Rainbow in the Dark

by BaeroRemedy

More Than A Feeling

“Hey you look good, Dash. I can get behind the shaved head look.” Spitfire placed a hoof on her adopted-sister’s shoulder and smiled. “Decided to change it up a bit, I respect that a lot.” She was in her full Captain armor, a wiry stallion with a notepad followed behind her.

“Yeah, y’know, it’s a new me. I wanted to start fresh.” After that altercation in the alley, it felt good to be next to Spitfire again. The two married mares were going to be her one lifeline and tether to this world. If Dash was going to build a new and better life out of what was already here, she was going to use what was already available. It helped that she still felt great fondness for both of these mares in both worlds, so she was close to them no matter what.

“Darling, did you know anything about this scar Rainbow Dash has on the back of her head?” Rarity interjected, stepping forward and tilting Dash’s head to the side to show the scar. “I don’t seem to recall any stories about it.”

“Scar?” Spitfire stepped to the side to get a better look. Her hooves went up and removed the glassy black helmet from her head and she squinted at the scar. “That’s…new. She didn’t have that before. Does it hurt?”

“No, not really.” Dash put a hoof to the back of her head to feel that scar. “When I get those memory flashes my head hurts but I don’t know if that’s why.”

“The memory loss!” Spitfire smacked her own head with a hoof. “That explains it. A head wound like that would lead to some memory loss, it would have to.” She shook her head and laughed as the realization hit her. “I guess the doctors didn’t catch that but I’m glad we did now.”

“Yeah, I guess.” That answer didn’t feel right. Clipper had said it looked like a mortal wound, but here she was. She would accept it for now considering she wasn’t dead…but that would be on her mind for the foreseeable future now.

“We’ll get it looked at by a doctor tomorrow, hmm?” Rarity smiled and patted Dash’s head. “If it’s not bothering you too much it can wait until after tonight’s dinner.” Rarity’s singsong voice kicked in as she practically pirouetted around Dash and Spitfire.

“Right, the dinner.” She had forgotten about her appointment with the King. It was still the last thing she wanted to do, spend more time with that psychopath who called himself the ruler of Equestria.

Her thoughts of the stallion were complicated. He had seen the things she had, all of it. He knew what she knew all too well, and in that respect he was the only one who truly understood her. Still, he killed Princess Celestia and Luna. It seemed like he did the same to Cadance at some point. Then of course, he invaded and took over Equestria. Both parts of her mind, both sets of memories, were at odds. One saw him as a villain and the other a noble and benevolent ruler.

That’s who he was to them, soon she would find out who he was to her.

“I’m not wearing a dress.” Rainbow Dash stated defiantly to the two mares around her. “Actually I’m not going to wear anything. No way.” That elicited a giggle from Spitfire and a scoff from her wife.

“It’s a meeting with the King, darling. You can’t just go naked!” Rarity protested and produced a tape measure from…somewhere and stretched it out against one of Rainbow Dash’s legs. “I’m sure I can find something in one of the wardrobes in the castle that will be suitable. One of the royal tailors can even hem it if need be.”

“I’m not wearing a dress!”

“What about her dress uniform?” Spitfire put a hoof on her wife’s back and gently pulled her away from Rainbow Dash. “We had that brought up from her place, right?”

“Oh!” Rarity dropped her tape measure and stood up straight. “Yes, yes we did. It’s in our closet, I think. I can go up and get that pressed and ready right away!” There wasn’t even time to say goodbye before the lone unicorn of the group was galloping off towards the apartments.

“I hope I can at least blend into the crowd or something.” Rainbow muttered with a sigh.

“What crowd? It’s a private dinner with just you and the King.”

“What?” Dash’s blood ran cold as the words sank in. She had assumed it was some sort of big dinner where Spitfire and Rarity would be in attendance. She needed at least one of them there for support. She couldn’t be alone with him again.

