"Come on everypony, it's time for dinner!" Limestone Pie yelled up the stairs to her sisters room, sighing in frustration when she failed to hear the sound of laughter diminish. The Pie house was tucked in a blanket of snow, meaning that the young filly had to spend the entire day cooped up with her sisters. She was on edge. "Pinkie, I swear that if I have to come up there you're going to be doing my chores for a week!"
"Let her have her fun," Maud said from one of the chairs in the kitchen, glancing up from the books on tectonic plates she was ready to give her sister a bland look. "She just discovered her cutie mark a few days ago and it's for parties. So it's only natural that she'll be a lot more...boisterous than us."
"The only reason that you can say that is because you don't have to sleep in the same room as her! You get your own room while me and Marble have to put up with her giggling all the time!" the filly yelled back at her sister, but as the door opened and her mother and father walked in, Limestone clamped down and kept her annoyance to herself.
A loud laugh filled the room and Pinkie came sliding down the stairs railing, leaping off with a laughter light enough to make her float through the air. She skidded to a stop at the hooves of her parents, beaming up at them with a smile bright enough to rival the sun. Cloudy's mouth didn't move an inch as she stared down at the beaming face of her daughter, but try as he might Igneous couldn't stop himself from cracking a small smile.
"Hiya mom! Hi daddy!" Pinkie exclaimed delightfully while her parents shook the snow off of themselves. Pinkie then spun around and wrapped her arms around Limestone, spinning the both of them around with such speeds that Limestone had to forcefully resist the desire to vomit. When Pinkie released her sister and raced over to Maud, Limestone staggered in place with her eyes swimming in her head.
When the spinning finally stopped, Limestone looked over at her parents to see that they were holding a pair of bags in their hooves, which they laid down on the table in the kitchen. Limestone trotted over and hopped up onto a chair to look inside of the bags, seeing that there was a numerous amount of groceries, most of which were for some of Pinkie's favorite food.
"So we're finally going to celebrate Pinkie getting her cutie mark, are we?" Limestone asked her parents, both of who nodded once silently before going about their work. Limestone made a face before she walked over to her sister and pulled her into a hug, messing up Pinkie's mane ever further. "Congrats on finally getting your mark, little sis. Looks like you are capable of growing up after all."
"Aw, thanks sis," Pinkie smiled before pulling Limestone into a bone crunching hug, one that squeezed all of the air out of her ribs. When Pinkie loosened her grip, Limestone looked down at her sister with a bit of amazement. Pinkie's mane had gone from flat to poofy and her coat had gone from a dark pink to a pink that one would see in a rainbow. Her personality had also changed drastically and now it was almost impossible to get her to be quite. But despite all of that, as Limestone looked down at the three balloons on Pinkie's side, she couldn't help but feel pride in her little sister.
"Limestone, go and find Marble. She's probably out gazing at the stars," Cloudy Quartz ordered Limestone from the counter, gazing at her daughter over the edge of her glasses.
"Aw come on, it's freaking cold out there," Limestone tried to argue. Her father then turned around and gave her a stare that told her she no longer had a say in the matter. Limestone let out an exasperated sigh as she turned and walked towards the door, stopping just long enough to catch a glance at herself in the mirror that hung next to the door.
She looked at her gray mane that hung straight down the side of her body, before casting a glance at the lime on he flank between two rocks. She looked like every other Pie family member on the family tree, not standing out in the slightest. Except for Pinkie, who was so different from the rest of them that no pony would ever guess that they were related.
"Come on, lets go find Marble," Maud said from beside Limestone, snapping her out of her thoughts and getting her to look up at her younger (yet somehow taller) sister with surprise. Maud pulled a scarf off of the coat rack that hung by the door and wrapped the wool around Limestone's neck, before she took one off for herself. "The rock farm is a big place and we have a better chance of finding her quickly together. Before we get cold."
Limestone flashed her sister a grateful smile before Maud pushed open the door and walked outside. The sting of the winter air immediately bit into the two ponies, getting Limestone to shiver as her body quickly became chilled. Maud made no indication that she felt the cold at all and instead looked to her left and right across the farm.
"You take the quarry. I'll go look near the Holder's Boulder," Maud instructed, getting Limestone to shake her head. Despite being the oldest of the sisters, at this point Limestone, Pinkie and Marble had all defaulted to Maud as the leader of the four. Not only because she was far wiser than all of them, but also because she would do what she wanted anyway, whether or not she was in charge.
"She better not be on top of Holder again," Limestone grumbled as she started to head to the rock quarry. "If she is I'll never let her hear the end of it!"
"That's why I'm going to look there."
