Twilight moaned and turned, her body feeling so very heavy. She hadn’t slept like that in a very long time. Her sleep had been deep and dreamless, as if she had been hibernating.
She slowly stretched and both felt and heard her bones pop with a cracking sensation, and it truly was so very relieving.

The young Unicorn smiled and turned again, this time to be on her back and softly moaned happily. She stretched herself like this and continued to do so until she felt all of her limbs free of their heaviness after a short period of rest.
By Celestia, that felt good. The fact that the bed she was on was so spacious definitely played a part in her feeling this great.

Slowly, Twilight opened here eyes.
“Hmm?” she wondered aloud. “Where am I?”

She blinked a few times and looked around, finding herself in a large room, with a pink wallpaper and painted flowers, the bed she was in was maybe the best bed she had ever rested in. There was a chimney in one of the corners, a triangular window on her left side which showed the night sky, and right in front of her she saw her robe and at the side a desk with her bag.

“Oh! There you are!”
She happily exclaimed, not yet fully remembering just what had happened to her overall just yet.
But the sound of some shuffling caught her ears, and she turned her head quickly.
When she looked to her right, she found the Pegasus mare with a smile, standing next to her bed and looking at her with a slight tilt of the head.

Twilight gasped with wide eyes. And then she remembered.

Immediately a hoof flew to her now suddenly sensitive throat, expecting to find painfully unhealed gashes, vicious scars or literally ANYTHING like that.
But instead, all she felt was smooth skin and soft thin fur, like nothing had ever happened to her in the first place.

“Don’t worry about that, he allowed his bites to heal up nice and fast, but I made sure that they would anyway. They have to, if he is to keep feeding at a later date.”
Rainbow casually commented with a little shrug.

The Unicorn paled.
“Later on?”
She repeated.

“Well yes, you’re the first one that has ever managed to come in here through that or any door really. There ARE other far more complex ways to do it, but you’re certainly special. And honestly, I don’t think he going to take any chance of you getting out, not until he himself can get out. And me too, hopefully for me.

“Ge-get out?”
Twilight repeated, but now remembered that she heard the vampire and Rainbow Dash talking about her ‘breaking a seal’.

“But I think we never managed to get a chance to get properly introduced: I am Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer you will ever meet and the only real servant, in a way, of Lord Sombra!”
She exclaimed with pride in her voice, and yet some small bit of melancholy that the mare in bed managed to catch, but decided not to try prying just yet.
She remembered that, shortly before she was… bitten and knocked out, she’d spoken out of turn to the dark stallion and he turned openly hostile again. She didn’t really think that this pony would be the same, but she didn’t want to take chances, either.

“Rainbow…um uh…hi.”
She raised a hoof in greeting. “You’re…..a Pegasus, and you are….alive in here?”

“No! I mean yes! I mean… oh whatever!”

“What do... wait, did SOMBRA make you?”

“What, no! I’m me, I’m just, uh… well, a little different from how I used to be.”

“Um, ok, sure…”

“Look Twily, I’m basically a nicer version of the vampire that he is. I’m still a totally awesome Pegasus, OK? That’s why I’m not all dark or raggedy and don’t have a mouthful of big sharp teeth. See?”
She opened her mouth, and the scholarly pony saw that while her two canine teeth were sharp and more akin to those of a wolf, the rest of them were flat and like any other pony’s.

Twilight shrugged and shook her head to clear it, but had one last question, at least for now.
“So um uhh, HOW did you become like this?”

The Pegasus shrugged casually.
“Oh, Sombra turned me himself.”

This got a real reaction out of Twilight.

“B-b-but how? When?”

“I don’t remember EVERYTHING, but it sure was quite a long while ago for sure. I’m… I’m pretty sure my original family are all dead.”
She now had to look away, Twilight quickly noticing how this was a vulnerable subject for her, and so she decided to drop it for now. Rainbow noticed this, and turned back to her with a smile.

“Yes, so I suppose that I’m basically here to keep him company, and I get to do lots of stuff while he’s sleeping.”

The Unicorn turned to the window, and saw how the curtains were wide open, allowing what little light out there to come in.
“Like….right now?” She wondered.

“Yes, so you and I have a lot we can do in the meanwhile!”
Rainbow’s excitement was palpable.

“Riiiight….like what?”

“Well DUH, I can show you around! There are a lot of things here!”

