I tried again. It cracked more. I tried one more time. I flew through the glass, it smashed into large shards and I collided head on with Alexei's face. I heard a horrible snapping noise and Alexei didn't get up. I had broken his neck. I backed away from the body. I flew out of the cockpit and down to Minuette. She was bleeding heavily and from what I could see, she had broken several bones. I cried as I lifted her broken body onto my back. Chapter 5: Dimension after DimensionSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Chapter 6: An Unexpected SurpriseThe portal opened above a green, grassy field and we all fell out on top of each other. I blinked my dizzy eyes and looked around. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were stood waiting. I looked up at them in shock. "Well done Rush!" Cried Princess Celestia. "You passed the test!" I continued to stand there in shock, as the ponies I had saved from the other dimension gathered in a circle around me, clapping their hooves. "W-what test?" I said, finally recovering from the shock. "Everything you did in that other dimension was a test. We princesses ordered for you to be 'kidnapped' and brought to a different dimension where you would be tested on your skills. The cameras in the building monitored your progress and you did pretty well!" Smiled Twilight. "What?! But what about those 'humans' or whatever they called themselves that I killed?" I spluttered in fury. Princess Twilight laughed. "They were hundreds of billions of nanites coated with a special gel to form the shape of a bipedal creature." "Alexei seemed real enough!" "No, no, no, no. Alexei wasn't real! You did well killing him." Said Rainbow Dash. "BUT HE K-K-KILLED M-M... Minuette..." I broke down into tears. "Winter, she can be healed." Came Luna's soft voice. "S-she c-can?" I stuttered. The tears slowed down and I looked up. "Watch." I did as she asked and watched in awe as the magic from the three princesses was focused onto Minuette and the cuts and bruises began to heal. She was lifted onto her hooves and she opened her eyes. "Uurgh... What the hell happened?" She said groggily, holding her hoof to her head. I sat on the grass, my mouth wide open. "Err... Hey everypony? How's it going...?" She laughed nervously. "So all of you were in on this?" I shouted. Each and everypony nodded nervously. "WELL BUCK YOU ALL!" "B-but we got you something for passing the test..." Started Lyra. "I DON'T GIVE A SHIT! YOU CAN GO SHOVE YOUR PRESENT RIGHT UP YOUR ARSES!" A storm of anger hung over my head. "Come on Minuette, we're going home." I grabbed her and stormed off, leaving the other ponies stood in the circle, mouths open in sheer shock. Princess Celestia spoke to the other ponies. "I think Rush is just in shock. We'll just leave the present outside his house and he'll get it when he's calmed down." The other ponies nodded. **************************** There was a bang. He awoke. There was a noise of fire crackling. His neck was no longer facing at that strange angle and he was thankful that he couldn't feel pain. Nanites couldn't feel or transmit pain. Alexei stood. His body had repaired itself. He stood and looked out at his ruined compound. His guards may be dead, but he certainly wasn't. He took one last look and walked away.
