A Skip and a Dash

Blazedart flew in a straight line up towards the clouds, his wings aching from every beat. He soon realized he was sweating, and quickly wiped his brow, squinting as the bright sun penetrated his gaze. He was stressed by what was happening. He just had to leave his new friends behind in Ponyville, without telling them a thing, and he probably wasn’t going to come back. Ever.

And even if he did, how would they treat him if they knew the truth? How would Rainbow Dash react? Blazedart didn’t want to think about that, so put it out of his mind. He focused on the task at hand. He remembered that, not long after he set foot in Ponyvile, he had been told to wait for the sound of thunder in the sky, but only when there couldn't possibly be a storm coming. Today was that day. The sound of thunder meant his comrades were nearby.

2 o'clock had just gone and Blazedart hoped he wasn't too late for his meeting with them. His leader, a bulky pony named Spear Runner, had been communicating with him for the past few days. To do this, powerful magic had been used; Blazedart was able to hear his master's voice talking to him through a pond and even through a cloud. It was amazing to think this magic had been stolen and used by Pegasi so effectively. Blazedart personally did not agree with using this power recklessly and for all the wrong reasons, but he wouldn't dare challenge his leader with that opinion.

Eventually, he slowed to a gentle speed before placing his feet onto the nearest cloud. Ahead of him, just a couple of metres away, they were there: two male Pegasi, one of which was pacing around impatiently, the other hovering in mid-air. The bigger stallion, whom Blazedart recognized to be Spear Runner, stopped pacing and looked up when he saw him approaching.

“Well, well,” said Spear Runner, “you did decide to turn up after all.” He had a cruel smirk on his face. It gave Blazedart the shivers, since he could never tell it was a sign of happiness or mere scrutiny. He sneaked a look at Flex, who floated nearby with a fearful expression on his face.

“You’re not late either. Bang on time actually.” Spear Runner nodded in approval, which was unusual for a pony of his personality. He was dominant and authoritative, but Blazedart wasn’t afraid to be firm.

“Can we just get on with this, Spear?” he asked petulantly. “I’m not in the best of moods and I want to get out of here quickly.”

“Mmm, you do seem keen to leave, don’t you?” said Spear Runner, almost mockingly. “Clearly that Ponyville place has darkened your mood. Hardly surprising, really.”

Blazedart felt a sadness stab him in the chest. He glanced down at the view of Ponyville that lay below him, wishing desperately that he could fly back to the ground.

“So anyway,” Spear put his hoof under Blaze’s chin and turned his head to face him, “I’d like to know what you found out while you were down there. Tell me: are there six of them?”

“Yes, there are. I met all of them. Apparently they’ve saved Equestria many times.”

“Have they indeed? Oh, how remarkable,” Spear said, only pretending to be impressed, “and will we be going to Canterlot?”

“Err…” Blazedart took a deep breath, “I should think so. They’re definitely not here at any rate.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes. Everywhere I looked there was no sign of them. I don’t see why they would be hidden here where anypony could find them.”

“I hope you’re right.” Spear Runner gave him a stern look which made Blazedart cower. But thankfully, he didn’t seem angry, so maybe Blaze had given his leader enough information. Spear Runner took in a breath and looked at the sky, supposedly in deep thought. After a few seconds, he put a hoof in his mouth and produced a shrill whistle.

“All right then, boys! Stand to attention!” he called.

Blazedart stared as three more Pegasi flew from the clouds above them. He wondered how they had even managed to get that high. Each of them placed their feet onto the cloud beside where Spear Runner stood and obediently arranged themselves in a row.

“It’s time to get down there,” Spear Runner commanded. “You all remember what I told you?”

“Yes, sir,” the three stallions all said at once.

“But – Spear!” Blazedart was horrorstruck. “I thought we were going straight to Canterlot! There’s no use staying here!”

“Don’t be so ridiculous, Blaze,” Spear Runner said in his malicious tone, “how can you expect us to go straight to Canterlot with those six ponies running around freely? They’re bound to come after us and ruin our plans if we just leave without doing anything.”

Blazedart could feel his heartbeat growing faster again. They couldn’t go down there! Everything would be given away!

“Wh-what are you going to do?”

“Well, we’ll capture them,” Spear Runner shrugged carelessly. “Restrain them. Maybe lock them someplace where they can’t cause any trouble. Sound fair to you?”

Blazedart gawked in disbelief, his eyes wide and his muscles trembling. “I-I...uh…” He stuttered uncontrollably.

“You up for this, boys?”

“Yes, sir,” the three stallions said in unison before lifting themselves into the air.

“So, Blaze,” Spear Runner stepped up to Blazedart and put an unfriendly hoof around his shoulders, “you’d better tell me what your little friends look like, hadn’t you? And where did you last see them?”

Blazedart didn’t reply. He stood there staring at Spear, the fear not leaving his eyes. What have I done?

Down by the lake, the sun's heat had become quite intense and the six friends had decided they would head home to cool down. As Twilight used her magic to lift all the items into her picnic basket, she looked around to see that nearly all her friends had left. Rainbow Dash had hung behind, using her towel to dry her mane a little more.

