A week in prison is the worst experience to a first timer. Unless you're trained for close combat, that is. The first day, some guy, who probably thought his bulk could get him whatever he wanted, came up to Rainbow Dash during the informal dinnertime.

"You gonna eat that?" He asked, pointing at the paper cup of slop in her hands. His posture told her he really meant "You're not eating that anymore."

"In fact, I am." Rainbow replied.

"Actually, I don't think you are." he said more aggressively, taking a step closer.

"No, I don't believe I'm mistaken. I'm definitely hungry enough to eat this." The man then tried to grab the cup straight out of her hands, but of course Rainbow Dash had expected that at that point. She quickly spun to the left, simultaneously moving to the right. The man, suddenly finding no resistance, stumbled forward. He barely recovered before hitting the ground, turning quickly to face Rainbow. She blocked a punch thrown straight towards her face, and ducked a heavy right hook. She used her momentum getting up to drive her right fist into his stomach, and then spinning around to deliver a strong kick to the side of her would-be robber's head, who was now bent over double. It knocked him out cold, falling on the ground, saliva dripping from his mouth. The whole ordeal was over in ten seconds flat. She tilted the cup in her left hand, which she had never put down, to her mouth and ate some of the terrible goop from within. She had gotten much better at controlling her new arm over the week.

"Ugh. You made my dinner get cold." she said to the unconscious body. She kicked him in the stomach, just to make sure he woke up sore. Really she could have ended the fight right at the beginning, by grabbing his fist and bringing her new limb down on his arm. But that wouldn't be sporting, would it? From then on, she would see him eyeing her nastily from the other side of camp, but she could see the fear in his eyes. He wouldn't be an issue again, and judging by the looks some other prisoners threw at her, neither would anybody else. On Rainbow Dash's seventh day there, Spitfire came back to consciousness. She only went to sleep of her own accord now, and most of her wounds were looking much better. Dash began to be hopeful that maybe she would be recovered enough in time for her to escape.

On the fifthteenth day, everything fell apart. Rainbow Dash was heading to find Fluttershy with a plan she had been cooking up, when alarms began blaring over the camp. She happened to spot Fluttershy exiting a tent a few meters away, and went over to join her.

"What's going on?" she asked Fluttershy.

"I have no clue." Guards in the watchtowers were aimed at something between the fences, but weren't shooting. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash jogged over to the area in question, finding a guard struggling with an inmate who had somehow wrestled their handgun from it's holster. The inmate was attempting to aim it back at the soldier, who was struggling to keep it away. Eventually, the inmate stopped struggling and quickly brought the gun back and smacked it into the guard's head before they could react. They were knocked out cold, even the impact dampeners in the helmet not helping due to the apparent strength of this man. The inmate held the guard by their vest collar, using them as a human shield. They picked up the gun that had dropped after the guard was rendered unconscious, pointing it at the other guards that were arriving to the scene, who proceeded to open fire. Bullets ripped through the unconscious guard and inmate alike. Both bodies fell to the ground. One of the guards in an officer's cap started shouting orders.

"This is unacceptable! You, up there!" they said, pointing to a guard tower, "Who's in charge of this watch?" A soldier came down the tower's stairs, stopping in front of the officer and saluting. "What's your name?" the officer asked mumbled something that Rainbow Dash couldn't hear. "Well Captain, why didn't you order your men to shoot?"

"They would have hit one of our own sir." The officer was unmoved.

"And?"

"I- I'm not sure what you mean, sir."

"You may have let that prisoner escape. You know that it's protocol to do whatever is required to prevent an escape."

"He was unarmed, sir. He couldn't have-"

"You've disobeyed a direct order from Commander Sombra."

"It would have been a crime sir. I-"

"You know what else is a crime? Treason."

"Sir?"

"And I don't have an issue doing what is required of me." The officer brought his pistol out of it's holster and leveled it at the soldier's head before they could react. The gunshot was deafening in the relative silence of the camp. A red mist covered the concrete base of the fence. The captain collapsed, the ground turning a dirty shade of dark brown as his blood mingled with the dirt. Rainbow Dash realized more than ever just how bad the Iron Federation really was. The officer shouted to the watchtower. "Double the patrols. We don't want anyone getting confident off of this soldier's incompetence." Rainbow Dash turned to Fluttershy.

"Well, I had a plan. But the increased patrols will make it impossible."

"I don't think our luck could be much worse. I don't see a way in Tartarus we can possibly get out now."

"I don't want to believe it, but I think Spitfire and I have been condemned by this." Rainbow felt helpless for what may have been the first time in her life. Fluttershy sighed before replying.

"I know. I think it's best to act like we have hope anyway, it'll only make these last days feel worse thinking about your impending doom."

"And those words are comforting."

"Sorry, I'm not the gentle type."

"I get it."

"Yeah." Their sentences got shorter and shorter as they really realized their position.

Two days later, no one had come up with anything. The future looked bleak, and Spitfire had begun to be very quiet after Rainbow Dash had told her the bad news. When she finally did say something more than a word or two, it was to say "What's the point? I'm not escaping in time either way." Rainbow Dash knew she had realized the same thing she and Fluttershy had realized over two weeks ago. Or maybe she had realized the whole time, but still held out hope for Dash. Now that hope had been crushed, and her condition began to deteriorate. It began with a fever. A day later it was said that somehow her body had just stopped fighting the infection. They had disinfected the wounds when she arrived, but the bacteria had already worked itself deep into her body. In the morning she was found unconscious, and her heartbeat was slow. Her eyes didn't move, and her body was perfectly still. By noon, her heartbeat was under five beats per minute. An hour later, her heart stopped beating for good. She was pronounced dead by the informal medical staff at exactly one o'clock. Rainbow Dash didn't cry, but there was a hole inside of her that would never be filled.

Dash was sitting with Fluttershy outside the tent they shared as the sun began to go down. They sat in grieving silence, and neither had spoken in the hours since Rainbow Dash had told Fluttershy about Spitfire. A siren began to wail, breaking the relative quiet that had settled over the camp. It was different than the alarm that had sounded during the incident with the inmate, and they realized that it was coming from the main fortress. Suddenly, there were resounding booms, and glowing howitzer shells from the fortress's guns arced through the air over the camp.

"Someone's attacking the fortress!" Rainbow Dash said.

"And were sitting in the crossfire," Fluttershy replied. Explosions rocked the earth and sent chunks of debris flying through the air. In the lulls in the cannonade, the sound of engines could be heard.

"It must be the Red Eagle Alliance. They're the only force that would dare attack like this."

"I pray to Shining Armor to keep the prisoners of war safe." Vehicles came into view over the horizon, indistinct shapes with oranges flashes of gunfire surrounding them. Gunshots pinged off the guard towers, putting the two right in the line of fire.

"Me too."