“I need a report. You know he doesn’t like to be kept waiting.” Once again, the rough and demanding voice of Spitfire was what roused Rainbow Dash from a deep slumber. The pain and exhaustion that had plagued her waking moments were now dulled, but the fog in her brain still remained and proved a challenge to fight through.
Light washed over her body, sunshine warming her coat and bleeding through her closed eyes to coax them open. She resisted as best she could, the allure of more rest was just too strong to ignore. However, she wasn’t opposed to just listening to the world around her.
A window nearby was cracked, the sounds of hustle and bustle mixed with singing birds came from beyond it. Hooves clicked against tile outside of the room she was in, indistinct murmurs carried along with them. Then there was the conversation happening in the same room she was in, between the recognizable voice of Spitfire and somepony else.
“We stitched her up the best we could. We did what we could with her wing, but…” There was a heavy sigh from the other voice, older and feminine. “Well, we did what we could. Besides that, she’s been sleeping peacefully with the help of some painkillers.”
“Until now.” Spitfire responded with a huff as the sound of hooves clicking across the floor filled the room. “Open your eyes, Rainbow Dash. I saw your ears moving, I know you’re awake.”
“Heh… yeah.” Rainbow chuckled dryly, only for it to be interrupted by an intense bout of coughing. Her eyes opened slowly and brought the sight of a blurred world to her. As she doubled over from the fit, a glass of water was brought to her lips and she was commanded to take a drink. Dash gladly complied and tilted her head back to gulp down the much needed drink. “Th-thanks.”
“How are you feeling, Rainbow Dash?” After the cup was sat back down to her right, something else was lifted up and placed on her muzzle. A pair of glasses, proper glasses and not flight goggles, brought the world into focus again.
“Why do you think I need glasses?” Rainbow frowned and shook the things off of her nose and onto the bed. Despite the world fading into shapes and colors again, she glared up at the Captain. “I’ve never worn glasses so knock it off.” To add to her point, Dash crossed her hooves in front of her chest and huffed.
“Alright well—” It was the doctor that spoke this time as she approached the bed. She shuffled some papers from what Rainbow could tell and scribbled something down and then presented the clipboard to Dash in her magic grip. “What does this say?”
Rainbow Dash picked up the clipboard in her hooves and squinted at it. No matter how narrow she got her eyes, the scribbles on the paper wouldn’t come into focus. Her tongue stuck out of the side of her mouth as she concentrated and brought the piece of paper closer and closer to her face until it was pressed right against her nose. That combined with the squint let her finally kinda sorta see what was written down.
“Three!” Rainbow Dash answered proudly as she handed the clipboard back to the doctor.
“Were there any noted head injuries?” Spitfire questioned the doctor, completely ignoring the fact that Rainbow was sitting right there and could hear her. “She was acting strange when I recovered her too.”
“None that we noticed,” The doctor responded.
Rainbow huffed and picked up the glasses from the bed and put them back on her nose. From the corner of her eye she could see the black frames and the blurry world just beyond them. However, the clear world within the borders of her glasses revealed only the worried look of the flame-maned pegasus beside her.
“Fine, something is wrong with my eyes!” Rainbow grumbled out as she turned away from the two other mares. “But as soon as they’re back to normal I’m breaking these dumb glasses.” However Spitfire knew that her eyes weren’t working right at the moment, it didn’t matter. She would just put up with the new hindrance until it passed.
The fog that had settled over her mind was bench pressed off by frustration and things started coming back in spades; Spitfire’s mane, the dungeon, Starlight Glimmer… her own wing… King Sombra. That caused Rainbow to sit up straight and whip her head around, unsure how much of it was a pain-fueled fever dream and how much danger she was in at the moment. Even the reality of the missing wing on her back fell away in the wake of Sombra’s possible presence.
“Hey, hey.” Spitfire rested one of her front hooves on the bed and the other on Rainbow’s back. Her usually gruff voice was quiet and warm, something that Dash had never heard before. “Calm down, it’s okay. You’re safe, you’re not in any danger anymore.”
