The only sound to break the deafening silence in the cave deep beneath Canterlot was hooves against stone as Rainbow Dash crept closer to the pony across from her. Dash’s eyes kept locked on this version of her friend while Twilight kept her own fixed on the ground. One had so much to say, and the other had been beaten into silence over such a long period of time.
Twilight Sparkle was about the same height as Celestia from that other world. Her legs were thin and spindly, her mane long and unkempt, and her coat pale and dull. Rainbow Dash reached out with a hoof, which caused the alicorn to recoil reflexively.
“Hey…” Dash whispered. “It-it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.” Her hoof touched the alicorn’s cheek and she could feel Twilight press against it. Her fur felt coarse and rough, she could feel the grit from the rocks and dirt in the cave deeply embedded into her coat. “I’m Rainbow Dash. I’m not here to hurt you.”
The mix of emotions that roiled deep down in her soul were still getting sorted out in her head. She wanted to cry. She wanted to pull Twilight into the deepest tightest hug she could manage and never let go. She wanted to scream and rage at the two stallions who put and kept her friend here. It was so difficult to push it all down and keep going.
“You’re the first new pony I’ve met in a really really long time.” Twilight mumbled. “Like forever.” The fully grown alicorn’s hooves tapped against the floor. “I like your name. It’s pretty.”
“Thanks.” Rainbow nodded and cleared her throat as she continued to push down all of her feelings. “H-how long have you been down here, Twilight?”
“A long time…” Twilight reached out with her own hoof and poked Rainbow Dash’s chest carefully. “...ever since I got my cutie mark. I’m not sure how long that is, I lost track after a year I think.” Twilight put her hoof on Rainbow’s head and ran it across her shaved head and let out a giggle at the sensation. “I really like your mane. I knew it would feel funny.”
“Why do you think you’re down here?”
“Oh…” Twilight suddenly drew her hoof back and withdrew into herself. “...because I’m like this.” She nodded at her wings and up at her horn. “I’m not supposed to be like this. It’s dangerous. I’m supposed to stay down here to keep everypony safe.”
“A poor victim of fate.” A somber baritone invaded the conversation and split the two mares apart. Twilight’s eyes went wide and she scrambled away towards the bed against the wall. Any pity or sadness that Dash had evaporated in the face of burning rage that erupted in her heart as she turned towards Sombra.
“Fate?!” She roared as he approached. “You did this to her! Not fate! Not some…concept or something! You!” She could feel her face heat up as she stepped up to the King and puffed out her chest.
“I reacted.” Sombra stated cooly. “I was presented with a situation and I acted as I had to.”
“Maybe don’t imprison her for twenty years!” Rainbow yelled at him. “Keeping her all the way down here, away from everything! Do you even give her anything to read?” She looked back at Twilight, who was now just a lump under her covers. “She needs something to read…” She mumbled.
“It was this or the same end as Cadenza.” Sombra’s voice fell to a whisper. “I could not kill a child, no matter the circumstance. I could not let her live up there, either.” He looked past Dash and sneered at the lump on the bed. “Alicorns…ponies just flock to them, hold them up on pedestals. They’ll do anything to put them into power, even kill.” He motioned at Twilight. “Can you imagine ponies putting their own lives in danger for her?”
“Yeah. I can.” Rainbow shot back. “I have. I still would.”
“Not for her you wouldn’t.” Sombra replied. “For the Twilight from the world-that-should-be, yes. Not this one. She ascended when she was but a foal. Imagine if she was left to her own devices up there. Imagine if ponies worshiped her, committed violence in her name. Not for her actions, no, but just because she was given wings. She hasn’t earned anything.”
“She’s still a pony.” Rainbow could feel tears start to form in the corners of her eyes. “I don’t care what other ponies would do, I care about her as an actual living breathing pony. Is this how a pony should live?”
“It’s better than her death.”
“Those aren’t the only two options!” Rainbow Dash screamed. “It isn’t death or imprisonment! Or is this just who you are? You’re just destined to put ponies in chains, huh?” She shook her head in disgust and turned away from him.
“No, that’s not who I am. Those were the only two options I had, the only ones I saw in that moment. I’ve regretted every moment she’s spent down here.” Sombra reached out and put a hoof on Dash’s shoulder. “I am heartbroken that this had to happen.”
“But you’re not sorry you did it.” Rainbow scoffed in disgust. “And then you have the gall to make her own brother spend his life guarding her down here? Really?”
