Shadow Dash

Chapters

Prologue: Escape
Chapter 1: Old Friend
Chapter 2: The Talk
Chapter 3: Close Call (V1.1.1)
Chapter 5: Survival (V1.0.1)
Chapter 6: Rescue
Chapter 7: The Heart
Chapter 8: Final Struggle
Epilogue
Chapter 4: Going Deeper (V1.2)

Prologue: Escape

You all know King Sombra. Made of pure evil, King of the Shadows? You probably didn't know that he had a daughter. Yeah, a daughter. Pretty surprising for someone so almighty and evil. Her name was Shadow Dash. She lived in Sombra's castle, as did all his servants, sitting in her own room most of the time. She was a cyan colored pegasus with a rainbow mane, not really living up to the whole 'Shadow' part of Shadow Dash. Of course, her father insisted on calling her that. He hated colors. He hated joy. Light. Anything that wasn't dark and shadowy wasn't good enough for him.

Shadow hated her father. She had nothing to do in the damned castle. Even with all the space. All the open hallways, rooms, dorms, kitchens... there was nothing to do. She wasn't allowed to fly. Her father, of course, had to hate flying. He was a unicorn, he stuck to magic. And with his hatred of flying came his hatred of pegasi. Pretty unlucky for Shadow, who was a pegasus herself. Sometimes she would wonder why her father hated pegasi so much and how she turned out to be one herself.

Sometimes she wished she was never born in the first place.

It was nearing the end of the day, tomorrow would be her birthday. Her 5th birthday. You'd think a father would be proud and would attend said birthday, right? Well, for Dash, it was quite the opposite.

"Hey dad?" little Shadow tapped on her father's side. He was much taller than she was, he was an adult. It made sense.

"What annoyance do you bring to me this evening, Shadow?" her father grumbly replied. He was in the midst of signing papers of some sort. He didn't even bother to look up from his parchment. Just signing away, approving and stamping parchments. He was the leader of this Empire, of course.

"Dad, I was thinking. Since tomorrow is my birthday, could we do something? Just you and me?" Shadow asked quietly. She knew it was a long shot, but she still wanted to try.

"No. What kind of ridiculous question is that? Birthdays are pointless. Just celebrating that we are one year closer to death," Sombra replied, eyes still glued onto the papers.

"But, Dad, please?" she pleaded. Slight tears forming in her eyes. She nudged her father.

He growled and set his pen down before turning towards Shadow. "What part of no don't you understand?!" he shouted. "Get out of my sight, I'm busy right now! We can talk later, but preferably not," he shooed her away like a fly.

Shadow stumbled backwards and tears streamed down her face. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out, only sobs. She ran back to her room and slammed the door behind her.

She just wanted to have a normal life. Normal friends, normal hobbies, heck, she'd even take being a boring old librarian over this whose only job is to stack and organize books. At least normal people would come into her place then. Of course, she could only dream. How could she escape from this place? It was her home, she'd have nowhere else to go. Even if she did have a home outside of this castle, what would she do then? She only knew life within the castle walls, she didn't know what the outside world was like. What normal ponies were like. For now, she would sit in the corner of her room, crying the night away, hoping that she wouldn't wake up in the same place the next morning.

It had been a while since that incident. A few years later, Shadow kept avoiding her father. Her resentment grew. She would start shouting at the guards, her anger not directed at them, but at Sombra. Even just thinking of his name made her spit in disgust. However one day, Sombra approached her. It was surprising, to say the least. Would he finally talk to her? Give her the love and attention she deserved?

"Daughter," he spoke. They stood in her bedroom. "I believe you are old enough to learn to rule besides me."

A volley of emotions cycled through her. Confusion. Anger. She shouted, "Why in Tartarus should I rule besides you?! All you've done my entire life is ignore me! Ignore me and push me down! Now you want me to rule besides you?!"

"You know nothing of what you speak, child, now either you will learn to rule besides me, or I will lock you in this room myself!" Sombra growled.

"I don't want to rule, Dad! I want to go out in the world! I want a normal life! I want friends! Lots of friends so I can talk to someone when I'm bored!" Shadow cried out.

"You want friends? Friends are for the weak! They only bring you down until they stab you in the back! Betray you! And if they don't? They'd only slow you down!" Sombra argued. He stomped his hoof on the ground.

"Why can't I have a normal life, Dad? Why can't I have a normal family? Someone who cares for me and helps me up when I'm down? The only loving family I ever had was mom! Mom was twice the parent you wer-" Shadow was cut off.

"WE DO NOT SPEAK OF MOTHER!!" he roared, his eyes flaring out purple. The room dropped fifteen degrees in temperature. Dash crumbled down to the ground in fear like a piece of paper. "You know NOTHING of what mother did when she was around. We do not speak of her EVER. If I catch you even WHISPERING about her, I will banish you into the dungeons myself! Am I clear?!"

Shadow weakly nodded.

"Good. And if you are not grateful with the life you have now, let me remind you that I brought you into this world and I can take you out. You're grounded Shadow. I will unlock this door when you feel ready to rule," he finished and slammed the door, dust flying out from underneath. She heard a click sound coming from the door.

Then silence.

Shadow got up. She stood there for a bit, tears streaming down her face, before she clenched her eyes shut and screamed as loud as she could before kicking the wall in front of her. The wall shuddered upon impact. A frame hanging on the wall, one of the only pictures held up in her room, shook side to side before eventually falling and cracking both the frame and the glass covering. A loud RRIIIIP sound was heard as it fell.

Dash yelped in surprise when the frame hit the floor. "What?! NO!" Dash rushed over to the fallen picture and picked it up in her hooves. Small glass shards fell onto her legs, giving her small cuts, but she didn't care. She shook the picture a bit, getting all the other small bits out before carefully picking up the picture held within, careful not to rip it further. It was a drawing that was made a while ago. In the middle, there was a shakily drawn picture of a smiling blue pony with a rainbow mane. She seemed happy. Besides her was a grey unicorn with black hair and a horribly drawn set of armor on top of him who also held a smile. And on the other side of the blue pony was a white pegasus, wings outstretched. She had a beautiful mane colored rainbow, just like the blue pony's in the center. They stood in a castle background, all smiling together. Much like a family photo. And to top it all off, there was a large pink heart drawn around them. They were all happy... joyful.

The state the ponies were in almost made it feel... foreign to Shadow. And yet, she hugged it tightly, crying softly into the paper. Then, she muttered something quietly, so that not even a mouse nearby would be able to hear. Eventually, she stopped hugging the paper and looked at it again. She wiped the tears from her eye and a new spark of energy brewed within her. One of determination.

Quickly, she grabbed her saddle bags, stuffed her toiletries, clothes, and other various items into the bag. Eventually, it was nearly full, and she went back to the piece of artwork. She picked it up, examining it closely. She looked at the picture, and wondered if what she was doing was the right thing to do. But then she looked up at her bedroom door. And back at her paper. Then at the door. The paper. And then her mind was set. She neatly folded the picture up, kissed it lightly on top, and safely secured it in her saddlebag.

She approached the only window in the room. One that was small. With no doors to open it. Only able to see the world which she could not reach. Shadow attempted to move it in anyway possible, but it would not budge. She shouted in anger and punched her hoof through it, making the planes shatter clear off, leaving some glass shards imbedded in her hoof.

"Ow!" she yelped in pain. She ripped out the shards with her teeth. Blood started pouring out. She covered it with her other hoof and carefully flew through the small gap she made.

Then it hit her. A gush of wind. The smell of plants. The chirping of crickets. Freedom! At last!

She flew up in the air and spun around, whooping in cheer. Then, she blasted off away. Just away from the castle. Away from her prison. That damned castle that she had dared called a home. Now she was off. Anywhere was better than here.

She flew as far as her wings would take her. Well, of course that wasn't that far. She was still a filly after all. She decided that it was okay to take a quick break, so she landed on a nearby tree and tried to get comfortable. And damn was that tree comfortable. Now, it was time to enjoy a nice sleep, away from the nightmare.

* * *

Shadow woke up. Fully rested, too! She smiled as a new day was to be had. Eventually, she saw a city nearby, filled with tons of ponies! The way the sun shined on the city made it glow like it was something straight from heaven!

It was such a bright day, Dash could sing her heart out right now! The aroma of flowers and baked goods came from the city below. Those who were down there could be seen smiling, chatting, talking with others, sharing meals with each other. Giving each other hugs.

Excited, Shadow dashed down to the center of the city, looking around at the sights around her. An ice cream shop! A painting store! A... war camp? Why would they need a war camp here? She looked besides it and saw... 'Tom's Armor & Weapons'. Wait, that's not right. Dash continued to look around.

Bows & Crossbows

Lots and Lots of Axes!

Scool's Skull Shop

Barn's Bloodspill

Screaming and Screaming!

War and DEATH

The sky started to turn dark, the clouds turning crimson red. Thunder crackled down and it started to rain blood.

Shadow's eyes widened. She started to hyperventilate. She began to walk backwards, away from the madness, but ran into a pony. When she turned around to look at the them, she saw evil green eyes staring into her soul. Purple flaring out with extreme power. It spoke to her. "Friends are for the weak! They only bring you down until they stab you in the back! Betray you!" it spoke in her father's voice.

She ran in the opposite direction, but tripped on a branch, falling face first into the concrete. When she got up, all the ponies were gone. Replaced by replicas of her father. All staring at her.

"Rule besides me!" they all spoke in unison before cackling with evil laughter.

"No!" Dash screamed. She turned around again, but this time it was yet another clone of her father, grown to the size of fifty ponies, towering over her.

"Join me!" it roared.

"NEVER!" Shadow shrieked. She looked all around her and the clones started to close in on her. One step at a time, closing the circle around her.

Shadow curled into a ball and sobbed into her legs. "GO AWAY! PLEASE! LEAVE ME ALONE!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Then there was silence.

Dash tried to uncurl herself, but she was trapped in a small box. It was pitch black all around.

"M-mom? D-dad? Anyone?" she whimpered. She couldn't move. She was stuck. Her breathing increased in tempo. "D-dad?! Anypony! Help! I don't want to be here anymore! Please! I'll go back to your castle! I'll rule by your side! Anywhere but here!" she shouted. But only darkness was returned. Dark shadows that surrounded her.

Her breathing quickened even more in pace. The room started to run out of oxygen. Her vision began to fade, until eventually, it turned completely black.

* * *

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Shadow screamed. She bolted straight up. Her body was covered in cold sweat. She felt her face and it was covered in tears. She had been crying for hours.

Carefully, she stood up and wiped her face. She brushed the leaves out of her mane and coat and slid the saddlebags over her back once more.

"More travel time... yay," she said unenthusiastically.

She took to the sky, soaring slower this time. Her mind still on the dream the previous night. She shook her head. It was just a dream. Nothing more. He's wrong. I will never rule with him.

Eventually, she came across a small town. Looking down, she could read that it was called Ponyville. It looked like a good place to settle down. Not a lot of ponies here. Mostly just Earth Ponies and Unicorns. Maybe she could stay here?

Just then, she looked up to the sky and saw a huge towering cloud. "Woooah!" she exclaimed and took off towards the top.

It was a giant cloud city! Pegasi were flying all over the place! And there was a school?! She could learn all kinds of new things there! The little filly was excited, like she had just eaten an entire pack of gummy bears by herself. She raced towards the school and saw kids her age flying around and having fun. Playing catch, racing, and other interesting activities.

That was until she saw one pony that was separate from the rest. It was a yellow pegasus with a pink mane. The difference from everyone else? Shadow saw two older pegasi talking down to her. What kind of cruel joke is this? She flew down to investigate.

"Haha! What was that flying, Klutzershy? My baby brother can fly better than you!" one of them laughed.

"You should just quit and be an Earth pony, since you love the ground so much!" the other teased.

That's it. Shadow had had enough. She flew down from the roof she was perched on and directly in front of the cowering yellow pegasus.

"Leave her alone!" she shouted at them.

"And who are you?" the first bully questioned.

Shadow thought to herself for a second, but then continued, "The name's Rainbow Dash. What's it to you?"

"Hah, probably just as bad as a flier as Klutzershy over here!" he laughed.

"Yeah, Rainbow Crash," the other added while also laughing.

"Hey! I'm not a bad flier!" Shadow defended herself.

"Oh yeah? How about a race a week from now? Just you and us. A race to the other side. If you're so good at flying like you said, you should be able to easily beat us!" the first bully challenged.

"Unless you crash," the second snorted.

"Challenge accepted, losers. Prepare to go down!" she smirked.

"If you say so, Rainbow Crash," both started laughing again and walked away.

Shadow growled and got out of her defensive stance, before turning towards the shy mare she was protecting. "You okay?" she asked, offering a hoof to help her up.

"Y-yeah..." she answered quietly. She accepted the hoof and was pulled up. "T-thanks Rainbow Dash." She looked down at the floor.

"Don't sweat it," Dash said, giving her a quick hug. "Those guys don't mean nothin'."

Some time went by and neither of them spoke. Finally, Dash broke the silence, "So, what's your name? I don't wanna call you Klutzershy. Unless that's your actual name, no offense."

The mare fidgeted with her hooves. "It's, uh... F-fluttershy," she stuttered.

"Nice to meet you Flutters," Dash held up a hoof to shake. "Ya don't mind if I call you Flutters, do you?"

Fluttershy hesitantly shook her hoof. "N-no. I don't mind."

"Well then, it was nice meeting you, but I've got some places to be. Cya around?" Dash asked.

"Okay... bye. Thanks for the help, again," Fluttershy responded.

"Like I said, don't sweat it. Cya around Flutters!" Dash zoomed off into the distance, away from the city. She'd have to come back sometime. Maybe she'd even enroll in the school. For now, her eyes were set on Ponyville.

Author's Note

After the dream sequence, I got a bit lazy and kinda wrote quicker through the rest of this chapter because I wanted to finish it and get this story out before the end of today. Hopefully it's not too bad!