"You all right, Rainbow?" Twilight asked her friend.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Rainbow Dash replied, looking up with a confused expression. "Why?"

"Nothing, it's just...well... I can't help thinking about Blazedart and the way he's been acting. It's strange, don't you think?"

"A little bit, I guess..." Rainbow stared up at the sky. The sun was still shining but it had become more cloudy. The thunderstorm they had anticipated never actually started, so she put the worry of rain behind her. Twilight stared at her friend, concerned. It was not like Rainbow Dash to be distant.

"Is there something you're not telling me, Rainbow?"

The Pegasus elaborately shook her head. "I don't know what you mean. Anyway, I'd better get home. I shouldn't have left Tank alone for this long."

Before Twilight could get another word in, Rainbow Dash took off into the clouds, without so much as a goodbye. The unicorn sighed. Now she was worried about both Blazedart and Rainbow Dash. Speaking of which, she realized she hadn't seen Blazedart for at least half an hour. She remembered him saying he would be back soon after he left, but he had never returned. Maybe that's what was bothering Rainbow Dash so much. Perhaps she was just worried; she and Blazedart had grown very close after all. Twilight had only recently begun to question whether they were...

No. They couldn't be. Rainbow clearly wasn't into that sort of thing. When had she shown interest in stallions? Never. But still...

Annoyed at herself for having these thoughts, Twilight shook them out of her mind and began to leave the lake. She decided she would head home and talk to Spike about her day. There also might have been some work she needed to do for Princess Celestia, or some letters she needed to send to other ponies -

Princess Celestia! Letters! She hadn't written her weekly friendship report yet! And she hadn't learned anything! What would her mentor say to her if she missed the deadline? She didn't want to know, but was sure the punishment could be something horrible.

Before panic could take over her, the unicorn calmed herself. There were still two or three days left of the week, enough time to write her letter. She would have to think over what lessons she had learned and write something that would at least be acceptable.

Once she snapped out of her deep thoughts, Twilight suddenly realized that she was back in the town centre. It was quite deserted, which was unusual for Ponyville, but she imagined that most ponies had probably left to attend special celebrations in other places. Taking in some air though her nose, she relaxed, feeling it was the best way to get through the day. Stress and needless worry wouldn't get her anywhere.

Then, without quite expecting it, Twilight noticed a pale blue stallion stepping out from behind a nearby house. His mane was a darker blue and his Cutie Mark looked like the shape of an ocean wave. She didn't pay much attention to him at first, since he could have been a mere resident in Ponyville, but then her eyes widened as the stallion began to race in her direction. He had a fierce expression on his face, which was quite frightening. Twilight quickly checked around her to see if he was looking at a different pony. There was no-one else around. He was heading for her.

She barely had time to react when the pony sprinted up to her and pushed her to the ground with great force. She shrieked, desperately trying to shove him off as he pinned her down. But he was too strong for her, and Twilight couldn't move.

"Isn't it Twilight Sparkle?" the stallion sneered, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Why?" she snapped. "What do you want with me? Get OFF me!"

"We've heard a lot about you. And your little friends. You're quite famous where we come from."

"What do you mean by 'we'?" Twilight asked, feeling both angry and scared at the same time. As if to answer her question, two more stallions appeared on either side of her. They were definitely Pegasi, because she saw them fold up their wings. She felt more scared now: the stallions were bulky, mean-looking, and now there were three of them. What were they going to do to her?

"I think it's best that you come with us, Miss Sparkle," the blue stallion said with a crude smile, "and don't bother trying to escape. We'll only catch you again."

It was then that Twilight realised physical force wouldn't help her in this situation. She had a special trick up her sleeve: magic. If she could teleport to her house, she would be away from the stallions and could warn her friends of the danger. Still feeling weak under the blue stallion's strong hooves, Twilight began to power up her horn, visualizing the place that she wanted to go. But the magic wasn't working. No matter how hard Twilight tried to power up her horn, she was only met with fizzes and crackles that didn't transport her anywhere. She was left panting for breath as the magic subsided. "Wh...why wouldn't it-"

"There's no use in that, sweetheart!" one of the other stallions sneered. "You won't be able to use magic against us. We've already had that taken care of."

"But...h-how?..." Overcome with confusion and anger, Twilight desperately tried to move again, but the                                                  stallion kept his hooves firmly planted on her. There was no use. She couldn't escape. Why wasn't her magic working? Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice and saw a fourth Pegasus land near the group.

"All right, guys. That's enough. Just do what you've been told to do. You don't need to hurt her."

Blazedart was standing behind the other stallions as they all turned to look at him irritably. A wave of relief momentarily swept through Twilight's body; she felt elated to see him at last. But as she stared at him, her high hopes were slowly extinguished: Blazedart's facial expression was different from before. He seemed stern, serious and quite glum.

"Blazedart?" she asked, trying to revive him in some way. He barely looked at her. He only cast her a fleeting glance before turning his gaze to the stallions again.

