Hero had suddenly awoken from an odd dream he was having. Hero sat up in his bed and looked around and noticed Spike was still asleep in his bed. Glancing over to the window, Hero noticed it was still night outside.
He thought about the dream again only to vaguely remember his father and a thick darkness surrounding him and a voice telling him to be wary of the darkness in the hearts of those close to you, whatever that meant.
Hero felt wide awake, so he decided to take a walk in the night air for a bit. Hero put on his shoes and left the room quietly, so he would not wake his friend and proceeded to head out into the castle garden.
“The garden sure is quiet at night…I wonder if its ok to be here..? Hero continued to walk around the garden enjoying the different smells and sites with only some lamps to dimly light up the pathways.
Hero wandered around for a little bit until he saw a bench next to some Rose bushes. He figured that he might as well sit down and rest before heading back.
Hero sat there thinking about what has happened since he became a Royal Guard. He has gotten stronger, met new people and made a lot of friends.
“The castle was kind of boring from time to time but it was also pretty fun at times. Well besides when Twilight gets mad at me…”
Hero was relaxing until a quick movement caught his eye, making him snap out of his thoughts. He looked over at one of the hallways leading out of the garden and saw a shadowy figure in dark colored robes pass by the entrance in a hurry. Hero stood up and ran after the suspicious figure.
The figure ran for a good minute or so before slowing down and entering the library. Hero followed closely behind, making sure not to alert the shadowy figure of his presence. He watched as the figure made his way to an open area in the very back with no bookcases and placed their hand on the wall. The figure chuckled deeply and then started an incantation, with his forehead glowed a deep red.
“Whoever it is, he must be a stallion… and something seems off about him….I better make sure not to lose sight of him. That magic aura is giving me a sickening feeling in my stomach just being close to it…..” Hero noticed a seal appear on the wall then quickly fade away and then the wall opened up into a secret room Hero’s surprise. The stallion moved ahead with Hero following closely behind. They both soon arrive to an old room full of very old looking books and scrolls sitting on shelves.
Hero watched closely as the figure walked up to one of the shelves and scanned the scrolls looking for something. Soon he found what he was looking for and slowly reaches out to grab it and open it, looking at its contents.
“What should I do, should I try to stop him now or wait…?” Hero slowly moved around the shelves trying to get closer.”
Suddenly the stallion spoke. “Yes, this is what My Queen has been searching for. She will be most pleased with this!” He started laughing in a low maniacal laugh.
Hero was still watching the Stallion laughing. “Ok enough waiting, maybe if I can get close enough to him and take him by surprise….” However, just as he stepped past the next shelf he accidently bumped into a stepping stool, making it flip over and bang on the floor. The hooded stallion heard the commotion and spun on his heels to look directly at Hero. Hero moved in the middle of the shelves to block the stallion’s way out.
“ Dammit to hell! I should have known that was going to happen with my luck. Oh well, I guess there isn’t anything I can do about it now.”
The stallion smiled a big toothy grin from under his hood. “Well look who it is. If it isn’t Hero, the new member of the Royal Guard….”
Hero looked at him confused. “How do you know my name? Who are you? And who is this ‘Queen’ you are referring to? Tell me now or else I will force it out.” Hero tightened his fists.
The hooded stallion just looked at him and laughed. “Well you are smug to be giving orders to me without your precious sword. This is perfect; I’ll kill you to celebrate me finding this scroll!”
He began to laugh more as he threw back his robe to reveal a sword that was seemingly black in color with a sharp teeth running down the blade coming to a sharp point.
He ripped the sword from his side and pointed it at Hero. “With this sword, I will shred you into pieces that no one will be able to recognize! Then I’ll take your corpse and use it against your precious friends…”
Hero was slightly taken aback by the mysterious stallion’s words. “What the hell are you taking about!? At any rate I won’t let you escape so easily!” Hero immediately took a defensive stance.
The stallion placed a hand on his head and began laughing louder. “You, hold me back? Please try; it will just make killing you easier!” But before he striked at Hero, the figure stopped and took a step back while he looked at the floor.
Hero noticed his voice seemed somewhat familiar despite the fact that the way he spoke wasn’t something he remembers, but he could not place it.
Hero looked at the stallion in confusion. “What are you doing…?” Hero trailed off when he saw him look up.
“Dammit! Consider yourself lucky Scum, I am needed elsewhere right now. But understand this, wretch. The next time we meet, I will kill you!” and with that he shot a fireball into the ground causing smoke to fill the room.
Hero quickly covered his mouth, trying his best to look for the stallion that was right in front of him. However when the smoke, cleared he was gone.
Hero was angry with himself for letting him get away, but that wasn’t important right now. He had to tell Princess Celestia about all that happened as soon as possible. He quickly left the library and made his way back to the castle. Luckily it was dawn and the Princess would be awake.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Celestia was sitting on the throne talking to a few guards when Hero walked into the meeting.
“Celestia, I have something I need to-”, Hero was interrupted by a hand placed on his shoulder.
He quickly looked over his shoulder and saw Twilight standing next to him.
“Where did you come from..?” asked Hero.