Chapter 1: The OrphanageIt was raining outside the Ponyville Orphanage, though being inside was not much different to the outside, apart from there being no rain, and the icy, unforgiving atmosphere was creeping through the slight gap between the double doors at the front of the orphanage. The receptionist, Sunflower Shine, was sipping at a strong, sweet smelling drink of some description, sighing softly as an orange unicorn with a bright, flaming yellow mane dashed through the foyer with a green pegasus close in pursuit. There was the occasional shout or scream or cry of a pony who had got into a scrap with another or had stubbed a hoof on a small step or just wanted attention. This was a normal day for those at the orphanage. Ponies generally enjoyed being at Ponyville Orphanage and it was always a sad but beautiful sight to everypony when a pony was adopted, though for one, life was a misery. He had arrived at the orphanage on a similar type of day eight years earlier after being found wondering the backstreets of Ponyville with a broken wing and with nopony seemingly related to him. Sunflower Shine brought him in and had given him a room on the second floor. He had loved being at the orphanage and ponies had originally been friendly to him. However, as time went on, they discovered that he loved science and similar subjects and was cast out by the others who described him as a 'nerd'; He wasn't, he just had an interest, but they continued to bully and separate him from groups. Eight years later, he still had the same bullying. His name was Winter Rush. There was a sudden noise of galloping hooves and Sunflower Shine looked up from her desk to see the door squeak open and three pegasi step out of the torrent and into the dry reception area. "Welcome to Ponyville Orphanage! How may I help you today?" Sunflower Shine exclaimed in her soft, but confident tone. Standing before her was a large bluey-purple male pegasus with a short rainbow mane and a bright pink female pegasus with a blue mane. Between them stood a filly with a blue coat and rainbow mane. Each was stood in a growing puddle in the middle of the carpet. "We saw a flyer in town and thought that we'd get a sibling for our little angel here." replied the female pegasus, who had a bright and cheery tone, which contrasted with the weather outside. An angry cloud rumbled outside. "Well I hope that we can find the pony for you!" Sunflower Shine beamed. "Just follow me please." **************************** After half an hour of looking at all of the ponies there, not one had been right for the family. As they began to walk through the television room towards the foyer and the entrance, Sunflower Shine started apologising,"I'm sorry that we couldn't satisfy you today. Maybe you could come ba-", she hadn't finished her sentence when the young filly shouted, "What about him?" The three adults turned to face the filly who was pointing at a pegasus with a blue coat and dark blue mane hiding under the sofa. The colt had retreated under here from the hateful remarks by the other ponies and had lay there sobbing softly to himself. The male pegasus lifted the sofa with one strong hoof and exposed the curled up colt underneath. The colt blinked several times at them and the filly stuck out a friendly hoof towards him. He stared at the filly and then at her hoof. He slowly extended his own hoof and placed it on her's. "Oh! I had completely forgotten! This is Winter Rush!" Exclaimed Sunflower Shine. **************************** After all of the forms had been signed and Winter Rush had packed his bags, the two adult pegasi said their goodbyes to the the staff who replied the same to Winter Rush, closely following his new family. As the doors swung shut behind, Winter Rush felt something warm inside his body. He smiled to himself. It was a sense of freedom.
Chapter 2: The Everfree ForestIt was late afternoon and the moon was already beginning to rise. The air was stuffy and hot and Winter Rush was getting restless. "Minuette!" He called from upstairs. There was a noise of a pony galloping up the stairs. Louder and louder, then silence. A head suddenly appeared around the door. "Yes?" The blue mare questioned. "I think we should leave for Ponyville. Not that I don't like it here at your grandma's, I love it, but I keep getting the same dreams lately about Dash." Answered Winter Rush. "What kind of dreams?" "Dreams of her calling me. Over and over." "Ok. I'll go and tell my grandma then." **************************** After they had packed, Minuette and Winter Rush kissed each other, shut the door behind themselves and set off on their long journey to Ponyville. Winter Rush had been living with his 'sister' Rainbow Dash for 6 years and had met his soon-to-be marefriend, Minuette. She loved him and he loved her. The two had bought a house together and had been living with each other for around a year. One day, they had decided to pay Minuette's grandma a visit and had been staying there for a long while. The moon was high in the sky and the air was still. An owl hooted. Minuette shivered and Winter Rush turned to face her, reaching into his satchel to remove a blanket. He draped it over her and gave her a tight squeeze with his hoof. "Th-th-thank y-y-you" Stuttered Minuette. The night was getting colder. The branches of trees hung over them as menacing, bony claws. "Rush, do you think that we should make camp here and continue in the morning?" Minuette