Locate the Artifacts
After discovering that Star Swirl the Bearded and the Pillars of Equestria had vanished, the girls and their friends from New York set out to uncover the source behind their disappearance. They were confident enough they could crack the case with no problem.
Three days later at Twilight's castle library, Twilight and Donnie were at a table surrounded by books and scrolls. Everyone else was practically fast asleep from reaching their limits with reading. Donnie and Twilight felt they could find out what happened to the pillars, but from the looks of things they kept reaching a dead end. Spike came in holding a candlestick, "Find anything yet?" he asked the two. Twilight just shook her head, as Donnie spoke.
"And I thought trying to make retro mutagen was tough, but this is ridiculous." Donnie said, as he tossed a scrunched up piece of paper into a wastebasket.
This caused Sunburst who was lying underneath a pile of scrolls to rise up, "What did you figure out?"
Pinkie yawned, as she and the others started waking up, "You figured something out?"
"What is it?" Fluttershy inquired.
Twilight sighed and shook her head, "Nothing. I mean, Star Swirl was a genius, obviously. But forget Olde Ponish. There's parts where his hornwriting is like another language!" she groaned.
"Twilight, we've been studyin' and referencin' and cross-referencin' for three days straight now." Applejack noted.
"Yeah. Even I've never done that this long." Casey admitted.
"Since when did you ever study at all?" April asked rhetorically.
"Ouch." Casey cringed.
"Ugh. I haven't spent this much time reading since the last Daring Do book came out." Rainbow Dash groaned.
"Same with me and my latest comic issue of Wingnut and Screwloose." Mikey added.
"Perhaps it is time to take a break," Rarity suggested, "This mystery is over a thousand years old, after all. Another day or two won't make a difference."
"I agree with Rarity." Karai agreed.
"Two days?!" Twilight gasped, "I don't wanna waste two seconds!" she trotted over to a graph on a chalkboard, "I'm close to an answer. I can feel it."
"Well, until you reach one, I need something in my belly." Raph said.
"Yeah, we could all use a bite." Leo agreed.
Starlight trotted over with tea before checking a passage in the book, "Hearg sylfum se Ponhenge. What's that?"
Twilight slid in and gasped, "The Temple of Ponhenge?! You can read that?!"
"The hornwriting's pretty sloppy, but it's nowhere near as bad as mine." Starlight admitted.
"Well, go on and read it." Shini beckoned her.
Starlight nodded, and continued, "Toward dol grimlic of Fola Firgenbeorg?"
Sunburst spoke as he translated it, "At the base of Foal Mountain."
"User endemest scield." Starlight read.
"Our last stand!" Twilight gasped.
Spike yawned, "Well, that sure sounds like a clue to me." he got comfy on a big pillow and fell asleep.
Mikey turned to his brothers, "And you all call me lazy."
Donnie placed a book down on the table to show them a map of the place they were talking about, "Is that the place?" he asked.
"It is," Twilight confirmed, "And that's where we need to go."
"Then let's get going." Leo stated, as the group took the book and left the castle.
Soon they arrived at the Foal Mountain and saw some rock formations like pillars, "This is it. Ponhenge. I can't believe it." Twilight gasped.
"This place looks like it's seen better days." Blade noticed all the heavy bushes and vines surrounding the place.
"It's just like Stonehenge in our world." Donnie gasped.
Sunburst saw writing on one of the rocks, "I've never seen magical runes like these before! Have you?"
"Uh-uh." Twilight replied.
"I don't think anypony's seen any of this for a long time." Rainbow noted, as she tried to pull a vine off one of the rocks only to crash into a bush.
"It'd take a whole team of ponies to clear away all this brush." Applejack said.
"Well, we're a team of ponies, aren't we?" Casey asked.
"Even then, I'm not sure we'd find out what happened here over a thousand years ago." Fluttershy added.
Twilight sighed, "You're right. I suppose it was a long shot."
Leo spoke to her, "Twilight. Finding a whole set of ancient ruins is pretty impressive alone. You could write a paper on it."
"It's better than nothing." April agreed.
