//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 // Story: My Little Pony: Lights and Shadows - Part II // by OmegaTale //------------------------------//                 “They did what!?” Twilight exclaimed.                 Derpy sat at the table eating a muffin, she put it down and wiped her face with her hoof.  “I saw them board the train about an hour ago, they were all packed and everything.”                 Starfall looked over at Twilight, who was now up on her hooves and pacing.  “They went to search for the CMCs, what other reason could they have for leaving?”                 “No, no, no, no…” Twilight repeated.  “This is bad, REALLY bad!”                 Pinkie shrugged her shoulders.  “Fluttershy and I are still here, can’t we just help you stop the griffons and dragons from fighting?”                 “This isn’t about the war,” Twilight said frantically.  “I need to talk to Rainbow about something very important, but now she’s gone and we still need to leave!”                 Starfall looked around the room, everypony was worried about the uneasy princess.  Pinkie and Fluttershy were now looking down at the map, wondering where their three friends went off to.  Starlight and Spike had just finished preparations for their departure to the east, and now shared in Twilight’s concern.  Moon Frost wasn’t there, she had decided to try and use her detective skills to help locate the crusaders in the case that there was somewhere in Equestria the pegasi hadn’t checked.  And Shadow, well, he seemed to have been out of sight for the last few hours, Fluttershy had just returned from searching for him.                 “What’s so important that you need to talk about with Rainbow?” Starlight asked, her head slightly tilted.                 Twilight stood up straight and looked down at the Everfree Forest on the map.  “Something is happening to the Elements of Harmony, but the Element of Loyalty has managed to stay unaffected by it.  I need to find out what it could be before it affects her too.”                 The ponies all looked at one another.  “Affect her?” Spike asked.  “What do you mean?”                 Looking around at them, Twilight’s eyes stopped as they were cast upon Pinkie and Fluttershy.  “You two have been acting strange ever since the Grand Summit, and so have Applejack and Rarity.  I don’t know what’s been happening to you, but whatever it is, it can’t be good.”                 Fluttershy felt nervous about the topic being brought up.  The feeling hadn’t changed, inside she was so ashamed of herself for snapping on Pinkie the way she did.  It made her feel like she didn’t deserve being called the Element of Kindness.                 Pinkie had a similar reaction, and her lowered head made it plainly evident.  She had recently lost her spark, the trait that made her so happy and goofy all the time.  She hadn’t laughed since before the summit, which was the longest she had ever gone without smiling.                 “Now Rainbow and I are the only ones left.” She said, looking somewhat afraid.  “The light within the elements are fading, and I fear what will happen if they all go out.”                 Spike’s cheeks suddenly bulged and he burped, a scroll appearing out from the plume of smoke.  Twilight was quick to use her magic to levitate it to her.  She opened it and read carefully.                 Dear Twilight, The army is moving out, Gale has ordered a full-scale invasion of the Dragon Lands.  Two-thousand griffons, he is advancing on Fireglow and will arrive in less than two days.  I’ll do what I can to slow them down, but you need to hurry. Gilda                   “Two-thousand!?” Starlight blurted out, her eyes wide like everypony else.                 This was all happening too fast, they had amassed that many griffons that quickly?  Twilight almost broke out in total-panic mode, but she kept a level head.  Looking down at the Cutie Map, her eyes traced along the easiest, and quickest path from Griffonstone to Fireglow, pointing at a clearing on the path.  “We can intercept them here and-”                 Once again, Spike burped out a scroll.  Twilight paused for a few moments, but then opened and read it.   Princess Twilight, Ember and Torch are leading an army of several thousand dragons north towards Griffonstone.  Unless you stop them, they will reach the griffons in under 24 hours.  They are leaving now, I will try to reason with her.  Good luck. Scorch                   “Both of them!?” Starfall said quickly, galloping up to read the letter himself.  “We need to leave now!  The armies will meet and collide!  It will be a disaster!”                 “As in….right now?” Fluttershy asked shakily.                 Twilight had needed a moment to overcome the shock of the situation.  Looking back to the map, she calculated where the two hosts would meet.  There was an open plain just off of the Griffon Kingdom southern coastline, if she was correct, that’s where they would collide.                 “Everypony to the station!  Quick!” Twilight yelled, galloping out the door.                 