questioned, "This place is pretty nightmarish and I'm starting to get tired." "Sure." Said Winter Rush reassuringly, "You could have said earlier if you wanted to. I was starting to tire myself, though didn't want to ask to stop in case you were inclined to carry on." "I wouldn't ever leave you Rush! You must know that!" Minuette exclaimed. "I know, I know. I didn't want you to think that I was lazy and couldn't be bothered when we arrived in Ponyville." "I wouldn't think that at all! Now come on, let's set up that tent..." **************************** "There we are, finished." Said Minuette. They crawled into the tent, with some difficulty, lay down in each other's arms and fell asleep. It was the middle of the night. Everything was still. Suddenly, there was a strange rustling outside the tent. Neither Minuette nor Winter Rush stirred. The rustling came again, this time louder. Still, neither stirred. The rustling was replaced with a growling and a shake of the tent. This time, both woke up with a start. "R-Rush...?" Minuette questioned, "What was that?" "I-I-I don't know." He replied. Both looked out of the tent at the same time. What was standing there made them both gasp and dart out of the tent. A large lion-like creature was staring at them. Bearing its white fang like teeth, it slowly plodded towards them. Minuette let out a high pitched scream. The creature roared. Both Minuette and Winter Rush held on to each other for their lives. "How will we deal with this?" Minuette screamed. "I don't know... Wait, I have something back in the tent that may just scare it off!" Winter Rush said breathlessly. "Yes, but we can't get there because that... thing will see us! I'd use my magic if I could see the bags, but I can't do anything as he'll see me." "I know a way." Winter Rush reassured her, gesturing with his wings. He quickly darted into the undergrowth without the creature noticing him and appeared a few seconds later, silently gliding across the moonlit sky towards the tent. The creature still hadn't seen him and continued to growl at Minuette every time she moved. He returned with a long, black object concealed under his wing. "What's that?" Questioned Minuette. "You'll see..." *BANG* The noise made every creature in the Everfree forest start up. The lion stared wide-eyed at them and ran off as fast as it could into the depths of the forest. Minuette sat there in shock, staring at Winter Rush as he holstered the MK3A1 Jackhammer shotgun on the strap down the front of his body. "What was that!?" Cried a stunned Minuette. "I came prepared. I thought that we'd end up in a bit of trouble out here, so I brought my shotgun. Only working one in the whole of Equestria. Shall we carry on for Ponyville then?" Grinned Winter Rush, putting an arm around his marefriend's soft fur. **************************** It took them two hours to reach the outskirts of Ponyville, though it was only around 1:30 in the morning. "Ponyville looks...so different at night." Sighed Winter Rush. "Where is...Ah! There it is - Rainbow Dash's house!" He said, pointing up to a large cloud hanging above the outskirts of the town. "There's one problem however. You're a pegasus. Only pegasi can walk on clouds. I can't." Said Minuette disappointingly. "Can't you do that spell you learnt from Twilight on yourself which enables you to walk on clouds?" "Oh! Of course, yes!" No sooner as she had said this, there was a blinding flash and Minuette started levitating above the ground from the power of the spell. Then the light disappeared as quickly as it had come and Minuette was back on the ground, though not looking any different from before. "That should have worked. Let's go!" Said Minuette, forgetting that the spell only lasted for a short length of time. Winter Rush helped Minuette onto his back and soared up into the sky to Rainbow Dash's cloud house. They landed with perfect precision in front of Rainbow Dash's door. "Okay, there's only one way to see if that worked. Try hopping off my back, and don't worry, I'll hold you." Winter Rush reassured. Minuette stepped cautiously off Winter Rush and onto the cloud. "I think...I think it worked!" Exclaimed Minuette, testing the soft, puffy ground. "So this is Rainbow Dash's house then?" "Yep! Lets knock." They knocked and promptly heard a moving of bed sheets followed by a long yawn. The door opened as far as the chain allowed it and a tired, blue face appeared in the gap. "Who is it?" Came Rainbow Dash's sleepy voice. "Hey sis! It's me, Rush. Oh and Minuette's here as well." The door closed and the rattle of the chain came from inside. The door opened again and Rainbow Dash appeared and hugged them both. "Rush! I haven't seen you in such a long time! So how are you my awesome bro?" **************************** After a long time chatting about what had happened while they had been away, they decided that it would be best to go back to Minuette's house nearer the centre of Ponyville. "It was so good to see you again sis!" "I'm glad too bro!" Said Rainbow Dash. "See you again Rainb...Um, guys! I'm sinking! Guys HELP!" Screamed Minuette. "Wha... Oh shit..." Cursed Winter Rush. He quickly grabbed Minuette as she was about to fall through the cloud. "I've got you Minuette!" "I think my spell has run out, Rush!" "You think?" Exclaimed Winter Rush. He lifted her carefully up onto his back, they said their goodbyes to a shocked Rainbow Dash and flew off the edge of the cloud to Ponyville below.
