The Darkness Ascends

"Th- There are two kinds of elements?!"

A frightened light grey Alicorn stallion stuttered out the words in a jumbled mesh.

"Yes. In harmony, there is chaos. One cannot exist without the other. Light, darkness, all the same, but not quite."

A voice that sounded particularly familiar filled the room.

"N-No! I... I will destroy these 'elements of disharmony' and make my father proud!"

"Tsk tsk. You have very much to learn if you are to be the next ruler of Equestria. Perhaps it is not your fate to rule."

"No! I was destined to rule!"

"Then you must retrieve the elements of disharmony and use them. The harmonic ones are becoming too strong and overused."

"But, then there would be chaos!"

"Your point?"

"It... It's not right. It shouldn't be like that."

"You misunderstand, my dear friend. The elements of disharmony aren't necessarily bad, just... Misunderstood. Like you and me."

"But it's wrong! My kingdom does not want disharmony overpowering them!"

"Your kingdom?"

"It shall be mine to rule soon enough."

"Well, my dear friend, the inharmonic elements won't overpower the harmonic ones. Things will just be evened out, like it's supposed to be. What would the purpose of the elements of harmony have if there was no disharmony? Like I said, one without the other is meaningless."

"So... I must use these other elements; and create evils that the elements of harmony must destroy?"

"Ah, you seem to get it now!"

"But, then they are not equal."

"Well..."

"These other elements are not represented correctly! Somepony must stand up for them!"

"Your words my friend, not mine."

"They need to be respected, and find their equal place!"

"Your point?"

"I shall turn the tables and keep everything in balance. I shall make father proud!"

~~~

Fluttershy awoke with a start.

Who was the other voice?

She was dazed and worn out from her dream. She yawned and stretched, extending her wings.

What was she thinking about again?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a slam of the door.

A guard entered the room.

"Miss Fluttershy. I have been told that you must join the rest of your; 'friends' downstairs at once. Direct orders."

"I- But- Well, o-ok."

She reluctantly got out of her bed and followed the guard.  She was feeling much better, but she was still pretty weak. The nurse was no where to be found. More guards came to escort her. She supposed the reason was to make sure she wouldn't escape, but she was too tired and timid anyway.

They led her down the dark stone halls, and to a spruce door leading to a stone flight of spiral stairs. It looked moist and moldy down there. Fluttershy hesitated, but a guard shoved her head the other way, and she was forced to follow.

They continued down the stairs for what seemed like forever. When Fluttershy's legs just about couldn't take it anymore, the guards halted. One of the main guards who was a unicorn used to magic to take a key and unlock a cell door. So that was this horrible place. The dungeon.

Fluttershy let out a scared whimper.

He shoved her inside, making her collapse on the ground. She was very weak to begin with, not to mention she hadn't had a good meal in a month.

The guard immediately closed the door and went off to do more of his duties, leaving Fluttershy alone.

Well, she at least thought she was until she noticed a soft blue aura illuminating behind her. She gasped.

"Rarity? Oh my Celestia! You look awful!"

Fluttershy hadn't meant to be hurtful, and immediately regretted her choice of words, but she was being honest. Her mane was a ruffled mess, and her white coat was dirty and full of grime. She looked malnourished, and starving.

"Oh my! Fluttershy! You're- you're alive!"

She was a bit startled.

"Why-why wouldn't I be?"

"Oh darling, we were so worried! After Twilight went missing we figured that was it. But now you're here!"

A raspy voice came from the darker side of the cell behind her.

"We thought you were dead like she was."

Fluttershy gagged.

"Twi-Twi-Twilight's dead?!?!"

"Well, it's only what we could assume, since nopony has seen her for so long."

Fluttershy was about to cry, until she realized that being Sombra's personal servant hadn't been so bad after all.

"A-Actually, um, I think she might be ok."

"Really???!!!"

Pinkie Pie came in behind Rainbow Dash. Both of their coats were faded and dirty, like Rarity's.

"Um, yes?"

"Well sugarcube, don't keep it in. Tell us what ya' gotta say."

Applejack followed in after Pinkie.

"I, um, was close to, um, Sombra, when we were, uh, separated, and I um, heard some guards say that Twilight may have, escaped..."

Rarity squealed with delight. "So she might be ok?!"

"I, I'm not very sure, but it's possible."

A wide grin appeared on Pinkie's unusually sad face.

"TWILIGHT MIGHT BE OK!!! THIS IS AWESOME!!!"

She bounced off the walls in delight.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack were smiling, exchanging glances with one another.

"She hasn't done that in weeks" Rainbow Dash mumbled.

"Wait, Fluttershy darling, why were you around Sombra?"

She mid behind her long pink mane.

"I, um, worked for him."

She was bombed with questions.

'What was it like?' 'Was it absolutely horrifying?' 'Were those guards mean?' 'What did you do?' 'Are you ok?' 'What happened after that?' 'What else did you do?'

'Was it lonely?' 'What questions did he ask?' 'What books did he read?' 'What else?!'

Fluttershy felt overwhelmed. She tried to answer as many as she could, without breaking down. They were trapped in a dungeon, and it wasn't as spacious as it sounds.

They were all so loud that a guard had to come over to their cell and scream 'Quiet down! It's curfew! I don't want a single word coming from any of your mouths!'

Fluttershy shrank back into a corner and shivered. It was cold in the dungeon. She used her wings to warm herself by covering herself with her body, but they were still sore, and her wings were cold too anyway.

She fell asleep, into another dream.

~~~

"No! You don't know what you're doing!"

"This isn't right, you know better."

"Hand over the elements, now!"

The same Alicorn from earlier was confronting two other Alicorns, who both seemed to represent the night and day. The stallion, whom was darkness, had a dark coat with wispy wings and white stars dotted all over his body. He wore a silver crown with a purple gemstone in it. The other female, which represented day, was white, with a sunset orange covering her wings, and had a dark purple and orange mane with stars in her coat as well.

"You don't know anything! My patron has taught me well. He has shown me the errors of your ways! And I shall over-rule you, and restart Equestria, and restore its former glory!"

"Son," the male Alicorn pleaded. "You do not know what you are doing. Please, stop, we need to talk about this."

"After all you have done for me? Ha! Your rule has come to an end, just like the prophecy said. And I shall be the new ruler, and have the power all to myself!"

"No." The female stepped in. "The prophecy states that two rulers are to take our place, and that they shall reign for Equestria. We give our crowns to your younger sisters."

"Not if I can help it."

The young Alicorn charged at his mother, ready for the fight of his life.

~~~

"Roll call! Roll call!"

A guard woke Fluttershy up. She would have preferred to stay in bed, but apparently that wasn't an option. The rest of her friends were up, and Pinkie was nervously trying to move Fluttershy by the cell door for attendance.