Howl to the Future

Across frozen fields of snow and ice, the figure in black made haste.

The Elements of Harmony pursued.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes, her wings flapping through howling winds as she flew above her friends. "Come on! He's getting away! Faster!"

Ghostly, heavy breaths of air cascaded into the winds.

Applejack's snout blew steam, her hooves making frantic tracks below. A shadow of the blue pegasus moved slightly ahead of her.

"Ugh, goin' as fast as I can without wings, sugar!" she grunted. "Can't even go on a darn' nature walk without something crazy happenin' to us?!"

"M-Maybe someone should go and warn the Crystal Empire... to get help," Fluttershy squeaked. "I'll volunteer..."

"Ugh, we don't need any help!" Rainbow growled. "It'll just be a waste of time. We'll have this guy hogtied before their soldiers get armor on!"

A confident smirk appeared on Applejack's face. "Darn straight."

"How can we be sure it's a stallion, or even a pony?" Twilight said, a hint of worry overtaking her tone. "It might female... its voice was strange; I suppose it doesn't matter, though..."

She then glanced forward. Two hundred feet away, a black cloak flickered in the wind as its owner cascaded across the tundra like a spirit of winter itself.

Rarity glanced at him as well, panting heavily.

She gave a shiver despite the warm coat wrapped firmly around her.

"Whoever he is, p-please tell me he's not going to-"

Suddenly, the figure in black disappeared in a puff of smoke, reappearing with another puff nearly two hundred feet ahead of his previous position. His relentless pace did not halt an inch.

"Ugh!" Rarity spat. "If I weren't galloping so fast I'd be freezing to death right now! The next time we go on some arctic tour I'm triple layering!"

Rainbow Dash put on a wicked grin. "Don't worry Rarity, I've got this!" She cast a spiteful glare forward. "Let's see you teleport away from this, you cardio-obsessed freak!"

Twilight squinted in thought...

As she did, Rainbow was already rocketing towards the figure. And just as she grew close, Twilight's eyes widened in horror.

"Rainbow, wait!" she gasped. "It's a-"

A black half-bubble of sorts flickered to life around the figure.

"OH CRAAAAP- ACK!"

Twilight winced. "Trap,"

Rainbow form practically bounced off it as if it were a trampoline, sending her sailing away from the figure. Her eyes rolled in random directions as a confused, disoriented expression crossed her face. And at that, her wings stopped flapping as she catapulted into the snow at the speeds made her practically untraceable to the eye.

"R-Rainbow!" Fluttershy squeaked, halting herself as she glanced back at the fallen mare. "You guys go ahead! I need to help her!"

"Rainbow's crashed into worse at higher speeds!" Applejack yelled, her tracks quickly darting away from the yellow pegasus. "Come on Fluttershy! This guy's pretty tough! We'll need all the help we can get!"

"She's right," Twilight said. "I hate to leave Rainbow but we might need someone else in the air!" She then winced at her newly received wings. "And I'm a terrible flier!"

"No!" Fluttershy snapped, her assertive side apparently showing itself in full. "I'm not leaving her-"

Suddenly, as Fluttershy gasped, Rainbow turned her head towards her, smiling slightly, before saying in a hoarse, slow tone:

"Go on ahead... Applejack's right... I've hit worse."

Fluttershy gulped. "Y-You're sure you'll be alright?"

Rainbow gave a weak nod. "P-Princess Cadence is depending on you. Go!"

At that, Fluttershy closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and only a second later, those same eyes narrowed in determination as she gave a stern nod. Then, as if seeing her friend hurt had only given her resolve... and perhaps, anger, she practically roared into the sky. Soon, she was sailing above the rest of her friends once again.

"She'll be alright, dearest!" Rarity called upward.

Fluttershy remained silent.

Applejack grunted, lowering an eyebrow. "Was it just me, or did this guy seem like he was expecting that!?"

"That's why I called out to her," Twilight said. "Remember when he deflected my attack before? It was like he knew exactly what I use whenever I get into trouble. He knows about our capabilities! It's like he's studied us..."

