"Scootaloo!" Fluttershy sits up in her bed, her heart racing. "Dash? Dash?!"

"I'm right here, are you ok?" Rainbow dash asks, looking at Fluttershy who is in the same bed, rubbing her eyes.

"I-I don't know. I had a dream. It was dark, in a factory of some sort. There were suits and fillies and-"

"Rainbows?"

"Y-yea. How did you-"

"Iv had that dream before. It's just a dream, like you said to me, don't let it get to you." Rainbow Dash says, calming Fluttershy.

"O-ok. Well, what are we doing with Scootaloo?" Futtershy asks.

"We need to get her back, but I don't know where to start. I guess going back to the Crystal empire, but from there I don't know. I don't think we should let the others know where we're going."

"Why not? Shouldn't we have help getting her back?"

"Yea, but I mean, we would have to have them keep up and, I don't know." Rainbow Dash says, feeling defeated.

"If you really want just us to get her back, then fine. I can tell that you have your reasons." Fluttershy says. Rainbow Dash smiles.

"Ok, thanks Flutters." And the two head out.  "Can we take the train? After the past few days, I'm in no mood to fly." Rainbow Dash asks.

"Sure." They start waking toward the station. "So Dashie, how are you?"

"Fine. Kinda tired, but fine. How are you after the other day?"

"Tired as well, and still getting back into the swing of things. Iv been getting nightmares a lot more lately." Raiow Dash didn't know what to say, she remembered how she always had nightmares, and how well Fluttershy was able to help her with them. If the issue comes up again, she will do her best to help her. Otherwise, she will leave it. They get to the train. The station is empty, other than a forest green pony walks up to them.

"Hello, my name is Conner O'Drake. I will be your conductor today. Please, after you." He was wearing a red bandana and walked to the front of the train. "Here we go!" He yelled back to them. The train starts moving.

"Why is the station empty?" Fluttershy asks Rainbow Dash. They they are in the back, so the conductor can't hear them. They are now in the snow, and a horrible blizzard is happening.

"I don't know, but I don't like this Connor, he seems sketchy."Rainbow Dash says.

"Well, I'm going to go to sleep. Good night Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy says. She walks up to Rainbow Dash, and kisses her. She goes to back up, but Rainbow Dash is holding her. They look into each others eyes. Fluttershy leans into the kiss some more, and they walk over to the bed. They lie down, Rainbow Dash laying on top of Fluttershy, still kissing. She stops, and looks at her. They nod, and kiss again.

"And on your left you will see me flying out of the window." The conductor says. Rainbow Dash breaks away, and looks out of the window. Connor O'Drake is flying backwards, then grows wings, and turns into a changeling. The snow causes him to disappear.

"No, nononono. Fluttershy, hold on!" The train flies to the left, off the rails. It does multiple barrel rolls and the snow lightens up. It lands on the side, and they are both passed out.

"Hey Twi, have you seen RD or Fluttershy lately? It's been a few days since I last saw either of them." Applejack asks.

"Now that you mention it, it's been five days seance the royal palace and the Luna issue. I wonder where they are. Have you tried cloudsdale?"

"Twi, I can't fly. You know a spell that we can use to walk on clouds though."

"Alright, lets do that." She does the spell that allows them to walk on clouds that she did for Rainbow Dash's best  youngest flyer contest. They take the air balloon up to cloudsdale, and walk into Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy's house.

"Rainbow Dash! Fluttershy! Scootaloo?!" Twilight yells. Applejack walks back down stairs. "Anything?"

"Nope. This house is emptier than an abandoned farm. The only thing I found was Tank, he's asleep."

"Well, lets go back to Ponyvill. If they don't show up by tommorow at midnight, we'll see if we can find out what happened." They head back down to Ponyvill, and resume their day.

"Ahh. What happened? Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash looks around. Fluttershy is passed out with a corner of the bed on her wings. "Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash slowly gets up, but only to a hunch. Her wings are bent out of shape, probably broken. She straightens out, and tries to extend her wings. *CRACK* "Ahh!" They extend halfway. She retracts them to her side. She walks over to Fluttershy, and pushes the bed off of her wings with her nose. They're clearly broken.

