A Place in Equestria IV: Shadow Play

by GoebelTron

Chapter 2: A Plan to Save the Pillars

The candlelight suddenly fizzled as Spike replaced a used up candle with the new one. Spike yawned and looked up at Twilight, “Figure it out yet, Twilight?” Twilight shook her head, and then Spike threw the used up candle into the waste bin full of used up candles. Sunburst was sleeping and making a snoring noise, but suddenly woke up after hearing a soft thud.

Sunburst then yelped and woke up with a scroll on his head, “What did you figure out?” Pinkie Pie gasped after she and Rarity, who was wearing her red glasses woke up, “You figured something out?” Rarity then unappreciatively watched Pinkie Pie slurp the cupcake that was on her face. Fluttershy then woke up with Thomas in her cradle, “What is it?” Twilight Sparkle sighed, “Nothing. I mean, Starswirl was a genius, obviously. But forget Olde Ponish. There's parts where his hornwriting is like another language!” She then groaned.

“Twilight, we've been studyin' and referencin' and cross-referencin' for 12 hours straight now,” Applejack said. Thomas nodded with a whimper as he rubbed his eyes, but Fluttershy gently patted him with her cradling hoof. “Ugh. I haven't spent this much time reading since the last Daring Do book came out,” Rainbow Dash said. “Perhaps it is time to take a break. This mystery is over a thousand years old, after all. Another hour or two won't make a difference,” Rarity said.

“Two hours?! I don't want to waste two seconds! I'm close to an answer. I can feel it,” Twilight said. Starlight then picked up the book. “"Hearg sylfum se Ponhenge." What's that?” she asked, reading from the book. “The Temple of Ponhenge?! You can read that?!” Twilight asked. “The hornwriting’s pretty sloppy, but it's nowhere near as bad as it looks,” Starlight replied, and then continued reading, “"Toward dol grimlic of Fola Firgenbeorg"?”

“"At the base of Foal Mountain"...” Sunburst said, and Starlight kept reading, “"User endemest scield".” Twilight Sparkle gasped, “"Our last stand".” Spike yawned, “Well, that sure sounds like a clue to me.” He then blew out the candle before falling asleep. Thomas showed them a picture of Ponhedge in the book, and then they arrived at the place later on.

“This is it. Ponhenge. I can't believe it,” Twilight said. Sunburst walked over to a rune where Rarity was standard, and then brushed off some dirt to see some carved symbols on it, “I've never seen magical runes like these before! Have you?”
“Uh-uh,” Twilight replied, walking around with the journal.

“I don't think anypony's seen any of this for a long time,” Rainbow Dash said, straining to pull a vine off the rune, but fell into a bush. “Whoa!” Applejack gently tugged on Rainbow Dash’s tail and helped pull her out of the bush, “It'd take a whole team of ponies to clear away all this brush.” As a rock clattered one rune, Thomas tried to place it back, but it fell off again, until Fluttershy hugged him softly against her chest. “Even then, I'm not sure we'd find out what happened here over a thousand years ago,” she said, as Thomas stroked her fur. Twilight Sparkle sighed with depression, “You're right. I suppose it was a long shot.”

“Cheer up, Twilight. Finding a whole set of ancient ruins is pretty impressive. Maybe you could write a paper on it,” Spike said. “I guess I hoped we'd get here and the mystery would just magically be explained,” Twilight said, until a light blue magic glow was shimmering from the book. “Uh... Twilight?” Spike said, pointing at the book. Twilight turned around and gasped in surprise, and the magic from the book started humming, and it flipped the pages until a magical holographic projection of Starswirl appeared. Twilight suddenly felt excited to meet her idol, “Starswirl!? I... I've wanted to meet you my whole life! I can't believe you're here!”

Sunburst walked over, and touched the hologram, but felt nothing. “I don't think he is here,” he said, until another sight struck his eyes. “I don't think any of them are.” Twilight and the rest saw holograms of the other Pillars appear, consisting Flash Magnus with his shield, Mistmane with her flower, Somnambula with her blindfold, Mage Meadowbrook with her mask, and Rockhoof with his shovel.

Starswirl conjured a spell from his horn, and summoned the Pony of Shadows from the stone table. The Pony of Shadows appeared laughing evilly, “You summon me at your peril, Star Swirl! Once I defeat all of you, this realm will embrace the darkness as I did so long ago!”

