> The Kings Bride
>  by Rainbow__Sparkle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> A Meeting at Canterlot
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Rainbow Dash raced through puffy, white clouds with her fellow Wonderbolt comrades. She held the lead, but Fleetfoot slowly began to overtake her. Rainbow beat her wings down harder, propelling her forward at a faster pace. She managed to get neck-and-neck with the other speedy pegasus.
With a glance over her shoulder, Rainbow Dash saw Spitfire on her tail. Fire Streak pulled ahead and began to catch up to the fiery maned mare. They were all grouped together in a large clump. A few seconds later, they began to plummet towards the ground.
Perfect, I can really kick some tail now. Dash thought as she jackknifed downwards, quickly gaining speed. Making herself as straight as an arrow, her lithe figure sliced through the air like a knife through warm butter.
A moment of tranquility passed, and a sharp sound similar to an explosion echoed around the area. A prismatic disk spread across the sky, creating a grand spectacle for all to see.
Dash bolted down to the finish line, her momentum making her hooves skid across the pavement. She had just surpassed her fellow Wonderbolts a few seconds before. They gasped in amazement at the last remnants of her signature move, unknowingly etching it into their memory.
They each hoof-bumped her and made several comments on it. After a few minutes of chatting with one another, they agreed to head back to the compound for a well-deserved lunch. Since Rainbow Dash clenched first place in the race, she was first in line. Out of the three meal choices, she took a hay burger with a fizzy soda. Once she settled down at the table, the other Wonderbolts gradually began to fill the vacant seats around her. Most of their discussions had to do with their next private race.
A loud clattering reached her ears. The sound grew in volume, and the other pegasi began to notice as well. To their surprise, a gray pegasus stumbled through the cafeterias double doors. She trotted forward slowly but still managed to bump into the occasional table. With a smile, she approached Rainbow Dash and have her a manila envelope.
"Thanks, Derpy!" Rainbow Dash returned her smile. Derpy began to leave the building.
Spitfire curiously asked Rainbow Dash about the letters contents as she ripped it open with her teeth. Deciding that there were probably more ponies around the table that would ask the same question, she read it aloud.
"Dearest Rainbow Dash, I need you to report to Canterlot Castle immediately. I will explain once you arrive. Sincerely, Princess Celestia." Rainbow Dash rose an eyebrow.
“I wonder why she needs you.” Fleetfoot pondered. “I guess that it's pretty important if she wants you to go so urgently."
“Well, you heard the princess, I gotta go.” Dash said as she headed out the door. Everypony waved goodbye to Rainbow Dash, including Derpy, who for some reason, still stood at the doors. Trotting out through the back doors of the compound, Rainbow took off into the sky. While soaring around into the castle's general vicinity, she too pondered the reason of her kneading to depart so abruptly.
After a few minutes flight, Rainbow arrived at her destination. She made her way up to the castle doors but was quickly stopped by two guards standing on each side
"Halt. You may not enter. Even if you are famous." the one on the right said, knowing that she would try to use her fame to get in.
“She is with us." A regal figure looked over their heads, held aloft by well-preened wings. She gracefully landed before them, taking a step towards the doors. They pulled them open for her, allowing Rainbow Dash to pass as well. One of the guards clearly murmured, "If you sat so."
"We apologize dear Rainbow Dash. What we are working with is of great importance. Many of our guards are unaware of it."
Luna guided Rainbow Dash through the castle corridors to a wall. While the smaller mare looked in confusion, the larger checked for any of the Royal guard within sight. When none was found, she scanned the wall carefully. Her tongue poked out of the side of her mouth as she vandalized the seemingly normal wall.
With a quiet, "Aha!" Luna pressed her right hoof against a brick hallway between the middle of the wall and the floor. She nodded towards the once hidden door that creaked open. They walked down the spiral staircase in silence, only the clacking of their hooves against stone making any noise. About halfway down, Rainbow Dash spoke up.
"What is this place?"
"It is a secret room only used for urgent meetings. The last time, we came here, was when Discord broke free from his stone prison."
“Then why are we down here-- Oh. It's Discord again! I thought Fluttershy reformed him! Oh, I outta--"
"Actually, Discord is still cooperating. He is helping us with the enemy at hoof."
“Oh, um, could you refrain from telling him that?"
“Your secret is safe with me. However, your lack of trust in him has been noted.”
To Rainbow's relief, they finally reached the door leading to the secret room. Luna met her eyes as she put a hoof on the door.
“What you see, hear or do in this room will stay completely confidential to the public. If you speak to others about this room and what happened within it, you will under the crown's consequences."
Dash gulped and hesitantly nodded.
I wonder what she meant by consequences. You know what? I don't wanna know.
Luna pushed the door open to reveal Rainbow's friends. As she peered at each of the room's occupants, she realized that she was the last one to arrive. The others must've gotten a letter beforehand.
In the center of the room, a three-dimensional replica of Equestria sat upon a circular table, a hologram rather than a solid structure. Celestia paced on the other end of the room, head cocked towards the floor in thought. She occasionally spoke to herself, but Rainbow Dash couldn't decipher what the words were.
One-by-one, the five other pastel-colored ponies noticed her presence. The first being Pinkie Pie.
"Dashie!"
She winced at her nickname but was soon surrounded in a group hug.
"Rainbow Dash! It's been so long since we've seen you! I want to know what you've been doing in Cloudsdale. Have you been seeing anypony?" Twilight grinned as she broke off from the embrace.
"Dettaaaiiillsss!" Rarity squealed. After meeting Rainbow's confused eyes, she added, "What about that Soarin fellow? Does he suit your fancy?"
"Well, he is a pretty nice guy. Not to mention that he's pretty hot. I definitely wouldn't object to dating him, but I don't want to mess up any of our friendships. He used to date, but I haven't heard about him being with anypony recently. It's just, I dunno. I like the friendship we share, and I would hate for that to be screwed up." Rainbow cast a worried look over to each of her friends as she saw that they seemed entranced by her words. “Don’t we have an end-of-the-world talk thingy? Why we here?”