NOTE: I actually just realized this months after the release of this chapter, but I forgot to add in a semi-important segment, but I don't want to change the story too much so I'll keep it as is.

If you want to know what it is, it was that I forgot to have Dash use her abilities to escape. It's just her... flying away. Yeah, pretty stupid.

Chapter 1: Old Friend

Rainbow Dash bolted straight up. Her forehead was sweating profusely, the cold sweat coating not only her face, but her entire body. She looked around at her surroundings, trying to verify that she was still home. Well, her bed was there. Her room door... and Tank was there. She sighed in relief, thanking Celestia that she wasn't in her horrible dreamscape anymore.

"Damn dreams," she muttered to herself as she dragged her body out of bed. Slowly, she approached her tortoise companion, who was still peacefully sleeping. Something I haven't had in a while... Rainbow thought to herself. "Well, at least you're sleeping alright." She yawned loudly and opened her bedroom door, walking over to her clouded kitchen where it was mostly baren, save for a few fruits in a bowl and a couple of drinks in the fridge.

You know what would really make this morning? she thought to herself. A nice cup of coffee. With a new goal in mind, she approached her cabinet. It seemed to tower over her, it's shadow looming over her body, carrying the contents she so greatly desired within. She was too tired to fly or to get a stool, so she did the next best thing.

Carefully, she looked behind herself, making sure no one was around. Then, when the coast was clear, she started to glow. Actually, glow isn't the right word. Instead of giving off light, she seemed to emit the opposite of light. It was shadows. They seemed to flow around her body, much like an aura, before a slight grunt was heard from Rainbow. Suddenly, all the energy was focused to her hoof, which instantly turned a few shades darker. Satisfied, Rainbow looked up at the ever growing cabinet, and with a swing of her hoof, the door opened. And shortly after, a bag of beans levitated out, held in a dark aura, nearly completely black. Then, with a content smile, she levitated the bag towards her and used her magic to open the bag of soon-to-be-coffee beans. With a wave of her other hoof, a machine on the other side of the counter glided over to her and landed gently. She levitated the beans into the machine. With a press of a button, it started to whirr. Rainbow grabbed a cup from nearby and put it under the nozzle. The soon-to-be-coffee beans were now soon-to-be-coffee dust. Perfect!

After a quick dusting, and by dusting I mean levitating the remaining grounds of coffee into a nearby trashcan, she set aside the grinder and grabbed a second machine which sat next to it. It was her coffee brewer, already filled with water, ready to be boiled and sifted through her freshly ground beans, making her a nice cup of hot coffee. She poured the dust into a paper filter that sat within the brewing machine and placed her cup underneath the output. After a few seconds of waiting, sweet, hot liquid poured from the tip into her cup. The aroma of coffee filled the air.

Happy with the results, she grabbed the mug in her magical aura and walked towards her coach, where she lazily sat down. She grabbed the cup physically with her hooves and slowly took a sip. The taste was hot and bold. Just the way she liked it. It was a relaxing feeling. The steam would come up from the hot brew and coat her face. She could live like this forever. Just her and her coffee. Nothing could ruin this moment.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Okay, maybe something could. Rainbow groaned loudly and set her cup down on the coffee table in front of her. This better be good she thought to herself. She made her way towards the front door and opened it.

When the door creaked open, nothing could've prepared her for what she saw.

"Gilda?" Rainbow asked. She blinked several times to make sure she was seeing things correctly. A brown griffon with white fur surrounding her neck and head. Purple fur outlining her eyes and covering the ends of her hair on top. And a very recognizable face.

"Hey, Dash," Gilda mumbled. She looked down at the floor, kicking cloud dust into the air. "It's been a while, huh?"

"What are you doing here?" Rainbow said irritably. Great, I get interrupted from my perfect morning to this?

Gilda, in response, rubbed the back of her neck. She spoke quietly, almost nervous, which was something that Dash usually didn't see. "I, uh, I'm here to say sorry. For, ya know... stuff." Her eyes met with the multicolored mare in front of her.

"What kind of stuff?" Rainbow asked. She stared daggers into the griffon's soul.

"You know what I'm talking about!" Gilda said defensively, crossing her arms.

"No. I actually don't. Please, enlighten me," she growled.

"I'm sorry for, ya know, talking to your friends like that," Gilda scoffed when she said the word. "We haven't talked in a while, I was wondering what you were up to."

"You're sorry?" Rainbow spat. "Sorry?! Oh really? For verbally assaulting my friends and then asking me to abandon them, you sure seem pretty sorry to me," she snarled, taking a step forwards, entering a defensive position.

"It's not my fault that they were being a bunch of bitches!" she also took a step forward, decreasing the distance between the two to only a few inches. Okay, now she really crossed the line.

"Excuse me?!" Rainbow yelled. "I wasn't the one who got so overworked over simple pranks! Those weren't even meant for you! You just happened to trigger all of them!"

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Dash!" Gilda fumed. "Your friends are a bunch of good-for-nothings anyways!" she shoved Rainbow forwards, who caught herself on her doorframe. "You've gotten soft, Dash. When will you learn that your friends are just slowing you down?"

"My friends are the best thing that could ever have happened to me! They took me in when I didn't have a home! They cared for me!" Rainbow raged. "If anything, you were the one who slowed me down!" She shoved back. The griffon stumbled back a couple of steps.

"So I slow you down, huh? Dash, most of your friends can't even fly! The only one that can is Fluttershy! And, let's face it, she's a wimp!" Gilda argued.

Somewhere deep inside her, a fire started brewing. "Say one more thing about my friends. See what happens," Dash threatened.

"Is that a threat? What'll you do, huh? Shove me off your house? I can fly, you know," she shouted. "You should've come with me, Dash. You can still come with me! Join me, Dash. Leave those losers behind!"

Then, all of a sudden, the world started to grow dark. Rainbow growled as Gilda's sentence rang through her mind like a mantra.

Join me, Dash.

Join me.

"Uh, Dash? Anyone home? Helloooooo?" Gilda waved her claw in front of Dash's face. She was unresponsive.

Instead, the air suddenly dropped in temperature. Rainbow's eyes turned dark, her shadow aura flowing out from the sides. An energy built within her, almost like a bolt of lightning. Unstable and ready to burst. No... The mantra kept repeating in her mind. The words 'Join me' repeating for what seemed like an eternity. No! She couldn't do it. She would never. Her aura enveloped her body. She started to shake uncontrollably.

"NOOOOO!!" she screamed. Without warning, the energy surged through her entire body and shot out with incredible force. It was made of pure energy, and that energy just so happened to ram straight into the unsuspecting griffon standing in front of her. With a loud BANG! she was flung away like an insect, flying away multiple meters away, having a trail of smoke follow behind her before she, inevitably, dropped.

Rainbow's mind was cloudy. The shadows that previously enveloped her vision started to creep away, letting her see the damage that she had done. Realizing what she had just done, the shadow aura around her quickly returned to its owner, hiding itself away as Rainbow started to freak out. "Gilda?!" she shouted before diving after her at full speed.

She sliced through the air like a bullet, tears filling her eyes. I lost control again. Damn it, Dash, you just had to lose control, didn't you?! she mentally scolded herself. But scolding herself would get her nowhere. Gilda had nearly reached the ground. Not wanting to lose her old friend, she zipped through the air with ferocious speed, positioning herself atop Gilda to firmly grip her before setting her down on the floor. When she got up again, she inspected the damage she had caused. The griffon's chest was completely scorched, blood pouring out of a large cut that scraped across her body. She was still unconscious.

"Gilda! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I'm so, so, sorry!" she hugged her tightly around the chest, shaking her to try and wake her up.

Then, wisps of energy expelled itself from Rainbow and into Gilda's body. The griffon's body shuddered. Slowly, her eyes opened.

"G-Gilda?" Rainbow asked through sniffs. She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked down at the feathery mess.

But she did not see Dash anymore. She only saw darkness. One that had consumed a pony to become a monster. One that had come to finish what they had started. Her eyes were overcome with fear. She scrambled backwards to get away from that... that thing! "Stay away from me!" she shouted as she struggled to come to her feet.

"W-wait! I'm sorry, Gilda! Come back!" the monster tried to lure her back. It stood up on its feet, motioning slowly for Gilda to come over.

"Listen, I'm so sorry! I'll leave you alone! I wont tell anyone I-I swear!" Gilda tried to plead with the thing, but it didn't seem to care. It started to approach her.

"Gilda, listen to me! Please!" it took another step towards its prey. Nothing were to stop it now. It was going to kill her. And Gilda was not about to let that happen.

"Stay away from me, y-you MONSTER!" she shrieked. And with all of her energy, she used her legs to kick the monster in the stomach, to which it stumbled backwards. It seemed to do the trick, as the monster had completely stopped.

It seemed to be in deep thought.

Rainbow struggled to stand properly. Thoughts flooded her mind. Was that really what she thought of her? A monster? She wasn't a monster. She just was just a pegasus! She's saved Equestria before! She was no monster! Or... was she? I attacked her... Rainbow started to cry. I lost control. I tried to kill her! She collapsed onto her knees. Maybe I am a monster. Just a stupid MONSTER that hurts others! Through her tears she managed to see Gilda managing to get to her feet before flying away as fast as she could, quickly disappearing in the distance. Rainbow fell to the floor, sobbing loudly.

No! I can't let anypony see me like this... She flew back up to her cloud house sloppily. She swayed to her sides as she flew. When she reached her doorstep, she slammed the door behind her and fell onto the floor again, all her energy sapped out of her.

"Dad, it was one time!"

"Well, Shadow, that one time was one time too many! You will learn to control yourself, daughter!"

Little Shadow walked besides her angry father figure. They went through the long halls of the castle which seemed to go on endlessly. Rooms passed by them as they continued to walk.

"Dad, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt Midnight! I was just overworked, that's all!" she pleaded. He did not respond. They just kept walking forwards, to an unknown destination. Eventually, they arrived at a staircase.

"Down here," her father said sternly and motioned Shadow to follow him. They walked down the steps, the rooms getting increasingly darker until eventually becoming completely dark.

"Where are we going?" Shadow asked. She clung to her father's side.

"To the dungeons," he answered. His horn glowed and shot out dark flames, lighting up nearby torches on the wall, illuminating the room.

The room was filled with all sorts of torture devices. It had a giant guillotine, a basket laying beneath it. There were chairs strapped with electrical wires and nails. There were two boards with metal chains attached to it, a wheel to the side meant to be turned to stretch the boards apart. Iron cages lined the walls. The lit torches gave off an ominous dark glow.

Shadow gulped. "W-why are we here?" she asked. Her father did not respond.

Instead, he opened one of the cages on the side and dragged it over towards the two. "Get inside," he demanded. "Now."

"W-what?" Shadow asked, cowering away from the cage.

"You heard what I said. Or do I have to REPEAT MYSELF?!" he shouted at the filly.

Shadow scrambled into the cage and sat inside. The door slammed shut behind her. Her father spoke, "Now you are to remain there until you learn to control your emotions. Understood?" She nodded. "Good. Now I will come back when I see it fit to do so. Enjoy your time here in the dungeons, daughter."

And with that, he snuffed out the torches and left the room, heading upstairs to continue his duty. With the only source of light gone, it was completely pitch black. The darkness seemed to close in on Shadow. She tried to back away, but her back came into contact with the back of the cage. She couldn't escape. The cage seemed to get smaller and smaller. The darkness seemed to get thicker and thicker until it broke her. Her hyperventilating turned into cries. And those cries turned into short-lived screams of terror. She rolled up into a ball and closed her eyes shut, trying to escape the darkness. But it never left.

It seemed to last for hours. Hours and hours of never ending torture. Until a noise was heard. The sound of hoofsteps walking down a staircase. The walls lit up with orange flames. Was dad back?

Shadow looked over to see who was causing all the ruckus. What she saw wasn't her father. It was a grey unicorn. Her mane was colored dark green with strips of midnight blue flowing through. Her cutie mark was a dark blue flower blooming with tiny white stars speckling out of the sides.

She spoke aloud, "There you are, Shadow. I was worried for you! Come, before your father realizes I'm gone." The lady opened the cage and picked up Shadow before setting her down besides her. She cringed slightly when she saw the state she was in. "Oh, you're a mess! Well, nothing a warm bath and a good night's sleep won't fix. Come with me, dear." She patted the filly off and started to drag her upstairs.

"M-midnight? What are you doing here?" the youngling asked, staring up in confusion.

"What does it look like? I'm getting you out of this hell hole," she looked down to the child walking with her.

"Y-you're not mad at me?" Shadow quivered. Midnight looked back at her and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Of course not, dear. Everyone makes mistakes. Even your dad," Midnight patted Dash on the head. "I brought up a sensitive topic, that's on me. And sure, you may have messed me up a bit, but I'll walk it off. Plus, how could I stay mad at such a cute little filly?"

And for the first time that day, Shadow smiled.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"Rainbow? Are you in there? It's me, Twilight! It's important!" a voice called through the door.

Rainbow groaned as she got up from her living room floor. It had been a few hours. She had stopped crying, at least. "Give me a sec!" she shouted out and went to the bathroom to tidy herself up. She couldn't be looking like this in front of her friend.

A few splashes of water later, Dash opened the door, to where a worried looking purple unicorn stood on the other side. "Rainbow! There you are! Listen, I've gathered the girls at the library, something ser- oh!" Twilight stopped when she saw Rainbow. "Rainbow, are you okay? What happened? Do you need any help? Did anything bad happen? You're not hurt are you?" She started to use her magic to grip Rainbow's body to examine for any injuries.

Apparently she had not done a good job at hiding her current state. "Twi, I'm not injured or anything. I'm perfectly fine," the rainbow mare said, to which Twilight released her hold on her.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? You don't look fine. Have you been crying?"

