A certain dark laboratory was silent, the suited pony known as Void busy looking over a staff that was made of a black metal that was roughly five foot in height with a green orb on the top that was surrounded by four black claw-like instruments. Etched into the metal were multiple runes, which looked more complicated than anything used by Solid Script or other rune users.
"Alright..." Void whispered as he reached for a section of the staff in the middle that appeared to twist, the pony turning it and causing the claws on the top to open up. The green gem fell out and Void caught it, the pony squinting his eyes to see the image of an hourglass inside. He then turned to another workbench that had two electronic stopwatches on it. Both were in perfect sync, even changing minutes at the exact same time. He picked up one and pressed the gem to the back of it, the crystal letting out a flash. The light hit the watch and became a rune, Void putting the watch back down and turning back to the staff.
He placed the crystal back on the head and twisted the area that caused the claws to close around it, the pony then lifting the staff up and took it over to another bench. There a device appearing like a dome covered in wires with a hole in the top was sitting. Void flicked the many switches on the device and twisted the nobs, the dome beginning to light up and hum. He then lifted the staff and after a quick breath, which was deep and raspy, he shoved the staff's tip into the hole. The runes along the staff began to glow from the base up, reaching the crystal and causing it to glow brightly.
The gem unleashed a bright light that filled the entire room, Void turning to the stopwatches. As he did this, the one with the rune on the back glowed the same color as the staff, and after a few seconds, it suddenly blinked out of existence. "Finally," Void muttered, "It works." He turned back to the staff and a minute after the watch vanished, he pulled it out of the dome. The staff stopped glowing and the light around the room vanished. A few moments later, the watch reappeared where it had previously been. Void moved over to the watch and checked it. It was one minute behind the first watch, both still changing minutes at the exact same time, but were now out of sync. "Just as I thought." He turned back to the staff. "You will definitely be useful..." He glanced back at the dome, "But your range still isn't large enough. You need more power." He let out a cough before putting the staff down. "I'll need time to construct a more powerful unit."
Before he could say anything, a beeping noise made him turn to a computer. Walking over to it, he typed away as a light activated behind a metal door. "It's time." He moved over to the frame and looked through the window. "You're my last chance. If you cannot take what I need, then I'll be forced to get involved myself." He took out a picture and placed it against the window, as a pair of red lights filling the room. "Find, capture and return him to me." The figure inside the chamber let out a growl as a new light appeared on its forehead.
Void backpedaled at this, something now slamming into the door and ripping it off its hinges. It was a large spike of ice that quickly shattered into ice cubes as the figure inside stepped out. The sight made Void, "Excellent. You are my ultimate creation. You have information on everypony that could cause me issue. Now go! Go and claim what is rightfully mine!"
Several weeks later...
Canterlot Castle was brimming with activity as the Rune Gate room began to shine. From out of the light of the gate, Twilight Sparkle, Flash Sentry, the rest of the Mane Seven, Defenders, Starlight and Spike stepped out. The guards stood to attention at the sight of the princess.
"Your majesty," the lead guard announced, "Princess Celestia and Luna are waiting for you in the throne room."
"Thank you," Twilight nodded as the group made their way down the hall. As they did, Twilight couldn't help but frown. "What could Celestia and Luna be worried about? They wouldn't have told us to use the Rune Gate unless it was something important."
"Do you think Tirek escaped from Tartarus again?" Rainbow asked.
"Or maybe Malafear's back," Fluttershy quivered.
Flash turned to them, "Whatever the problem is, we'll handle it." They all nodded in agreement before reaching the throne room, soon seeing Celestia and Luna on their thrones along with somepony else.
"Sunburst?" Starlight asked, seeing her childhood friend standing at the base of the throne with the princesses. "What are you doing here?"
"Sunburst is the reason we called you all here," Celestia responded, "He has found something that will be of great interest to everypony here."
"You have?" Twilight asked, the unicorn nodding.
"Yes," he held up a blue book with a star on the cover surrounded by swirls. "Do you remember the blind buy I got when I came to Ponyville?" Starlight and Twilight nodded, "Well this was inside it."
"An old book?" Iron asked. He was about to ask what was so special, but then he remembered he had been turned into a dragon and brainwashed because of a book. "What's it about?"
"Well, that's the amazing thing. I think this book once belonged...to Starswirl the Bearded." The ponies all gasped hearing this, Twilight looking ready to faint. "It's in old ponish, the same language that was around in his day. And several sections talk about events only Starswirl would know about. But it's the last part of the book that made me decide to bring it to show the princesses."
He turned to the alicorns and began to read. The story in the book talked about how Starswirl had united with five other ponies of legend. Flash Magnus the Brave, Rockhoof the Strong, Meadowbrook the Healing, Somnambula the Hopeful and Mistmane the Beautiful. These ponies had been brought together by another pony, the six of them acting as Equestria's greatest protectors. But then the pony who united them tried to steal their power and was cast out, later returning after gaining the power of darkness and becoming the Pony of Shadows.
The final page talked about how the Pony of Shadows attempted to rob the world of its light and hope, but that the Six Pillars made a sacrifice to stop him and left behind a seed that would hopefully grow into a force that would stand against the darkness for all time.
"...I only hope it will be enough," Sunburst finished reading before looking up at the princesses. "That's the last entry." He turned to the others, "And maybe Starswirl's final words before he vanished."
Everypony gasped at this, Celestia grabbing the book in her magic and floating it over to her and Luna, the pair beginning to flick through the novel. "I've always wondered what happened to Starswirl." She smiled at the unicorn stallion, "This is quite a discovery, Sunburst." Sunburst bowed as Twilight stepped forward, looking more excited than Flash had ever seen her.
"So, it's genuine?" She asked, "You can verify that this journal really belonged to Starswirl the Bearded?!"
"Indeed," Luna nodded, "From the looks of it, its the last thing he wrote before facing the Pony of Shadows."
"Uh..." Rainbow chimed in, "So, the Pony of Shadows was really real?" They had heard stories of this creature, but many believed it was just a story you told foals to get them to bed. If the Pony of Shadows sees you're awake at night, he'll whip you away to the realm of darkness of all time.
"It appears so," Celestia replied.
"We never met the other Pillars," Luna added, "And we were too young to understand the danger they faced."
