> Legends of Old. > by Ghost Walker > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- There he stood. The once feared Crystal Master, King Sombra, defeated. He stood alone, against Twilight, Princess Cadence, and Princess Celestia. All of the ponies cheered in his defeat and the victory they had. A great evil, no more. He could feel the end coming, yet, he couldn't help put a smirk on his face. Perplexed by his actions, all three moved back, fearing he had something ready to be used as a final attack. Sombra could barely move. Being struck by that much combined power was too much for his body. "You ponies amuse me." Sombra said, looking around with that smirk still on his face. The ponies' cheering died down. "Cheering and celebrating when you have yet to escape the fire." "What do you talk about?" The purple mare said, hesitant at what the response could be. Was he not defeated? "As we speak, the wheels begin to turn on your imminent downfall." "You are beaten. There is no more you could do." Cadence replied back. Sombra looks at all three ponies that faced him. "True, I can do no more. You downfall will not be by my hoof, but of an ancient evil will be your doom. A...'legend'. That shall be your demise." He could feel himself disintegrating, not much longer. They all look on as they see his body beginning to fade, turning to dust. "You speak of legends at a time like this? What is the name of this legend you are so confident about?" Celestia sneered back at Sombra. Sombra and Celestia made eye contact. With his final breath, he proclaim so as all could hear, "The Smooze." Sombra fell over and turned to dust as he mad contact with the ground. The other ponies began to converse with each other, a bit worrisome at what they were just told. Confusion struck Twilight. What was this Smooze? She had never heard of it nor was it in any of her books on Equestria History. She turned to Celestia and asked her the question that was on everypony's mind. "Princess, what's The Smooze?" Celestia was both shocked and horrified at what Sombra said. "Th-this can't be. No...no no no." "Princess?" She looks at Twilight. "My faithful student, I need you to gather your friends and meet me in the throne room. It's time for a history lesson." Still confused, Twilight asked, "What's it about?" Celestia replied, "Something I thought I would never have to talk about." and flew off. Confusion had turned to curiosity now as Twilight gathered her friends and headed towards Canterlot. > It's Just a Legend...Right?(part 1) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sun rose over Ponyville, basking the town in the warm rays of the morning sun. Activity began in the peaceful and happy town as shops open and ponies are seen walking and talking with each other. Three little fillies could be seen leaving this place, racing off towards the Everfree Forest. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were at it again, trying to find their special talent so that they could receive their cutie mark. Today's adventure, cave exploration. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Sweetie Bell, uncertainty could be heard as she spoke. "Of corse. This will be amazing. Just imagine it; The Three Cave Explorers. Has a nice ring to it." replied Scootaloo with confidence and excitement. "Ah dunno. What if Applejack finds out we were playing in the Everfree Forest again. She'd be angry at us." Applebloom said. "That's impossible. All of them are at Canterlot and won't be back for a while. We have plenty of time." Scootaloo said back, reassuring her friends. "Now, let's find us a cave to explore!" She said, racing onward. It was getting mid-day and nothing was turning up. They couldn't find anything. Disappointment came over the trio. You would think in a forest as big as the Everfree Forest you could find something, anything. Even in the uncharted parts. They all sat down for a break, Applebloom leaning on a bush. "Ah told ya this wasn't a good idea. There's nothing out here for us to find. We just need to head back and...WOAH!" The bush gave way as Applebloom seem to have been engulfed by it. Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell ran towards her spot. "Applebloom?...Applebloom! Are you okay?" They both began to shout. "Girls, you won't believe this." That answer echoed back at them. Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo removes the bush and found what they have been looking for, a cave. The foliage around it made look hidden away in this forest, moss and vines helping with the illusion. "See, I told ya we could do it!" Scootaloo said, cheering at their discovery. "Well, now that we found it, what do we do now?" Applebloom asked, recovering from the small fall she had. "Now, we explore. We just need a little light." Scootaloo was looking at Sweetie Bell. "What are you looking at me for?" "You can use your magic as a light source." "I don't know. I haven't had much practice." "You can do it." "If you say so." Sweetie Bell begins to muster up the strength to use, straining herself. Sparks are flying from her horn, more showing as time progress. Suddenly, a bright flash lit the area up and then a low hum was heard and her horn began to glow. "I...did it...I DID IT!!!" Sweetie Bell exclaimed, jumping up and down. "Right. Now, let's go." Scootaloo pointed into the cave. With Sweetie Bell in the lead, they began their exploration. Meanwhile, at Canterlot The Mane 6 gather at the royal throne room. Celestia joined a couple of seconds later, a book hovering next to her. Twilight broke the silence. “Princess, what was it exactly Sombra said? What is this Smooze? It’s in none