Rainbow hesitated before speaking. "N-no... I mean- No! Why would you ever even think that?" she lied, looking away to try and hide her face. Twilight wasn't buying it.

"Hey, it's okay. You can be honest with me. Do you want to talk about it?" she rested a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder, giving her an empathetic look. Dash teared up slightly, but quickly wiped the tear away and shrugged her arm off.

"It's nothing. Just something stupid. I'll be fine. What is it that you wanted to tell me about? That you've gathered the girls for..?" she said, trying to switch the subject.

Twilight sighed. "Yeah, we're going to have a meeting to talk about something important. Get there as soon as you can, alright? But, try to clean yourself up first. You look like a mess." She waved her hoof around Rainbow's body as emphasis before quickly turning away. "You can always talk to me, Dash. If you ever need anything, I'm here for you." And with a bright purple flash, she was gone.

Rainbow stood there, tearing up slightly. I want to tell her, but it's just... She fought with herself internally. I can't. It's too risky. She sighed and went back into her cloud house to take a shower.

Author's Note

I'd say this chapter is a bit bumpy. Hopefully you guys enjoyed it. Feedback is always helpful!

Chapter 2: The Talk

Author's Note

After multiple, multiple rewrites of this chapter, I finally got past writer's block! If you haven't read my recent blog post, then, great news! I already have the rest of this story planned out and ready to write, so the rest should be easy sailing. Key word should. Anyways, wish me luck and enjoy the chapter!

Note: This chapter was a pain in the ass to write, it probably isn't the best and could go with some revisions, but I want to get SOMETHING out, so this is what I got written out in a few hours. Enjoy!

Chapter 2: The Talk

As Rainbow approached the library, she couldn't shake the moment from earlier that day from her head. It stuck in there, mocked her. I hope Gilda's okay... Then, her eyes snapped to reality when a tree branch came out of seemingly nowhere, slamming her face straight into it. She fell onto the grass, thankfully not sustaining too much damage, as being a pegasus had its perks. Including crash resistance.

She stumbled inside the library with a twig still stuck in her hair, before shaking it out and viewing her surroundings. There sat her friends, all sitting around a coffee table, and a very worried looking Twilight. She was crying earlier and now this? What's going on? Twilight thought to herself, deciding that questions should wait until later. There were more important things to discuss.

Twilight cleared her throat. "Alright, now that everypony is here, we can finally talk about why I dragged you all here today. And it's not going to be pleasant," she began. "Yesterday, I was asked to see Princess Celestia regarding urgent matters, and after an important discussion, she decided that we will be venturing out towards the Crystal Empire!"

When she was met with confused looks from her friends, she clarified, "You all probably haven't heard of the Crystal Empire. And neither did I when I asked the princess. And, if you tried to look up what the Crystal Empire is through books and scrolls, you'd find nothing, because the city's been gone for over a thousand years."

"Say what now?" Applejack said, confused. "What do ya mean gone? A city doesn't just up an' vanish," she asked. Murmurs of agreement were heard from the others.

"I was getting to that," Twilight said before continuing, "Over a thousand years ago, there was the Crystal Empire. A thriving city filled with crystal ponies who lived happily and peacefully. In fact, the city worked almost like a projector, projecting the citizens' happiness across all of Equestria." She was met with a long 'ooooh' from Pinkie Pie. "However, one day, a unicorn by the name of Sombra used dark magic to take over the kingdom, putting the kingdom into peril where he held them as slaves for his personal use." She was then met with a long 'awwwww' from Pinkie.

Rainbow felt a shiver run up her spine. S-Sombra? She thought to herself. No, it can't be possible. It couldn't be possible. She wouldn't believe it.

"Thankfully, the princesses took down Sombra and sealed him away into the ice of the frozen north. However, he was so powerful that he took the empire with him, and it's been gone ever since. Up until now. Since the princesses can no longer wield the elements of harmony, she has sent us on a mission to the Crystal Empire to stop Sombra," Twilight finished her retelling of the story, leaving her friends in fear.

This did not help at all with Rainbow's thoughts. No, no no no no... I can't fight my dad! What if he recognizes me? He'll throw me in the dungeons! I can't let him see me! I'll have to stay here. Rainbow panicked internally, her breath quickening in pace. But I have to go, Equestria needs us. I'll find some way around it, I always do. She calmed herself and manually slowed her breathing.

"Any questions?" Twilight's asked everyone. Pinkie raised a hoof.

"Yes, Pinkie?"

"Do they have any desert places? Or, or any cool new candies to try?! I mean, the empire's been sealed away for so long! There's bound to be something new and cool there! Do you think that mean old King Sombra will even let us try them? He's a big McMeanie Pants, so I don't know. But you can't say no to desert. Nopony says no to desert! Plus, all the ponies would have been gone for over a thousand years! They must be starving, I'm sure there can't be too much food there. If there's not enough food then they starve, and if you starve, you can't turn down desert! Do you think if we give Mr. Sombra desert that he would be nice again and stop ruling the kingdom? I think it could work. And if that doesn't work then I could throw him one big surprise party! I think he would like that! That would surely cheer him right up!" Pinkie rambled on and on about some stuff that no one was listening to.

Twilight face-hoofed. "We're not going to throw King Sombra a party, Pinkie," she said to which she received another 'awww' from the pink party pony. "Any other relevant questions?" This time Rarity raised a hoof.

"Twilight, dear, you said that this King Sombra uses dark magic right? What exactly is dark magic?" Rarity asked.

"Um, I'm not entirely sure, although Princess Celestia said it was pretty dangerous-" she was cut off short.

"Dark magic is a form of magic similar to the type that Twilight uses, just more dangerous. When somepony like Twilight uses her magic, she taps into positive feelings and focus in order to transform it into whatever she desires. However, because she's using positive feelings, it has restrictions. For example, it'd be extremely hard for Twilight to cast a spell that would kill because she's thinking happy thoughts."

"However, let's say you, I don't know, take that restriction away? Use negative emotions for a change. That's what dark magic is," Rainbow explained. Then she immediately shut up, realizing what she just said. How can I be so stupid?

Everyone in the room stared at her, jaw agape. Twilight was the first to speak, "How do you... know all of this?"

All eyes were on Dash. She sweat profusely. "Um well, you see.." She came up with a bullshit excuse on the spot. In surprising speed, impressing even herself. "My parents worked in the magic industry. They studied stuff like this and told me about it from time to time." Hopefully they believe that. Rainbow thought to herself worriedly. They seemed to buy it.

"Uh huh. Well, thanks for the important knowledge! Any other questions?" Twilight asked. No one moved. "Good! Now we can get out of here and start packing." Chatter began and everyone began to clear out. Rainbow just sat there uncomfortably. Uh, I should probably head out. She was stopped when Twilight walked up to her.

"Hey, Dash," Twilight said softly, blushing as she sat besides her. "You never told me you had parents who worked in the magic industry. You should introduce them to me sometime. I think we'd have a great time talking all about magic," she joked.

She didn't get much reaction out of her pegasus friend. "Yeah," she muttered, clearly in thought.

Twilight frowned a little bit before having a more sympathetic look. "Hey, you okay? Are you still thinking about earlier?" Dash nodded slowly. "You want to talk about it? It'll help you feel better."

"I..." she hesitated. I can't tell you. "It's nothing," she measly responded.

Twilight reached her hoof over to Rainbow's, causing her to look over. They locked eyes for a moment. "Rainbow. You know you can trust me, right?" Dash nodded once more. "Then talk to me."

Rainbow looked down to the floor, thinking heavily to herself. I shouldn't tell her.

You can't keep her in the dark forever.

I don't want her to worry about me. Plus, won't she find out that Sombra's my dad if I tell her? Then she'll hate me. Probably lock me up in Celestia's personal dungeon...

You know that's not true. She's your friend. Plus, if you don't tell her, she'll just worry more.

... I can't.

Not saying anything will only make it worse. For both you and her. Plus, Twilight's one of your closest friends. She wouldn't lock you up. She'd hear you out, I'm sure of it.

She looked back up at her purple friend, who still held a sympathetic smile. Fine. "Promise me you won't think I'm uncool for this?" Rainbow asked. She got a nod from her friend. She gave a heavy sigh, preparing herself for what was to come. "It's about my dad."

Twilight's eyes widened in surprise. Rainbow continued.

"To make a long story short... We don't have good history. He's always been a bitch to me. Bringing me down, telling me that my dreams have no chance of coming true. Locking me away in a room whenever our opinions didn't match. He was the worst." Glints of tears came to her eyes. She looked at Twilight with fearful eyes. "A-and... I think I'm starting to become like him," her voice cracked, tears finally shedding, freely pouring down her cheeks.

"What?!" Twilight practically yelled. Then she stopped herself and repeated it at a much smaller volume. "I mean, what? Come on Rainbow, you're probably one of the nicest ponies I know. You're not like your dad." She scooted closer to her friend, wrapping a hoof around her. She was pushed away.

"What do you know?! You haven't even met him before!" she argued and stood up from her chair. "You didn't even see what happened earlier today!"

Twilight argued back, also standing up from her chair. "Well, I know enough! I know that you're always there for us, taking others as priority over yourself, sacrificing so much for our safety! You're kind, giving, and have a loving heart!"

"Oh yeah? What about what happened today?! Did you know that Gilda came over to my place today? That she was there to apologize? And instead of accepting her apology, do you know what I did?! I hurt her! I made her scared of me! Do you know what it takes to make someone scared of you? It takes a lot! And it was Gilda, too!" Dash yelled.

She was too stunned to even speak. Rainbow wouldn't do something like that, would she?

"I didn't even get a chance to say sorry because she ran away from me!" Rainbow cried. Her legs gave out underneath her as she fell to the floor sobbing. "I'm a horrible pony."

Silence fell upon the two, only filled by Rainbow's sobs. Great. Now she probably hates me. And she's going to tell everypony else and then they're going to hate me to. Then I'll be alone again. They'll probably cast me out. Throw me into the everfree forest-

She was interrupted as she saw purple hooves wrap around her body, pulling her into a tight embrace. "Don't say that, Rainbow. Don't ever say that. You're a good pony. A loving pony who cares for others. You care for Scootaloo like a sister. You're loyal to all your friends. And you have ponies who care for you. So don't you dare say that you're a horrible pony, because you're not," she cried into her shoulder.

What? Rainbow was confused. How- why doesn't she hate me?

Because she's your friend.

She looked at the mare who had a bear-tight grip around her waist and cried. Twilight cared for her. Overwhelmed with the feeling of being able to talk to someone, she returned the hug, crying harder into Twilight's shoulder. They sat there in each other's embrace as minutes passed. Rainbow didn't budge until her cries became sniffles. Eventually, she pulled away.

"T-Thanks, Twi, I really needed that," she wiped her eyes with a hoof. "Sorry, I messed up your coat..."

"It's okay, I was going to take a shower anyways," Twilight quickly replied, relieved to see her friend was feeling better. "Are you going to be okay? I can stay here longer if you need me to."

She shook her head. "Nah, I'll be okay. Do you mind if I use your shower though? I don't want anypony seeing me like this... Totally uncool."

"It's not 'uncool' to show your feelings, Rainbow. And yes, you can use my shower. You can go first if you want," Twilight offered.

"Wha- really? I don't want to stop you from taking a shower or anything, you can go first," Rainbow refused.

"No, I insist. Really, it's fine," Twilight insisted.

"Alright, if you're sure," Rainbow took up the offer this time, standing up to head over to the bathroom. "Thanks again, Twi. For everything."

"It's no problem. Anytime," Twilight smiled warmly at her as she headed off to take a shower.

That shower was probably the best shower that she'd ever taken in her life. For once, she felt free, relieved. And for the first time in months, she got a decent night of sleep, waking up feeling fully refreshed with no nightmares. And as she sat on the train with her friends, on her way to the Crystal Empire, she sat ever so slightly closer to Twilight. Things were going to be okay. For the first time in forever, she felt that everything would be alright.

Chapter 3: Close Call (V1.1.1)

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 5: Survival (V1.0.1)

Author's Note

The god damn first section took me multiple revisions to write. I hate my life.

On another note - I can't for the love of god get any good characterization in any of the other characters. I swear, Pinkie is too random to write well. She's too random for my logistic brain!

Also, this chapter was a bit rushed (mostly the second half of the chapter) because I just wanted to get a chapter out. I'll probably rewrite a lot of the parts. (Screw Procrastination and Writer's Block)

Version History:
V1.0.1 - In the process of rereading this to start working on chapter 7, I noticed that I needed a comma after 'hi' in "Uh, hi Midnight". Added that.

Chapter 5: Survival (V1.0.1)

"Kill them. Don't leave anyone alive," Sombra commanded the shadow guards and left the room, leaving the main six to fend for themselves.

The guards quickly rushed downstairs towards the broken cages and surrounded the group, spears raised. And while Rainbow could've easily overpowered them... she didn't. Her mind was stuck in a loop. All the stress, Twilight yelling at her, them all being attacked, it was just too much for the poor pegasus as she sat there, frozen in tears as she stared at the threat that came after them.

Twilight was also distraught, her mind replaying the most recent events before she shook her head, realizing that they needed to move. Without any further delay, she shouted to her friends, "There's too many of them! Let's move!" She quickly pushed back the guards on their side and ran through a hallway in order to escape, half of the guards chase after them.

The other half stayed with Rainbow. They charged forwards, stabbing at her abdomen. That got Rainbow to snap out of her trance and move. With speed, she jumped up in the air, leaving a shockwave of dark magic to push the enemies away, and flew in the opposite direction her friends went in, entering an adjacent hall.

In her escape, she clumsily flew through the air, knocking down a few dressers and vases along with smashing a few mirrors, leaving the guards behind her to have to jump over the mess, which they had no problems doing. The real problem were the pegasi guards chasing after her, quickly catching up in little to no time at all, even with the heavy armor they wore.

