Chapter 2: Visiting Old Friends

Twilight walked down the spiral staircase to the main floor of the castle, where King Sombra was waiting for her. She stared angrily at him as she walked down the stairs. He smiled weakly up at her as Spike thumped around behind him.

"Are you ready to go?" Sombra asked sweetly, making Twilight look away quickly. She hated it when he tried to be nice and sweet to her. He was supposed to be an evil king that caused pain and suffering, not some weakling that tries to seduce a bookworm. Sombra looked over to Spike, who just shrugged before continuing along his way, probably going to go eat a mountain of gems.

"Where are you taking me?" Twilight asked quickly, making Sombra's head quickly snap to face her.

"I was thinking we go for a stroll outside, taking a look at the sites of the Empire, maybe visiting the mines, or-" Sombra started to ramble on, being stopped by Twilight's magic.

"How about we go see the mines and then go to the dungeon, then I'll go back to my chambers" Twilight suggested in a demanding way. Sombra sighed and nodded his, reluctantly accepting Twilight's demands. If Twilight wasn't stronger than him, if he was the stronger Unicorn, then none of this would be happening, she would bend at his will, she would-

"Are you coming?" Twilight asked angrily, snapping Sombra out of this evil thoughts.

"Oh, sorry" Sombra said, a small bit of hatred slipping through in his voice. How could he, a powerful and evil king, be reduced to a weakling because of one mare, one small, insignificant, mare. As they left the castle the sounds of pain and torment grew louder, bringing a smile to their faces. A chorus of smacks could be heard from the mining pits, making Twilight giggle. She started to trot towards it, Sombra following after her depressingly.

"Ah, looks like today is a good day for getting gems" Twilight said happily, breathing in the musky, dirty air that surrounded the mines. Sombra looked past her and saw the sad state of the mines. From where he stood he could see a few ponies that were on their last legs. A younger mare went to go help one of them and was pulled away by a guard and thrown into the pit, landing with a loud thud.

"I'll never get used to that..." a guard pony said from down below, just loud enough for Twilight and Sombra to hear.

"What was that?" Twilight asked menacingly, looking down at the guard with anger in her eyes. The guard's head quickly shot up, his eyes widening with fear when he realized who was talking to him.

"Oh, I'm, uh, sorry ma'am" the guard said quickly before kneeling before her, "It was just a thought, I didn't mean to say it"

"Good, now don't say it again" Twilight ordered, making the guard flinch slightly before turning back to continue his shift. Twilight sighed angrily before turning around heading towards the dungeons. After a few minutes of trotting a large stone building could be seen rising out of the horizon, it's dark and gloomy atmosphere already started to appear. As they walked up the front door they could hear wailing and moaning coming from inside the building.

"Sounds like our guards are doing their job well..." Twilight said quietly as she pushed the doors open, almost slamming them on Sombra as she moved to shut them. He jumped forwards and growled angrily at Twilight before catching up to her. She looked around quickly to get her bearings, and then quickly trotted down one of the hallways, heading into the depths of the tower. When she got to the bottom of the stairs she smiled happily and looked at each of the seven doors. They were colored specially for whoever was inside the cell.

"Morning Rainbow" Twilight said happily to the blue door, receiving an angry grunt from the other side. Twilight continued on, saying hello to the orange, pink, white, yellow, blue and cream doors. Each one had given her an angry grunt except for the blue door. When she said good morning to that door all she got back was a sad and depressed moan.

"What's wrong BBBFF?" Twilight asked mockingly as she looked into the small slat on the door at her sad and depressed brother. As she started to laugh at the state of her brother a loud bang could be heard from the blue door.

"Looks like someone is getting feisty" Sombra said as he looked into the cell, seeing Rainbow preparing to ram the door again.

"Let us go!" Rainbow cried just before hitting the door again, harder than before. Twilight giggled as she came over to the door, lightly pushing Sombra aside as she looked into the cell herself.

"Why would you want to leave, aren't you having fun in there?" Twilight asked, laughing loudly as Rainbow hit the door again. Rainbow continued to hit the door until she couldn't take the pain anymore, eventually hitting the door and sliding down it. She let out a pained moan as she tried to get back up, eliciting a loud laugh from Twilight and Sombra.

"Finally giving up?" Sombra asked, a groan coming from the room to answer his question. Twilight giggled again and then moved towards the orange door.

"How are you doing Applejack?" Twilight asked, getting a grunt back from the door, which made her smile. Twilight quickly asked everypony else how they were doing, getting grunts from everypony but Cadance.

"Why are you doing this Twily?" Cadance asked sadly.

"Doing what, I'm just saving the Empire" Twilight said sarcastically.

"But why are you keeping us here, why are you torturing us?" Cadance pleaded, standing up to look through the slat at Twilight, "Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake..."

"Sorry, but I don't do those childish things anymore, I am too important for that" Twilight said angrily before storming out of the dungeon, the reminder of who she was angering her greatly. Sombra looked into Cadance's cell and threw her against to wall before running after Twilight, still hoping that he could execute his master plan.