Twilight was the first the speak, as she said, "Well, it seems before we can do anything about Arrovak, my friends and I need to somehow regain our self-confidence. But how are we supposed to do that?"
Violet Winter answered, and she said, "Honestly, as my father said, this is something you all need to figure out, and if I were you, I would follow what my father left behind. Follow the path that my father's sword shows you and I would suggest that one of you take the sword with you, it should be solid, seeing as it hasn't faded away."
Princess Luna said, "I agree with my daughter, that seems like the best course of action for now, for the time being, until you all return, and when you regain your self-confidence, we will see what the rest of us can do, in the meantime, to build up a defense to hold Arrovak off,...maybe..... until you all come back."
Princess Celestia said, "I would have to agree, there is nothing that can be done about Arrovak at this moment, take Darkness's sword with you, and follow it, and good luck out there, I don't know how bad things have gotten out there, although I have already ordered an evacuation of the entire area, and the surrounding villages, and had them all come inside the castle, so there shouldn't be anypony else out there, and if there is, tell them to quickly come to Canterlot Castle."
Twilight said, "Thank you all, and we will. We best be off now, there's no way I can pick up the sword, it's not responding to me, would somepony else try?" As Twilight said this, she tried again, and her hooves went right through the sword, as if it was mere fog, and then she stepped back so somepony else could try.
Applejack stepped forward, and said, "Let me try." And as she said this, she held out hoof to grab the sword, and it responded to her, and began to glow rather brightly, and it became solid, and as she grabbed it, the sheath materialized before her, and she put the sword, in the sheath, and tied it to her right side, and said, "Alright, let's get goin' everypony! The sooner we get back, the better!"
Rarity said, "I couldn't agree more."
And with that, Twilight and her friends, took off, as they waved goodbye to the others, and soon after they were out of sight, and for those that were still there in the castle, Solar Blaze said, "So, what's the plan for defense?"
Everypony gathered around, as Princess Luna and Violet Winter ushered them over, as Princess Luna said, "Actually, my daughter and I might have an idea..." Princess Luna and Violet Winter began to discuss to the others the idea they had in mind, as everypony stood there, listening intently.
Meanwhile, Darkness had just returned to the Hall Of Heroes, and went to the observatory room, as the other heroes were already there, and they saw him, and one of them asked, "Welcome back Darkness, how did it go?"
Darkness responded, "Well, actually, my children have decided to follow the path of light."
Another one of the heroes responded, "Well, good news at least for once, that's good to hear, I was actually kind of afraid, you would've had to..."
Darkness raised up a hoof, and said, "I know, I was hoping I wouldn't have to, thank the Gods Of Equestria, they didn't choose the path of evil...." And with that, nopony else said anything for a moment, as Darkness saw in the middle of the room, a clear image of Twilight and the others, had appeared, and Darkness said, "Before I left, I was asked by the Gods Of Equestria, to keep an eye on Twilight and the other's progress, and give them a report later on."
The hero nearest to Darkness, said, "We know, we did you the favor and everything is set, all you have to do is fine tune it a little, we were just waiting for you, that's all."
Darkness said, "Thank you all, in that case...let me adjust a few more things....ah! There we go! Now we should be able to hear what they are saying as well." Everypony gathered around the center of the room, and sure enough: everypony could see and hear what Twilight and others were doing and saying.
Darkness stood at the northern part of the center of room, and began to watch what Twilight and others were doing, and to Darkness's right, the hero asked him, "Do you think they will regain their self-confidence in time?"
Darkness said, with a serious face, "Honestly, I don't know, it is too early to tell, all we can do is watch and hope that they figure it out in time before it is too late. The Gods Of Equestria have forbidden us from intervening to help them, for the simple fact is that many ponies in the mortal world still have the events of what Bolverk did very fresh and vivid in their minds."
Nopony else said nothing for a while, and then another hero said, "Well, thanks makes sense if you ask me, but I was actually looking forward to some glorious battle! Oh well, we don't need to be the cause of a paranoia, and cause Equestria-wide panic."