Get yourself together, Dash! She mentally scolded herself as she straightened out her flying and tried her best to plan ahead. C'mon, you know this castle! You should be able to outfly them! She ducked through a door frame. In her head, she came up with multiple different escape routes before deciding on one and taking it. As she went into the next room, it opened up to be a pantry, filled with many different foods and ingredients with two doors in front of her.

With ease, she baited right, going right before she hit the door and then using a burst of magic to propel herself to the left door, slightly clipping her wing in the process. She yelped in pain and tried to focus on her plan. Painfully, she steered upwards and did a U-turn back towards where she came from, except this time gliding above the roofs. As she looked down, she could see a slight opening leading back to the ballroom she was just in.

With seemingly nowhere left to go, a thought crossed her mind and she quickly acted on it, diving down, making a quick turn right and stowing herself away behind a hidden staircase that only she knew about. Her body let off a faint glow and she transformed into her shadow body, holding her breath and watching as the guards flew by.

As she watched, she allowed herself to slip into her thoughts and replay past events. Now her friends knew that she was Sombra's daughter. And they had reacted just as horribly as Rainbow thought they would. She felt saddened. Hurt. And... betrayed? Twilight had hurt her more than the others had, she felt betrayed from what she had done. But why? Her other friends are just as important to her as Twilight, so why would she matter more to her?

She let herself ponder on that thought for a few moments, watching as group after group of guards passed by the hidden staircase. Twilight was her closest friend. She had stuck with her through thick and thin, but seeing her break away from her so quickly was... heartbreaking. As the reality of the situation set in, tears started filling her eyes once more. Her closest friends had all left her. They hated her. They didn't want anything to do with her. She began to sob quietly.

No, she couldn't let the guards hear her. Deciding it wasn't safe outside, she took her chances with the cold, dark rooms below. She glided down, transforming herself back to normal as she examined the new area. And after one look around the room, her heart dropped. She was in a dungeon, almost completely dark except for a couple of torches with coals still glowing from their recent use. And, most recognizably of all, her cage. One that she remembered all too well.

A floodgate of memories poured through her head. It was too much. The stress, her friends leaving her, her father, this stupid ass room! It was overloading her brain. Instantly, her breath started to shake, causing her to force down a gulp of air as she closed her eyes and looked away from the cage. Away from the bad memories, not helping at all in stopping them. The stress getting the better of her, she quickly left the room.

As she ran, her breath quickened and her steps became unbalanced as she stumbled through the path in front of her, using the wall as a side support. Her heartbeat raced, her body started to glow with dark magic. The farther she ran, the quicker her breaths became, the more dizzy she got, and the darker the world seemed to be. It was getting hard to see. The corners of her vision were dark, everything else was blurred. All the while the stress only seemed to build, further increasing the symptoms and making her run faster.

In no time at all, she went from running to flying, making her way through the underground dungeons, eventually turning to a cave-like structure. Her surroundings constantly reminding her of him, causing her rapid breaths to turn into rapid hyperventilation, making her feel lightheaded.

And as she flew down the never ending cave biome, she quickly reached a dead end, making her turn around to go back the other way. However, when she did so, she was met with complete darkness. She stood there, paralyzed, whimpering quietly and backing into the wall. She heard something in the shadows slowly approaching her. It's not real, It's not real, It's not real... She told herself repeatedly like a mantra, closing her eyes. The aura around her body thickened.

The shadows grew thicker, the walls seemingly caving in around her, making her feel even more trapped than before. Her throat seized up, making it difficult to breathe. Now random spurts of energy shot out from her body, hitting the rocks on the wall, causing them to fall onto the floor and shatter.

The only thing she could hear was the thumping of her heart.

...

No...

I need to stop Sombra. Get yourself together, Dash! She mentally slapped herself and opened her eyes. Looking around, the environment around her was completely normal. Sure, she was still in some sort of cave, but that was just how it was naturally. There was no shadow. There were no enclosed spaces. She was just in a room.

Slowly, her breath slowed down to a normal pace, her heart started beating normally, and she could finally breath again. She gave a huge sigh of relief and took a deep breath in, calming her body.

Gathering what little courage she had left, she picked herself off the floor and wandered through the caves, a new goal set in mind.

Twilight and the others panted, sprinting down the hall. They passing by a larder, causing them to feel nauseous as they ran by. Fluttershy gasped as she passed by and started crying as she ran past, refusing to further look at the hunks of meat that hung from the ceiling.

Soon, they passed through an opening, finding themselves outside once more, inside of a pen filled with livestock like sheep and cows. Twilight blocked the entrance with her magic and they hopped the fence, leaving the cattle to fend for themselves while they escaped.

The forests seemed darker than before, making it a good place for the guards to loose track of them. They ran on the outskirts of the trees, wanting to keep the castle in sight as to not get lost again before they spotted a garden, one filled with flowers of all kinds with no creature in sight. They quickly made their way over and hid behind a couple of crates, catching their breath.

"Ah think we lost em'," Applejack said, panting.

"We better wait just to be sure," Twilight said, also panting. After they had a moment to calm down, Twilight was lost in her thoughts.

She thought about the previous events and how Rainbow- no, Shadow's secret had been revealed. "How did I not see it sooner?" she said aloud.

"What do you mean, dear?" Rarity asked.

"Rainbow- I mean Shadow- I mean- ugh! I don't even know what to call her anymore!" she clenched her eyes shut and put her hoof to her head, crying softly. "I trusted her... How could she lie about something like that? How could she lie about her own name?" she asked.

"Darn tootin'! I can't believe she would lie about her past like that! We've been friends for years! Ya don't just keep something like that hidden away!" Applejack growled.

"Hey girls! Cheer up! I'm pretty sure she meant no harm!" Pinkie chimed in.

"Pinkie, she had a secret identity for most of your life! She didn't even tell her closest friend!" Applejack pointed at Fluttershy. "Unless you just didn't say anything. Is that why you're being all quiet, Fluttershy?" she stared at her accusingly.

"N-no no no no no! I wouldn't do such a thing! I'm just... thinking," she quickly answered. After a bit of thought, she added on, "I agree with Pinkie here, I don't think Rainbow would do anything to hurt us. At least not on purpose."

"What are ya, dense? I think you're just biased 'cause she's your oldest best friend!" Applejack argued.

"I think you should listen to Fluttershy and... Pinkie was it?" a new voice popped in. Everyone stopped talking. It was Midnight Bloom, although none of them knew who she was. She was also quite a bit older. Her hair had gone slightly grey since the last time Dash had seen her. Everyone quickly got to their hooves. "Now before you go leavin', I'll tell ya I'm not your enemy. The name's Midnight Bloom, but you can just call me Midnight." She extended a hoof towards Twilight, beckoning her to shake her hoof. She reluctantly shook it.

"Uh, hi, Midnight... who are you exactly?" she asked. "You're not with Sombra, are you?"

Midnight frowned at the name Sombra. "Technically, I'm his servant. However, I was your friend Shadow Dash's maid of sorts before she ran away from home. I heard ya'll calling her Rainbow Dash? Fits her, she hated her name anyways."

"Hold on now just a sec'. You're telling me that ya used ta be Rainbow's servant?" Applejack asked, eyebrow raised.

"Yes. She was quite the energetic little filly. So full of life," she looked up as she reminisced on the past, smiling. "I'm glad she managed to make some friends after she left. You should give her a second chance, you know."

"Now hold on, miss Midnight, but how the heck did ya get here? Ya kinda just appeared. That's a bit suspicious, don't ya think?" she interrogated her, but Midnight remained calm.

"You girls were so distracted that I walked up to you all and you didn't even notice me," she chuckled. "I tend these gardens, so I was just around the corner when you five arrived. It's how I got my cutie mark, after all." She beckoned towards her cutie mark, which did resemble that of growing flowers.

"Don't think yer getting off easy, lad-" Applejack was cut off.

"Why, hello there, miss Midnight, was it? I just wanted to thank you for taking care of our dear friend for so long, but couldn't help but hear that she ran away? Could you elaborate on that?" Rarity interrupted, smiling kindly at the gardener. Applejack face-hoofed.

"Why, yes! Most certainly. You see, when she was just a little filly, she always wanted to go and explore the world. Much like her mother, who she inherited her colors from. However, her father as you all know well of seemed to dust her off as just a mere filly who would only take his attention off of work," she frowned once more. "Her father hated everything about her. Her looks, her goals, even her race. She was born a pegasus, which he considered less superior to the other races. So one day, she got tired of it and left. It seems like she made the right decision."

"Aww, that's so sad!" Pinkie blew her nose into a cloth that she pulled out of mid air.

Applejack hesitated to speak up. "Ah... ah never knew..." she spoke slowly.

"Oh my..." Rarity said.

Fluttershy was simply crying, borrowing a tissue from Pinkie, who thankfully had a whole box stored inside of her mane.

"Girls..." Twilight spoke. "I think we owe Rainbow Dash an apology."

Midnight Bloom smiled. "I'm glad you all feel that way. Although you should probably hurry. If I know her, she's probably off trying to solve this predicament by herself. A fool, she is."

Yeah... that's Rainbow alright... Twilight thought to herself, smiling softly. Oh Rainbow... I'm sorry for not trusting you. I'm coming for you, Rainbow.

She had to stop Sombra. That was the only thing that mattered now. Her friends? Gone. But all of the Crystal Empire would be too if she didn't act soon. Her thoughts went back to Twilight, on how mad she was, how much she hated her. I'm sorry, Twilight. I'll make up for it, I promise.

She walked through the caverns until she reached the exit, making her way outside, which was an entrance to a cave that was just outside of the castle grounds. Thankfully, after years of living there, she knew her way around. She easily made her way back to the castle and went into 'stealth mode' (AKA just her shadow form).

Alright, I need to take out my dad, but I can't have any guards around while I do that, otherwise it'll be impossible to take him out. She stopped for a second. Am I really about to kill my dad? She shrugged it off. It's for the greater good. She reassured herself.

Even though Rainbow didn't possess much skill in sneaking around, her powers made it quite easy to go by. A few guards? Easy, just sneak around them. Can't sneak around them? Just mind control them to think that there's something that's not there. It was as easy as pie. With ease, she made her way towards the back area of the castle, where she saw an open window, easily recognizable to her. It's my room. She realized.

She quickly hopped up through the window and peaked out the hall, not seeing her dad anywhere in sight. She left and went to check the master bedroom, but there was nopony in there. Then, she made her way towards the throne room, but he still wasn't there. Where the heck is he? She thought to herself.

That was when she heard cackling from all around her. "You fool! Did you really think you could sneak up on me? You're so easy to read, Shadow," her father's voice range throughout the room.

"Show yourself!" Rainbow yelled out, looking all around her, which got another laugh from her dad.

"You still haven't mastered your abilities, I see. Well, that will make this quite easy, then," he spoke before clones of himself appeared, circling around Dash. "Don't worry, I won't bore you with my guards. This'll be too easy."

Rainbow's blood went ice cold as she stared at all the clones. Quickly, she shot a beam at one of the clones and it dissipated into black smoke, quickly disappearing into the air. Crap... There was about 15 of them- actually- 14, after she had taken out one. Guess I'll have to do this the hard way.

All of the clones charged her at once, completely surrounding her in a matter of seconds with seemingly nowhere left to run. In response, Rainbow focused her energy to her legs and jumped at one of the clones, punching through them before switching targets, punching the nearest clone after that. She did that a couple of times over while at the same time throwing magical blasts to another clone as she was taking care of one. As soon as she took down the last clone, she looked around, not seeing anyone else there.

Then, without warning, she was tackled on her back, getting thrown to the floor before she looked up at her attacker and saw him charging his horn, about to strike. She pushed through the air at lightning speeds and dodged out of there and off the floor, now hovering in the air. She shot a blast, but it was easily countered by a shield spell, deflecting it to the side.

Realizing that her ranged magical attacks would be useless, she went in for brute physical force, hoping that her enhanced strength could pierce through the barrier. Readying herself, she blasted forwards as fast as she could and went in with a swing, impacting... nothing.

Eyes widening, she looked to her side and saw Sombra smiling, horn glowing. Just then, a square-shaped crystal shot out of the floor and impacted her in the chest, sending her flying across the room and impacting the nearest wall. The hit took away her breath, leaving her to slowly recover off the ground, giving Sombra another opportunity to strike.

Another crystal was summoned and launched straight through the air and onto her wing, pinning it down as it pierced through it and imbedded itself in the wall, slowly spreading outwards and solidifying its connection to it. Rainbow screamed in pain, unable to move her wing away as she saw Sombra slowly walking towards her, taking his dear, sweet time.

Just as he got close, she shut her eyes and yanked her wing out, ripping it through her muscle and bones in the process. Thankfully, her wing was pinned on a thin area of her wing, not of extreme importance, leaving minimal damage. Using this opportunity to escape, she kicked off the floor and rolled onto her side, recovering quickly and onto her hooves once more.

Sombra simply stood in place, staring at Rainbow with that same sinister smile, unphased. I don't think I can beat him... Thinking quickly, she devised a plan to catch him off guard. I'm his daughter right? That means that I can do what he does! Her whole body was enveloped in a dark aura and then she disappeared from sight, making Sombra actually wonder what the heck happened.

Before he had a chance to think, Rainbow reappeared above him, smashing down on his horn and knocking him to the floor. She went in for another punch when he turned into his shadow form and her hoof went right through. He quickly backed away. "It seems I have underestimated you, daughter," he growled. "Don't, worry, I won't make the same mistake twice."

He rushed forwards and swung at her, to which she did something much similar to her father, turning into smoke and moving out of the way as he phased through her. "I got all your moves, old man. Better stop now before you hurt yourself," she quipped, smirking.

