The Darkness Ascends

After the battle, everything went by too fast.

Fluttershy had no idea what was going on. There was an ominous dark flash, and a menacing laugh. Followed by it was a dark shadow that cast all around. Cadence and Shining Armor were banished, just like Sombra was 1,000 years ago. They were forced to go back into Equestria, along with the Royal sisters, in defeat.

But she and her friends had not been so lucky.

Since they had tried to defeat lord Sombra, they had all been separated and forced to go through Sombra´s door, and face their greatest fears, or do labor and live poorly for the rest of their lives

They all chose the latter.

But poor Fluttershy seemed to get the worst of it. Sombra thought it was amusing out of all that had happened, and Fluttershy was still timid and quiet. He had made her his personal servant. She honestly thought that he thought of her as a pet.

It wasn´t that bad; she wasn´t forced to work endlessly, or live a nightmare. It was very leisurely compared to what some of her friends, like Rainbow Dash, had been assigned.

Most of the time she just sat there in a miniature chair-like-bed, where she spent most of her time, closely resembling what a pet might lay in, but it was much larger and comfortable.

The tasks she were given were very simple, like fetching her lord´s breakfast, or sitting there, bored most of the time, answering his questions.

At first, Fluttershy had been extremely afraid of Sombra, but after a while, she learned that he wasn´t a monster, he was just misunderstood.

Fluttershy´s presence had a bit of an influence on him, making his punishments less cruel, or as un-cruel as you could get with him.

He didn´t acknowledge her much, but when he did, it wasn´t too horrible. Most of the time he was just annoyed with some various problem, and would let it out by criticizing her, or not paying much attention.

But Fluttershy didn´t mind, she understood mostly why he was upset, or what had upset him.

It was very lonely very often, because the questions Sombra asked her were not very precise or in her range of knowledge. She usually didn´t have a very good answer, and the questions were occasional, short, and random.

Most of her time was spent with Sombra, in the throne room, where he would sit, usually reading, or sleeping.

It was always quiet, except for the pitter-patter of rain that could be heard and seen from the windows. It was always raining.

 Fluttershy wondered how that worked, and why the empire was not completely flooded, but another servant told her it was because Sombra controlled the weather, and could have the ground absorb as much water as he liked by just using a simple rain spell.

She often felt dreary, and lonesome, wishing to talk with one of her old friends. But they would most likely not see each other for a long time, if not ever again.

~~~

Fluttershy was not one to eavesdrop, but she couldn´t help but overhear a conversation taking place outside the exquisite door to the throne room. It seemed to be between Sombra and another stallion, but she had no idea who.

"What do you mean you´re not sure? This could be the death of all of us! This will be our end- our demise!"

"It is very unlikely that he will be back. There was enough bickering with him and his family for him to be sent away forever."

"Sombra, it may be difficult to escape from the stars, but it is not impossible."

"If he is to escape, we shall become allies, and together banish the Royal nuisances who call themselves true rulers of Equestria."

"But he is unpredictable!"

"So am I."

The conversation ended abruptly, and Fluttershy almost didn´t have enough time to get back onto her chair-bed

Sombra entered the room, obviously angry and exhausted.

He slumped onto his dark crystal throne, and used his magic to lift a book from his wide collection.

Fluttershy looked back down, and decided to sleep and try to figure out what the two were talking about.

~~~

When Fluttershy awoke the next morning, she realized something was wrong. Sombra wasn´t in the room, and it was very late morning. She could tell that she had overslept, and had not been awoken to perform her duties. She looked around cautiously and timidly, trying to fathom what had happened.

Suddenly she head many footsteps and put her head back into the pillow, pretending to still be asleep.

The doors opened to reveal an extremely frustrated Sombra and many of his Crystal mercenaries assisting him.

They quickly set up a large round table and chairs. They started to discuss battle plans and strategies.

Why would they need to talk about that?

They weren´t planning a war, were they?!

If that happened, she could only imagine if it was, and probably is, against Equestria.

Her homeland would be destroyed, and all of her friends back home would be hurt or even worse.

Killed.

This thought made Fluttersny so upset and scared that she forgot to breathe.

For a moment she thought she was dying of fright, but realized she just needed to take a quiet breath in.