“Well I was just on my way to get breakfast, when I saw that you were in a hurry to get here so I followed you but that’s not important. Are you crazy?! You can’t just barge into the Princess’s meeting like this! And stop calling her Celestia; she is the ruler of Equestria!” Twilight exclaimed.
“That was the important thing you were referring to…? Well what I need to say is important! And besides if I remember correctly she told me to call her Celestia.” said Hero in a rushed manner.
Twilight sighed, “Yes, but don’t you think in this situation it would call for you to address her formally?”
“Well I never thought about that- wait this isn’t the time to argue!” Hero gestured at Celestia and the meeting.
By this time, Celestia had silenced the guards at the meeting and looked over at Twilight and Hero arguing.
“Ah Hero, so good of you to come. Please, there is no need to quarrel. I know why you have come.” Celestia then dismissed the guards.
“Huh, you know what is going on already? But how…?” Hero asked.
“Well I am a Princess after all. I am usually well informed. I heard you might have had a close encounter with the suspect?”
“Yes I did. But it was dark and he wore robes that covered his face well, so I couldn’t see much of him.” Hero lowered his head at his failure.
“Hero, do must not be too hard on yourself. I know you did all you could do to stop him. That is all I ask of My Royal Guards.” She gives him a proud smile before continuing. “Please, tell me what happened.” Celestia spoke softly with a calm collected demeanor.
Hero told her everything, from the garden to the library. He made sure to tell her about this ‘Queen’ he spoke of, the sword he carried, and the feeling he got from the mysterious stallion’s magic. Celestia sat in her chair with her eyes closed absorbing the information.
When Hero finished explaining everything, she slowly opened her eyes and thought for a moment before speaking.
“I am not sure what is going on. However I have guards and scholars looking over the room. Any evidence of what scroll he has stolen and his plans to use it for will be uncovered in due time. We must be patient and alert until then.” Celestia sighed at the situation.
“Then what should I do in the mean time?” Hero curiously asked
Celestia pondered his question for a moment. “You should go about as if it was any other day.”
“But shouldn’t we be doing something more!?” asked Hero confused by Celestia’s answer.
“There is no reason to get worked up over this. When more information is gathered I will summon you, until then you must relax. After all I will need you energized and ready for anything. Please go with
Twilight and tell your friends that you all have a special day off.” she smiled at him with a reassuring look on her face.
Hero was silent for a moment but then looked at Celestia. “As you wish Princess Celestia, I will try to stay calm.”
“Oh phooey I wish my people would be less formal with me. It is quite tiring.” said Celestia slightly pouting.
Hero raised his hands in defense. “Don’t look at me Celestia; it’s your student that puts me on edge all the time.”
“Hey don’t blame this on me! I just didn’t want to interrupt the Princ- I mean, Celestia with her meeting is all.” Twilight looked away from Hero and Celestia, making them laugh.
Hero and Twilight both headed to the cafeteria, thinking that everyone would be there for breakfast. And sure enough, they all were; talking and eating at the same table they always sit at.
Twilight was the first to speak. “Hey everyone… Have you heard the news yet?” She asked while walking up to the table.
“Well we were told the gist of what has happened. Care to fill in the gaps Sugar Cube?” asked Applejack as everyone else looked over at Hero and Twilight.
Twilight and Hero proceeded to tell them all that happened from beginning to end, making sure to get all the details.
“What?! Why do we have to sit back and do nothing? We should be hunting down that jerk and showing him whose boss!” an angry Rainbow Dash yelled.
“Calm down Rainbow. There aint nothing we can do at the moment, so we should take this time to relax and wait for orders from the Princess” said Applejack.
“Yeah don’t worry about it Rainbow Dash. We’ll get that guy soon enough.” Hero stated.
“U-umm I also…agree, we s-should wait for the p-princess to give us orders” Fluttershy said shifting in her seat.
“Well of course we should relax and be happy! I mean, what would they do if we were all stressed out and then we would waste our energy then couldn’t beat up the bad guy or help-” Pinkie was cut off by Rarity.
“Pinkie is right about this, darling. We should just go through our day normally.” Rarity chimed in.
“Ok ok I get it, I’ll relax. Sheesh!” said Rainbow Dash flapping her wings in irritation.
“So what do we do now?” Hero asked everyone.
“Well I’m going out to blow off steam for a bit.” and with that, Rainbow Dash left the table.
“Meh, I think I will head off and take a walk myself” Applejack said before getting up to leave.
“Oh umm I’ll j-join you Applejack, if that’s alright with you?” said Fluttershy walking after Applejack.
“OH OH ME TOO!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie, bouncing off after them.
“I better get back to my shop and finish my latest project. Pardon me.” Rarity politely dips her head and walks away.
“Well I guess I’ll be going to my room to do some studying then… See you two later.” Twilight waved at Hero and Spike.
“So what are you thinking of doing, Spike?” asked Hero.
“Oh, I guess I was going to go do some more training. Want to join me? “Spike asked as he stood up.
“Sure! I’m game for a few rounds of sparring.” Hero followed Spike.
A few hours have passed since Hero had last spoke to Celestia.