He merely laughed and continued on. "I have decades worth of more experience than you do, daughter. Skills and careful planning beat brute force and ability." Then he rushed forwards, causing Rainbow to turn into a shadow again, except this time his hoof was glowing. Instead of it going through her, it made contact, immediately forcing her out of her shadow form and onto the floor, coughing.

She wheezed as she stood up again. "Is... Is that all you got?" she asked, bringing up her hooves again in a battle stance.

Then, a blade tore through her abdomen and her father disappeared in front of her into smoke. She saw the blood pour out of the wound, her ears were ringing. The blade was made of the same dark crystal that was seen earlier. Then, she heard him whisper in her ear.

"Tut, tut, daughter. Looks like experience wins after all. Don't worry, I won't kill you. I'll throw you in a dungeon and lock you up for the rest of your life as you watch your friends from before be executed in front of your very eyes. Then, maybe you'll learn to obey me for once," he snarled.

Her vision started to go blurry and the world started to spin.

"Goodnight."

She lost consciousness right before she hit the floor.

Chapter 6: Rescue

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 7: The Heart

"Remin' me never tah get on your bad side, RD," Applejack chuckled. "Welp, up n' at em'. We need tah keep movin', they've probably sent an entire squad after us."

And an entire squad they did send. About five seconds after that sentence was said, guards burst out from the spiral staircase entrance, quickly surrounding them.

"Halt! Don't move," one of them spoke, before they eyed the body laying on the floor, the remains of the water pony, laying in a crumbled mess. "Oh, shit! Jimmy!" He turned to look at the group of intruders before him once more. "I'll make you fucking pay for what you did to Jimmy!"

"Dear Celestia, I just got out of my cell," Rainbow groaned before making eye contact with the one who was speaking. "Sorry, we don't have time for this," she said, lifting up a hoof. In a blink of an eye, a beam of dark magic spurred out of her hoof directly at him, knocking the guard back several feet before hitting the wall. In quick succession, she also grabbed the other ponies with her magic and tossed them away before grabbing her friends and sprinting away. "Come on!"

"Wait!" Twilight shouted as she was pulled along. "Where are we going?!"

"There's an exit back here! This whole dungeon are is just a cave, so it has an entrance, too."

Shouts were heard behind them as the guards quickly rushed back from where they were thrown. In response, Rainbow used her magic to toss down loose rocks from the ceiling onto the floor, covering up their path.

Wasting no time at all, they quickly made it to the back exit, which grew closer as their surroundings went from a polished dungeon area to more of a raw, untamed cave biome. Eventually, they stepped hoof off of the hard, rocky surface and onto the soft grass of the forest. Looking around there seemed to be nothing, just thick forest in every direction except from their left, which was where the castle stood tall, glowing with light from within.

Upon their exit, they all took a stop to catch their breath and take in the fresh air. Well- except for Pinkie. She was still bouncing around, as energetic as ever.

"Well... what do we do now?" Applejack asked. "Sombra has our elements and ah know fur sure he ain't just gonna give em' back."

"You bring up a good point, Applejack. The only thing I can think of is having Rainbow Dash fight him, though that would be a lot to ask. He probably has more experience than the poor dear, too," Rarity said, to which Rainbow Dash shuddered in the thought of her fighting her dad again.

"Yeah... I would rather not... Last time it didn't go so well," Rainbow spoke, cringing as she looked down at her scar. Everyone else cringed in thought as well.

"Okay... let's avoid that then," Twilight said, pondering what to do next. "Hmmph... how about we go to the library? Every castle has an archive somewhere, there might be something of use."

"Wait, you mean going back in the castle, again?" Rainbow stressed. "Our luck is going to run out sooner or later! We barely got out this time!"

"Yeah, well now we have you. I know it's a lot to ask, but with your magic, this trip would be so much easier," Twilight added.

Rainbow thought about it for a bit before deciding. "Fine," she grumbled.

"Alright! Then it's settled. Unless anyone else has anything to say about it?" No one spoke up. "Alright, then let's get going. Dash, you know where the library is, right? You used to live here."

Rainbow growled. "I wouldn't exactly call it living, but yeah, I know where the library is."

"Oh, sorry," Twilight said, ears folding down.

