//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Rescue // Story: Shadow Dash // by Wr1tingN3rd //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash bolted upright, sweat pouring down her forehead. She immediately regretted doing so, feeling the immense pain coming from her abdomen. She looked down to see a large wound, covered with dried blood. Moving had caused it to crack open again, leading to blood dripping out again. Frowning, she set her hoof on top of the wound and drew magic from her reserves and channeled it to her side, causing it to glow and slowly heal. Rainbow winced in pain as the wound closed itself - for good this time. In place of the wound was a large scar, which wouldn't be going away any time soon. After she was done healing, she took time to examine her surroundings. She was in a prison cell, surrounded by enchantments of sorts marked by carvings in the walls. It was obviously specifically meant for her, so she wouldn't get out. She groaned in frustration. "Ah, you're up," a voice spoke up from behind her. She quickly scrambled away and saw her father, staring back at her. She bared her teeth and backed away. Sombra merely chuckled at the sight. "Don't worry, I'm only here to make sure you aren't dead yet." Upon seeing no change in reaction, he added on, "Here, I even brought you some water." He used his magic to bring forth a bucket filled only a quarter way with water. "It should suffice. Now drink," he commanded, opening the cell door and shoving the bucket inside, smacking Dash in the leg. Rainbow growled. "I'd rather die," she spat out. "You took away everything from me. My life. My friends. I have nothing else to live for!" she shouted, water swelling up in her eyes. Sombra frowned. "I'm afraid I don't remember asking." His horn lit up and grabbed her face, shoving it in the bucket, causing her to accidentally inhale water. When she was released, she backed away, coughing up the water from her lungs. She looked up to her father, who's face had not changed. Reluctantly, she grabbed the bucket and took a small sip. "There, ya happy now?" she asked, coughing again from the water that still remained in her lungs. "Drink all of it." Rainbow scoffed, lifting up the bucket again and letting the water pour down her throat. This time she left no water inside. "There. Anything else you wanted to say? Or are you just here to annoy the fuck out of me?" she growled. Sombra's smiled in satisfaction, before speaking. "No, that is all. I must go upstairs quickly. After all," he added with a smirk, "You left quite a lot of blood from your little 'fight'. Now I must go make sure it gets cleaned up. Goodbye, daughter," he said before leaving. "I hope my blood permanently stains your carpets!" she shouted as he left, gripping the bars from the prison door. He paid no attention. "Fuck..." She laid her back against the wall in the corner of her cell and thought back to her life choices she made to get here. She sighed, tearing up. "I'm such a failure..." she muttered to herself, curling into a ball and silently sobbing to herself in a room with no one else around to hear. "Come on, girls! We need to find Rainbow Dash!" Twilight spoke as they quickly ran through the halls of the castle, being careful not to attract any attention from the guards. To aid in their trek, she cast an invisibility spell around them, working much like a force field, making anypony inside completely invisible. With much haste, they ran through, quickly reaching the throne room they had been in before, now slowing their run to a crawl as to not make too much noise. They peaked around the entrance way to said throne room and saw Sombra, only this time he wasn't sitting on his throne. Rather, he was talking to a set of surprisingly normal looking ponies - save for the mask - and giving them orders on an extremely stained room filled with blood and cracks in the wall. Her eyes widened at the sight. "Get that spot too, I don't want her blood staining my carpet," she heard him speak with a tone of disgust. "And repair that wall while you're at it, too. I want my throne to be in top notch shape." He turned around to speak to a much smaller and more feeble looking unicorn, who also had a mask on. "Bring water to my daughter," he spoke. "After all, I don't want her dying on me. I'm sure she didn't get enough during our first session. She practically spat out half of the bucket. Though, I suppose that's my