"What is it that you wish to show us Celestia?" Twilight asks curiosity brimming in her voice as she and her five friends sit before the royal thrones where Celestia and Luna stand; their faces straight and bearing that of wisdom yet unspoken.
Twilight, being the smart cookie she is, has finally caught on how this whole summoning thing works. She knows that whenever she and her friends are gathered like this than it is usually something big. Like that time where they had to deal with Sombra and Nightmare moon. She knows that it will do nothing but strengthen their friendship, and power, to levels they had never known they could reach before.
"Yea. I don't mean to be rude or anythang, but it's not ereyday that ya get a urgent summoning from two princesses." Applejack says taking off her hat and scratching her yellow mane, "I mean. I understand that we're the elements of harmony and everything, but the tree has been doing most of our mission of late."
"Oh oh oh! I just love surprises! Is it a surprise party for somepony important!" Pinkie says interjecting her thoughts to the circle of reason on why they may be here, "Because I've been working with Rarity to plan the best royal party that any pony could ever think of for the next Gala!"
"Pinkie darling. I'm sure they didn't call us here for something as small as a royal party. But of course if it is, I may be able to scrounge up some proper attire for all of us depending on the type of event." Rarity says mirth appearing in her eyes at the idea of a royal party with her friends and all the important ponies.
"Just as long as you don't make it lame, Rarity." Rainbowdash says grunting hating the prospect of wearing a fancy dress that might mess up her flying like last time.
"Girls girls! The princesses wouldn't invite us here if it was something as silly as a party so urgently. It has to be something more drastic right? Are the changelings back? Or does it has something to do with the griffons or dragons?" Twilight says remembering some of her last encounters with both races.
"No no... I'm afraid it's something more pressing than that. It'll... It'll be a lot easier to show you than tell you honestly." Celesita says giving her sister a side ways glance before nodding her head.
Luna returns the nod before igniting her horn with magic. The room grows cold and the darkness starts swirling around all the members of the room. A chill flows up everyone's spine as they're warped out of the room leaving only a magical residue of their presence once being there.
'
The darkness leaves as quickly as it came for the ponies from the throne room as they are left in a room with nothing but a cage in the middle of all of them. The small cage in question has iron bars with a pony sitting inside and darkness flowing around it like a shroud. A hush falls over everyone as they try to peal their eyes away but can't. Each pony sees something different deep within that swirling darkness. Some seeing war and pestilence, others lust and envy. For the princesses, they see everything.
"Wha... What is that..." Twilight asks being the first to break her stare from the shadowy cage tears streaming down here eyes.
She saw what could've been if she has failed the exam all those years ago. The death, the destruction. The cold grip on her heart still hasn't let go and it feels like the visions she had saw were actually of her past memory. It's almost like everything in her head was being replaced.
"That. That is the living embodiment of sin. Everything that can, may, or will go wrong is in that cage. Or more specifically, inside the pony inside the cage. That pony was gifted... nay... cursed with the power to draw in darkness and all things that may go bad into himself. All that was left was the goodness all other ponies got." Luna begins walking around the cage and the dark room with no walls or ceilings, "I've brought him here in order to help him, but he seems to suck the badness out of everything everywhere. Leaving only good result to those who would suffer the most. There are bad things happening, but not as bad as what they could be. Anything crippling bad all ends up here. With him."
"Me and my sister have been trying to figure out a way to help him, but it seems no magic can stop it. We have tested the effect ponies have upon seeing him and touching him. Needless to say... they've been... catostrophic. Even to me and my sister." Celestia says walking towards the cage, "We placed him in this cage in order to prevent him from harming himself. When we saw that even that was ineffective, we placed him in this realm until we could better find a solution. We predicted that it might lay somewhere in the Tree of Friendship, but..."
"We're not one hundred percent sure that this will work or even do anything. And even than, what would happen? Would he still pull it all in or would all the results up to now reverse changing everything in Equestria? Or would it all go away? There are many more big questions, but those are our main ones."
"That poor thing... what... does he know? Does he know that all of this is happening or does he just go about without a clue?" Fluttershy asks creeping closer to the cage tears in her soft eyes feeling for both the vision and the poor foal in the cage.
"He knows. He has accepted his fate thus far. He knows he'll bring harm to many and has tried to live his life to what he thinks is great. He said that..." Celestia goes quiet and looks away from the cage trying to form her words.
"He spoke as if he wishes to die. He doesn't wish to bring harm to ponies and have tried to pass it off as bad luck, but in fact he has died a millions times in both his dreams and his life. Every attempt he has done to end himself has led to some giant crises in Equestria. He has give up the attempts to kill himself, but he says the self harm really takes the edge of since he can't die from anything."
Twilight stays quiet as she looks back between Celestia and Luna before leaving her gaze on the cage in front of her.
"That's a mighty big challenge you've placed in front of us there Luna..." Applejack says taking off her hat and laying down looking towards the nonexistent ground seeing the farm on fire still in her mind, "But I guess that's what made our friendship so strong. All the different challenges and what not. Heck. We've fought gods and we still hold our heads high together."
Luna nods her head acknowledging their feats. Twilight stands to her full height and nods her head determination flowing through her body.
"Thank for reminding me of that Applejack. If it is needed in order to further understand something that may one day become a threat to Equestria, we at least have to try in order to see the results. We've defeated Tirek the most challenging one of or villains, and Discord the most clever of our villains. We can deal with this eventually as well!" Twilight says fueling hope in the accompaniments in the room.
"Yea!" Rainbowdash says doing a fast loop in the air before landing beside Twilight, "We're better than some spooky cage pony! We'll fix this in no time flat!"
"I'd have to agree with Rainbowdash. Compared to what we've had to deal with, this seems practically too easy." Applejack says taking the spot Luna has moved away from.
"If it'll help the poor stallion... sure. I believe we can do it." Fluttershy says standing beside Rainbowdash.
"As long as one of those disasters don't attack where I have a bad mane day for the rest of my life, I should be ready to give it everything I got!" Rarity says standing beside Applejack.
"And afterward we can throw him a giant party for getting better and keeping Equestria safe for all the may years he's been in there. Speaking of which. How long haaaas he been in there?" Pinkie by says jumping up on Twilight's back excitedly.
"He's been in that cage for more than forty years." Celestia says.
"Forty years! That's forty birthdays he has to catch up on! What sick twisted world do we live in!" Pinkie says gasping and shooting into the air.
Ignoring Pinkie Pie being... Pinkie Pie Twilight holds her head up high with the rest of her friends as a light glows around all six of them. Pinkie gets caught in mid air by her magic and the other five quickly fly up to where Pinkie is glowing and changing from mane to tail. Their eyes open as one as a magic sphere wraps around them and brings them fully together before shooting towards the cage and the pony within. Upon making contact with the darkness Celestia and Luna are flowered by the great magical collide. The gravity increases in the room by ten folds. Celestia and Luna try to exert their magic to counteract this effect, but to no prevail as they grit their teeth watching sparks fly between the dark and light magic.
Cracks form along both the dark and light magic before both sense of magic is swallowed an a world shattering burst of sound and light. Everything within the nonexistent room is swallowed. Inside of the room still sits the cage.
Only the cage. Only the now empty cage.