"So were the Pillars a thing before he found you two in the Lost City of Faust or just...happened after he got back with you?" Flash asked, getting a shrug from the alicorns in question.
"Hold on a second now," Applejack called out, "All those legendary ponies were real, too? And they went off with Starswirl to face the Pony of Shadows, and then none of them were ever heard from again?"
She turned to Sunburst for confirmation, the unicorn nodding as Pinkie leapt up next to her, "Uh, yeah! Weren't you listening?"
"Them disappearing is likely why we thought they were legends," Grand chimed in, "Honestly, the only reason Starswirl was a confirmed historical figure was because he wrote so much down. And since the princesses never met the other Pillars, they couldn't tell the rest of Equestria they existed."
"Makes sense," Lightning nodded, "There's a lot about Equestria nopony knows just because at the time, the ponies of the kingdom had more important things to do than write anything down."
"But what happened to them all?" Fluttershy asked.
"They must have defeated the villain," Rarity guessed, "Since Equestria is still full of light and hope and all..."
"But how?" Starlight asked, "And where did they go?"
"Maybe it was a suicide mission?" Springer added, "Maybe Starswirl and the others were destroyed along with the Pony of Shadows. It does say they were making a sacrifice." Everypony grimaced at this, nopony liking the sound of that, especially Twilight and Flash who wouldn't want such a tragic end to their mythological idols. Twilight had always been a big fan of Starswirl and Flash's father had stated that their family were said to descend from Flash Magnus, which was why they had named their son after him.
"My Olde Ponish is a bit rusty," Celestia muttered as she looked through the book. "But I wonder if the answers can be found somewhere within the pages of this book."
She turned to the two Olde Ponish experts. "Well," Twilight rubbed her hoof to her chest, "I just happen to be an expert in Olde Ponish. I mean, I've practically memorized every ancient text about Starswirl there is!"
She happily jogged on the spot, while Spike facepalmed. "Seriously," he nodded, "All of them."
"We have fond memories of our old teacher," Luna replied with a smile to her sister. "If you could discover what happened to him, we would be most grateful." She floated the book over and Twilight leapt into the air, grabbing it as Sunburst looked excited.
"Solving a thousands-year-old mystery could take forever!" He excalimed before turning to shove his face into Applejack's, "Think of the research! The re-reading! The re-re-reading!"
The others smiled at his child-like excitement, Celestia chuckling behind her hoof. "You might find you need help."
"Luckily," Applejack stepped up, "She's got a whole bushel o' helpers right here."
"Totally!" Rainbow cheered before turning to the others, "Uh...how long will all this research take, exactly?"
"Let's get this back to my library," Twilight replied, "I'm sure we'll figure out what happened in no time." They all cheered in agreement and headed for the doors, leaving the princesses sitting together feeling nostalgic for the old days of their training with their mentor.
"Remember how annoyed Starswirl would get whenever we started arguing?" Luna asked Celestia, who laughed.
"Yes. It was many years later that I realized that's why he started putting bells on his outfit." They both laughed and then sighed, "I do hope they're able to discover what happened to him. If the Pony of Shadows somehow survived and is biding his time, we'll need all the info we can get on how to stop him." Luna nodded in agreement, hoping the same thing.
And so, the group returned to Twilight Castle and began their research, attempting to figure out what each and every word in the book meant. Twilight was generous enough to create a rudimentary Olde to Modern Ponish translator, which the ponies used to decipher the different parts of the journal. But no matter what they managed to translate, the group were no closer to finding what happened to Starswirl and the others pillars.
Then on the morning of the third day of research, Spike entered the library with a fresh candle and a loud yawn. He stepped over to Twilight, who was half-asleep as she leaned against the table staring at the journal. He placed the candle down and let out another yawn. "Figure it out yet, Twilight?" She shook her head as Spike picked up the burnt out candle and tossed it into a nearby bin, which was full of burnt out candles, the sound causing Sunburst to wake up after having spent the night sleeping while buried by scrolls.
"What did you figure out?" He asked, his sleep riddled mind mistaking what Twilight had said. His voice caused the others to wake up, Pinkie gasping as she pulled her face out of the cupcakes she had fallen asleep in.
"You figured something out?" She slurped up the cupcake on her forehead while the others started coming around.
"What is it?" Fluttershy asked, Twilight sighing in response.
"Nothing. I mean, Starswirl was a genius, obviously. But forget Olde Ponish. There's parts where his horn-writing is like another language!" She let out a groan, as Flash stretched out his back.
"Now we see where Celestia and Luna learned to write." He turned to the others, "Have you read their writing? It took me years to figure out some of the stuff Celestia wrote."
"That's because she was writing in cursive," Twilight growled as Applejack pushed a bunch of books out of the way so the princess could see her.
"Twilight, we've been studyin' and referencin' and cross-referencin' for three days straight now."
"Ugh," Rainbow moaned. "I haven't spent this much time reading since the last Daring Do book came out."
"Perhaps it is time to take a break," Rarity suggested as Starlight arrived with a fresh pot of coffee. "This mystery is over a thousand years old, after all. Another day or two won't make a difference."
"Two days?! I don't want to waste two seconds!" She trotted away from the table as Starlight put the coffee down, stepping up to a blackboard covered in little bits of interesting information she was sure was important. But they were missing something. A crucial piece that linked them all together. "I'm close to an answer. I can feel it."
"Maybe the answer can't be found," Flash added, the princess spinning around and glaring at him, "Not that I don't wanna find out what happened, but this happened over a thousand years ago. Everything that explained what happened was probably lost or destroyed centuries ago. There's no way this one book will have all the answers Twi."
"Maybe...but-"
"Hearg sylfum se Ponhenge." Twilight turned to Starlight Glimmer as she saw she was now reading out of the book, Starlight turning to Twilight once she had finished. "What's that?"
Twilight ran over and read it as well, "The Temple of Ponhenge?!" She turned to Starlight. "You can read that?!"
Starlight shrugged, "The horn-writing's pretty sloppy, but it's nowhere near as bad as mine." She stared at the book and started reading the words, most of them being so strange that the others could barely register what she was saying. Luckily, Sunburst was there to translate.
"At the base of Foal Mountain..." Starlight read the next line, Twilight's gasping when she heard it.
"Our last stand." The others shared a glance, only for the tension to be broken when Spike let out a yawn.