The Pony of Shadows sprout out his wings and then surrounded the Pillars with symbiotic vines, and wrapped them with it, until he laughed evilly again, “Drawing me here will only make me stronger. You will never defeat me!”

“We did not come here to defeat you,” Starswirl said, until he placed the same black box Thomas recognized. “Momma, that’s the box he was in!” he said. They all saw the Pillars lightning up their relics and formed a gem shaped circle around the Pony of Shadows. “What are you doing?!” The Pony of Shadows asked. “We came... to contain you,” Starswirl said, and then the Pony of Shadows screamed in horror as he was now trapped inside the box and the Pillars vanished. “Well, you did ask for a magical explanation,” Pinkie Pie said to Twilight.

“Uh... what just happened?” Rainbow Dash asked. “It looked like Star Swirl cast a spell that banished the Pony of Shadows inside that box,” Starlight said. “Of course! Powerful magic like that would leave an impression on this place. Bringing the book back here let us see what happened,” Sunburst said. “Which was what?” Applejack asked. “Starswirl and the rest of the Pillars sacrificed themselves to save Equestria,” Twilight said.

---

The next day, Starlight and Sunburst were walking down the hall. “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. Starswirl’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 said. “I think I understand Starswirl's spell!” Twilight exclaimed.

Later on, the others came back, and Fluttershy was holding Thomas in her forelegs and hugged him against her chest. “I know I've finished one of Starswirl'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 Starswirl, so the possibilities are endless! And once Starlight set me on the right track with his crazy hornwriting,” Twilight laughed and snorted. “I mean, he was a genius, so I guess we can forgive a little messiness. So I went through the journal again, and it's amazing!”

“Twilight, darling. We understand you're excited, but that's all we understand,” Rarity said. “What exactly is so amazing?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Only how Starswirl and the other Pillars sent the Pony of Shadows to limbo within a old box like this one,” Twilight said, showing them the black box that trapped the Pony of Shadows. Thomas whimpered after feeling guilty for releasing the monster until he was comforted by Fluttershy. “They did what now?” Applejack asked. “They used their magic to open a portal between worlds – to limbo – and pulled the Pony of Shadows inside,” Twilight explained, by lighting up her horn to form a orb, and then the diorama exploded.

“Darling, your diorama!” Rarity said. “I made more!” Twilight exclaimed, showing her friends her other dioramas. “Starswirl thought the only way to trap the Pony of Shadows in limbo was for the Pillars to trap him inside the box, but it suddenly took them there, leaving them trapped for 1,000 years.”

“So they got stuck, too!” Applejack said. “The Pony of Shadows must have been really awful for them to do that,” Fluttershy said, as her son whimpered in fear and then she hugged him for a warm cuddle to make him feel better and comfortable. “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 Pie giggled. “The thing is, I think we can get them out,” Twilight said. Sunburst, including the others were shocked, “Twilight, are you serious? You can save the most legendary ponies of all time?”

“I-I don't know. Opening portals between worlds didn't work out well for me. Are you sure it's safe?” Starlight nodded, as Thomas nodded in agreement. “First of all, you opened portals through time,” Twilight said. “And second of all, Starswirl 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.”

“But you'd be savin' all the Pillars, right? A-And they disappeared ages ago,” Applejack said. “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 said. “What can we do to help?” Spike asked. “Is... Is there something we can use to help?” Thomas asked. “I don’t know, sweetie. But if I'm right, we need to find items that are connected to the Pillars in some way,” Twilight said. “You mean, like, stuff that belonged to them?” Rainbow Dash asked. “How would we know what to look for? Or where?” Fluttershy asked, as Thomas nodded. “Luckily, Starswirl took a lot of notes,” Twilight said, as she read the notes from the book. “"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."”

A bright golden yellow magical glow began shimmering from above. “Um, Twilight? What are you doing?” Starlight asked. “I'm not doing anything!” Twilight replied, as the glow revealed orbs consisting the Pillars’s artifacts.

“Rockhoof's shovel!” Applejack exclaimed. “Flash Magnus' shield!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “Mistmane's flower!” Rarity said. “Meadowbrook's mask!” Thomas and Fluttershy said. “And the blindfold Somnambula wore when she faced that nasty sphinx!” Pinkie Pie said. “I guess we don't need to figure out who should get what,” Twilight said.