fault. Doesn't matter. Bring her the water." With a quick nod, the small servant scurried away making his way towards the sitting group of ponies, still disguised by the invisibility spell. "Shoot! Move it, move it!" Twilight shouted while whispering, slightly shoving her friends out of the way to get them to move. It was just in the nick of time, too, as the small individual made his way down the stairway, quickly taking a left turn. "He's going to Rainbow Dash. Come on," Twilight spoke quietly, making sure not to alert the pony they were trailing. As they followed the unsuspecting colt, he stopped abruptly in the middle of the hall before turning towards a white marble fountain engraved in the wall. Without a word, he pushed a side panel besides it and the wall seemingly popped out a bit, making the group gasp as he opened the door and went inside, closing it behind him. They waited a few seconds before replicating what was done, to make sure that he would not see them. Inside was a large spiral staircase, going down multiple floors before finally ending up in a dungeon sort of area. The quickly and quietly ran down the steps, trying to catch up with the water boy. As they went down, they heard the sound of soft sobbing in the distance, along with the hoofsteps of, assumingly, the pony they were following. When they reached the bottom of the stairwell, they stopped, looking out. Their assumptions were correct. They saw the pony approaching a cell before stopping and turning to look inside. He spoke with hate in his voice. "Shut up, you stupid pegasus. I brought you some water. The Lord seems to think you didn't drink enough of it. Now drink." Twilight felt enraged inside. How dare he talk to MY Rainbow Dash like that?! She attempted to move out before Applejack grabbed her. "What in the hay are yah doin'?!" she mouthed to her. "You're gonna give us away an' then the whole place will be on top o' us!" The sobbing from the cell stopped, followed by an unstable, raspy voice. "T-tell your 'Lord' that he can kiss my flank." The water carrier grew angry. "You dare insult the Lord's mercy towards you? What a disgrace of a pony you are! To think even for a moment that you were once his daughter is a disgusting thought." Rainbow growled. "I have nothing left to live for. Tell him he can kill me for all I care. His attempt at 'mercy' is a fucking punishment!" she yelled at the servant. "He took away my friends... my life... and now he's forcing me to sit in here for the rest of eternity! At this point, death would be mercy!" Rainbow... I... I'm so sorry... Twilight thought to herself as she watched the situation unfold. "Is that so? Well in that case, I hope you rot in this cell. You deserve it, you worthless excuse of a pegasus." Twilight grew with anger. 'Blow our cover' my flank. I'm going to give that bitch a piece of my mind. She shoved Applejack to the side, making her yelp out a 'What the-', and ran out at full force, yelling a battle cry as she did so. He was caught off guard. "Stay away from her!" she screamed, horn flaring with enough magic to make any normal unicorn cower in fear. And unfortunately for the guard, he was the main target of that raging power. A large blast of magic shot out from her horn, immediately launching the guard across the room multiple yards, knocking him out in the process. She quickly ran up to the cell door and looked inside, seeing a broken pegasus sitting on the concrete floor, eyes bloodshot and her body completely covered in scars. "Rainbow!" Twilight shouted, trying to open the door. "I'm going to get you out of here!" She tried her magic on the door, but to no avail. "T-Twilight?" Rainbow's eyes widened. She slowly got off the floor. "Wha... Why are you here?" she asked. Twilight looked up from the door and locked with Rainbow's magenta eyes. She grinned slightly. "Didn't you hear me the first time? I'm getting you out of here." At this point, the rest of the group had caught up to the unicorn. "Ahm also here," Applejack spoke out between breaths. "Damn- Sugarcube, ya run pretty fast, ya know that? And ya say ya don't work out..." "I have to concur... I don't think I've ever seen you run so fast in my life. Even when you participated in the Running of the Leaves," Rarity added on, also panting. Pinkie bounced up behind them quickly after, not even phased. "I don't know what all the fuss is about. Running's fun!" she exclaimed. Fluttershy approached last, hiding