"Well," he had piled up several pillows and climbed onto them, "That sure sounds like a clue to me." He blew out the candle and started to go to sleep, the others rolling their eyes as Sunburst grabbed another book and opened it up. Placing it on the table, the others stared at the image drawn onto the page.
The inscription was of a forest, with an open clearing that had several rocks. "That's the place!" Twilight exclaimed, "That's where we'll find the answers we seek!"
"If the place even exists," Rainbow added, "It's been a thousand years. The place could be buried under who knows what."
"Well, there's only one way to find out," Flash told her, "Pack your bags ponies. We're heading to Foal Mountain."
Everypony nodded, and Twilight wanted to head out as soon as possible, but was overruled by the others saying that searching for a missing historical monument was not to be done with next to no sleep. And so, they spent the rest of the day gathering the equipment they would need and getting some much-needed rest.
When Heart and Soul heard about their little quest, they begged to come. Twilight happily agreed, but told the pair they would need to do a report on the site when they got back. The twins weren't exactly thrilled by this, but agreed to the terms. And after much preparation and a good night's sleep, the Mane Seven, Starlight, Sunburst, Spike, Springer and the twins headed off to Foal Mountain.
Taking the train, they arrived in the area not too far from the mountain. Twilight stared at the mountain, then down at the journal and the book Sunburst had shown them. "Now that we know which mountain Ponhenge is located near, it should be easy to determine where it is based on the landmarks." She started checking the book, then looking up at the mountainous area.
Flash glanced in next, seeing the drawing had been made from atop the mountain. He then turned to see more mountains off in the distance, noting the same number as the ones in the background of the book. "I think those might be the mountains in the book."
"Which means..." Twilight pointed to an area to the left of Foal Mountain, "Ponhenge has to be in that area of the woods." The others nodded and began their trek, Flash and Springer using their weapons to cut through the thick foliage. Heart offered to help, but Twilight told him that fire near a historical site was never a good idea.
They pushed their way through the brush and after an hour of moving back and forth, parts of the woods starting to get less dense. "There's something close by," Flash told them as he cut down another branch. "Something that's keeping this part of the forest from growing thicker."
Another five minutes, and the woods started to get thinner until Soul spotted something. "There!" She yelled, pointing at a hole in the brush. The others looked through it and saw a clearing through the trees.
"Come on!" Twilight exclaimed, racing ahead as she took out the journal. They all made their way through the trees, soon seeing a circle of clear stone flooring with several stone pillars sticking out of the ground. Each pillar had a flat rock in front of them and in the center of the circle, a stone basin could be seen. "This is it. Ponhenge. I can't believe it."
They began to look around, Springer holding up a paw. "There's a very strong aura trace here. It's faint, but still visible. Something happened that stained this place with enough spiritual energy that I can still feel it now."
Sunburst walked over to one of the pillars and brushed aside a vine covering several markings. "I've never seen magical runes like these before!" He turned to Twilight, "Have you?"
"No..." Twilight replied with a huge grin.
"I don't think anypony's seen any of this for a long time," Rainbow added as she flew up and grabbed a vine wrapped around the pillar, pulling it in an attempt to break it off. But it stayed strong and Rainbow eventually lost her grip. "Whoa!" She yelped as she fell back and crashed into a bush.
Applejack ran up and dragged her out by the tail, Rainbow grumbling at this. The farm pony then looked around, now seeing that all the foliage had managed to creep into the site. The rock floor had several cracks rushing through it, allowing weeds and other plants to grow into the henge. "It'd take a whole team of ponies to clear away all this brush."
"I can get it done in ten seconds," Heart ignited his hoof until Twilight told him sternly no. He grumbled and put out the flame while Fluttershy tried to brush away some dust from a pillar. But doing so made part of the rock break away, the mare quickly picking it up and trying to put it back.
"Even if we get this cleared, I'm not sure we'd find out what happened here over a thousand years ago."
Twilight, who had been looking inside the basin, sighed as she shut the book. "You're right." She began to march towards one of the pillars. "I suppose it was a long shot."
Spike then patted her shoulder, "Cheer up Twilight. Finding a whole set of ancient ruins is pretty impressive. Maybe you could write a paper on it."
"I know. I guess I just hoped we'd get here and the mystery would just magically be explained." As she said that, she cut the magic holding Starswirl's journal and the book dropped onto the stone in front of the pillar.
But as this happened, the symbol on the book suddenly started to glow. Twilight didn't notice, but Spike did. "Uh...Twilight?" He stepped back as Twilight raised an eyebrow, only to gasp as she saw the book glow.
Flash and Springer jumped in front of her, getting into a battle stance...only for the book to shoot open and the pages began to glow. The light shot up and spiraled around, eventually forming an image.
"Starswirl!?" Twilight whispered. The unicorn magician stood atop the stone platform, looking just like Spike had seen him during his visions of his parents.
"How..." Springer asked before Flash chimed in.
"Maybe he used the same spell he used on Malafear." Flash noticed Starswirl was looking ghostly, like he wasn't truly there. "Maybe he sucked his soul into the book?"
Twilight stepped over to her idol, "I...I've wanted to meet you my whole life!" She started hovering as she clapped her hooves together, "I can't believe you're here!" But as she said that, Sunburst walked over to Starswirl's ghost and waved a hoof through him, only for it to pass through.
"I don't think he's here," he looked back to Twilight, only for his eyes to go wide. "I don't think any of them are." He pointed behind them and they all spun around, gasping when they saw a ghostly figure appearing in front of each of the pillars. One was a pegasus that looked like a redheaded version of Flash, wearing armor and carrying a bronze shield. Another was a giant blue earth pony, even large than Big Mac, with an orange mane, tail and beard carrying a large shovel. Then there was a tall elderly looking pink unicorn mare with flowing green hair carrying a flower. One was a pink pegasus mare wearing egyptian style clothing carrying a cloth, and the last was a blue earth pony mare with a red mane tied into a spiral-shape wearing a green dress and a strange looking bird mask on her face.
"Oookay," Flash said, "I'm lost. What the heck is going on?"
Starswirl then fired a blast of magic from his horn, which shot into the basin and caused a large black blob to appear. It quickly formed into a sphere before a large black leg shot out of it and hit the ground. This was followed by another, then another and another. The sphere then began to melt away, revealing the figure inside: The Pony of Shadows.
