Rainbow Dash awoke, stiff as a board. She sat up, hearing her back crack as she did so. Her eyes clenched shut, she rubbed her head, which pounded like a drum. Opening her eyes, her head came to one thought: This isn't my room.

Sure enough, it wasn't. The walls were made of hewn stone, small lines of white plaster running along in between them. The same material made up the ceiling and the walls. She wasn't laying on a bed; instead, she had awoken to find herself on a pile of hay. A toilet and a bucket sat against the corner, just under a narrow slit window. To her side, against the widest wall, sat a heavy wooden, iron-reinforced door, a small window on it as well. Both windows were covered with iron bars.

Now, Rainbow is by no means a smart pony. She is of average intelligence, and is still not the brightest bulb. However, she did understand where she was perfectly well. She was in a cell.

The hay is going-Ohhhhh, she thought, recalling what she remembered last. If she had to guess, she was in a cell below Canterlot Castle. Likely because somepony misunderstood what was going on. No big deal. I just got to tell 'um what happened, and I'm as good as free! I mean, I'm the Element of Loyalty, for bucks sake! They'll know she was only looking out for a friends best interest.

So, she waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, after what felt like hours, she gave up just staring at the door. She began to lie around in various places, just staring off into space. Eventually, that got boring. So, she began to count the bricks of the room. Finally, after intentionally losing track several times, she finally counted all of them. In total, there were 156, along with an additional five if you counted cracked bricks. After that, still no sign of the Princess, and she was still bored.

Next, she began to lay out the hay that made up the big pile into various shapes. She made a pyramid, then a circle, then a few knots, then she even tried to make a little pony. She failed miserably, and it ended up looking more like a snake with a few stick legs, before it finally collapsed in on itself. After this, still no Princess. And her boredom was getting worse.

Then, she took a few of her hay sticks still in decent condition, and went over to the bucket. It was full of water, and Rainbow plopped them inside. She then began to flail them around a little bit, smashing them into each other like she did with Wonderbolt Action figures as a foal. Only this time, instead of seeing who would win in a fight, Surprise or Wind Rider, she was now doing it to stave off boredom, and she was just hitting together two pieces of hay. Eventually, they just fell apart, and floated on the surface of the murky water. Still nothing, and her boredom was unbearable.

Finally, she had had enough. She wasn't really tired, but Celestia be bucked if that had stopped her before. She slumped back on the pile of hay, despite the fact it wasn't exactly her cloud bed, and clamped her eyes shut. In a few minutes, despite her lack of tiredness and the unknown amount of time she had spent unconscious before that, she drifted off to the realm of dreams.

"Let me in, turnkey. I wish to speak with her," said a voice, just out of view.

Another voice said, "Yes, your highness."

The door to the cell swung outward, the creaking of the rusty hinges fully rousing her. She sat up, rubbing her eyes and stretching. Looking up when done, she was greeted with the pony she had been waiting for: Princess Celestia. She was relieved; it was really uncomfortable in here, and it smelled like cement and for some reason cheese. "Finally. I'm getting out of here, right Princess?" Without even waiting for a response, she began to walk toward the door. Before she could reach it though, she was stopped in a magic aura. The Princess' to be specific.

"No, you are not free to go," she said. "I have some questions to ask. Now, sit." She, somewhat forcefully, placed Rainbow back down on the floor. Rainbow now got a look at her face; it showed that she wasn't in the best mood. In fact, she was angry.

"Ok," she said. "Ask away."

The Princess looked over at the wall, then tilted it down to look at the floor. When her eyes met Rainbow again, they were smoldering with rage. "Why did you attack my niece?"

Rainbow replied, a look of slight annoyance on her face, "Because she did something weird to Twilight. At Donut Joes, her eyes began to glow, and she fell down screaming. Princess Mi Amore was the last one to interact with her, so I thought she had done something to her."

The princess just looked at her. Was she smoking? "So that gave you the right to attack her?"

"Well, I probably should have thought that out better," she said, rubbing her hoof against the back of her head. "But well, I was panicked, and was worried about Twilight and wanted to-"

She was cut off as the Princess let out a massive scream. Rainbow scrambled back, only being stopped by the wall. The Princess' mane and tail burst into flames, her regalia turned to a molten metal, and her face changed. Her eyes became a dark burgundy with orange irises and black slit pupils, her teeth filed into fangs, and fire seemed to leak out of the edge of her mouth. She looked like a Celestia version on Nightmare moon.

She pressed her face right up to Dashes, her literally smoldering eyes sending shivers down her spine. She then began to yell, her voice twisting with rage and malice. "YOU TREACHAROUS FIEND! YOU HAVE THE GALL TO ASSULT MY NIECE, THEN LIE TO MY FACE! YOU'VE PUT HER IN A COMA, FOR FAUSTS SAKE! TWILIGHT IS FINE! THE ONLY REASON YOU AREN'T IN TARTARUS NOW IS THAT PRINCESS LUNA WANTS FOR YOU TO BE FAIRLY JUDGED, YOU LYING, SNIVILING, PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR THE ELEMENT OF LOYALTY!!!!"

With that, the fire died away, and the Princess returned to normal. She took a moment to compose herself, before once again looking at Rainbow. Her eyes, while no longer fiery or nightmarish, still smoldered with anger. "Your trial is in five days," she said. "I'll see you then." She stepped out the door with a swift walk, as if she wanted to put as much distance between the two of them as possible.

Stepping into the cell was a unicorn stallion wearing a set of guard armor, but wearing a hood as opposed to a helmet. He held a bowl in his aura, and set it down in front of her. "Dinner time," he said. Rainbow looked down at the bowl, and saw it was full of a carrot stew. With his task complete, he left, shutting and locking the door behind him.

Rainbow just looked at the stew. She did for a few minutes, before hunger got the better of her, and she began to eat it. It tasted horrible, and the aftertaste was even worse. But, at least it was food. Plus, eating distracted her from what just happened.

She was at a loss. The Princess didn't believe her. Cadenza was in a coma, which she doubted she could have done. Twilight wasn't writhing on the ground, and was fine. That should have made her feel better, but it didn't. Something was up.

And there was nothing she could do.

Merry Christmas!