//------------------------------//
// Chapter 13: Day 4, the Element of Loyalty 
// Story: Dark Star of Shadows 
// by Super Ponyman 
//------------------------------//

(Castle Nevermore, King Sombra's Bedchamber)

King Sombra was sitting on the edge of his bed, looking frustrated. He heard of Shadow Armor's defeat at the hooves of Celestia and he was taking out his aggression on his chair. 

Nocturne walked in to see her king throw his chair out the window, then hearing a crash as it fell to pieces when it hit the side of the mountain. 

King Sombra stomped around the room, "Argh! I ask my new servant to do one thing, and he screws up." Sombra said, "Granted, it was Celestia. so I should not be so harsh on him..."

Nocturne gave the King a newspaper, saying "My king, you may want to look at this."

King Sombra opened up the newspaper and began to read, Nocturne was about to leave the room to go get some more coffee for King Sombra, when he asked her. "Nocturne? Why does this pony look familiar?"

Nocturne picked up the newspaper and opened it up. Inside was a picture of an white Alicorn, it had flames coming out the top of its head and tail. 

She responded, "I would have said that is your student Burning Star due to the Fire coming off him, but then I saw the wings and fur color."

King Sombra looked closer at the picture, "It kind of looks like Celestia... if Celestia lost her mind and went all Nightmare Moon like her sister did..."

Nocturne cut in, "If Celestia went into something similar to Nightmare Moon, what would she be called exactly?"

Suddenly, the giant doors at the front of the throne room flew open, and Shadow Armor limped in, bleeding from his head and side. 

He said in a pained voice loud enough for King Sombra to hear, "Daybreaker... her name is Daybreaker. I'm sorry my king, I've failed you."

Nocturne noticed the shadowy knight was bleeding and ran over to him, "Shadow Armor! Your hurt. Who did this to you?" 

King Sombra noticed that Shadow Armor was in the room and said, "Shadow Armor! How did you lose to Celestia?!" 

He saw the wounds on his military commander's body and immediately lowered his voice, "Oh... that doesn't look good." 

King Sombra whistled and a pair of servants appeared, "Take Shadow Armor to the Infirmary quickly! Don't let him die or you'll be dead soon after!" 

With that, Shadow Armor said to his king, "Daybreaker is too strong my king, if you go after her, she will kill you to."

King Sombra put a hoof on Shadow Armor's head, "I know that, tend to your wounds, I'll deal with this later."

The two servants led the Black knight to the infirmary, then Nocturne looked at her king in shock. 

"What do mean "later", my king? Isn't the situation at hand more important?" 

King Sombra shot his advisor a deadly glare. "No, I've got to find a way to gain an advantage over Celestia and Luna... tell me Nocturne, other than Twilight Sparkle or her infuriating brother, who is the most Combat ready pony in Ponyville?"

Nocturne thought for a moment, then said, "Not many of the elements of harmony can fight effectively, but I would probably pick Rainbow Dash. Though, I've never really seen her fight anypony."

King Sombra smiled, "Anything else you can tell me about her? Where she lives? what Does she like?" 

Nocturne said, trying to not slap King Sombra because he was being obsessive again,  "She is a Pegasus, my king. She probably lives in Cloudsdale. She boasts that she is the fastest flier in all of Equestria." 

King Sombra didn't need to hear anymore and transformed into his Shadow Form. 

He said, "Fastest Flier in Equestria? Bull crap, my old Pegasus captain Thunder Fury was the fastest, not this multicolored mess."

"I will blend in as a storm cloud. Pegasi are known to change the weather around Equestria, so a storm cloud out of nowhere would certainly cause her to come right to me..." 

Nocturne gave King Sombra some advice, "Don't draw too much attention to yourself! Just brainwash the mare and get out of there!" 

King Sombra nodded and flew out the window, heading towards Cloudsdale, 

"Soon I will catch this little Pegasus and turn her into my slave... and no one can stop me."

King Sombra laughed, and sped off towards the Cloud City.

(Twilight Sparkle's Castle, Twilight's room) 

Twilight Sparkle woke slowly, she heard no loud noises, no cracking of stone, nothing. She got up and looked into Burning Star's room. He looked as if he was still sleeping. 

Twilight sighed, "Finally... he's getting some rest. Thank Celestia..." 

Twilight walked over to his bed and saw a little note on it. She read it, 

"Dear Twilight Sparkle,

"I left you this note for when you woke up, I've gone to Cloudsdale on my own to learn about Loyalty from your friend Rainbow Dash."

I apologize in advance if I snap her in two because she really, REALLY, bugs me. I'm fine with a little pride... but she can be ridiculous sometimes."

