Rainbow Dash and the Crystal Empire

by Rainbow Dash 55

The Ice Room

Rainbow opened her eyes and tried to pick up her head, but it was as though somepony had beat it with a hundred hammers.

I'm. Alive?!

She looked around the room, which turned out to be made completely out of ice: one of the few things she couldn't bend.

Still lying down, she turned her head slightly to look for Twilight, Luna, or Soarin. But none of them were there.

"Twilight!", she shouted, but the pain was too much. She passed out.

The second time Rainbow awoke, she guessed it was the next day.

She stood up, and the room seemed infinite. No end.

She walked around the infinite ice room, and, gathering her strength, shoved the wall with her shoulder.

Nothing. Not even a crack.

She tried again, this time, with a running start. It must have been her imagination, but the ice somehow seemed to thicken.

Testing her theory, she tapped the ice wall with her hoof. It thickened again!

How am I supposed to get out now?!

Then, it hit her.

Soarin!

She waited, but she got nothing.

Soarin!

Then, in the faintest back of her mind, she heard him.

Dash?

Soarin! Are you okay? Where are you?

I don't know, Dash. All I know is, I'm in an endless room made out of rocks and stone.

I'm in an endless room made of ice!

Really?! Are you okay? I--

Then, Rainbow heard a voice other than Soarin's. "Daaaaash."

"Who's there?!" Rainbow spun all around her, and finally saw something. She cautiously approached it, and soon got close enough to see that it was a hologram.

It laughed. "Oh, Dash. You're so funny sometimes."

"Lightning Dust?! What are you doing here?!"

"Well, Dash. I'm starting to get the feeling that you don't want to see me." It walked past Rainbow.

"What do you want?!"

"Dash, calm down! All I have to offer is some news that you might find interesting."

Rainbow considered this. "Like what? You're the one who ruined the Crystal Empire?"

"Oh, no, Dash. Not at all. I am a mear servant, a helper, in all this glory."

"I. Am the cause of it."

Rainbow spun around to see another hologram, one that she thought she'd never see again. "Sombra."