"I guess I hoped we'd get here and the mystery would just magically be explained." Twilight said, as she dropped Star Swirls' book at one of the rocks. Suddenly the book started glowing, and Spike spoke.
"Uh, Twilight." every pony looked and saw the book flipped open and released a magical aura.
"What's going on?" Shini asked.
"I don't know." Raph replied.
Suddenly appearing above the book was an astral form of Star Swirl the Bearded, "Whoa, is that?" Leo began.
Twilight gasped, "Star Swirl!? I... I've wanted to meet you my whole life! I can't believe you're here!"
"He doesn't look all here." Mikey said, noticing his transparency.
"I don't think any of them are." Sunburst added.
The group saw appearing at the other rock formations were five more ponies, "No way." Casey gasped.
"Are they really?" Donnie asked.
"The pillars." Sunburst gasped.
"What is this?" Karai asked, only for Star Swirl to shoot magic at the centerpiece of the rock formation and appearing before them was a big black clouded figure of an evil alicorn.
"You summon me at your peril, Star Swirl!" the creature asked, "Once I defeat all of you, this realm will embrace the darkness as I did so long ago!" Mikey began screaming his head off in a panic, as the other watched in shock.
"I'm going out on a limb here and guess that's the Pony of Shadows?" Casey shook in fright.
The Pony of Shadows ensnared the six legendary ponies with black shadowy vines to hold them at bay, "Drawing me here will only make me stronger. You will never defeat me!" he laughed evilly.
"We did not come here to defeat you." Star Swirl began as he levitated his book up which sent a magical link to various other artifacts held by the other pillars forming a hexagon shape around their enemy.
"What are you doing?" the Pony of Shadows asked in shock.
Star Swirl answered, "We came... to contain you."
The dark pony screamed as the seven of them levitated up and vanished into thin air. Dropping at each of the stones was an artifact each, a shovel, a flower, a shield, a mask, a blindfold, and a book. Everyone was still in shock from what they witnessed, except for Pinkie Pie who spoke to Twilight, "Well, you did ask for a magical explanation."
"What just happened here?" Raph asked then group.
"It looked like Star Swirl cast a spell that banished the Pony of Shadows." Starlight answered.
"Of course!" Sunburst gasped, "Powerful magic like that would leave an impression on this place. Bringing the book back here let us see what happened."
"Which was what?" A.J wondered.
"Star Swirl and the rest of the Pillars sacrificed themselves to save Equestria." Twilight stated.
"Wow, that is a big sacrifice." Mikey gasped, as they all agreed.
The next day back at Twilight's castle, the group was still pondering over what they saw last night at Ponhenge, "It's amazing to think one of the greatest mysteries of Equestria was solved with a musty old book from an antique shop." Starlight said.
"But I wouldn't say the mystery's solved. Star Swirl's spell was one of the most powerful feats of magic in all of history. It'll take years of study before we fully understand it." Sunburst noted.
"I ain't doing anymore studying." Raph replied, as they entered the library to see Twilight pop out of a pile of books looking excited "I think I understand Star Swirl's spell!" she declared.
"That was quick." Karai said.
Soon enough everyone was in the castle throne room, with the girls at their respective thrones. Twilight began explaining to everyone, "I know I've finished one of Star Swirl's spells before, but this one was on a whole different level! Was it an explosion of magical feedback? An evocation? A kind of incantation? It's Star Swirl, so the possibilities are endless! And once Starlight set me on the right track with his crazy hornwriting..." she laughed and snorted, "I mean, he was a genius, so I guess we can forgive a little messiness – I went through the journal again, and it's amazing!"
"Get on with it!" Raph and Casey snapped.
Rarity spoke calmly, "Twilight, darling. We understand you're excited, but that's all we understand."
"What exactly is so amazing?" Shini asked.
"Don't leave us hanging, girl." Mikey added.
Twilight continued, "Only how Star Swirl and the other Pillars sent the Pony of Shadows to limbo!"
"They did what now?" Applejack asked.
"Where'd they go?" Blade inquired.