Hero had tried to get his mind off of what happened in the secret room as best he could. However he just couldn’t help but think about it. He really wanted to do something other than relax and let someone else handle it.
“Ugh! I can’t take it anymore!” Hero yelled.
“Huh? What do you mean?” Spike stopped practicing his technique on a dummy and started to pay attention to Hero.
“I mean I can’t stand waiting around, that’s what! I want to see if I could dig up any info myself.”
“Why worry about it now? I mean it’s not like you have any particular leads... Wait, do you?” asked Spike.
“Well I… No I don’t, but that’s why I want to go find some!” Hero stood up and stretched.
“You’re really going through with this, aren’t you?” Spike stood up as well.
“Yes I am.” stated Hero.
“Your boredom is going too land us in hot water I just know it.” Spike sighed to himself.
“So you’ll be coming along then?” Hero smiled at Spike.
“Well if I said no you would just drag me along anyway.” Spike motioned for them to go, which Hero abided and followed Spike to Twilight’s room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“NO! I’m not going to help you go and do something possibly reckless just because you’re bored Hero!” Twilight nearly yelled.
“Oh come on Twilight, please? I’m sure you want to do more than just sit in your room and study?” Hero pleaded.
“The princess said to leave it to her and that’s what I am going to do. You won’t convince me to do otherwise.” Twilight stayed adamant.
“Oh come on Twilight, don’t be such a stick in the mud.” Hero pleaded some more.
Twilight just sighed to herself “If I go and we don’t find anything within the confines of the library, you won’t bug me about it and wait, understood?”
Hero just simply nodded and grinned at her.
“Ok then let’s get going. And if we get caught I’m blaming you.” Twilight walked passed Hero and Spike.
“Sure, that’s fine by me!” Hero then left for the library with Spike and Twilight following close behind.
Hero, Spike and Twilight stopped a little ways from the library entrance that was guarded by two guards.
“Ok Twilight, you have to get us in since you the one who works at the library.” Hero whispered over his shoulder.
“Ok, I’ll try.” Twilight walked over to the guards with Hero and Spike following behind.
“Halt, who goes there?” One of the guards asked.
“Hello sirs. I was just wondering if I could go in for just a few minutes to grab a few books. I shouldn’t be too long…” Twilight patiently waited for their reply.
“…Well since it is you Miss Twilight, we will let you through. However don’t take too long or wander around. They are strict on whoever gets in, especially since they are still not done with the room. ” the guard explained.
“What!? You mean they haven’t found out anything yet?” asked Twilight in a shocked tone.
“Afraid not, they are taking a break for now and going to try again, so please be quick.” The other guard stated.
The two guards moved out of the way, allowing Twilight, Hero and Spike through. As they pretended to search for books, they slowly made their way to the back of the library where the secret entrance was.
“Is this it, Hero?” asked Spike.
“Yeah this is the room alright. Say Twilight, did you know about this room at all?” Hero asked as they quickly walked in, after making sure no one saw.
“Well I knew it was here, I just didn’t know where.” Twilight quickly scanned the area.
“Wow! All of these are old scrolls and books. Can you imagine the knowledge they must hold!? I mean how amazing would it be to sit here and read through all of them?” said Twilight in a daze.
“Uh, Twilight? Did you forget why we are here in the first place…?” Hero asked.
“Huh? Oh yes of course I know that, I was just so excited is all.” Twilight said slightly embarrassed.
“Anyway, let’s look for something that may seem suspicious. Maybe something he left or something.” Hero began looking around for anything interesting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“We’ve looked through this place for about ten minutes now, Hero. I’m not so sure we will find anything.” Spike said giving up.
“Wait you two, I’m feeling a weak magic trail here. It’s faint but if I concentrate I may be able to track where this culprit went.” Twilight took a deep breath and closed her eyes to concentrate on the magical energy.
“Ok from what I can read, the trail leads out of the castle into the city. We probably should tell the princess about this.” Twilight turned to Hero and Spike
“Wait how can you tell what direction by just concentrating?” Hero asked, puzzled.
“Well it’s just an easy sensory skill most mages learn early on.” Twilight stated nonchalantly.
“Then why didn’t you teach me that? It would have been useful you know.”
“Well to be honest, I didn’t think you had the ability to concentrate that long. You seem to be easily distracted.” Twilight said thoughtfully.
Spike started snickering at the comment making Hero grumble angrily.
“I don’t think this will be enough Information for Celestia to act on Twilight.” Hero stated
“I don’t know about this Hero.” Twilight said letting out a sigh
They decided to leave the library and head into town.
“I still say we should have told Princess Celestia about what we found so far…” said Twilight as she walked down the path.
Hero let out a sigh. “Well if we did, we would have been scolded for not doing what we were told. And besides, once we find out what is going on, she will overlook what we did to get the information.”
“It doesn’t really matter, we still need to do this quickly for our sake.” said Spike, walking next to Twilight and Hero.
“Hey we have plenty of time! Besides with Twilight here, we’ll find him quickly anyway.” Hero stated.
“It isn’t going to be that easy Hero. Haven’t you noticed that everyone uses magic here in the city? Which means tracking a faded magical trail, will prove difficult even for me.” explained Twilight.