As they bolted through town, Fluttershy looked to her right and saw Shadow emerge from the town limits, galloping alongside her.                 “Shadow!” she said, wanting to hug him but also wanting to keep up with the others.  “Where have you been?”                 “I had to sort out a few things, where are we going in such a hurry?” he replied.                 Twilight looked back at them, seeing Shadow for the first time since her talk with Celestia at the Tree of Harmony.  There was a staleness in the air, but she had to push past it for now.  “No time to explain!  We have to get to the train station!”                 Pinkie was first to the platform and grabbed hold of the conductor, her head whirled back in urgency.  “WAIT!!!  STOP THIS TRAIN!!!”                 The conductor looked upon the pink mare as he always did when she acted like this.  “Miss Pie, the train isn’t moving.”                 Pinkie looked down at the locomotive, seeing that he was right.  Her face flushed red and she chuckled to herself.  “I knew that….”                 Everypony came galloping up onto the platform, boarding the train immediately.  Twilight flew to the conductor the moment she saw him.  “Emergency Transportation to Griffonstone Station!”                 Taking action without hesitation, the conductor said, “Right away your highness!” He took off towards the engine room as the princess boarded.  The train whistle blew and took off within moments, quickly picking up speed to reach the emergency destination as quickly as possible.                 Estimated time to arrival: 8 hours.                   Rainbow held her red crystal and looked down upon it as she propped her head up with her other hoof.  It was such a strange, little thing, and always seemed to absorb all of her attention when it was out.  Looking at it made her think of Scootaloo, and how awesome she was to give it to her.                 Scootaloo constantly said that Rainbow made a big impact on her, but the admiration went both ways.  She was so much like Rainbow that it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for others to believe they were actually were sisters.                 The red hue of the crystal was foggy, but it still gave off a pretty unique shine when seen in the right light.  As stated when she and her other four friends discovered they each had one, they had never stones like them before, not even Rarity.  Rainbow remembered having brought the crystals to Pinkie’s sister, Maud, the pony with the rocktorate and knew literally EVERYTHING about rocks, but even she knew nothing about them, which blew everypony’s minds.                 “Ah have to say Rainbow,” Applejack admitted.  “Ah am a might impressed ya thought to head south to search for the crusaders.”                 With the crystal still in her hoof, Rainbow replied, “Well…..to be honest, I kinda….maybe….sorta had some help figuring that part out.”                 “Whatever do you mean, darling?” Rarity asked.                 Smiling sheepishly, Rainbow figured it didn’t matter now.  “I asked Moon Frost, and she told me everything I told you two.”                 AJ cackled a laugh.  “That explains it!”                 “Hey!” Rainbow barked.  “I could’ve figured it out!”                 Rarity joined in on the laugh.  “Oh but of course, we wouldn’t have doubted you for a second!”                 It took a few moments, but Rainbow soon pitched in and all three shared the laugh.  It was rather short lived as the gravity of their quest hit them once again.  A silence then came over them, each looking out the train window.                 “I do so wish they are safe…” Rarity said quietly.                 “If ah know those three, they’ll be alright till we find ‘em.” AJ responded.  “They’re closer than three apples on the same branch.”                 Rainbow lowered her gaze, looking at her crystal once again.  Doubt had tried time and again to work its way into her, but she was the Rainbow Dash; doubt wasn’t in her nature.                 “We’ll find them,” she said, packing away the stone.  “We will.”                   The station furthest south was very small, kind of like the station closest to Starlight’s village.  There was absolutely no pony there, and as the train took off back north, an eerie silence fell over the area.                 It was rather heavily wooded, with a kind of shallow valley pushing hills up to the east and west.  Mountains could be seen in the not-so-far distance, and the only path headed directly in their direction.                 Rainbow took out her map, looking up and around at their surroundings.  “Okay, this way.”                 Starting down the path, the three ponies prepared for their long search to find their sisters and bring them home.                   They searched the outlands leading to the mountain range, but there were few places for shelter and no civil forms of life.  Their entire first day was spent sweeping through the land from the station to the foot of the mountains, with no luck.                 The following morning, the three began their hike up into the mountains.                 “Apple Bloom!” AJ called out, her voice echoing across the vast expanse.  “Apple Bloom!”                 Rainbow soared overhead, her hawk-like eyes watching for the slightest movement or change on the landscape below.  Fortunately, the mountains were almost entirely rock-surfaced, with few places out of sight from above.  Unfortunately, this meant the three crusaders were likely not in the area.                 Rarity trotted along the edge of the chasm below, looking down below in the unlikely event that the fillies were hiding at the bottom.  “Sweetie Belle!” she called out, but heard no response.                 Stopping to hover in mid-air, the pegasus pony tensed up.  “Come on Rainbow!” she said to herself.  “Think!  Where are they…?”                 Taking everything she’s seen into account, Rainbow scanned the region.  Mountain, mountain, tree, mountain, chasm, mountain, tree, valley, mountain, mou-…..wait.  Backtracking, Rainbow focused on the empty valley that had bowl-like walls as the mountains around it kept it isolated from the rest of the range.                 Flying down towards the valley, she landed.  It was completely barren, as it was filled only with dirt, rock, and dust.  It was a strange thing to see, however; a valley void of forestation at the center of a mountain range.  Sure there weren’t that many trees, but it must’ve been there for some time.                 “Hmmm….” She pondered, rubbing her hoof around on the ground.  “Maybe there’s just no water….”  She then looked up at the sky, as it continued to be overcast.  “No, that wouldn’t make sense, it must rain here all the time….”                 This one was a mystery.  Rainbow looked out at the valley walls and followed it with her eyes until she saw a single, solitary peak rising higher than the rest of the mountains surrounding it.  The valley was almost perfectly circular, so it made the higher mountain stick out as being lined up with the curve of the walls.                 Rainbow took to the skies and returned to Rarity and Applejack.  “Hey, I think I may have found something worth looking into, follow me!”                 The two other mares were led by the pegasus around the valley wall to the mountain that towered over the others.  There was an incline rock face and a chasm at the bottom, with a single rock bridge crossing it to the mouth of a giant cavern.                 “Whoa nelly…” AJ said, bewildered at the sight of the stone stalactites and stalagmites creating the illusion of a giant, fanged mouth.                 Rainbow glided over the chasm and landed just inside the cavern entrance.  The inclined mountain overhead helped block out the light at all times, making the interior near pitch-black even along the rim.  Deeper in, it was total darkness.                 AJ and Rarity crossed the bridge and walked up alongside Rainbow, all three peering into the darkness without a word at first.                 “Scootaloo?” Rainbow half-whispered into the void.                 Her inquiry made an echo that rebounded time and again, going further into the cavern.  Everything went very silent and still, the ominous atmosphere of the dark intensifying.                 “So you are the ones what been chasing those fillies,” A deep voice replied, two giant eyes opening and gleaming through the darkness.  The cavern shook and trembled as it drew closer, the massive, gold-scaled dragon, slowly taking form as it passed out of the shadows.                 The impulse was almost indescribable, this dragon was larger than the Ursa Minor that attacked Ponyville a few years back.  Its deep growl, glowing eyes, razor-sharp claws, and looming presence was the stuff of nightmares.  Nightmares of nightmares. “B-b-b-b-big…..d-d-d-d-dragon….” Rainbow said quietly. Applejack, although terrified, took a step forward.  “W-where are our sisters!?” “Your petty disguises won’t work on me,” the giant dragon rumbled.  “I’ll rip them off of you, changelings.” “I beg your pardon!?” Rarity scoffed.  “I am a lady, not some-” “ENOUGH!” the dragon roared, slamming his claw down onto the cave floor and making the cavern shake. Rainbow’s legs trembled, but it wasn’t from the shaking ground.  The sound of her friends’ voices became blotted out and blurred, even as they looked to her, confused by her lack of response.  Frozen in place, her eyes were wide, her ears folded back, and sweat beaded down from her forehead. In her saddlebag, a dim, red light began to grow, multiple items inside floating up several inches, ever so slowly. Her friends continued to speak to her, but at this point, they were impossible to translate.  All of Rainbow’s attention remained locked on the daunting beast, glaring down upon her singularly now that she seemingly could not hear her friends.  Silver suddenly became a dreaded color to her, the giant’s eyes piercing into her very soul.  She did not know why this was happening, but it was. Stumbling backwards, Rainbow went to fly out of the cavern, but didn’t look where she was going and struck a stalactite attached to the cave ceiling.  