//------------------------------// // Ascent from Darkness // Story: Fallen // by justarandombrony //------------------------------// Chapter II Ascent from Darkness By: Justarandombrony and Edward Brady As the darkness engulfed the room and and the silhouettes of the guards slowly left view the only thing left behind was a light blue mare with crimson eyes inside a cage made of some type of crystal-like bars that had a seeming yellow glow to them. The room was dark and cold, and had a faint musty smell. There were stone walls and floors, and water dipped from the ceiling onto the cracked cobblestone floor below. The only furnishings were a sparse stone cot pushed up against one wall and a barred door leading into a dimly lit hallway. Similar cells ran down the length of the hallway as far as you could see. The armored figures shuffling around, occasionally striding up and down the corridor. The blue mare slowly picked herself off the ground, she looked around and slowly approached the bars and reached out to touch them and received a shock as it pushed her back. As she lay on the ground trying to regain her strength a mysterious figure approached her from the corner of the cell. “It’s no use. The bars have a draining field on them,” the stranger said. “The name’s Shadow by the way. I was once a guard to Princess Luna. Now just a prisoner of war, like countless others down here.” He motioned toward the other cells. As she looked up at him the room was slightly swaying “What’s your name?” shadow asked. She shook off the the confusion and looked at him “Me, you don’t know me?” she quickly got to her feet. “Rainbow Dash. You know, R-a-i-n-b-o-w D-a-s-h. Like, the fastest flier, like, ever?” Shadow thinks for a minute. “It does sound vaguely familiar...are you a friend of a unicorn named Twilight Sparkle?” “Yeah, that egghead and I have practically been to the moon and back.” She replied, giving him a victorious grin. “Oh, well it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Dash.” Shadow said as he made his way to one of the sides of the cage walls. “We need to find a way out of here, I presume?” he asked, not making eye contact. “Yeah. but where exactly is here?” Out of nowhere, a loud voice yelled: “Feeding time!” “I’ll touch on that later once the guards are on break we can talk more about it, we don’t want raise any suspicion.” he says as he backs away from the side of the cell so that he may sit next to rainbow dash. “For now, we eat.” he says, presenting a tray of gray squishy goop that the guards slid into their cell. “Blah! What is that?!” Rainbow yelled in disgust. “I like to call it dinner, but whatever will help you swallow it is fine,” he said with a slightly sly grin. As shadow starts to eat the gray substance with ease not pay much attention to rainbow dash who was looking at it as if it were to get up and start talking. she poked it and pulled her head away as she had seen it move “Yeah.. I’ll pass.” saying this while she pushed the tray towards shadow, who shrugged and took it and started to devour it. “You don’t know what you missing out on once you get passed the crusty bits and the plain close to no taste it not half bad.” “Yeah sure whatever you say.” Rainbow Dash replied rolling her eyes. As he finished his second helping he placed the trays next to the door. He looked down the hallway for a bit before walking back towards Rainbow. He sat close to her, and glanced at the door again before speaking. “Alright, the guards will be away for a few minutes, so I can catch you up on a few things you need to know.” “What is...happening here?” “King Sombra. He has taken over and forced thousands of us to do his slave labor in the crystal mines.” he said looking down at the ground as he reminisced more. “It all happened back when we were assigned to help with the help protect the crystal fair, I was on my break with one of my good friends, Silver Shift. However, while we were enjoying our break, we noticed some of the townsfolk panicking and fleeing part of the city. “When we went to investigate, there he was, followed by an army built to destroy an entire castle. We tried to fight them off, but knew we were hopelessly outnumbered. We were quickly overcome, and I was knocked unconscious. The last thing I remember was a pair of Sombra’s soldiers dragging Silver off towards an enormous mine. So, through this, I take it that we must be inside that mine being forced to gather crystals to fuel Sombra’s armies.” After a short pause Rainbow asked: “So, what happened to Silver?” Shadows facial expressions changed as he just looked at the ground once more but this time much more sympathetic. “I don’t know, but I’d have to guess he’s in here somewhere, and I’ve got to find him. It’s my fault he was caught. It’s my job to get him out.” Shadow now looked enraged, but still trying to show a bit of calmness. “Hey, don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll find him.” Shadow looked up at her. “I know,” he said. “but never mind that we need to focus on getting out of here.” Suddenly the silence broke between them as cries of pain echoed through the corridors leaving a ringing in Rainbow Dash’s ears.