"It's fine."

~~~

The walk over was quite long. They went through some tight spots and somehow made it to the room without being spotted. When they walked in, the room was quite large. Gold lined the frames of each door, painting, and wall. And imbedded into each wall was a shelf filled to the brim with book after book. It was almost enough to make Twilight explode with excitement.

"So. Many. Books!" Twilight squealed in delight. She started taking some off the shelves and reading the covers. "So much history to be uncovered! So much information! I could spend all night here just reading for hours! I-"

She was cut off by Applejack clearing her throat. "Remember why we're here, Sugarcube."

"Oh, sorry!" She put the books back on the shelf. "Now where would the right book be? This room is huge."

"Probably on the really obvious pedestal with a locked box covered in enchantments only Dashie can break!" Pinkie exclaimed, pointing to the end of the room where there was in fact a really obvious pedestal with a locked box covered in enchantments only Dash could break.

"Uh..." Rainbow muttered before gliding over to the box. "I guess I can try?"

She examined the box carefully. It was a standard wooden box, able to contain maybe a thick book or two, nothing more. She hovered her hoof over to the box. Much like an static shock, dark magic connected with her body as soon as she hovered her hoof over.

It wasn't painful or anything, but it did feel weird. It was like she could move the magic around with her bare hoof. And as expected, when she moved her hoof left something inside the lock moved left. She tried rapidly moving her hoof around, trying to get the lock to just open, but to no avail.

Eventually, she just got angry and summoned magic to her hoof as she slammed the lock, instantly shattering it to pieces. "Well, that was easy."

Opening the box, there was a small book labeled, "The Fall of the Crystal Empire".

"Huh."

She began to read it aloud.

Back when the Kingdom was bright, when the Crystal Empire was not in control by forces of evil, there was a princess. Her name was Princess Amethyst, leader over the Crystal Empire. She was a great princess, inflicting great laws that led her kingdom in the right direction, making it more profitable than ever before, growing at a seemingly exponential rate.

It was all stopped by one stallion, the day he decided to take over the kingdom.

He was one of the princess's servants, and every day he would deliver food to the princess or help out with other daily tasks. While an innocent stallion at first glance, he had a dark secret. He had been gifted the power of dark magic from birth and had been learning to control it, studying it, even, from the royal archives.

And so, when he thought the time was right, he struck.

Every day, the princess would have the same meal. Two biscuits with a cup of tea, two sugars. Only this time, this meal would be her last. Her biscuits that day were made extra dry, making her thirsty. So when she inevitably reached for her tea to take a sip to cleanse her throat, little did she know it was spiked with poison, able to take out an army with a single drop.

Her relief from the dryness of the biscuit was only brief, and soon after she began to choke, blood spewing out of her mouth as she fell to the floor, dying in agony. The medics were unable to save her.

And after the kingdom lost their princess, the stallion rose to power. Using his dark magic, he easily overpowered the guards and citizens of the kingdom and put them under his control. He took the one thing that could've defeated him, the Crystal Heart, and hid it away in a chamber far from public access, where only he knew where it was.

The Crystal Heart, the only thing that could've saved the city, powered by Love itself, if placed in the center of the city, would've vaporized the dark magic from the stallions body, disintegrating him in the process. Now, the only weapon was gone. There was no hope. No magic other than his. If anyone dared to speak against him, they would be thrown into the dungeons, never to be seen again.

And so, the Kingdom rotted for centuries, still to remain in his control to this day.

As Rainbow finished reading, she stood there in thought. Something was yelling at her. In the back of her mind. An itch that couldn't be scratched. There was something that she knew. Something that her mind wasn't telling her.

"I've never heard of the Crystal Heart before..." she heard Twilight speak.

"Shut up for a sec," Rainbow said, putting a hoof against her head. C'mon, Dash. Search in the brain of yours. You know what the Crystal Heart is. You've seen it before! You know you have! She searched in her head for anything that could correlate to the situation at hoof before, eventually, she gasped. "I think I know where the Crystal Heart is!"

"Wait, really?" Twilight asked confused.

"Yeah, didn't that book ah yurs just say that it's 'hidden where only he knows where it is'?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah, I know that, but I've seen it before, I've even touched it!" Rainbow said before cringing. "I remember that it hurt when I touched it..."

There was some silence before she continued. "Well, I know where it is. It's behind Dad's throne. There's some stuff you gotta press. Like a stone or something that opens up a wall. C'mon!" she exclaimed before flying off in a direction. Her friends quickly followed.

They quickly arrived at the throne room, where, to their surprise, there were no guards and Rainbow's father was nowhere in sight. So without further ado, they approached the throne chair and checked behind it. While it looked like a normal wall, Rainbow felt around a bit and eventually managed to push down on a segment, resulting in the surrounding part of the wall opening up to reveal yet another spiral staircase, this time going up.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Rainbow spoke quietly as they ascended the staircase, eventually leading to a large room.

The room was about as wide as the dungeons, only this time circular in shape and stretching high up to twenty feet in the air, making a dome shape. On the sides of the dome were long windows that stretched down from the top to the bottom. A gleaming midnight shine passed through the colored glass, turning it from a basic white shine to a more blue-ish purple light that dimly covered the room. In the center stood a tall pedestal where a shining crystal shaped like a heart, presumably the Crystal Heart, burned a bright sky blue.

"So, we just grab this and place it in the center of the city, right?" Rainbow asked.

"It would seem so," Twilight responded.

Rainbow reached to grab it. As her hoof made contact, a searing pain shot through her leg, making her wince in agony. She immediately dropped it.

"Careful!" Twilight shouted, running to Rainbows side and holding her close, checking to see if she had any wounds. "Rainbow, I... I don't know if we should go through with this."

Still clenching her teeth due to pain, she asked, "What? Why?"

"The Crystal Heart is obviously hurting you! I don't know what would happen if we did place the heart in the center of the city! The book said that Sombra would get disintegrated! I don't want that to happen to you!" Twilight said, looking into Rainbow's eyes in tears.

"Twi, I..." She didn't know what to say.

Deep laughter echoed through the room and a familiar voice spoke. "The famed Crystal Heart. The weapon you seek to win against me. It is true that it would vaporize your friend along with me," Sombra said, appearing out of thin air. "Did you think I would not notice my private book collection being tampered with? You fools!" he shouted.

After calming himself down, he continued, "Go ahead. Take the Crystal Heart, dear Twilight, was it? Take it. Use it against me I dare you!"

Twilight hesitantly grabbed the heart with her magic and stood there, unable to move.

"Well? Do something!"

"I..." Twilight continued to stand still. She looked to her side and saw Rainbow. Her sweet magenta eyes giving her a reassuring look. Her brave and confident smile. "I can't do it!" she shouted, throwing the heart away. "I'm sorry, Rainbow! I can't do it knowing it'd hurt you!"

Rainbow tried to comfort her. "Hey, it's okay. I'll be fine."

Sombra laughed once more. "See? None of you have the strength to use the heart against me. You are all too afraid!" His evil laugh echoed through the room again.

Dash growled. "Fine. We'll do this the old fashioned way," she said, getting into a battle stance. "They might not be able to do anything, but I can still kill you myself."

His laughter died down. "I was hoping you'd say that," he said, eyes glowing.

Author's Note

How could they?! #Justice_For_Jimmy!

In all seriousness, sorry it took a while for this chapter. I had to catch up with stuff irl so I couldn't write. Also, I've been noticing my motivation for this story has been growing thin... I'll make sure I finish it though, but if you notice a decline in quality, that's probably why.

I might come back in the future to polish up past chapters and make it look nicer, but for now, this is how it's going to be.

Chapter 8: Final Struggle

An explosion ruptured through the air, exploding the entire top of the building off and sending the main six flying away from the building.

"Hang on, girls!" Twilight yelled through the blaring winds. She used her magic to grab everyone who was flung out and pull them close. At the same time, she used her energy to shoot downwards, slowly stopping their fall, which Rainbow eventually joined in, giving them a soft landing.

They had landed near the center of the city. At the entrance to the castle. And there sat an empty spot - presumably for the heart. The thought of the Crystal Heart made them wonder where it was, before they looked up and saw it come crashing down, landing besides them and embedding itself into the concrete floor instead of shattering.

Sombra, who had caused the explosion, slowly glided down with a smirk on his face. "Now we spar," he spoke calmly, gesturing to Dash to fight him.

With a growl, dark energy enveloped Rainbow's body as she shot forwards at speeds so high that if you blinked you would've missed it. Upon impact, Dash's right hoof contacted Sombra's cheek, making him flinch only slightly as Rainbow zoomed past him.

"Hmm... your speed will be a problem," he spoke to himself, still audible enough that Rainbow heard.

"Good! I'll kill you with my speed!" she yelled out in response, dashing forwards once again.

Sombra easily dodged to the side with a burst of magic, watching his daughter zoom past. As she flew, Sombra reached out and grabbed her foreleg making her eyes widen in surprise before she was body thrown to the floor, making a small crater. "You're going to need more than brute force to kill me," he said.

Groaning from the impact, she slowly got up and snarled in response. He's right... I'll have to find another angle on him. But what can I do? Before she could finish that thought, crystal burst from the floor beneath her and encaged her right rear leg almost like a beartrap, digging into her skin and drawing blood and causing her to cry out in pain. Quickly, she shadow-ized her leg and moved it free before flying up into the air again.

"You are an utter annoyance-" Sombra started to speak up before he was hit from the side.

The hit was made of purple energy, singeing his side in an instant, forcing him to turn into a shadow to repair his body. The hit in question came from Twilight Sparkle who was looking furious. "Stay away from her!" she yelled out, charging up another magic shot and shooting it directly at his forehead.

Sombra smirked as the magic missile traveled straight through, not even damaging him.

"Ah crud, what do we do?" Applejack asked.

"Uh... I don't know! We can't hit him with magic attacks or physical attacks! They'll go right through!" Twilight said, panicking internally.

"You forgot about me!" Rainbow cried out as she dashed forwards, turning into a shadow herself as she slammed into her father, having them both crash into a nearby wall. The impact created a mini explosion which sent dust into the air, clouding the area like a smoke bomb as pieces of loose rock started falling from the ceiling.

Rainbow looked into the eyes of her evil father figure and punched him in the face, over and over again until he retaliated with a blast, knocking her off with a large shockwave of dark magic.

"You imbecile! You cannot defeat me!" he said, resolidifying. He started charging up his horn.

He was about to fire the shot when rope wrapped around his body and pulled him down a little, throwing his aim off and making him miss his shot completely. "Who has the audacity-"

"Take that ya lousy tyrant!" Applejack called out as she hauled him down to the ground. "Now, Pinkie!" she said, muffled from the rope she was holding in her mouth.

"Okie, dokie!" Pinkie said, pulling out a party cannon out of literally thin air and aiming it at Sombra. "Smile!" she exclaimed before the cannon shot out nails at its target, nearly hitting him before he phased out of the physical realm, only to get knocked down to the floor by Rainbow Dash, who had come charging down, kneeing him in the jaw.

"Take that!" Rainbow said before she hopped back into the air, winding up another punch.

"Enough!" Sombra shouted, his voice echoing through the area and knocking everyone down to the floor. "I've had enough of you pests!" he said, eyes glowing as he threw them all together, excluding Dash, and encaged them with crystal, halting their movement all together.

"No! Let them go!" Rainbow yelled, tackling Sombra to the floor again, before being easily thrown off, rolling on the floor before coming to a halt.

"Rainbow!" Twilight called out, ramming against the cage. Her body was quickly encased in magic and thrown through the crystal cage, towards Sombra who held her hostage in the air.

"Ah, this one seems to care a lot about you, Shadow," Sombra grinned as he held her in a choking grip, making it hard for her to breath.

"Twilight!" Rainbow shouted until her body was also encased in magic, this time being pinned to the floor and having her hooves locked in place with more crystal. She found herself unable to shift forms as she was still encased in magic.

"Well, well, well. It looks like you two are pretty close. Too bad you'll have to watch your friend die before your very eyes," Sombra said as he stared into Rainbow's eyes with a smile. He began to close the grip between Twilight's throat, causing her to gasp and writhe in the air as the oxygen was sucked from her lungs. "Just a little more and her neck will snap," he laughed.

"Wait! Stop, please! I'll do anything!" Rainbow cried. "Don't kill her please!" she said, tears streaming down her cheek. The grip around her friend's neck continued to tighten. "Dad, please! Stop! Think of mom! What would she think?"

The grip around Twilight's neck softened a bit. "What did you just say?" he asked menacingly.

"Mom wouldn't approve of what you're doing, Dad! Stop this madness!" she repeated herself.

Sombra's eye twitched as he threw Twilight away and caged her in her own separate cell. Not before grabbing Rainbow and dragging her up close. "You know nothing of your mother!" he shouted directly in her face.

"I know she was a nice pony. The best mother in the world! She would always care for me, for you too! I remember the days where she would wake up early just to make us breakfast. Just to see a smile on our face. And she always had the best intentions in mind! I know she wouldn't want what is happening right now!"

He growled. "Do you know why I took over this kingdom, Shadow?" he asked. "It was to get rid of that pesky ruler. The oh-so-great Princess Amethyst. Did you know, dear daughter, that she was responsible for your mother's death?"

Rainbow's eyes widened. "W-what?"

"Let me tell you what that pesky old book that you found didn't."

Sombra opened his eyes, waking up from the deep sleep that had left him. His eyes wincing from the bright sunlight that came in through the window. He looked to his right and saw a beautiful sight. It was his wife, in all her beauty. Her fur a perfect shade of pearly white, with hair that matched the colors of the rainbow, much like her name, Spectrum Wave. And in between the two sat a tiny filly about the age of four with blue fur and her mother's mane, still fast asleep.

As he got up, Spectrum stirred and opened her eyes, smiling when she saw Sombra. "Mornin'," she said sleepily, her messy mane still covering her face, and yet she still managed to look so beautiful.

"Good morning, my dear," he spoke. "Did you sleep well?"

"Mmhmm~" she muttered, looking down at the sleeping filly and curling up closer. "She's like a cute ball of fuzz," she said, smiling as she curled the filly's hair.

"More like an hyper ball of energy. I swear, I can't get her to stand still," Sombra said, drawing a laugh out of his wife.

"Yeah, well, she's our energetic ball," she said before she looked up back at Sombra. "Where are you going anyway?"

"Ah, just to pick up some items at the market for the week. Like you asked me to do yesterday."

"Did I?" She groaned. "C'mon. Stay in bed with me for just a few more minutes?" she asked, giving him the look of that of a puppy.

"Oh, alright," he said, snuggling back under the blanket with his wife. How could he resist that look?

When the time did come to go to the market, they said their goodbyes and he set out. The stroll was normal. It was a good thing - quite refreshing, actually. Most of his life he lived up in the big castle with all the other royales. It was such a pain. Everywhere you'd go you'd need to sign something or run from the paparazzi. He hated being a royale.

Then he thought back to his wife. He was glad he moved. There was a law that went around where a royale had to marry another royale, with no exceptions. And anyone who was caught meddling with any royales would be sent to be executed. At first he thought it was a rule that didn't apply to him. Until he met Spectrum Wave. She had caught his heart like a butterfly in a net. They had seen each other a few times around the castle.

It wasn't until Sombra made the first move when they actually went out- in secret of course. It eventually evolved into something more and they wanted to get married. So they moved out here, to a far away rural area in the city, where no one knew any royales, and they could get married in peace.

Of course this caused problems. It was basically like one of their nobles went completely missing out of the blue, nowhere to be found. It wasn't his problem, though. He'd been living out here with his wife and new daughter for over ten years and they hadn't found him yet. He had assumed that they would never find him, and he was happy with that. His new life was so much better than his old. Nothing to worry about but the simple things in life. Like getting a job, paying the bills, and watching his daughter. Life was simple.

As he peacefully walked down the dirt path, he looked ahead and saw something that made his heart drop. Ponies dressed in iron armor with hints of shining blue gem. Royale Guards? Here? Now? Since when? And why? These were all questions that raced through Sombra's mind as he saw them. Immediately before they spotted him, he sprinted back to his house, praying that the guards hadn't reached his wife yet.

When he got there, thankfully there were no guards in sight. He quickly jumped through the front door, surprising his wife and daughter.

"What the- What's going on?!" Spectrum asked, running towards Sombra.

Panting, Sombra answered. "They're here! The guards! Royale guards! From the castle! We need to leave right now!"

Immediately, Spectrum knew what to do. With a determined nod, she turned away and knelt besides Rainbow Dash.

"Mommy? What's going?" she asked, tears in her eyes.

"Bad ponies are coming, Rainbow, we need to leave," she said.

"Are we running from the guards? I thought the guards were good ponies!" she asked, confused as she watched her mother start to pack up her things.

"Yes, honey. If you see any, don't talk to them, okay?"

"Why?"

"Not right now, Rainbow, pack your things, we need to go-"