"W-what? Dashie? What happened?" Fluttershy asks, dazed and confused. She shivers because of the low temperature.

"We crashed. We've been out for a while, I'd imagine. It's been some time because the sun is down. We need shelter, and this train might be the best we have. Lets close it all up and we will go to sleep." Rainbow Dash closes all of the windows, and Fluttershy gets up. She notices her wings. She looks at Rainbow Dash, hers are broken too. She sighs, and closes the windows. Rainbow Dash just realizes that the train is upside down. She walks over to the bed, and and strips it of its sheets. Fluttershy walks over, and lies down. She puts the blanket on Fluttershy and goes under it as well. She snuggles up against Fluttershy for heat. They both go to sleep.

"Hello Fluttershy, back to go to work?" Pinkie asks.

"Oh yes." She takes a hammer out of a drawer. "So, who are we eh-hem today?"

"Scootaloo."

"W-what? Why her? She hasn't done anything."

"She knows too much. It's kind of my fault, but oh well. Easy come, easy go." She stabs the door with a knife she picked up off of the ground with her teeth. The door drips red, and opens. A dying Scootaloo falls from behind the door. Fluttershy's eyes fill with tears. "Such a shame, oh well. It wasn't as fun as I hoped, and definitely not as fun as Dashie."

"Ah!" Fluttershy sits up, breathing heavily. She looks around, and sees Rainbow Dash is gone. She begins to cry.

"Another bad dream?" Rainbow Dash asks, coming back from outside of the train cart. She is covered in icy snow.

"Y-yes." She says, slowly stoping to cry as she sees Rainbow Dash is fine.

"Once we get back to ponyvill, do you want to see that doctor?"

"Yea." She says.

"Ok. Well, I just checked the weather. We won't be able to see two inches in front of our noses. The blizzard is horrible. The best thing to do for now is to wait it out. We are both grounded anyway." She looks back at her wings, disappointed. She looks back at Fluttershy, who is thinking and lying down.

"Dashie, do you think Angle is happy?" Rainbow Dash is caught off guard with the question.

"Yea, of course. I mean, we couldn't have done anything Shy', he just got sick. You know what the vet said, it was sometching we had no chance of helping. And I'm sure he's happy, he loved you. He's probably watching us form up above anyway." Fluttershy smiles slightly from hearing this.

"Heh, I guess. I find it funny how everypony always told me that he was abusive towards me, he was just a bunny."

"Well, he kind of was Fluttershy. He threw things at you, demanded things from you, your just too, I don't know, nice, to see that. But he did love, that I know." A tear rolls down Flutttershy's cheek, she loved him too. Rainbow dash walks over to her, and lies down. She snuggles her nose into Fluttershy's mane,  and goes to sleep. Fluttershy smiles again, and goes to sleep as well.

"Morning Applejack." Twilight says, walking in the house.

"Mornin' Twi', how are ya?"

"Fine. Spike had a bad dream which kept me up, so I'm a little tired."

"Really? That's funny, because Applebloom had a bad dream too. And mine wasn't exactly, pleasant, either. And RD was having some a while back. This is getting a bit weird. Speaking of which, have you seen her?"

"Rainbow Dash? No. I think we should go looking for her. I'm worried now." Twilight says, thinking about the last time she saw her.

"I agree. But where do we start?" Applejack asks.

"I don't know. I was hoping you'd have an idea." Twilight confesses.

"Well this is just dandy. We already checked their house, why don't we go around asking other ponies?" Applejack suggests. They head into the middle of Ponyvill and go around asking others if they have seen Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash. "Scuse' me BonBon, but have you seen Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash?"

"Sorry AJ, I haven't seen hide or tail of them. Although I did see a yellow mare walk into the train station a long time ago. It might have been Fluttershy."

"Ok, thanks BonBon." And Applejack walks back to Twilight. "We should Check the train station, she said somepony went in there that looked like Fluttershy."

"Well, it's our only lead right now. Lets go."

