//------------------------------//
// Looking Back 
// Story: Loyalty Of Darkness 
// by Lyrafan38 
//------------------------------//

	It took a lot to make Rainbow Dash cry. But as she watched from the train window as the now reformed Crystal Empire lower itself out of her line of sight, she found herself silently crying. What was meant to be her empire if her mentor would ever fall was now a shining pit of happiness that made her sick to her stomach. This fake utopia was not what he had promised her when she would succeed as its tyrant ruler, rather, she had inadvertently made it so that she would never be the empire's next ruler.
"I failed you, Master. I didn't want to defeat you." Rainbow Dash said under her breath as she slowly swayed back and forth with every movement the train made. "I knew you wanted me to succeed you if you should fall. I didn't want this to happen...." 
Rainbow allowed herself to stretch across the train seat as her mind made her way back to her days as his student. He, who would masterfully educate her in the most horrendous and cunning ways to use her dark magic. He, who would allow her to continue his reign of terror no matter what may happen in the unforeseeable future. He, who had took her in as his personal student.
"I failed you, King Sombra...."
Sombra had started teaching her on ow to use her dark magic when Rainbow was just a little filly. Her somewhat cocky attitude and her arrogance almost made him rethink his decision, but she learned through the hard way to directly follow Sombra's orders. She still had a few scars on her flank that had never fully healed from when Sombra had needed to beaten her to get her to focus on her studies. But as time went on, Rainbow began to master her dark magic. She soon rose to a power level that made her on equal magical strength to that of an alicorn. She had even begun dreaming as to fighting these so-called legendary alicorn creatures to exterminate their existence once and for all, but Sombra held her back, claiming that she still had a lot to learn. Instead, Sombra dispatched Rainbow to exterminate any of the foolish Crystal Ponies who dared to fight back or back-stab King Sombra.
And Rainbow exterminated those ponies with her advanced dark magic skills. She soon had earned the nickname of "The Executioner", which pleased her greatly. She had never fully settled with one method to take care of the rebellious ponies. She just more preferred to use any of the methods that Sombra had taught her.
She brought one of her forehooves to wipe the tears out of her eyes, making sure nopony was watching her as she did so. She was a brave pony, although that was an outer shell she had carefully constructed over the years. Deep down, she was a cold, calculating, and evil pony. She knew that even to the bottom of her heart. She knew that she would never change who she really was inside; she knew she was just as cruel a tyrant as Sombra was.
"I didn't mean to be involved in your fall, Master." Rainbow continued her regrets. "I would have easily jumped to your side and corrupted the Element of Loyalty with our dark magic to win. It's that stupid alicorn princess who channeled her stupid friendship energy into it before I could do anything to alter it."
Rainbow resumed looking out of the train window as the somewhat familiar landscape whooshed by as fast as the train could go and still stay on the rails. She, under the commands of Twilight Sparkle, had set the fact that she would not be able to rule over the Crystal Empire like Sombra did, in motion. She was the Crystal Empire's true ruler, not some pretty pink alicorn with a heart on her butt and some captain of the royal guard. That had been set in destiny for her, yet in one move, that reality shattered into millions of pieces. 
Relaxing against the seat, Rainbow carefully let the dark magic inside her take over her. She didn't want to go full force just yet; instead, she wanted to make those miserable opposing ponies suffer in the worst possible way. 
"If I cannot have the Crystal Empire under my tyrant rule that way, I shall turn it into the way it was." Rainbow promised herself, watching as some of the dark energy floated out of her eyes. "Just the way you wanted, King Sombra. Just the way you wanted. Soon, I will rule this wretched wasteland like you promised me."
Quelling the dark magic inside of her for the time being, Rainbow Dash slowly fell asleep as the rocking of the train swayed her back and forth. Her dark mind instantly began working on her master plan to rightfully take over the Crystal Empire and rule it like the tyrant she was. All those years of studying dark magic under King Sombra would not be put to waste. Instead, she decided to concoct a grand scheme that would solidify her rule as the landscape's true queen like it was meant to be.
Rainbow would just have to wait for the prefect opportunity to start performing her master plan. She didn't want to start too early, unless she wanted to be put under a heavy cloud of suspicion. She couldn't start too late, either, unless the stupid pink alicorn and the stupid white unicorn would be able to find a way to rid the Crystal Empire of the dark magic that still floated in the air.
"The Crystal Empire will be ours once again, King Sombra. I will guarantee that, even if that means that the both of us have to die to accomplish our goals." Rainbow told herself before she drifted off into the dream world, her mind closing off any and all access points anypony might have found to enter her mind. Especially that dark blue annoying alicorn who had the ability to walk through dreams.
Rainbow had felt her presence many, many times, but the expert defense Rainbow had learned as Sombra's student made it so that only she would be allowed to enter her own mind and dreams.
"Just you wait, King Sombra."