A knock sounded at the front door. "Open up! Royale Guards here under suspicion that you may be housing a royale! Open the door before we break it down!"

"Sombra! Hold the door shut!"

"Already on it!" He moved quickly and grabbed a chair, placing it in front of the door handle, which had started rattling from someone trying to open it.

"I hear you inside! Open this damn door!" a guard yelled, ramming the door, which managed to stay shut.

"Go to Tartarus, you fucks!" Sombra yelled through the door.

Rainbow had started crying. Spectrum grabbed Rainbow by the shoulders. "Rainbow. I need you to get upstairs. Right now. Do you understand me? Do not open the door for anyone and hide if anyone comes around, okay?" Through the tears, Rainbow nodded and dashed upstairs, quickly shutting it closed.

Just a few seconds after, the front door exploded, blasting wooden shards all over the place, a piece lodging itself in Sombra's side, to which he yelled out in pain.

"No!" Spectrum yelled out, jumping to him and shielding him against the guards intruding their once peaceful home. "Stay away from my husband!" she shouted, raising her wings in a battle stance.

One of the guards swung at her with a sword and she dodged it, knocking the blade out of the guard's hoof and pushing him away before she was tackled by another guard, punching her in the face and hitting her head onto the hard wood below, causing her to start bleeding on the floor. The guard who was shoved came along and kicked her in the face, sending blood splattering out of her mouth.

"Stop it! She's my wife!" Sombra shouted, getting up to help before he was pinned by a guard.

The guard scoffed, before looking at Sombra's wife laying on the floor. "Having an affair with a royale is a crime punishable by death! Kill her!" He turned back to Sombra. "As for you, you should know better than to interfere with your bloodline with such... impurity!"

"No... No!" Sombra shouted as he saw guards beat up his wife, having her cough up more blood as she was unable to fight back, having both her wings being pinned down along with her legs. "No...!" he cried, tears streaming down his face.

Then something swelled within him. Deep inside his anger began to bubble. They had destroyed his once peaceful life and killed his beloved. They. Will. Suffer. Dark energy started to surround him as he shook with rage. And with a shout, he knocked back all the guards off of him. He floated in the air as a shadow, instantly striking fear into his enemies as they immediately dropped their weapons.

Without remorse, he beat them all to a pulp. Blasting magic and swinging wide punches at the guards, leaving only a few who had run away from the scene. And as quickly as it came to him, it left. He fell down to his haunches and looked at his love. Her once beautiful white coat was stained a maroon red, mostly covering her face, but also staining bruises that lined her body as well.

He grabbed his wife into his hooves and held her close. "Come on! Wake up! Please!" He got no response. "No... It can't end like this! It can't!" He punched his right hoof into the floor, creating a dent. "Damn it!"

He looked at his now dead wife and back at the large hole his hoof had made and then back at himself. His body was glowing with power. And he knew what he had to do.

"So I killed them! I killed all of them. And I took over the kingdom to impose rule that is more righteous - better than anything that stupid princess could come up with!" Sombra shouted, his story now finally told. A slight tear was in his right eye, though it quickly vanished and was replaced with an angry look once more.

Rainbow wiped the tears from her eyes and looked back at Sombra. "Do you think this is how she would've wanted you to rule? Enslaving others for your own use? You've lost yourself, Dad! Mom wouldn't want any of this!"

"Silence!" he shouted. "You do not know her! You do not even deserve her!"

"Wh- What?!" Rainbow shouted. Rage started to boil beneath her skin. "So you come over here, you ruin my life, nearly kill my friends and then you have the audacity to say that I don't deserve my own mother?!" She laughed almost maniacally. Her veins started to flood with dark magic. Her body turned completely black. Her magical aura seemed to expand around her.

Her shadows began to cover the entire area, blinding anyone within.

"What?! Impossible!" Sombra yelled. "How do you have so much magic output?! It should not be possible!"

Her laughter died down. "You should've killed me when you had the chance," she said, eyes glowing, before she completely vanished out of sight.

For the first time in forever, Sombra felt a feeling in his gut. One that twisted and turned it in all sorts of directions. For the first time in a long, long time, he felt afraid. He stood there in place looking all around him. The only thing he could see was dark energy, swirling around him like the wind of a heavy storm, making him unable to see anything around him except for the floor.

"Where are you?! Show yourself!" he shouted, his voice wavering a little bit on the end.

"Ha ha ha..." Rainbow's voice echoed through the shadows. "Is somepony afraid?"

"I..." his voice trailed off, unable to come up with words to say.

Then, all of a sudden, something hit him across the face, knocking him to the floor. He quickly got up to see what had hit him, but only saw a hint of a dark figure disappear into the darkness. Charging his horn, he shot wildly in the direction the figure had gone. No signal was given that he even hit anything.

"Stop hiding in the darkness!" he shouted. Then he felt a tap on his right shoulder.

He quickly turned around and shot a large laser in that direction, only to find that no one was there. "What..?"

Then, he was tackled, his face landing into the concrete, scraping across the floor as he was turned around to face up at his attacker who was Rainbow Dash, staring at him with an unrecognizable look on her face. Her eyes lacked emotion. She had a wicked grin on her face as she lifted a hoof and brought it down on his face repeatedly. He tried to turn into his shadow form and escape before he was grabbed and pulled back by Rainbow.

"Now where do you think you're going?" she said with a laugh, pulling him closer so that she could get a better shot at his face.

Sombra lit up his horn and shot directly at her, hoping to disintegrate her. He poured all of his power into the shot, hoping to end the fight once and for all. When he opened his eyes again. She was completely unharmed, her hoof slightly sizzling from the beam, which she had used to block the attack. "Ow. That hurt a little," she said with no emotion.

She headbutted her skull into Sombra's and knocked him to the floor, continuing her barrage of attacks. Blood started to spray everywhere and Sombra could barely move. Right when Rainbow was about to make the finishing move, she looked at her work. He was bloodied all over. He could barely move. His eyes, when she made contact with them, were full of fear. Fear...

"No, no, no, this isn't right!" she shouted, throwing him away from her and backing up, looking at her own hooves. I've become just like him... "No, no, no, NO!" she cried into her hooves. "I'm just like him... I'm just a monster. Preying off of others and their fear..."

She cried to herself and the aura of blinding shadow retreated back to her body, leaving only a crying blue pegasus, alone in the middle of the room. Then, something sat down next to her and gave her a hug. "You're nothing like him, Dash," a familiar voice said.

She turned to look at who was sitting next to her. "T-Twilight? How did you-?"

"He kind of destroyed the cages in the process of firing off in random directions, hoping to hit you," she answered measly before returning her attention to Rainbow. "But that doesn't matter right now. Listen, Rainbow, you're nothing like your father. You're better than him. You recognized your mistakes and stopped yourself before you went too far. That's what matters," she said, hugging her tightly.

Rainbow sniffled. "O-okay..."

Applejack sat next to her also. "We're here for you, sugarcube," she said, joining in on the hug.

"So am I," Rarity said joining in also.

"Me too!" Pinkie said.

"And me, too," Fluttershy said.

Rainbow looked around at her friends and smiled. "You guys are the best."

"Ah, what a heartfelt moment indeed," Sombra said, flying in the air again in his shadow form. "Did you forget about me?" He shot away all of them with a sonic blast and grabbed Twilight.

"No!" Rainbow tried to rush up there as her body burned with energy once more before Sombra cut her off.

"Ah ah ah! You don't want me to take the life of your precious friend here, do we?" Sombra said.

"Dad! Put her down if you know what's good for you! We both know I can beat you," she growled.

"Oh, but you won't do anything, not while I have your friend here hostage," he said, smiling while doing so. "I can kill her faster than you can approach me. Don't even try anything. Surrender now and I will let her go."

Rainbow didn't know what to do. She was backed against a corner with no option ahead. She took a step backwards, bumping into something. She looked down and saw what it was. Her eyes widened. The Crystal Heart! She looked back up at Sombra, an idea in her mind. "O-okay, Dad, you win. I surrender," she said, kneeling down.

"Rainbow, what are you doing?!" Twilight asked, looking into Dash's eyes. Rainbow looked up at Twilight, then down at the heart. Then Twilight realized. "No. NO! Rainbow Dash! Don't do what I think you're going to do-!"

Without giving her time to finish her sentence, she reached down and grabbed the heart, dashing to the podium in the middle of the room. Sombra's eyes widened as he realized what was happening. "No! You'll kill us both!" he dropped Twilight and flew towards Rainbow as fast as he could.

Time seemed to slow. Rainbow held the heart in her grip, right next to the podium, burning in her hooves. She looked at her father, flying towards her hopelessly and then back at Twilight. Her heart broke upon eye contact. She was there, leg reaching out to her, tears flowing down her eyes. Rainbow knew that if she did this, she would never see her ever again. If it saves her, then I'm okay with that. She thought to herself.

That was her final thought as she placed the heart on the podium. The room started to shake and the heart started to glow, spinning rapidly on top of the podium, sending out rays of light in all directions.

"NOOOOO!" Sombra yelled out.

An explosion of light flooded the entire city.

Author's Note

Don't know how well I did with this chapter, but I hope you all enjoyed it!

Feedback is always welcome! :pinkiehappy:

Epilogue

The heart began to brew with energy, growing brighter and brighter. Spinning in place as power began to be pumped into it. It could feel the heart of every living citizen in the city. It was its protector. It needed to protect them. And so, it expanded its borders.

It felt its aura of power expand, and with it, it could feel the hearts, the very souls themselves, of every pony or thing it passed through. As it passed, it grew frustrated, confused even.

It had come into contact with dark energy.

What kind of dark energy would be living here, in the city of love? The heart checked who it had found. There were multiple entities. One being what looked to be an Emperor, clouded with dark magic, and another being a simple blue pegasus with bright rainbow hair. While eradication would be a simple way to get rid of them, it could feel there souls, and in exchange, could feel exactly what they were feeling in that moment.

It could tell from the tyrant-like figure that there was no love, not even remorse for the situation at hand. Just pure evil intentions. And so, it did what any normal protector would do. It eradicated it from its home. With much skill, one gained over centuries of experience, it ripped the very magic from the soul's body. With no other feeling than darkness in his soul, he could not be saved. He would be disintegrated in due time.

Moving onto the pegasus, it was strange. A harbor of emotions were buried inside. Anger, regret, sadness, love. Why, this creature filled with dark magic was experiencing love? How curious. Looking around further it was seen that the pegasus had seemingly accepted their fate and was waiting to die, their eyes locked with only one. The one that they loved most.

The one they were looking at was a purple unicorn. And it could tell at that moment the amount that they cared for each other. Their bond was so powerful that it could be seen between them. A net of life force seemingly connecting the two, encircling their hearts and bodies.

Surely, this one would survive. It had love, a longing for another one, and that would be enough. And so, the heart continued on its path. It carefully and skillfully ripped the dark magic from the pegasus. And while the other may have perished. The love from this one should be enough.

It continued to expand its borders until it surrounded the entire city, protecting it in magic.

An explosion of light flooded the entire city.

"NOOOOO!" Sombra yelled as the explosion went off. He looked down at his body which was quickly disintegrating away. He didn't even have time to say his last words before he was completely disintegrated.

Everyone else in the room was thrown back, rolling across the floor, some running into walls. Some parts of the walls came loose and rocks fell down. When the dust had cleared, a magic coating covered the city, repairing damages done and freeing the minds of the trapped. It seemed that everything and everyone had been coated in a crystal-like coat, their fur being turned into shiny rock.

That didn't seem to matter to one pony.

When her eyes opened, only one thought was on her mind. "Rainbow?! Rainbow where are you?!" Twilight yelled out. She got up quickly, as so did her friends, only to see that Sombra had disintegrated and was nowhere to be seen. And neither was Rainbow Dash. "No..." Twilight fell to her knees. "She can't be..."

Her friends recovered, also devastated by the sight. Applejack put her hat into her hooves. "I'm sorry, sugarcube."

"I... No!" Twilight shouted. "This feels so wrong!"

"Ah know it does, believe me."

No, she doesn't get it... They couldn't understand. It was as if, for Twilight only, that she had some sort of unearthly pull. Some force was telling her that Rainbow Dash was indeed alive. And that she was close by. And so, she followed her heart.

The unearthly feeling she had experienced - she was following it. And she followed it out of the room, away from her friends, away from the castle, and outside. She eventually made her way to a tree, where her eyes laid on one figure that laid beneath it.

"Rainbow Dash..." Twilight whispered to herself, tears coming to her eyes. "Rainbow!" she yelled out, running to her quickly.

She quickly knelt besides her friend, checking her pulse to see if she was alright. "Oh, thank Celestia!" she said, hugging her friend. "Rainbow, wake up! Wake up, we did it! We beat Sombra!"

Her friend slowly stirred. "Hngh... t-Twi?" she asked weakly.

"Yeah, it's me..."

"Twi..."

"Yeah?"

"Come here..." she said.

"What? What do you need? Are you hurt? Are you okay-?"

She was cut off by hooves grabbing her and pulling her close to a kiss. Rainbow Dash was kissing her. She was kissing Rainbow Dash. Her eyes went wide as she realized what happened, but quickly melted into the kiss, pushing in further and intensifying the kiss.

After a few seconds they broke away to catch their breath. "I miss you too, featherbrain," Twilight giggled.

"Dear Celestia, she's alive!" Applejack yelled in the distance. She ran close up to the two. "Ah saw you run off, thinking you were just taking it hard, but dang! Rainbow, yur alive! Sweet Celestia!" She pulled her friend into a hug.

"Oh my gosh, Dashie, you're okay! I was super scared that you might never come back and that would've made me really sad, but I'm glad you're okay now and you're not turned into dust like big old meanie Sombra, we should have a party!" Pinkie bounced in, talking at a pace that they could barely understand.

"I'm glad I'm okay too, Pinkie," Rainbow chuckled.

Her other friends also rushed by and said their hellos, glad that their friend didn't die.

"Hey, Twilight, how'd you know she survived?" Applejack asked.

Twilight thought for a moment. "I don't know... I just had a gut feeling. Like something was pulling me over here. How did you survive, Dash?"

"I..." Rainbow Dash said at first. "I don't know. I think it may have just taken away my dark magic instead of just killing me," she said uncertainly. She lifted up a hoof to test.

She aimed to pick up a rock, and to her utter surprise, she was able to lift it. Although this time, her eyes didn't go dark and her hoof didn't turn dark. Instead, it seemed that she had a magic aura of her own. Her hoof glowed blue as she lifted the rock, it also growing blue in her aura.

"Ooh, Dashie has her own magic!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Fascinating... I'll have to look at it later," Twilight said. "I'll do that when we get back. Right now, I'm just glad you're alive." She nuzzled Dash and kissed her lightly.

"Aww, you two look so cute together!" Rarity added before gasping. "I should make you two matching dresses! That will make you both look absolutely fabulous!" Both Twilight and Rainbow blushed heavily.

"When did you two lovebirds become a thing?" Applejack asked.

Blushing, Twilight said, "Well, we both realized how much we mean to each other during this trip and I couldn't be more happy." She looked over to Rainbow. "Now let's get you up, Dash. Can you walk?"

"Uh... yeah, I think so," Rainbow said, wincing as she got up. "I might have a broken rib or two," she added. "Can we head to the hospital?"

"Yeah, that sound great."

Fin.

Author's Note

That's it! Hope you enjoyed the story! I wanted to finish it up today before I have to leave to go on vacation where I will not be able to write.

Any feedback is welcome! As I said before, I hope you enjoyed this story. :heart:

PS: There will be a sequel to this story.

Chapter 4: Going Deeper (V1.2)

Nopony said a word, the events from earlier still lingering on their minds. They all slowly walked in a direction, not one that was chosen, they just walked. The fight from before left them not knowing which way they were going in, so they decided to just pick a random direction and head there.

Was it efficient? No. Did Twilight approve of this? No. But they didn't have any other choice. They could barely see and they were too far to notice any hoofprints. Only the ones right beneath their feet. The wind had also begun to pick up in pace again, blowing the travlers' hair in the wind. Unfortunately for them, this wind also blew around snow that both blinded them slightly and covered up previous tracks left on the snow.

As they walked, Rainbow was the most distant of the six. Her head hung low as an occasional sniffle was heard. Luckily for her, each time a sniff was heard, Twilight would comfort her slightly. Not verbally or anything, it'd be something small, like a pat on the back or a quick nuzzle. The two walked considerably close to each other while everyone else hung in the back of the group, watching for signs of activity.

Thoughts plagued their minds as they walked. How the heck did Rainbow Dash manage to beat up that shadow wolf? What was that black stuff coming off of her? How did she move so fast? Of course, while they had their suspicions, none of them thought much of it and defaulted the strange sights to 'their surroundings being dark'.

Soon, however, the snow from beneath their hooves started to decrease and the trees started to thin out. Filled with hope, everyone trekked with a slightly faster pace than before. And by some miracle, a pathway was made known. Now all they had to do was follow it. Finally, they had some sense of direction again, and this boosted the morale of the group, even having Rainbow starting to lift her head up high again as she walked instead of staring into the cold ground below.

