Rabil materialized somewhere that looked cold, and freezing. Dark clouds covered the place, and the snow roared by.

“Not another one of these.” I thought.

I heard Rabil think directly after I had finished, “The fool will blindly follow me.” Rabil walked into an icy cave, and when he entered a dark colt with red eyes greeted him.

“Emperor Rabil.” The colt greeted, having the slightest bit of envy in what he said. He didn’t have the same quality of Rabil’s voice, but it was somewhat similar.

“I am glad you decided to meet me, King Sombra.” Rabil replied.

“I am not a king of anything, because of those six ‘Elements of Harmony’.” The colt said.

“Well, I have a proposition for you, King Sombra,” Rabil told him, “I need assistance ruling my new kingdom, and I would like to take you as my right-hand stallion.” The dark colt looked suspicious, and inquired to his suggestion.

“Surely I cannot help you rule, you are a god.” He said.

“Yes, but you are the most similar to me; Discord’s methodologies I disagree with, but yours are quite agreeable.” Rabil said, easily concealing his lie. The colt seemed to mull it over, and finally decided upon an answer.

“Very well, I will help you.” The colt said.

“Very good, King Sombra. Right now, I must depart for Manehattan, but I need you to go and open the gates of Tartarus.” Rabil said, clearly glad he had manipulated the colt.

“I will do the task.” The colt said as he walked into the dark depths of the cave. Rabil went out of the cave back into the howling blizzard, and moved into the ground, melting away.

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“You alright, Apple Bloom?” Sweetie Belle’s voice asked, jarring me out of my, I don’t know, I guess vision is the best word. We were walking through a forest, not one like the Everfree; the sky wasn’t obscured by the leaves, but I could hear animals in the background. I noticed I was on one of the guards, and got off. Shining Armor asked immediately about my vision.

“What’s going on with Rabil?” He asked, seemingly starved for information.

“Ah don’t know. He was someplace that looked cold; there was a blizzard, and the ground was made of ice. He went into a cave, and he talked to somepony named ‘King Sombra’, who agreed to help him. Apparently Sombra is gonna go open up the gates of Tartarus, and Rabil is headin’ for Manehattan.” I told them. Shining Armor stopped in his tracks, and Scootaloo accidentally slammed into his leg.

“Wait, did you just say King Sombra?” He asked, fear in his voice.

“Yeah, why? Who is he?” I asked. He started moving faster and we followed him, and he explained as he continued his gallop.

“About two weeks after Cadence and I got married, Princess Celestia asked to speak with us.” He said, jumping over a fallen tree. “She said that an ancient kingdom, the Crystal Empire, had finally reappeared after being gone for a thousand years.” I panted a bit, trying to keep up, and I wasn’t the only one. “She and her sister had used the Elements of Harmony to lock away an evil king, King Sombra. So when it reappeared, she asked us to stay there until Sombra would definitely not reappear. However, he did, and Cadence attempted to keep a shield up.” Why hadn’t I heard of this, one would certainly think it would be big news. “She couldn’t hold the shield forever, and Celestia sent Twilight and her friends to help us keep Sombra away.” We ran through a clearing. “He nearly regained it, but Twilight figured out a way to stop him just in time.” He finished explaining.

“Why haven’t we heard about it?” A guard asked.

“Celestia wanted the whole incident to be kept under wraps.” Shining Armor answered, not breaking gallop.

“So it’s bad then that Rabil is allying with this guy.” Scootaloo said.

“Yeah. And the sooner we - woah!” He replied, tripping over a trunk. It was kind of funny, and he said as he got back up, “Okay, maybe we shouldn’t go that fast. Steadfast Suit, get a letter informing Phalanx of the current situation to them now!” He ordered.

“Already on it!” A guard replied. It was ironic, the forest looked beautiful, the sunlight weaved through the treetops. The birds were singing, and the forest seemed totally ignorant to our presence, much less the events occurring throughout Equestria. “Alright, it’s been sent.” The guard said.

“What in the hay is Tartarus?” I asked, I thought I had heard the name before.