“Yeah, he asked you to dinner. Not anypony else.” Spitfire put a wing over Rainbow’s back and began to walk, gently prodding her friend along with the appendage. “It’ll be okay. Just like earlier I’ll be right outside, and you can just yell if you need me. It’ll be fine.”

King Sombra knew that in her current state, Rainbow Dash was no threat. Earlier he had shown that he was not afraid of her and that he held no ill will towards her. So why did the thought of being alone with him open such a deep pit in her gut? Was it the ingrained reverence of the King? She always had butterflies when meeting with Princess Celestia, but she never remembered the sheer terror she felt with the idea of meeting with Sombra.

Even more curious, the terror didn’t actually manifest when she was alone with him. It was only the thought of the act and not the act itself, the exception being when she first woke up in the hospital bed and her fight or flight instinct kicked in. The disconnect between her head panicking and her body remaining calm when presented with the same situation was another oddity to figure out in time.

The walk to Spitfire and Rarity’s apartment was quick and relatively unobstructed compared to Dash’s other walks through the castle halls. Well, there was no random Sunset Shimmer interruption this time is what that meant. The short trip didn’t give Dash any time to stew in her nerves or anxiety about her upcoming meal, which was both a blessing and a curse. Being constantly twitchy and nervous was bad, but she also needed to prepare. What if this time he tried something? What if last time in his chambers was just so she would have her guard down the next time he got her alone?

As soon as they stepped through the door she was prompted to take yet another shower on top of the one she had taken in the morning to get any lingering fuzz from her manecut and the stink of the alley off of her. So she did just that, the warm water doing enough to wash away her anxiety until she was clean once more.

Once she stepped out of the shower and dried herself off enough, she put on her glasses and looked in the mirror. Earlier in the day, before her first shower, she did something similar and she hadn’t recognized the mare in the mirror. Now, the same gaunt and tired mare still looked right back at her, but it was different this time. Before her body was covered with stuff she had never wanted nor put there. The missing wing, the tangled mane, the glasses…but now there was just that one changed thing, the shaved mane. It was so little but it made such a big difference. She could ignore the other parts, all the other imperfections that drew her ire, and she could just focus on that one thing she changed. It almost induced a sense of euphoria that now she had even a modicum of control over how she looked, of her body in this world. She was sure after she ate more, got into shape, it would be even better. Maybe one day she would even be comfortable in her own body again.

She just had to get there.

Rainbow Dash finally emerged from the bathroom after a few more minutes of alone time. The only sounds coming from the abode were a song coming from the radio and Rarity’s humming accompanying it. When Dash entered the main room, she saw the unicorn standing in front of an ironing board with a black uniform laid flat across it. The buttons, instead of being brass, were made of bright blue sapphires. There was a cap resting on the back of the sofa as well, similarly black with blue stitching front and center in the shape of a jagged sunburst.

“It might be a little loose due to your…slim figure, darling.” Rarity hummed and pulled her iron away from the dark fabric. “Taking it in isn’t really an option today and I’m sure you’ll fill in eventually.” Her baby blue aura levitated the garment in the air and held it up to Rainbow’s torso.”I really do wish they would move away from the sapphires for the buttons for the ceremonial division. I think some nice rubies would work much much better…but then again, black and red? A little…evil, don’t you think?”

Despite Rarity’s insistence that she had no taste for fashion, she spoke like she did. There was still that little spark deep down that had survived all of these years, that had survived the crushing weight this world seemed to have on her desire to create.

“I think I would like navy blue instead of black.” Rainbow spoke as she looked down at the uniform. Even the black alone looked a bit too evil for her taste. The navy blue that Spitfire wore in that other world was more flattering and looked more professional in her opinion.

“Oh…hmmm.” Rarity pondered that suggestion a bit. “With gold or brass buttons, yes.” Rarity agreed before shaking her head and casting the thoughts aside. “Well we are not the designers of such things, now are we? Now please try it on, I can help with the buttons if you need it.” Rarity pulled the black jacket away and replaced it with a white collared shirt and a blue tie that were pressed to perfection.