As the hero finished speaking, another hero began to watch Twilight and the others, and quietly said, "You're right.... Twilight, and her friends, all our hopes rest on you all now, the fate of the world rests on you and your friend's hooves now, good luck."
As Twilight and the others made it to the outskirts of Canterlot, they all began to see a pale blue light, in a straight path, light up and illuminate in front of them, and Applejack asked, "Do you think this is coming from the sword?"
Twilight said, "It's got to be, let's follow it, what other choice do we have?"
Rainbow Dash said, "Uh, how about not following it? That is an option....right?"
Everypony just looked at Rainbow Dash and she said, "Okay, not an option, I guess."
Rarity assured Rainbow Dash, and she said, "Don't worry Rainbow Dash, with all of us here, and Snowshy, what could possibly go wrong?"
Rainbow Dash said, "Yeah, somehow I don't feel any better at all."
Nopony said anything, and continued to follow the pale blue light, until they came to the entrance to Everfree Forest, and everypony stooped as Rainbow Dash said, "Every time! Every damn time! It's always got to be here!" Rainbow Dash sighed, and said, "Oh well, let's just get this over with..."
Everypony waited a little, and then began to set off once more, and not even a few steps later, they all looked up and they saw a bright fiery ball in the distance, high in the sky, and Applejack said, "Uh, guys, you are all seein' what I'm seein', right?"
Twilight said, "Yeah, everypony! Get out of its way!" Everypony went to either one side or the other, as the fiery ball got closer to the ground, and with a deafening crash, and bright fiery red light, everypony's vision was obscured. After what seemed like a few moments later, their vision cleared and they all saw a large crater in front of them, and a fog, and as the fog cleared, they saw what seemed like a pony, was in the middle of it.
Immediately, Snowshy and Fluttershy began to take steps towards the mysterious pony, and Twilight said, "Wait! We don't know if that pony is dangerous or not, or if its even a pony."
Snowshy and Fluttershy stopped and turned around and Snowshy said, "Don't worry, we will be careful."
Twilight said, "Alright, but still....."
Applejack said, "It's better to safe than sorry, right? Don't worry, Snowshy and Fluttershy know what they are doing."
Snowshy and Fluttershy smiled and shook their heads in agreement and turned back around, and started to head towards what looked like a pony, and they became to come close the pony-like figure, they could clearly see what that it was indeed a pony, and what this pony looked like. What they saw was the pony, had sky blue coat and a sliver mane and tail. The mane swept back, it was now a little windswept and the tail was the same as the mane, and they could tell it was a stallion, with icy blue eyes.
As the stallion struggled to his hooves, he said, "What?......What the?........Oh, my head..."
Snowshy and Fluttershy went to his aid, and helped him up, and Snowshy said, "Hey you alright?"
The stallion said, "Yeah, I should be alright, despite the horrible headache....argh!!!"
Fluttershy said, "Hey, take it easy, that was quite a fall you took, and quite an entrance, if I might add."
The stallion hadn't looked up at them until now, and he said, "Fall? What do you mean? What's going on? Why am I talking to talking to talking ponies?"
Snowshy explained to him, and she said, "You came down, in a fiery crash, it was quite something, and kind of scary at the same time, and you don't know where you are?"
The others had come up to where to where the stallion was, as he asked this question, and Twilight said, "I can clearly take that you are not from around here, and perhaps not of this world?"
The stallion said, "No, but I'm still not sure how I even ended up here."
Twilight said, "I see, do you remember you name?"
The stallion said, "My name.....my name is.......my name....Ah! My name is Sliver Sky, that's it!"
Rarity said, "That's a good name."
Applejack said, "I suppose it is, but it still doesn't answer where he came from."
Behind them, they heard a voice say, "I think I can answer that question."
All of sudden, they all felt a strong, but warm breeze around them and as they turned around, many leaves came together, and then dissipated to reveal, somepony they all know very, very well, except for Silver Sky, as the leaves revealed Darkness.