"You are such a killjoy, Blaze," the pale blue stallion retorted, "Don't think you can boss us around just because you're Spear's right-hand stallion." He then proceeded to bind Twilight's front hooves tightly, so much so that she could not move them. Reluctantly, she stood up, allowing the hefty stallions to hold onto her and walk her in the opposite direction. Feeling confused and almost heartbroken, she turned to look at Blazedart. He stared back at her, an extreme look of guilt and sadness in his eyes, before turning away and shooting off into the sky.

Twilight was more frightened than she had ever been, and felt betrayed. She couldn't comprehend what was going on: strange stallions had appeared in town, they had captured her for some unknown reason, and Blazedart, the pony who she and her friends had liked and trusted for so long, seemed to be one of them. It was a terrible thought to take in, so she tried to remove it from her mind. She could do nothing but bear the pain in her shoulders and stifle her winces as the stallions dragged her hooves off the ground and lifted her into the clouds above.

Rainbow Dash was alone in her room, lying on her bed flicking through her Daring Do book. She stared sadly at the pages without taking any of the words or pictures in. Her mind was fogged up with dozens of thoughts that wouldn't go away. She wondered where on earth Blazedart had gone and why he had to leave so suddenly. It had been difficult keeping a secret from her friends and it wasn't something Rainbow Dash wanted to do again. After all, Applejack had always told her honesty was the best policy.

Wherever Blazedart had got to, Rainbow hoped he would come back to Ponyville at some point since she had grown to like him an awful lot. This sounded strange when she thought about it in her head, as many stallions she had known in her life had been complete jerks without a sense of kindness. Blazedart was different. She could really understand him and felt suddenly eager to spend more time with him. What did all these feelings mean?

Irritably, Rainbow slammed her book down on the sheets and rubbed her eyes, wishing all these complications would go away. She was just thinking about taking a nap when there was a firm knock on her door from downstairs. She rolled her eyes, as she didn't really want to be disturbed, but flew down to the door  to check who it was. She opened it to find Fluttershy standing there with a worried look in her blue eyes.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash, I'm so glad you're here!" she exclaimed, pushing some of her mane back from her face to reveal more of her scared expression.

"Err, hi to you too, Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash answered, quite confused by the state of her usually happy friend. She then noticed that something was sitting on Fluttershy's back; something purple and scaly. "Spike? You're here too?"

The small dragon craned his neck out from behind Fluttershy's head. "Hey, Dash. Um... we've got a bit of a problem."

"Why, what's wrong?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Are you guys okay?"

"We're fine," Fluttershy said, an uncomfortable tone in her voice, "it's just that...something's very wrong! You see, when I got home from the lake, I was looking after some injured lizards that I found near the river. It wasn't long after that when Spike came to my house. He seemed so worried about something which is why he came to tell me about it. He told me that-"

"Twilight's missing!" Spike blurted out, nearly falling off Fluttershy's back.

Rainbow Dash looked at her friends, aghast and puzzled. "Missing? But - I only saw her about half an hour ago!"

"We know," Fluttershy replied, "but Spike's been telling me that he waited at the library for a long time and Twilight never returned. He went out to look for her but couldn't find her. It's rather unlike Twilight, don't you think?"

"Well, I guess it's a little bit weird," Rainbow Dash admitted, prodding her chin with her hoof. "But why did you guys come here?"

"When Spike came to my house all panic-stricken," Fluttershy explained, sympathetically rubbing Spike's cheek to reassure him, "I remembered that you were the last one with Twilight when everypony left the lake. We thought that you might know where she went."

"Err, I don't really," Rainbow Dash said, stroking her mane awkwardly, "I talked to her for a minute and then I just went home. Twilight was the only one left at the lake when I was gone." Rainbow suddenly felt guilty at the thought of leaving Twilight all by herself. What if something had happened to her and she hadn't been there to stop it?

"Will you help us look for her, Dash?" Spike asked hopefully, clear worry in his eyes. "I can't help thinking something bad's happened."

"Yeah, 'course I'll help," Rainbow immediately replied, stepping out of the house and closing the door behind her, "and don't worry, Spike, I'm sure she's fine. I bet she just got caught up in her reading or something." Spike nodded at her, though the look of concern hadn't left his face.

"So where shall we start looking?"

"We could check in the town first?" Fluttershy suggested, "She might be in one of the bookshops and we could ask ponies if they've seen her."

"Okay, come on then." The Pegasi took flight into the air, but Rainbow suddenly paused. "Err, Spike? You sure you're okay on Fluttershy's back?" she asked, taking note of the baby dragon who looked quite petrified as he stared at the ground far beneath them.

"Y-yeah, sure. I-I'll be fine," he stuttered, swallowing hard and looking rather sick.

"Don't worry, Spike, I'll look after you," Fluttershy said sweetly, ruffling the top of Spike's head. His cheeks turned rosy pink and he appeared a little more relaxed. "We'd better go," Fluttershy continued, "I don't want to leave my poor lizards for too long. But of course Twilight's more important! Oh, I didn't mean it like that! I just-"

"It's fine, Fluttershy," Rainbow said quickly. She shook her head with a smile and began to lead the two of them down to Ponyville. The thoughts of Blazedart were still niggling in the back of her mind, but Twilight's disappearance was now far more important. It was a very short flight to the town below them, yet Spike seemed very relieved to hop off Fluttershy's back and onto the safety of the ground. Rainbow hovered in the air, where she felt comfortable, following Fluttershy and Spike as they strolled down the path. They scanned everywhere for signs of Twilight, called her name, peeked through the doors of shops and cafes, but to no avail. Spike was clearly getting more worried, so Fluttershy gently snuggled him against her to try and calm him.