“Umm….okay.” Twilight felt like this was some sort of trap.
She could try to just walk out of the place but…wondered what Rainbow Dash would do if she did. She seemed nice, but Twilight was always taught that appearances can be deceiving.
Plus, she had a sinking feeling about Sombra. She could just FEEL the dark presence of the vampire, observing her every move from every shadow.

Twilight realized again that her personal belongings were in the room with her, and instinctively turned to look at them again.

“Yeah, Sombra did want you to know that you are welcome to stay.” Dash informed.

“Yeah, so he can… keep feeding on me.”
“Yep.” The Pegasus casually agreed.The Unicorn now could feel a vein pumping on the side of her forehead until a growl could be heard all over the room.

Rainbow lowered his eyes to look at Twilight’s midsection.
“Darn….” The latter whimpered, putting a hand over her stomach.

“My keen understanding of the anatomy of a mare tells me that… you’re hungry!”
Rainbow said in a comedically sarcastic analytical voice.
“Here,” she flew to a beside table and took a large chalice filled with water, speeding back and hoofing it to the suddenly-thirsty mare.

“Oh!...uh..thanks?”
She could not resist and gulped it all down in a single chug, sighing deeply.
“Oh goddess that was so refreshing! The taste…”
She took a long look to the cup and an image came to her head.

“This came from a river?”

“How do you know?” Dash gasped, looked surprised and fascinated.

“Intuition.” Twilight stated, looking at the cup almost studiously.

“Well, you got it right. Now, I’m gonna assume that you wanna eat, so come on! Sombra hasn’t gone to the kitchen in centuries, but I occasionally go on down there when I feel a bit peckish, so I’m sure there still may be something edible for you as well.”

“CENTURIES?!”
Twilight nearly cried out in surprise.
“Wait, does that mean YOU have been in here for centuries, with HIM?”

“Technically, yeah! Isn’t it awesome?”
Rainbow’s ridiculously optimistic attitude now did not waver.

“Oh yes, it sure is.” The lavender mare deadpanned.

“Oh don’t be such a spoilsport. Now, come on!”
The prismatic Pegasus hovered excitedly in the air and grabbed Twilight’s hooves with her own as she began to pull her toward the door.

“Wait wait, I lemme get my things!”
Twilight then used her Magic to telekinetically grab her bag and sling it over her shoulder before putting her coat back on, and as soon as she was done Rainbow resumed pulling and escorting her out of the room and down the hallway.

The Unicorn took in everything more clearly now, and personally noted that she was in a different area of the castle. While still quite dark, the hallway was more illuminated by many other torches and fires in small oddly-placed fireplaces, and she let out a surprised exclamation as she realized this particular place was actually quite nice looking and not so very eerie as it did when she’d arrived last night, and instead it now looked more homey and peaceful. It brought a sense of warmth.
She did not feel the same invasive cold she felt last night, either.

The place continued to be and feel big, but it was now just a bit cozy, maybe even more or less welcoming.

What a little more light can do, unlike last night.
Last… night…

Twilight nearly stumbled as she suddenly felt her face turn cold. Rainbow noticed her sudden lack of enthusiasm.
“Hey, you ok there, Twi?”
She landed now and turned to look at Twilight more closely. She took the latter’s face in her hooves and got so close they were almost nuzzling.

“Um..Rainbow Dash?”

“What is it, Twily? Just say it and I’ll do what I can.”

“… Do you know for how long I slept?”

“Yeah. It was three days.”
She pulled back now and removed a hoof… but kept one on one of Twilight’s cheeks anyway, her touch as gentle as she could manage it in a comforting way. The Unicorn was a bit too distraught to really care at the moment.

“Oh gosh…” The bookworm moaned. “I lost three days…”

“Why worry? It’s not as if you got anything important to do, do ya?”

“Well, no..but…” Twilight let out a soft whimper, and then unexpectedly leaned more into Rainbow’s hoof, one of her own coming up to hold it too, almost as if for security. It could be considered as quite an intimate moment, though the two of them didn’t really notice.

Dash now made another bold move, and brought her own face forward to properly nuzzle the now truly saddened Unicorn. Both ponies closed their eyes for several seconds.
“Are you here for more than just to find some big important Library, Twily? This thing is really affecting you, isn’t it?”
She nuzzled her again gently and looked into her eyes.