AJ and Rarity went to her aid, but the gold dragon moved overtop of them, blocking the exit, and more or less all of the natural light in the cavern. “So fearful, this one.” The dragon boomed, his eyes providing most of the light now. During her struggle, Dash had dropped her saddlebag, her crystal having fallen out.  It was glowing now, every small object within a few feet levitating up into the air around it. Rainbow backed away to the cavern wall as the giant dragon moved in closer to her, now a little less convinced that they were a threat.  Why was she so afraid?  She didn’t even know; everything about him just became a swirling vortex of fear.  Twilight not having her to depend on, Scootaloo lost somewhere deeper in the darkness of the cavern, AJ and Rarity now in peril, all of it was not enough. Lifting her hooves up over her head, Rainbow cowered from the dragon, fear having taken total control over her.  The crystal fell to the cave floor, along with everything it was lifting, and now glowed a violent hue of red. “Rainbow….” AJ said, trying to comfort her friend. Rarity curled her lip at the sight of her friend cowering in fear.  Turning to the dragon, she scolded him.  “How dare you frighten my friend you ruffian!  I’d have half a mind to slap you if you weren’t so tall!” The dragon was about to respond, but another voice came from within the cavern.  “It’s alright Leonyx,” Daring Do trotted out from the dark.  “They aren’t changelings, they’re the real deal.” AJ and Rarity felt their mouths drop open.  Daring trotted past them to Rainbow, surprised to see her in such a way. “Rainbow….Rainbow, it’s alright.” She said soothingly. Trembling, Dash looked up, seeing her storybook hero crouched down beside her.  “D-daring…?” Applejack was so shocked, at seeing Daring here, yes, but more so at Rainbow’s response; she had never seen the brash, fearless mare so terrified….ever.  Rarity moved her gaze back to Leonyx, squinting as she dawned her you-are-so-in-trouble face. Daring helped Dash up onto her hooves, the pegasus eyeing Leonyx cautiously and with a lowered head.  “I apologize for that,” he said to her.  “I didn’t know who you were, and even then, I didn’t mean to frighten you so.” “What the hay is goin’ on here?” AJ blurted out, ridiculously confused. Daring looked back to her as she helped Rainbow walk past Leonyx and down the tunnel.  “Come on, do you want to see your sisters or not?” With Leonyx trailing behind them, the four ponies walked through the darkness for a long time.  The giant dragon breathed flames every now and then so that they could see as they went.  Rainbow looked around as they walked, slowly overcoming the shock of her intense fear-attack. “Wait…” she said, remembering what was on the other side of the mountain.  “Does this tunnel lead to that barren valley?”  She asked because she didn’t remember seeing a cave. “Not quite.” Daring chuckled. As they kept walking, a strange light rippled across the rocks in a multi-colored wave towards the darkness further down into the cavern.  When the wave reached out of sight, a blinding light appeared, illuminating the cave completely.  It was so bright that no pony’s eyes could see through it while standing in the dark.  As they approached it, they began to hear noises, impossible sounds for being out in the middle of nowhere. Eyes adjusting to the light, the three guest ponies were treated to an extraordinary sight.  A lush green valley, in the exact shape of the one outside the cave.  Hundreds upon thousands of trees lined the rim, with a river flowing through it, and at its center, a collection of small buildings resembling a village, with one larger building at the far end alongside a pond. Creatures that the three ponies had never seen before dotted the entire area, the few nearby watching them with curiosity.  They were shaped a lot like ponies, but they had elongated tails with tufts of hair at the very end.  Their bodies were covered with a combination of fur, scales, and feathers.  They all had wings, which corresponded to the color of their bodies, and their noses were just slightly longer than a pony’s.  Their eyes were different colors each, and they seemed to shimmer under the light of the sun overhead. Rarity’s eyes lit up, the inspiration for her clothes overflowing.  “What is this marvelous place?” “Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity,” Daring said to them.  “Welcome to Sunveil, lost village of the nymphs.” All over the valley, the nymphs roamed, worked, and played under the bright rays of the sun.  A few sat fishing on the edge of the pond, whilst others tended to large gardens.  There was a marketplace, a clothing parlor, a pen with animals, and even a small schoolhouse. “Village of the nymphs?” Rainbow asked, very much short on words.  “But I thought the nymphs went extinct…” “According to the outside world, they did.” Daring elaborated.  “There are few of us now that are tasked with keeping this secret.” That was when the light bulb turned on.  “Wait…” Rainbow said, thinking it over to make sure her hunch was correct.  “So when you said finding the Sapphire Stone was your first adventure….!” Daring nodded with a smug grin.  “The chief told me where the Sapphire Stone was hidden and asked me to find a better place for it.  