The three of them were thinking of heading into the Everfree Forest when they suddenly heard a voice calling cheerfully to them. "Hi, Rainbow Dash! And Fluttershy! And Spike!" They turned to see Pinkie Pie bounding towards them, waving a hoof frantically. "Watcha doing?" she asked curiously.

"Well, we're-" Rainbow Dash stopped in mid-sentence when she saw the outline of a dark figure sneaking up behind Pinkie Pie. Gasping, she cried, "Pinkie, look out!" She was already too late. Pinkie Pie barely had time to look around as she was tackled to the ground by an angry-looking beige stallion.

"Hey!" she shouted, squirming underneath him, "What are you playing at, you big meanie?!"

"Get your filthy hooves off her!" yelled Rainbow Dash. She spared no moment for hesitation as she sped towards them, completely unafraid. She dived at the attacker, grabbing hold of his body and trying to drag him away from Pinkie Pie. Just when Rainbow thought she would manage it, another pony charged towards her and slammed her onto the ground. The impact was strong and knocked almost every wisp of air from her lungs. Struggling to retain her breath, Rainbow felt the pony spring onto her and pin her down by the tail before she could fly away. She winced from the pain, desperately trying to use her wing power to fly out of his grasp.

"Rainbow Dash!" a terrified female voice squealed, "Help us!"

Rainbow looked behind her and saw, to her horror, that Fluttershy and Spike were in the tight clutches of a third stallion. The two of them were wriggling under his hooves but clearly couldn't escape. Rainbow felt a sudden anger come over her. No one was ever going to come marching into Ponyville and hurting her friends if she had anything to say about it. She flapped her wings even harder and managed to yank herself out from under the stallion's hooves. He used his own wings to shoot into the air after her, but Rainbow was too fast and dodged out of the way before he could grab her. Suddenly, she froze, staring down at her friends whose hooves were now being tied up. She didn't know what to do: if she attempted to free them, she would risk getting captured herself, and then who would help her friends?

When she saw the male Pegasus flying for her again, she made up her mind and decided to flee. "I'll come back for you!" she shouted to her friends, though she was unsure if they would even be there when she returned. She became aware that her pursuer was hot on her heels, so she powered up her wings and flew like a bullet high into the sky to get away from him.

"Get after her!" she heard one of the stallions command. "We need all six; we can't let any of them get away!"

All six? Rainbow Dash thought. Surely that meant these strange stallions were after her and her friends specifically? But why? They hadn't done anything wrong! Rainbow wasn't going to let them catch her that easily.

Aware of the Pegasus on her tail, she surged through the sky and into the array of fluffy clouds that hovered high up in the sky. Quickly, she jumped onto one of them and burrowed her way into it like a dog digging in the soil. Once she had made a decent hole, she squeezed herself inside, curled herself into a tight ball and wrapped her rainbow tail around her so she couldn't be seen. She then gathered some fluff into her hooves and used it cover herself up from any prying eyes. Anypony flying past would not see her and mistake her for just another cloud.

Rainbow took a deep quiet breath and waited, her ears listening out for any sounds. After a few moments, she carefully moved a tiny ball of fluff away from her face and peered outside. She hid herself again immediately. The Pegasus stallion that had been chasing her was floating nearby, his devious face surveying the area around him. He was a pale blue colour with a darker shade of blue striped on his mane and tail. She made out the Cutie Mark on his flank to be an ocean wave curled into a high point. Rainbow kept her eyes fixed on him. He clearly had no idea where she had disappeared to, and was unable to spot her, hidden away in her little cloud.

Rainbow Dash waited for perhaps a minute or so, then felt a rush of relief as she saw the stallion fly back towards the ground. She hoped he had given up searching for her and wouldn't come back. Trying to be as quiet as possible, Rainbow heaved herself out of the cloud, being careful to shield her body from any eyes looking up from below. She cautiously peeked over the cloud to see if she could spot her friends still being held captive, but she couldn't see them anywhere. All that lay below her was the winding, snake-like path they had been waking on only a few minutes ago. There was no sign of Fluttershy, Spike or Pinkie Pie, neither of the stallions who had captured them.

Rainbow felt her heart pummel anxiously against her chest; she was very worried now, since those stallions had been Pegasi and it was likely they had flown to a high place with her friends still stuck in their grasp. What was she to do now? There was no telling where they had flown to and Rainbow had been hiding in her cloud for so long that she hadn't seen which direction they went in. Feeling quite furious with herself, she lifted into the air and began to fly across the sky, scanning the area for any familiar signs, though with no idea where she was going.

But just then, a recognizable female voice rang in her ears. "Rainbow Dash! Up here!"