In some way, Flash was reminded of Sombra. The creature looked like a unicorn made entirely out of the darkness with a long curved horn. Only instead of being a solid creature that could shift into a shadow form, this being was completely made of shadow with glowing white eyes and a gaseous tail and mane.
The Pony of Shadows let out a mighty laugh that sent a chill down everypony's spine as he turned to Starswirl, "You summon me at your peril, Starswirl!" The modern day ponies stepped out of the circle, some hiding behind the pillars as the shadow monster glanced around. "Once I defeat all of you, this realm will embrace the darkness as I did so long ago!" With that, a pair of bat-like wings shot out of his back, Flash now reminded of Shadow Corrupter's wings when he used his powered-up form.
The Pony of Shadows let out a roar as his body unleashed web-like shadows that struck the pillars and wrapped them up. He laughed again as the area around them seemed to turn darker, Twilight and Sunburst running to Starswirl as the webs pulled him off the platform. "Drawing me here will only make me stronger! You will never defeat me!"
Starswirl glared up at the monster, "We did not come here to defeat you." As he said that, his horn glowed and unleashed a light that destroyed the webs holding him. The Pony of Shadows gasped at this as Starswirl stood up with his journal floating above him.
The book unleashed a bright light that struck Magnus' shield, freeing him before moving to Mistmane's flower, freeing her. It then struck Somnambula's blindfold, Meadowbrooke's mask and Rockhoof's shovel before returning to the book and forming a hexagon of light around the Pony of Shadows.
"What are you doing?!" The Pony of Shadows yelled.
"We came..." Starswirl continued, "...to contain you." With that, the ponies, their adversary and the six items all floated above Ponhenge. The light they gave off grew brighter and brighter, blinding those watching as the Pony of Shadows let out a cry of pain, fear and anger.
And in a flash, the ponies all vanished while the items fell to the ground. When each one struck a platform, the illusion shattered like glass. The fake journal struck the real one and exploded, the real book closing as the light it gave off vanished. Everypony simply stared at the area around them, some wondering if another illusion would appear at any moment. But when it was clear none would, Pinkie turned to smile at Twilight, "Well, you did ask for a magical explanation."
After a minute or so of being in total awe at the situation, Rainbow asked the question they were all thinking. "Uh...what just happened?"
"Yeah," Heart nodded, "Nopony said we'd be dealing with ghosts."
"Those weren't ghosts," Soul chimed in, "They were...um...I don't know what it was, but it wasn't ghosts."
"Then what did happen?" Springer asked as Starlight rubbed her hoof along the basin that the Pony of Shadows had been standing in.
"It looked like Starswirl cast a spell that banished the Pony of Shadows."
"Of course!" Sunburst gasped, "Powerful magic like that would leave an impression on this place." He turned to the book, which Twilighthad just picked back up. "Bringing the book back here let us see what happened."
"Which was what?" Applejack asked, turning to Twilight as she stared at the relic.
She swung her wing around the book, hugging it close to her chest. "Starswirl and the rest of the Pillars sacrificed themselves to save Equestria...that's what happened to them."
Everypony frowned at this, now knowing the truth. Twilight and Sunburst continued studying the place for another two hours, only to find nothing. Seeing no other reason to stay and the sun threatening to go down in the next hour or two, the ponies all returned to the train station and headed back to Ponyville.
And when they got back to town, Twilight ran off to her library. The others went about their daily routine, knowing Twilight would prefer to focus on the newly discovered mystery. Starlight and Sunburst would have joined her, but decided to relax after all the hard work they had put in to uncovering what had happened.
Nopony other than those who lived in the castle saw Twilight for another three days, and by that point the princess had called a large meeting for everypony to come see what she had discovered. And when those that had gone to Ponhenge arrived along with the rest of the defenders, they found themselves in the throne room. It was full of boxes, with the map having been activated as well.
"I know I've finished one of Starswirl's spells before, but this one was on a whole different level!" Twilight leapt up as several books floated towards her. "Was it an explosion of magical feedback? An evocation? A kind of incantation? It's Starswirl, so the possibilities are endless!" When she said that, the books went flying and Iron had to duck so has to not get beamed on the head.
"Twilight," Flash called up to her, "Maybe you wanna calm down for a second and tell us why you called us?"
"I am calm!" Twilight replied, "Starlight set me on the right track with his crazy horn-writing-" She let out a laughing snort, "I mean, he was a genius, so I guess we can forgive a little messiness." She pulled out the book and accidently hit Applejack in the face with it. "I went through the journal again, and it's amazing!"
"How much coffee do you think she's had?" Springer whispered to Flash, the defender shivering at the thought.
"Twilight, darling..." Rarity called out, "We understand you're excited, but that's all we understand."
"What exactly is so amazing?" Rainbow asked, only for Twilight to fly down and get right up into Rainbow's face.
"Only how Starswirl and the other Pillars sent the Pony of Shadows to limbo!"
The ponies all shared a glance, Applejack asking, "They did what now?"
Twilight then flew down to her throne and pulled out a cardboard diorama of Ponhenge. Putting it on the table, sheh made a magic ball appear above it to act like a portal. "They used their magic to open a portal between worlds – to limbo – and pulled the Pony of Shadows inside." The sphere grew larger and larger, eventually consuming the whole diorama before it exploded in a poof of smoke.
"Darling," Rarity gasped, "Your diorama!"
"I made more!" Twilight responded, pointing to a nearby table that was covered in identical copies of the fake Ponhenge.
"Of course you did," Flash deadpanned as Twilight opened the book again.
"Starswirl thought the only way to trap the Pony of Shadows in limbo was for the Pillars to take him there."
"So they got stuck too?" Applejack asked, Twilight nodding.
"So Starswirl's plan to get rid of an evil was to toss it in someplace else and hope it never comes back?" Flash added in a low bored tone, "What a surprise."
"Flash! He sacrificed his life for this!" Twilight barked back.
"Twilight...no offense, but he wasn't exactly original with beating evil. He did the exact same thing to Malafear and the Sirens. I'm just saying that for a supposedly legendary wizard, he has a nasty habit of leaving a mess for future ponies to clean up."
"He's got a point," Springer added, "Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if this Pony of Shadows doesn't show up one day as well."