Rainbow Dash did as she was told and put on the white dress shirt first, throwing it over her back and slipping her hooves into the sleeves. Even before it was buttoned she could tell that Rarity was right in it being a bit oversized at the moment. Everything was loose and hung around her body and just closing the shirt up wasn’t going to help much. Rarity helped confirm that by buttoning up her shirt for her and also helped with the tie. Both things she would’ve done by herself with her wings in the past.

Collar tight around the neck.

Tie squeezing and suffocating.

Would she ever get used to dress uniforms?

Probably not.

Dash brought a hoof up to that gash on the back of her head that pulsed with a new flash of pain. She shrugged it off, something that was becoming easier and easier to do as the memories kept coming.

That memory didn’t match the current reality at all. Where once the shirt and tie had squeezed her neck like a python constricting its prey, it was now hanging around her with enough space left between the fur and the fabric that a hoof might be able to slip in. Rainbow Dash grimaced and choked back some tears as she looked down at her loose fitting outfit.

It was a unique pain she had never experienced before, looking at clothes you knew in your heart of hearts you belonged in that just didn’t fit. Her body was rejecting the uniform like a transplant gone severely wrong. It was almost causing her physical pain to look down at the shirt and tie, and she didn’t even want to think what the jacket would do to her. If she looked in a mirror now, she knew she would break. It would be like looking at a pretender, a mare who just didn’t belong in the body she had ended up in.

She would put up with all of this for now. She would swallow her pain and her pride for just tonight and then tomorrow—no, tonight—after this dinner she would start getting her body right. In turn that would help get her head right as well. She just needed to channel that fire and desire.

First she just had to make it through dinner.

—-

“You look good, Dash.” Spitfire waited outside of the dining hall, still clad in her armor. “Maybe a bit loose, but it’s okay. He’ll understand.” Spitfire’s wings came out and straightened the tie around Dash’s neck. “Remember: I’ll be right out here in case anything goes wrong. Either call me or just excuse yourself.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Rainbow nodded and looked towards the door, an aged and darkened wood monolith with two purple handles made of crystal. She knew what was waiting behind them, who was waiting. “Any advice?” She wanted to make it out of this unscathed as much as she possibly could.

“Just go with the flow.” Spitfire said with a smile. “I know he’s intimidating, and doubly so for you because of what you saw, but he’s an easy pony to talk to and he seems to like you. Don’t think too hard, just talk.”

“Yeah, right.” Dash mumbled and shifted uncomfortably. “Don’t think who I’m talking to when it’s him.”

“Like I said, I know.” Spitfire responded with a sigh, a bit of frustration entering her voice. “I get it, but just try to be cordial. You seemed to at least manage that earlier in his room.” The guard captain stepped back from her lifelong friend and then placed a hoof on one of the door’s handles. “Good luck.”

The door opened and Rainbow Dash crept inside. The dining hall was the same one she had seen in her memories from that other world: dominated by a long white table, tall slim windows at the other end covered with dark purple drapes. The table was already filled with all kinds of steaming hot food that filled the room with wonderful scents that made Dash’s mouth water.

Other than the table and the food, the room was empty. There was no King Sombra in here, not that she could see. So she crept further into the room, her head on a swivel. It seemed pretty rude to her to invite somepony to dinner and then to make them wait.

Dash made her way down the table, to where the only two chairs in the room were. They sat across from each other at the far side of the table with empty plates sitting in front of them. She wasn’t sure if there was etiquette pertaining to which one she should sit at. In her experience, royalty usually sat at the head of the table but that didn’t seem to be an option here. So she just hopped up in the chair on the side she was on and waited.

It was maybe a minute before she heard something metal overhead open with a meaty ‘thunk’. Her head whipped around to see some kind of vent in the corner of the room now open and a black smoke came billowing out. Dash stood from her chair in an instant, her one wing flared, as she prepared to flee. The first guess she had was ‘fire’ and she was ready to bolt if that was the case.