Rainbow looked up in the direction of the shout. It had come from the clouds quite high above her. Quickly, she shot upwards to look around and, almost immediately, spotted a purple figure lying on one of the clouds.

"Twilight!" Rainbow cried, rushing to her friend and pulling her into a tight hug. "We've been looking all over for you! Are you okay? What happened?"

"Oh, Rainbow, it was...it was awful," Twilight whimpered, her voice catching in her throat. "These stallions ambushed me and tied me up before dragging me all the way up here. They put a spell on me that lets me lie on a cloud, but now I can't escape because it's too high."

"Hold on, stallions ambushed you?" asked Rainbow Dash. "That's what happened to us! They got Fluttershy, Spike and Pinkie Pie and took them away!"

Twilight gasped in horror, emitting a pained sob.

"I'm sorry, Twilight, I tried to stop them," said Rainbow Dash guiltily, "but I had to get away and hide before they got me too. I don't get it! Who are these guys and what are they doing here? And what in the hay do they want with us?"

"I don't know, Rainbow Dash. I just don't know. But... that's not the worst of it." Twilight gazed at Rainbow Dash with a very sad expression on her face. Rainbow studied her face and immediately knew something was wrong.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Well..." Twilight stumbled on her words, looking very uncomfortable as she averted her eyes from Rainbow's face and traced a circle in the cloud with her hoof. "Rainbow, I... I don't know how to tell you this..."

"Look who decided to take the bait," a sly voice said.

Rainbow Dash turned to see a large grey stallion with a navy blue mane stepping towards her on the clouds. He had a malicious look in his eye as he stared at the two mares; Rainbow Dash didn't like the look of this at all. She got to her feet, prepared to stand her ground, and watched as three more stallions flew down to the clouds to accompany the larger pegasus: a dark blue pony with a lime green mane, the light blue stallion with the wave Cutie Mark, and the third was-...

Rainbow Dash's mouth fell open in shock. Blazedart was standing there. It appeared to take him a moment to register what was going on; then he noticed Rainbow Dash and stepped back in terror, staring at her as though he had seen a ghost.

"Blaze, what are you doing here?" exclaimed Rainbow Dash. "What's going on?"

"Dash," Blazedart stammered, his voice faltering as he spoke, "it...it's not what it looks like."

"Oh, I think it is what it looks like, Blaze," said the large grey stallion, a devilish smirk on his face, "I'm afraid you owe your little friends here some sort of explanation."

"What are you talking about?" Rainbow Dash snapped. "Who are you? What has Blaze got to do with all of this?"

The stallion turned to Blazedart inquisitively. "Do you want to tell them? Or shall I?" Blazedart seemed at a complete loss. He stuttered for a moment, then shook his head, looking away from Rainbow Dash's curious expression.

"Fine then. I'll tell them." The large stallion stepped a little closer to Rainbow Dash, scanning every detail of her with his merciless green eyes. "My name's Spear Runner. My comrades and I have travelled a long way from our home to get here, but it's definitely been worth it."

He paused to look her up and down again. "You must be Rainbow Dash, unless I'm gravely mistaken?"

"Yeah, why should you care?" Rainbow spat, a surge of anger racing through her. As she looked up into his face, she realized how much taller than her he actually was, and suddenly felt quite daunted under his gaze.

"You are quite something, aren't you?" Spear Runner said, his mouth curved into an admiring yet unnerving smile. "The stories I've heard really don't do you enough justice." He then used his left hoof to stroke her multi-coloured bangs that hung beside her neck. Disgusted, Rainbow Dash slapped him away like the crack of a whip.

"Don't you dare touch me!" she barked, staring daggers at him. Out of the corner of her eye, she felt sure she had seen a flicker of anger in Blazedart's face as he surveyed the scene.

"Ooh, you're a feisty one as well," Spear Runner said tantalizingly, the sly smile still broad on his face. "All the better. It's nice to see a bit of spirit."

"How do you know my name and what are you doing to my friends?" Rainbow Dash snarled.

"Well, you should know that you and your little... troupe, are quite famous in many places," said Spear-Runner, in quite a matter-of-fact way. "Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty - always willing to stick by her friends no matter what happens."

She eyed the taller pony suspiciously, her jaw set in a firm, defiant line.

"And then there's Twilight Sparkle." He gestured to Twilight, who still lay in a nervous position on the clouds. "She represents the elusive Element of Magic, the most powerful of all. And you're Princess Celestia's student. That's quite a position to hold, don't you think?"

Twilight didn't answer; she only stared at him angrily with her eyes narrowed, though Rainbow could tell from her tense limbs that she was only trying to hide her fear.

"So you two and your friends represent the Elements of Harmony, don't you?" Spear continued. "Many times you've saved Equestria from chaos and destruction, purely with the magic of those six jewels. Amazing feats, I have to admit."

Spear then turned his head to nod at the three stallions still standing behind him. "We come from a fairly remote place a long way from here. It’s on the outskirts of Fillydelphia; a small forsaken village that nopony cares about. No name, no recognition, just a poor area of small houses and shacks where many are growing hungry. I’ve been living there for a short while myself, though I’m originally from Manehattan. That’s when I met these guys.” He gestured to Blazedart and the other two stallions standing in their row. Blazedart looked up momentarily from the ground, but then turned his head away again, as though he wanted to set his gaze on anything but Rainbow Dash’s stunned face.