Slightly disappointed Hero sighs to himself “What! Then what should we do now?”
“Well we just need someone who has a better ability at tracking energies...” Twilight says to Hero.
“Oh I know who! Rarity is probably the best at locating a peculiar magical energy due to her profession.” Spike proclaimed.
“Oh I nearly forgot! If Rarity came along we would do a lot better, I must admit…Well her shop is close by; we should go ask her if she’ll help.” said Twilight walking passed Hero and Spike.
A few minutes later, they arrived at Rarity’s dress shop.
Spike knocked on the door and waited for a moment. He heard movement on the other side then a voice that called out “I’ll be there momentarily!”
Rarity opened the door and to her surprise saw Spike, Twilight and Hero on her doorstep. “Well what a pleasant surprise! What are you three doing here?”
“Well Rarity, it is a bit complicated so let me explain.” Spike proceeded to tell Rarity what happened.
“I see. Well I would hate to go against a direct order from the princess like that… but since Spikey-Wikey asked how can I say no? Oops, I’m sorry Spike I didn’t mean to let it slip.” Rarity said having a hand over her mouth.
Spike was blushing with Rarity using that name.
Hero started laughing “Spikey-Wikey!? That’s too rich!” Hero said earning him a quick jab to the stomach from Twilight.
Spike scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “So Rarity will you help us?”
“But of course darling, I will try my best to help.” said Rarity as she took one look in a mirror before walking outside and locking the door.
Hero and the others proceeded to walk through the town, while looking out for anything odd. Rarity was using her ability to search out energy to find the one they were looking for. It didn’t take too long for Rarity to pick up the unique magical energy.
“This is quite strange indeed, I don’t think I’ve felt magic this volatile and erratic, ever. It almost feels like I may be sick just from being near it.” Rarity said still following the trail.
“Now you know how I felt when I was in the same room with the guy.” said Hero.
“Yes I can feel how vile it is, this is very troublesome indeed.” Rarity stated in a worried tone.
“Don’t worry Rarity. If anything happens, Spike and I will be there to protect you!” Hero smiled.
“I think I would be more afraid of what you would do and not the perpetrator.” Twilight giggled to herself when she saw Hero sulk.
“Well I for one would love to have my Spikey-Oops, I mean Spike to protect me.” Rarity chuckled to herself.
Hero and the gang had followed the magic trail for a few minutes now and it seemed to be leading to the back part of town. They were led to this old warehouse that had been abandoned for what seemed like years. It wasn’t too big, but big enough to store rations for troops and other resources.
“What would they be doing in such an old dusty place like this?” Rarity had a look of disgust on her face.
“I’m not sure, but we better scan the whole building just in case.” Twilight said looking around.
They split up to cover more ground, Spike and Rarity went left Hero and Twilight went right. As Hero and Twilight searched, they passed through a door that leads into a small room that looked as though it was just a plain storage room. They looked through the room and couldn’t find anything suspicious until Hero almost tripped over a dip in the floor.
Hero looked down and saw that there was a handle in the crevice. “Hey Twilight I think I found something.”
Hero slowly pulled the handle, lifting the trapdoor in the floor to reveal a hole leading into darkness with a ladder connected to the floor. Hero was the first to descend down the ladder.
He found a torch hanging near the ladder and he decided to light it on fire, which lit up the room fairly well. Hero noticed a door on the opposite wall.
“Ok you can climb down now, Twilight.” Hero said while looking around.
Twilight slowly started climbing down as Hero approached the door. Twilight got to the bottom, saw the door as well, and followed Hero.
As they got closer, Twilight felt a strong magical energy coming from the door. She saw Hero grab for the door. But before she could stop him, he was shocked by a spell and sent backwards landing on his back.
Hero cursed and grabbed his hand, waving it in front of him. “Ouch, that really hurt….” whined Hero.
“Well I tried to warn you but you grabbed it too quickly. You really need to be more careful, Hero.” Twilight said scolding him and then walked up to the door.
“There is a strong seal on the door to keep anyone out.” Twilight said, examining the seal.
“Do you think you can break it?” asked Hero as he was getting to his feet.
“Sure, it shouldn’t be too difficult for me. I will just need a moment to focus. Why don’t you go and get Rarity and Spike; I should have it broken when you get back.” Twilight started focusing on the door.
“Alright, just don’t go and wander off by yourself.” said Hero.
“Me? That is something I would tell you to not do. Now hurry up and get them.” stated Twilight.
“Fine. Be right back.” stated Hero as he climbed the ladder.
“I don’t get him sometimes, worrying about me like that. Twilight thought to herself before going back to work on the seal.
By the time Hero got back with Spike and Rarity, Twilight had just broke the seal and opened the door.
The area ahead was pretty dark. Hero and Spike grabbed a torch, Hero leading the group and Spike covering the rear as they continued down the path. It was a narrow pathway at first but soon opened up into a large cave system, with crystals coming from the walls of the cave. The crystals reflected some of the light from the torches, making a dim light move throughout the cave itself.
“I never would have guessed this cave system would be under Canterlot…”said Hero as he looked around.
“This must be one of the old mine shafts that lead to the crystal mines.” said Twilight as she looked around for anything of interest.