her face behind her mane. "Hi, Rainbow Dash..." she spoke quietly. Rainbow stood there, stunned, trying to process what was happening. "Y-you all don't hate me?" They all grew silent, except for Pinkie, who was still bouncing, just slightly less than before. "Of course we don't hate you, silly filly!" Pinkie giggled. "Just because you're the daughter of evil-meanie-mcmeanie-pants Sombra doesn't mean that you're a bad pony!" She gave Dash a heartwarming smile. "We still love you for who you are, and we won't let your party pooper dad stop us!" Applejack took off her hat and spoke, too. "We haven't been the most... open about your situation. Ahnd ahm deeply sorry for that," she looked down with guilt. "I'm sorry too..." Fluttershy spoke up quietly. "And I'm also sorry. Darling, we heard about your childhood from your friend... Midnight Bloom, was it? I'm sorry you had to go through such troubling times. I sincerely apologize," Rarity added. Rainbow looked at all of them, eyes watering before they landed on Twilight, who was looking uncomfortable, one hoof wrapped around her other foreleg, looking away from her before she finally spoke. "Rainbow..." she started, tearing up. "I-I'm so sorry! We pushed you away, no, I pushed you away and left you to fend for yourself..." she sniffed. "What kind of friend does that to another friend? I'm sorry... You probably won't ever forgive me- I-" "Apology accepted," Rainbow said, smiling as tears streamed down her face. "Just don't do something like that again, okay?" Twilight was at a loss for words before she smiled too and laughed. "Thank you..." she said silently. "Hey, I appreciate you all coming here, but uh, I'm still locked up in this cell... A little help?" she asked, drawing a laugh from her friends. After the laughter died down, Twilight tried to open the door again, but had the same results. She tried again and again, but the door wouldn't budge. No spells in her arsenal helped to open it. "That's weird... I can't open the door," she spoke aloud. "Oh yeah... about that," the pegasus said sheepishly. "There's a whole bunch of enchantments on the cell. Ya know. For me." Her friends grew silent. "Yeah... you should expect some anti-dark magic and normal magic suppression enchantments." Twilight furrowed her eyebrows. "This'll be tougher than I thought. Sit still for a moment while I try to work this out..." Meanwhile... Sombra watched as his workers cleaned up the carpets stained with blood. He wondered to himself, Where the hell is that damn water pony? It doesn't take that long to shove water down someone's throat... After a few moments, he groaned in frustration. "Guards!" he called out. A troop of five ponies dressed in full iron armor stepped out of seemingly no where. "We have arrived, sir!" "Go check the dungeons. I want to make sure that my idiotic daughter hasn't somehow broken out. Stupid water ponies..." he grumbled the last part. "Sir, yes sir!" The lead pony saluted and marched off with his comrades, heading straight to the dungeon undergrounds. "Damn!" Twilight shouted, pounding the cell door with a hoof. "These enchantments are too strong! I'd need the power of either the original caster themself or the power of the princesses! This is impossible!" she groaned. Then, suddenly, an idea crossed Dash's mind. "Yo, Twi?" she spoke out, getting the mare's attention. "Yeah?" "Uh, I could like, try to give you some of my magic-" she started to speak, but was interrupted. "I almost completely forgot! Yes, if you can, please transfer me some magic, it would make this so much easier!" Rainbow facehoofed. "Twi, you gotta let me finish..." The mare in question smiled sheepishly and muttered a 'sorry!'. "Listen, I can transfer you some magic, but uh, it has some... side effects," she continued, cringing as she remembered what had happened the last time she gave her magic to someone else. It did not end well. "I don't really know exactly how it works, and I'm pretty sure I can stop it, I just don't know how, but uh, whenever I transfer magic over, it makes the pony... or griffin... terrified of me. Like, they see me as a monster of some sort," she tried to explain. Twilight shrugged it off. "Come on, I would hate you or anything! You're my best friend, I would never act like that towards you. Plus, it'd be nice to see the side effects of dark magic!" she added on a happier note in an egghead-y sort of way. "Are you sure?" Twilight nodded and gave her