“He volunteered.” Sombra growled out. One of his eyes began to twitch as he took a deep breath before speaking again. “She’s his family, and therefore he sees her as his responsibility. If you want to talk to him about it, then be my guest.”
“I don’t want to talk to him.” Rainbow turned around and muttered. “I barely wanted to talk to you before this…now…?” She shook her head.
“That’s why I brought you down here.” Sombra kept his voice low so only Dash could hear him. “I came down here to check on her a few weeks ago and the guilt finally got to me. She needs somepony who doesn’t…resent her in some way. That’s not me nor anypony in my castle.”
“Shining Armor is right out there.”
“She ascended when she got her cutie mark during an exam and the resulting blast not only wiped out an entire wing of the castle, but also their parents and countless others.” Sombra straightened his posture. “Shining Armor watches over her because he sees it as his duty, to keep her safe from others and others safe from her.” Sombra retrieved a medallion from his cloak and placed it on the ground. “Spend time with her if you want, if not I understand. You can return to the surface anytime you wish with that trinket, one way only. To get back down you have to go through the rooms again.” He pulled a second, identical medallion out, tapped it three times with a hoof and disappeared in a flash of light.
“Gah, I can’t believe him!” Rainbow Dash threw her head back in frustration and let out a series of sounds that approximated several unladylike words. When she felt she had gotten most of her feelings out, she took a deep breath and centered herself.
“Y-you know the King?” Twilight raised her voice for the first time since Sombra came in.
“I don’t even know.” Rainbow trudged over to Twilight’s bed and flopped on it, her head hitting her alternate-friend’s bony flank. “I don’t know a lot of things, it seems.” She sighed again.
“Are you trapped down here with me now?” Twilight asked, her hoof once again running over Rainbow’s mane with a little smile. “Did you do something wrong too?”
“Hey.” Rainbow sat up and looked at the alicorn with a fire in her eyes. “You didn’t do anything wrong, alright? I don’t know if anypony has told you this before, but this isn’t your fault.” She shook her head. “No, none of this is. You didn’t do anything, it’s everypony else that wronged you.”
“I don’t know about that…”
“Some things you don’t have to know, you just have to trust that it’s true.” It was weird for Rainbow Dash to feel like the wise sage with all of the friendship knowledge, but it wasn’t unwelcome. She was used to teaching by now, just not used to teaching Twilight.
“What happened to your wing?” Twilight asked, yanking the conversation down a more personal path.
“Some…bad ponies got a hold of me.” Rainbow wasn’t sure if Twilight knew anything about the world above, but she would guess next to nothing. How much did she know about the world when she was eight? Nothing much, so Twilight staying at that level for twenty years… “They hurt me, a lot. They kept me down in a dungeon like this for a couple of months.”
“Oh…I kinda know what that’s like.”
“Yeah, you do.”
Rainbow looked at Twilight, really studied her for the first time. Her mane was as long as Luna or Celestia’s, but it didn’t flow with the same ethereal magic. Despite the situation as a whole, there was a spark in her bright violet eyes that made Rainbow Dash want to smile. Even with everything going on, with her whole life lived in this cave, there was still a hint of that pure Twilight essence deep down.
“Do you like stories?” Dash asked. She received an eager nod in response. “Yeah, kinda figured. Wanna hear one?” Again she got a quick and enthusiastic nod. Rainbow Dash sat up straight and put her back against the wall. “Once-”
“Wait wait! Let me get comfortable!” Twilight came fully out from under her blanket and tucked her legs under her body like a cat would. “Okay, I’m ready.”
“Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two sisters who ruled over the land and spread harmony to all of the little ponies.” Rainbow Dash was trying to get the wording to the old story right, but an approximation would be good enough. “The older sister raised the sun that all of the ponies played and lived under. The younger sister raised the moon at night and kept the dreams of all of the ponies safe.”
“I don’t think I’ve heard this one before…” Twilight’s eyes went wide with excitement and she let out a shrill noise of excitement. “What were their names?”
“Uh…their names don’t matter for now. They’re not the main characters, really.”
“Then why start with them?”