“What do you think that stallion would want here?” asked Spike.
“My guess would be that he is after what the scroll he stole was about.” Twilight hypothesized.
“Well the only thing we can do now is continue the search and hope we stumble across something that may be of value or interest.” said Rarity as she gazed at the crystals in longing.
They all kept on the path for a while and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. They continued until they came to a split in the path.
“What do you think we should do?” asked Spike.
“Well we could always split up.” Hero looked over at Twilight and Rarity.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Hero. Who knows how long these pathways go, and we could get lost. I think we should just stick together and pick one path.” said Twilight.
“I also agree with Twilight this one.” Rarity agreed.
“Ok then, what path do we take?” Hero asked.
But before he got a response Spike shushed them. “Hey did you three hear that noise?” Spike said in a quiet tone.
“No, I didn’t hear anything. Did you Rarity?” asked Twilight, listening for any more strange noises.
“Not at all, dear.” Rarity whispered.
“It sounded like a large door being opened… I think we need to head down the left pathway, come on.” Spike said walking down the path.
Spike, Hero, Twilight and Rarity quickly moved down the left pathway, looking for the door. It didn’t take them long to find it.
Part of the cave wall seemed collapsed showing another open area behind it.One large metal door that parted in the middle with hand carved images of the Princesses, each holding the sun and the moon. The door was slightly open and let out a soft green light. The light was probably from the crystals reflecting an unknown light source. The door was releasing a large amount of magic from them it as well.
“How could someone break a seal this powerful?” asked Twilight placing a hand on the door.
“They were sealed up?” Hero asked looking at the door.
“Oh my, yes. Dear me, the level of magic that would have been needed to create such a seal would be of the Princess’s magic level. Makes me curious as to who could even break this seal.”
“Anyway we better go inside.” said Twilight.
They all slowly opened the door and walked in, looking for any movement or anything out of place. As they entered, they notice a very large statue to the right of the doorway shaped like a stallion guard with heavy armor and a sword strapped to its side.
They also notice a smaller statue at the end of the large room. The statue looked like some odd creature with multiple parts put together. One arm of a lion, one of an eagle, its left leg was that of a goat, its right of a lizard. It had the tail of a dragon and a face of a pony.
“That’s a statue of Discord, the god of chaos!” exclaimed Twilight.
“He is the god of chaos…? He looks kind of funny.” said Hero.
“Well he is the god of chaos. Kind of entitles him to look funny if you ask me.” Spike stated.
“I think we have more pressing matters than the fact that Discord looks funny.” Twilight said with an annoyed expression on her face.
As they got closer they noticed that the top part of the Discord Statue was slightly ajar. It was so heavy to open the statue up that it took all four of them to move it. They looked inside and noticed it was completely empty.
“Do you think that whatever was inside the statue was what the guy was after..?” Hero asked.
“Quite possible… It seems to be the only reason to come all the way here. But now the question is what was so important that they broke into the Canterlot Castle just to get it?” Twilight asked in a thoughtful tone.
Just then the metal doors behind them shut causing the gang to jump in surprise. As soon as the doors shut a feminine laugh echoed in the room.
“Well well, what do we have here? Children shouldn’t be playing in a place like this, a lot of unfortunate accidents can happen that are unforeseen.” the voice seemed to come from everywhere.
“Who’s there? Reveal yourself!” shouted Twilight.
“I would love too. But you see, I’m late for an important engagement that it would be most rude of me to miss. After all taking over Canterlot is top priority to me…” the feminine voice started laughing maniacally.
“Princess Celestia won’t allow you to do as you please!” Twilight retorted.
“Oh we will see, wont we? I, Queen Chrysalis, will become the ruler of Canterlot and take over your castle so my army of changelings may become the strongest army in the world! And I will use my new found powers to do it.” Queen Chrysalis exclaimed.
“We won’t let you!” Hero yelled.
“Well it was fun talking to you children but I must go. However I’ll leave you with a gift, just a small portion of my new power.” Chrysalis laughed as a pitch black energy erupted out of the eyes of the giant statue next to the door, causing it to start moving on its own.
“W-What the…!?” Hero and the others started backing up a little.
“Have fun, now if you’ll excuse me I have a kingdom to take over.” and with that, Chrysalis was gone.
The statue slowly started moving more and more until it was free from its pedestal. Then it walked towards Hero and the others, its heavy steps shaking the ground.
“What do we do now!?” Hero yelled over the statues steps.
Suddenly the statue swings its massive stone sword downward at Hero and the others. They manage to move out of the way, but they were knocked down from the impact of the sword meeting the ground.
They quickly got up and start running behind the Discord statue.
“We need to destroy this thing fast and get back to the castle quickly!” shouted Twilight narrowly dodging the giant statues foot, the ground cracking under its massive weight.
“Wait I know, Rarity we need Tom!” Spike yelled out.
“But if I summon him we may collapse the room!” Rarity shouted back.
“I know but it just may be the only way!” Spike replied.
“Tom? What kind of a summoning do you name Tom of all things!?” Hero exclaimed confused.