“Yes, yes. We have very important matters to discuss.” Princess Celestia stopped her pacing and faced two other ponies that Rainbow failed to see when she walked in, Shining Armour and Princess Cadence. “Many of you will be shocked to hear this. I was also when I first heard the news." She paused for a moment and looked at Twilight. “King Sombra has returned to the Crystal Empire.”
They gasped in horror. Now they knew why Cadence and Shining Armour were there.
“What about the Crystal Heart?! Shouldn't it repel Sombra from the Empire?" Twilight asked, her previous theories on the Crystal Hearts magic nearly being crushed under the contradictory statement.
“Somepony within the Empire stole it, but we haven't detected the culprit yet. We escaped in time, but the rest of the Empire is being imprisoned by him." Cadence replied solemnly.
“Can’t we use the rainbow powers on him like we did on Tirek?" Applejack turned to Celestia.
“Good idea! It will be easy peasy lemon squeezy!” Pinkie cheered,
“I’m afraid not,” Princess Celestia said.
"Indeed. For if there was any other way, I would have already vanquished thee to the realm of Tartarus." Luna agreed.
“Why can't we?” Fluttershy peeked a large sea foam green eye out from behind her mane.
“For one, his blood is saturated with dark magic. Two, we are uncertain on the logistics of the 'rainbow powers.' And three," Luna went silent as stared at the floor.
"Aaaannnnnddddd?” Pinkie Pie encouraged.
With a sigh, Luna raised her head. “He has acquired of the Elements of Disharmony.”
They gasped once more. With a poof of striped mist, Discord enters the room.
“What did I miss?” Discord strolled around the table.
“You're a bit late,” Shining Armor growled,
“Well, it’s not my fault. How am I supposed to know exactly when Rainbow Dash would arrive." With a snapped of his class, a black top hat appears on his head. He took it off, reached inside it with his lion's paw, and pulled a very startled Rainbow Dash out of it.
“Put me down!” she shrieked, thrashing her legs around.
“As you wish,” Discord sneered. He dropped her from his paw, then snickering as she hit the ground with a dull thud.
“Ow!” Rainbow glared at Discord, who merely shrugged.
“Wowza! How was it like to be pulled out of a hat?” Pinkie asked while helping the disheveled mare up.  
“It was… well, interesting to sat the least. Has somepony ever pulled on your tail before? Cause it's kinda like that except on your backbone.”
“Anyway.” Celestia interrupted, but was then interrupted herself by Applejack.
“What are the Elements of Disharmony?”  
“Everything that exists in the world also has its counter.” Luna started, blowing a puffed air at her forelock. “We thought that the Elements of Disharmony were hidden beyond detection, but we were mistaken."
“Where did you stash them?” Rainbow inquired.
“We didn't hide them. Our counters did." Celestia sighed.
Rarity's interest piked. “Even ponies have counter?”
“Yes,” Cadence answered,
“Interesting.” Twilight hummed to herself.
Luna continued the tale. “We gave the responsibility of hiding the Elements of Disharmony to our counters, and counters live in a different world. Somehow King Sombra has taken them into his possession, so our forces are harmless against him."  
“There is, however, one way to get rid of him. It was originally only going to be used as the last resort.” Shining Armor sighed, looking a few years older than his actual age.
“How?” Fluttershy asked, tilting her head to the left.
“Sombra said that he will give up the empire if,” Cadence paused for a moment to look at the mane six as a whole. “if somepony marries him.”
For the third time of the evening, they gasped.
What kind of sicko forces somepony to marry them?! That's the lowest of the low. Rainbow silently thought. Just thinking about the tyrant made her shiver.
“If he doesn't receive a bride writhing this week, he will take the Crystal Empire for an eternity. How, we don't know. But we are not willing to risk it. Especially not with so many ponies lives at stake. Shining Armor began to panic.
“Don’t worry, honey. We’ll figure out something” Cadence cooed.
Twilight took a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll be Sombra’s bride."
“Twilight no! Equestria needs you!” Applejack exclaimed gestures toward her horn and wings.
“No, it is my duty as a princess to be there for Equestria. Plus, it's not like anypony else will volunteer to do it. Therefore, it is my responsibility."
“No, I will!” Rarity yelled, “I will represent Equestria, I can still make fashion once I marry him can't I?”
“Rarity you wouldn’t survive a day in there. I'll marry him” Applejack insisted.
“And what’s that supposed to mean?!” Rarity's temper rose.
“Oh, please. You know exactly what ahm talking about!” Applejack yelled,
“Okay, I’ll do it. I can’t see you girls fight like this… It’s no fun!” Pinkie's big, blue eyes looked over the arguing pair of ponies.
“No! You’ll forget what fun is like if you go in there!"
“Girls,” Fluttershy whispered, but nopony heard her, “Girls… um, girls.”
“GIRLS! I’LL DO IT!” Fluttershy screamed, “All I do take care of animals and I have no love life. You all have important things to do, but I don’t!”
“Fluttershy, if I can't survive a day there,” Rarity said with a glare at Applejack, “Then you certainly can’t.”
The bickering between the mares was giving Rainbow Dash a raging headache. She felt like she was going to lose her mind at this rate.
Celestia's eyes darted back and first between the mares, her thick resolve cracking and letting some nervousness seep through. Luna looked about ready to rip her ears clean off her head. Shining Armour looked like he was going to teleport out of the room after the next shout. His horn was already lit with a lavender aura.
“THAT’S IT! I WILL MARRY KING SOMBRA! I WILL BE HIS BRIDE!” Rainbow Dash finally shouted, Shining Armour disappearing in a flash a send after she finished the last sentence.
“Well, that was rude. Sometimes I can't believe that I fell for him." Cadence glared at the spot he stood two seconds ago which was shortly before seeing the six mare's shocked expressions. "I love him! I really do. It's just... that was really cold. Don't tell him that."
They nodded in agreement and continued ranting about who should be the tyrant's bride.  
“Rainbow, you have just achieved your lifelong dream! You can't do it!"
“Yeah! You can’t go to mean old Sombra!” Pinkie said trying to convince her to stay.
“SOARINDASH MUST BE!” Rarity cried, her eyes dilating.
“Girls, it is my job to protect the princesses and Equestria. That’s the commitment for being a Wonderbolt. None of you deserve this! I’ll be the bride.” Rainbow Dash said, a sigh escaping her lips.
“Are you sure about this Rainbow? If you do this, there is no going back. Even if your heart is set for another stallion." Celestia warned. Rainbow Dash trotted forward, delivering herself a few more feet away from her friends.  
“I am the element of loyalty, am I not?”
> The Commitment
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow walked onto the train with the four alicorns, one unicorn, one Pegasus, and two earth ponies. Rainbow Dash looked down the whole train ride. “You okay?” Fluttershy asked,