of my books and I’ve never read about it before.” “That’s because it is something that no pony should be reminded of.” Celestia replied as the book opens up. The ponies gathered around the levitating book, reading and looking at the illustrations. The being Sombra spoke of lived long ago, even before Luna and myself. This book holds accounts from the ponies that survived the Smooze.” The 6 read in the book. Repetative words in each account like goo, dissolving, and deadly gas would show up, giving them a clue as to what the Smooze was. “It is a creature created by an evil witch to cause terror.” Twilight looked up from the book with confusion. “A…Witch? What’s a witch?” “A lot of species didn’t survive the attack and many were lost. All of these accounts speak of a type of magic that stopped the Smooze and had it locked up but it is a type of magic I have never heard of nor is there any book on it.” They are done reading and the book is placed on the ground. “I must ask that each of you return to Ponyville and prepare to face this new menace. I hope that the Elements of Harmony can stop this.” The Mane 6 stood at attention. “You can count on us princess” Twilight said with confidence. “Now go, and if you find any more information about the Smooze or of this magic, let me know.” “Will do princess.” With that, they raced back to Ponyville. A new evil was on the horizon. Back to the CMC The three fillies traverse the dark cave tunnel, the glow from Sweetie Bell’s horn guiding the way. “Augh, what are we looking for exactly?” Applebloom whined. “Uhh…I dunno. Something. Just keep looking.” Scootaloo said, trying to reassure them. Sweetie Bell joined in on the conversation. “We’ve been walking in here for what seems like forever. I’m getting tired.” “I-I’m positive we’ll find something in here. I promise. We just got to…” Scootaloo bumped into Sweetie Bell and Applebloom ran into her. Both of them fell to the ground while Sweetie Bell just stood there, frozen in place. Scootaloo rubbed her head. Sweetie Bell, what’s the deal? What did ya stop for?” “I-I think I found something.” Scootaloo and Applebloom looked to see what she was talking about. The glow from Sweetie Bell’s horn was being reflected back at them. It was something metallic in front of them. “Whoa,” all three exclaimed. Scootaloo began to move closer, wanting a better look. “Scootaloo, be careful. We don’t know what that is.” Sweetie Bell said, getting more worried the closer she got. “Something is here. It could help us get our cutie marks. We need to see what’s behind this.” She places a hoof on the metallic wall. A faint hissing noise could be heard. The volume increased tremendously and air hissed out of this wall. This spooked the CMC as they took sanctuary behind a near-by rock. The hissing became silent and a thunderous crackle echoed throughout the cave. All three looked over to see what has happened. The wall separated and formed and entrance where they could walk through. A realization sparked; it wasn’t a wall, but a door. Curiosity came over the three fillies as they started to walk towards the newly created entrance. Slowly, and cautiously, they walked through and discovered what looked liked wonders to them. As they stepped into this new area, lights overhead faintly flickered on, letting them see all around. More metallic objects, cobwebs, and dust. The CMC looked in awe at their discovery. Who knew something as amazing as this was hidden in a cave? It was something that they never thought they would find. Excitement set in as Applebloom, Sweetie Bell, and Scootaloo stopped and looked at their flanks, determined that they have their cutie marks for sure this time. Nothing. Blank. Just like before. They were saddened by this sight, but that feeling quickly passed. They discovered something amazing. They separated and investigated around to see if there was anything interesting in this new place. The best thing they found were chairs with wheels. One would sit while the other two would push, sending the chair flying. It was during this playfulness that the chair made impact with a tube-like object in the corner of the room. The noise sounded hollow and resonated. There was a small window on it allowing for somepony to look through. All three fillies got onto the chair and one would stand one the other, so whoever was at the top could look through. Luckily, Scootaloo was at the top of this and was able to look through the little window. It was a bit foggy so she proceeded to wipe some of it off. As she touched it thou, an interior light turned on revealing, a face. A face of… a creature. A creature in slumber but a creature she has never seen before. Startled, she fell back and off of her friends. She landed on the ground with a hard thud. Her friends came to her aid as she processes what she just saw. “What was in there? Huh?” Applebloom pestered her. “I-I don’t know but we need to get help.” “What? Why?” Sweetie Bell questioned. “We just need to. Hurry up.” Scootaloo got up and made it towards the way they came in. The other two followed, making their way back to Ponyville. As they were leaving, a screen on the side of the tube glitches on and showed a green line. . . . *Beep* > It's Just a Legend...Right?(part 2) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Few Hours Later in Ponyville Night came over Ponyville and the lights in the library were on. Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack were having a meeting in the library. They went through all of the books there to see in there was any more information available on this old enemy. Nothing was showing up. Even as they searched and searched, leaving a massive pile of books on the ground, nothing could help. Spike looked on from the staircase; He knew he would have to clean this mess up. They looked through all of the history books that were available, but none went back that far. How were they going to know about what was coming? “Nothing here. Nope. Nope. Nada.” Pinkie was popping out of the different piles of books. “I can’t find nothing,” Applejack says, placing another book on the ground. “Don’t give up yet girls. There has to be something here.” Twilight looked over again the books that were piled on the floor. At that moment, there was a loud knocking at the door. All 6 looked at the entrance as Twilight thought, “Who could that be at this hour?” as she trotted over to open the door. When she did, the CMC fell to the floor. “Now what brings you three here, especially at this late of an hour?” Scootaloo was the first one up. “W-we need help. We found something.” There was a hint of panic hidden in her voice. “Okay now partner. Just calm down and tell us what happened.” Applejack said, trying to calm Scootaloo down. “Well… We decided to look around the Everfree Forest and,” “Now hold on an apple-bucking minute. What were ya’ll doing in the Everfree Forest? I thought we told ya to stay out?” “We know big sis, but we were trying to get our cutie marks,” Applebloom said. “We can deal with that later.” Twilight said. Turning to Scootaloo, “Can you continue? What happened?” “Okay, okay… We were looking around the forest trying to figure out how to get our cutie marks when we stumbled upon this cave. It looked interesting enough that we decided to look around it. Next thing we know we stumbled up to this shiny wall that opened up. It seemed interesting enough so we looked around. There was something in this tube. Something scary. We need your help.” There was a silence in the room. Everypony was processing what was just told to them. A shiny wall? A tube with a creature in it? What was it that they found? Twilight broke the silence, “Girls, can you take us to where you found this creature?” “Ye-yes,” All three said. Twilight turns to Spike. “Spike, take a note.” Back in the Everfree Forest. Location: The Cave They arrived at the entrance to the cave; The three fillies, the Mane 6, and Princess Celestia were there. "I hope what ever you brought me out her for is important. You know of what's coming." "Yes princess, I know." Twilight replied. She turns to Applebloom, Sweetie Bell, and Scootaloo. "Can you show us where in this cave you found that creature?" Hesitantly, the three replied, "O-okay." and they began their walk through the cave. After what seemed like forever, they arrived to the entrance in the metallic wall. A faint beeping noise could be heard, resonating from the other side. Scared on what they would find, all of them walked on through to the room. All, except for the three fillies, looked in awe at what was in the room. There were stuff that haven't been seen before, at least by them. "Celestia, what is all of this?" "That I do not know." The source of the beep was found. It was coming from the tube. They surround it just to get a look at it. Pinkie Pie found the screen with the green line on it. The display showed different words and numbers. [ Normal Heart Rate: 96 bpm. Brain Activity: Normal. Organ Function: Positive. ] *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* Her eyes followed the line as it jumped up and down. Up and down. Up and down. She would have stared forever but something shiny caught her eye. Something red. As she wandered of to the thing that caught her attention, the others were looking at the tube. Something was inside but none of them knew what. If only there was a way to get it open. Investigation of the tube showed no way to open it; no handle, knob, or a switch of some kind on it. All there was that they could see was the window near the top. Nothing else. Next thing they heard was Pinkie Pie saying, "Ooh, what does this do." And they all turned to where she was at. She had found a red button and pressed it. An alarm went off and air hissed out of the tube. Fluttershy was the first to hide, afraid of what may happen, or what would come out. The rest just put some distance between them and the newly activated tube. The steam continued to hiss out as sounds of locks becoming undone echoed until finally, it slowly opened up, revealing the creature inside. Out of all of the ponies watching this, Princess Celestia was in the most shocked at this sight. Unbelievable. It was tall and upright. It wore fabrics over it's body but didn't seem to have a tail. In place of hooves, it had what seemed like small extensions of the arm; five on each side, and something that was covering the feet with string holding it together. What little hair that was visible was on it's head; short and brown. The creature's arm began to twitch, the digits moving back and forth. A small moan could be heard from it as if it has just awoken from a deep slumber. The legs began to move, slowly but surely. It fell to the floor, just laying there. "What...is it princess?" Twilight asked, moving closer to get a better look. "I-I can't believe it... Legend spoke of a race that helped prevent the Smooze from causing more destruction, but at a cost. Sickness overtook them from making contact with that foul beast and it wiped their race away. I never though one survived." "So it can help us? How did it survive? What is it?" Question after question was being asked about what was laying on the floor. Celestia had to answer. "I only have the answer to one of your questions; That is a human. The last of his kind."