After I succeeded, I decided that life suited me, and A.K. Yearling was born.” Rainbow’s eyes were huge with excitement.  “Sooo awesome…” “Come on,” Daring told them, waving them onward.  “I’d say it’s time for a little family reunion.” As they walked towards the town, Leonyx smiled and turned around, returning down the tunnel to the cavern entrance. “So how is all this possible?” Applejack asked as they went.  “How come we didn’t see this place on the way here?” “The cavern you came through has been enchanted,” Daring explained.  “The valley on the outside is barren and lifeless, but if it is entered through that tunnel, an ancient magic opens a special, portal to this, an ethereal copy of that valley.  Only, this one receives all of the rainwater and sunshine; the empty valley soaks up the water and it appears in the form of that stream.” Rarity was on a swivel, looking all around her as nymphs trotting by stopped to look at their new guests.  “SO MUCH INSPIRATION….!” She said to herself, practically giddy with excitement. Passing the village center, there were three little ponies, a zebra, and an older nymph standing in front of the larger building. “Apple Bloom!” AJ shouted. “Sweetie Belle!” Rarity cried. “Scootaloo!” Rainbow yelled. The three fillies jumped up in excitement and the six ponies went into full gallop towards one another, each one hugging their sister.  “I missed you so much!” “What happened to you!?” “I was so worried!”  There was such a compilation of happiness, greetings, and cheer, that Daring didn’t bother cutting in, trotting around to the others. “I had a feeling you three would find us here,” Zecora said to them.  “Nothing could keep you from the sisters you love so dear.” “Zecora!?” Rarity exclaimed. “What are y’all doin’ here!?” Applejack added on, looking at the zebra, Daring, and three previously missing fillies. The elder nymph gave a small laugh.  “Come inside, dear ponies, I shall explain all that I can.” Inside the elder’s home, it was set up much like Zecora’s hut, only with more space, ingredients, and it was wasn’t in the Everfree Forest, so much less creepy.  The ponies sat with their sisters held close, a tidal wave of relief coming over them for finally having them by their sides. The old nymph walked around and sat at the head of their circle.  “My name is Aura Song,” she introduced herself.  “Many moons ago, our kind chose to leave the realm of Equestria to the ponies, but it would not be so easy as to disappear.  Our sacred treasure, what you have come to call ‘The Sapphire Stone’, was not always as decorative as it is today.” “Decorative?” Rarity asked, wanting clarification. “The blue stone at the center, that is the treasure.” Aura Song continued.  “The idol-like relic holding it was designed to keep its power contained.” Rainbow squinted.  “Power?  What power?” Aura took up a pouch and emptied some green powder onto her paw, tossing it into the cauldron in front of her which already had a mixture inside it.  A plume of smoke shot up from it, from which the older sister ponies flinched. “Long ago, far beyond the histories of your Equestria’s books, a great evil harnessed divine powers to destroy the known world in the form of five, magic stones.” Aura told them, the plume of smoke forming the image of a shadow with red eyes, then, the smoke changed into five objects hovering in a pentagon-like circle.  “Deception…”  Applejack shied away at the word.  “Greed.”  This time, Rarity looked away.  “Cruelty.  Sorrow.  And Fear.”  Rainbow cringed away, the icy fangs of her own fear still having a grip deep down inside.  “It was with these powers united that this being discovered the sixth, the greatest form of evil and shadows that the world will ever know….”  The smoke made a sixth object appear at the center, but then the objects all blew away, as if in the wind.  Aura Song closed her eyes and the smoke dissipated as it rose out of sight. “Elder….?” Daring asked. “The Sapphire Stone brought about such great sadness in our lives…for it was one of those magic stones used so long ago.” Aura said softly.  “To be rid of it, we the nymphs had to make a great sacrifice.  We bound the stone with all the magic we could muster, and hid ourselves away from the world, forever.” “So….” AJ asked.  “What would happen if that there stone was removed from its idol?” Aura feared the very thought of it.  “Great sorrow, my dear Applejack.  Even the happiest of souls would feel the greatest of sorrow.” “These magic stones,” Rainbow asked her.  “What did they look like?” “The others?” Aura asked.  “I couldn’t know.  They were dispersed to all the great races of the world before Equestria, after the cataclysmic event that separated us for many millennia.  We, the nymphs, were left with Sorrow.” Rainbow’s mind was still rattled from before, but the pieces all seemed to be there; deception, greed, cruelty, sorrow….fear, and….a sixth.  “What was the sixth?  You said it was the greatest form of evil in the world.” Aura slowly shook her head.  “We do not know.  All we know is that once the five have been brought together….a spark shall reveal the sixth.”