Limestone walked towards the rock quarry in silence, only occasionally letting out a sound as her teeth chatted together. She pulled her scarf closer as she moved a little quicker, looking across the quarry for any sign of her sister while she trotted through the snow. She eventually spied Marble sitting at the very edge of the quarry, looking up at the moon hiding amongst the clouds.
"Hey Marble," Limestone said as she approached her youngest sister, getting Marble to turn around to glance at Limestone. A small smile was all Marble gave Limestone before she turned her eyes back up to the moon as Limestone sat down next to her. "Mom and dad say that you have to come in. We're going to be celebrating Pinkie getting her cutie mark tonight."
"Oh wow, already?" Marble replied in a near whisper, hiding under her mane as she changed her gaze to the snow under her hooves. "Do you think that...I'll get my cutie mark soon?"
"Don't see why not. Maybe in another year or so," Limestone said to her sister before wrapping an arm around the filly. "But first I need to teach you to stop hiding under your mane. No pony is going to take you seriously if you keep doing that."
"I know, but I just feel so safe when...sis. What's that?"
Limestone looked up to where Marble had pointed, her eyes going wide as a tear ripped its way across the sky far in the distance. The tear was slowly pulled open, reveling a vortex of pink energy that hung in the sky, barely visible with the clouds that hung in the sky. But both Marble and Limestone watched with wide eyes as something descended from the tear, a being that neither of them could make out completely.
From where they sat it looked like some kind of dragon, with a pair of wings that went straight back. Its long neck moved its head back and forth, looking around the land. The dragon had two large pearls on its shoulders that glistened in the moon light, while its whole body was pinkish in nature.
The creature lifted its head towards the rift, watching as a sphere of pink energy descended out of the rift and came to a stop right in front of the dragon. The dragon then pointed one of its arms off into the distance and a split second later the sphere launched into the distance. The moment the sphere was gone the dragon extended its wings and flew back up into the vortex, which slowly closed in upon itself once the dragon was gone. When it had closed completely, the Pie sisters were left looking at a perfectly fine night sky, with no mark of what had just happened.
"Sis, did you see that as well?" Marble asked Limestone, whose face sent like her aunt Flint, who was known for stern looks, before shaking her head slightly.
"I saw it. The only thing I don't know is what we just saw," she replied, before standing up and helping Marble to her hooves as well. "Go back to the house and I'll be with you momentarily. Don't argue or else mom will get mad at us. And grab Maud if you see her."
Marble did as she was told, leaving Limestone to look up into the sky once more and glare at the spot where the rift had appeared. She waited for ten more minutes, waiting for it to open once more, but when nothing happen she shook her head and headed back towards her home.
'Was that some kind of dragon? A magical monster that we've never heard of before? What was it doing here?' she asked herself before she stopped one last time, remembering the direction that the sphere had flown off in. 'And what was in that sphere? Why did that dragon leave it here? And what does it mean for our world?'
(]o[)
A strong kick to the stone wall caved it in, creating a large enough opening for the treasure hunter to make it inside. The beast had the face of a dog, the body similar to a gorilla and a tail with a hand on it. It also wore a hard hat on its head and a map was gripped tightly in its hand, neither of which were helping it all that much.
"This should not have been this hard to find," Ahuizolt snarled to himself as he reached up and turned on the headlamp, shining it around the room that was filled with plants and dusts, neither of which Ahuizolt liked the looks of. "Twenty years...it's taken me twenty years to find this darned place!"
Yet even though the dust was messing with his allergies, Ahuizolt couldn't help but smile as he reached into a back pocket, pulling out a small totem on the end of a necklace. "But found it at last I have. And with this discovery, this world will soon bow down to me! The greatest treasure hunter in all of the world!"
Ahuizolt threw back his head and laughed as loud as he could, until some dust flew into his throat and turned his triumphant laughter into regretful choking. Once he had finished with his close encounter with death, Ahuizolt entered into the ancient temple and started to look around.
The walls were covered in images and symbols, all of which Ahuizolt easily deciphered with his brilliant mind, and the cheat sheet that he had on the back of the map. He flipped it over and started to read the symbols, a toothy grin smiling across his face as he slowly started to realize what he needed to do.
Without a moments hesitation he walked over to a spot in the large chamber where a single pedestal stood in an alcove with nothing on it. Ahuizolt removed the totem from his backpack and placed it onto the pedestal, waiting for a full three minutes before he realized that he had it on backwards. Once he flipped it around, the temple began to shake with such force that hundreds of bats that had been hiding in the cracks of the walls flew towards the exit that Ahuizolt had made, terrified of the weirdo that had entered into their home.