“Not really” Rainbow sighed,

“Well, maybe I could help … if you want me too … not pushing you or anything,” Fluttershy whimpered,

“I just didn’t think my life would come to this,” Rainbow said, “I’m never going to see you guys again, unless Sombra allows visits, I’m guessing not though.”

“You don’t have to do this Rainbow, you don’t have to go,” Twilight said,

“No, I have to do this, I want to protect Equestria, it is my duty,” Rainbow said. A tear went down her face, “I just don’t want anypony get hurt or anything.”

“Rainbow Dash, please don’t cry” Luna pleaded as she put her wing around Rainbow Dash, puller Rainbow to her for a hug, “We’ll figure something out, once we find a way to get you back you’ll never have to see that monster again”

“Thank you, Luna,” Rainbow said hugging her back.

The train made a fast stop, which made the girls on the train fall over. “We have now entered the Crystal Empire,” the conductor announced. Everypony got off the train, “Last chance, are you sure you are up for this?” Celestia asked Rainbow thought for a moment, do I really want to do this, am I up for this? Rainbow Dash nodded and the ponies continued to the palace. They approached on what used to be a bright blue beautiful palace, which now turned into a dark deadly evil fortress. Rainbow took a gulp and though, okay maybe I am a little scared, but I must do this, I have to do this for the Crystal Empire.

“Ah, Celestia it’s been awhile. Luna, my pretty have come to marry me? Or are you here to play video games?” A deep scary voice asked,

“First off in your dream’s Sombra, and second off … um we’ll play video games later” Luna answered,

“Lulu will not marry you, you snake!” Celestia yelled, “Now show yourself you coward!”

“First a snake, now a coward, what am I next a bunny?” King Sombra laughed,

“A bunny would be nice” Fluttershy started, “you could be grey, or brown, or white, maybe even a brown, grey, and white bunny, oh you’d so cute! I would love to snuggle you and hug you!” everyone stared at her, “or maybe not.”

“That joy kills me,” King Sombra moaned,

“That’s girls! We found King Sombra’s weakness!” Pinkie cheered, “Well you mean old Sombrie, take this, joy! Joy, joy, joy, joy bunnies, joy, don’t forget the joy! Happiness sunshine, joy, joy, joy, JOY!”

“Cough, cough I’m dying” King Sombra moaned,

“YES! We did it! Now Dashie doesn’t have to marry him!” Pinkie cheered,

“Rainbow Dash?” King Sombra asked, suddenly a black smoke surrounded the ponies. The Wind gushed from every direction, and the sky turned darker. The chained crystal ponies around them ran in fear. Out of nowhere a big blast of dark magic blasted right in front of Rainbow Dash. “I didn’t know I was getting a Pegasus, Miss Dash” King Sombra said, suddenly out of the dark magic came a black unicorn with red accents. Celestia teleported right in between them. “Touch her and your dead!” she yelled, “Oh but my dear” Sombra started while pushing her out of the way and walking around Rainbow Dash, “How can I possibly marry her if I can’t kiss her?”

