A/N: The beginning of this is a little weird, but that's just because it's just the introductory. Also, this is replacing one of my story "Progression"; it was taking long for me to update and i was stumped on it. Anyway, i hope you like this.

The light of the buildings reflected off the wet roads and the cold air mixed with the rain misted the windows. Yep, it was just a normal winter day in New York. It's a good thing the temp that day forty-five degrees or we would've been having snow, but we were getting flurries. So, they closed the schools just in case, since Virginia can have some weird weather. If you ask me, I don't think it wasn't worth worrying about. My name is Janet Sanders. I'm twenty years old; I live in a one bedroom apartment with my nine month old Maltese, Snowball, and I write for the New York Times. Am I missing anything? Oh yeah, I watch…My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I know it's weird for a twenty year old working girl to watch a show meant for kids. But, it's not so bad; it's actually really fun show. It's even more fun when you are actually inside the show, well it did get fun. I kind of was stuck with an evil tyrant. Whoops! I'm getting ahead of myself. Why don't I tell you what happened that weird month.

It was the beginning of February and I was sitting in my office writing a column. It was about the disappearance of ten people in Buffalo. At first, everyone thought it was just a kidnapping-it was still a big deal-but, the people weren't outside at the time. The reason why everyone knew is that half of them had roommates and the other half were with a group of people. All of the people that disappeared were in front of an electronic device. It all happened within a few seconds, so if you blinked you didn't see anything. That really sucks since the average person blinks 960 times in one hour (I'm not that smart, I just remember looking that up on Google). Anyway, I was about to be done with the report until my boss, Mr. Brown, comes up to my desk and ordered, "Go home, Sanders."

I looked up at him, like he was crazy. I had no idea why he wanted me to leave. I asked, "Why?"

All he did was point to the window behind me. I got up and looked out. I was completely oblivious to the flurries outside, but I didn't really care. It was just flurries, it's not like they were gonna accumulate. I turned back to him and crossed my arms. He knew that I was pissed at him (pardon my French). Mr. Brown sighed, "I know you're trying to finish your column, but it will have to wait. The news said the temperature may drop and if it does, I don't want to be responsible for people that got trapped due to the storm. Now, this is the last time I'll tell you, go home, Sanders!"

I know I'm not the only one who always wanted to yell at their boss, but unfortunately that wasn't gonna happen, not today and not ever. I just groaned and started grabbing my things. As I was walking, Brown called out, "I know you were excited, but you'll get your chance soon. Who knows, maybe something exciting will happen to you on your way home?"

I just kept walking away; there wasn't much to say to him. I got into the elevator and made my way down to the main lobby. Once the elevator opened up to the lobby, I saw the flurries sticking to the glass doors and sticking to the ground. My day had gotten a million times worse, because I don't have my car (it ran out of gas), and my house is four blocks away. I know that's not far, but who wants to walk out in the snow, let alone the cold? Lauren, the receptionist and an awesome friend, waved to me. I walked over to her and asked, "What's up?"

"Since we're able to leave early, I can drive you to your house," Lauren responded. I felt really bashful. I thought I would be taking advantage of her kindness. I queried, "Are you sure? I don't want it to be a problem."

"You won't be a problem. Let me just get my things and we'll be on our way," I couldn't do anything, Lauren is very persistent. As she was grabbing her belongings, she asked me, "How did it go with Derek?"

"Well, I told him that I'm interested in him."

"Yes and…"

"And then he told me he's already called for," I concluded crestfallen. She sucked her teeth; yeah it was really that bad. I've always been trying to find one guy to date; of course he has to be someone that's friendly. I thought Derek would be the one, although I usually have bad luck finding Mr. Perfect. What made this moment even worse, Lauren just had to ask, "What's her name?"

I corrected, "It's actually a guy."

That's when she became silent and just kept grabbing her things. I didn't blame her for getting quiet; Derek seemed to be straight, but then again you can't just judge others on their looks, I guess. Anyway, when she was done, she slipped on her coat and we headed towards the door. I only got one foot out and I was already getting blasted by the harsh freezing winds. Have you ever had wind that was so cold that it actually stung when it hit your skin? Well, that's this type of wind. I literally felt like praying to God that I wish my coat had a hood. Lauren started pushing my back to make me go faster. We reached her car, which was across the street. She clicked a button on her keys and the doors unlocked. As quick as I could, I got into the passenger's seat and slammed the door shut. Lauren got into the driver's seat and gave me an apologetic look. I just sighed. "It could've been a whole lot worse," I reassured. She questioned, "Worse than walking out in a blizzard?"

I nodded my head. "It could be an earthquake," I joked. She smiled at me, started her car, and we drove off.

I never thought I could be so happy to be home, even if it is an apartment. Snowball came running up to me and started yapping. I cooed, "Are you happy to see me?" He barked and twirled around.

I walked over to the couch and turned on the T.V. Luckily, I had the Season Three premier of My Little Pony paused on my T.V. I missed all of Season Three on purpose; now I can watch all of the episodes without having to wait, although it's gonna suck once I finish watching them and I have to wait for Season Four. I was still on part one of the premier, when Twilight is being told about the Crystal Empire. I patted the seat next to me; Snowball jumped up on it and lied down. Once I pressed play on the remote, the screen started getting fuzzy. I got up and looked outside, the storm had gotten worse. All I could see were sheets of snow coming across my window. I groaned, "I guess I ain't watchin' anything any time soon."