I also brought Scootaloo with me, I figured that Rainbow Dash could see my work as a demonstration of loyalty."

"With love, 
Burning Star."

Twilight crumpled the note in her magical grasp and screamed,  Letting it echo throughout the castle.

"BURNING STAR!"

(Equestrian Sky) 

Rainbow Dash flew through the skies, blazing past the clouds above Ponyville and punching holes in the clouds as she looped and dove in the air. "Oh Yeah! My day off! I wonder what I'll do today... maybe go to Sweet Apple Acres and get some fresh Cider? Head to Rarity's place and see what she's doing?" 

Rainbow Dash yawned, "Or I could just nap back at home..." she said as she blasted towards her home, not noticing the large greyish thundercloud in front of her. 

She stopped dead and looked at it confused, "Huh? That's strange, there was no Thunderstorms scheduled for today... I guess it's just a stray cloud." 

Rainbow Dash sped off, and the grey cloud began following her.

Rainbow Dash turned around, seeing the Cloud behind her, "Is that cloud following me? Clouds don't have brains, right?" 

She flew forwards, the cloud mimicking her movements. The Cyan sweared that she saw a evil face on the cloud before it lit up with lightning. 

Rainbow Dash shrieked, "Holy crap! it's a evil cloud! I'm outta here." 

She booked it for the back window of her home, then the cloud grabbed her and pulled her into darkness. 

(Cloudsdale, Rainbow Dash's house)

Burning Star arrived at the house of the supposed "Fastest Flier in Equestria" and knocked on the door. 

"Hello? Rainbow Dash? You home? I did not come ALL the way up here to wait around all day."

Scootaloo walked over to him and said, "She's probably sleeping, Pegasi sleep during the hot hours of the day."

Burning Star facehoofed, then pulled out his raven feather pen and his notebook 

"Day 4, The Element of Loyalty"

"Yesterday was my best demonstration of friendship when I visited Rarity, I gave the three fillies known as Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo (aka the Cutie Mark Crusaders) gifts. I know that I was kind of bribing them, but I don't care, I passed."

I gave Apple Bloom a box full of Crystal Apple seeds, I gave Sweetie Belle a bag full of Firebrand Gems from my hometown. But my best gift was for Scootaloo, I finally made good use of the magitek wings I found! thanks to my help, Scootaloo now can fly with great ease, and she seems much happier because of it. Maybe one day I'll show her that I'm a..."

Scootaloo tugged on Burning Star's Tail, "Burning Star? Do you see that ominous cloud above us?"

Burning Star put away his writing materials and looked up, he ignited his horn and said, "Scootaloo! Get out of here! I don't want you getting hurt."

Scootaloo nodded and flew off, leaving contrails of air as she flew through the skies faster than anypony had seen before. 

Burning Star narrowed his eyes as the dark cloud flew away and down to the ground, he knew who it was and he teleported down. 

"Alright Shadow King! Let's see what you got!"

(???) 

Rainbow Dash awoke in her cloud bed, it was pitch black outside. "Ugh, did Celestia forget to raise the sun or something?" 

Rainbow Dash said, shaking her head. She hovered into her living room and sat on her couch. She tried to reach for a light, but she found none. 

Rainbow Dash flew outside, all she saw was a black void. "Weird... I wonder if I'm dreaming? Do I normally dream of black abysses?"

All of a sudden, a deep voice pierced the darkness. "Oh i assure you Rainbow Dash..." 

Rainbow Dash turned around and her face went from soft cyan to stark white with fear. She backed up and fell on her flanks.

Before her stood a dark stallion she never thought would be seen again, King Sombra!  

"This is no Dream!" The dark king said, causing Rainbow Dash to scream. 

Rainbow Dash put on a brave face and said, "King Sombra! That's impossible! You're Dead! I saw you shatter into pieces thanks to the Crystal Heart."

King Sombra said in a scary tone, "Did you really think that the Crystal Heart actually destroyed me for good? You must be joking. A pony of my strength, destroyed by that weak artifact? Hah!"

The Shadow King laughed, sending chills down the normally brave Pegasus's spine. 

"But I'm here for you, my sweet Rainbow Dash. You're the fastest flier in Equestria. And, I've heard you are quite the fighter as well..."

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow, "Go on..."

King Sombra knew what he was doing, he was playing on Rainbow Dash's Ego in order to get her to drop her guard. 

He seized the opportunity and lunged at Rainbow Dash, locking eyes with her. "I can help you become faster, stronger, and all you have to do is become my slave... what do you say?"