Twilight levitated a diagram of Ponhenge onto the table, and concentrated magic in the center of it, "They used their magic to open a portal between worlds – to limbo – and pulled the Pony of Shadows inside." the diagram poofed away.
"Darling, your diorama!" Rarity gasped.
"It was so nicely done." Mikey whined.
"I made more!" Twilight cheered, as she motioned to many more Ponhenge dioramas on another table, "Star Swirl thought the only way to trap the Pony of Shadows in limbo was for the Pillars to take him there."
"So they got stuck too?" Applejack asked.
"Bummer, yo." Casey said.
"The Pony of Shadows must have been really awful for them to do that." Fluttershy shivered.
"I suppose being trapped for all time with a super-duper bad guy in limbo might be okay if you were doing the limbo, but that's still pushing it." Pinkie said, as she was literally doing the limbo.
"The thing is, I think I can get them out." Twilight stated with confidence.
"You can?" Leo asked.
Sunburst spoke, "Twilight, are you serious? You can save the most legendary ponies of all time?"
Starlight voiced her opinion, "I-I don't know. Opening portals between worlds didn't work out well for me. Are you sure it's safe?"
"Yeah, the last thing we need is something worse to happen." Raph added.
Twilight spoke to Starlight, "First of all, you opened portals through time. And second of all, Star Swirl wrote the spell you used to do it. If he'd been here, he could have stopped it. Equestria would be safer with him in it. We have to save him."
"And the others." Mikey added.
"But you'd be savin' all the Pillars, right? A-And they disappeared ages ago." Applejack reminded her.
"That's the thing about limbo. It isn't one place or another. It's in between, so time stands still. If we can pull them out, it'll be like they never left," Twilight explained, "I actually built another model to demonstrate..." Rainbow groaned and slammed her head onto the table.
"I don't think we'll need to see another model. We'll take your word for it." April told the Princess.
"What can we do to help?" Blade inquired.
"If I'm right, we need to find items that are connected to the Pillars in some way." Twilight answered.
"You mean, like, stuff that belonged to them?" Donnie asked.
"But that'll take too much time." Raph reminded her.
"We don't know what to look for or where." Fluttershy added.
"Luckily, Star Swirl took a lot of notes," Twilight read the notes, 'My compatriots are as varied as the realm itself and hail from every corner of our land, bringing with them artifacts and talismans of great power'."
Suddenly appearing before them were shining images of certain artifacts, "Twi, what're you doing?" Leo asked.
"I'm not doing anything!" she gasped.
The five artifacts went to a different spot on the cutie map, as the girls identified the objects, "Rockhoof's shovel!" A.J gasped.
"Flash Magnus' shield!" Rainbow Dash identified it.
"Mistmane's flower!" Rarity noticed.
"Meadowbrook's mask!" Fluttershy gasped.
"And the blindfold Somnambula wore when she faced that nasty sphinx!" Pinkie finished.
"I guess we don't need to figure out who should get what." Twilight said.
"Yeah, we know what they are and where they are now." Donnie added.
"All right, team. New mission," Leo began, "We find these artifacts and bring them back to Ponhenge."
Somewhere by an archaeological dig sight, a filly named Petunia Paleo motioned to something that was uncovered, "Professor! It's a Mighty Helm headpiece! Maybe it belonged to Rockhoof himself!"
The Professor answered, "Legends don't wear helmets. This belonged to a real pony."
Applejack came over with Casey, "Oh, I can guarantee Rockhoof was as real as you and me." A.J assured them.
The Professor chuckled, "And I suppose that ravine was dug with his trusty shovel to save the village from an erupting volcano."
"You bet it was." Casey confirmed.
"I love old legends as much as anypony. But a pony strong enough to save a village from rushing lava with a shovel is... preposterous." the professor said skeptically.
One of the ponies who was picking at a boulder with a pickaxe shattered it, putting the other ponies in shock causing a giant boulder to roll right for the professor and the two kids she was with. Suddenly Applejack using her own strength to stop the boulder. She kicked it all the way over the site, before stretching her hooves like it was nothing.
The Professor was flabbergasted, "I can't believe you just did that. Y-You saved us!"
