Beneath the Impending Storm

by Raf109

(END) Chapter 2: Answers

“Alright, let’s stick together. We don’t know how long this cave is,” said Applejack.

Inside the cave, the sound of dripping water reminded the ponies inside to stay sharp. They had a lot of visibility with Rarity’s magic, but the ceiling was way too high to be illuminated. The cave had one way in and one way out, if something surprised them from behind, it was all over. After almost one hour, deep inside the cave, everypony was feeling uneasy.

“This cave seems to get darker and darker,” hinted Fluttershy.

“AAAAGGGHHH” shouted Rarity, “Did anypony saw that?”

“It’s just the shadow of a rock Rarity,” Applejack sighed.

“Great, now we’re starting to see crazy illusions. What’s next? Giant spiders?” Rainbow Dash said sarcastically.

Coincidentally, the sound of distant steps alerted everypony, they all prepared themselves for the worst as the sound got closer and closer. But what came out of the shadows, was something that nopony expected.

“Scootaloo?” shouted Applejack. “But how, why, what?”

“It’s so good to see other ponies!” smiled Scootaloo.

“How in Equestria did you get over here?” questioned Applejack.

“I was passing by the Everfree Forest when the blizzard started, I tried to make my way back to Ponyville but I got lost. Until I heard a loud noise.”

“That’s when all the snow collapsed under our hooves!” acknowledged Pinkie Pie.

“And that’s when I discovered the cave too, so I climbed down here to escape the weather.” continued Scootaloo. “It was so cold that I had to come all the way down here and-”

“I knew you were going to be fine Scoots!” Rainbow Dash hugged the little Pegasi.

“Thanks,b – but can you stop hug-”

“Rainbow Dash! You are squeezing her too hard!” hinted Rarity.

“Oops, sorry,” Rainbow Dash released Scootaloo. “Anyways, did you find anything by the end of the cave Scoots?”

“I actually didn’t get too deep in there. I started to feel uneasy.”

“Don’t worry, we are all feeling the same way,” said Fluttershy.

“No, it’s something else, as much as I wanted to keep going, something tells me to go back,” explained Scootaloo.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get to the end of this cave together,” promised Applejack.

“But what about the Clock Tower?” remembered Rarity.

“Something weird is going on inside this cave. We need to check it out,” claimed Applejack. “Look at all these torches, look at what we are feeling right now. This place is not normal. I say that we should go to the end of this place, maybe we’ll even find an answer to this blizzard!”

“We are supposed to be looking out for survivors AJ,” argued Rainbow Dash.

“And for a solution to this blizzard,” pointed Applejack.

“Or, we can just split up. Some of us can go to the Clock Tower, while the others explore the end of this cave,” advised Rarity.

“Don’t you remember what I just said? We need to stick together!” exclaimed Applejack.

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were observing the heated conversation from far away, suddenly Fluttershy realized something.

“Wait, where’s Scootaloo?” she yelled.

Everypony looked around, but Scootaloo was gone.

“Where did she go?” said Rainbow Dash.

“She didn’t come through here,” mentioned Fluttershy.

“So that means,” Rarity got the chills. “Scootaloo went deeper inside the cave?”

“Well, at least now we know where we are going,” told Applejack.

------OO------

“Crystals?” said Fluttershy.

“Crystals!” repeated Rarity. “Strange, I don’t recognize them.”

“They look just like any other crystal to me,” muttered Applejack.

Rarity’s magic suddenly started to fade away.

“Uh, Rarity? Are you okay?” asked Fluttershy.

“Yes, but I don’t know what’s going on with my magic!”

Darkness.

“Great, now what do we do?” wondered Applejack. “I’m surprised that none of us thought of bringing a little light.”

“Welcome, little ponies,” said a deep and familiar voice.

Suddenly, all the torches inside the cave lighted up, revealing the end of the cave. A large room with a couple of wooden seats surrounding a big stone table at the center.

“What in Equestria is this place?” exclaimed Fluttershy.

A dark shadow appeared at the other side of the room.

“Sombra!?” observed Rainbow Dash.

The long defeated Sombra was not the same, he put his body back together piece by piece, he was looking like shattered glass.

“Finally!” shouted Scootaloo, trapped inside a crystal beside Sombra.

“You get him out of there right now!” raged Rainbow Dash.

“Are you causing all this blizzard?” asked Applejack.

“Maybe, why don’t you come here to find out?” answered Sombra.

“Darn it! If only Twilight was here we could use the Elements of Harmony!” said Applejack.

“Alright, that’s it!” Rainbow Dash took off.

“No! Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy protested.

Rainbow Dash flanked Sombra from the right side, just as she was going to kick him, a dark crystal blocked the attack. Sombra teleported behind her and with one punch, Rainbow Dash was sent back to her friends.

“Fluttershy, take care of her!” ordered Applejack as she charged Sombra.

“I shall go too!” shouted Rarity.

Sombra summoned more crystals to block Applejack, but she charged right through them. As Applejack and Rarity got closer, Sombra launched a lot of small crystals in their direction. Rarity cast a shield spell and blocked everything.

“Can your shield stop this?” Sombra cast a shadow spell, wich passed right through Rarity’s shield, immobilizing Applejack and Rarity.

“Surprise!” Pinkie Pie appeared behind Sombra with her party cannon, aiming it at his face.

Sombra teleported behind Pinkie Pie before she fired and grabbed her leg with one of his shadows, throwing her into the wall.