“So Miss Dash, are you mine?” King Sombra asked,

Rainbow looked at her hoof, then at her friends. Was she really going to do this? Was she really going to give up her life? There was a long pause, “Let me think about it” Rainbow cried. She dashed away from the ponies and Sombra. “Tick tock Cadence,” Sombra said as he teleported away. “Do you think she’s going to marry him?” Applejack asked, “I don’t know” Twilight sighed, “She’s going through something rough, we can't push her,” Cadence said.

“Poor Dash, this must be so hard for her” Rarity mumbled,

“We have to help her!” Twilight said, “Split up girls, we need to find Rainbow! She needs out help!”

The ponies ran and flew through the streets and skies of the Crystal Empire. Applejack jumped on the rooftops searching through the ally ways. Fluttershy searched the skies and in the clouds. Pinkie pie looked through the streets where the sad and scared crystal ponies roamed. Rarity looked through the old fashion stores in the empire, she didn’t really look for Rainbow she mainly looked for dresses that might still be in there she could buy, but … she helped? Twilight looked all over the place to find her, she didn’t want her friend to be in pain.

Fluttershy flew straight to Twilight. “Twilight … um if you don’t mind I think I might have found Rainbow” Fluttershy said, but Twilight didn’t hear her, “This is bad this is very, very bad!” Twilight panicked, “Twilight,” Fluttershy said, “We’ll never find Rainbow again, goodbye friend and element of loyalty” Twilight shouted, “TWILIGHT!” Fluttershy screamed, “Oh hi Flutters what’s up?” Twilight asked. Suddenly discord appeared, “Hello Twilight isn’t just a scream to see you?” Discord cheered, “Hi Discord,” Twilight said in a very disappointed voice, “Well that was a ‘nice’ voice to say to a friend who has found Rainbow Dash” Discord pouted.

“Wait you found Rainbow?” Twilight asked eagerly,

“Yes, you know I can teleport to anyone right? Geez what kind of draconequus would I be?” Discord laughed,

“Well, where is she?” Twilight asked,

“Oh right,” Discord said, “She is in a dark ally, but I’m not telling you which one!” suddenly Discord disappeared into thin air. “Oh, that guy with his games!” Fluttershy laughed, she looked over at Twilight to see an are you kidding me right now looked smacked right in the middle of her face.

After Twilight told everypony about what Discord told her Luna was tired of the king not doing anything about it. She teleported inside the dark fortress and ran straight up to a pitch-black throne which Sombra sat upon. “Okay ‘your highness’ you want a bride? You’ll get a bride if you help us look!” Luna shouted, “She said she has to think about it, she will come Lulu. Also what if she thinks no? It’s a waste of my time” Sombra said while reading a book.

“First off nopony calls me ‘Lulu’ besides Tia! And second off, I know Dash; she wants to do it, yet she doesn’t. I sort of relate to her with the whole Nightmare Moon thing; I wanted to take over the day with my night, but at the same time I didn’t” Luna explained, “Just help or you’ll regret it!”

“Fine I’ll ‘help’!” Sombra yelled. He puts his book down on top of a crystal pony slave who was chained to the throne. Luna levitated the book off of the crystal pony and onto the ground. Sombra scolded Luna and levitated it onto the pony again; right after Luna levitated it off of the pony. Suddenly it was levitation war between them. In the end, Sombra felt as if he didn’t have time for this so he let Luna win, which Luna did enjoy the winning part. Luna loved to win.

Luna and Sombra walked out of the castle together. When they got outside dozens of crystal ponies fled in fear or was petrified that he was so close to them. “Discord said that she was in a dark ally, let's look through all of them okay?” Luna asked turning to Sombra waiting for his response, Sombra nodded then leapt to a rooftop. Luna stood there in shock that he could jump that high. “Am I going to find her alone, or are you going to help?” Sombra asked, Luna stood there for a minute then shook her head a couple time to focus herself again. She bolted into the air while Sombra ran across the rooftops.

The houses and shops were made a crystal and were washed every week, which made running on them tricky, but Sombra managed to run on them without slipping once. He jumped over chimneys and leaped from roof to roof. Suddenly he heard hard cries from below him. He checked the dark ally he was above and saw a blue Pegasus crying in a cardboard box.

“What is this?” Sombra asked himself, “She’s not crying because I took over the empire, she’s not crying from a sad song, she’s not crying because she’s ugly … WHY THE HECK IS SHE CRYING?”

Sombra sat down and watched the blue Pegasus for more information on this topic he knew nothing about. Rainbow put her hooves to her face whipping away the tears that were dripping down her face. Sombra tilted his head to show that he was confused still, but then he realized that he was the only guy there so he felt a little stupid doing that. Suddenly a little filly came out from behind the box. She was a cyan blue color with a straight hot pink mane. She had a collar on with half of a broken chain hanging from the front of the collar. She looked like she hadn't eaten in days and there were buses and blood spots all over her body as if she has be whipped a couple times.

“Excuse me Miss, but why are you crying” the filly asked. Rainbow looked up from her hooves and saw the filly. Sombra leaned in closer to hear well. “Who are you?” Rainbow Dash asked, “My name is Coral Blast” Coral Blast answered in a quiet voice.