“It’s, y’know, like a backstory. It’s important to set the scene.” Rainbow Dash explained in exasperation. “Can I continue?” Twilight muttered a quick apology and nodded. “So the two sisters. Everything was happy for a long time, but the little sister eventually got jealous. She didn’t think it was fair that all of the ponies froliced and played underneath her sister’s day and slept through her beautiful night. She let that jealousy take her over and became a pony overwhelmed by her own dark heart! She became Nightmare Moon! The sisters had a big epic battle but the older sister used these old magical artifacts called The Elements of Harmony and sealed her own sister in the moon itself.”
“Hmm…” Twilight’s head swiveled and looked at the door that led to her brother’s apartment.
“It was…the hardest thing the older sister had to do. She watched over her little sister every night when she raised the moon so all of her little ponies could sleep. It hurt her…so much to look up at the moon every night.” Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and closed her eyes. “But she knew her little sister would be back. In one thousand years, the stars would aid in her escape.”
“Do you think she did the right thing, the older sister?” Twilight couldn’t push down the pain in her voice no matter how hard she tried. “There wasn’t any other way?”
“I don’t know.” Rainbow admitted. “I know she didn’t do it because she hated her sister, though. She did it because she loved the ponies of Equestria and she knew her sister was…not in a good place.”
“Is she still up in the moon?”
“No, that was over a thousand years ago.” Rainbow looked at her friend and smiled. “It took a group of brave and amazing ponies to save her.”
“Are those the main characters?”
“Yeah, but it starts with just one. This little purple unicorn-”
“-like me!” Twilight chimed in excitedly as her hooves tapped against the bed.
“Yeah, just like you.”
“Um…Rainbow Dash?” Twilight looked down at the bed where her once tapping hooves were now playing with the sheets. “Do…do you think you could run your hoof through my mane?” The alicorn’s face turned bright red as she asked the simple little question. “My-my parents used to do that when they were telling me stories…”
“Uh…” Rainbow was taken aback by the question, but she did give a little nod. Twilight scooched a little closer and rested her head on the pegasus’ leg. Dash reached out and began to slowly stroke through the long ratty mane of the alicorn. “The purple pony lived in Canterlot for most of her life, and she was the smartest pony around. She knew everything in any book you could imagine. She could recite facts and figures with ease. But, she had no friends. She spent her days in a castle, where the older sister taught her the ways of magic. Then one day, the older sister sent her student out to a little town to make some friends. Little did the student know that she was sent there on the same day, one thousand years later, when the younger sister would return.”
Once more, Rainbow Dash was interrupted by Twilight. However it wasn’t by a question, it was by a light snore. It had been just a few minutes of Rainbow Dash telling her story and Twilight was already passed out. She waited a few minutes before getting up and picking up the medallion from the middle of the room. She looked back at her friend one last time before tapping the little amulet and disappearing.
Rainbow Dash reappeared in a blinding flash of light amid the room connected to Sombra’s bedchambers.The dying embers of a fire sputtered and fumed in the fireplace against the wall and an open book lay on one of the chairs. She sighed and shook her head, the rage deep down in her heart still burning like the coals in the fireplace.
“Oh hello again, Rainbow Dash.” The voice made the mare nearly jump out of her skin as it broke the silence of the study. “I can’t say I’m used to new faces just popping in whenever.” It was Discord, his head still hanging above the mantle, lit from below by the dying light. In the moment, she could see the scion of chaos as a monster still. That was until she remembered he was nothing but a disembodied head. “Oh are you breaking in? Looking to steal some trinkets or find some dirt on His Majesty?”
“No…” Rainbow Dash didn’t have it in her to argue or rail against the bodiless god. She didn’t feel like she had a lot left in her at all at the moment. “I..uh…I came from the dungeon. I saw…a friend. Or maybe somepony who should be my friend? I don’t know.”
“Ah, The Problem.”
“What?”
“That’s what he calls her, at least after he visits her.” Discord’s voice lowered and he furrowed his brow to mock Sombra’s countenance. “What am I to do with this infinite Problem? Oh woe is me, woe is me.” The beheaded God rolled his eyes. “He gets lost in his own feelings more than anypony I’ve ever met. Anyway, that filly down there in his magic dungeon is the one problem he cannot solve, because any solution is worse than the problem itself if you believe his rhetoric.”
“Yeah, he gave me his little spiel down there.” Rainbow grumbled. “‘I’m heartbroken that it had to be done.’ Yeah right.” Rainbow Dash flopped in the chair before the fireplace. “Why didn’t he just kill her? He’s afraid ‘Fate’ will just materialize a new alicorn from out of nowhere to usurp him? Who? Cadance is…gone-” she couldn’t bring herself to say dead, not quite yet. “-so it’s not like Flurry Heart has a way to exist. So…what?”
