//------------------------------//
// (1-4) And Now I'm In The Dungeon 
// Story: I Am Not Sombra 
// by Boopy Doopy 
//------------------------------//

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" I cried as Celestia kept her magic wrapped around my neck and roughly yanked me through her castle. "I'm walking as fast as I can!"
She stopped and turned to me, and gave me the same flat, hateful expression. It made my heart stop and my muscles tense up with fear. I had a feeling that if Luna weren't beside me, she would have torn me apart herself.
"Walk faster," she commanded me, and pressed her magic a bit more tightly around my neck. I made sure that, as I was being practically dragged along by her, I stayed as close to Luna as I could.
She quite clearly didn't like the idea of Fluttershy sticking up for me, and made quick work of ordering her and her friends away, proceeding to shackle me with her magic and teleport me to Canterlot from what I was pretty sure was the Crystal Empire. Although, she was at least kind-hearted enough to take me into her custody. While I could tell she had more hate, I didn't think Cadance would have had quite the self-control of Celestia. 
It wasn't long before we made our way into the dungeon, which was where I expected to be taken. She stopped at the first cell we came to and roughly threw me in, causing me to nearly faceplant into the concrete.
"We will be back in two hours to interview you," she said to me. "If you try to escape, we will not hesitate to stop you. Consider yourself warned." With that, she quickly turned to walk away, her sister following behind her.
I took a quick look around to see that there was nothing in here. No bed, no sink, no windows. Just a stereotypical concrete cell. It even had bars like you'd see in a regular prison. Although, it clearly meant that she didn't think I was much of a threat, since Sombra could turn into shadows. Or, more likely, she wanted me to try and escape so she could fight me.
"Well, I guess it could be worse," I muttered sarcastically, tucking my legs under me and laying down on the cold, hard, concrete floor. "Now I just have to prove to a whole bunch of people who hate me and want me dead that I'm not Sombra."
I tried to think about what I could do, but came up empty. It was probably hopeless. They weren't going to believe me. If Applejack, who was supposed to represent Honesty, didn't believe me, there was no way anyone else would. It was a miracle enough Fluttershy gave me a chance. It would take several more miracles before I was able to leave this dungeon. And even then, I'd probably be hated by everyone seeing as I was still Sombra, or, at the very least, looked an awful lot like him. It probably wasn't going to ever change, and was useless to try and do anything about it.
Not that I wanted to do anything about it. I'd been here for… an hour now? Maybe? And in that short time, I already developed a severe fear for being here, and a significant hate for most of its rulers. I wasn’t feeling too excited about proving that I wasn’t Sombra to these ponies. I instead wanted to leave as quickly as possible, and tried to think about how to achieve that goal. 
I knew I'd have to get out of this dungeon that I was recently put in at their will. I couldn't try and escape, not that I knew how. I might get lucky and get out in a few hours depending on how my "interview" went, but I wasn't going to count on that. I didn't think I was going to be convincing Celestia, and felt that even if I convinced Luna, she'd just side with whatever her sister decided. But that was okay because I knew it'd be only a matter of time before Fluttershy came by and demanded my release. She was guaranteed to. I doubted that she would stop them from trying to kill me only to have me stay in this dungeon forever. It might be a week, it might be a month, but I was confident that, now that I wasn't going to die, she would come by, and my release would be in the immediate future.
From there, the hard part was going to be convincing Twilight to try and find a way to send me back home. Actually, no. Not Twilight. Starlight. I would convince Starlight to help find a way for me to leave Equestria. She was at least as good as her princess counterpart, and probably wouldn’t immediately want to see me dead. I would get with Starlight to find a way to get me out of Equestria and get me back home. Maybe I’d even get lucky and just wake up at any moment, but that probably wasn’t going to happen. So I would be focusing on getting to Starlight and getting out of here. And then from there, once I was back home, I would resign myself to never thinking about this show again.
Of course, though, I was stuck in this dungeon for now, waiting for Celestia’s interrogation. Not that it mattered. I wouldn’t convince them. But that was okay. I already knew exactly what would happen. I would eventually leave and get myself back home. So for now, I tried to make myself comfortable laying on the concrete, waiting for Celestia’s return.



"Imagine how you would feel if you were that poor creature," Fluttershy told her friends. The six of them and Spike sat in the castle discussing what had just happened. It was a couple of hours after they left the Crystal Empire, after Fluttershy alone decided that he should be given a chance. It was a cause of tension among them, and at Twilight's suggestion, the group sat down to hear Fluttershy's reasoning.
"If I was trapped in some horrible monster, I would want somepony to believe me."
"We don't know if he's bein' honest, Fluttershy," Applejack started.
"You said yourself he sounded truthful. I think you don't want to believe him just because it's Sombra."
"That's exactly why! He could be trying to take over Equestria as we speak!"
"If he wanted to do that, then why didn't he try to escape?"
Applejack paused at that. "Ah don't know. Maybe he thought he might get outta bein' stopped if he surrendered." 
"So it's okay to use the Elements against some creature who surrendered without ever attacking? Even after Luna said he would probably be hurt? What if that was you inside of Sombra, pleading not to be hurt?"
That made them all go silent. It was as though the gravity of what they were about to do was finally hitting them. They were about to potentially kill somepony who was begging for their life. “What we were about to do,” the princess said quietly, starting to breathe a bit faster, “is something Sombra would do.”
“I’m not sure even Sombra would stoop that low.”
Twilight started to breathe more deeply, concerned about the way she handled the situation. She was supposed to be the Princess of Friendship. She was supposed to give every creature a chance. "What in Equestria got into me?" She asked herself aloud. “What was I thinking?” she silently thought.
Fluttershy humphed at that, slowly starting to fly towards the door. "Where are you going?" The Princess of Friendship asked her.
"Home. Frankly, I'm ashamed of you all for what you were going to do to that poor creature."



“Celestia, I know how you must be feeling about him, but you cannot allow your judgment to be clouded by your feelings.”
Celestia stared ahead, the look she had on when she first saw Sombra still on her face. “My judgment was not clouded, Luna. I let the six decide his fate, did I not?”
Her sister sighed at that. She knew why she let them decide. She knew the outcome that they would have chosen. Or, at least, the outcome that would have been chosen had she herself not used her words to interfere.
“I understand how you feel,” she told her, “but if you wanted him killed, you should have voiced that opinion yourself. You cannot let your hate for him seep into the young princess and her companions and influence their decisions like was nearly done back there.”
“Did you not say you would go along with my decision? You’re just as complicit as I.”
“I had a doubt, and knew you would not let him be hurt at your own hooves in front of them. I do know you have an image to maintain.”
Celestia’s neutral expression turned into a scowl, her hate for Sombra building evermore. Of course, Luna was right. She was always right. She knew her better than anypony else. Just as well, she knew how much hate she held for Sombra and everything about him.
“I apologize,” she told her, hiding her anger and hate. “I’ll try and control myself.”
Luna could see her anger and hate plain as day.