“What’s wrong with the name Tom? I find that it is short and sophisticated, thank you!” Rarity stated.
“Not the right time to have an argument!” shouted Twilight.
“Oh yes quite.” She began summoning a large amount of magic, making her horn glow a bright light blue, Rarity then starts to chant.
“Come forth and destroy this foe that stands in my way, Golem!” The ground in front of Rarity started to break apart and split. Moments later a giant arm reached out of the fissure followed by another then the giant golem pulled itself up out of the hole, standing to its full height.
Compared to the statue, it was about even height. Tom’s body was made of a bunch of different size rocks thrown together. Its fists hit together and it roared at the statue, ready to fight.
“Tom, please be a dear and get rid of that atrocious statue in our way. We are in a hurry, but please be mindful of your surroundings.” Rarity spoke to the golem calmly.
Tom simply nodded at her. Then with great force, swings and hits the guardian statue making it stumble back into the opposite wall, cracking its helmet.
The statue got up off the wall and swung its stone sword at Tom who blocked it and punched with the other hand at the statue again. As the stature got up again, Tom charged it and slammed it into the wall causing several crystals and random debris to fall to the floor. The debris barely missed Hero, Twilight, Spike and Rarity.
“This is insane! I never would have guessed that anyone could summon that thing!” Hero stated dodging random crystals.
“Yes Rarity is a powerful Summoner; however a summoning that big takes an extremely large amount of magic. This means using Tom once drains nearly all of her magic and not to mention it fatigues her.” Spike said while carrying Rarity on his back.
“Don’t worry too much; I will be right as rain after a little bit of rest. “ Rarity stated.
The ground shook again, almost knocking everyone over. Looking up, they saw that Tom had stopped the guardian statues sword, shattering it into pieces. Tom then proceeded to rip one of the arms off of the statue and using it to crush the statues head into dust. The statue stumbled slowly forward until it fell and smashed into the floor, breaking itself into pieces.
“Alright, He did it!” cheered Hero.
“But of course he did! Tom is one of my most powerful Summonings I have.” said Rarity boastfully.
“Still don’t get why you gave it a name like Tom….”said Hero.
“As I told you it is a sophisticated and well-rounded name. I see nothing wrong with it at all.” huffed Rarity as she dismissed Tom.
“Whoa, he just disappears just like that?” Hero said stunned
“Why yes dear, did you think he would hang around here all day?” Rarity stated
“Well no but, where did he go?” Asked Hero still confused
“Well, there is a realm that we Summoners have contact with, that we can then contract different beings to aid us when needed. And when they are done they simply go back.
“Well I guess that makes sense I suppose.” Hero simply rubbed his head
“Honestly you should learn more about the different types of magic we can possess.” Rarity simply stated
“Ok whatever you say Rarity.” Hero stated as he scratched the back of his head.
“Uh guys I think we need to get back to the castle, now!” Twilight said in a hurried tone.
“Right we have to help the Princesses, hopefully our friends are ok.” said Rarity in a worried tone.
“I’m sure they are fine, we just need to leave the cave and we are-” Before Hero could finish, there was a loud cracking sound coming from the floor.
“What was that?” Spike was looking around frantically.
All of a sudden the floor started to break away quickly falling into a giant chasm. Everyone took off running to make it to the door as the floor started collapsing behind them. As they ran, a larger chuck slipped downward but got hung in a downward slope.
Hero, Spike and Rarity barely made it, but as they got to the other side they heard a scream. They turned to see Twilight sliding down the rock and couldn’t hang on.
“Oh no Twilight!” Spike yelled out. Hero jumped onto the slopping rock and was sliding downward as quickly as he could.
Twilight could see the edge coming up rapidly. She couldn’t think of what to do because she was so scared that there was no way she’d survive that fall. As the edge got close, she shut her eyes and felt herself slip off the edge and descend. One thought popped into her mind, “Please someone save me! I don’t want to die!” Twilight felt tears stream down her face.
Twilight found it confusing that she felt no air rushing past her and that there was a something tight wrapped around one of her wrists. She then slowly opened her eyes and saw that she wasn’t falling at all; in fact she was just suspended in midair. She looked up and saw Hero hanging onto a half broken crystal jutting out of the floor and Hero using his other hand to hold onto her.
“H-Hero, is that really you…?” Twilight asked, hoping it wasn’t some crazy hallucination.
“Well of course it’s me! Who else would I be?” Hero stated with a grin on his face.
Twilight could feel tears welling up in her eyes from joy, not from fright.
After putting Rarity down on stable flooring, Spike had slowly made his way down to the edge. To his relief, he saw that both Twilight and Hero were alright. Spike reached out and pulled them both slowly up and over the side of the rock Spike was on. After Hero caught his breath, he looked over at Twilight.
“Are you alright Twi-” Hero was cut off from Twilight embracing him into a tight hug.
“Thank you, Hero, thank you for saving me! I was so scared and I just didn’t know….” Twilight trailed off letting silent tears run down her face. Hero wrapped an arm around her to let her know she was safe.
A few minutes of silence later, Twilight lifted her head off of Hero’s chest. “Uhm… sorry for crying on you like that…. I don't know what came over me.” Twilight shyly said a light blush on her face.