"I hope not," Fluttershy shivered, "The Pony of Shadows must have been really awful for them to do something like that. I wouldn't want to face him if that happened."
Iron placed a hoof on her shoulder, as Pinkie leapt over to Twilight, "I suppose being trapped for all time with a super-duper bad guy in limbo might be okay if you were doing the limbo, but that's still pushing it."
Twilight then shined a big grin, Flash grimacing as he noticed it was her 'I have a crazy idea that I'm gonna do no matter what you tell me' smile.
"The thing is, I think I can get them out."
The pony's eyes all went wide hearing this, Sunburst then asking, "Twilight, are you serious? You can save the most legendary ponies of all time?"
"Most legendary?!" Flash yelped, "Isn't that pushing it a bit?! Give it a hundred years and we'll probably be considered the most legendary ponies of all time!" The others all glared at him, "What?! I'm just saying."
"I-I don't know," Starlight added, "Opening portals between worlds didn't work out well for me. Are you sure it's safe?"
Twilight began to fly over to her. "First of all, you opened portals through time. And second of all, Starswirl wrote the spell you used to do it. If he'd been here, he could have stopped it." Twilight then shined a look of pure confidence, "Equestria would be safer with him in it. We have to save him."
"But ya'll be savin' all the Pillars, right?" Applejack asked, Twilight nodding in response, "But didn't they disappear ages ago?"
"I agree," Grand added, "I doubt they'd want us to go through so much danger just to rescue a bunch of skeletons."
Twilight shook her head at this, "That's the thing about limbo," She flew back to her throne. "It isn't one place or another. It's in between, so time stands still. If we can pull them out, it'll be like they never left. I actually built another model to demonstrate-" She stopped when Rainbow let out a groan and slammed her head into the table.
Before she or Rainbow could say anything else, Spike spoke up. "What can we do to help?"
"If I'm right, we need to find items that are connected to the Pillars in some way."
Rainbow looked up at this, "You mean, like, stuff that belonged to them?"
"How would we know what to look for? Or where?"
"Luckily," Twilight picked up the book, "Starswirl took a lot of notes." She started reading, "My compatriots are as varied as the realm itself and hail from every corner of our land, bringing with them artifacts and talismans of great power."
As she said that, the table began to shine. Above it, five spheres of light appeared, each showing the image of an item they had seen the other pillars using. Twilight seemed completely oblivious to it as she continued to read, only for Starlight to speak up, "Um, Twilight?" She pointed at the spheres, "What are you doing?" Twilight looked up and gasped at the sight.
"I'm not doing anything!"
"The map must know where to find these items," Flash commented.
"But how?" Heart asked, "How would a map know where a bunch of stuff from a thousand years ago are?"
"The map's connected to the Tree of Harmony," Springer chimed in, "And the Tree's always had some pretty impressive powers. I mean, it helped me survive for centuries."
As he said that, the spheres began to fly down and move over the map. "Rockhoof's shovel!" Applejack cheered at the sight of one of the items.
"Flash Magnus' shield!" Rainbow added, noticing the location was in the Dragon Lands.
"Mistmane's flower!" Rarity whispered.
"Meadowbrook's mask!" Fluttershy continued as she saw the item float over Hayseed Swamp.
"And the blindfold Somnambula wore when she faced that nasty sphinx!" Pinkie cheered, seeing the sphere float over the town that shared her name.
Twilight smiled at her friends, seeing excitement in their eyes. "I guess we don't need to figure out who should get what." The others laughed and nodded, Iron, Lightning, Grand and Spike agreeing to go with them to help out.
"I wanna go too!" Heart told Twilight, who shook his head.
"Nope. You're gonna be helping me with preparing Ponhenge for the spell. Soul, we'll need your help to cast the magic as well." Soul nodded while Heart sighed, Flash ruffling his mane as the ponies got to work.
After another day of preparation, the ponies headed off to their assigned locations. Iron and Fluttershy headed off the Hayseed Swamp while Lightning went with Rarity to the garden that Mistmane had saved in her story. Spike went with Rainbow to the Dragon Lands and Grand decided to accompany Applejack to an archaeological dig that Rockhoof's shovel was likely located in. And when he learned about Pinkie's quest, Wild Smile decided to go with her.
Meanwhile, Twilight and Sunburst worked on the spell they would need to free the pillars. It took three days, enough time for the others to complete their mission, but the pair managed to perfect the magic needed to save the legendary heroes. Once they got word of the others finding their chosen items, she, Flash, Sunburst, Starlight, Springer, the twins and Springer's jakhowl wards all headed back to Ponhenge.
But as they did this, a certain figure walked out of the forest, staring at the group. That is, till a low cackling voice came out of the figure.
"Get on the train. Wait for them to get off and attack when you see an opening."
The figure ran up and jumped onto the end of the last carriage, slowly making its way to the car Flash was in. But as the train disappeared into the mountains, the one controlling the Trial stared at the screen in thought. 'Odd...where are they going? Its not Canterlot or the Crystal Empire... Void thought as he pulled out a map in his lab, 'Strange. Perhaps this is something special they're doing? I need to make sure we have the right opportunity...'
As he thought this, the train pulled up to a new station, one Void glanced down at the map for and found nothing. Blinking at the sight, he directed the Trial to jump off the train, leaping into the woods as the ponies and jakhowls all left the carriage.
"Do not engage just yet. See what they're up to. They've got me curious."
"Augh!" Mira cried as they walked through the forest, "I think I swallowed a bug." Ace started slapping her on the back, while the others just giggled at the two's antiques.
"So...I have a question?" Soul spoke up. "You're bringing back all the ponies that are trapped in limbo, right?" Twilight nodded, "Won't that mean you're also bringing back the Pony of Shadows."
This question caused many of the group to suddenly stop, only for Twilight to shake her head, "Relax, I took that in account. Don't worry, we'll only be bringing back the pillars."
"How can you be so sure?" Soul asked, Twilight glancing back at her.
"Remember that spell we used to track down Rogue's mom?" Soul nodded, "It's a similar principle. The items the others are searching for will all have a spiritual connection to the pillars." She showed Soul the journal, "Like how this book has a connection to Starswirl. We could bring him back right away, but I wanna make sure we use the spell as little as possible." As she said this, they cleared the foliage at Ponhenge, seeing it still looked just as they had left it. "The spell will use the spiritual connection they share with the items as a road map to locate the pillars. Once that happens, it's just a matter of pulling them out of limbo. And since the Pony of Shadows won't have a road map, he'll remained trapped in there."