“Alright, now, where’s that other pony-” Sombra got surprised.

“How dare you!” Fluttershy kicked Sombra in the stomach with all her force, sending him to the ground.

Fluttershy took the opportunity to break the crystal and release Scootaloo.

“Go! Just get out of here!” exclaimed Fluttershy.

Scootaloo never saw Fluttershy so angry before. But he had no time to think, he quickly made his way to Applejack and Rarity.

“How can I release the both of you?” asked Scootaloo.

“No! Just get out of here!” protested Rarity.

Applejack only nodded, Scootaloo finally decided to exit the room. Fluttershy was still fighting with Sombra, after getting hit, he summoned more shadows to catch Fluttershy, she almost evaded the attack, one shadow managed to grab her mane. Sombra wasted no time and teleported in front of Fluttershy, making eye contact.

“I won,” Sombra cheered.

Fluttershy just sat there, completely distracted by Sombra’s illusion.

------OO------

“Princess Celestia! Please take a look at this picture!” Mayor Mare explained.

“Sombra? But how?” Princess Celestia gasped.

“He looks a little bit different,” pointed Twilight.

“This photo was taken by a Pegasi, she coming to visit her parents in Ponyville today, this picture was taken between Sweet Apple Acres and the Everfree Forest,” said Mayor Mare.

“Sweet Apple Acres?” Twilight started to get worried. “That’s where my friends went!”

“This is not good, we are going. Now,” affirmed Princess Celestia. “I’m going to tell Luna, she’ll take care of our barriers.”

Scootaloo was running as fast as possible to the exit. She knew that the mane 5 was in deep trouble.

“Where can I find help? This blizzard is going to kill me if I leave the cave,” Scootaloo thought. “What if Sombra succeeded on his plans? What if Fluttershy got defeated and Sombra was coming after me? What if-”

She shook her head.

“No, stop thinking about such things! Just stay focused,” exclaimed Scootaloo, closing her eyes.

Just as she said that, something bumped into her. It was Princess Celestia and Twilight.

“Scootaloo? What are you doing here?” asked Twilight.

“There’s no time to explain! Your friends are fighting Sombra down there, go help them!” explained Scootaloo.

“Alright, you can stay here,” said Princess Celestia.

“Just be careful!” advised Scootaloo as she saw the two Princesses charging deeper into the cave.

It didn’t take long until they reached the room where Sombra was.

“Alright Twilight, go take care of the Elements of Harmony, I’ll keep him busy,” announced Princess Celestia.

Twilight looked around, Rainbow Dash was unconscious and Pinkie Pie was still awake, but very hurt.

“Rainbow Dash? Come on wake up!” yelled Twilight.

“Eugh, what happened Twilight?” said Rainbow Dash with a weak voice.

“Good, just stay here. I need to get the rest of us together,” she answered.

Princess Celestia flanked Sombra and hit him on the head with a laser. He teleported behind Celestia and tried to grab her with one of his shadows, but she was quicker and defended the attack with a magical shield. Princess Celestia quickly prepared another spell and launched a powerful laser into Sombra’s direction, hitting him directly to the ground.

“Now Twilight!” exclaimed Princess Celestia.

Twilight managed to get her friends together just in time. The mane 6 launched the rainbow-colored attack and destroyed Sombra once again.
“This time, I’ll take care of his fragments,” commented Princess Celestia.

Everypony celebrated.

“We did it!” yelled Pinkie Pie.

“Well of course,” said Rarity.

“Awww yeah!” cheered Rainbow Dash.

“That’s good,” calmly said Fluttershy.

“Thanks for the help,” said Applejack as she approached Twilight. “How did you found us anyways?”

“We tracked Rarity’s magic,” explained Twilight. “But I don’t know anything about this cave.”

“I remember this place, from a long time ago. It was part of a small group of ponies with great ideas and this cave was their meeting place,” described Princess Celestia. “A lot of inventions were discussed here. But as time passed, this place started to get abandoned.”

“You did it!” exclaimed Scootaloo, entering the room. “The blizzard outside disappeared!”

“Wait, if it was Sombra behind all this storm, then why didn’t Princess Celestia realized it earlier?” wondered Twilight.

“By the looks of it, this room has magical barriers wich camouflages magic, they are very rare and were cast a long time ago by the same ponies who attended this place. I imagine that’s how Sombra cloaked his magic,” responded Princess Celestia.

The sun was shining and the birds were singing. The feeling of summer was back. Everypony exited the cave and looked up at the blue sky.

“This is so much better!” happily said Rainbow Dash.

“Indeed,” affirmed Rarity.

“The air is so refreshing,” smiled Fluttershy.

Twilight saw Princess Celestia in the corner of the entrance to the cave.

“Yes, we did it. You can stop the barriers now,” mumbled Princess Celestia.

“What are you doing?” asked Twilight.

“Just telling Cadance and Luna about our success. I must say, Ponyville has a lot of surprises. I should visit you more frequently.”

“I know right?” giggled Twilight.

“Alright, who is ready for another picnic?” exclaimed Applejack.

“Are you kidding me? I haven’t eaten anything last time. Show me what you got!” teased Rainbow Dash. “Care to join us, Princess Celestia?”

“Of course!” Princess Celestia’s eyes sparkled.

After being teleported to the top of the ravine, everypony walked back to Ponyville through the green fields, as they took a moment to admire the sunset.