“They weren’t very well off, you see – living in that village. Each of them had a small house to themselves with no friends or family nearby, and hardly enough money to get the food they needed. Flex could hardly speak to me when I first came across him.” The pony with the lime green mane tensed up at the mention of his name.

“So,” Spear continued, “I promised I’d give them a better life; somewhere better than that place, with better company. To do that, we need something really special, something that would protect us from any kind of harm and make us rich beyond our dreams.”

“That’s why you’re here then?” Rainbow Dash asked angrily, shooting the occasional glance at Blazedart. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. “You’ve come to Ponyville to ransack the place and steal things you need?”

“No, not quite,” Spear Runner sneered. “Ponyville’s a nice place, but it isn’t a wealthy town and there’s nothing special for us to steal here. No – what we want is in Canterlot.”

“Canterlot?” Twilight echoed, bewildered. “If that’s true, then why are you here capturing us?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Spear smiled at them knowingly, a vindictive twinkle in his eye. Rainbow Dash stared at him with a frown, thinking for a moment. What could they possibly want from Canterlot and why would that mean capturing her and her friends?

Then realisation hit her like a stone. Before she could open her mouth to speak, Spear Runner said exactly what she had been thinking. “We’re going to take the Elements of Harmony and keep them for ourselves. I can’t think of anything in Equestria that would be more valuable.”

"No!" Twilight exclaimed in shock. "You can't do that!"

"There's no way we're gonna let you take them!" Rainbow Dash snarled.

Spear Runner scoffed nonchalantly. "You're not going to be able to stop us. My other two comrades already have the rest of your friends taken care of, I can assure you. And despite what you think, you won't be escaping either."

Rainbow Dash was so engrossed in Spear's unbelievable words that she hadn't noticed that the pale blue stallion had crept up behind her. She had no time to fly off as she felt strong hooves coil aroud her and pin her feet down firmly. "Get off me, you jerk!" she growled, her voice muffled under his hooves. She wrestled against him as much as she could, but she wasn't strong enough to break free of his grasp - so she gave up, panting heavily and staring at Spear Runner angrily.

"When I get out of this, I'm gonna beat the living daylights out of you!"

"Oh, Rainbow Dash, try all you want to escape," said Spear Runner, a gentle, sarcastic tone in his voice. "It isn't going to happen. I'm not going to deny that you have a gutsy attitude, but it's not going to convince me to let you go. You and your friends will be confined somewhere nopony will find you and none of you will be able to escape. It's as simple as that."

He paused to turn around and look at Flex and Blazedart; both of them had guilty and sad looks on their faces, quite unlike the other stallions Rainbow had seen.

"None of this would have been possible without Blazedart here," said Spear Runner, stepping up to the grey pony and putting a strong hoof around him. "He's been the perfect spy, coming to Ponyville to get to know all of you, earning your trust and acquiring all the information we needed. If it weren't for you, Blaze, I daresay we wouldn't have been able to capture them as easily." Blazedart's ears were twitching nervously, and he glanced at Spear Runner with an incredibly awkward look in his eyes. He looked as if he were itching to say something, but somehow couldn’t get the words out.

If Rainbow Dash had been shocked before, it was nothing compared to what she was feeling now: anger, hurt, confusion and utter shock. This couldn't be true, it just couldn't, she kept telling herself. But it was impossible to deny what was in front of her eyes: Blazedart was part of this awful plan, and always had been.

“Blaze?” she said quietly. She stepped forward, feeling the stallion loosen her grip on her slightly, and stared at Blazedart with her inquisitive eyes. Blazedart met her gaze, sadness flooding through his face.

“Is it…is it true then?” she asked.

Blazedart couldn’t seem to speak. He gazed at Rainbow Dash helplessly, shaking his head slightly, as if he desperately wanted to deny it. “I... I didn’t know how to tell you, Rainbow," he said, almost in a mumble, "and it wasn't supposed to happen like this.”

Rainbow’s anger suddenly boiled over. “Well, obviously you weren’t planning to tell me at all judging by the way you’ve been acting!” she shouted. “No wonder you appeared in Ponyville out of nowhere and started befriending me as soon as you saw me! I should have known there was something wrong…I can’t believe I ever trusted you!”

Her legs shook from her temper, and the stallion had to tighten his grip on her as she tried to wrestle out of his clutches.

"So everything you told me was a lie? Your foalhood, your love of flying... the things you said about me... and then you tell me you have important business to do," she put on a mocking sing-song tone when she said this, "but all you were doing was making me feel sorry for you so you could run off to Canterlot and steal the Elements!"

Blazedart stared at her sadly, guilt etched all over his face. It could have been her imagination, but Rainbow thought she saw a shiny tear flickering in the corner of his eye.

"Rainbow, I-... I'm sorry," he said helplessly.