With that, they started getting to work clearing the place up. They would need Ponhenge almost exactly as it was a thousand years ago if they wanted the spell to work right. And as they did this, Twilight was shaking like a little school filly. "I can't believe I'm gonna meet Starswirl the Bearded!" She turned to Flash, "You know, outside of my dreams."
"I'm excited too," Flash added, "A chance to meet my ancestor. I can't wait."
"You know," Twilight smirked at him, "There's no actual proof you are related to Flash Magnus. Your dad only claims to be his descendant, but that could just be something his father or grandfather told him."
"I don't mess with your delusions, so please don't mess with mine."
Twilight chuckled at this, only for Starlight to speak up, "I can't believe you're actually going through with it." She then pulled a weed off a pillar as they turned to stare at her.
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, Starlight frowning back at her mentor.
"Twilight, I'm all for pushing the envelope, obviously, but this is pretty out there for you."
"What's out there about saving the most legendary ponies of all time from a thousand-year-old prison?" Sunburst asked, Heart, Soul, Ace and Mira nodding.
"Well...nothing when you say it like that." The two magic scholars nodded and turned back to the journal as Starlight walked past them. "Unless the most legendary ponies of all time knew what they were doing and we shouldn't mess with it."
Sunburst glanced up at her, "I'm sure Starswirl and the Pillars did the best they could back then, but magic has come a long way. Mostly because of the work they did."
"That's true. And you did get your wings from finishing one of Starswirl's spells."
Twilight unfolded her wings as if showing off the proof, "Exactly." She closed them up and turned back to the book.
"But then I messed with one and nearly destroyed the universe, so..."
Twilight dropped the book and took a deep breath before turning to the unicorn. "Starlight, Starswirl the Bearded is the greatest wizard who ever lived. The chance to have him back in Equestria is worth the risk."
Up in the trees, the cloaked figure continued to watch, Void staring at the screen. 'They're going to summon Starswirl? Hmm...interesting.' He thought, only for something to fly down, which turned out to be a pony and a dragon.
"That's good news," Rainbow said as she showed them a metal shield that needed a good coat of polish, "Otherwise, we'd have brought this shield for nothing."
"Awesome!" Heart cheered as Rainbow put it down, "How'd you get it?"
"Oh," Spike looked smug, "I beat Garble in a lava surfing contest. No biggie."
The others all stared at him, only for another voice to call out, "Ah hope ya'll don't think yer the only one to find her artifact," Applejack's voice said as she stepped into the grove with Grand carrying a shovel like the one they had seen Rockhoof carrying. "Because this here shovel says otherwise."
They then heard laughter as Rarity and Lightning stepped into view with Mistmane's flower floating beside them. "Honestly, you two. Not everything is a competition." She put the flower in front of one of the pillars, "But Mistmane's flower is by far the most attractive of the artifacts."
"You're just saying that because you didn't have to scuba dive in a pit of green slime to get yours!" They all turned to the next pillar and saw Pinkie and Wild jump out from behind it, Pinkie holding up a cloth covered in the aforementioned slime.
"Or move a flash beehive," Fluttershy told them as she and Iron stepped into the clearing, Fluttershy now wearing the same mask that they had seen the image of Meadowbrook wear.
"Good work everypony" Twilight picked up the book and placed it on the last remaining pillar. For the first time in a thousand years, the six relics of the Pillars were all in one place. "Let's do this!" Sunburst nodded and summoned his magic, firing it at the book as Soul did the same. Twilight followed suit and after a groan, Starlight did so as well.
The four magics flew into the book, activating the spell and making it glow. After a second, the book shot open and unleashed the same light it had unleashed a thousand years ago, a hexagon of light appearing as the items began to float into the air. Everypony watched in amazement, Starlight frowning at the sight as the hexagon began to spin and form a portal above their heads. And in a brilliant flash of light, six figures and a couple of large rocks appeared. They then fell along with the rocks, Iron, Flash, Grand and Springer destroying the rubble before they could crush the ponies underneath.
The pillars, not looking a day older than when they had disappeared, hit the platforms and looked barely conscious. But after a few moments, they started coming around, "What..." Starswirl asked as he glanced around, "What has happened?"
"It worked!" Twilight cheered as she landed, "We brought you back!"
"To where?" He asked as he pushed himself back to his hooves, Twilight trotting up to him as he held his head.
"You and the others have been trapped in limbo for over a thousand years," Twilight replied, only for Starswirl's eyes to go wide in shock. "But I figured out how to get you ho-"
"WHAT?!" The mage roared, making the alicorn flinch, "No, no, no, no!" He looked back at Twilight, "You must undo what you've done!"
"What?" Twilight asked while tilting her head, "why? I mean...I don't think I can."
"You cannot bring us back!" Starswirl screamed.
"But I did," Twilight responded as Flash leapt between the pair, "I brought all the Pillars back."
"You cannot bring only the Pillars back!" Starswirl yelped, only for a crash of thunder and lightning to fill the air. They turned to the basin as a dark swirling mass of shadows and lightning appeared above it. They all quickly ran to a safe distance, Flash, Springer, Iron, Lightning and Grand stepping forward with their weapons at the ready. Slowly, the sphere melted into a wave of shadows that turned into a putty-like substance which began to reshape itself into a large equine form. A pair of dark shadowy wings ripped their way out the back as a laugh filled the air that was so evil that it sent shivers down the spines of anypony that heard it. The figure stood tall as their eyes opened, the glowing white voids being the only source of light in the clearing. The Pony of Shadows...had returned.
"Oh, no!" Twilight whispered, "But...I thought I only summoned the Pillars!"
Once he had finished laughing, the Pony of Shadows turned to them. "Your pitiful attempt to imprison me has failed, Starswirl!" As he said that, Starswirl's horn lit up...only to fizzle out thanks to what had just happened.
He turned to Twilight, "You must return us to limbo. It's the only way to stop him."
Twilight glanced away at this, "Well...I only figured out how to bring you back."
