I say the other end of Ponyville, but what I really mean is that he was in the middle of the thing that sits at the other end of Ponyville. Err, to put it in laypony’s terms, He was exactly in the middle of the Everfree forest. However, he was not the only pony there. Oh no, in fact there were exactly 4 other ponies (2 pegasai and 2 unicorns) there. I would tell you who they were, but I seem to be unable to think of their names at the moment. (Besides, out of all of them, I’m the only important one.).
“Why are we here again?”
“I dunno, Scops said something about it being ‘drastically important’ that we put these rocks in this weird castle type thing.”
“Are we sure that we should be doing this? I mean, what are these stones even for?”
“And where did he even get these things? They weigh a ton!”
“I heard he got ‘em from the castle.”
“Wait… this castle? Or the one in Cantorlot?”
“Yes, he got these rocks from this castle, moved them and now wants us to move them back. What do you think?”
“Calm down, everypony.” I said, sensing the distress that the others were feeling. “I’m sure Scops wouldn’t have us make this massively dangerous trek here if it wasn’t important. Besides, I doubt he would endanger any of us! Especially me! I’m possibly the most important part of this organization!”
“I’m glad you have faith in me Scroll, although I wouldn’t say you’re the most important pony in the group.” Scops chuckled, stepping out from the bushes near the side of the chasm that stood. He turned to the rest of us and adopted a more serious, yet reassuring smile. “As for the rest of you, I can understand why you‘re so hesitant. ” As he uttered these words we turned to face the green colt, our faces in shock… How did he cross the chasm? He didn’t seem to have any climbing gear… or a hang glider… or, well, any sort of way to transverse the massive ravine which blocked the path to the castle. While that thought was stirring in our minds, the earth pony opened the massive cedar doors and began to walk into the abandoned castle … alone.
“Hey wait!”
“Yeah, aren’t we supposed to be helping?”
We began to chase after our odd leader. The ruin was almost as depressing on the inside as it was on the outside. The walls were covered with ivy and moss, the mortar between the bricks was almost dust… and yet, the castle still seemed sturdy… as if the very building was held together by more than just bricks and wood. It seemed like something ancient and powerful had built this tower. Something that I certainly never wanted to meet in my lifetime. What was eerier though, was the feeling that we were treading into a piece history that Equestria had long since been forgotten.
As we took in the setting the green colt stood still, his eyes transfixed on a massive sculpture which stood in middle of the room. It was a sort of stand, in which there were 5 places for rather large spheres (each of these were completely empty), and a large sphere in the middle.
The stallion reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a grey sphere with a gemstone in the middle. He placed this odd stone on one of the places and turned to the others, who all in turn did the same. After the final stone was placed he stared at the three others and said, “Thank you for your help. You can leave now…”
“Wait, that’s all we’re doing?”
“Yes, that is all I needed from you three.”
“WHAT WAS SO DANGEROUS ABOUT THAT!?!”
“COULDN’T YOU HAVE CARRIED THOSE BY YOURSELF!?!”
“WHAT ARE WE YELLING ABOUT!?!”
“Quicksilver, Blastbolt, Brick, calm down.” the black-maned stallion said, squinting and placing a hoof on his head. “I never said it would be dangerous and I never said I needed you to come. Scroll and myself could have taken care of all this but you three insisted on coming. Now then, you three need to get back to camp, Scroll and I still have things to take care of here.”
“FINE!” the 3 others exclaimed, and they began to walk toward the direction of our small camp.
Despite their protests, the others did exactly the same as he asked, each of them leaving the castle when they were finished. And as they exited the building in a huff, two other ponies began to slowly walk out from the deep shadows of the ruined castle.
“Hmmph! Those impudent foals need to learn their place!” exclaimed one of the two new ponies (a unicorn in rather… unique garb).
“Now, now Lula! You were… actually still are… a lot like them.” Scops stated, defending those three young colts who had (although they had no idea at the time) just aided in almost plunging the world in darkness.