“Don’t worry about it; anyone would lose it in that situation, besides I’m just glad you’re safe. That’s all I care about.” Hero smiled at Twilight.
“Thanks to you, that is.” Twilight looked down and noticed that one of his hands resting in his lap. Upon closer examination, she saw his hand was colored red.
“H-Hero what happened to your hand?” Twilight had a worried expression.
Hero lifted his hand; it had a few deep cuts with dried blood covering it. “I cut it when I grabbed that half broken crystal. It isn’t a big deal, I’ve had worse.”
“Of course it’s a big deal! It looks serious.” Twilight reached into her vest pocket and pulled out a purple handkerchief. Then she gently picked up Hero’s damaged hand and proceeded to wrap it up tightly making sure to cover the cuts well. As she finished, she placed her hand on his, making sure it was in place.
Hero watched as she softly caressed his hand, feeling her soft fur and fingers glide across his hand.
Hero gently pulled his hand away, a shade of red spread across his face. “W-we should get going soon.” Hero’s eyes averted away from Twilight.
“Oh yeah your right, sorry about that.” Twilight looked away as well.
Hero stood up and helped Twilight up. Then they all ran back to the room with a ladder as quickly as they could. As they reached the warehouse entrance they take no time to climb the ladder and walk through the small room leading out into the main storage room.
They noticed the sky was darkened as if there were rain clouds out. There were dark clouds covering the sky above Canterlot, it looked as though there was going to be heavy rain at one point but it was clear when they left.
They were running through the streets of the city heading for the castle.
“Hey where do you think all the citizens are all at? It’s like the city is completely deserted.” Hero said looking around.
“This is getting worse by the minute I just hope the Princess and the rest of our friends are ok.” Twilight said worrying.
“Well regardless we have to make sure we don’t run in blindly.” suggested Spike.
“Agreed, it would be most troublesome to be captured right off the bat.” Rarity stated.
As they approached the castle they noticed two figures outside of the main door that leads to the throne room. The gang ducked behind a wagon to check to see who they might be. The guards had black bodies with holes in their legs and arms, wings of a bug and sharp teeth. Their eyes were blue with a head of a pony’s.
“What the hell are those things? I’ve never seen them before.” asked Hero in a hushed tone.
“I think they are called changelings, they have the ability to change into anything. Or at least that’s what I have read anyway.” explained Twilight.
“That’s kind of cool…”Hero blurted out.
“Should you really be complementing the enemy, Hero?” asked Spike in an annoyed tone.
“Well wouldn’t you want to change into anything?” asked Hero.
“Well, I guess that would be kind of cool….” said Spike thoughtfully.
“Will you two stop and help think of a way to get in without alerting the guards!” Twilight said a little too loudly.
The guards hissed and started walking towards the wagon.
The guards walked around and saw Twilight and Rarity sitting behind the wagon. Immediately they hiss and place their hands on their swords, however before they could pull them out, they were blindsided and knocked unconscious by Spike and Hero.
“Well that was nicely taken care of.” said Hero as he dragged one of the changeling guards off behind the one of the buildings.
“That went smoother than I thought.” Spike said, dragging the other one behind the same building.
“Now we just have to go through the front door….” Twilight and everyone else slowly approached the doors and slightly opened it and peered inside.
“I don’t see anything inside, it is empty.” Twilight stated.
They slowly entered the throne room and walked to the middle of the room. Out of nowhere they hear Chrysalis laughing and then with a poof, she was sitting in the throne itself.
“Impressive that you four defeated that giant statue, a shame you will meet your end here.” Chrysalis chuckled to herself.
“What have you done to the Princesses and my friends!?” yelled Twilight.
“Oh them? As I said before I will be taking over Canterlot and so I have, much easier than I expected really. Almost boring in a way, but what can you do?” Chrysalis laughed more.
“No, that can’t be possible…” Said Twilight in disbelief
“Would you like to see them?” Chrysalis asked before snapping her fingers making six cocoons appear on the ceiling.
“No way…”Hero said in shock.
“How could this happen?” Spike looked shocked as well.
“All of them captured just like that? It doesn’t make any sense!” said Rarity looking up at the cocoons.
“Now, it is your turn to lose to my power.” With that, Chrysalis created a large ice shard above her head and hurls it at Hero and the others.
Spike had just landed when he saw a figured coming up behind Hero. “Hero, behind you!”
“Huh?” Hero spun around just in time to block a downward slash.
Hero’s eyes widened “It’s you!” Hero shouted as he pushed the attacker back.
“It is so good of you to remember the one who will have your head!” the Figure stated.
“Is that the one who broke into the castle?” asked Spike.
“Yeah this is the guy…” Hero stated.
“Heh, it is time we finish what we started Hero.” The figure lunged forward striking at Hero’s midsection, which Hero skillfully blocks. Hero then delivers a kick into the attacker’s stomach sending him to the ground making his hood fall back.
“What the…?” Hero was stunned for a moment and everyone noticed who the figure was.
“But why would you go so far, Blue Blood!?” Hero shouted.
“Blue Blood…you joined the enemy, why?” asked Spike.