“That’s the scary part, isn’t it?” Discord’s mouth erupted into a crazed grin, sharp teeth lining his crooked mouth. “What next? When the last hope of the universe’s plan to set things right goes away, what will it do? Cornered animals are quite dangerous, you know. When you remove the last possible winning card from the deck, what will your opponent do? Maybe they’ll give up quietly and walk away…or perhaps they’ll flip the table and ruin everything.” Discord let out a cackle that made Dash’s blood run cold. “When you know everything, the unknown is so infinitely terrifying it’s better to just play for a stalemate.”
“What, you think the entire universe would just end if he killed Twilight?”
“It’s certainly a possibility, isn’t it?”
“And if he lets her out, he loses. At least, if he’s right that ponies would just flock to her.” That would be preferable to just keeping her down there or the world ending though, surely he sees that. He’s played the strings of fate like an expert fiddler for one thousand years, he could figure a way to come out the other side unscathed if he let Twilight go, right? “Wait…why do I care what happens to him?” Rainbow shook her head. “I need to work on getting Twilight out, Sombra be damned.”
“Oh, just announcing our plans while in the same room as someone who lives in Sombra’s quarters, are we?” Rainbow cringed when she realized that Discord could hear that part. What could she say to get him to keep quiet? “Oh, don’t worry about bribing me.” He responded, as if reading her mind. “After all, if you’re successful it will be the most chaotic thing to happen to this dull place since Sombra took over. If I was capable of taking sides, it would certainly be yours where I would fall.”
“Great, noted.” There was no comfort in needing to trust Discord, but she would have to for now. She gave the once threatening creature a nod as she walked towards the door that led to Sombra’s bedchamber.
She just needed to get through this room and hope he wasn’t in there and if he was that he was sleeping soundly. The door to the bedchambers opened slowly, groaning with every inch moved. Dash stuck her head through and blinked as her eyes adjusted to the darkness beyond.
The dying light from the fireplace spilled from the doorway, pushing the darkness back bit by bit. It was just enough that Dash could see shapes and shadows of the room and could successfully navigate her way to the exit.
However, as she looked around the room, her eyes fell upon the greatsword affixed to the wall. It was still stained in the blood of Celestia and Luna, the blade forever tainted by a dark red sheen. A thought crossed her mind…one that half of her treacherous brain rejected entirely. She could lift that massive blade probably and then bring it down on the sleeping King not twenty feet away. Then she could get Twilight out of the dungeon and set the world right.
Her hooves wouldn’t move towards the blade, though. No matter how much she willed them to. Something beyond her own malice towards the monarch stayed her hooves from violence, something she still couldn’t explain. He had killed the princesses! He had killed Cadance! He had imprisoned Twilight for her entire life! He deserved nothing more than a swift death himself!
But when she looked towards his bed and saw the covers rising and falling with every breath, she heard the soft grumble of his snores. Her heart fluttered. It was an infuriating fact that for some reason, she liked him. It was some vestige from before she woke up in that castle, some leftover emotion from when she was considered his consort.
With a deep and frustrated sigh Rainbow Dash trudged through the darkened room towards the exit. She gave one last look back at the sword and the figure in the bed, shook her head, and opened the door to leave.
She had expected to be accosted by guards waiting outside of the King’s bedchambers, but there were no sentries in place. Either Sombra had sent them away for her sake or he trusted the wards he had on his room a little too much. She was free to wander to her heart’s content, but her heart was set on just going home. Was sleep in the cards after what she had learned? Who was to say.
Her hooves carried her to Rarity and Spitfire’s apartment, where she sleepily pushed open the door. She had expected to be met with a darkened interior, instead the living room light was on and a soft song played over the radio.
“Rainbow Dash?” Spitfire’s voice came from inside, but with no Rarity to accompany it. The yellow head of the mare popped around the corner. “Oh thank goodness. I was worried about you, y’know!”
“Sorry…” Rainbow mumbled. “I got caught up with…an old friend.” It still hurt to think about the imprisoned pony in the dungeon, about her friend. “I couldn’t really tell anypony to send a message.
“Ahh, an ‘old friend’, huh? Some time with the King?” There was a playfulness to the question, but Rainbow was having none of that.