“Chloroplast?” Rainbow asked,

“No Coral Blast, Cor-al Bla-st,” Coral said,

“Oh, Floral Last!” Rainbow cheered,

“Nevermind” Coral Blast mumbled, “So why are you crying?”

“Oh you see,” Rainbow started as she pulled Coral closer to her, “You see Floral, I am a Wonderbolt and due to being a Wonderbolt I have to protect Equestria and the princesses but to protect them I have to marry King Sombra. I’m in love with someone else though. I want to help the Crystal Empire, but at the same time, I don’t.”

“Luna was right,” Sombra told himself,

“Well, I don’t think you should marry that jerk,” Coral said,

“JERK!” Sombra yelled, luckily Rainbow didn’t notice him,

“Really? But you will be enslaved!” Rainbow shouted,

“It doesn’t matter. I know the princesses will figure something out; hopefully, you shouldn’t have to marry a stallion you dislike. No matter how hard anypony or anything hurts me, knowing that you are not with the stallion you love will hurt me even more” Coral said,

“Really?” Rainbow asked. Coral nodded then leaned in for a wing hug then asked, “Why are we in a rundown cardboard box Dash?” “To feel like trash” cried Rainbow.

“Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie yelled, “Girls I found her!”

All of Rainbow Dash’s friends came running to her. “I’m sorry we pushed you hon, we didn’t mean to!” AJ yelled then gave her a hug. Rainbow got out of the cardboard box and helped Coral asked, “Don’t worry Rainbow, we’ll never make you marry that monster” Twilight cheered.

“MONSTER!” Sombra yelled, and yet nopony noticed him,

“Thanks, girls, but” Rainbow paused, “but what Chloroplast said to me.”

“CORAL BLAST HOW HARD IS THIS DASH?” Coral yelled,

“Sorry,”, Rainbow said, “Floral is being tortured!”

“JUST FORGET IT!” Coral yelled,

“It may hurt you to see me with a stallion that I don’t love,” Rainbow said to Coral, “but it will hurt me more to see you hurt Moral,”

Coral slapped her face in disbelief, “So are you saying what I think you're saying?” Rarity asked, “Yes, I’ll marry Sombra” Rainbow sighed, “This time for sure.”

She’s going to marry me, Sombra thought, but I’m a monster, I can’t believe what she’ll do for Equestria.

> Across the Ice
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Well, Cadence I may be evil, but I am a colt of my word the empire is yours” Sombra groaned as if he was disappointed, “Come Rainbow we shall go to my palace.”

“Wait! What about the crystal heart?” Cadence asked,

“What? Did you think I took it? I don’t know where it is.” Sombra said,

“Now that I am thinking about it, maybe we shouldn’t have left the item that protects the whole entire empire in plain site with no guard,” Cadence thought out loud,

“We’ll miss you Rainbow” Twilight cried,

“Are you crying Twilight?” Rainbow asked,

“N-No!” Twilight said whipping away her tears, “Your c-crazy!”

“Keep telling yourself that” Rainbow laughed, they both hugged and then Rainbow looked at Fluttershy,

“Flutters take care of Tank will yah?” Rainbow Dash asked,

“Of course!” Flutters cheered, she tried to hold her tears but they all fell out, “I’m going to miss you so much!”

She grabbed Dash by the waist pulling her into a hug. She started to ball with tears.

“Um … okay Flutters I think that’s enough” Rainbow said trying to be polite with the situation,

“Sorry Dash! I-I-I love, love, love you sooo much!” she cried, “DON’T LEAVE PLEASE!”

“Don’t worry, you have Discord!” Dash said, “Flutters I have to go.”

“O-okay” Fluttershy cried, she stopped hugging Rainbow and cried some more.


Rainbow Dash turned to Rarity who’s was balling with tears and her mascara was running down her face. Rainbow has never seen her cry this much before, she would think that she would cry more at her first runway, but those tears would be tears of joy, so this would be different.

“Rarity, I’m going to miss you so much,” Rainbow said,

“Don’t get me started, or else my makeup will run!” Rarity cried. Like her makeup, hasn’t been running down this whole entire time Rainbow thought. Rarity whipped her tears away with a hanky she brought.

“Is my m-makeup r-running?” Rarity asked,

“N-no y-your good” Twilight lied,

Rainbow walked over to Pinkie Pie who couldn’t stop crying. “Pinkie keep up good pranks for me okay?” Rainbow Dash asked,

“They’ll never be as good as the ones you and I made together, but they’ll be good!” she cheered,

“That’s my Pinkie” Rainbow laughed,

“Maybe I’ll somehow prank you at Sombra’s castle, that would be gold!” Pinkie Pie cheered,

“Yeah, you do that,” Sombra moaned.

Rainbow looked at the little filly whom she always got her name wrong, Coral Blast. “Morsel Cast” Rainbow Started,

“Coral Blast”

“… gazuntite,” Rainbow said, “Don’t worry I’ll be alright Portal.”

Rainbow Dash finally came to Applejack. She hid her face with her cowpony hat trying to make Rainbow not to see her tears.

“Applejack don’t cry!” Rainbow pleaded,

“O-okay,” Applejack cried, “I’ll try.”

“It will be okay Applejack,” Rainbow said as she pulled AJ in to hug her, “just think about it now, you’ll be the strongest and most daring pony in Ponyville!”