"Working on it!" Sunburst added as he flicked through the journal, "No table of contents!"
"Allow me to assist," the monster laughed before his wings unleashed several shadow spikes. Flash and the Defenders tried to deflect them, but they either went around or split in half before connecting. The struck every single pillar and the journal, piecing the book and the rocks before ripping them out of the ground. Everypony gasped as the rocks shattered, the journal being torn to shreds along with them. "There!" He cackled, "Without the power of Ponhenge, your banishing spell is useless!"
Everypony gasped at this, Starswirl turning to Twilight with a look of pure anger on his face. "You have studied my writings! Surely you have some other plan!"
"No," Twilight whispered, "I just wanted to save you. I didn't think-"
"Don't fret," the Pony of Shadows laughed, "When I extinguish the light and hope of this miserable-AUGH!" His sentence was cut short when a beam of light struck him, everypony turning to see Flash pointing his sword at the monster.
"Sorry to cut the dramatic speech short, but when you hear one, you pretty much hear them all." He spread his wings and charged, the other Defenders doing the same. "Let's go!"
"Iron Lance Fury!" Iron fired a bunch of iron projectiles at the monster, only for them to simply fly through the shadowy mass.
"Gatling Spark!" Lightning launched several electro bolts, only for them to go through as well.
"Grand/Aura Force!" Grand and Springer yelled, their attacks going through the shadow as well.
"What the heck?! Nothing's working!"
"I'll handle it! Flash Cutter!" Flash fired a light blade at the villain, this attack connecting and burning away the shadows, making the monster roar in pain.
"Impossible!" He yelped, spreading his wings and taking to the air. "No magic should be able to hurt me."
"He's right," Starswirl nodded as Flash flew up with the Pony of Shadows. "Who is that pony?"
"Flash Sentry," Twilight responded, "A Royal Knight and protector of Equestria." She watched as the Pony of Shadows fired a dark blast of magic at Flash, but the pegasus easily cut it in two. "It must be because of his light element. It's burning away the shadows."
"No," Starswirl shook his head, "Light was one of the first weapons we tried against him. They had no effect. The shadows were so dark that they snuffed out any light that touched them." As he said that, the Pony of Shadows morphed into a cloud that appeared behind Flash and solidified.
"Enough!" He unleashed several light tendrils that wrapped around Flash's body, zapping him and making him drop his sword.
"FLASH!" Everypony cried, Rainbow, Magnus and Twilight spreading their wings and taking off.
"Your light may be powerful, but nothing can shine through the power of my shadows once it has been completely enveloped." With that, the Pony of Shadows started pulling Flash toward him. Everypony gasped as they saw this, Twilight and the pegasi flying even faster. But Flash was pulled inside before they could get to him, with only his head managing to stay out.
"Flash!" Twilight yelled, "Use your Sacred Light!"
Flash heard this and as he was pulled inside, he gasped out. "Armorize!" With that, he was completely sucked inside and everypony gasped.
"Let him go!" Rainbow roared, the Pony of Shadows turning to chuckle at her.
"Why would I do that? Now that he's gone-" He stopped when he suddenly felt a great pain rushing through him, "AUGH!" He cried, curling up in the air. "What's...happening?" In that moment, a beam of light exploded out of his neck. "WHAT!" Another beam shot out of his side, then another out of his back. "NOOOOO!" More beams appeared before he completely exploded, unleashing a bright light that blinded everypony. The source of the light was soon revealed to be Flash, wearing his Shining Guardian armor.
"Incredible," Starswirl whispered, "What is this power?"
"The Sacred Light," Starlight replied, "The source of all positive magic in Equestria, granted to him by the goddess who created the universe."
The Pillars stared at Flash in awe as he flew down to Twilight. "You okay?" She asked, Flash looking himself over.
"Yeah," he nodded. "Being inside him didn't seem to do anything to me." He then frowned, "That darkness felt familiar though..."
Before they could ask what he meant, Springer let out a gasp as he then saw a large blob of dark liquid slide along the ground. "Uh...everypony?!" They turned to him and he pointed to the blob, which shot back to the basin. There, more blobs of darkness were coming together and forming a sphere.
Flash and the others flew down, Heart throwing him his sword as they watched the sphere morph back into the Pony of Shadows. "Impressive," he growled at Flash. "Whatever power you have-" He halted as his legs gave out, "It was strong enough to overwhelm even my darkness."
"He's weakened," Starswirl exclaimed before looking up at Flash. "Finish him!" Flash heard this and looked back at the Pony of Shadows, seeing him struggle to stand up. "What are you doing?! Destroy him!"
"He's no threat," Flash told Starswirl, "I can't destroy him while he's hurt like this."
"Don't be a fool!" Starswirl yelled, "Destroy him while he can't defend himself! Hurry!" Flash turned to Twilight, clearly wanting her opinion on the situation. Twilight looked conflicted. The thought of going against the legendary Starswirl wasn't something she ever thought she would do, but they knew they were the good guys. Destroying a living thing when it couldn't fight back wasn't what they did.
But as they hesitated, the Pony of Shadows fired a spike at Flash. The pegasus quickly blocked it with his sword, only for the blow to knock him back until he crashed into a tree.
"AUGH!" He cried, falling to the ground as his armor exploded into light.
"FLASH!" Twilight yelled as the Pony of Shadows pushed himself up. His horn them unleashed a beam of light straight at Flash, Twilight gasping. "NO!" In a flash of light, she teleported in front of Flash and unleashed a magical blast that hit the Pony of Shadow's beam.
The alicorn magic overpowered the dark beam for a second and pushed it back towards him, making him flinch until he caught himself. "Argh! This one is almost as...strong as you, Starswirl." His horn glowed again. "But even in my weakened state, she cannot stop the might of shadows!" He fired another blast and Twilight fired hers, the two connecting and pushing against one another. But after a few seconds, Twilight's magic began to get overpowered.
But before this could happen, another flash of light signaled Starlight appearing beside her while firing her own magic. "Lucky for her, she's not alone!" Twilight smiled and the pair pushed, their combined magics enough to push the Pony of Shadow's attack back towards him.
"AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!" He roared as he was blasted in the head, his magic dispelled as Starswirl stepped forward.
"Know this, fiend!" The Mane Seven, Defenders and Pillars all grouped up and glared him down. "We will not rest until we find a way to return you to limbo!"