Chapter 3: Midnight MysteriesThe night hung outside the window like some sort of demon. There was no noise outside. The only noise I could hear was Minuette's light breathing. I was confused. I had woken up due to a noise - seemingly from downstairs. I could hear nothing now. I admit I had been a little scared, but if whatever it was, I hoped I could fight it with Rainbow Dash-like courage. However, there was silence again. I had put my head down and as I had closed my eyes I had heard the door squeak and a sound rush by. I woke with a start but still couldn't see anything. I heard a squeak from behind and as I had slowly turned to face it, the thing swung something and I seemingly must have fallen unconscious. **************************** I blinked. There was a blinding light shining down onto me. I couldn't move - I was shackled to a table like bench made from thick concrete. I turned to the side and saw Minuette in the same condition as me. I shouted her. Nothing. Her eyes were closed but thankfully she seemed to be breathing. There was a sound of something moving and a shadow that didn't look like a pony. Suddenly, a face appeared. It took a few seconds to realise that it wasn't the face of a pony. It was a strange biped creature and it walked towards us on weird, long legs. It was wearing some weird clothes but before I could take too much in, the thing spoke. "Hello Winter Rush." "Who...who are you? What are you? How do you know my name? What do you want with me?" I cried. "So many questions; All of which will be answered shortly." It replied. "I see that your friend hasn't woken up yet. Let's get her awake shall we?" The creature turned to Minuette and slapped her across her face. "Don't you dare hurt her!" I shouted. "Aww, young love. How sweet." It said sarcastically. Minuette still hadn't stirred. He slapped her again. Still nothing. This time he got a large box with wires connected to it. He jabbed the other ends of the wires at Minuette's body. She woke with an ear-piercing scream. "An electric shock always works." He laughed. "Where am I? W-Who are YOU...?" Minuette screamed. "Because you are both wondering, I am Andrei Dimitriev and I am not from your...world. I am not a pony. I am a human and you are on Earth." We stared blankly at him. "We made a portal to...the unknown and ended up in some pony-land. You may have noticed that your town was very quiet, even for 2 O'clock in the morning. We captured many of your friends, including you two." "Where our our friends? Can you let us out of here? We will tell nopony anything that has happened." I cried. "You obviously don't understand. We have captured you and you will never be let out. You will be used for scientific research." There was a sound from the other end of the room and a masked guard stepped forward from the shadows. "Сэр, Радуга не спать." Spoke the guard. "В здесь." Replied Andrei. (Roughly translated, due to my limited knowledge of a similar dialect I had heard and studied in Equestria, this meant; "Sir, rainbow one awakens." "Bring in.") Promptly, a table was wheeled in with a familiar pony shackled to the top. "Lemmie' go!" It cried. "Sis!" I shouted. "Oh, she's your sister? This could be interesting..." The human carried on talking and eventually we were unshackled and walked at gunpoint along many corridors and finally into a cell. The door was slammed shut and we were left. We saw Rainbow Dash being brought to another cell further down the corridor through the tiny window in the white metal door. The cell was around 7ft X 7ft wide and around 8ft tall. It was modern-looking with white metal walls with curved edges. There were glowing blue lights embedded in the roof. "I-I can't get my head around this." Sobbed Minuette. "Neither can I. Come here Min." I hugged Minuette. Her body warmed me slightly - it was comforting having her by my side. Minuette started crying. "Come on Min, we're gonna get out of here. I promise I will get us out." "I put my faith in you Rush." I scanned the room to see if there were any obvious exits. There weren't. "If we are let out for anything, we need to look for a chance to escape; a grille, an unmonitored corridor, a place without guards, etcetera. And when we see something, we need to make a quick escape without screwing things up." "I do hope that it works. I really do." "If we do screw it up, we'll be tortured, or even killed." "Why don't you escape and I distract the guards so that when I return to my cell, you can come back and get me out, as well as all our other friends." "There will be an armoury in this