That small gesture and the kind words achieved their goal and made Rainbow settle down a little. When they had arrived here, which she assumed was Canterlot based on all of the white marble everywhere and the cool mountain air flowing in from the window, she was exhausted and every nerve in her brain was fried from stress and exertion.
She had to have been seeing things.
“Yeah yeah, you’re right.” Rainbow took a few deep slow breaths to steady herself. There was one thing that could help her calm down even more, and she had to ask. “When are the girls getting here? They have to be worried about me.”
“The… girls…?” Spitfire cocked her head to the side, the spiky line of hair running down the middle of her head falling a little to the same side. “You mean Rarity?” She looked back to the doctor, who started flipping through the chart on the clipboard and murmuring to herself. “Who else?”
“What do you mean ‘who else’?” Dash rolled her eyes and scoffed at the other pegasus. “Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack. You know, my friends?” The looks she received from the other ponies were that of confusion and worry. “What?”
“Rainbow Dash, what year is it?” The doctor broke the silence first, her voice quiet and prodding.
“1010, why?” The two mares staring intently at her made an uneasy feeling settle in the pit of her stomach. “H-how long was I in that dungeon?” It couldn’t have been that long, right? Certainly not years. Rainbow Dash couldn’t have blacked out for years. “Hey, answer me!” The bed-ridden speedster demanded.
“Less than a week.” Spitfire responded assuredly. “You got the year right, don’t worry.” The Captain bit her lip and turned her head to the side, just enough so Rainbow could see the long line of stitches running up the right side of her face from her jaw to the tip of her ear. “Wh-who is the ruler of Equestria, Rainbow Dash?”
“Rulers, you mean.” Rainbow corrected, that pit of unease threatening to consume her stomach with each word. “Princess Celestia, Princess Luna.” The abhorred gasp that came from the nurse did little to settle Dash’s increasing nerves. “Princess Cadance rules the Crystal Empire and Twilight helps out here in Equestria. Why?”
“So”—Spitfire’s shock faded quickly and was replaced with practiced poise—“you’re friends with one of the four rulers of Equestria?” The incredulity that flooded the words floored Rainbow and brought forth yet another scoff.
“Uh, duh?” Dash rolled her eyes and gave her Captain a light punch in the shoulder. “You know that, Spitfire. We’re in the Wonderbolts together, you know everything about me!” She thought about that statement for a minute. “Well, everything my Captain should know about me.”
“The… the Wonderbolts?” Spitfire responded quizzically as she was pulled away from the bed by the doctor. The conversation between the two mares was in hushed tones, and words like ‘torture’ and ‘fantasy’ were thrown around by the doctor. Things that made Rainbow Dash look for the closest exit that wasn't the door the two mares were standing by.
“Captain, Doctor Ray, I expected a report before my meeting was over. Not after.” The voice was the first thing she heard, that deep eloquent way of speaking that she knew too well. Finally he entered after a few seconds, cold steel vestments striking the floor below with a mix of power and grace. A coat of gray was complemented by a red cape covering his back and a cold steel collar that went from his chest up most of his neck. A smoky black mane billowed around his head, a plain horn the same color as his coat poking through right below a crown of gold and silver. Piercing emerald eyes scanned the room and fell right on Rainbow Dash.
“King Sombra, Your Majesty!”
Weak knees and a churning stomach
Her first time meeting him
What did he want with her?
“AHH! KING SOMBRA!” Rainbow Dash shouted out as she scrambled out of bed and got between Spitfire and the corrupted unicorn in the doorway. The pain that swelled in her brain from the intrusive ‘memory’ didn’t abate her actions and instead only made her more determined. “Get behind me, I’ve dealt with him before!” He looked different than Rainbow remembered, and she was sure he was as good as gone after he destroyed the tree of harmony, but that didn’t matter now. She had to hold him off until Twilight and the others could get here.
“What has gotten into her?” Sombra spoke again, the hard edge in his voice dropping. The usurper king turned to the doctor as Spitfire moved in front of Dash and looked down at her disapprovingly. “Is she alright?”
