On the outskirts of Ponyville, a pony walks up to a cave entrance. It’s getting late; the sun is beginning to dip into the horizon, slowly but surely disappearing. This pony is wearing a hood; even in broad daylight, nopony would be able to tell who this pony was. The cave has a broad opening, about as wide as the castle corridor, which, as this pony recalls, was very large. The pony takes a deep breath, and then walks in the cave. After about a minute of walking, the pony sees a light, and runs to it. As the pony arrives at the scene, there is a large campfire in the middle of an open space so large that you could not see the walls. On the campfire sat a large black cauldron. There were five other ponies surrounding the fire, also wearing hoods. They stood there, silently waiting. The pony slowly approached the five, and joined them around the fire. Nopony said a word, not a single sound was heard. The pony to the left spoke. A male. He must have been the leader of the group.
“Everypony is now here. There is no turning back.” The other ponies mumbled in agreement. Also male. The newcomer sat there silently, waiting to be spoken to.
“You.” The pony said, pointing to the newcomer, “Did you bring what we asked for?”
“Yes, of course.” The pony said. Also male. He reached into his bag that was under his hooded cape and pulled out some scrap metal, six gems, and a large piece of limestone. He set them down in front of the pony, and then backed away back to where he was standing. The pony then picked them up, and tossed them into the cauldron. A pony across from him leaves for a second, and then comes back, dragging a filly behind him with rope. The filly flaps its wings franticly, trying to escape, but with no luck. The pony dragging the filly unties it and holds it in place.
“Young foal, what is your name?” the leader said.
“S-Scootaloo. My name i-is Scootaloo.” She said, sniveling.
“Well, Scootaloo, we will let you go.”
“Really?” She said hopefully, “You’re going to let me go?”
“Yes. But we need you to do something first.”
“Anything.”
“Read this out loud.” He throws a folder over to her. The pony holding her lets her go, and the filly slowly walks up to the folder, and opens it.
“Anach fey soncholus qu teyfeir weevfo.” She said slowly. The cauldron began to bubble violently, and the leader chuckled. Scootaloo was lifted up into the air, but not by a unicorn. It was some other form of magic. A cloudy mixture began coming out of her mouth and into the cauldron. She let out a blood curdling scream, and then fell to the ground. A pony began checking her pulse. He grunted.
“Excellent.” The leader said. He turned his attention to the cauldron, and a few seconds later, the liquid inside turned pitch black, then the room was consumed by a bright light. The six ponies winced and covered their eyes. The light did not last long, however; it lasted about ten seconds. When the light was gone, they looked back at the cauldron, which was boiling over.
“Everypony run for cover!” the leader shouted, and everypony did so. Not even two seconds after they all took cover, the cauldron exploded, sending pieces of charred iron in every direction. The ponies came out, and relit the fire. On all sides of the fire, there were gold pieces of metal. The leader looked down at the one in front of him. It was a crown; on top of it, there was a large jewel, which was the same as Twilight’s element, except on this one, the jewel was pitch-black. The pony chuckled as he picked it up and put it on.
***
Zecora walks into her home. She had had a long day, and she needed some rest. However, she had not eaten anything all day, for a trek to her homeland and back is not an easy travel. She recalls the best moment of the trip when her friends greeted her upon arrival, ready to have some fun. She made herself one of her favorites: Vegetable soup. Even though this soup was not from her homeland, after her friend Twilight introduced it to her, it immediately became a favorite meal.
After eating said meal, she sat down to do a nighttime meditation, to relieve some of the stress she had. It was a wonderful escape for her, which is why she did it so often. For about five minutes, she sat in silence, about to doze off. A chuckle echoes through her mind and she opens her eyes. She throws on her hood, and grabs her bag.
“I must warn the magical team, for all is not what it seems.” She says as She walks out the door and starts her trek through the Everfree forest. She was a little reluctant to leave, for a trek that long can make anyone exhausted, but this need to be done. She looks up at the horizon, the sun now a red dome, almost completely gone. Next stop, Ponyville.