Applejack answered, "I bet if you told somepony else the story, it might sound..." she mimicked a gasp, "Preposterous." Casey laughed at Applejack's quip.
One of the ponies motioned to where the boulder was and revealed a passage way, "Whoa. Check it." Casey gasped.
"I suppose some stories might be true..." The Professor admitted, as Applejack and Casey showed them the shovel they were looking for, as it began to glow, "And Rockhoof's appears to be one of them."
Casey and A.J walked out, as Casey spoke to his friend, "One artifact down, and four to go."
"Let's hope the others aren't having any trouble with theirs." Applejack said.
Meanwhile, Rarity, April, and Donnie wandered into a yard where the garden was filled with thick plants, "Where's a gardener when ya need one?" Donnie asked.
"It's like a jungle in here.' April added.
"Wait, look." Rarity pointed to a single bloomed flower in a pot.
"All right, we found it," Donnie reached to grab it, only for his hand to get whacked by a gardening tool, "Ow!" he cringed while holding his hand.
April and Rarity looked seeing an old unicorn mare who was using her magic to levitate the garden tool, "You keep those hooves to yourself, sonny! This place has been in my family for generations, and I'm not about to let some whippersnapper take the last good piece of it! Time was different back then, ponies came from far and wide to see these gardens. But that flower's the only worthwhile thing left!" she told them like a cranky old mare.
Rarity and April looked around, until they gained the same idea, "Don't be so sure about that, ma'am." April told her, as she and Rarity used their magic to do a little gardening.
Donnie and the elder pony looked around the new refreshed garden feeling stupefied. Rarity spoke up to the elder one, "Perhaps it just seemed like your gardens were worthless. But a little pruning can work wonders. Of course you will have to look after more than just one flower now."
The old pony smiled, with tears in her eyes, "You've given me back my family's legacy. The flower you wanted seems like a fair trade for that." she levitated the flower to them, as it began to glow.
"Thank you, ma'am. And trust me, your offer to us will may just help us help a lot more ponies." Donnie explained, as they took their leave, with the elder pony looking confused by what Donnie said.
Elsewhere, Rainbow Dash was carrying Raph on her back, while Spike was holding onto Raph's back. The three were currently flying around the Dragon Lands, "I can't believe Flash Magnus' shield ended up in the Dragon Lands." Rainbow said in disbelief.
Spike answered, "Good thing you brought the official Equestrian friendship ambassador to the dragons to help you navigate our customs. Like our favorite sport – gorge surfing!" The two looked down seeing dragons surfing on rocky platforms down a gorge of flowing lava.
"Whoa. Now that looks like a wicked sport." Raph admitted, as a dragon surfed down the lava before landing at the bottom perfectly.
Rainbow landed, "Ok, that was awesome."
The teen dragons turned to face them, as one spoke, "Dragon Lord Ember commanded us to make peace with ponies, but it doesn't mean you can surf in our spot." the dragons growled.
Raph drew his sais, "You scale heads wanna start something, because I'll finish it."
"Raph!" Spike stopped him, and approached the dragons to address them, "Whoa, fellas. As the official Equestrian friendship ambassador to the dragons, I have to say that's not very friendly."
Suddenly stepping out from the group of teen dragons was Spike's dragon rival Garble, "Well, what do you know? The puny pony-dragon's sticking up for his pony pal. If you even are a pony. I mean what pony walks on two legs?" Garble joked.
Raph growled, "A pony that's gonna rip your wings off!" he tried to go at Garble, only for Rainbow to spot Garble was holding Flash's shield.
"Hey! That's an ancient pony artifact!" She called, as Spike and Raph noticed it. Rainbow tried to take it only for Garble to push her back.
Garble held the shield close, "Hooves off my gorge board! I found it in the desert, and finders keepers."
"That is not yours, pal." Raph warned him.
"I'm not your pal, and it sure looks like mine. But I might consider racing you for it." Garble tempted him.
"You're on!" Raph accepted the challenge.
"Um... No. I mean... you." Garble motioned to Spike who got nervous.