"Ugh!" Rainbow groaned loudly, shaking her head in disbelief. "'Sorry' isn't going to fix this! Nothing will! Nothing you say or do will make me forgive you!" She paused to take a breath. Her face felt very hot and her limbs were prickling furiously.

"How could you betray us?" she hissed, her voice piercing the air. "I thought you were my friend! And I thought we-... I thought we were..." She trailed off, unsure what she was about to finish her sentence with.

Blazedart looked at her questioningly. "You thought we were what?" he asked nervously.

"Well, I..." Rainbow stuttered, feeling embarrassed. She gave a frustrated groan. "I don't know! I just thought we had something special! But obviously not. You were just manipulating me the whole time."

"And you've done it very well, Blaze," Spear Runner said approvingly. He looked quite pleased to see Rainbow Dash so uptight, paying no attention to Blazedart's guilt-ridden face. He turned his gaze to the blue stallion holding Rainbow Dash. "Keep hold of her, Flow Tide," he commanded, "we'll be taking them to the prison soon. You know where to find it?"

"Yes, sir," Flow Tide said obediently. Rainbow winced as he pulled her hooves off the cloud and tightened his strong hold around her body.

"Flex, you can take Miss Sparkle, if you would," Spear Runner said to the young green-maned stallion. His eyes looked nervous at the idea, but he obeyed Spear Runner reluctantly. He flew over to Twilight and began to pick her up between his hooves. He seemed to be handling her a lot more gently than Flow Tide. Twilight's gaze set on Spear Runner and Blazedart, her face filled with shock and her purple eyes looking tearful.

"This doesn't explain how you stopped my magic from working," she said defiantly. Flex kept a firm hold on her, but refrained from going into flight.

"And how did you manage to use magic to keep me trapped up here?" Twilight continued. "None of you are unicorns; you're Pegasi. It's impossible!"

Spear Runner shot her a smug smile. "Clever, isn't it? You see, during our travels from Fillydelphia to Ponyville, it was clear we were going to need some way to communicate and defend ourselves from danger. Pegasi don't have many ways of doing that, but magic can allow you to do anything. So we stopped by at Baltimare, where there were a fair number of unicorns about. It took some persuading, but we eventually convinced the most powerful unicorn we could find to give us her magic in return for some bits. We also gained from her the ability to drain other unicorns of their own magic, therefore there's no way a pony like you could use it against us."

Twilight stared at him with repulsion. "That's...horrible!" she exclaimed.

"True, yes, but also effective." Spear's lip curled as he examined Twilight, who was not tearing her gaze away from him. "Speaking of which, we might need some more unicorn magic later on... I think you might be the pony up for the job."

"No!" Rainbow Dash shouted as Twilight whimpered in terror. "Don't you lay a hoof on her! I swear I'll make you pay for this!"

"I don't doubt it, Rainbow," Spear Runner said slyly, "but let's just say we've got one up on you this time." Rainbow Dash stared daggers at him, though there was an unfamiliar feeling in her heart: it was like everything was going against her, and she wasn't going to win. For once in her life, she was actually terrified about what was going to happen. Nonetheless, she was determined not to let her fear show on her face.

"Take them away," Spear Runner commanded. Rainbow irritably tolerated the stinging on her back as Flow Tide picked her up slowly, binding her hooves and wings up, and began to fly her away from the clouds.

She turned her head to look at Blazedart, who stared up at her with his ashamed, cobalt eyes.

"Tide, please don't hurt her," he said, quite anxiously. "Don't hurt any of them."

Flow Tide rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Whatever, Blaze."

The look on Rainbow Dash's face was so full of anger and hurt that it stung Blazedart to see her this way. Why had he ever done this in the first place? It was so wrong...

"I hope I never see you again," Rainbow Dash spat coldly. She then turned her head away from him as she and Twilight were carried away by the stallions. Blazedart felt a sickening sweep of remorse through his bones as he stood there; it was like his whole world had come crashing down on him. He flattened his ears against his head forlornly as Spear Runner draped a hoof around him.

"Come with me, Blazedart. I've got another special job for you."

As Spear rose into the air, Blazedart reluctantly followed, the tips of his grey wings sagging on either side of him. I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, he  thought, an aching lump forming in his throat. I'm so, so sorry...

Rainbow Dash and Twilight were flown past the outskirts of Ponyville and into the high border of cliffs that surrounded the area. Rainbow watched helplessly as the town below sank from view and the towering cliffs began to envelope the ponies in a dark valley. The Pegasi were flying to a place that was quite unknown to her, beyond the murkiness of Ghastly Gorge and the looming green outline of Everfree Forest. They ended up by a rock face that towered right up towards the clouds, almost entirely devoid of sunlight. There was a large, gaping hole in the rock that funnelled into a small cave that clearly went a few metres inside the cliff.

Rainbow Dash was desperate to spread her wings and shoot out of Flow Tide’s grasp, but her wings were strapped together tightly and there was no way she could do that. She hung helplessly in the air as she and Twilight were brought to the very edge of the cliff face where the cavern lay. As Rainbow looked inside and scoured the darkness, she saw pairs of eyes staring back at her. When Flow Tide dropped her rather roughly onto the ground, the darkness cleared and she recognized their faces.