best reassuring smile. "Hmmph... Okay, give me your hoof," she said, getting up and approaching the gated wall. They linked hooves and her body glowed black as energy was transferred to Twilight. As the energy transfer took place, Twilight took note. "This... feels... weird..." she barely spoke out as her eyes turned dark. The world around her started to spin ever so slightly and her heart rate started to increase. Then, her surroundings started pulsing in and out of vision, making her quickly close her eyes and shake her head to get the effect to leave. When she opened them, she was met with a dark world. Filled with moving shadows and things coming out from the corner of her vision. "Twilight? You good?" a voice rang out from besides her. It was raspy, but had a large reverb effect behind it, making it sound ghastly and faint, like a past memory. When she turned to look at who was speaking to her, she shrieked and jumped backwards. It was a creature radiating with dark energy, looking like a monster straight out of Tartarus. Too horrid to put into detail. "Twilight? It's me, Rainbow Dash," it spoke. Then, memories came rushing back to her and her head was clear once more. It was indeed Rainbow Dash. These were just side effects. She was imagining things. Fascinating. She would have to look into it later. "Y-yeah! I remember now," she spoke out. "Alright! Sweet! Now get me out of here!" it spoke again. It was weird. Even though she knew it was Rainbow Dash, everything about the creatu- Rainbow, Twilight quickly corrected herself, made her fight-or-flight response kick into overdrive. Her mind was screaming at her to move forwards with the unenchanting, but her body was screaming just as equally NO. She took a step forwards. "D-Dash? It is you, r-right?" she spoke uncertainly. The creature nodded. "Yeah! It's same old me! If you don't believe me, ask AJ, she's like right there," the creature spoke again- Rainbow spoke again, she corrected herself once more. Looking to the side to see if Applejack was there, she was met with complete darkness. It was only her. Her and the mon- RAINBOW. She practically screamed at herself. "R-Rainbow? No one's here..." she said, breath quickening. She couldn't help it. The effect from the magic was too much. The monster stared blankly at her. "What do you mean she's not ther- you know what? It's fine. Just get me out of here!" it spoke again. Hesitantly (even though she hated herself for it), her horn flared to life and easily rid the cell of the enchantments and opened the gate. All of a sudden, the energy radiating from the monster spread across the entire room, surrounding her and covering the room in a thick fog. She scrambled backwards, hyperventilating. It's not real, it's not real, it's not real, it's not real, IT'S NOT REAL! She was starting to cry. "It's not real, it's not real, it's not real..." she started speaking to herself aloud. Then something touched her shoulder and she screamed in fear and swung in the air, making contact with nothing. The monster approached her. "Twi, I'm going to take my magic back, okay?" it said, trying to lure her in with a reassuring voi- IT'S RAINBOW DASH! STOP! "O-o... o-kay..." she barely got out. "You trust me right?" Twilight nodded. "Okay... I'm going to approach you now, okay?" Twilight screwed her eyes shut and curled into a ball, not wanting to open her eyes in the slightest, knowing that if she did so, she wouldn't be even remotely okay with what was going on and would probably assault her friend and run out of the room, screaming. She didn't know how long she sat there, but it felt like eternity. Eventually, she heard a voice. "Okay, I think I got all the magic out. Are you okay, Twilight?" Rainbow's recognizable voice reached her ears. She looked up to see her prismatic friend glancing worriedly down at her. Tears swelled in her eyes. "Are you still scared? I can back up if you wan-" she was instantly cut off by Twilight tackling her and pulling her into a hug. "So much for 'being able to take it'," Rainbow chuckled. The purple unicorn squeezed her tighter and muttered, "S-shut up." She cried into Rainbow's shoulder. Although it wasn't a cry of fear this time, but rather, a cry of relief. "T-that magic really packs a p-punch..." she laughed weakly. "Remin' me never tah get on your bad side, RD," Applejack chuckled. "Welp, up n' at em'. We need tah keep movin', they've probably sent an entire squad after us."