"Oh, that's real fair. Picking a dragon smaller than you? You're just a coward!" Raph called him.
"Come over here and say that to my face, pony-freak!" Garble argued.
Raph growled, as he was once again ready to attack, until Spike came between them, "It's all right Raph. I accept the challenge." he told Garble
"Well, we're doomed." Raph said dryly, as Spike scowled.
Soon the two met at the top of the gorge, with Spike using a gorge board, and Garble using the shield. The two stood at the starting point with Rainbow and Raph smiling to Spike with support, while Garble just blew raspberry's at him in mockery. One dragon announced, "On your marks... Get set... Surf!" Spike and Garble took off surfing down the gorge of lava. Spike was doing good, until Garble surfed around him.
Spike started losing balance, as he slid off a rock shaped ramp. He hit various rocks on the way but still held onto his board. He hit the last rock and flew over Garble reaching the finish line before him, "Yeah!" Raph and Rainbow cheered.
Spike noticed he won, "I won? I won! Woo-hoo! Give up the shield, Garble!"
Garble put the shield on his back and answered, "Dragon Lord Ember only commanded us to be nice to ponies. She never said anything about pony-loving dragons." he stomped over to Spike who looked nervous.
"Uh, s-since Dragon Lord Ember commanded you to make peace with ponies, you can't very well attack one of their friends, can you?" Spike asked hopefully.
Garble picked up a rock with both hands, holding it above his head, "I guess we'll find out!" he was about to throw it, until he felt a tap on his shoulder from behind, "What?" he turned around and came face to face with Raph. The mutant threw a fist back before slugging Garble right in the face. The dragon fell on his back, and to add more to his injury the rock he held landed on his stomach making him groan.
"Bad sportsmanship will get you nothing," Raph said, as he took the shield from Garble and gave it to Rainbow Dash, making it glow. Raph turned to Spike, "You did good, Spike. Well done." the two slapped some skin.
"Come on, let's go." Spike said, as the three headed back.
In the Hayseed Swamp, a pony named Cattail was using a familiar mask to confuse some Flash Bees. He started leading them away from their hive, as Fluttershy whispered to him, "Just remember not to turn away from them, Cattail. Flash bees can get pretty aggressive. I guess that's why none of the other bayou animals can get to the water." she motioned to some small gators and snakes who wanted to get to the water.
Mikey who was with her and Blade, spoke, "I don't wanna get stung by bees. Reminds me of the mutant wasps." he shivered.
"Do I even wanna know?" Blade asked Mikey rhetorically.
Cattail spoke to Fluttershy, "Wouldn't it make more sense for you to wear the mask that calms the bees?"
"It would..." Fluttershy flew up the tree to the hive, "If I didn't have to fly up here to move their hive. There!" she placed it on another branch higher in the tree. Cattail jumped into the bush as the flash bees flew back up to their hive, "Now the other bayou creatures can get to the water without the bees feeling threatened." she finished, as the animals went to the water.
"You know, you didn't have to help with this. I would've lent you the mask anyway." Cattail reminded her, as he removed the mask.
Mikey answered, "We know, bra."
Fluttershy added, "But I couldn't leave without helping."
"Yes. Helping others is one of the best things we can do." Blade added.
Fluttershy accepted the mask that glowed, "Ooh, glowy." Mikey said feeling entranced.
Finally at the pyramid in Somnambula, Daring Do was with a few other ponies including Shini. One of the ponies spoke, "I don't think anypony can find anything in there." he motioned to the green bubbling slime below them.
Daring Do answered, "I wouldn't give up hope just yet."
"What she said." Shini agreed, as she was stepping on a foot pump.
Suddenly the slime started draining out and Pinkie popped out of the drain wearing a diving suit, and was holding something, "This old blindfold was stuck in the drain."
"Weren't you looking for a blindfold?" Daring asked.
"She's right, Pinkie." Shini confirmed.
"Oh, yeah." Pinkie remembered, as the blindfold glowed.
"Well, we have what we came for. It's time to go," Shini said, as she turned to Daring Do, "Thank you for helping us, Daring Do."