“How dare thee! And for the last time, you shall address me by my new name! I am -”
“Yea, yea. Listen, you two lovebirds can make out later! We got a job to do!” I exclaimed . “Skies, ya got the stuff?”
She nodded in confirmation and reached into her bag, pulling out a set of robes spotted with stars and small piece of chalk.
“Good! Now then take care of those symbols!” I exclaimed, putting my robe on.
She rushed at the levitating chalk and gripped it in her mouth. She began to do drag it along the floor at speed that would give even the most seasoned guard pony a run for their bits.
“Careful Sky! We only get one shot at this!” Scops yelled, donning a set of robes .
“There we go! Perfect!” She stated, pulling off a landing that could only be described as flawless.
“Excellent, now then, is everypony ready? I hope I don‘t have to remind you what we’re doing and the dangers we risk.” the question marked colt asked, his eyes quickly glancing at us. His icy cold gaze was met with our own fiery response, a nod was all that was needed to assure him that our conviction was sincere.
“Right… I’ll begin. Everypony, place a hoof on the center sphere.”
As we followed his orders he reached into his saddle bag and pulled out a weathered sheet of parchment, which he proceeded to set in front of him, and started to recite from it. The scroll contained a slow, sad ballad about the true past of Equestria . Not the one that most ponies know today. Oh neigh, he sang of a world filled with both great beauty and sadness, of “The Days of the Endless Night” and the battle which went on under the pale moonlight those 1,000 years ago. And with each somber word, each poignant syllable, his pupils began to extend until finally, his eyes were fully consumed by the blackness. His song told of a defeat of the Lunar forces and the forced corruption of the Princess of the Night. And as his ballad’s end drew closer and closer, we (or at least I) felt the effect of ritual wear down on us (once again, I did, I’m not sure about the others). Until finally he ended his ballad with these dark and ominous words:
“We four fallen stars come to thine aid. Now then awaken! O’ mare of darkness, so that thou might have redemption from thine past sins!”
Suddenly, all four of us were engulfed in a black magical aura which had seeped out from inside the large middle sphere. This …blackness… managed to set in the feeling of fatigue even further. I saw the pony, whom Scops referred to as Lula, wince in pain. Clear Skies’ posture started to falter, and I myself could only grimace at the agony I felt. But when I look over at Scops… I could tell his pain was far worse. I could see him kneeling in torturous anguish, barely managing to keep conscious. We each managed to survive this excruciating pain for what seemed like an eternity, until, just as we were on the verge of exhaustion, it vanished. The darkness shot into the air as though it had the wings of a pegasus. And, as it left us, we begun to feel the full aftermath of the spell: Clear Skies collapsed, Lula tried her best to shake off the pain while I stood there, catching my breath. Scops just stared at the ground silently, forcing the pain from himself via a set of breaths through tightly clenched teeth. We couldn’t move for what seemed like eons. We each stood, trying to cope with what we had just done. No pony said a word … the silence in the room was deafening, until it was broken by the earth pony:
“Lula, Scroll, go check on Clear.”
We both nodded a reply and ran to our fallen comrade’s resting place to check for any sign of life. Thankfully she was still breathing, she just seemed to be so fatigued that she passed out from exhaustion.
“Thank Luna! She’s still alive!”
“Okay then, you and Lula go take her back to camp. I still have some things to take care of back in town…” The colt said, his face contorted in a grimace of pain.
“Are you sure you’re okay Scops? Ya’ look a little busted up there.”
“I’ll be fine. It’ll take more than that to stop me!” He offered a pained smile at my words, and then proceeded to walk out of the castle.
“That naive and foalish idiot is going to get himself killed one of these days!Hmph! He is of no use to anypony if he keels over! And for the last time, I am no longer known as Lula!” the unicorn next to me exclaimed, possibly in the hopes that I would either go and stop him, or that he would stop and turn around to engage in some witty banter. But I drowned out her final words, my eyes were set on our fearless leader as he simply continued to hobble out of the abandoned castle, on his way back to Ponyville…