Blue Blood was silent for a brief moment before responding. “For the sake of revenge, of course! The day I lost that match to you, I lost all of my peers’ respect and was treated like trash! It was as if I was nobody, so when my Queen offered me the power for my revenge, I took it. I have to say, I feel pretty good.”
Blue Blood stood up and grinned evilly. “Allow me to show you the power I speak of…a forbidden art that was lost in time, until now.” And with that Blue Blood’s horn glowed red as he said a spell.
“Spirits of the deceased I call on your aid to come and cause a never ending nightmare to my enemies!” Suddenly moaning was heard followed by shuffling.
Hero looked over to see a few of the dead soldiers walking, weapons in hand with cold and lifeless eyes with blood oozing out of there several wounds.
“Necromancy, that’s what you have been studying!?” Hero said disgusted.
“Blue Blood, that is insane to go so far for the sake of petty revenge.” Spike said with an equally disgusted face.
“‘Petty revenge’ you say? I had everything I could have ever wanted, and then this low life bastard showed up and took everything from me!!” Blue Blood furiously shouted. “So now I'm going to take everything from you…with that being said I have a question for you, Hero.”
“What?” asked Hero confused by Blue Blood’s response.
Blue Blood smiled to himself, “Tell me what you cherish most. Give me the pleasure of taking it away." He began laughing manically.
Hero gritted his teeth “Like I would tell you, you crazy bastard!” Hero charged at Blue Blood and they clashed with their blades.
Celestia had been unconscious from being over powered by Chrysalis; however the sound of fighting managed to wake her. She slowly looked around trying to find her bearings. She then heard the sound of metal clashing and spells going off, as her vision came back she saw that Twilight, Hero, Spike and Rarity where fighting.
She tried to move but was confined inside of the cocoon, she had to give them a message and get them to safety if they had any hope of winning against Chrysalis. She decided that she must gather enough power to aid them from another source, so she concentrated on Twilight.
Meanwhile Hero was not fairing so well against Blue Blood as he would have thought he would of. Tired and with his hand injured like it was he was finding it difficult to keep pace with Blue Blood’s attacks.
“What’s the matter Hero, tired already? I was hoping for more of a challenge from you!” laughed Blue Blood.
Hero was panting heavily by now. “Shut up I still have a few tricks up my sleeve!”
“Of course I’m bluffing, I’m not sure how much longer I can keep up with him at this rate. What should I do?”
Hero briefly looked over at Spike who was still trying to stop the undead soldiers.
“This isn’t going anywhere at all! No matter how many times I take them down, they get right back up. What should I do?” Spike thought.
Twilight and Rarity were almost exhausted from trying to keep Chrysalis at bay, which wasn’t working very well. She was much stronger than they thought.
Celestia had managed to collect just enough energy to make a telepathic connection to Twilight.
“Twilight Sparkle, do not be alarmed. I am speaking to you from my confinement. Please listen carefully to me. You must allow me to teleport you and the others to safety! Then you must stay low for a day or so before following the instructions I will give you.” Celestia said urgently. “You must collect the final spirit crystal if you hope to save Equestria from Chrysalis. I will use your magic to teleport you all to safety. Just clear your mind, my faithful student.”
Celestia began to draw some of Twilight’s magic.
“ I need you to focus on Hero, Spike and Rarity I will do the rest.”
“But Princess Celestia, what about you?”
“Don’t worry about me. I will be fine. Right now you must focus on the task at hand.” Celestia spoke in a calm voice.
“I…I understand Princess Celestia.” Twilight started focusing her magic.
Celestia then shouted out. “Listen to me Hero, Spike, Rarity and Twilight! You must defeat this threat at all cost. You must survive so you may save us all.”
And with that, Celestia’s horn glowed a vibrate pink and Hero, Spike, Rarity and Twilight vanished from the castle, leaving a confused and angry Blue Blood and Chrysalis behind.
“Please, you four must do your best, I know…you can do it.”” was her final thought before fading back into unconsciousness.
Hero and the gang had teleported out of Canterlot into a small and simple town close by called Ponyville.
“I can’t believe the situation is this bad!” Hero couldn’t help but feel angry for being unable to help.
“Twilight, did Princess Celestia give you any plan as to what we should do?” asked Rarity curiously.
“Yes, we must find the last spirit crystal and judging by this map, it will take a while to find all the pieces….”
“Pieces, meaning we have to put it back together?” asked Hero.
“Yes, the last time it was used it ended up getting split into three different pieces, and Celestia decided to give them to trustful individuals in three very different locations.” explained Twilight.
“So we better make sure we stock supplies and rest here then we will set out tomorrow morning.” Rarity stated.
“Sounds like a good idea.” said Spike.
“Let’s just hope we get the pieces together in time.” Twilight said worriedly.
“Alright guys we have a plan, so we should probably turn in early. Who knows what will await us tomorrow…” With that, everyone agreed and went to the nearest inn to get rooms and head to sleep, all of them praying they can handle what lies ahead.
Only Twilight had a long enough look into where they had to go first, making it clear why they have gone to Ponyville of all places. The Everfree Forest of all places, Twilight could only hope they could succeed for all of Equestria.