Rainbow Dash opens her eyes, and only sees pink. She lifts her head up, Fluttershy is still sleeping. She slowly gets up, and checks out side. The blizzard let up a bit, but visibility is still low. They can't stay there longer, they have to get moving. There is no food, no heat sources other than each other, and nopony to hear them if they were to call out for help. Fluttershy slowly lifts her head, and looks at Rainbow Dash. "Morning Futters."

"M-Morning." She stutters, just waking up. "What are we going to do?"

"We have to leave this cart. There is nothing that we need to survive here. We should head into a direction where we think civilization is. My wings are not getting better, if not getting worse. How are yours?" Fluttershy slowly extends her wings. They go out fully, but when she lifts them in the air, it bends out of shape. She lets out a high pitched screech. "Ok, ok. So your in no better shape. We have to walk. There really isn't much of a choice at this point."

"Ok. So, when are we heading out?"

"When will you be ready?"

"Now. Lets go." Fluttershy gets up, and walks to the door. They walk outside, into the blizzard.

"I know there was a train that left about a week ago that never came back. It was heading to the crystal empire." The train station CEO says to Twilight and Applejack.

"Ok, thank you." They walk away. "Looks like we are walking."

"But there is a horrible blizzard right now, how are we going to walk down the railroad without freezing?"

"I know a spell that will encase us in a bubble that has heat. We'll be fine." She does the spell. A purple bubble appears around them. They walk out onto the railroad and follow it. "So, why do you think they left without leaving even a note?"

"I don't know. They have been to themselves a lot lately. It's odd, especially for Flutttershy."

"Well, lets hope we find them." Twilight looks back, the station is completely out of sight. No turning back now.

"What were we thinking?!" Rainbow Dash yells to Fluttershy, trying to be clear over the noise of the wind.

"We were going to have to do this eventually! Like you said, we would either die of starvation, or death from freezing! Your leader of the weather team, how long Is this storm supposed to last!?"

"Two weeks! We're about two days into it I'm guessing! Isn't that how long we've been gone from Ponyvill?! Either way, lets just keep going, there has to be civilization somewhere!"

"What's that?!" Fluttershy asks.

"It looks like a purple circle, it's coming this way, come on!" They turn, and run twords the purple light. They walk into it, eyes shut to keep the snow from getting them in the eyes. It goes silent. Rainbow Dash feels somepony shaking her.

"Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!" She opens her eyes, it goes bright white, then her vision focuses. She sees twilight above her. "Rainbow Dash!" Her hearing is terribly muffled, and she can barely hear her.

"Rainbow Dash, come on, it's ok, it's Applejack and Twilight." Rainbow Dash hears Fluttershy perfectly clear. She slowly stands up. Her ears begin to ring, then stop. She hears fine now.

"Rainbow, are you ok?" Applejack asks.

"Yea, I'm fine, thanks. How did you two find us?"

"Well, we noticed you two have been out of town for the past six days, so we decided to go asking others if they knew where you are." This catches Rainbow Dash off guard, she was way off from how long she thought they were gone. "We got lead to the train station, and we found the CEO of the place. He said there was a train that didn't return, so we followed it here, and I guess we were just in time." Twilight explains.

"Just one question, why didn't y'all leave a note, letter, or anything that let us know where your going?"

"We, I, decided to not write a note because we didn't want to make you guys worried." Rainbow Dash confesses. She looks at Fluttershy. "And, I didn't want to have to make sure you guys fall behind."

"Why would we be worried?" Twilight asks, ignoring the last part of that.

"It's Scootaloo, she's been taken. We're heading to the crystal empire, a note was left in Scootaloo's room. It said signed, the king. Do you have an idea of what, or who, that could be?" Rainbow Dash asks, a worried face on her.

"The king, the king, wait, the crystal empire? That can't be right, we defeated him, or did we?" Twilight says, thinking out loud. "If I'm right, which I hope I'm not, but if I am, that's King Sombra."

"Sombra? But didn't we defeat him?" Fluttershy asks.

"Yes, but that's the issue. He was turned to shadow originally, and though we got rid of him in his is usual form, it's not practical to defeat all shadows everywhere. It makes sense now. He will never be gone, he is the shadow that surrounds the Crystal Empire." Twilight explains.

