Lost

by FluxFeather

Chapter Six - The Well Of Shade

Author's Note:

This chapter was written by Moonstar who was originally gonna write chapter 7. Moonstar replaced Latenighter in writing this chapter after he had quit the project. I also helped a bit with writing this chapter.

As Rainius and Twilight walked through the outskirts of Hollow Shades, Twilight began to feel uneasy; Twilight knew she had to do this. This was what she was meant to do. "It should be over this way? Just keep walking," Rainius said, as he continued to guide her towards the mystical Well of Shade, or Well of Shadows was another name for it. "Just a little further."

Within the outskirts of Hollow Shades, the wind began to shiver and howl within the distance. As the wind begins to grow louder, Twilight cuddles a bit closer to Rainius to not feel super scared. He chuckled a bit that the Princess of Friendship would behave this way and slowly humor her by accepting her huddling. Rainius said, “Relax, Twilight. I am sure the well is...AHHH!” He tripped before him and Twilight looked to where Rainius hit his face onto the ground. Twilight couldn’t help but laugh at him for making such a klutz move.

Rainius got up and rubbed his head. “Ow...what was that? Huh? Twilight, I think this is it.” They located the Well of Shades and this could be their opportunity to figure out the mystery of why Twilight is hearing that noise inside her head. One thing that is odd and funny to the Well’s entrance is that it is blocked off by a mighty magical spell in order to gain access. Rainius inspects the magical barrier and notices there is an emblem logo. He said, “Twilight, this logo is probably the key to unlocking the well, but what is it? This is something I never saw before in my life, and I am too afraid that I would get this wrong. What do you suggest we do?”

Twilight begins by inspecting the emblem in Rainius’s place and double-checks that it is something relating to Hollow Shades as a whole. Once she was done inspecting it in the last 5 minutes, she concluded, “Well...from what I am seeing, we need to find a key that relates to this emblem and hoping this will break the barrier in front of us. If I remember right, I did see something that looks similar to it not that far back from where we walked from. Let’s go back and see if it’s still there. It’s so odd that it looks like a mix of my cutie mark with yours.” Rainius nods to what Twilight said and begins to make their way back towards what they had witnessed might be a statue. In the shadows, the timberwolves were watching from both ponies and made haste to make a counter-strike against them.

Rainius and Twilight made their way back, and along the way, they began telling each other stories and their hobbies and sharing a small laugh here and there. Rainius never knew how funny Twilight can be without even realizing it. Her story about her late letter to Celestia before she was an alicorn made him laugh so hard. Twilight admits it wasn’t her best time, but it was a good memory regardless. Twilight said, “...And that’s how Princess Celestia almost decided to cage me and send me to the moon, but hey! I am here now and made my teacher proud.”

Rainius said, “Well, next time, do make sure that you have an alarm set and get things done early and not late.” After about ten minutes, they finally reach the statue and the emblem does match the one on the magical barrier. Both nod to each other and search the statue high and low to see where they might find the key. Twilight searched on top but found nothing; Rainius searched the bottom and even he cannot find the key that matches the emblem. Rainius stops, sighs, and says, “Twilight, this isn’t working. I feel we are not looking in the right spot. What are we doing wrong?”

As soon as Rainius had asked that question, a pack of timberwolves jumped from the shadows and stared down at both Twilight and Rainius. Rainius and Twilight huddled together with their backs side to side, they were clearly outnumbered, 20-to-2. One of the timberwolves saw a glare reflecting off from the moonlight of the statue, and it immediately pounced upward and took out a tiny key. Rainius looks at it and gasps in horror. He said, “TWILIGHT! THAT TIMBERWOLF HAS THE KEY! WE NEED TO GET IT NOW!!!”

Twilight immediately zaps the timberwolf down and instantly it drops the tiny key. Rainius was about to grab the key for themselves, but a tiny timberwolf baby got to it quickly enough and ran off into the forest. Rainius followed the baby timberwolf alone, leaving Twilight to handle the pack of timberwolves alone. Twilight was powering herself up to battle the timberwolves. One timberwolf begins pouncing straight at her, but Twilight zaps her magic at it, turning it into a pile of ashes.

Some timberwolves back away to see what she did to their own kind, but they aren’t afraid to fight back. Three timberwolves surround Twilight in a triangle formation, but she sweeps into a 360 and makes the timberwolves into powder dust. All the timberwolves attack Twilight at once, but Twilight channels her stronger energy inside her and creates a large burst of energy, leaving nothing but a black crater and the ashes of the remaining timberwolves. Twilight gasped in fatigue and sat herself down for a minute. Rainius finally came back with the key in his hooves and he is holding the baby timberwolf in his hooves.

Rainius said to Twilight in an unfriendly manner, “You cannot believe what this little guy did. He was running off towards a running river, climbed up a 10-foot hill, and finally, as soon as I was about to grab him, he jumped over my head and ran off back to the river. I managed to grab him when he stopped to grab a berry off the ground. Whoa...you killed off all the timberwolves?" He saw the pile of ashes.