Twilight did not resist any of it, and let herself be touched in this manner. She really did need some sort of affection and comfort at this moment, far more than she probably even knew.
“It’s just…I’ve never seen anypony return from this particular journey. They….” The poor mare sniffled, as she remembered “We…leave saying we would be back soon enough after finding it, with souvenirs and with new tools and knowledge, but I’ve never seen anypony come back.”

A stray tear appeared in one eye and trickled down her cheek, and Dash stayed silent and let the Unicorn speak at her own pace.

“I thought, I hoped… that if I managed to find it after studying for years every last bit of knowledge about it, over and over again… I’d just… I’d find it at last and nopony else would… lose their lives looking for it. But now?”

She now uncontrollably snuggled into the Pegasus, who froze up for a moment before slowly wrapping her forelegs around the distraught mare and slowly starting to rub her back. Her wings did the same thing instinctively, wrapping the Unicorn in a multi-limb hug.

“What if I myself now will not make it back?”
She continued “What if…What if something happened to them, like it has happened to me? “Wha-“

Rainbow pulled back a little and put one of her hooves on the other mare’s lips.
“Hey, calm down. Listen to yourself. All of what you’ve said? It’s pure speculation, Twi! You don’t really know any of this. Everything you just said may be true, but can also be so many things! What if instead, they decide NOT to return?”

She now faced smiled at young Unicorn.
“What if they found somepony special, and started their own families instead?”

She chuckled a little and hugged Twilight again.
“What if they found something else that needed to be done, something of importance, and whatever that is has kept them busy enough to stay where they are?”

“What if they never finished their journey because they never found it? Because they found not their callings, but their deaths?”
Twilight said again, twilighting once more.

“Yeah, that could be something too.”
Dash agreed.
“But out there, in the world, there is an endless sea of possibilities!”
She left the Unicorn after a few more seconds and turned to take some steps and open a foreleg widely towards the window.

“There is so much that can happen, y’know?”

“Like getting stuck inside a castle with two vampires, one of whom has rainbow hair?”
Twilight smugly said.

“Yes, exactly.”
Dash chuckled, turning again toward the other pony and taking her hoof to continue pulling her to a lower level of the castle. She was again back in the air.
“And in that sea of possibilities, of being inside a castle with a terrifying old vampire and a younger awesome one, you may find out what you gotta do.”
Twilight sighed, but couldn’t help but smile.
“We shall see.”

And as the two mares made their way towards the kitchen, a multitude of blood-red and emerald-green eyes lit up from the darkness along the wall and ceiling, following their progress silently.

-

The mares reached one of the kitchens, and after searching everywhere for something edible the Unicorn found that nothing could be eaten anymore, at least not by her. Dashie, on the other hoof, thought that the old stuff available was quite delectable, but she herself wouldn’t need to eat until a bit later when she felt peckish again.
So, with a disturbed sigh, Twilight cleaned one of the tables and small furnaces.

“What are you going to do?”
The Pegasus questioned, watching the other mare curiously.

“I’ll need to try my hoof at summoning up some food, I guess.”

“Wait, you can CREATE your own food!?”

“Yessir. Now, let me see for a minute…”
Her horn glowed and a number of strange items that Dashie had vague memories of began to pop out of thin air.

“Since there’s nothing here, I’ll need to give myself a soup.”
The Unicorn said as she finished gathering the ingredients, tools and firewood for her meal. A minute of super-fast preparation later, she was happily gobbling it all down.
She had to make another one though, because Dash suddenly decided that she was peckish RIGHT NOW and practically begged for a bite… or three!

After eating their overdue meal, Twilight followed Dash around as she took her through the inside of the castle. The place was MASSIVE, with lots and lots of space, rooms she had never seen elsewhere were here. Twilight also found that the home had several entrances and exits to the outside, but all of them were sealed shut by an unseen force.

“It’s part of why Sombra and I have been stuck in here. He’s a REALLY awesomely powerful sorcerer and stuff, but he’s just unable to break the seal, for some odd reason. But your presence here may change that, and we will finally be able to go outside!”
Rainbow gleamed while the Unicorn wondered how and why they were all unable to be opened.

“Why did you two got locked in here, Rainbow Dash?”

The latter slowed her flying just a little bit suddenly, and Twilight was fast to realize there was more to what happened.

“His story is not mine to tell, Twilight.”

“Did he….kill anypony, or anyone?”
She pressed just a little harder.

