//------------------------------//
// Nightmares and Break Outs 
// Story: Chrysalis' Revenge 
// by ladyanaconda 
//------------------------------//

Many hours later, two figures snuck through the many gardens and paths of the castle, trying to avoid being seen by the patrolling guards. However, the moonlight was not helping them very much, as it was illuminating everything outside the castle, and there were almost no places to hide other than bushes. After some effort, the two managed to find a small, rectangular window with bars in the castle walls that led down into the dungeons. The moonlight shone over them once more, revealing Screwball and Spike. The baby dragon tried to bend the bars, but it was no use. He peeked inside, and with the help of a torch on the opposite wall, he saw Shining Armor down below, his hooves shackled to the wall.

"Okay, Screwball, we've got to rescue Shining Armor before Chrysalis puts her her nasty hooves on him." The baby dragon whispered

"But this place is full with traps of all kinds of trouble!" Screwball replied with a little fear in her voice, "We must be careful!"

She closed shut her eyes and started to use magic -being the daughter of Discord, she could use magic despite being an Earth Pony- on the bars and these shone for a little while, but then went back to normal. Spike tried to bend the bars again, but this time, the bars were easily bended. Screwball's magic had turned them into gum bars. 

"Hey, Shining!" they both called for the stallion before hopping down to the floor by using the wooden rafts.

The shackled stallion looked up to see his two friends, "Spike! Screwball! I'm glad to see you, guys!"

"Where's daddy?" Screwball inquired, looking around for a sign of Discord.

Shining looked down, "I... I don't know. Chrysalis shot a beam of energy at him and he disappeared, I don't know where she sent him."

Screwball's eyes started to tear up, "Daddy's dead?"

"No! He's not dead, I simply don't know where he is. It's a completely different thing." Shining looked at Spike, "Anyway, I need you to find the key to unlock this shackles. It's got to be down here somewhere..."

Spike nodded, "No problem! Stay here, we'll take the matters into our hooves and claws!"

Shining Armor rolled his eyes, "Of course I'm going to stay here! I'm shackled, remember?"

Screwball used her magic to open a hold in the wall, and it closed again as soon as they had passed through. The halls of stone were dimly illuminated by torches, and there seemed to be no guards patrolling, except the ones guarding the cell Shining Armor was locked in. But their main concern were the keys to the door and the shackles.

Screwball looked around the place, "What do we do now?"

"First, we figure out who has the key and where they keep it. Second, we go and get it. And then we come back and free Shining Armor. " Spike explained.

"And how're we supposed to know who keeps the key?"

Before Spike could reply, they saw shadows coming through the hallway. However, there was nowhere to hide and if they ran towards the other corridor, they would be caught by the guards guarding Shining's cell. Spike and Screwball grew nervous and fearfully stepped back until their backs touched the cold rocks of the wall. The filly wished her daddy was there, he would be able to hide them or something, but he was gone. Just as the guards were about to turn around the corner, suddenly the wall behind them opened and they fell backwards down a small flight of stairs, and the trapdoor of the wall closed again, just as the guards passed by. The baby dragon rubbed the back of his head.

"What in Equestria was that?" he growled

Screwball shook the dust off her, "It's a secret door!" she exclaimed in excitement, "Daddy had lots of these in his castle!"

"Well, at least those guards won't find us in here, but how will we find the key now?"

"GET ME OUT OF HERE, YOU LOVE-EATING PARASITES!!!"

The sudden scream made their blood go cold, fearing it might be another of Chrysalis' minions; the screams and cursing words were coming from an opened door at the end of the secret hallway, and there was a little illumination coming from it. Spike and Screwball looked at each other with insecurity, but then they nodded at each other, and they carefully walked to the end of the corridor... what they found in there was a complete surprise.





They were alone.