Applejack came close to Rainbow and whispered in her ear, “I never wanted to compete against you because” she paused, “you were always the best.”

Rainbow Dash stood there with a look on her face that saddened her more than anything. A tear went down her face. For a minute, the world paused and Rainbow remembered all of the things that she had done with her friends in the past years. She remembered the first time she saw Twilight, and the first prank she had with Pinkie. She remembered the competitions she had with AJ, and all of the songs that she had to sing with her friends, but most of all she remembered her second sonic rainboom she did. She remembered how she saved Rarity, and how dazzled her friends were.

“Well, I am getting impatient, let's go Rainbow!” Sombra moaned. He pulled Rainbow’s wings with his magic, “Buh-bye!” he moaned,

“See you guys!” Rainbow said with her wings being pulled by Sombra who was viciously walking away.

Rainbow Dash and Sombra walked out of the Crystal Empire together. Before they left Luna ran up to Rainbow Dash. “Dash, Dash!” she yelled trying to get her attention. Dash turned around to see the blue alicorn run towards them. “Luna?” Sombra asked, “Dash wait!” she yelled. Rainbow Dash walked up to her to see what she had to say.

“Dash, I just wanted to say,” she started, “that once we fin a way to get you out of there we will.”

“Thanks, Luna!” Dash said. She gave Luna a hug then left with Sombra. The traveled around a mile to get out of the Crystal Empire until they reached a dark frozen tundra. Rainbow stopped and watched Sombra walk a couple steps into the tundra. “Were going through there?” Rainbow asked nervously, “Where else would my castle be?” he asked. Rainbow dash looked at the snow that was in front of her. She lifted her hoof and stepped on the snow. The snow was colder than anything Rainbow had ever felt, and she quickly pulled her hoof away from the snow.

“Come on slowpoke!” Sombra called to Dash,

“One minute!” Dash called back. She lifted herself off the ground by flapping her wings. She soon followed Sombra into the tundra and was ready to face the cold. “Don’t fly Rainbow Dash, your wings will freeze and we will have to thaw them out, and I really don’t want to do that” Sombra moaned, “I can do whatever I like, you might be my new husband, but you will never control me” Dash said. They continued through the cold tundra. The wind blew through Rainbow’s wings, which slowed her down and made her cold. She shivered all throughout her body, and her chattering teeth annoyed Sombra very much.

It grew colder and colder and Rainbow’s wings could barely flap. Dash’s wings flapped slower, and slower until her wings froze solid. Rainbow Dash fell to the ground. “Come on Rainbow! I told you not fly! You should listen to me next time.” Sombra groaned, but Rainbow Dash didn’t answer. She laid on the cold hard snow motionless. “Rainbow this isn’t funny, now come on we have to keep going!” Sombra yelled, “Rainbow?”

He walked closer to her. Her motionless body was cold, and she started to freeze up. He flipped her over with his magic to see frozen Rainbow Dash with a bloody head. He looked at the ground Rainbow Dash fell onto to see a decently big frozen shard sticking out of the ground. “R-Rainbow,” Sombra said looking at her body. This isn’t happening, he thought, I didn’t really like her in a relationship b-but.

Suddenly Sombra had a flashback of him before he turned evil. He and an old friend of his were skating on a frozen lake. It was a cold day, but warm enough to go outside. The frozen lake was hard, and it couldn’t melt for days. Sombra had a red scarf on and had a close eye on his old crystal pony friend. She was a purple pony with a blue curly mane. She wore a light green scarf and a light green hat, and her cutie mark was three-crystal leaves. “Sombra wait up!” the pony called, she tried her best to stay up on her skates, but she constantly fell down. Sombra skated over to her, “Need help?” Sombra asked as he pulled her up, “How come your so good at this?” She asked.

“I used to come to this lake when I was little, it was always really fun for me. I am happy I can share this with you.” Sombra said in a cheery mood. The two of them skated across the lake and did fancy tricks on the ice. The pony saw some beautiful crystal shards on an oak tree. They didn’t seem too sharp, and they were quite lovely. They could easily be made into gems. “Hey Sombra, can you get those crystal shards for me, I think I can make them into jewelry” the pony called, “Of course!” Sombra cheered. He used his magic to pick up the shards from the tree. The shards easily slipped out from the tree and they were light. They sparkled from an angle of the sun.

“Want to see something … magical?” Sombra asked the pony nodded and watched the shard carefully. The shards started to spin around the pony and made cool movements. The pony watched in awe as she saw the crystals move in no movement she had ever seen. “May I?” Sombra asked as he lifted his hoof out to the pony. The pony took his hoof and they both glided across the ice. Sombra lets go of the pony and the pony started to do spins on the ice and graceful dance moves. Sombra glided backwards on the ice and saw the pony do tricks. The ice shards spun around her gracefully. Suddenly Sombra slipped and fell on the ice. He got dizzy and everything was blurry. “Sombra!” the pony called. Suddenly everything went black, and all, he could hear, was a scream.

Sombra snapped out of his flashback and saw the bleeding pony lying on the ground. He froze for a minute not knowing what to do. He used his magic to pick up Rainbow and put her on his back. He made sure she was secure on his back then dashed into the snow. He dodged giant snow piles and he wasn’t going to let anything stop him from helping this pony. Suddenly a big dark cavern arose from the ground and Sombra jumped into the darkness.



