“Hmm.”
“What’s on your mind?”
“Really? Princess Twilight plans to free Star Swirl the Bearded and his fellow Pillars from Limbo, and you ask what’s on my mind?”
“I mean, obviously, this is a big deal; we’re both thinking about it. But knowing you, you’ve already considered every possible outcome of this scheme.”
“One stands out as the most likely, though; as soon as the Pillars are freed, the Pony of Shadows won’t be far behind.”
“That… would be bad.”
“Undoubtedly. However…”
“‘However’ what? How can you possibly turn this into a good thing?”
“We could use this as an opportunity to correct what is, quite possibly, the biggest friendship failure in history.”
“…Okay, see, you lost me.”
“I’m talking about Stygian. I know what happened between him and the other Pillars was well before the Tree of Harmony, but the fact that Stygian fell at all never sat right with me.”
“You can blame Star Swirl for that one. The guy never did put much stock in the intricacies of friendship.”
“My point still stands. We now have the chance to repair a friendship problem that effectively altered the world.”
“A bit hyperbolic, don’t you think?”
“Not when it removed six of the most influential ponies from that plane of existence.”
“…I still think you’re exaggerating a little, but if the Pony of Shadows does come back, it’s only going to be bad for everyone. This should be taken care of.”
“Okay, then, what’s our first step?”
“You’re asking me?”
“This isn’t like the other missions we’ve sent them; technically, Stygian doesn’t even exist right now. It’ll be hard to call anyone for a friendship mission if the pony in need isn’t around. So we need to think outside the box for this one.”
“As subtle as ever, I see. But I get your point. The obvious answer would be to actually have the Pillars, and by extension the Pony of Shadows, reenter this plane.”
“The princess already figured out how the spell works, so we don’t have to worry about that.”
“Refresh my memory, though; how did Star Swirl open a portal to Limbo in the first place?”
“Simple magic, really.”
“…”
“Well, simple for him, at least. After working with that portal to the realm of… humans, I think they’re called… opening a portal to a space between worlds was easy by comparison. The real trick was pulling the Pony of Shadows into it. The Pillars would have to work together, using powerful magic from their own souls to fully accomplish this plan.”
“I’m no expert in the more technical aspects of magic, but wouldn’t power on that scale leave some kind of impact?”
“Hmm. You may be right. We both saw what happened when Princess Twilight set the book down at Ponehenge; Star Swirl’s leftover magic was just enough to show what had happened all those years ago.”
“If that’s the case, maybe the Pillars’ other possessions would have magic just as strong?”
“That’s certainly plausible.”
“If the girls could obtain those items, combined with Twilight’s reverse engineering of the original spell, the combined magic might be able to reopen the portal to Limbo. Do those items still exist?”
“We already saw Meadowbrook’s mask a few weeks back, so I’d have to imagine the rest should be somewhere.”
“Hang on. Princess Twilight’s reading from the journal.”
“Sounds like an entry on the Pillars.”
“Woah, woah, woah. I think I just got an idea.”
“Do tell.”
“Give me a moment. If I can sync the map’s magic with that of the journal, focus on that journal entry… Okay, next, we take the memories embedded into the page…”
“I thought you said you didn’t know much about magic.”
“First off, I only know as much as a Watcher of the Map should, and that’s still enough to know how to manipulate it. Second, this is actually pretty complicated, so don’t interrupt me.”
“Well, sorry.”
“…now for the magic-shaping… and presto!”
“…Wow. And here I thought making Starlight’s marker was impressive.”
“It was a little more difficult, given the magic energies I had to work with, but my creativity never fails.”
“You know, it’d be nice if I could give you a compliment without you letting it go to your head.”
“Just as well. I haven’t even finished yet.”
“Wait, what?”
“Pillar markers are nice and all, but they won’t do us any good if we can’t place them. Fortunately, I managed to tie Star Swirl’s latent magic memories to these markers, so they’ll immediately fly to whichever magic signal most closely resembles their intended Pillar.”
“…I’d compliment you again, but I know how you’d take it.”
“I’ll just be flattered anyway. But enough of that. We’ve got Pillars and Ponies of Shadows to free.”
“Here’s hoping, then.”
“Calling everypony. Your mission begins here.”
“They’re back. And they brought company. Glad to see the Pillars are all healthy. How are things on our end?”
“I’m still working on finding the Pony of Shadows. You’d think it wouldn’t be this hard to find a creature of all-consuming darkness.”
“Try focusing on naturally dark areas. He’ll want to be somewhere with as little light as possible to regain his power.”
“Got it.”
“…”
“Maybe if I tr… What the—?!”
“What’s going on?”
“Some kind of external magic is infiltrating the system. I can’t keep the map focused on the search.”
“Let me get a good look at the throne room.”
“…”
“It’s okay. It’s just Star Swirl.”
“Wait, what? Star Swirl?! What is he—?”
“Give me a sec… It’s an origin revelation spell. He’s trying to find out what the map is.”
“I don’t care what spell it is! It’s messing with the search!”
“Just let him do his thing. Better to work with Star Swirl than try to fight him.”
“Ugh. Fine. Accessing image of the Tree of Harmony. That should keep him off our back.”
“…”
“You know, I really shouldn’t be surprised.”
“What do you mean?”
“Star Swirl always was the type of pony to act first and ask questions never. I mean, when you stop and think about it, this whole mess was basically his fault.”
“…That might have been a little harsh.”
“Oh yeah? Stygian may have been jealous of the Pillars, but Star Swirl didn’t even want to know why. He was all, ‘I’m a genius, so I know what’s what. He’s turned evil, therefore, he must be evil forever. No, I won’t question why our friend turned to darkness, because he’s evil and that’s all there is to it.’”
