//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4- A Meeting 
// Story: What Lurks in the Shadows? 
// by Arts Desire 
//------------------------------//

      Twilight had gathered her friends into the library, and now they were all sitting around a table. Twilight walked up to her chatting friends. They began their meeting.

"My friends! Ponies all over Ponyville are being spooked, spooked by the same shadow creature. We must find out how to stop this!" Twilight stomped one hoof on the table, all her friends nodded in agreement. They had to stop the horror overcoming the fillies and colts.

"But, sugar cube, just what is this creature?" A orange pony, across from Twilight, asked.

Twilight slowly shook her head. "I don't know Applejack," she moved away from the table, "but I promised I would do what I could."

"You can't break a promise, so where do we start?" A soft voice came from a yellow pegasus, who now stood next to Twilight.

"Especially if you Pinkie promised!" Screamed a pink earth pony, jumping onto the table.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Pinkie, please get of the table. We got a lot of work to do." Pinkie slowly backed down and took her seat. "Now," Twilight continued, moving back to her spot. "We need to do research, lots of research." Twilight grinned a little.

"Research! I hate research!" Yelled a blue pegasus, now flying above everypony. "Can't we just go find this...beast, and take him down!" She suggested.

Twilight frowned and shook her head. "It is a creature that is not in my books, Rainbow. We don't know how to defeat it, or even what it is." Rainbow glided back to her seat.

"Well, darlings, I am not sure about you, but these bright green and red eyes sound familiar. The raspy snake voice and shadow form, too." The white unicorn, sitting next to Twilight, said. "I mean, haven't we seen this creature before?'

Silence enveloped the room, as everpony thought about what she had said. Twilight stood and walked around the table, pondering. Everypony watched her closely, waiting to hear what she'd come up with. 

With a frown on her face, Twilight turned to face her friends. "Rarity is right! We have a problem, a big problem." Twilight looked at the dragon, who was sitting next to Rarity. "Spike!"

Spike popped up with a pencil and paper in hand. "Ready!"

Twilight laughed. "No, no Spike. I don't need you to write anything. Just trying to keep you focused."

"Oh, okay." Spike said, blushing and sitting back down.

"So, Twilight. What is this BIG problem?" Said Rainbow. Everyone focused on her once again.

Twilight stood for several moments, before replying. "Sombra is back." Everypony was quiet, until Pinkie stood up. 

"The evil unicorn king, who wanted to enslave all of the Crystal Empire! That Sombra?" She asked.

"Yes, Pinkie, that Sombra." Twilight smiled just slightly. Pinkie always had a way of making ponies smile, even in the darkest of times. She turned to face the others, she a had a slightly annoyed looking face. "We need to stop this spree of horror." They all nodded and began chatting of possible ways to defeat Sombra. 

"Without the Elements of Harmony, it will be difficult."  Applejack mentioned. Just a few months ago, they gave up the Elements to save the Tree of Harmony. The tree had given them a chest in return, but the keys were still missing. Equestria had lost its main form of defense, and now they had to find a new way to stop Sombra. 

Twilight sighed. "AJ's right. We will have to work together." She turned to a window, Celestia had lowered the sun and Luna rose the moon. She noticed her friends were becoming tired. Rainbow Dash, gave a big, held out yawn. "We can't do much half asleep. Goodnight every pony, we'll continue tomorrow." With that the meeting ended and everypony went home to sleep.