place, so I'll stock up there first and then come here." "Sounds like a plan!" We kissed each other and fell asleep on the cold, hard bed. **************************** The next morning, I woke early to see a plate with two slices of bread on it. I took one, tore off a small piece and ate it. It was moderately stale, but I ate it anyway. I saved the rest to eat if I ever got hungry throughout the day. I was laying back down when Minuette awoke. Her sleepy eyes blinked at me. She muttered something and went back to sleep, cuddling closer to me. Her light breathing resumed and I kissed her on the forehead. A smile spread across her face. I looked around the cell; not that there was much to see. There was not a single route of possible escape; air vents and the joints of the plastic walls were all covered with more of the same, white plastic. I sighed. It ended up more like a cough than a sigh. I still couldn't get my head around what had happened. I was thinking about Ponyville, when all of a sudden, a voice spoke. "Don't be afraid Rush. We are watching over you." "L-Luna?" I was almost speechless. The voice had appeared from nowhere and I couldn't tell whether that voice was coming from inside the cell, or in my head. It was faint, but noticable. "Yes. It is me, Rush. We are aware of the current situation. Neither me nor Celestia combined can get to where you are ourselves. It is too dangerous to use magic to open a portal into what is the unknown, as there is too much of a risk of opening an unstable portal. You must escape, freeing as many ponies as possible." "How do you know I can do it?" "You're a very brave and intellectual pony, Rush. We know you can do it." And with that, the voice disappeared as suddenly as it had spoke. I sat there, contemplating. I'd been thinking about ways to escape for a couple of hours, when Minuette woke up again. She stroked my mane. I giggled and cuddled up to her. I put my lips on hers and we kissed. I pushed her lightly against the wall and we made out with each other. It was amazing. I stroked her back and went further down to her plot. She didn't object. I carried on kissing her, but there was a sudden shout from outside the cell and a guard burst in and hit us both with the butt of his gun on the side of our bodies. We both groaned and held our sides in agony, lying on the hard, plastic floor as the guard exploded into a torrent of expletives. He obviously didn't like us kissing.
Chapter 4: The Not-So-Great EscapeAuthor's Note Note: In this chapter, there is a little bit of moderately descriptive gore on the third paragraph and you can skip this if you want, as it isn't entirely relevant to the story. Chapter 4: The Not-So-Great Escape Nothing special or significant happened the next day, but it was the day after that that was. I had woken to the sound of the cell being unlocked and a guard shouting something in the foreign language, which most likely meant for us to "get out". We didn't know where we were being taken, but it was probably for torture or something horrible like that. We reluctantly got up and followed, a guard in front and a guard behind. We trotted down the dim, tiled corridor, guns trained on us. I nodded slightly at Minuette who, with great acting, clutched her stomach, as if in great pain. The guards rushed to her and I made my escape; I had seen a grate, though as I had dived into it, I had caught my hoof on the sharp metal and I lay inside the air conditioning pipes. I held onto my bleeding hoof, close to tears. I bit my lip and crawled on, and even though I had a lot of time, it wasn't to be wasted. **************************** Firstly, I made my way to the medical centre to get my hoof patched up. I didn't spend long there, so I carried on along the corridor. There many doors, most of which were locked, but a few were open. I trotted past a open door. I peeped my head around the door. I really wish I hadn't. Really, really wish I hadn't. Tied between two posts was a pony, or what was left of one. It was a purple pegasus who had had its ear cut off and had cuts all the way down its body. There was dried blood everywhere. There was a jagged circle cut where a cutie mark should have been. It was like something out of a horror movie or from the mind of a sick bastard as part of some fandom. I backed out of the room, feeling very sick and queasy. I'd always had a fear of blood. I made my way to the kitchens and as I entered I had to quickly dive behind a fridge. The camera swung the other way. It hadn't seen me. I climbed up onto the fridge and used a pair of