The Blackened Skies

by gosha305

The Plan

Everypony was startled by the Entity's sudden disappearance. It didn't help them to solve this mystery either. After the initial shock of the last events faded away, it was replaced by a certain amount of relief.

"Ah, at least we can see the Sun again!" said Applejack in a joyful tone.

"But it left one of its eyes still hanging in the sky" added Rarity "it is still very much baffling!"

"I have the feeling that this creature won't leave us alone that easily." stated Princess Celestia. "It will surely return at some point, but for the moment, let us try to use the time we're granted to determine its origin."

"Those black clouds made me think of something or to be more precise of somepony," Cadence said in a grave tone "and I would rather prefer if it wasn't of his doing." she paused, before continuing with a deep frown upon her face. "The clouds are quite similar to those that appeared above the Crystal Empire during Sombra's return."

"But this would mean he learned some kind of magic-siphoning spell!" exclaimed Twilight "How could he do that?"

"This is indeed a possibility, but I would rather think of a more obvious foe. After all, Tirek is the only creature we know of that can absorb magic as this Entity just did." asserted Princess Luna with a determined look.

"In the current time, we have no way of knowing whether your hypotheses are true or not other than going to see what these villains are up to." declared Princess Celestia.

This seemed to be a reasonable plan. Twilight decided that she could go to the Crystal empire along with Cadence while the rest of the Elements of Harmony would go to the gates of Tartarus accompanied by Princess Luna. Even thought at first, her friends were reluctant towards the idea of being separated, they were rapidly convinced that being quick was a priority and thus that it was the most efficient way. After this all was said and done, Twilight decided to send a letter to the inhabitants of the castle of Friendship to know whether they would like to take part in the trip.

Finally, everypony could go relax and get some highly required sleep. The lack of black smoke in the sky along with the presence of the Moon and of normal stars helped the mares to clear their minds of bad thoughts.

---

In the morning, the response from Spike and Starlight arrived. They were both willing to come and have apparently boarded the first train towards Canterlot without any hesitation.

After eating their breakfast, the Elements of Harmony went to the train station to greet their friends. These latter arrived to Canterlot towards lunchtime so the seven mares and dragon went to eat at a local restaurant. When they all finally got to the castle, it was about time to depart towards their respective goals. To no one's surprise, Spike decided to go with Twilight. On the other hoof, Starlight chose to accompany the other Elements.

Thus, the preparations were completed at dusk and the mares were ready to take their trains towards their respective goals. They all met at the train station to wish each other farewell. As they finally boarded their trains, a long journey was about to begin for all of them.

---

Of course, there were no trains just leading to the gates of Tartarus (even though it could have been a rather touristic location). This meant that the group heading there would actually need to travel a rather extensive part of the way by hoof. Nopony was happy about it. While Luna was discussing the optimal route with Starlight and Rarity, Rainbow dash was complaining about how unfair this situation was. In short, nothing was out if the usual. Nothing, except the ever-present unearthly eye above their heads...

Author's Note:

An even shorter chapter this time and I'm not proud of myself for it. I assure you that the intrigue will finally begin in the next two chapters which I plan to make longer than usual (I hope I'll manage to actually do it). Thanks again for reading and until next time (I hope someone actually reads this or else I'll feel really stupid... and lonely... very lonely).