Twilight took a deep breath and exhaled before replying. "Yeah. Those timberwolves gave me a hard time. I thought those battles against my greatest foes were harder, but I guess anyone or anything can be a threat. Wait...why are you holding that baby timberwolf?” Twilight notices that he is still holding the key and she slowly pulls it out of its mouth. She sighs in relief that the key is still intact and drops the baby timberwolf down carefully. She said to Rainius, “Come on. We need to go back to the Well. If not, we are wasting time for nothing.”

Rainius said goodbye to the baby timberwolf and it whimpers that he has no one to call his own. Twilight killed its parents and doesn’t feel comfortable being alone. It follows Rainius and Twilight behind and yaps in sadness that it hates being alone. Twilight said, “No, little one. You cannot come with us. You have to go find your own path. I am sorry that I made your parents into ashes, but I have no time to babysit you.” Twilight pets the baby timberwolf and Rainius follows her behind. The baby timberwolf didn’t listen and still follows them.

Twilight sighs hard and says, “Okay...okay...you can follow us, but keep your distance between us.”

The baby timberwolf kept its distance and became part of the group. After walking back for another ten minutes, they had gotten back to the Well of Shades and Twilight shows the key to the magical barrier and it immediately vanishes. Twilight said, “Alright. We don’t know what lies ahead, but we have to do this. You ready, Rainius?”

“Yes, Twilight. I am ready. We’ll have to leave the baby behind for a bit, so we don’t hurt it. Did you hear that, pupper? Stay here.” The baby timberwolf simply yaps in glee and sits his bottom next to the well. Rainius and Twilight slowly descend into the well and all they see is a bunch of writing on the wall. The shadows have consumed its surroundings, leaving nothing but pitch darkness. Within the halls of the Well of Shade, there lies an ancient painting that made Twilight gasp in horror. The ancient painting on the wall happens to resemble Twilight herself, a physical carbon copy.

Rainius also gasped in awe as to what Twilight saw and said, “Twilight...is that you?! I never knew you existed in another time!!”

Twilight walked towards the mural and replied, “No...It’s not me. I mean, it is me, but that’s not the actual me. I am me; I am here right now. But...what does it mean?”

“It means that you have finally arrived. Welcome, Rainius and Twilight. We have been expecting you both.” Out of nowhere, the mysterious voice heard by Twilight after being crowned Princess of Equestria has finally revealed itself. The voice manifested itself into a spiritual body. For some reason, it has a different body than Twilight and her mane and tail are much longer. She speaks once more, “I am called Helia The Harmonious, but please refer to me by my first name alone. I was once the warrior of this world, but that was such a long time ago. You might think I look like you, Princess Twilight, but no. That was what the artist assumed I looked like in the first place. Although...I need to finish what I never accomplished. The evil spirit, Caspian The Chaotic, resides in...you.” She stares down into Rainius.

Twilight looks to Helia and back to Rainius. She gulped her saliva and said, “No! I won’t let you hurt Rainius! You are not someone righteous.”

All of a sudden, Twilight’s body began to limp on her and she dropped to the ground like a rock. Helia was the one doing this to her and said, “I am sorry. I need to finish Caspian, or else the whole world would suffer a fate far worse than what I have ever witnessed. I hope you can forgive me…” Helia’s physical body exits Twilight's body and Twilight instantly loses consciousness.

Rainius gasped in horror and ran over to Twilight. "TWILIGHT!!" He shouted, trying to wake her. She didn't budge. "AHHHH!! WHAT’S HAPPENING TO ME?!" He screamed as he felt something rip out of him from his chest. It was the one thing all the ponies of Hollow Shades feared. The chaos god, Caspian. He was a tall yellow coated pony with a bunch of chaotic indescribable features. From there, he notices that he is finally free from Rainius’s body and kicks him next to the unconscious body of Twilight Sparkle.

"Hahahahaha!!" The chaotic god laughed maniacally in his nasally high-pitched voice. He finally felt free from being imprisoned in that body for so long. He saw Helia and gave off a smirk and chuckle to his delight. "Aw, Helia. It's been too long. How have things been working out for you, my dear? You’re not still mad about our last encounter all those centuries ago, huh?"

"Caspian!" Helia growled. She used her magic to summon a spear in her hooves, and Caspian laughed evilly and took out a dagger behind his back. Helia looked at him and said, “You have angered my spirit long enough!! I vow to finally end you once and for all; for the families you killed and for making my life a living nightmare, I shall end your life once and for all!!!” She immediately charges straight at Caspian, but he immediately dodges her attack and stabs her chest. Helia saw it coming and avoided his sharp blade charging at her. She swings her spear and pulls the dagger away from him.

Caspian laughed and said, “Now, Now! Don’t let the slithering pest get in your way!” He turns into a snake and slithers past her hooves and makes his way towards his dagger. Helia doesn’t want to let him again.

With Helia and Caspian fighting to settle the score once and for all, it leaves two unconscious ponies of Rainius and Twilight. Will Helia finally Caspian? Will Rainius and Twilight regain their strength and mind to stop these two ancient ponies?