Discord found himself in the middle of what seemed to be a volcano pit, and everything around was covered in lava. Shining Armor and the others are long gone, and he and Twilight were completely alone. However, she had entered labor, and they were defenseless against King Sombra and Chrysalis. He was holding her hoof, but at the same time he knew he would have to deliver his foal himself. Twilight screamed in agony, sweating heavily and breathing hard. But he could already see the baby's head, although he felt like he was about to faint. He encouraged Twilight to be strong, in one more push the baby would be out, and they would leave there quickly.

Finally, Twilight gave the final push. 

... However, suddenly all of her body went limp, and she just remained there, completely lifeless. The Draconequus attempted to wake her up, but she was already gone. As tears started to roll down his cheeks, he looked down at the baby, but to his horror, the foal was silent and motionless, still covered in blood and fluid. It had been born dead.

Before he could do anything, he was surrounded by a black mist, and he couldn't see anything. Two pair of eyes with purple smoke opened in the blacklist, and he identified Sombra's and Chrysalis eyes. Their horns materialized from the mist, and beams of dark energy shot at him. The last thing he felt was a very shape pain in his chest, and then he was attacked by jolts of pain... 

Discord opened his eyes abruptly, tears coming out and rolling... up his head? He tried to look around, but everything around him was green, and he was unable to move at all; he could shift a little, but no more. After a while, he realized he was upside down inside one of those green, goo cocoons, but he couldn't figure out where he was. The cocoon was transparent, but not enough for him to see outside. He tried to snap his fingers to transport out of there, but he couldn't even move his hands. He managed to get a look at them, and he noticed they were engulfed in the green substance as well.

"Very smart, Chrysalis..." He thought bitterly, "Very smart..."

He thought of the nightmare he just had; in it, Twilight had died at childbirth and his foal was born dead. He had not thought of that possibility before, perhaps because he was very happy about the news. What if something happened  to Twilight, or the foal? Or worse, what if something happened to the both of them? If the thought of losing Twilight made him tremble, the very thought of losing both her and the baby was unbearable. He had to prevent it! He had to stop Chrysalis and Sombra, no matter if they took his life.

He attempted to break free, but the cocoon was very thick, probably made especially for him. But that was not the only thing that got him worried, he was completely alone. Even if he broke out, he didn't know where he was or if he would see Shining Armor and the others. He guessed he would have to wait until something happened... But it was completely boring in there! He had nothing to do but sleep, and he was not precisely tired. He would have to find someways to spend his time if he wanted to keep his sanity intact.





"Rainbow Dash?!" Spike cried in surprise as he and Screwball approached the cell in which the cyan pegasus was captive.

Rainbow's eyes gained a brightness of hope and joy when she saw her friends approaching her cell, "Spike! Screwball! I'm glad to see you! Where are Shining and Discord?"

Screwball flinched at the mention of her father.

Spike spoke, "Shining is in a cell out on the corridor, but Chrysalis sent Discord away and we don't know where!"

"But how did you get here, Rainbow Dash?" Screwball inquired, regaining her cool.

"All I remember is going to Cloudsdale to bring some things for the foals, but halfway there I was attacked by a group of changelings and they captured me. Then they brought me in here, and I don't know where the others are!"

"We don't either!" 

"And how do we open this cell?" Spike tried to force the lock, but it was no use.

Screwball examined it, "It's made of black magic, we can't force it, we must use black magic to open it."

Rainbow smacked her forehead, "And where are we going to get black magic?"

"Wait! Twilight had used it in the Crystal Empire," Spike looked over at Screwball, "Do you think you can replicate black magic too?"

The cotton pink mare grew nervous, "What? Black magic? I can't! Daddy forbid me to do black magic!"

"Well, unless you want me to rot in here while Chrysalis does who knows what to our friends, you better try it!" Rainbow snapped, "Don't worry! We won't say a word to Discord!"

"You promise?"

"We Pinkie promise!" 