When Rainbow woke up she saw herself in a dark room. The walls were black with colored crystals on the floor and walls. She was lying in a black and red canopy bed and everything was a little blurry. She put her hoof on her head and felt bandages on her head. They were wrapped around her head and her waist. Her wings felt stiff and she could barely move her legs. She hopped out of her bed and walked around the room. For her the world was still spinning around and when she walked around the room she fell over a couple times.

When Rainbow finally got her balance she walked out of the room to see a dark hallway with many, many doors. What kind of pony needs this many rooms, Rainbow thought. She walked through the hallway and opened a random door. The room held a silhouette of a huge beast that was chained. She heard a growl from the room and quickly shut the door. “Note to self: don’t open that door again!” Rainbow said.

Rainbow continued through the hallway and saw the dining room where Sombra was in. another pony was with him, but Rainbow didn’t know whom. “I’m sure she is fine” the pony said, “I just don’t want anypony to get hurt” Sombra sighed. He cares about me, he cares about other ponies wow I didn’t expect that from him, Rainbow thought.

> Living a nightmare ... or not?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow hid behind a wall and peeked over to see what was going on she soon met eye to eye with King Sombra. The purple aura around his eyes grew bigger until all Rainbow could see was a red face. The face had sharp red teeth and eyes deadlier then the tyrant she is living with. The face stood there for a while motionless. Rainbow was petrified; she hadn’t seen anything like it before. The face started to come towards Rainbow slowly as if it was taking its sweet time. Rainbow took a step back. She didn’t want to get close to this face even if it was attached to Pinkies body. Rainbow took another step back and hit a wall hard. She looked back at the wall; she thought this hallway grew for miles, but she was at the end of it. Rainbow didn’t dare to look back at the face that will be the end of her. She closed her eyes, turned and looked at the red monster. She opened her eyelid one by one. She saw that the red face was right in front of her.

Rainbow curled up on the wall and didn’t dare to move again. She tried to flap her wings, but nothing happened. Why weren’t her wings working? She didn’t want look away from the monster; that’s when it will strike, but she did want to know what was happening to her wings. The next thing she knew she didn’t have a choice. The monsters grin grew big. His eyes narrowed down to deadly glare, and he charged into Rainbow’s body. She could feel the monster inside of her. The face squeezed her lungs. Rainbow suddenly couldn’t breath. She held her throat with her hooves and fell to the floor. Not only with the face killing her but hitting the floor hurts. The face soon released Rainbow’s lungs and moved on to a different organ. Rainbow stayed on the floor taking heavy breaths. Her eyes weakly looked over at her side where one wing was, but it was gone. It vanished, but just how?

The monster started pounce on Rainbow’s brain. Rainbow’s hooves immediately went to her head. All Rainbow could feel was pain. She closed her eyes tightly while screaming. This was ending up to be a pretty bad Tuesday. Rainbow was facing the worst migraine in the history of migraines. On top of the pain, Rainbow started to forget most of the little things in life. Great. Memory loss. “I wish Twilight Markle, Verity, Clutzershy, Peeker Pry, and that cereal girl, um … her name is … Captain Crunch maybe? Was here!” Rainbow Dash screamed at the top of her lungs. The monster left Rainbow’s brain, and she finally got a chance to relax. She laid on the floor motionless. She still took heavy breaths, but she soon started to breath better again. A thought raced through her mind, where will the face strike next.

Rainbow looked at the floor for a while. Nothing happened. She was back to normal as if the monster had never been there. In fact better. She felt better than she usually does. She took a step up. The blue Pegasus looked back and saw that her wings had returned. She was still next to the wall, but besides that everything was good. Just fine. Suddenly her chest started to grow pain. She felt like her chest was experiencing heartburn, a stroke, and a heart attack all at the same time. Rainbow fell to the floor again. This time she was lying on her back. Rainbow saw the ceiling. She had never noticed that there were little crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The pain started to die down, along with her. Her eyes slowly shut themselves. Rainbow started to feel drowsy and almost lifeless. Her mind suddenly turned off, and Rainbow was out like a light.



When Rainbow woke up she found herself in a container tube thing. She looked around, but she couldn’t see much. Her vision was blurry and her head started to hurt. She started to gain vision and saw a shadowy figure across from her. She couldn’t see his face, but the figure was no pony. More of a monster. Her eyes met a pair of two blue Pegasus wing in a glass box in a corner. A tear ran down her face. She didn’t dare to look back at where her wings were, but she couldn’t resist. Rainbow’s head darted to where her wings were to see bandages. More tears ran down Rainbow’s face as she looked back at the monster. Rainbow started to gain a rage. Her eyes turned white and powerful and her main started to rise as if there was no gravity.

Rainbow Dash’s hooves started to feel like they were no longer on the ground. Rainbow looked down to see that she was hovering off the ground. Lightning started to come out of Rainbow’s eyes. Rainbow hadn’t felt so powerful in her life. She charged at the glass tube but fell back. A decently large crack started to appear on the part of the tube Rainbow rammed into. The shadowy monster took a step back. It soon raised a hoof and another shadowy figure appeared next to him. This figure looked like a pony; it didn’t look like a monster at all. The shadow pony ran over to a control panel and looked at the monster. Rainbow rammed into the tube again and the crack grew bigger. Rainbow Dash was one crash from breaking the glass. She was ready to run into it again until she saw the monsters face. The face looked exactly like the face that was tormenting her in the castle.