"Any friend of Rainbow Dash is worth helping." Daring stated. Shini smiled, as she left with Pinkie Pie.
Back at Ponhenge, Twilight, Starlight, Sunburst, Leo, and Karai were waiting for the others to return. Twilight voiced her excitement, "I can't believe I'm gonna meet Star Swirl the Bearded! You know, outside of my dreams."
"I can't believe you're actually going through with it." Starlight voiced her opinion.
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked in confusion.
"I'm all for pushing the envelope, obviously, but this is pretty out there for you, Twilight." Starlight explained.
Sunburst asked, "What's 'out there' about saving the most legendary ponies of all time from a thousands-year-old prison?"
"Well... nothing when you say it like that. Unless "the most legendary ponies of all time" knew what they were doing, and we shouldn't mess with it."
Karai spoke up, "I actually agree with Starlight. Isn't it best to just leave well enough alone instead of poking at it?"
Leo answered, "True, Karai. But I'm sure Star Swirl and the Pillars did the best they could back then, but magic has come a long way. Mostly because of the work they did."
"That's true. And Twilight did get her wings from finishing one of Star Swirl's spells." Starlight admitted.
"Exactly." Twilight nodded.
"But then I messed with one and nearly destroyed the universe, so..." Starlight trailed off, as Twilight spoke.
"Starlight, Star Swirl the Bearded is the greatest wizard who ever lived. The chance to have him back in Equestria is worth the risk."
"That's good news." Spike said, as everyone returned with the artifact they were sent to find.
"Otherwise, we'd have brought this shield for nothing." Rainbow held Flash's Shield, before placing it down before one of the rocks.
"I don't know, punching that dragon in the face was good enough." Raph said.
"I hope you don't think you're the only one to find her artifact, because this here shovel says otherwise." A.J placed Rockhoof's shovel in a spot.
"Score for us." Casey said, as he and Applejack high hoofed.
Rarity laughed, as she, April, and Donnie returned with the flower. The fashion pony spoke, "Honestly. Not everything is a competition. But Mistmane's flower is by far the most attractive of the artifacts." she placed the flower in its spot.
Pinkie returned with Shini, "You're just saying that because you didn't have to scuba dive in a pit of green slime to get yours!" Pinkie spoke.
"Better her than me." Shini replied.
Fluttershy came back with Mikey, and spoke, "Or move a flash beehive."
"All artifacts accounted for." Leo took count.
"Good work, everyone. Let's do this!" Twilight said, as she put Star Swirls' book in its original spot.
Twilight, Sunburst, Starlight, Shini, and April concentrated their unicorn magic onto the book. The book connected to the other artifacts forming a hexagon shape that levitated above them. In a flash of magic six ponies fell form the sky and landed by a pillar each. Each of the group grabbed one of the ponies before a rock almost crushed each of them.
Star Swirl opened his eyes and looked around, "What... What has happened?"
Twilight smiled, "It worked! We brought you back!"
"To where?" he wondered.
Leo spoke, "Well, sir, you and the others have been trapped in limbo for over a thousand years."
Twilight continued, "But I figured out how to get you ho-" she was cut off as Star Swirl began to panic.
"What?! No, no, no, no! You must undo what you've done!"
"Say what?" Raph asked.
"But we just got you back." Mikey noted.
"Why? I mean, I don't think I can." Twilight told the old wizard.
"You cannot bring us back!" he warned her.
"But I did. I brought all the Pillars back." Twilight replied.
"You cannot bring only the Pillars back!" Star Swirl said in worry.
"What are you talking about?" Karai asked, as lighting started striking around them.
"Is this part of the spell?" Casey asked.
"I don't think so." April said in worry.
Suddenly appearing before them was the Pony of Shadows who laughed evilly. Every pony was in shock, as Mikey spoke, "Dudes, I think we're in trouble here."
"Oh, no!" Twilight cried, realizing she made a grave mistake with her spell.
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This is interesting Hope for some differences from episodes
Seems a little early for this.
Well done.
Said pony is none other than...... (pause for effect) Indiana pones!
That's pinkie's line!!