"Ok, then how did a shadow capture a pony?" Rainbow Dash asks.

"He still has his magic. The unicorns who exiled him weren't the brightest it seems."

"So what you are telling me is that in order to get back Scootaloo, we need to beat a shadow? A magical shadow, nonetheless."

"Unfortunately, yes." This hangs in the air for about a minute. "But first, we need to find proper shelter, I can't keep this around us forever." They walk back to the train station, which was difficult to find with the snow. They walk in, and Twilight falls to the floor, exsaughsted. "Ugh, why am I so tired? I only held it for like thirty minutes."

"Because you and me have been up for the entire day." Applejack answers.

"Oh, that makes sense I guess." Twilight says, getting up. There is silence for ten minutes, everypony recuperating from the busy week.

"So, do we have any game plan to tackle Sombra?" Rainbow Dash asks. Twilight sits there, thinking.

"Well, the elements of harmony wouldn't do much, even though they do create light. Remember, he's a shadow. What else we could do is turn him back into his usual unicorn form, and then go against him. But I don't know how we would defeat a unicorn that was able to enslave an entire empire."

"It would be much easier to defeat a fellow live unicorn then a shadow, but what would we do? And for that matter, could we even do it?" Fluttershy asks.

"I'm sure we'd find a way. Like Twi' always says, there's nothing we can't accomplish together." Applejack says. It rises everypony's spirits.

"Well we have no time to waste girls, lets get to the Crystel Emire!"

"Rainbow and Fluttershy, you both can fly ahead and-" Twilight just notices their wings. "Oh. Um, mabey we should wait for another train."

The next train stops and picks up all of the passengers. "I don't want to go on another train, not after what happened last time." Fluttershy whispers to Rainbow Dash.

"I'm not exactly keen to the idea either, but we have to. Twilight would fly ahead, but she still doesn't know how to use her new wings. Lets just play along until another issue manifests itself." They all get on the train, and find an empty room.

"Alright y'all, I'm gonna hit the hay. Have a good night." Applejack says.

"Goodnight." The rest say in unison. Applejack walks into her room.

"I'm going to go to bed too, it's been a long day. Have a good night you two." Twilight says.

"You too." Rainbow Dahs and Fluttershy say together. She walks into her room. Considering that Rianbow Dash and Fluttershy are sharing a room, they don't need to go anywhere. There is about ten minutes of silence between the two Pegasuses.

"Do, do you think Scootaloo is ok?" Fluttershy asks. She looks at the clock, it's eleven P.M.

"I hope. We know how Sombra works, I'm just hoping she-" Rainbow Dash stops herself, realizing she is talking to Fluttershy. "She's fine, I'm sure she is. After all, she's like me, a trooper."

"Well, if she's anything like you, then we have no need to worry." Fluttershy flashes Rainbow Dash a smile. Rainbow Dash returns it. She walks over to her bed, and Fluttershy follows. Rainbow Dash lies on the bed, and Fluttershy lies on top of her. She blows out the candle.

"Morning Twi', how'd ya sleep?" Applejacks asks, yawning and trying to wake herself up fully.

"Morning Applejack. I slept fine, how about you?"

"Fine." Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy walk out of their room. Fluttershy yawns, and Rainbow Dash looks at Twilight and Applejack. "Morning you two, how was your night?" Applejack asks.

"It was great, no nightmares." Fluttershy says. She looks at Rainbow Dash, smiling.

"I slept fine, though I'm still a bit tired. How far are we from the Crystal Empire?" Rainbow Dash asks.

"About ten minutes out. Me and Applejack are going to get something to eat, do you two want to join us?"

"We'll find you two if we eat, otherwise we're fine." Fluttershy says, knowing that Rainbow Dash doesn't eat until noon usually.

"Ok, well, see you if you do." Applejack and Twilight walk into another cart, and begin to eat.

"How are you Dashie? You seem off today." Fluttershy says, worried.

"I'm, I'm just worried for Scootaloo. She means a lot to me, I just hope she's alright. What you said last night, I know it's true. And I'm confidant she's fine, but I'm still worried which I don't understand." Rainbow Dash explains. Fluttershy understands.