Instead the smoke coalesced at the head of the table, thickening and becoming darker until it formed one solid shape, that shape being the one of the King. His eyes were the first thing to truly become solid, the emerald green irises locking onto Dash as soon as they were able. The rest of his body soon solidified, leaving King Sombra without his usual vestments.

“Oh, I see I’m a bit underdressed.” He remarked as he made his way to the seat across from his guest. “You didn’t have to dress up for me, Rainbow Dash.” His voice was as thick and smooth like the smoke he came into the room as.

“Sorry, Your Majesty.” Rainbow took the cap from her head and put it on the table. “Spitfire and Rarity kinda pushed me to wear something. I just went along with it…” She knew it was stupid to dress up for this thing, she knew it was pointless.

“Of course they did.” Sombra chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Please, you look like you’re going to a funeral. If you’re feeling uncomfortable you’re free to take it off.” He said this all with a slight smile, two fangs poking out from his mouth as he stared at her.

There was no need to say that twice. There wasn’t any smooth way to undo the buttons on either the shirt or jacket. So she just slid them off over her head instead. She had enough wiggle room in the ill-fitting uniform to do so. She let the clothes hit the ground and pushed them under her chair with a hoof.

“Goodness.” Sombra sighed deeply. “I’m glad I invited you to dinner, you could use a good meal.” He gestured at the table between them. “Fresh caught fish from the river below Canterlot, freshly baked bread and mashed potatoes from our kitchen, the most delicious baked soybeans in all of Canterlot. Protein and carbohydrates, just what you need.”

“Did you invite me to dinner just to fatten me up?” Dash raised an eyebrow, but she wouldn’t reject the offerings before her. She gathered up her plate and heaped food upon it, anything she could get a hold of. She wasn’t ever really a picky eater and whatever reservations she had before had now evaporated.

“I would not be telling the full truth if I said ‘no’.” Sombra shrugged and levitated a piece of fish onto his plate. “I wanted to help you recover the most that I could while also enjoying our company.”

As soon as her plate was full and set down back at her place at the table, Rainbow Dash dug in. She had eaten in the morning, sure, but she didn’t feel this hungry then. No, her appetite was more voracious than it had ever been before. She wasn’t even tasting the food as she consumed it, she just knew she needed to eat. Not just because her stomach demanded food, but because she needed to get strong and healthy again. Neither of them spoke until Rainbow Dash had completed her first plate, leaving all but scraps in its wake. She let out a hefty and satisfied sigh as she slumped back in her chair.

“I’ll go back for seconds in a bit…” She mumbled. “I haven’t eaten that much that fast in…forever.”

“Well I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.” Sombra chuckled lightly and put his silver utensils down onto the table. “Would you mind a little conversation between plates?” The King pushed the plate away from him and rested his fore legs in front of him.

“Uh, I guess not?”

“Good. Good.” The shadowy stallion across the way closed his eyes and seemed to center himself before speaking again. “I guess I should comment on your mane? Not a look I expected from you, but it looks quite good. Better than what you came home with.”

“Thanks.” Dash nodded. “I just felt like I needed to reinvent myself after everything that happened.”

“I can only imagine. I was shown all of that where my path diverged. I cannot even begin to think what I would be like if I was shown that now instead of then.” Sombra shook his head and then looked up at the ceiling. “Then to add memory loss on top of it? No, I might go mad. The fact that you are still standing is a testament to your mental fortitude.”

“It’s not easy…” Dash muttered. “I still feel like that other world I saw is my life and this is some…fantasy. Everything here looks real but it feels so fake.” She picked up a silver goblet that sat by her plate and sniffed at the contents, warm cider. She greedily gulped down the amber liquid, the taste reminding her of a home she could only remember now. “Like this—” She said as she sat the goblet back down. “—cider. It feels so real, it tastes like heaven but all I can think of is what it was like there.”

There was that paradox that raged inside of her. When she looked at Sombra, she could only see the villain she had vanquished with her friends twice over. When she talked with him, though, when she got into the flow and she didn’t focus on his appearance but just his company, it all felt so natural and comfortable. She didn’t understand it at all.

