Lost

by MLPTMNTPegasister

Chapter 6: Inky Gorge, Wetlands, Equestria

Thankfully, the wish the group made came true. The Shadow Plague was too busy stealing souls and emptying bodies to follow them.

When they got to the doorstep, they all hesitated to figure out which one would open the great golden doors of Sundown’s parents’ home.

“Everypony hope this place isn’t haunted,” Hummingbird said.

Sundown nodded in agreement, opening the door with a blue burst of magic. The inside of the castle was surprisingly well-kept and clean, although it had been abandoned for a couple years.

“Well, now we know this isn’t your regular every-day haunted house.” Pizza hummed, skipping inside.

“I wonder who kept it clean? Spider webs and dust usually build up if you leave a place alone for a while.” Sundown commented.

“He’s right. My mom left the chicken coop alone for a while, and soon the chickens were protesting for a better-kept coop.” Hummingbird added. The group carefully stepped into the castle, boards and crystals creaking and shattering as they moved inside. Elusive got caught staring at an amethyst.

“Ooh, Elusive. Don’t you look handsome?” he asked himself, giving the amethyst a shiny smirk.

“Elusive, focus.” Sundown whispered. “Our goal is to find out which door leads to the castle library.”

“Oh yeah.” Elusive shook his head.

“Good thing I snuck into your books awhile ago and ripped out this page,” Ruby said, pulling a piece of paper from her spines. “See here? It has a map of the whole castle.”

“If you didn’t have something very useful, boy, would I be mad at you, Ruby!” Sundown’s horn glowed, threatening Ruby a tiny bit.

Hummingbird pulled the map out of Ruby’s claws as she and Sundown began to argue. He took a glance at it and said, “According to this map, the library should be right..there.” He pointed to the dustiest door in the hallway.

“Thanks, Hum.” Pizza bounced to the door and opened it, dust reaching each of their noses and making them sneeze.

As the group walked into the library, Sundown was sure he heard chairs creaking and ponies murmuring behind a few bookcases.

“You guys go ahead and look for the right book,” Sundown whispered, looking back at his cousins. “I’m going to check something.”

Scarlett chuckled, “Like mum, like son.”

Sundown creeped in front of every aisle, checking to make sure nothing was there. But, he still heard murmuring. When he got to the last aisle, he saw the shapes of two small mares looking for books.

They looked at him, and screamed happily. The two mares hugged him, making his cousins run to him fearfully.

“Sundown, what’s going on?” Elusive fretted.

“Oh, don’t you fret your pretty little butt off, son.” said the first mare.

“Yeah, we don’t bite.” added the other.

Scarlett lit some candles, and the two mares were revealed to be friends of the group’s parents, Sweetie Drops and Lyra Heartstrings.

“What’s going on here?” Hummingbird asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, son. Haven't you been looking around? We're the mares responsible for this nice, clean castle." Lyra coughed.

"Oh yes. Princess Twilight and Prince Leo asked us to keep this place clean while they went for Twilight to give birth. Never came back, you see. So Lyra and I decided to keep our promise and start living here to finish it. Although, we've always wondered what happened to the Princess and her Prince. Nopony ever told us, 'cause they're always too frightened to even knock." Sweetie Drops added.

"I know why they never returned.." Sundown said, grabbing the mares' attention.

"Why did they never come back, sonny boy?" asked Lyra.

"They had me, of course." Sundown sighed. "But they never came home because somepony killed them. Adventure or otherwise. Uncle Donnie said if I want to learn how they died, I'd have to find out myself."

Lyra gasped. "You are the son of Leo and Twilight? Well, I'll be. Son, why did ya come here? To finally enter your kin's old stomping grounds?"

"No, actually," Sundown replied. "Well, kind of. I am going to live here from now on, but my friends and I came here to check out a book about dark creatures."

"Yeah!" Pizza cackled. "Where do ya keep the dark stuff?"

"Well, you're in luck," Sweetie Drops said. "Me and Lyra here were just in the "Dark" aisle."

Elusive couldn't resist to ask Sweetie Drops a question. "Why were you in the dark aisle?"

"Oh, well, in our spare time me and Lyra like to look up some stuff and make hypotheses about why the royals haven't come home. But, now we know why."

An hour later, the ponies could be seen searching through countless bookshelves, not looking for any books in particular, but something close to the Shadow Plague.

"When can I stop reading?" asked Scarlett.

"Once we find something that can tell us where we can find the source of these Shadow Plagues, apparently." Ruby sighed.

Sweetie Drops suddenly bursted into the library, carrying a newspaper. "Bad news," she exclaimed unhappily. "Unfortunately, there are more of these "Shadow Plagues" in Equestria. They're in Manehatten, Vanhoover, Fillydelphia, Las Pegasus, everywhere."

Sundown took a peek at the newspaper, and he was scared. If nopony could defeat those Plagues in three days time, like the book stated, Equestria would be dark and soul-less forever.

"Guys, I found something!" Hummingbird screamed, holding up an indigo, dusty book titled "Dark Creatures And Their Cultures". Pizza hopped up, stole the book from Hummingbird's hooves, and put it in Sundown's. He started to read:

"The name "Shadow Plague" brings horror to most old ponies' faces. This is because long ago, a mistake in Inky Gorge led to a temporary takeover. A young unicorn, named Bubbles, was testing his latest spell when it started. He dipped a pitch-black branch into an indigo brew, and out came the heartless creature we know today as the Shadow Plague. To remove several of these creatures, you must go to the ruins of Bubbles' home, dip a Sun Stick into his brew, and all Shadow Plagues will disappear from existence until another Dark Alicorn is born.

Author's Note:

Hmm..