//------------------------------//
// Prologue 
// Story: The After Years 
// by FoxMcCloud7921 
//------------------------------//

The town of Hollow Shades could hardly be called a town, more so a village considering it only consisted of about twenty buildings, most of them housing. Located on the eastern parts of Equestria, Hollow Shades was rather secluded, being enveloped in a large forest and adjacent to Foal Mountain. As such, it didn’t attract a large number of tourists, though most that did visit mostly came for the wrong reasons. 

The name Hollow Shades wasn’t exactly the most uplifting and asking anyone from places like Manehattan or Appleloosa about it would most likely get you a response somewhere between a look of disdain and literal shivers down their spine. To be fair, most of the negative responses were from those who’d never set hoof in said place. After all, according to ponies who had either lived there previously or traveled there, the ponies there were always welcoming and kind (more than what one would get visiting Manehattan) and as another plus, a branch of the Apple family resided there so surely it couldn’t be all bad. Of course, mostly everyone in and out of the village don’t usually talk about one thing: The Well.

The Well of Shade, as its formerly called, sometimes known as the Well of Shadows, has a bit of dark history. While its not well known to those of Equestria, stories have been told that the Well of Shade was where a creature of great darkness was born. The details differ slightly from pony to pony, but the urban legend says that this creature haunted the bowels of Hollow Shades over a thousand years ago and it was only defeated due to the actions of the Pillars, champions that guarded and protected Equestria’s lands. Of course, their stories had been diminished and lost over time as well. Nowadays, the creature, known as the Pony of Shadows, was diminished to a boogeyman type of creature, only to come out if fillies and colts didn’t stay in bed and sleep.

Years have passed since that fateful day in the well and Hollow Shades was as quiet as ever. However, as anyone who has lost someone has always been told, “No one’s ever really gone.”




Underneath Hollow Shades, the Well of Shade was as quiet as ever except for the occasional sound of water dripping somewhere in the distance. The water had dried up long ago and the foundation was crumbling away slowly over the years. Archaeologists who had visited the well many years ago had theorized that centuries ago Hollow Shades could have been part of a much larger community that would have rivaled even Manehattan, though there wasn’t much to go on with that.

The sound of water soon disappeared and it became quiet, almost unnaturally quiet. Then, the small amount of light inside became to dim as the ground started to shake. Anyone above would most likely feel a small tremor.
Almost as quickly as it started, the shaking stopped. There was a pause for a few moment before a loud boom emanated throughout the well and everything inside was suddenly enveloped in darkness.