kitchen scissors to slice through the wire making the camera rotate, as cutting all the wires would be too suspicious. I jumped down and opened one of the fridges. It was full of fruit and pie and cooked meat. I was abstinent, as a full stomach would just slow me down and it would make it a little obvious that someone had been there if all the food in the fridge had just mysteriously gone. After my small meal, I decided it was time to equip myself. "Right, to the armoury." I whispered to myself. **************************** I was smiling to myself. I had found my trusty MK3A1 Jackhammer shotgun. They must have taken it when they came through the portal. I filled it with more shells and and continued looking for more weapons. I took my shotgun, a knife and a sniper rifle, plus ammunition for each. I found a uniform that roughly fitted me, but had to cut a hole in the back of the trousers so I could my tail through and shorten the length of the trousers so that they wouldn't be too long. I put on a pair of dark sunglasses and stepped out into the corridor. Nopony, (or would it be nohuman?), would be a match for me. I galloped as fast as my bandaged leg would allow me. As I reached the cell, I looked inside. Minuette wasn't there. I was frantic. I galloped down the corridor towards the torture room. I peered through the glass door. Minuette was lying there, shackled to a table, bleeding. She seemed to be alive but there were guards interrogating her. I did what was the only option. I stood back and fired a shotgun shell at the door. It shattered into a million gleaming shards, which flew through the air like needles. The guards stood there with their eyes and mouths wide open and Minuette had turned to face me, also with the same look on her face. She didn't look too badly injured. The blood was coming from her nose, which was most likely broken. "Ding-dong mothabuckers." I swapped to the sniper rifle and before any of the guards had opened fire, a bullet had slammed into the chest of each. I trotted across the room towards Minuette. She was staring at me, shocked. I brought my hoof down on the control panel and the shackles snapped open instantly. She threw herself at me any gave me a big, long hug. I loved it. "I'm so glad you got here! You look like you're in the...what was it called...the 'Russian Spetznaz'." "Umm...what?" I stared at her, blankly. "Oh, you won't know. It's apparently a 'special forces' thing which our guys here trained in." "Oh, ok...Anyway, are you injured?" "I think my nose is broken, but everything else is fine, I've got a couple of bruises here and there, but nothing I can't handle." "Good, because we need to get out of here." "So...where to?" No sooner as she had said this, then we heard a human approaching. I quickly grabbed Minuette and we flung ourselves into an open door. The steps were getting louder and we quickly crawled into another ventilation shaft. "Эй, что ад случилось?." ("Hey, what the hell happened?") The guard shouted. We heard the crunching of glass and a piercing, wailing siren. "Quick!" I whispered to Minuette. As we caught our breath, we heard many shouts and alarms. We crawled through the shaft, the sound of our hooves on the metal alarmingly loud, and went up a ladder, continued crawling and came out from the floor and into an unlit room. Suddenly, lights flickered on and we found ourselves in a glass cylindrical cage. The room we were in was massive. We looked up at a screen which had turned on to show the face of Alexei. "Ha! You really thought that I wouldn't notice that you were crawling through the ventilation shafts? I put movement sensors everywhere in them, so I'd know if anyone was trying to escape. I figured you'd end up here. It would have been a little awkward if you'd ended up anywhere else in the room, so I decided to place these tubes everywhere across the room. Literally everywhere. I can't be bothered moving them." We looked around. "You think these tubes will hold us?" I fired the shotgun. Nothing happened. "I also wasn't stupid enough to realise that you would acquire some hardware, so I made the tubes out of bulletproof glass. Oh, and also, turn around; I have a surprise." We did as he said. I wish I hadn't. Stood in front of us was an enormous robot. It was around 40ft tall. "What do you think? You're both fucked now!" The robot's arms swung up into the air and smashed into the glass in front of us. We were flung backwards by the blow, but managed to get back up before another hammer-like fist smashed into the ground, inches from where we had stood. I