"Oh, I get it. It's motherly love." She says. Rainbow Dash is caught off guard.

"W-what? I don't, I'm not her, she's not, what?"

"Dashie, iv seen how you are around her, iv seen what your like when you see her, you think of her as if she is your own. You love her as if your her mother. And all mothers worry when their young are out of sight, even if their minds are telling them otherwise. I love her too, but you two have a connection. So you have the right to be this worried, and I don't blame you for it. Just know that we are now a family, you me and Scootaloo. And as a family, we need to look out for each other. So don't worry, I'm sure she is thinking about us, or even you, too." A tear rolls down Rainbow Dash's cheek. She smiles, and hugs Fluttershy.

"T-thank you." She stutters out, crying now.

"Your welcome. Now do you want to go and meet up with Applejack and Twilight?"

"O-ok." And they walk to the cart with the food. Twilight looks up and sees them. She rises her hoof. They walk over to them.

"I knew y'all couldn't keep away from the food." Applejack chuckles.

"Yea, we haven't had much to eat lately." Rainbow Dash says. Applejack pushes a plate of Apple Pie to them.

"We got this assuming y'all would meet us here. Dig in." The four friends eat the rest of the food, and the train stops. Twilight paid in advance, so they just walk out.

"Ok, lets find Scootaloo." Twilight says. They walk into the snow. Thankfully, the blizzard lifted overnight. They aimlessly walk in the tundra, hoping to find anything that points to finding Scootaloo.

"What's that?" Fluttershy asks, seeing an orange patch in the snow.

"Oh no please." Rainbow Dasha says. From force of habit, she extends her wings. But she can't, so she retracts them and runs full force at it. She digs at the ground. It's Scootaloo.

"No. No please. Please, Scootaloo, no. Please." Rainbow Dash cries heavily, holding the frozen Scootaloo. The others are standing behind her, slowly crying.

"I, I can't believe it." Applejack says. Twilight and Fluttershy remain silent. All they hear is the tears of Rinbow Dash.

"I, I am so sorry. I never meant for this to happen. I, I don't know how, or why this happened, but I promise, this will be corrected." Rainbow Dash say, looking at Scootaloo. Scootaloo opens her eyes.

"R-Rainb-" she begins coughing.

"Scootaloo!" Rainbow Dash hugs her, her hooves almost digging into Scootaloo's back. She then realizes they are running out of time. "Guys, lets get to the empire." They run at full force twords the city. "Hang on Scootaloo, you'll be ok." They get to the giant city, and find the hospital. "You better take care of her, or I'll make sure you have an early retirement." The nurse nervously takes Scootaloo, and walks into a room. Three hours later, the nurse walks back to meet the other four. Rainbow Dash looks at the door after pacing for the past three hours. "How is she?"

"She could be in worse condition, but she could also be in better. She was in the snow for at least three hours, and must have passed out during the blizzard. It's a mirical she is still alive. She will need another day of rest until she can start getting back into her regular routine. So don't worry, she will live."

"Thank you." Rainbow Dash goes up to her and hugs her.

"Ok. Um, your welcome... I'll uh, I'll be going. I'll let you know when you can come back and pick her up. I'll be here." And she walks away.

"Did you hear that? She'll be ok." Rainbow Dash says to the others. "And I am going to make sure Sombra pays for this." They walk back outside, and meet up where the Crystal Heart is. "Now, do we have any way of finding out where Sombra is?"

"He is shadow, and shadow is everywhere. I guess we could technically just turn a shadow into a unicorn in the tundra and go from there." Twilight says.

"Ok then, lets do it." Rainbow Dash says. They walk back out into the icy tundra, and find a shadow that is being casted by a glacier.

"Ok. Lets hope this works." Twilight says.

"Or not."  Fluttershy says nervously. Twilight's horn turns blue. Ponies can't just be created, so if the shadow is not Sombra, it won't work. But when a ray of blue light is fired at the shadow, and it rises out of the ground. It turns into a unicorn with green-red eyes, a red horn, and purple smoke around its eyes. It's King Sombra.

"Ahhh, my body. Thank you you idiots, do you know what you have just done?"  He asks.