Fluttershy, Spike, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity were gathered in a small group near the back of the cave. Fluttershy’s mane was rather dishevelled and Applejack had a few bumps and grazes on her body. Rainbow guessed they went through quite a scrap when captured, especially Applejack, who had clearly taken a battering from her efforts to escape. It pained her to see her friends like this. Because of Blazedart’s doing, they had been taken from their homes and dragged to this awful, cramped place. This was the last thing she had wanted to happen and she felt terrible for it.

Fluttershy ran up to Rainbow Dash with her hoof outstretched. “Oh, Rainbow Dash, Twilight!” she exclaimed with a sob, pulling Rainbow into a gentle hug. “I’m glad you’re both okay. We’ve been so worried!”

The others walked up to Twilight and Rainbow Dash to hug them while Flex and Flow Tide hung in the background. “You will be staying here for as long as Spear Runner sees fit,” Flow Tide said assertively, “and don’t bother trying to escape.” He aimed his glare specifically at Rainbow Dash, who returned it defiantly. “It’s a fifty-foot high cliff and you wouldn’t find it easy. Plus, we’ll just catch you again.”

He turned his back on the group and beckoned to Flex. “Come on, let’s go.” He flew out of the cave with an uncomfortable looking Flex on his tail. They were left in silence, only the sound of the breeze flooding in and dust drifting around to be heard.

“I can’t believe this happened, y’all,” Applejack said solemnly, breaking the silence. Her ears drooped against her head and her voice was almost trembling. “Those horrible ponies taking the Elements? And Blaze being one of them… I never would have suspected him of anything.”

“How do you know about that, Applejack?” Twilight asked.

“When two of those guys got hold of Rarity and I, they told us everything,” Applejack explained, her eyes wavering anxiously at the memory, “I couldn’t believe my ears. I don’t think any of us can quite take it in…”

Twilight nodded, not really wanting to think about it right now. Then her thoughts suddenly went to Rainbow Dash. She looked around the cavern to see that Rainbow was no longer with the group but had retreated to a corner. Her head was hanging loosely and she was staring at the ground with her multi-coloured hair draping down her neck. Twilight suddenly felt very concerned for her. Awkwardly, she walked up to Rainbow Dash and spoke to her softly. "Rainbow? Are you all right?"

The Pegasus mare turned her head to stare at Twilight, a small smile on her face. "Yeah, I'm fine," she replied quietly, "why wouldn't I be?"

"Well..." Twilight didn't know how to tell Rainbow what she was thinking without hurting her feelings. She didn't really want to remind her friend about what had just happened. "I... I'm sorry. I didn't know how to break it to you, and-"

"It's okay," Rainbow said reassuringly, placing a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "It wasn't your fault."  She was smiling comfortingly, but Twilight wasn't convinced that her smile was genuine.

Rainbow's gaze settled on her other friends that stood behind Twilight. They all looked at Rainbow Dash sadly, unsure of what they could say.

"We're all going to be okay," Rainbow continued. "You'll see. We'll get the Elements back."

Twilight forced a smile, still feeling unsure about Rainbow's spirits. "We'll try, Rainbow," she said, "it's just that... I know it must be horrible for you - after everything's that happened..."

"Twilight, I'm fine," Rainbow said with a hint of impatience. "Blazedart and I weren't that close anyway; why should I care what he does? I'll move on from it." She nodded confidently, the smile still on her face.

But Twilight could tell she wasn't being honest: there was something different in Rainbow's eyes, like a little twinkle of sadness desperately trying to hide itself away. It was strange, since it was unlike Rainbow Dash to lose her nerve over anything.

Rainbow's smile slowly faded from her face and her eyes wandered to the floor beneath her feet. It was like she was reminiscing something. When she suddenly realised her friends were watching her, she broke out of her thoughts and turned away from them, frustrated. "Just let it go, okay?" she snapped. "I don't want to talk about it anymore."

They all exchanged sad glances, afraid to say another word. Twilight studied Rainbow Dash as she kept her back turned to the group, her head hanging forlornly. Twilight noticed the Pegasus raise a hoof to her face, as if she were trying to protect it, and then she began to sniff loudly, curling her head deeper into herself. Twilight stepped closer to her again, suddenly very worried. "Rainbow?"

Rainbow Dash's entire body shook as she let out a pained sob, something that Twilight had never heard from her before, and then when she finally turned around, Twilight saw that her magenta eyes were shining with tears.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said, her voice croaking, and she pulled Rainbow into a tight hug, cradling her and stroking her mane as she cried softly into Twilight's neck.

"I know, Rainbow... I'm so sorry... it's okay, you'll be fine..." Twilight spoke to her gently, trying to calm her down, though she knew there was no way she could make Rainbow Dash happy right now. Fluttershy ran over instantly to put a comforting hoof around her, she herself in quiet tears, eventually followed by the others who enclosed themselves around the two ponies in a warm huddle, desperately trying to lift each other's spirits in this dark place. None of them knew what was headed their way next, but the only way they could tolerate this fear was to stay together and stay strong, hoping, somehow, that they would get through this. They would just have to wait and find out...