flew up into the air while Minuette used her unicorn magic. The robot fired a missile from its left arm. It flew towards me, though Minuette managed to redirect it with her unicorn magic and instead hit its right arm. An arc of electricity flew out of where the missile had hit. The arc struck my wings with a snap and excruciating pain shot through my body. I plummeted out of the air. I was about to slam into the solid concrete floor, when Minuette grabbed my body with her magic. She lowered me carefully down to my hooves, avoiding another colossal fist. After Minuette had saved me, I turned to the robot again. Two large rocket launchers extended from its arms. "Missiles? What the buck is this shit?!" I shouted over the roar of machinery. I skillfully slalomed around four heat-seeking missiles and brought them crashing down onto different parts of the robot, sending shrapnel flying. I was flying around the robot, trying to distract it, when the robot took Minuette by surprise and crushed her under a powerful arm. I spun round and saw the arm crush Minuette. "MINUETTE!" I screamed. The arm retracted and she lay there. This was the last straw. The anger welled up inside of me and I slammed my own body into the glass screen that protected Alexei inside. The glass cracked. I tried again. It cracked more. I tried one more time. I flew through the glass, it smashed into large shards and I collided head on with Alexei's face. I heard a horrible snapping noise and Alexei didn't get up. I had broken his neck. I backed away from the body. I flew out of the cockpit and down to Minuette. She was bleeding heavily and from what I could see, she had broken several bones. I cried as I lifted her broken body onto my back.
Chapter 5: Dimension after DimensionSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
Chapter 6: An Unexpected SurpriseThe portal opened above a green, grassy field and we all fell out on top of each other. I blinked my dizzy eyes and looked around. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were stood waiting. I looked up at them in shock. "Well done Rush!" Cried Princess Celestia. "You passed the test!" I continued to stand there in shock, as the ponies I had saved from the other dimension gathered in a circle around me, clapping their hooves. "W-what test?" I said, finally recovering from the shock. "Everything you did in that other dimension was a test. We princesses ordered for you to be 'kidnapped' and brought to a different dimension where you would be tested on your skills. The cameras in the building monitored your progress and you did pretty well!" Smiled Twilight. "What?! But what about those 'humans' or whatever they called themselves that I killed?" I spluttered in fury. Princess Twilight laughed. "They were hundreds of billions of nanites coated with a special gel to form the shape of a bipedal creature." "Alexei seemed real enough!" "No, no, no, no. Alexei wasn't real! You did well killing him." Said Rainbow Dash. "BUT HE K-K-KILLED M-M... Minuette..." I broke down into tears. "Winter, she can be healed." Came Luna's soft voice. "S-she c-can?" I stuttered. The tears slowed down and I looked up. "Watch." I did as she asked and watched in awe as the magic from the three princesses was focused onto Minuette and the cuts and bruises began to heal. She was lifted onto her hooves and she opened her eyes. "Uurgh... What the hell happened?" She said groggily, holding her hoof to her head. I sat on the grass, my mouth wide open. "Err... Hey everypony? How's it going...?" She laughed nervously. "So all of you were in on this?" I shouted. Each and everypony nodded nervously. "WELL BUCK YOU ALL!" "B-but we got you something for passing the test..." Started Lyra. "I DON'T GIVE A SHIT! YOU CAN GO SHOVE YOUR PRESENT RIGHT UP YOUR ARSES!" A storm of anger hung over my head. "Come on Minuette, we're going home." I grabbed her and stormed off, leaving the other ponies stood in the circle, mouths open in sheer shock. Princess Celestia spoke to the other ponies. "I think Rush is just in shock. We'll just leave the present outside his house and he'll get it when he's calmed down." The other ponies nodded. **************************** There was a bang. He awoke. There was a noise of fire crackling. His neck was no longer facing at that strange angle and he was thankful that he couldn't feel pain. Nanites couldn't feel or transmit pain. Alexei stood. His body had repaired itself. He stood and looked out at his ruined compound. His guards may be dead, but he certainly wasn't. He took one last look and walked away.