“It’s the place where all the ancient evil creatures are kept imprisoned.” Shining Armor explained. “The hound, Cerebrus, guards its gates to make sure they don’t escape.” Wow, that sounded really, odd. How interesting that because a giant dog just stood around, Equestria had been safe from certain destruction. But right now we needed to focus on getting to Manehattan.

“Alright, how much longer tuh Manehattan?” I asked.

“If I was to guess, probably ten minutes.” One of the guards replied. It would have been an interesting visit in another circumstance, Manehattan was the largest city in terms of population in Equestria. It also had the famed Equestria State Building, one of the tallest buildings in the world. But I’m getting off topic here, back to the forest.

“Then let’s get there in ten minutes!” I said. We started moving again, and I noted that the guards seemed unusually obedient to a filly, but then again, we were the ones whom Equestria relied on. Sure enough, within about ten minutes, we came out onto a hill that seemed tranquil, but it belied what was behind it. When we got on top, we were greeted with the sight of the metropolis. It didn’t look exactly how I had pictured it though, there seemed to be a lot of soldiers around. “Duh, it’s Rabil’s guys.” I remembered.

“Wait, how are we going to find the Princess if she’s being brought to a building we don’t know? She could be anywhere!” Scootaloo said. Shining Armor seemed to realize it, and visibly frowned, presumably thinking. The wind blew gently, then it turned up like someone had flipped a switch. A small vibration started under my hooves, and it grew progressively stronger.

“What the hay was that?” A guard shouted. I looked up at a distant mountain and there seemed to be a bright dot of red there, and the wind seemed to be blowing from it.

“Sombra must have opened Tartarus...” Shining Armor breathed. He seemed to gather himself, and said, “I think I know where Rabil’s taking Cadence. But we need to hurry. And I think I have an idea of how to rescue her.”

“And what might that be?” I asked.

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“Looks like this is the place, alright.” One of the guards said, his name I think was Claymore Shield. It had been a bit unnerving, the guards had ambushed a patrol of soldiers and took their armor. We had watched, but it seemed different than Rabil’s killing. We were in a building overlooking Manehattan’s park, and we were watching out of a window, well it was more of an unfinished one, in an under construction portion of the building. A carriage appeared on a distant road, and Claymore made a gesture to one of the “soldiers” on the ground, apparently it meant, “Ready”. The “soldier” nodded, and gave a signal back which meant “Looks like our mare is here”. The only way I knew this is from someone explaining it to Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and I. Then, as we waited I heard a crash from upstairs. Everyone stopped and looked up, and someone said something.

“Scootaloo! You need tuh be -” A voice said, cut off by something. I was about to go up the stairs to that floor when the guard informed us.

“Looks like our guy is here.” Claymore said, and Rabil seemed to form upon the ground. A figure stumbled out of the carriage, an alicorn. It was Princess Cadence, escorted by several soldiers.

“Why hello there, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.” Rabil said, his tone almost as if he was greeting a valued friend. The Princess seemed like she didn’t have much to say, and looked like she had been through the hay. Rabil turned to one of the soldiers, and said, “I trust she behaved?”

The soldier replied eagerly, “She didn’t exactly, but then we made sure she remembered the slut she is.” I had no idea what slut meant, but I could tell it wasn’t nice.

Rabil seemed amused, and asked the Princess, “Do you know why I want you?” She didn’t respond once again. “You think silence will make you seem tough? Very well, I will humor you.” He said with his casual tone. “I mustn't have rival rulers, ones who the populace looks up to and respects. However, I am not sure if you deserve the same fate as your fellow Princesses. I think that -” Rabil never finished his statement, because right then a bunch of fireworks roared over our heads. And they appeared to come from upstairs...

“What the hay was that?” Claymore exclaimed. Rabil seemed surprised, and didn’t stick around, melting back into the ground.

“Kill the Princess!” One of the soldiers ordered.