“Mmm.” Sombra nodded. “I’ve heard you have these memory flashes, but other than that you don’t remember anything?”

“No. General feelings, I guess. Anything concrete just comes and then goes.”

“The first time I ever saw you, Rainbow Dash, I was attending a practice that the guard was holding in Cloudsdale.” Sombra started on a seemingly unrelated note, a fond smile forming on his face. “Your commander at the time wanted to show you off, his fastest pony, and told you to perform your famous ‘sonic rainboom.’” He leveled his gaze at her again, his features soft. “You were so much different than the others, so ready to prove yourself to all comers. Then there’s that trail of yours, brilliant and full of color…I was entranced. When you began to fly upwards I said to my assistant ‘I want her for the ceremonial division.’ but when I saw your rainboom, I knew I needed you here in Canterlot.”

“You’re the one who got me transferred?” She still knew that memory, she relived it when she went to her house the other day. It stung. It still wounded her pride even through her amnesia.

“A transfer was planned before I came along.” He looked down at the table and furrowed his brow. “Headstrong, stubborn, prideful and had difficulty following orders. You believed in yourself far too much and trusted others far too little. An outright promotion was never in the cards for you, Rainbow Dash. They were going to ship you off to some far corner of the world, guarding Tartarus or sitting in some musty seafort.” He shook his head. “I couldn’t let brilliance be locked away, the world needed to see it.”

“Did you ever tell me any of this or did you just let me think I was demoted for nothing?” She felt that familiar fire rise up in her belly, the one that kept her competitive and faster than anypony else. “Were you just pulling my strings?”

“Of course not!” Sombra stood up from his chair with haste and moved over to Dash’s side of the table and stood beside her. “After you were transferred I extended an invitation to the castle for a dinner such as this, except it was at one of the rooftop gardens.” The King kneeled and rested a hoof on Dash’s leg. His touch was soft and delicate, much unlike what one would expect of a King. “I explained how such a fantastically colorful pegasus such as yourself couldn’t be sent away into the darkness, no. You deserved to be here, in the gilded city amongst the jewels and parades. I asked you to lead my grandest celebrations, be the centerpiece to my crowning achievement…and of course keep me company, my beloved.”

King Sombra leaned in and planted a kiss on Rainbow Dash’s cheek.

Comments

[Demonic Lemon]

DIO!

[Write Flyer]

If Sombra gets out of this fic unscathed, I'll be surprised

[Rawislon03]

Oh, she’s not going to react well to that.

[Dk]

Wow

[Paradox_Az]

Okay, pausing a bit before going to the next chapter. That's going to be good.

[Teraunce]

...

[Octoskan]

😯

[Beware The Carpenter]

So Dash just left Pinkie in that alley? Didn’t try to talk more? Didn’t try to get her off the street, maybe give her a key to her house that shes not using?

[Kowhaifan]

11338893
I agree, that was so out of character. Not to mention dash has a completely unoccupied house pinkie could stay at.

[ZanarNaryon]

Welp, hes gonna get punched in the face. Have some tact dude, at least he went for the cheek instead of lips cause im pretty sure that would result in regicide.
I love this twist though. Its insane absurd out there and it feels like it fits perfectly in the story, and strongly foreshadowed (i mean that as a good thing) everything about how Sombra has interacted with Raerae so far has just screamed that shes more than just a subordinate, and then plus Sunsets remark about gold digging and Aj's calling her majesty? Yeah this was coming and i love it (which is a rarity let me tell you im usually too lesbian to enjoy m/f ships unless theyre EXTREMELY well written which this is) and i cannot wait to see where this is going.

Also might be just me but im picking up some transgender vibes from this. Rainbow feeling discomfort with her body but feels better when she shaves her hair short and takes more control over her appearance, and the horror of feeling like an putfit shpuld fit you but it just doesnt. Theres some real euphoria and dysphoria subtext there.