“No! That monster isn’t my friend.” She spat back at Spitfire as she rounded the corner to the living room and flopped on the couch beside her friend. “After today he’ll never be my friend, either.” Spitfire hurriedly gathered up a bunch of papers that were scattered around the coffee table and stuffed them into a folder that she then put face down. “I don’t even think I can tell you what I saw. It’s probably classified or something.”
“Half of my job is classified.” Spitfire said with a grin. “Try me, and if I’m not supposed to know then at least I’m good at keeping secrets. We’ll keep it between us.”
“Okay…I won’t get in trouble for telling you, right?”
“Nah, just try not to tell everypony and we should be fine.”
“You remember Twilight Sparkle?” Rainbow started with a deep breath.
“The filly that destroyed half of the castle and died? Sure. You said she was one of your friends in that…other world.” Spitfire was still dismissive of that other world, which Rainbow Dash now knew to be 100 percent true. “I mean, I read her file. That’s about all I know about her.”
“She’s alive.” Rainbow stated bluntly as she looked down at her hooves. “That magical explosion didn’t kill her, she ascended. She became an alicorn.” Spitfire’s brow furrowed at that word ‘alicorn’. It was certainly a four letter word around here. “Sombra’s kept her locked up in a magic dungeon since then, since she was a filly. He showed me and I talked to her…and…” Tears welled up in Dash’s eyes as she felt herself unable to continue. She let the emotional load finally shatter her walls as she collapsed on the couch and sobbed. “She-she’s not supposed to be there.”
“Rainbow Dash, she’s an alicorn. She’s dangerous.”
“She’s still basically a filly, Spitfire! She wants to be told bedtime stories and wants her mane brushed as she’s falling asleep! She’s not a danger to anypony! Sweet Celestia, you’re almost as bad as him.” Rainbow Dash threw her hooves up. “It’s completely awful what he’s done to her!”
“He should’ve just killed her, so this is a better alternative for her at least.” Spitfire looked towards the ground, as if she could see through it to the threat that she now knew was deep below their hooves.
“Those aren’t the only two options!” Dash yelled for the second time that night. “Whatever. I should’ve known this is how you would react. Forget I said anything.”
“I will.” Spitfire responded curtly. “You’ve always had a soft spot for ponies that need help, but I didn’t think it would lead to alcorn sympathizing. So I’ll forget it, as long as you don’t bring It up again.” There was a heavy silence between the two mares, both of them quietly resenting the opinion of the other. “Anyway…we’re going to Ponyville in the morning. Rarity and I talked it out and we figured it’d be a good idea to get you to see Mom and Dad again.”
“Just tomorrow? Out of nowhere?”
“It’s a bit sudden, but we think getting out of Canterlot for a day or two would be good for you. Plus, Mom and Dad deserve to see you and know you’re okay.”
“I mean, okay, I guess.” It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see her or parents. She was curious what they were like here. It was just awfully sudden. “When are we leaving in the morning? I was hoping to get some more flying in tomorrow.”
“Early.” Spitfire retrieved the folder that she had been perusing before Rainbow had come in and opened it. The front read ‘CLASSIFIED’ in big red letters. “Busy busy day.” She mumbled.
“Alright…” The conversation was weird and stressful to begin with, but the ending only left it even more so. “Goodnight…?”
“Yeah, goodnight.”
Rainbow trudged to her room and shut the door behind her. The metallic facsimile of a wing she needed to function was laying on her pillow. She picked it up and gave it a quick study, nothing had been changed outwardly but who knew what Sunburst had done to the spells affixed to it. She sat it on top of the dresser and flopped into bed.
Sleep came faster than she expected. Almost as soon as she closed her eyes she found herself drifting off and then she began to dream.
Rainbow Dash found herself in familiar skies high above the Everfree Forest. She had flown here a million times, the unpredictability of the weather made it more of a challenge. It was another thing to go up against, something else to make her better in the long run. She had been diving in and out of clouds and skimming the tops of the dangerous trees below for hours without incident.
The peaceful flight was shattered when a lance of energy erupted from the canopy below and passed within an inch of Rainbow’s wing. She fled. She flew as fast as she could, heading towards Ponyville itself to tell the local guards.
A massive pillar of magic erupted from the forest as she got to the edge where wilderness met orchard. It formed a massive maw that swallowed her whole.