Rainbow dash stopped. She soon returned to normal, and instead of white eyes Rainbow’s eyes grew small and were filled with fear. Her legs wobbled and shook rapidly. Just what was he going to do to her, hadn’t she been through enough. The pony suddenly pulled a lever and a shock came to Rainbow. Rainbow Dash was shocked by lighting more powerful than any lightning she had been shocked with. Suddenly Rainbow looked down on the ground to see bits of color falling into a drain. The monster was draining her color and worst of all her life. Rainbow felt weaker. She felt paralyzed. She couldn’t move, and she couldn’t think what was going to happen next. 

Rainbow’s heartbeats grew faster than lightning. She looked almost dead. Rainbow Dash gave a long scream and fell to the floor. She tried her best to get up, but she couldn’t. She felt as if there was something pulling her down, but what? She looked at the monster that was leaving the room. Rainbow was officially colorless. The pony stopped the machine and watched Rainbow’s color go down a tube. The pony also left the room, leaving Rainbow to die. The Pegasus couldn’t die; she knew she had to live. She raised a hoof and slowly raised herself up. Her weak colorless body shivered. She couldn’t give up though.

Rainbow Dash soon started to wobble around. Her vision started to spin around and hear head still pounded. She couldn’t think about that now. She had to get out of the prison she was trapped in. She slowly went to a part of the tube that was crack. Rainbow lifted her hoof and smashed the glass into pieces. She was free and was ready to go home. She wanted to go to her friends badly, she didn’t want to be stuck in the tyrant’s home any longer. Rainbow Dash leaped out of the tube and was ready to land on the ground, but then something happened. The ground disappeared, and Rainbow was plunging into a dark hole.

The Pegasus closed her eyes. This couldn’t be possible, this just couldn’t be. One by one Rainbow’s eyes opened and saw her friends falling with her. She would have thought that they would be screaming, but they weren’t. They were laughing. Rainbow couldn’t believe her eyes. She was a little confused. What were they laughing about? Suddenly Twilight started to say something, but Rainbow couldn’t understand it, she was speaking in some sort of language the blue Pegasus was unfamiliar with. “Shovivi umpa loliben pente maniscue juenven Rainbow nume nume!” Twilight laughed while pointed at Rainbow Dash. The other four ponies laughed along with Twilight. Rainbow now knew that they were laughing at her.

“Ookie ookie rabummta!” Pinkie cheered,

“Laven mengu popoptas ookie pente” Applejack laughed, 

“Shovente umpa beneto refucta” Rarity smirked,

“Keshi!” Fluttershy whispered,

“Girls what are you saying? I can’t understand what you are saying.” Rainbow cried. Tears filled her eyes as she watched all of her friends make fun of her. She put her hooves to her eyes and started to sob. Salty tears ran down Rainbow’s face and landed on her toung. 

Suddenly she heard a huge scream from her friends as they chanted, “Ookie ookie Rainbow mengu!”

For a minute, she saw her friends insulting her in a language Rainbow was unfamiliar with, but the next she was in a white space. Rainbow Dash whipped away her tears and looked around. She heard hoof steps coming towards her, but she didn’t see anypony around her. All that was there was her. Rainbow realized that she was no longer falling. She walked around the white space. Her natural color had returned to her, and her wings were where they were. Rainbow was just so confused. She had no clue on what was going on. This had to be some sort of a nightmare right? She sat down and thought about it for a minute. Her stomach growled. Rainbow wished that she had some apple cider right about now. In a split second a table with a bottle of apple cider on it appeared.

Rainbow now felt she was going crazy. The cider smelled good from where Rainbow was and smelled better as she got closer to it. The blue Pegasus didn’t dare to take a sip of it, she thought it might be some sort of poison or something like that. Then again with all of the things that had happened to her in this day poison wasn’t going to kill her. The pony took the bottle and tried to pour it down her throat, but nothing came out. It was official today was the worst Tuesday in the history of Tuesdays. Rainbow Dash threw the bottle on the ground and it broke into a million pieces. She sat on the ground with her arms crossed. All she wanted was to go home.

The hoof steps garrulously grew louder. Rainbow hopped to her hooves. She looked around the white space. “Who’s there? Show yourself or I’ll … I’ll” Rainbow looked at the ground and saw a small shard of the apple cider bottle. She picked it up almost cutting herself, “or I’ll attack with this … um … sword, yeah it’s a sword for sure! You don’t want any of this!”

Rainbow started to pick up more shard's claiming they were swords even though they weren’t. “I got like ten of them now, I’ll let you pick which one” Rainbow yelled sounding stronger than she really was. The truth was she wanted to run screaming and crying in a corner. She swung the small glass shard around trying to look like should actually hurt somepony. In a split second, there was a flash and Rainbow found herself on the ground of King Sombra’s castle. She looked around to see that nothing happened. It was just a dream. Rainbow had a purple aura flow around her eyes, but it started to disappear. King Sombra walked right by Rainbow.

“Let this be a lesson to you. Next time don't eavesdrop on me.”