“...Twi?”

“Yes, Rainbow?”

“I told you: I’m not going to be the one to tell you anything about him. It’s..it’s just not my place to do that.”
She now lowered her head slightly and was back on her hooves, and they both had not even noticed that they weren’t moving forward anymore, the stone halls and ceiling above them now seeming so much larger and the darkness so much worse.
“He’s the Master of this place, not me, OK? Please, just… don’t start asking me to tell you about him. Unless I personally get direct permission, I’m not to speak much of him.”

Twilight’s mouth hung ever so slightly open. If Sombra wasn’t already completely frightening enough, Rainbow was apparently unwilling to say a word about him unless he gave her permission?
But Rainbow went on and concluded her statement.
“All that I CAN say at this moment is that he was already a vampire before he turned me, and that… I made the choice to join him in immortality and becoming a monster… and we’re NOT romantic, either!”
She finished with a small reddening of her cheeks, knowing how her admission likely sounded. Twilight laughed a bit uncomfortably, but soon it became more genuine.

“OK, I’ll drop the subject. I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable after everything you’ve done for me already.“
They both chuckled and giggled a bit, the tension becoming weaker, and soon they were both just laughing for no real reason.
Eventually, the duo resumed their walk through the Castle.

“So, it’s really been a long time since you came here, huh?”
The Unicorn asked.

“It has, yeah.”
The Pegasus concluded. And they walked together out of the current dark hallway and into a more well-lit one, where the floors were carpeted and the walls more elaborate. It was overall more welcoming, and Twilight felt just a bit more relaxed as Rainbow Dash led her in this tour of the truly immense Magic structure.

Rainbow took her companion along towards the doors that would lead to the ancient gardens and another foyer, but the one that impressed the wide-eyed Unicorn the most was one door that was almost as massive as the main gate, broad dark-tinted windows at its sides revealing what the cerulean Pegasus said was the back part of the castle that would lead to the main gardens.
The entire place just seemed to keep getting bigger and more spectacular the more she saw of it!

“Gee, was Sombra some kind of Prince or something?”
She wondered aloud, since this was waaay too much majestic work and scale of dark splendor, even for an ancient vampire. The sheer size of this mysterious place, the fact that it was on a rather low rising area instead of hidden away in the top of a mountain or in the depths of a deep forest.
All these accommodations where not meant for a small family, or even for a Royal Court. This place was meant for many dozens of ponies, if not rounded off to maybe a hundred or more. The ball room and the fact there was a throne room spoke volumes already.

“He was not a prince, he was the King.”
Rainbow Dash revealed, her voice taking on a more respectful tone.

“That…explains a lot.”
Twilight ruminated on that fact.
From what little she had seen of the vampire, it not only screamed of the predatory smoothness she had learned that vampires were known to often handle themselves with, it revealed nobility, if not outright royalty.
Question was: of what or of whom?

“Now, come on! I have left the best rooms for last.”
Rainbow hurried to pull Twilight again as she headed for their next destination.

-

“YOU GUYS HAVE A LAB?!?”
Twilight pretty much screamed as she entered the room.
“Oh my gods and goddesses, I know lots of Unicorns who would kill for a place like this!”
The excited mare beamed as she trotted around marveling at the devices, installation, furniture and glassware. There were ones she had seen personally and some others that she’d only ever only read about!

“Wait, is that…?”
She asked as she came close a massive metal construction that had spanned up until the roof of the rather tall room, her purple eyes widening steadily with recognition. She tilted her head cutely as she saw that on the roof there was a white square drawn upon the stones and there was a sort of dish facing it.

“Amazing…”

“Oh, that’s… uhh, one of the projects I thought up… for when we can get out.”
The Pegasus stated as she landed and slowly walked towards her companion.
“I was… I had a theory where if I could catch a lightning bolt, I’d be able to let it loose and race it in the sky.”

“You want to race the lightning?”

“Uh, YEAH. It’s gonna be awesome, too.”

Twilight giggled at the adorable blush that the other mare tried and failed to hide.
“And you made all the calculations for how to properly achieve this goal of capturing lightning itself?”

“Uhmm, not… really. At least it technically. Well, maybe I DID need to do a little bit of brainstorming and stuff…”

“Oh so you’re also a scientist, eh?”