Rainbow Dash was struggling to look away from King Sombra, she knew what he was doing. 

She wasn't as magically knowledgeable as Twilight Sparkle, but she knew of mind control spells. "Stop it! I'm no ones slave!"

King Sombra whispered into the cyan Pegasus's ear, "i know little mare, you will only be MY slave..."

Suddenly, a bright light blew away the darkness around King Sombra as Burning Star blasted a stream of fire at his ex mentor, knocking him to the ground. 

King Sombra got up and roared at his former student, "YOU! YOU BETRAYED ME! After all I've given you! You stab me in the back?!"

Burning Star spat back with his own venomous tone, "Excuse Me?! I betrayed you?! You betrayed me when you picked Twilight over me! Was my magical expertise not enough for you?!"

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and struggled to hover in the air, she looked confused as the two unicorns shouted at each other. 

King Sombra blasted a bolt of black lightning at Burning Star, "I treated you like my son! I trained you, raised you, gave you these amazing abilities."

Burning Star blocked and blasted King Sombra with a stream of red lighting bolts. "While you did do that, You were planning on killing me when you transformed Twilight into your "Queen of Shadows." Don't lie to me, you never loved me..."

King Sombra unleashed a shockwave that knocked Rainbow Dash and Burning Star down, "ENOUGH! I'll kill you both now, since my plan failed. If I can't have this one, no one will!"

The Dark king created a giant executioner axe and swung it high over his head. 

"DIE!"

As Burning Star was about to meet a gruesome end, a silver and orange blur dived out of the sky spinning like a drill.

Rainbow Dash looked up at King Sombra as the silver and orange blur, dived out of the sky.

it was Scootaloo?! 

The orange Pegasus collided with King Sombra, a audible roar was heard as the Pegasus's metal wings acted like sharp Blades as they slashed through Sombra's armor and cut into his skin. 

King Sombra sank to his knees as blood poured out of deep cuts on his left side, he screamed at the orange Pegasus.

"Not bad, I see that you have gotten some wings now... I must say you really hurt me. But I'll be back for you Little Mares..." He said as he entered his shadow form and fled the scene. 

Rainbow Dash got to her feet, seeing her biggest fan standing in front of her with silver wings of metal, a look of seriousness on her face.

The cyan Pegasus said in disbelief, "Scoots? Is that you?"

Scootaloo nodded and wiped the dark red blood off the metal feathers on her wings with her hooves. 

She walked over to Rainbow Dash and said, "Look Rainbow Dash! I've got Wings! Real wings now! Well there not natural wings like yours, but I can fly now! Look!" 

Scootaloo took off with a gust of wind, doing loops and dives before landing with a bang, sending Rainbow Dash flying.

Rainbow Dash rushed over to Scootaloo and hugged her with her wings and hooves, "Oh Scootaloo... who gave these to you?" 

The orange Pegasus pointed to the jet black unicorn, "Burning Star did! He gave me some Magitek Wings, now I can fly really fast like you!"

Rainbow Dash lifted Burning Star to his feet and said, "Is this true? You gave these to Scoots?" 

Burning Star said weakly, "Yeah. I figured I would give her the skies back to her, since I'm supposed to be generous... does this mean I passed the loyalty test?" 

Rainbow Dash hugged Burning Star and cried tears of joy into his shoulder, "yeah... you passed. And you have my thanks for saving my life."

Burning Star hugged the cyan Pegasus back, "I'm just trying to be a good friend... I don't need praise for doing my job."

With that, Scootaloo flew off into the sunset like a true hero, Rainbow Dash took off after her.

"I'll tell Twilight that you passed! See ya later!"

Burning Star sighed, "Only one left... and this is going to be tough." 

With that, he teleported back to Twilight's castle, before collapsing on the doorstep, Twilight saw her student hurt and run outside. 

She said to him, "Where were you?! What happened?!"

Burning Star said, wincing in pain, "I'm sorry I left without your permission Twilight... but i needed to face Rainbow Dash alone. Unfortunately for the both of us, King Sombra showed up and tried to corrupt her as well. I managed to distract him long enough for Scootaloo to land a clean blow to his left side, carving him up like a Hearth's Warming eve Turkey. He escaped though..." 

Twilight Sparkle lifted him up and saw the cuts and burns on his body, "You're hurt pretty badly, I need to tend to your wounds quickly."

Burning Star leaned up to Twilight's face and kissed her full on the lips! 

"Thanks Twilight, you're the best..."

Twilight Sparkle blushed, "I... I... know that."

With that said, Twilight carried her wounded friend inside and closed the door and did the logical thing, she locked the door.