"Oooo, so it is a trap, huh?!" Pinkie blurted out, somehow bouncing at the speed the rest of her friends were running. "Twilight, you soooo need to meet this fish pony I know called Ackbar! You'd totally get along!"

Twilight blinked. "What?"

"THE ADMIRAL OF THE SEAS!" she squealed.

Applejack rolled her eyes. "And she's done it," she muttered to herself. "She can no longer get any more random."

"Come on girls, focus!" Twilight growled. "Start thinking. We've tried magic against him, Rainbow tried to use speed against him. What else can we possibly do?"

"I don't know!" Pinkie squeaked. "I'd have thought his shields would be no match for your kind of magic-power!"

Twilight shook her head.

"There are different types of shields and attacks you can create with arcane magic through various techniques, mainly through summoning specific emotions. I usually attack using positive emotion, a feeling of righteousness in this particular case, which is much better than anger. It can usually break through anything, and not to brag, but considering I'm an alicorn now... it should have cut right through, but it didn't. It's like he's using a different type of magic I'm not used to going up against ...but what other kinds are there besides arcane, dark, harmony and chaos?"

"Wait, so you pretty much shoot bolts of happiness?!" Pinkie beams.

"Righteousness," Twilight corrected, before continuing with, "And then how he deflected Rainbow like that. He knew it was coming and created another shield. Yet... she should have broken through as well! You really have to work to make a shield that can repel her..."

"Mmm, like the one you make every time she's doing stunt practice?" Applejack smirked.

Twilight grunted in annoyance. "The holes in my roof were getting tedious to repair."

"So, what kind of magic do you think he's using, darling?" Rarity asked.

"And we still don't know if it's a 'he'," Applejack muttered.

"I don't know... it's not dark, chaos, or harmony... I'd be able to feel it. Whatever it is... it's something else. Unknown..." Her eyes suddenly widened in realization. "Just like the crystals in the caverns..."

"S-So, what do we do to catch him i-if he's luring us somewhere..."

Rarity nodded forward.

"Mmmm, and it looks like we're getting very near..." she said. "Look!"

In the distance stretched a massive, thick forest, one of beautiful pine-like trees that shimmered with multi-colored crystals coating their trunks.

"The Shimmering Woods!" Twilight gasped. "How did we get this far?! It's over thirty miles from the Crystal City!"

"Time flies when you're runnin', I spose," Applejack shrugged, still panting heavily.

Rarity glanced at her with a look of extreme fatigue, before letting out in an exhausted sounding gasp, "And I'm afraid that running much longer may not be an option for me."

"And if this is some sort of trap..."

"We have to keep moving, anyway!" Twilight grunted. "It doesn't matter where he's taking us! We have to find out what he did to Cadance!"

One Hour Earlier

"Um, Princess, with all due respect, oh, and you too, Prince Shining... but yes... would it be possible for us to do this tour when the weather is a bit... warmer...?"

Rarity then gave a shiver, as seven ponies and one dragon made their way across frozen tundra, their destination being a large mountain looming in the distance.

"Heh, sorry Rarity, but this is how it is all the time here," Shining Armor chuckled, before throwing a warm smile Princess Cadence's way, who kept pace beside him. "Sept in the city, of course, thanks to a bit of loving magic!"

She rolled her eyes. "Sweetie, didn't we talk about pun making a week ago?"

Shining gave a sigh. "Yes, dear," he said, his ears sagging. "'If you don't stop, I'm going to write a bill to outlaw it!'"

"Pfffffft-" Rainbow barely held back a laugh.

However, Cadence then returned her husband's smile, before nuzzling his cheek slightly. "And we also talked about you always giving me the credit for everything, including charging the Menite Shards..."

Shining Armor blushed at this, as Rainbow let loose an annoyed groan.

"Menite wah?" Applejack said, lifting an eyebrow.

"Artifacts used to create the magic dome around the Crystal Throne," Twilight explained.

"Ooooooooh, I was wonderin' how that whole thing worked," Applejack said.

"Y-Yes," Rarity shivered. "And I w-would very much like to see more of it... sooner than later, perhaps?"