"Yea, we are going to banish you forever!" Rainbow Dash says.

"Hahaha. You fools." His horn glows a bright red, and the ice rises out of the ground. "I may be a poor villain, but that doesn't mean I'm a poor husband. Right, Chrysie?"

"Right Sombie." Queen Chrysalis flies down from the sky. "And I'll make sure your not hurt." A good twenty Changelings follow her from the sky.

"How are, but we, I thought. " Twilight stutters, confused.

"Hahaha. You fools." She points her hoof, and the army of Changlings fly at the four ponies. Twilight's horn glows a red-orange light. The others are fighting the army of Changlings. Twilight closes her eyes, and opens them. They are pure White.

"Wait, what?" King Sombra says, stunned. "No, no this can't be, no!"

"RD! Protect Twilight!" Applejack yells.

"Got it! Fluttershy, are you still there?!"

"Y-yes!" She yells, trying her hardest to fight off the enemies.

"Chrysalis! Stop Twilight Sparkle!" The king yells. She flies at Twilight, but Rainbow Dash punches her out of her flight path. Twilight floats into the air. "No, nooooo!" The king jumps at Twilight, but Applejack jumps into him. Twilight's eyes fire off a blast of white light. It is nearly blinding.

"RD! Fluttershy! Hang on!" Applejack yells. She punches the air, and knocks back a changeling. It goes silent.

"A-Applejack? Twilight? Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy asks, just waking up from being passed out. She slowly gets up, but a hoof is broken. She extends her wings, and flies into the air. At least they're healed. She flies around, looking down. All three of her friends are passed out. King Sombra got stabbed by Queen Chrysalis's horn. Queen Chrysalis broke her neck when she landed. There are piles of dead Changelings. She floats back down and walks around. She nudges Rainbow Dash with her nose.

"W-what? What happened? Fluttershy? Fluttershy." She jumps up and hugs her. "Fluttershy, I though we were dead." She says crying. "Wait, what about the others?" She gets up, and taps Applejack. She is breathing, but is passed out. She flies over to Twilight, and taps her. "Fluttershy, she isn't breathing. We need to get them to the hospital. Now." Fluttershy picks up Applejack and puts her on her back. Rainbow Dash picks up Twilight and puts her on her back. The two fly to the hospital. "Hey, my wings. They're ok." She just notices.

"Yea, mine too." Fluttershy responds. They get to the hospital.

"Mom!" Scootaloo runs over and hugs Rainbow Dash. "I-I uh, I mean uh-"

"Scootaloo, it's fine. If its more comfortable for you to call me that, it's fine. And, I kind of prefer it." She lowers her voice to a whisper. She cries a few tears, then Fluttershy taps her.

"Come on, we don't have much time." They give the two passed out ponies to the nurses. They bring them in, and close the doors. "Well, I guess we don't have anything to do for a while. Lets find a hotel to sleep in, we'll come back tomorrow to check on them." They walk around, and finally find one. "One room please."

"Sure thing, right this way." The colt brings them to a room, and hands them a key. "Thank you."

"Thank you." Fluttershy walks in, and lets Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo into the room. "Ok, we'll stay here until tomorrow. Then we will check on Applejack and Twilight." Fluttershy explains.

"Sounds good to me." Rainbow Dash says. She yawns, and lies into the bed. Fluttershy also goes into it. " Do you think they will be alright?"

"I'm sure of it."

"Ok. well, in that case, goodnight Fluttershy." She says.

"Good night Dashie." Fluttershy kisses her, and turns around to go to sleep. Rainbow Dash turns around, but feels something push against her back.

"Goodnight mom. Goodnight Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash looks behind her. It's Scootaloo. She is inbetween Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. "Love you."

Rainbow Dash cries a single tear. "Goodnight Scootaloo, love you too." She kisses her on the cheek, which makes Scootaloo smile.

"Goodnight Scootaloo, love you too." Fluttershy also kisses her, and turns back around. Rainbow Dash pulls the blanket over her, and falls asleep. Next Chapter: Chapter 4: Nightmare Night and the Seventh Element Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 28 Minutes