A stone wall vanished in a swirl of dust (sending Ahuizolt into a coughing frenzy) before he walked into the chamber hidden behind the wall, glancing around at the splendor that was the hidden chamber. Torches that never seemed to burn out decorated the walls, providing an eerie light that Ahuizolt would be sure to remember if he ever made an evil lair. Piles of gold, silver and gems adorned the floor, with some of the gems being larger than Ahuizolt's hands.
But neither the treasure nor the ambient lighting was what Ahuizolt had come for. In the center of the room, under a single beam of light that came from the outside, was a coffin. A coffin that was covered in chains and a lock that held six slots for keys on it. The coffin itself was black as the night and an eerie glow came out of the small cracks in the side of it.
"And there we are. One of the most powerful and well guarded secrets in all of Equestria. The coffin of the kind," Ahuizolt whispered to himself as he approached the coffin, until a chilling sensation stopped him in his tracks.
'Who dares to disturb me?' an ancient and slightly raspy voice asked from within the coffin, but instead of inspiring fear the voice made Ahuizolt smile with anticipation.
"So the legends are true. Within this coffin lays the king of all ghosts," Ahuizolt said as he approached the coffin, resting a hand on the exterior of the box. "King of the ghosts, hear my words. I have come to free you, but only if you do a favor for me! And if you refuse, I shall leave and you shall remain imprisoned until the end of time."
'Very well, one who I do not know. Tell me it is what you desire and I shall use my power to make it so. Once I am free, of course,' the kind replied from within, more curious than offended by the being that so casually demanded his aid.
"I demand that you use your ghostly army to grant the rule of this world to me!" Ahuizolt declared, clenching his fists as he did so as he struck a pose of triumph.
'That is hardly a difficult request. But in order for me to resurrect my ghostly army, I will need to be free.' Ahuizolt extended a single claw and placed it in the lock. The claw didn't unlock the chains, but simply by being touched the lock faded away into golden dust. The chains fell off of the coffin and vanished into dust as well, before the top of the coffin exploded off and a being of darkness rose into the sky.
'I am free!' the small ball of darkness said, letting out a menacing cackle before it started to fly around the room. Ahuizolt watched the ball fly around until he snapped his fingers, getting the ball to fly over to him. 'Ah, so this is the one who freed me. Tell me your name, stranger, and I shall grant you what you desire.'
"Do you take me for a fool? I know that if a mortal gives their name to you, you will take control of their very soul with your power," Ahuizolt said with a smile, one that got the ball to start chuckling.
'Ah, I see that you are not as dumb as the last fool that freed me. Sombrero or something like that,' the king said before he dove into the treasure that lined the floor, emerging a moment later with a sliver mask that had a large smile upon its face. 'Perhaps this time I will be able to get something done before I am finally sealed away. Tell me, have King Solace's descendants Celestia and Luna been dealt with yet? They are still the current rulers, right?'
"Yes and they still breathe. And now there are six other defenders with powers that surpass the princesses. They will be trouble," Ahuizolt informed the king, who nodded the mask.
'Well, that matters not. There are as many ghosts under my command as there are graves in the world!' the king laughed before the masks eye sockets began to glow, sending out a purplish light into the air. 'Arise my ghosts! Those of you with bitter hatred in your hearts, arise! Join me once more, to reclaim the land of the living for ourselves!'
Ahuizolt looked up at the sky with a large smile for a minute, before he looked around with confusion at the fact that nothing had changed. "Um..."
'I was not buried with my army. Solace was not that dumb. But right now, somewhere in the world, my army is arising,' the king said with a sinister laugh, which was offset by the silly smile on his mask. 'And I pity any that are caught with them.'
(]o[)
Ponies screamed in terror as the center of the city was slowly ripped open, creating a fissure in the ground that shook the entire city to its core. Buildings began to collapse as the fissure grew wider and wider, laughter filling the air as the sky started to become darker and darks clouds filled the sky. While the ponies ran away, those that were wearing the uniforms of the royal guard ran towards the fissure, drawing their weapons as they prepared to do their duty.
Yet when they arrived at the fissure they found that they were hopelessly unprepared for what they would find. Hundreds of spirits were rising into the sky, all of them resembling the upper half of a pony if they had no mane, eyes and their mouths stayed open, allowing a blue light that came from within the shine. Their eyes sockets shone with a similar blue light, one that was malevolent, while their faces had on them a sinister smirk.
The guards raised their weapons and prepared to defend themselves, before another guard pointed out that there was something in the center of the fissure. All of the guards turned their attentions to the fissure once more, spying the figure standing on a single pillar that was barely holding together. The being had white fur, red eyes and a black horn in the shape of a blade. It seemed to size them up for a moment, before it opened it's mouth.
"Run."
And then the spirits attacked.