The Pony of Shadows growled, "Never!" His wings flared. "Your days of glory are through, Starswirl! Now my dark power will reign, and you six will bow to me!" With that, the shadows coiled around him. And as they did this, Springer's ears shot up as he felt an aura tingle through his body. But before he could react, his eyes saw something leap out of the trees into the shadows. A moment later, the fog shot straight up through the clouds. The dark blanket that covered the circle vanished, but the Pony of Shadows was nowhere in sight.
"Um," Rainbow turned to the others, "Where'd he go?"
"That is a riddle we must unravel," Somnambula sighed in her foreign accent. "And quickly."
"Flash!" They heard Heart cry, making them turn to see him and Soul around the downed pegasus. He let out a moan as he lifted his head, turning to the others as Soul cast a healing spell on him. "You okay?"
Flash rubbed his head, "Did we win?"
"No," Starswirl growled "He got away," he pointed at Flash. "Because you stupidly chose not to finish the battle when you had the chance! How could you do something so foolish?!"
"Listen here, Flash did the right thing." Grand spoke up, Starswirl turning to glare at him. "I don't know how things were done in your time, but in this Equestria, we don't attack somepony who can't fight back. That's not what heroes do, and it's not what Princess Celestia would deem right."
The mention of Celestia's name caused Starswirl's eyes to go wide as Magnus flew down. "We can't waste time arguing. We have to find the Pony of Shadows and stop him."
"Aye," Rockhoof nodded, "And every mow-mont that tam-o-shanter terror's out dare, thing's just get worse and worse."
Meadowbrook then spoke up, "How long have we been gone?"
"Over a thousand years," Fluttershy replied, looks of shock now on the Pillars faces except Starswirl shined a big grin.
"Then my spell worked," he then glared at Twilight, "Before it was meddled with!" The princess flinched and hid behind her wings, "And the realm has been at peace for a millennia!"
"Weeeeell..." Pinkie spoke up as Wild pulled out a graph-board with pictures of certain creatures. "We did have to save everypony from Nightmare Moon, and Lightning Blitz, and Discord, and Chrysalis, and King Sombra, and Lord Tirek, and Shadow Corrupter, and Malafear, and there was that one time when Starlight travelled through time and almost destroyed life as we know it!" She pulled the unicorn over, Starlight smiling sheepishly until Pinkie pushed her away. "But that's all in the past."
Flash Magnus laughed at this, "If you are truly this accomplished, we will stop the Pony of Shadows twice as fast together."
"We shall see," Starswirl grumbled, "It is an easy thing to say you have saved the world. It is quite another to do it."
As he said that, Rainbow flew down, "Oh, we've saved the world, Beardo."
"In fact," Flash spoke up. "I think we've got a better track record than you. So far only one of our former villains came back to cause us more problems." He turned to Starlight, "I'm talking about Chrysalis, not you."
Starlight nodded at this, only for Starswirl to growl at him, "Be that as it may, the problem of locating the Pony of Shadows remains, and this land is vast."
"It sounds like you need a map," Rarity added, "Luckily, we have just the thing."
"Good," Starswirl nodded. "Then let us make our way there post haste. The longer we wait, the more time the Pony of Shadows has to regain his strength."
"Actually..." they all turned to Springer, only to see a grimace on his face, "I don't think the Pony of Shadows is gonna be our only problem." They all raised eyebrows at this, only for him to add, "It was only for a second, but before that thing vanished, I saw somepony leap inside the shadow cloud."
"Don't be ridiculous!" Starswirl replied, "To do such a thing would be suicide!"
"Well, that's what I saw," Springer responded as he walked over to where the shadow cloud had been. "Give me a second and-"
"Bah! This is a waste of time!" Starswirl spat, "We must hurry or-"
"Not a chance." Flash interrupted as he walked up and tapped the unicorn on the chest, "If Springer saw something, we need to know what it is." Starswirl opened his mouth, only for Flash to add, "And before you whine about it, I trust him a lot more than some ancient nut like you that's done nothing but insult us since we met."
"How dare you-"
"Yeah whatever." Flash sighed while rolling his eyes before turning to Springer. "Find anything bud?"
"There's a slight aura trace," he replied, "It's hard to make out. It almost feels familiar, but also...different. It feels..." His eyes went wide as he turned to the others, "Hollow."
His friends mimicked his reaction, Flash glancing back at where the Pony of Shadows had been. "That's not good."
In a dark area of Equestria surrounded by tall trees and large rocks that blocked out the sunlight, the Pony of Shadow's dark form flew down and struck the ground.
"Gyah!" He groaned as he reformed, "Damn those ponies! They won't get away with this! I will destroy them!"
"I doubt that." The Pony of Shadows spun around at a cracking mechanical-like voice, only to see a certain cloaked figure. "Sorry to interrupt." The voice came out of a hidden speaker, crackling and unfocused. "I was watching your interactions with those accursed do-gooders, and I believe we have...common interests."
"Who are you?" the Pony of Shadows growled as his form finished repairing itself, "I will not-"
"Before you attack, hear me out. You and I have a common enemy. The ponies that you were just fighting, specifically the pony that blasted you into a thousand pieces." This got the monster's eye to slightly shift.
"Go on."
"The creature you are currently looking at has the power to neutralize the Sacred Light he used to beat you. As long as it's around, he can't risk using it. I suggest a team-up. After all, I saw that your power is quite formidable. Allow my creation to deal with Sentry, and you can take out the rest."
"And why, pray tell, do you wish to aid me in this matter?"
"Let's just say I have...personal reasons. I require the Sacred Light, but all my attempts to defeat Flash Sentry and take it have been met with...interference by those around him. If you can take them all down, I can defeat Sentry and finally take what is mine." The Pony of Shadows's eyes slightly narrowed at this, only for the figure to reach up and grab its cloak, "So..."
He threw the cloak off, now showing a clone of Cold Steel with the normal mask, neck and chest armor as the other Trials. His body was covered in metal segments that had two inch long tubes sticking out of them, and his tail was replaced by a hose and his hooves were metallic. And on his forehead was a ten-inch ice spike sticking out of where the horn was supposed to be.
"...do we have a deal?"
The Pony of Shadows's eyes just slightly widened at the sight, only to smile and say, "Yes."