The miserably cute blushing face that Dash gave her had Twilight laughing again. Oh, the excitable little athlete was embarrassed to let it be known that she was also an experimenting scholar?
“Come on Rainbow, being an ‘egghead’ is nothing to be upset about! Look at me!”
She puffed out her breast while pounding it cutely with one hoof.

“Let’s just say that I’ve had lots of free time in here to occupy my boredom.”
Rainbow grunted in one last show of embarrassment as she flew to one of the corners of the room, heading towards a large set of double doors.
“Now, this room, I just get the feeling you’ll really like.”

“Why’s that?”
Twilight walked, catching up to her friend.

“Because it will be like nothing you’ve ever seen.”

Rainbow opened the big twin doors dramatically and with a smile… and Twilight entered the biggest library she had ever seen in her life.

“….”
The little pony took small steps as she took in the numerous floors filled with books, all sizes and colors, large windows letting the surprisingly large amount of light from the night in.
There was a huge thick stone chimney and a number of couches of big sizes and richly darkened colors, large well-built desks obviously meant to have lab equipment along with books.

Twilight eagerly walked towards one of the smaller book stands and took a random one, she flipped the pages and let the smell reach her nose. She took a deep breath. It smelled of elder days, of fine wood, of several preserved herbs…and…a very specific scent.

“This is one of the books you read, Rainbow. You read it recently, or maybe often?”
She turned to look at Rainbow inquisitively. The Pegasus looked sheepish again and rubbed one leg with a hoof.
Twilight smiled and closed the book to take a look at the title:

The Amethyst Bolt.

The intricate design of the titular lightning bolt beneath the title brought a smile upon the bookworm’s face as she felt the carving with a hoof. She then slowly put the book down and turned again to see the vast and beautiful library.

“This place is amazing.”
She breathed out.

“I’m hoping this will help you decide to stay here.”
Dash said, quietly.

“Dash,” the Unicorn sighed.
“I can’t stay here. Eventually I’ll need to get going.”

“Sombra DID offer to train you; I hope you’ll accept that offer after… after you have opened the gates again.”
The Pegasus requested, her face lowered once again.

Twilight wondered on that carefully for a few long seconds. She slowly walked towards what she thought was the center of the place, and looked up, taking in once more her surroundings with the rays of moonlight.
Rows and rows of books in a Library that was several stories high, all so neatly arrayed from what she could see.

Where will I ever find a library this big?
The book-lover thought.

The amount of knowledge here…How much is there? I don’t have to be a scholar to know that in here are books that do many of my peers have long since thought lost. Books of legend. Of many untold things…

Twilight turned her head to look to the door she came from, still open, showing the glorious laboratory and all the impressive tools and equipment there, waiting for her.

Just how much can I learn here? Would it be that bad if it means needing to live with being in the same place as… King Sombra?

The egghead continued to wonder.

How many experiments can I run? How many Spells can I rediscover and restore to the fold?

Her mind wondered back to the vampire. To Sombra.

I can’t trust him, I just know it.

She frowned, that familiar fear creeping into her heart.

I’m just a means to an end for him. And eventually, just food.

“Hey.”
Rainbow came to her side and tapped her.
“It’s ok, you don’t have to make a choice right now, y’know? We’ve all got plenty of time.”

Twilight sighed and looked at the other mare as she thought that she would need to leave the castle eventually, whether she wanted it or not.
Even though she could just conjure up more food and such, Unicorns could not do so indefinitely. Eventually, they WOULD have to eat something that they didn’t just create for themselves, and she was no different.
Bur the thought of needing or cooperate and thus unleashing this monster upon the world troubled her greatly.

Twilight Sparkle was well-aware of the ancient Poman phrase Damnatio Memoriae, translating into modern Ponish as “Condemnation of memory.”

This was the infamous act of completing erasing all memory of somepony or someone in general from the historical record, essentially condemning them to be removed from memory in all the countless centuries yet to be.
It was considered to be a truly harsh punishment, and had long been despised in many cultures across Equus and beyond.

But in this case, involving the vampire known apparently as King Sombra, what did she have to work with?
He was a vampire of immense power and considerable age, trapped away forever with his apparent apprentice in a Castle that was not on any map, himself and even any mention of whatever realm he ruled having been so removed from the pages of history that even the extremely well-read Twilight could not for the life of her remember ANY mention of him anywhere.
Twilight herself had enjoyed reading history, loving the old lore of both Equestria itself and the wider world. Heck, she’d even helped with the rediscovery of the legendary civilization of Troy, written about by the ancient historian Horser who’d also wrote about many other places and legends.