“Okay, okay, I get it.”
“I mean, not that it was preferable, and this may really make me sound terrible, but I’m sort of glad he sent himself to Limbo; imagine if he’d been around during Luna’s corruption.”
“…I… don’t know if I like your tone… but I can’t say you’re wrong, either.”
“Just stating the facts.”
“Well, the last thing we need is to worry about hypotheticals; we’ve done enough of that to last for an eternity.”
“…”
“Oh, finally, the map’s back online. Now we can…! Oh, what now?!”
“What’s wrong?”
“Apparently, Star Swirl’s not done messing with our map.”
“Looks like he’s marking a few places. He’s saying something about dark places where the Pony of Shadows might be.”
“Then… why does he have a mark above Manehattan? I mean, they call it the ‘city that never sleeps’ for a reason. Actually, come to think of it, all of these places are pretty, um, light on the darkness. I swear that pun snuck up on me at the last minute.”
“We’ll worry about your bad jokes later. Let me take a look.”
“…”
“Hmm. Okay, this is just going from my memory, but it is a pretty good memory. These places may not be dark now, but Star Swirl’s going off his own recollections; these areas were dark during his time.”
“You see? This is what I was talking about; he just assumes something and doesn’t admit to the possibility of being wrong until after the fact.”
“I get it, already. Luckily, this marking spell is not as intrusive as the revelation spell; we should be able to continue our search for the Pony of Shadows.”
“Small miracle, I guess. Hey, can you carry on without me?”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m applying what we learned from past mistakes. After what happened with Starlight, I want to make sure the map will still work after this.”
“As bad as you say Star Swirl is, I doubt he’d intentionally harm our map.”
“That’s what you said about Starlight, remember?”
“You do realize that her intentions were not so pure, right?”
“Regardless, I’ll feel better knowing for sure. No harm in checking, right?”
“Fine. You have fun.”
“And as we figured, the Pony of Shadows was nowhere to be found. Us, one; Star Swirl, zip.”
“You can’t blame a pony who’s been gone for a thousand-plus years for having outdated information. How’s the magical matrix?”
“Well, you were partially right about Star Swirl. Most of the stray magic I found barely did anything to actually corrupt the map. Although, I would like to point out that his markers are still slowing us down.”
“I figured that already. Fortunately, Star Swirl has already removed most of them. It won’t be long until he gets rid of the last one.”
“Let’s hope so. Did you make any headway in finding the Pony of Shadows?”
“I’m getting close. I’m hoping to use his dark energy to act like a compass.”
“Better than nothing, I guess.”
“…”
“Hey! The last marker’s gone!”
“And the system is running at full magical efficiency. And right on cue, I think I may have found something.”
“I realize you’re probably tired of hearing me complain about Star Swirl at this point…”
“Not that that’s stopped you…”
“…but doesn’t this just prove my point about him never thinking about these things?”
“Like I just said; Star Swirl doesn’t know any better. This map, this plane of existence, is beyond any mortal comprehension, even his own. I wouldn’t be surprised if even Princess Twilight considers this map nothing more than a soulless entity that just so happens to pick up certain problems that need taking care of.”
“…Well, when you put it like that, it sounds nihilistic.”
“Just putting things into perspective… Hold on. I have something.”
“Finally.”
“I picked up the Shadow’s dark energy around Hollow Shades. I haven’t confirmed it yet, but the odds are pretty likely.”
“Just keep looking. As soon as we’re sure, we’ll…! Oh, come on. Seriously?”
“What? I’m not seeing anything wrong with the map.”
“No, Star Swirl’s not doing anything to the map, thank the deities. But Princess Twilight just came in with a plan to minimize the risks of Star Swirl’s plan, and he just tossed it aside without so much as a glance!”
“Hey, calm down, alright. I’ll admit, given the circumstances, it’s not the most fair thing he’s done today, but at this point, you’re starting to get upset over something we have no control over.”
“I realize I’m beating a dead horse at this point, but part of me thinks he could use one. I mean, he just snubbed an alicorn princess, for goodness’ sake!”
“A princess whose friends have seemed to have it handled by now, so let’s focus on our task.”
“…”
“Sorry. I guess seeing Star Swirl after all these centuries has brought up some old feelings. You know I’m the more emotional of the two of us.”
“I’m not saying you don’t have a right to be angry at him. Star Swirl disregarded friendship in favor of his magical studies, a trend I’ve noticed does not end with him. But your outbursts are hindering our ability to do our jobs. Besides, if this mission ends in success, perhaps it’ll change Star Swirl for the better.”
“Not to be more of a downer than I’ve been all day, but that’s a big if. Princess Twilight’s been hanging on his every word and seeking his approval since he got back. I wouldn’t be too surprised if this ends with ‘Shadow’s Banishment: Part II.’”
“Well, Starlight seems to be the one thinking outside the box, right now, so there’s still hope.”
“…”
“Hey, wait. Try looking down there.”
“Where?”
“That well. Hollow Shade is pretty dark already, but there’s something about that well that seems… darker still.”
“Hang on… Oh, I remember this place: the Well of Shade. It was a popular hangout spot for forces dedicated to the rise of darkness. If memory serves, it’s where Stygian first accepted the power that turned him into the Pony of Shadows.”
“And if we tracked him to Hollow Shade…”
“There he is. His power is building. We need to send them now.”
“I hope you’re right about all this.”
“If you want the truth… I do too.”
“Calling everypony, your mission begins here!”