The six ponies walked towards the castle, shivering. Twilight led them, stopping at the doors. The six looked up at them, fear in their eyes.
Twilight, maybe this isn't such a good idea." Rainbow Dash said, tail flicking nervously. "Maybe we shoul-" Twilight flicked her indigo tail, covering the cyan pegaus' mouth.
No!" the purple alicorn hissed, glancing back at her friends. "We have to. Have to. Have...to." She repeated, glancing back at the huge, crystal doors.
The Elements of Harmony were broken, scratched, bruised. They had fought through the forest, to confront an old, shadowy enemy. Twilight's horn began to glow, and the doors flew open. She led them through the doors.
"Show yourself, Sombra!" She screamed into the seemingly abandoned castle. A dark laugh echoed through the castle, causing all of those present to get chills. Fluttershy sank down, covering her eyes with her hooves. Rarity stumbled back from the source of the sound.
The castle was made out of pure crystal, on the inside. It shone with a dark light, and it felt very cold. A plush, red rug with black outlines led up to a dark crystal throne.
Rainbow Dash flew up until the ceiling stopped her. "Where are you?" She shouted, angrily. The laugh came again, and Pinkie Pie also backed up, huddling to her party cannon. Applejack narrowed her eyes. "L-l-laugh all ya want, but y-y-ya can't hide forever!" she said shakily
"Oh, can't I?" said a dark voice, and another laugh shook the castle walls. Suddenly, dark tendrils shot out, encircling Twilight and Rarity's horns. Twilight desperately tried to perform a spell, but it was far too late. She fell to the ground, along with Rarity, horn gone."D-d-don't worry." Twilight Sparkle murmured. "It's only a t-t-temporary spell...l-l-lasts for a minute..."
The same dark tendrils grabbed the six, and King Sombra appeared in the middle of the room. His horn glowed with a sickly green light, and his red eyes narrowed as see-through crystals burst from the walls. They slowly started forming pony-shaped outlines, looking smooth and tight. The ponies were unable to escape the grasp of shadow, weakening slowly until they could barely move.
One by one, he pushed the ponies into their respective shapes. More crystals formed over their limbs, encasing them completely. The unicorns' horns appeared, but black crystal encased them. Magic disabling crystal, Twilight noted.
Slowly, the six closed their eyes, one by one, going unconscious.
Rainbow's eyes opened, bleary. Sombra sat, bored, trailing his hoof along the floor. "W-what did you do?" she asked, weakly, still encased in crystal.
"Cast a spell to make you all only able to blink." the unicorn answered in monotone, glancing over to her.
"W-wh-why?" she stuttered, hating how weak she sounded. And felt.
"One by one, I'm going to kill you." he answered in the same monotone."But not you, Rainbow Dash. I'm going to save you."
The cyan pegasus smiled weakly. "No thanks."
Sombra hissed. "I need a queen, and you will be her."
Rainbow started to say something, but Twilight started to wake up. So did the others.
"Show starts..." the dark unicorn teleported to the middle of the room, and gave a sadistic smile, "Now." His horn began to glow, and Fluttershy appeared before him. "A random spell, brought me the weakling. Hmm..." He paced around her, touching her wings. "I have an idea."
The mare suddenly had a glow around her eyes. "N-n-no."
Fluttershy was paralyzed, and Sombra crept forward, and slowly, slowly, stroked her mane. "She'll take care of herself." he said, grinning. A red gash appeared on her side, and suddenly you could see the childhood bullies, punching her.
Applejack appeared next, and she tried to kick him straight away. Her lasso suddenly was glowing, and it wrapped around her legs until you heard the snap of her bones. She collapsed, but that was all Dash saw because Rainbow Dash was released, and Sombra crept up to her. "Run, Loyalty, run."
And she ran.
And she didn't look back.
"RAINBOW, WAIT!" Twilight called after her. "Dash!" screamed A.J. "Rainbow Dash!" yelled Rarity. "Stop!" screeched Pinkie, adding to the constant screams.
"NO!" she replied, tears in her eyes.
"NO!" Rainbow Dash yelled, bolting up in her plush bed. The bright blue drapes that blocked her from the rest of the world were flung open by Soarin, who, upon seeing Dash's face, crawled into the bed.
He climbed underneath the covers, laying beside her. Rainbow Dash layed her head on his chest, and he whispered, "Shh, it's okay now, it's alright, you'll be alright." and stroked her multi-color mane. Rainbow highly doubted she'd be okay, after everything she'd just relived.
"Soarin, they're back and they scream they always scream they never stop screaming it's always scream scream scream scream and I WANT IT TO STOP!" Dash sobbed, very, very quickly. She started to shake, tears welling up in her rosey eyes.
"I know, I know. The Wonderbolts' decided to help you so Spitfire, Fleetfoot and I are gonna all talk to you and try to help you out. Okay?" Soarin murmured softly.
"Okay." Dash replied, sighing into his blue coat. "Okay."
"But first, how about a little breakfast, yeah?"
Rainbow simply nodded. To be honest, she wasn't hungry. After all, who would be hungry after seeing their friends be killed? But, she ignored it. She had to eat, because she was dangerously thin.
"What would you like, Dash?" Soarin asked carefully, softly.
Dash shrugged, not trusting herself to speak. She didn't want to whine, because she was Rainbow Dash, the Wonderbolt, not afraid of anything! Right?
She had a bad feeling that wasn't true. It probably wouldn't be true, ever again. The Elements of Haromny, plus one princess were dead.
It was all her fault. She burst out sobbing, once more. Soarin tried to comfort her, but it wasn't any use. Rainbow was so weak, since that happened. The mare missed her friends, and her tears were...what were they anyway? Grief? Anger? Fear? She closed her eyes, trying to stop crying. Instead, she saw images of her friends, dying, hear Sombra's laugh.
Why her? Why couldn't it stop?