This calmed her a bit, and she decided to listen and learn what the guards and Sombra were discussing.

"No... She will be harder to capture, now that she is back in enemy lands."

Were they talking about one of her friends?

"Should we declare war and use the hostages we have as of now captive in the dungeon?"

"No, they´ve been in our clutches for too long now. The sisters probably think they´re dead by now."

Fluttershy nervously gulped.

"Strengthen the empire´s barriers. Direct orders."

"Yes, sir."

A guard exited the room, and went off.

"Should we capture more hostages?"

"No, too tricky."

"Perhaps steal the elements?"

Sombra paused for a moment.

Another guard stepped in.

"No, the elements themselves are not needed. The subjects that represent the elements are just the same. They could be ignited the same way. All of them together are a super-weapon."

"But we are missing the element of magic!" One chimed in.

They were talking about Twilight! She had escaped!

Fluttershy could only imagine what horrible punishment she had been given, seen to how she was related to the empire´s former rulers who had been in the way of Sombra´s plans.

Not to mention she was the personal student of Princess Celestia.

"Gather all element bearers. After all of them have been rounded up we shall claim to have them executed if that Twilight doesn´t come back."

"Are you sure the plan will work?"

"It must. That pony has done rash things like that before, and I doubt she will change her foolish ways anytime soon."

"Shall I gather the element bearers?"

"Immediately."

"Yes, sir."

Fluttershy felt the heavy feeling of dread slowly start to sink in.

She would be forced to use the elements against Equestria? That sounded horrible!

He flew out of the room like the first one.

Sombra looked like a heavy weight had been lifted off his chest.

"Dismissed."

And as quickly as the guards had entered the room, they had left, gathering the table and everything.

Sombra walked up to his throne.

He let out a small chuckle and sat down.

Fluttershy wondered why he had chuckled, until she realized that in the position she was sleeping, you could see her flank.

She blushed, and buried herself into the bed even further.

Sombra didn´t seem to notice her again for a while though, and went back to his usual things.

Fluttershy sat in the bed, thoughts swirling around in her head.

It was quiet for a long time, until a guard from earlier came back into the room.

"Sir we have four of the element bearers gathered."

Sombra seemed annoyed.

"Where is the fifth?"

The guard pointed.

"Her."

Sombra scowled.

"Bring her to where the rest of them are."

"Yes, sir."

Sombra went back to his work, although it was clear something was bothering him.

The guard was emotionless and said "Miss, come with me."

All of the sudden all Fluttershy could think of was how the guard´s spear was so sharp and how dungeons were filthy and crowded with horrible ponies who had done horrible things.

Fluttershy was so afraid, she fainted.

~~~

When Fluttershy awoke, she was very weak.

She had no idea what had happened, all she remembered was how Sombra was going to make her stay in the dungeon. She shuddered at the mere thought of that.

"Oh, I'm glad to see you've finally woke up!"

Her fears were interrupted by a cheerful peach earth pony nurse who appeared to be caring for her.

"W-What happened?" Fluttershy stammered.

"Why, you poor thing. Well, when you were about to be... Escorted... You fainted at the thought of it. You hit your head on the ground pretty hard back there. You were knocked out cold. I'm just glad to see you're feeling a little better.

She smiled warmly at her.

"Oh, well, thank you for taking care of me but I really should-"

"Oh no ya don't sweetheart."

Fluttershy tried to sit up from her bed but was far too weak. She squirmed in pain.

 A soft "Ow" escaped from her throat.

"How long was I out?"

"My, it must have been a solid month."

"A month?!"

"Don't fret sweetie. You're a Pegasus, and it takes longer for your kind to heal."

Fluttershy looked down at her folded up wings.

"I guess you're right."

She tried opening up her wings but they were very sore. She folded them back up. She never really used them anyway.

"Why don't you stay in bed honey, you weren't ever very strong to begin with."

The nurse tapped some papers on a clipboard that must have been some sort of health record, but from where she got it, Fluttershy had no idea.

"Oh, ok." The nurse came over to herbed and fluffed her pillows.

"There you are sugardrops. All nice and comfy."

Fluttershy fell asleep to the soft humming of a lullaby.

~~~

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