Then, a wisp of a light was seen in the distance. What looked to be like some sort of fire, swaying side to side as it moved across the icy pathway. "Hey, I think that might be somepony!" Twilight said excitedly and called down to the moving light source. "Hey! Down here! Can you help us? We're a bit lost!"

Suddenly, the source of light had stopped moving. Whispers were heard coming from the location, but it was barely audible. Then, the light continued down on its path towards the new found group of ponies who were relieved to finally see some for of life that wasn't an animal of sorts.

"Thank Celestia, I need to rest my hooves after all of that walking," Rarity commented, fixing up her hair from the long trip through the forest.

"For once ah'm with ya on that, Rares," Applejack agreed. She relaxed her muscles and watched as the lights got closer and closer.

And as the light rounded the corner, it was revealed that it had in fact been a pony carrying a torch! Actually, it had been a group of ponies that were lit up by said torch. And the group of ponies were guards. They held shields, spears, swords, and armor along with a sick mask to go with it!

Quickly, the guards formed into a square and stood evenly in front of the tired travelers. Then the leader drew his weapon. "Under orders of King Sombra, you are ordered to come with us. Resist, and be met with lethal force," he said in a monotone voice as he lifted his spear, pointed straight at Twilight, since she was in the front.

Well that was quite unexpected. Twilight backed up and tried to talk with them. "I think you have us mistaken. We're just looking for the Crystal Empire. We've been wondering for quite a while and we're all getting really tired," she tried to reason. It was to no avail though as the spear was shoved right next to her throat.

"Do not resist," the guard spoke sternly. The guards behind him drew their weapons as well. "You will be coming with us."

"Heheh, alright, we're going, we're going..." Twilight smiled sheepishly and backed away again before turning to her friends and shouting, "RUN!" In a flash, they all sprinted away.

"Ugh, I'm bored!" Shadow groaned to herself. She was laying by herself in her bedroom, as per usual, tossing a ball up and towards the ceiling and watching as it falls back down into her hooves. "There's nothing to do around here! All these stupid rules from stupid Dad. I can't do anything with my life!" she whined. She was stuck in her room with nothing to do. She wasn't allowed to go outside, talk with the guards, or do anything for that matter. It was like her father was paranoid or something. Didn't want her escaping from her pen or something among those lines.

Then, she had a brilliant idea. Quite the genius one, if she did say so herself. It had been so obvious! Who was keeping her in her room after all? For all she cared, she could just leave! Just sneak past some guards, easy-peasy! How hard could it be?

She threw the ball into the air one last time and this time let it fall besides her onto the bed. She sat up and started to think. She would need a plan to get out of here, after all. It's not like she could just walk out and about, there were guards patrolling the halls. She needed somewhere to go...

Then an idea sparked in her mind. She could visit Midnight Bloom, her personal maid assigned to her by her Dad. She never did much other than deliver her food, so she spent most of her time in the garden. And better yet, no one ever goes to the garden. It's mostly just Midnight, tending to the flowers and plants.

So now she had a plan. Now she just had to execute it.

Quietly, Shadow poked her head out of her door and looked left and right, scanning for anyone coming close. Thankfully, it was empty. Quick to make sure she wasn't spotted, she dashed up towards the ceiling and hovered in place. No, this won't do. I'll get spotted instantly. She let out a puff of air. Let's see if I remember how to do this...

Thankfully, being the daughter of Sombra gained her some pretty cool powers. Focusing on herself, she closed her eyes and thought. A shadow... I am... a shadow... She could feel energy being pulled from within her, covering her entire body in a tingly feeling. Slowly, she opened her eyes again and looked down to her hooves. A grin grew across her face. They were transparent, radiating dark magic out into the atmosphere.

While she could easily be seen in a brightly lit room, being in the shade provided the opposite effect. Knowing this, she stayed in the shadows, carefully making her way through the halls and checking every corner before continuing onwards.

Well apparently, she didn't check enough.

After turning one of the corners, she was met face to face with a guard, who was thankfully looking away from her. She gasped in surprise and quickly retreated into a dark shadow in the corner of the room. The guard turned his head towards where Shadow was just standing.

"I think I heard something," the guard muttered and trotted over to investigate the sound. He walked over, weapon drawn and got into a battle ready position as he turned the corner, only to be met with... nothing. The only thing there was the stupid vase that was obviously off-centered on the damn table and it pissed him off! Well, now was the time for action.

He grunted in annoyance and grabbed the vase, rotating it a couple of degrees and setting it back down on the middle of the small, wooden drawer. With a smile of satisfaction, he went back to his usual patrol.

After a couple of seconds, Shadow let out a the air that she had been holding in her lungs, taking in deep breaths to gain back the lost oxygen. This time, she double checked to make sure no one was around the corner before continuing towards onwards. After not much time, she spotted a double door which had a sign next to it labeled 'Garden'.

She smiled and sighed in relief while transforming out of her shadow form, taking the next few steps towards the door. Then all of a sudden, she heard a shout from her left.

"Hey! What are you doing out of your room? You're not allowed out here, Shadow! Go back to your room!" It was a guard. And he did not seem happy.

Well, crap. Shadow groaned and turned to look at the guard approaching her. "Dad gave me permission to wander the halls," she attempted to lie. The guard just stared at her.

"Uh huh. Yeah, that's not working on me, kid. C'mon," he reached forwards to grab her, but she quickly stepped away.

"Nope! You never saw me here!" She quickly turned around and bolted backwards, hoof steps loudly echoing down the hall. But only one pair of hooves? That's not right.

She turned back around to look at the guard, who just stood there, staring blankly ahead and muttering in a monotone voice. "I never saw you here."

"What?"

He walked forwards straight past Shadow and into an adjacent room, not even bothering to bat an eye towards her. The doors creaked as it swung closed and left Shadow alone once more.

"Oooookkaaay?"

The six of them dashed through the forest, a trail of guards following them. Thankfully, they were quite slow, wearing all that heavy armor. In an attempt to lose them, Twilight turned around and lit her horn as she summoned a large magical barrier and pushed it outwards towards the onslaught of ponies, toppling them onto the ground and leaving them dazed.

This was taken as an opportunity to escape. "Quick, hide!" Twilight whispered. Everyone scrambled deeper into the woods before diving behind a bush or tree, with Rainbow taking to the air and testing her luck with the tree branches.

It was just in time, too, because their pursuers easily got back up on their hooves and went down the path that they just took. Just as they were about to pass by, the leader raised a hoof and stopped, examining his surroundings. He bent down onto the floor and brushed his hoof over a snow track. "The trail stops here. They must be hiding." He stood up and shouted into the dark forest. "Show yourself! We know you're out there!"

He looked around once more, not seeing anyone in his sight. With a grunt, he bent back down to re-examine the tracks. His eyes traced along the hoofsteps from before, following them up towards a bush. He locked eyes with it and drew his weapon. Slowly he approached, weapon raised high.

Twilight's horn started to glow, preparing to start a fight. Rainbow, however, acted quickly, lighting up her hoof and waving it towards the guard, entering his mind. "There's nopony there," her voice echoed through his mind.

The guard stopped, strapping his spear onto his back. "They're not here. They've escaped. I want you eight to search this side of the forest, the rest of you with me," he commanded. The others saluted and shouted in unison, "Sir, yes sir!" before forming two separate squads and continuing on their search.

After they left, everyone stepped out of their hiding spots. Twilight walked out of the bush and brushed herself off, followed by Fluttershy and Pinkie, who was bouncing out of the hiding spot instead of walking. Rainbow sighed in relief too, thanking Celestia that they weren't spotted. She glided down and landed near Twilight, shaking the leaves off of herself.

Rarity and Applejack were the last to leave their hiding spots, Rarity in particular having a hard time. "Dear Celestia! There's twigs and leaves stuck in my hair!" she frantically weaved her hooves through her hair in an attempt to get the sticks out. "Where's a brush when a lady needs one?"

"Quit your complainin' miss, we still got a ways to go," Applejack chuckled, helping her pluck out the twigs from her mane. "Now ah reckon we should go ta where they came from 'cause that's probably where this Crystal Empire is," she suggested.

"That's a good idea, Applejack," Twilight agreed as she finished brushing herself off. "Is everypony okay?" she asked, to which everyone nodded. "Good. Now if you're all ready, we can get going. We don't have time to lose."

They retraced their steps with haste, eventually making their way towards a large clearing where the trees opened up to reveal the back of a large castle.

"Alright, everypony, I'm guessing this is where King Sombra is. Stay close and watch out for guards," she whispered to her friends as they approached the back entrance, making sure no one was nearby before doing so.

Walking in, they were welcomed with a large hall, much like the one from Princess Celestia's throne room, which held paintings and artworks that lined the walls, marking the history of the Crystal Empire. Twilight's jaw dropped to the floor, gaping as she examined all the art pieces, all the artifacts, that were present.

"Oh wow, a bunch of paintings," Rainbow said sarcastically. Twilight stumbled on her words and looked at Dash.

"How can you say that? This is the most important discovery since 1968 when a stallion found civil war era gold coins in his backyard!" she squealed in excitement.

"Yeah, Twi, we get it. You like history," she snickered and was met with a glare from Twilight.

"Are you being serious right now? Not even Theodore Maiman's invention of the laser tops this!" she responded. "Just look at these historical art pieces! They show the order of history that happened here! Pictures of war, troubles, and leaders! Look!" she pointed to one of the pictures. "This is Sombra coming to rule! And this one!" she pointed to another picture. "This one is of his defeat from the princesses! And this one!" she pointed to, once again, another picture. "This one is about- wait a second..."

She studied the painted wall. It showed of Sombra with another pony, having a heart above their heads. And below them, a tiny pony. The art showing that it was a female. "Wait, Sombra had a DAUGHTER?!" she practically screamed. She calmed herself down, speaking at a quieter tone. "Sorry! I mean, Sombra had a daughter?! This is such an important historical moment! Wait, if Sombra had a daughter, then where is she, I mean-"

Twilight's voice was drowned out by Rainbow's thoughts. She began to slightly hyperventilate. Oh my gosh, I'm so screwed. They're going to find out everything! They're never going to be my friends again! They'll think I betrayed them! They'll hate me! They'll-

"What do you think, Rainbow, isn't this just wonderful?" Twilight was jumping up and down, much like Pinkie. Rainbow tried to calm herself down.

"Uh- yeah! Very exciting..." she mumbled. Twilight didn't seem to notice. She was too focused on running around the room in excitement of her historical discovery.

"Ah hate tah interrupt you, Twilight, all excited n' all, but we need to move. Sombra ain't gonna stop himself, ya know," Applejack interrupted.

"B-But!" Twilight tried to plead, met by Applejack glaring at her. "Fine. You're right..."

Twilight silently gave her goodbyes and proceeded onwards into the next room. As they opened the door, the room was revealed, opening up from the side, showing a large throne room fitted for that of a king. The walls had paintings much like the ones from the previous room, except this time framed in a gold seal. Torches were also lined on the walls, illuminating the room, giving it a warm color. And in the middle of the room hung a chandelier filled with glistening glass and torches that must've cost a fortune. Red carpet lined the floor, starting from the main entrance and making its way over to the main attraction, the throne. It was lined with gold jewels and gems colored red and blue. And on top of that throne sat Sombra himself.

Twilight's mood instantly turned south as she began to panic internally, quickly attracting the attention of the dictator that was signing papers, as per usual. He sat on top of his throne, glaring down at them with an annoyed look on his face until his annoyance turned into anger.

"It is you! You intruders have broken into my empire and have harmed my precious Hades, thinking you'd go unnoticed? Such fools! How did you get past my guards? I had sent them out to look for you? You know what? It doesn't matter. I'll have them properly trained and disciplined after this. Now explain yourself," Sombra's voice boomed.

Trying to find the right words to speak, Twilight fumbled, "I-, uh, W-We've come to stop you, Sombra! You've led this kingdom into despair! Kept it away for over a thousand years!" Twilight very skillfully announced, stomping her hoof in front of her to emphasize her point, still not managing to look serious at all.

"What are you, a child? Stop with the lies! This kingdom has only stood for 300 years! Only recently have I come to rule!" Sombra growled.

Twilight furrowed her eyebrows. Wait, that doesn't add up... "But that doesn't make any sense! Princess Celestia said she banished you into ice over a thousand years ago! No pony even knows of the Crystal Empire's existence anymore!"

This time it was Sombra's turn to be confused. "Impossible! Those foolish sisters never banished me! I was merely casted away, though those fools didn't expect me to take my kingdom with me!"

"That doesn't matter! What does matter is that you've been enslaving ponies through your rule and we're here to put an end to it!" she pointed a hoof at Sombra who just sat there, amused.

"You and what army? What can you possibly do that would defeat me?" he laughed.

Twilight smiled smugly and looked to her friends before taking out the elements of harmony and strapping them on. "This is your last chance, Sombra. Back down now or face the elements of harmony!" she threatened.

Sombra's eyes widened. Impossible! I thought only the two sisters could wield them! He looked around quickly for a solution, before smiling.

"Uh, Twilight, why is he smiling?" Applejack asked.

Twilight kept her poker face on, although she was also concerned. "I don't know, just keep your guard up," she whispered.

Suddenly, the ground below them rumbled and darkened before having black crystals shot out, grabbing the elements and trapping them in its grip while also encasing the wielders each in their own crystal cage. Sombra laughed at them. "You foolish ponies. Did you really think you could stop me with those petty little elements?"

Twilight tried to teleport out before being thrown back onto the floor, her magic proving ineffective. "My magic! It's not working!" She tried banging on the cage, but no progress was made.

Sombra continued to laugh as he floated down towards their cages. He grinned devilishly until his eye made contact with Rainbow Dash. She quickly looked away, as if trying to hide herself from the situation. "Wait a minute. You! I recognize you," he spoke as he flew down and landed in front of her.

Oh no... This cannot be happening! Rainbow panicked, trying to force her way out of the cage. Sombra stared at her before his eyes went wide and he backed up, growling.

"Oh. It's you," he snarled. "I only know two ponies with that rainbow hair of yours. Why did you come back here? To try and take over my kingdom with those good-for-nothing friends of yours?" Rainbow kept quiet.

Her friends turned over to look at her. "Rainbow Dash! What is he talking about?" Twilight asked.

Sombra laughed. "You didn't even tell them either? And Rainbow Dash?" He shrunk the crystal cage with his magic and dragged the mare over to him. "That's the name you came up with? This is all too good."

Applejack raged, "Just what in tarnation are you talkin' about? That right there is Rainbow Dash, our friend! Tell 'em, RD!"

Rainbow tried to say something, but nothing came out. Sombra pulled her cage closer to himself. "Yeah, Rainbow Dash," he spoke with a tone of disgust. "Why don't you tell them? Or will I have to?" he growled. She tried to back away from Sombra, but the cage was too small to do so.

"Fine. So be it," he spat out, getting saliva on her face. "So you don't want to talk? Guess I'll just tell them myself, Shadow Dash! They deserve the right to know, don't you think?" he spoke with increasing volume. Rainbow stayed quiet, knowing what was about to come. "Now I will ask again!" he shouted in her face. "Why do you come back to my kingdom, daughter?" His voice was deafening.

Her friends all gasped. No, it can't be... can it? Twilight thought to herself, closing her eyes and looking away. The pieces all clicking together in her mind.

"NOO!" Rainbow shouted. Her body was surrounded with a flow of dark matter as she skipped through the air like a bolt of lightning, kicking the monster mid air, sending it flying away, crashing into a nearby tree.

"What do you think, Rainbow, isn't this just wonderful?" Twilight was jumping up and down, much like Pinkie.
"Uh- yeah! Very exciting..." she mumbled. Twilight didn't seem to notice.

It all made sense.

Twilight looked back tearfully into Dash's eyes. She didn't know how to feel. She felt confused, afraid, angry, but most of all, she felt betrayed.

"Rainbow. Is this true?" she asked.

Rainbow backed away. "I...I-," her voice trembled, tears swelling in her eyes.

"IS IT TRUE?!" Twilight shouted. Rainbow started to cry. "WELL?!" The crying mare nodded slowly as she crumpled into a ball in a corner of her cage. Twilight also began to cry. "I... I trusted you..."

Sombra was enjoying every bit of this. "Well now your friends know. What was it I said again? Friends only bring you down? Until they stab you in the back? Seems like you learned your lesson," he spat. He looked at the group of six broken friends. "Such a disappointment. You're not worth my time," he said as he used his magic to thrust all of them through the main entrance and down a large staircase behind it, breaking them free from their prisons in the process. Then a large black cloud of smoke was summoned besides Sombra and quickly evaporated, leaving guards standing where the smoke once was. "Kill them. Don't leave anyone alive." And with that, he walked away.

Author's Note

These aren't the droids you are looking for...

Yes I gave Rainbow jedi mind trick.

Also sorry to some people that I may have pissed off with this chapter. Just wait until the next one, it'll be worth it, trust me.

Version History:
V1.1 - Rephrased a lot of the first section of this chapter. Will come back to it later to finish with further updates.
V1.2 - Rephrased the flashback scene, Sombra scene, literally just the rest of the chapter. Also added in some extra details. Alright, time to work on chapter five now.