Screwball gulped and focused on the lock of the gate, she closed her eyes shut and started concentrating energy on the gate. The same purple smoke that came out of Chrysalis and Sombra's eyes started flowing from her eyes, and sweat started to rol down the mare's face. The lock of the door started to move as it was surrounded by a black light, and it started burning at a slow pace before it completely broke and the door of the cell opened. 

"FREE!!" Rainbow Dash flew through the door and started flying around the room, swift like a comet, and then she landed next to Spike and Screwball, who was still sweating.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" she grinned, "We have to rescue Shining and get out of here!"

"But the key-!" Spike was interrupted when Rainbow grabbed him and Screwball and flew towards the wall they had come from.

"Who needs a key when you have a super-strong pegasi with you?" she grinned, not minding their terrorized faces.

Spike and Screwball closed their eyes in terror when Rainbow Dash was about to crash against the wall, thinking she would probably break through it, but the trapdoor simply opened with great force, crushing some unfortunate guards that were investigating it. Rainbow placed Screwball and Spike on the ground and landed, but soon they were surrounded by guards pointing their spears at them. 

"Great job, Rainbow!" Screwball growled, "I think you alerted all of the guards down here!" 

Rainbow grinned as she took a fighting position, "Don't worry! We can take them on in no time! Then we'll rescue Shiny!"

Spike gulped, "But I'm not exactly good at martial arts..."

"Leave it to me!"

Back inside the cell, Shining woke up when he heard there was a ruckus in the corridor outside. There seemed to be a struggle out there, but the shackles kept him from going to peek through the door. He heard armors hitting the wall, yelps and screams of pain, and he recognized the terrified voices of Spike and Screwball. There was nothing he could do but wait until it stopped and someone came. He almost got heart attack when the door was broken open with a kick one of Twilight's friends.
After getting past his shock, he recognized her immediately.

"Rainbow Dash?" he inquired, "Where did you come from? Are the others with you?"

"Chrysalis imprisoned me in here, and if by 'others' you mean Twilight, Cadence and the rest, no, they aren't." the cyan pegasus replied while Spike and Screwball tumbled into the cell.

"Man, no wonder why daddy didn't want me to get involved in fights!" the cotton pink mare spoke dizzily, "He said that fights were for uncivilized, savage ponies!"

"Do you have the key to these shackles? My hooves are starting to ache."

"We don't need any key, just leave it to me." Rainbow took off and flew towards the ceiling. Shining Armor's terror started when she dove down towards him. 

"No! Wait a minute!" 

But there was no stopping her. He closed his eyes shut in fear as Rainbow Dash delivered a kick to his shackles; after a while, he opened his eyes and noticed that they were no longer restrained to the wall. He looked up and saw that the shackles were gone, he noticed they were in the ground, broken in two. He, Spike and Screwball shot a very proud Rainbow Dash an incredulous stare.

"What do you eat that mass you so strong?!" Spike asked in shock, which made Rainbow Dash grin even more.

"It's a secret." 

"Well, now that I'm free, how about we get out of here before Chrysalis sends her Changelings after us?" Shining inquired while standing up. His horn started to glow, made a light surround the four of them, and they they disappeared. 





Chrysalis watched through a giant black crystal -courtesy of Sombra- as Shining Armor and the others disappeared in a flash of light, along with the now free bearer of Loyalty. However, while most ponies would expect her to send her guards and Changelings after them, she didn't. She knew they may be able to find the artifacts she needed for her, without them even knowing. Ponies were so easy to deceive, after all.

Besides, now she didn't have to worry about the Elements of Harmony any longer. Sombra had come up with a better idea: even if the six Elements are actually together, they wouldn't work if they were corrupted or if one or various bearer were no longer representing their respective Element of Harmony. It had worked for some time when Discord had done it, back when he was still evil, but it lasted for a very short while. But this time, the spell would be much stronger than Discord's simple hypnosis. They wouldn't stand a chance.

If they actually managed to reunite all of the bearers, that is.