I turned off the T.V and headed towards my bedroom. The lights in my apartment started flickering, but I didn't think much of it. Snowball kept on whining and barking. I told him to quiet down, since it was 9:00 p.m. I got into my bedroom and looked at myself in the mirror. My brown hair was a huge mess-even if it was in a ponytail-, my peach white skin looked really pale, and my dark brown eyes were foggy. I must've worked harder than I thought. I literally fell into my bed and tried going to sleep, but it just felt weird. It felt like my body was heating up, a thousand dumbbells were on top of me, and a nail was being drilled into my head. I put a pillow over my head and started pressing down, but everything just kept getting worse. The wind from outside sounded like a gigantic beast roaring. Then finally, my room and body felt like it was spinning at like a 1,000MPH. Then finally after a few minutes of torture, everything finally stopped. Unfortunately, I passed before I can wonder what happened.

I wasn't awake yet, but I could a feel that I was laying on a hard surface. The air around me was kind of cold; I started shivering. There were sounds all around me, but it was hard to make out; my head was still pounding a little. I heard a voice ask, "Are you alright?"

It sounded like a guy's voice, which made me wake up. I wanted to punch that guy in the face, so he could get out of my apartment, but the problem was that I wasn't there. When I opened up my eyes, I saw that I was in a cavern. The cave had very few torches on the inside and there were also mine carts. So, it was really easy to guess I was in miner's-cave-thingy. I turned to see the owner of the voice and saw that he wasn't a person, he was a pony. I would've gasped if I wasn't so confused. The guy…or pony had a greyish white coat, cerulean eyes, black hooves, and a walnut colored mane. His mane looked like it was combed back and had loads of gel put into it, but I doubt they have gel here. His mane stopped at his shoulders. He held out his hoof and I just stared at it for a while. He cleared his throat, which made me snap back into reality. I grabbed his hoof and he hoisted me up. I finally answered him, "Yeah, I'm okay. Where am I?"

He answered, "You're in the mines underneath the Crystal Empire."

This was too weird and unbelievable. I can't be in what I think I'm in, it just doesn't make any sense. The colt went on, "By the way, my name is Marcus."

I gave Marcus a confused look; it wasn't the type of name I was expecting. Usually the names on the show were abnormal yet extraordinary, but this one sounded normal…as if-wait a minute! I asked, "Are you Marcus Walker?"

The way he smiled at me was too hard describe, so I'll just say he looked really excited. "Yeah, I am!" his smile disappeared, "How do you know that?"

"I am Janet Sanders, writer for the New York Times, and I'm writing a column about the disappearances. You just happen to be one of them," I explained. Then I frowned at him, which sent him aback. I asked, "But, you don't fit the description."

"What? How?" He asked very confused. I just rolled my eyes at him, it seemed like he didn't get the hint. Before I could tell him, we saw another pony galloping towards us. She had a honeysuckle pink coat, pale yellow mane, and a white calla lily in her mane. Her mane was completely straight, it is almost at her hooves, and it is only on the left side of her face. Her mane almost fully covers her left eye. She came up to us and huffed, "Marcus…the others are…saying Sombra is coming to check on…wait, who is this?"

"It doesn't matter. C'mon let's go!" Marcus exclaimed to the mare. As they were running, I stood there petrified. I didn't know much about Sombra, besides the fact that he's an evil tyrant. So, that scared me enough. The mare gestured me to come along. I started galloping towards her. I didn't know what to expect, everything was going by so fast for me and…wait Marcus is a pony. Does that mean I'm one as well? Well, it makes sense, I am galloping. When I finally got there, there were ponies lined up in two lines; one was on the right and the other on the left. I scanned the lines to see if I could find Marcus or the other pony. After a while I saw a hoof wave me over. I trotted over and saw that it was the mare. She saved a spot for me. I would've thanked her if I wasn't so terrified. She smiled at me and whispered, "Who are you?"

"My name's Janet Sanders," I replied, "What about you?"

"My name is Lilli Parker," She answered back. Lilli was another one of the people to disappear. I wonder if all the people who disappeared are in this place. There was loud gasping at the front of the line and I saw ponies bowing. I looked at Lilli for some advice all she did was mouth, "Just bow when he comes."

I didn't question why, I just did what I needed to do. When the ponies close to us started bowing, we both bowed down as well. I noticed that the others had chains wrapped around hooves and necks. It was obvious that they were slaves; I instantly hated this guy. I whispered, "What's going on?"

Lilli shushed me. I shook my head and repeated, "What's going on? I need to-"

Above me I heard someone clear their throat. I looked up slowly, fearing the worse. Right in front of me was King Sombra himself. He had two guards right at his sides. They kind of looked like a combination of Luna's guards and Chrysalis' servants. I had no idea what to do. I stuttered, "Uh…h-hi. I-I'm sorry th-th-that I talked. I didn't-"

He interrupted, "Who are you?"

I hesitated to answer. I don't know what might happen if I answered. Would I become another one of his slaves? Would I get hurt or worse…die? I took the chance and replied.

Sorry about the cliffhanger, but i needed to end it someplace. Plus, i didn't want the chapter to be too long. I hope this wasn't fast-paced. Anyway, i hope you liked this chapter! Please Review!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything of MLP. I only own Janet, Lilli, Marcus, Lauren, Snowball, Derek, and Mr. Brown