But she had NEVER heard the name or rank of King Sombra or any realm in this region that he may have ruled, or even about the Pegasus Rainbow Dash herself.
There was not only ONE account of a pony with a rainbow mane and tail, for that matter, but with the name and sex never being mentioned.
It was as if EVERYTHING relating to the vampire had just disappeared, destroyed and cast away into the mists of time…

What had he done?! What terrible things could have happened that any mention of him and his was practically nonexistent in any and all records?
She began to find it just a bit hard to breathe…

“Twily?”
A voice, very familiar, was heard to her left and a hoof was now resting gently on her back.
She took several more deep breathes, doing all she could to force away the multitude of troubled thoughts from clogging up her head.

“I’m, uh, not very good at this kinda stuff. But I read, well I HEARD, that’s it good for you to breathe slowly and deeply and try to focus on calm stuff. So you do that…”
Rainbow was not exactly a great therapist or anything else like that, but her genuine concern and presence was like a sort of anchor for Twilight. She focused on Rainbow’s voice, on the feel of her hoof in on her back, and slowly began to feel her panic start to recede.
Thoughts about the fact that she was in the forgotten Castle of ancient vampires so evil that his very name was stricken from the books continued to swirl in her mind, but she forced them back bit by bit.

But just as she was about to regain her control, something else popped up: Rainbow Dash herself.
The Unicorn’s mind had now wondered unto Dash and whatever her true purpose might be… she herself stated ‘she was Sombra’s apprentice and protege’, but Twilight’s gut was telling her there was more to that… although it clearly wasn’t some twisted love story as the Pegasus had made clear.

What would happen if she suddenly decided to make a run for it, at noon, when the two vampires would be at their weakest?

What would Dash do? Could she even really do anything at all?
Or would she do something… horrible?

What if SOMBRA caught her?!

Suddenly, her freshly racing thoughts were halted by that same voice.
“Wat’cha thinking?”
Rainbow asked, curious.

“…Way too many things, I’m afraid”
Twilight sighed, again, and now turned to look at the vampiric Pegasus.

“Sombra would tell me to not worry about the future. His own past olus being stuck here taught him that. You just need to live in the present, just make it through each day or night, one thought at a time, one step, then another, and things would go to where they need to, or something like that.”

“One day at a time…” the Unicorn repeated.

“And so, that way you would be able to do the next best thing!” Dash concluded.

“Sombra actually said that?”

“Oh, yeah he did. But that was, like, a long time ago.”

“Hmm…”
Twilight wondered if that was really accurate.

“Now, we should get going, I think you may be thirsty, maybe you’ll want some tea before we go meet him again.”
The Pegasus suggested as she started flying to what seemed was the main door.

“Maybe something a little stronger…”
Twilight thought out loud nervously.

“We do have some wine and bourbon stashed out”

“Oh, thank Celestia…”

-

In a dark room, one filled with naught but shadows and bones and echoes of those departed… a pair of blazing eyes shot open.

-

“What? Dash, you OK?”

Rainbow looked her companion dead in the eye, all mirth lost from her gaze and her voice now carried a tone of concern.

“Twilight, don’t you… EVER say that name again in this place. It’s for your own good, you understand me?”
Everything about her now was pure tension and even fear, and the purple pony was at a loss for words and actually stumbled back a few steps. Her purple eyes were wide and her heart beginning to beat swiftly.

It echoed in Rainbow’s ears.

-

He growled and sighed deeply, and stared into the surrounding darkness that was his domain and the bones of fallen victims who’d tried to stand against him.
And failed horribly.

At his current level of dark and terrible power, he barely had any true opponents anymore. All were nothing more than victims, no matter how strong and cleave they seemed at first glance.
Except for the one who bore THAT NAME. Her, and her fierce younger sister.

Ignoring the familiar rage for now, his mind instead wondered to the events of the other night, as he could feel the young Unicorn’s presence around his home, easily pinpointing exactly where she was right now.

He had a visitor.

When was the last time that he’d had a new visitor?

When was the last time he was so swiftly pulled out of his…..hibernation?
He had not stopped counting the years. 1,016 was quite a decently long in time for anyone really, but it might as well a day and night in the endless life of an immortal.
Soon he would be free from this entrapment and the world would remember his name once more.