“Sh-she’s just a little confused, Your Majesty,” The doctor, named Ray, answered as her knees shook. “I-if I can talk to you privately, I can brief you on some theories I have.” The clipboard that had been held aloft in her magic was now tucked between a curled up hoof and her chest as her eyes looked at anything other than the towering stallion before her.
“Rainbow Dash, get back in bed.” Spitfire leered down at the shorter pegasus and placed a yellow hoof right on Dash’s chest. “I know you’re not feeling okay right now, but just lay down. We’ll get you feeling right in no time.”
“No! Are you crazy?!” Rainbow pressed her chest right up against the hoof and puffed it out a bit. Her one good wing flared as she looked around her Captain and friend and glared at the monster who was still talking to Doctor Ray. “King Sombra is right there and you’re ignoring him! We should be kicking his butt back to whatever hole he crawled out of!”
“Alright, that’s enough!” Spitfire quickly overpowered the weakened pegasus and shoved her into the bed. “I’ve put up with it this long, but no more! I won’t have you threatening the King of Equestria right in front of me! You should know better, Rainbow Dash! I don’t care how messed up you are right now, you just don’t do that in front of me.”
Dash squirmed as her hooves were pinned to her sides and she was held to the bed. After a solid ten seconds of struggle, she relented and realized that she just wasn’t in the shape to fight back at the moment. Instead she leveled a heated glare at Spitfire’s head in an attempt to burn a hole through it with pure rage.
“He has you mind controlled with his creepy fear powers! He’s not the ruler of Equestria!” Rainbow had seen Sombra’s power in action before, but never this stealthily. Usually it came with green and purple eyes, but none were seen here. “Where are Princess Celestia and Luna?” She shouted around Spitfire and right at Sombra. “What did you do to them?!”
“Explain this. Now.” Sombra’s tone offered no more wiggle room for the doctor. He sneered, his fangs baring at the smaller mare as he began to visibly get angrier and angrier. “Now.” He demanded once more.
“I-It’s possible that she created some sort of fantasy world to cope with what she was put through.” Doctor Ray offered Sombra the chart she was holding, which he snatched in a flash of red magic. “H-her wing was sawed off, she had a few broken ribs that needed some strong spells to fix, and there’s evidence th-that…” Ray gulped as she looked at Rainbow Dash and then back to King Sombra. “...that they used some sort of spell on her, but we’re not sure what. Th-that amount of torture can make the mind do strange things.”
“Or…” Spitfire spoke as she loosened her grip on Rainbow just a little. “...they were brainwashing her with some fake reality that they made up so she would turn against the King.” That theory received a slight nod from the doctor and a small murmur of agreement. “We need to be careful, Your Majesty. There’s no telling what else she could believe.”
“Celestia, Luna.” Sombra strode towards the bed and knelt beside it so he was looking Rainbow Dash right in the eyes. “Dead names not spoken or honored for nearly one thousand years. Why do you think they still live, my dear?” Where she would’ve expected the tone of a victorious villain basking in his victory, Rainbow only heard genuine concern and curiosity. “Who told you such lies?”
“They’re not lies!” Rainbow Dash fired back, resisting the urge to spit right in the face of the unicorn less than a foot away. “I’ve lived in Equestria for my entire life and I know who the princesses are!” She couldn’t believe this! It had to be a painkiller-fueled nightmare or some sort of trick. It had to be.
“Did she mention any other names, Captain?” Sombra spoke without looking at Spitfire, instead keeping his emerald eyes connected with Rainbow’s. Her resolve and fire never faltered once in the face of such evil, and the small smile that she received in return only bolstered her will.
“She mentioned Princess Cadance as well and said that she was ruler of the Crystal Empire.” The smile that Sombra was forming disappeared in an instant to be replaced with a frown. “Then some names I didn’t recognize; Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Twilight Sparkle.” At the mention of Twilight, Rainbow could’ve sworn that she saw Sombra’s eye twitch. But it was too quick of an action to even confirm if it was real or not.
“Figure out who they are and bring me documentation on all of them. I want them scoured for any connection to the deviants who did this.” The order was answered with a nod and a crisp salute from Spitfire. “And Captain, bring me Rainbow Dash’s file as well. I want to help refresh her memory.”