Everypony except for Silver Sky said, "Darkness!"
Darkness then came towards them, and said, "Yes, once again, it's good to see you all. Although I know it t'was but moments ago, we last saw each other, but the Gods Of Equestria wanted me to come back, to explain a few things and a warning and then I must be off, there have been things that have been set in motion that cannot be undone that will require my attention soon." Before anypony could say anything, he raised up a hoof, and said, "The pony you see before you, is indeed not of this world, he comes from the human world, and his coming here is not coincidence. Arrovak has began drawing power from all matters of things, including from time itself, because of this, Arrovak has inadvertently and unknowingly tamped into the timelines, caused what us time protectors have never been able to control, at least, not forever anyways. They are called 'Time Rifts', or in more clear terms, pieces of the timeline or timelines that have been 'broken', or 'merging together'.
Twilight stepped forward and said, "So that means..."
Darkness replied, and said, "Yes, your new friend here, has unfortunately been sucked in by a time rift."
Silver Sky came forward and asked, "If that is the case, can't I go back the same way? You are a time protector right? Can't you send me back?"
Darkness said, "If only it were that easy, I'm afraid that's not possible, not even I can just go around, opening up time portals whenever I please, there are delicate rules and certain conditions on that sort of thing. So the only way you can go back home, is Arrovak must be defeated for the time rifts to stop, and time rifts are so unstable right now, that even with all my powers, there is a very high chance you could be killed, if I was allowed to do such a thing right now, or you would be sent somewhere you don't want to be, and it would be a one-way-trip, there would be no going back, and besides, the longer the Arrovak continues to draw power the way he is, the more unstable that will become. He is also drawing power from the very life of this world itself, and even from the forces of this galaxy. It's only a matter of time before everything becomes too unstable and everything collapses, and all life, on every planet, in this galaxy will cease to be."
Silver Sky said, "So I'm stuck here until this Arrovak guy is defeated right? How hard could it be? He is just a pony, after all, right guys?.....Right?"
Everypony was silent for a while, and Twilight said, "I wish that was true, and it was that easy, but Arrovak.....is the God Of Destruction, and he is at least eight times any of our size, he reveals in war and battle, as he only draws more power from it."
Darkness said, "Not to mention he is one of the Celestial Evils, being right alongside Darkness Night, in many different way, and he was once Darkness Night's second-in-command. The fight itself will not be easy."
Silver Sky said, "Great....so what about the warning you came to tell us?"
Darkness said, "Oh, right, I almost forgot, all the heroes and I myself were just told by The Gods Of Equestria, of a prophecy, that pertains of two different times, one now, in the present, and the other, towards this world's final days, and it goes like this....." 'At the age of Twilight and Dawn, all things will merge together, as the Celestial Evil God Of Destruction is freed, and will bring waste to all in his path, on the 14th day, of brave heroes battling against him, that if he is not defeated, all things will collapse and cease to exist.' Everypony said nothing, and Darkness continued, and said, "The other part of the prophecy goes like this", 'When this world reaches its final days, Darkness Night will break free, from his ashen prisons, and will bring back to life all the celestial evils, and the world will face it's final war, at this time, all heroes, living or dead, will be brought together to fight for this world's judgement day.'
Rainbow Dash said, 'And.....once again time seems to against us, messed up or not."
Snowshy said, "So pretty much, we have fourteen days to fight against Arrovak, of course, it only counts once we start fighting him, right?"
Darkness said, "That's correct, but don't wait too long, or all things will collapse if Arrovak draws power from all things too long."
Applejack said, "Well, it sounds like we have work to do!"
Rarity said, "Indeed we do!"
Snowshy said, "Thanks brother, for the warning and the heads up."
Darkness said, "That's not necessary, but I thank you anyways, now I best be off, until we all meet again, and good luck,....all of you."
And with that, Darkness broke apart into leaves and they faded away.