But then what would happen to Rainbow Dash? She was not as devoted to the darkness as he himself was, and she could still find a way to become mortal again and be free of his hold over her.
That is, if she chose to ever move against him. So far, she was as loyal as she had been the day he’d sired her… and that both pleased and angered him.

His mighty power flaired out around him in midnight black, deep purple, crimson red, and sickly green, slashing up into the air like living flames that took the forms of terrible serpents and slithered along the floors and walls and ceiling.
Other bursts of it were like weaving bonfire that was contained around him and yet seemed to spread endlessly in all directions, his room itself completely defying the laws of Space as it seemed to ever expand and be filled with hundreds and hundreds of twisted figures and dealt shapes.
His eyes cast a wicked fiery glow, the shadows being lit up all around and yet clinging to him like limpets to a boulder in the midst of crashing waves upon the shore.

He could do as he wished to the younger vampire, and that included killing her at a moment’s notice. But not now.
He knew that she had always wanted to see the outside world again after having been so long without it.
He knew that Dash had lived to fly and be free, and he had kept her bound to his will for all this time and forced to simply fly as best she could in the confines of their shared prison.

It had been too long, he had observed, for her memory to retain the same vividness of the life she’d lost.
She no longer could remember the feeling of stepping on soft grass.
To feel the wind flowing over her face and through her mane.
To feel the coldness of the river water as she dove into it.

And yet through it all, she had still not given up. She still clung to the hope of finding freedom again, of escaping this confinement in darkness and spread her wings out to the sky once more.
He enjoyed the unfading spark within her as much as he wanted to snuff it out forever.

But enough about that filly, he had more important matters that demanded his attention. Like what he might do once he was free from here, and who he’d pay his first visit to in over a millennium. The thought brought a twisted smile to his face and a dangerous glint to his eyes.

And truly, what exactly would he DO after being freed?
Would he lay waste to every city, gather an infinite army of mindless slaves, and create a new empire of cold and dark?

Would Rainbow Dash be faithfully by his side as he did so?
Or would she scream and cry, and press her head down to the grass and earth beneath her as she felt the Sun slowly burn her away to ash?

Like Tartarus she would do that. She was HIS, and she would die only when he decreed it!

And speaking of Twilight…
Since leaving her in the hooves of his fledgling, he’d also been considering what he would first do when meeting with her again.

And the truth was something that simultaneously amused and irritated him. He was quite the basket of contradictions, wasn’t he? An amusing thought, indeed.

But anyway, the truth was that he didn’t really know.
Maybe he’d lie and tell her an abridged story about his past and such. Or maybe he’d be honest about why he was here for all these years and then force her somehow to break the seal anyway.

With a sighing grunt, she materialized again and with slow steps he walked until she reached the curtains.
With a mere thought, he opened the walls before him, telekinetically moved the curtains aside, and let the moonlight in.
Today was a full moon and was mostly a clear night, with some large clouds here and there.
With his immortal eyes, she could see everything beyond the glass. But it was not the same.

The vampire, with a few more steps, reached the window itself, and saw his own lack of a deathly reflection in the crystal.

“…”

It was as if the night out there was calling to him. He reached his left hoof and pressed it to the strong crystal glass, and felt a sudden rush of heat and cold course through his physical form.
The creature grinned fiercely, showing off his fangs to the Moon in mockery and defiance. He would be freed soon, alright!

His dark power flared up again in excitement, but he restrained it this time. He would not celebrate until AFTER he was free once again, not before.

With a last glare at the moon and smirk at the window, Sombra turned towards his bed and his horn glowed slightly as he prepared his garb for the upcoming meeting.

His outfit was the same as it had been before when he first spoke to his captive guest, but now he opted for his older cloak rather than the Royal one.
The same piece of rugged cloth that he had worn in a hundred past battles and that had been tattered and faded during its faithful service on the battlefield.
This warrior’s cloak, and his larger and more intimidating black crown which had a number of black spikes on the edges and contrasted perfectly with his crimson horn.
And lastly, he wore the strong armor pieces on his legs and torso as before.

With his preparations complete, the dark King turned towards the door and readied himself to appear to the two mares when the time was just right.
After all, he had an entrance to make.

Author's Note

Lemme what whatcha think, and point out any grammar mistakes! Tank you!