“Not today!” Shining Armor said as he and some other guards fought off the soldiers nearby, who were surprised that their comrades weren’t actually their comrades. Claymore and the rest of us descended down and Claymore took care of the soldiers in front of the building. Well, I thought he did. Because as soon as we rounded a corner a metallic blade was jutting out of his chest. Then, the soldier who had committed the deed started walking towards us. Then, my body moved almost instinctively, grabbing Claymore’s sword and thrusting it between the armor plating of the soldier on his neck. He died instantly. One of the guards ran over, too late to help his comrade, but he was surprised at me.

“Wow, kid. Just wow...” He said. I felt some form of guilt, but then another part of me told me he would have killed me, along with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo jarred me from my trance, and gestured towards the center of the park.

“Looks like we’ve gotten rid of the soldiers for now. Apple Bloom, that was amazing, how did you do that?” Scootaloo asked.

“Princess is secure!” A guard shouted, and I ran over there, where Shining Armor was standing seemingly worried.

“What happened? Did they, rape you?” He asked, fear clear in his voice. I didn’t know what “rape” meant either. She nodded and didn’t say anything. Shining Armor looked both enraged and saddened, and pulled Cadence into an embrace.

“What’s ‘rape’?” Sweetie Belle asked, not knowing what it was. The guard who was next to us looked uncomfortable, and gulped a bit.

“Well, rape is when, how do I put this, a stallion forces himself upon a mare who doesn’t want him.” He stammered, probably not comfortable on explaining such things to little fillies.

A leaf fell from a tree in the park, gently landing on the road. It was starting to get irritating how nature seemed to be oblivious to the evil occurring. I smashed the leaf apart, and Scootaloo stopped me. “Woah, calm down Apple Bloom. We don’t need to -” She said.

“How can Ah be calm! This isn’t a calm situation! We’re just three young fillies, who are being forced into this! Ah just killed a pony, you know how that feels Scootaloo?” I shouted, demanding an answer from her.

“Well, I -” She answered.

“DO YOU OR DON’T YOU?” I demanded.

“No. I don’t.” She said, clearly intimidated.

“WHAT ABOUT YOU SWEETIE BELLE, DO YOU KNOW HOW THIS FEELS?” I roared at her.

“I don’t, Apple Bloom. Look, maybe you should -” Sweetie Belle answered, but I completely ignored her, and stomped off. It was too much, how could Equestria rely on me and my friends? How could it rely on me? I was just a filly that didn’t know anything. Eventually I didn’t hear any voices, and I was just sitting on a street corner, crying to myself.

“Why couldn’t have I just listened to Applejack?” I thought. I heard hoofsteps, and a colt’s voice spoke up.

“What’s got you down young filly?” He asked, in a gentle voice.

“Ah just feel like Ah’ve been forced into a situation I just can’t handle! And Ah feel like Ah’m a terrible pony for the stuff Ah’ve done.” I said, confiding in the stranger colt.

“You’re not alone there, little filly.” The colt said as he sat down next to me, he had a similar color coat as me.

“Really, have you been forced to be somepony everypony’s relying on, and kill somepony so they don’t kill other ponies?” I spat.

“No, but I was forced to leave my pregnant wife a while ago, because somepony threatened to kill her, along with my little baby filly, if I ever showed my face around my hometown again.” He said glumly. “I know too well the feeling of hindsight, and it haunts me still, should have I not listened?”

“Ah guess you make a good point.” I said.

He smiled weakly, and said, “What I wouldn’t give just to see my daughter, or my dear wife again. Oh, Pacific Rose, I miss you so much.”

The story sounded kind of touching, and I said, “Well, Ah guess if you can -” I stopped in my tracks, did he say Pacific Rose was his wife? He looked curious as to why I had stopped so abruptly, and I asked him, “Did you say Pacific Rose was yer wife?” I had to make sure I heard him correctly.

“Yes, why do you ask?” He asked a bit defensively.

“Yer name’s Golden Apple then,” I said.

“How do you know my name, and where are you going with this?” He asked, definitely curious about what I knew.

“Golden Apple, mah name is Apple Bloom, Ah’m yer daughter.” I said.