"Don't worry, Rarity," Twilight beamed. "We're pretty close to the Crystal Caves by now, aren't we?"

"We should be coming up on them any second," Shining Armor smiled. "Wait til you all see them! Stretching from wall to wall... a mass of crystals nopony knows the origin of. Some big, some small."

Suddenly, Rarity's eyes went from weary to literally shining with diamonds in the middle.

"Some small, you say?" she asked, a lucrative smile forming on her face. "Just hypothetically speaking, of course, would it be possible to extract a few?"

Princess Cadance shook her head. "It's illegal, I'm sorry to say. The crystals exhibit an unusual magical energy that even Princess Celestia can't identify."

"Hmmm... well, I suppose there was no hurt in asking..." Rarity mused in a disappointed tone. "But is this energy dangerous?"

"No, not really," Shining stated. "The Crystal Ponies just want to preserve what they call a 'world mystery.'"

Twilight raised an eyebrow, though an excited look soon spread across her face. "But an unknown magical energy? How is that possible?! I thought the known four were all there were... Starswirl pretty much made it a fact, not a theory."

Cadance chuckled slightly. "Perhaps he's correct. Maybe these energies are just slightly modified forms of the ones we know of. However, keep your mind open, Twilight. These caves as well as their crystals date back before Equestria was even in its infancy... before even Princess Celestia and Discord came to be."

Twilight's eyes widened in awe. "Oh my gosh, I wish I had more time to study them, then! Ugh, why didn't I bring a notebook?" She then turned to Spike, who was waddling along side of her. "And why didn't you remind me to bring a notebook?!"

Spike rolled his eyes. "Because for once, I thought you just wanted to look at something and not put it under a microscope."

"Yes, but I- we- should have been more prepared!" she stuttered out.

"Oh, quit giving Spikey Wikey a hard time," Rarity chuckled. "I'm sure you'll be able to return to these caves eventually. With me with you of course."

Twilight shot her a suspicious look.

"For science, darling!"

"Uh huh..."

Suddenly, Shining pointed a hoof forward. "Speaking of which... check it out!"

The group stared ahead in awe. The mountain was now right before them, and previously obscured by snow banks, a cavern was visible stretching from its base into a rocky home. A strange glow was emanating from it, its light twinkling off the snow before it.

"Ooooooo," Pinkie cooed. "Oh my gosh, let's go faster! It's so pretty!"

At that, she began to gallop towards the cave entrance.

"Hey, wait up!" Rainbow called, grinning, before rocketing towards her.

The rest of her friends followed suit, leaving only a bemused looking Shining and Cadance behind.

"Oh, to be young again," Cadance sighed.

"Yeah..." Shining smiled, before grinning her way. "Race you?"

She quickly returned the grin. "Did you really need to ask?"

Before Shining could take off into a gallop, she was already speeding along towards the entrance, using her wings and hooves at the same time to propel herself. She glanced back at him, sticking her tongue out.

"Hey, you cheater!" Shining called. "That's totally not fair!"

"All is fair in love and war, sweetie," Cadance smirked.

Shining's expression turned devious. "War, huh? Well, in that case..."

With a flash of light, his form teleported right next to Cadance, his well-trained legs allowing him to match her speed. With his horn, he quickly summoned a series of snow balls, before throwing them (gently, though still with speed) Cadance's way.

"EEP!" she cried, dodging one flying over her head, before narrowing her eyes and smirking yet again Shining's way. "Oh, you are so-"

Without warning, she paused as the two neared the cave entrance. A tunnel stretched down a ways before curving to the side. Indeed, jutting out of its walls were a series of jagged, glowing crystals of multiple colors, with smaller ones in-between. However, what caught her attention most was not the crystals...

"Who... is that?"

...But the figure in a black cloak standing only a small way down, the Elements of Harmony (and Spike) standing meters before him.

Screeching to a halt, her and Shining stood besides the seven, all glancing warily at the strange inhabitant.

"Uh, is anyone else's genre senses tingling?" Pinkie gulped.

Rainbow shrugged. "Cloaked figure just kind of appearing before us in an ancient cave? Nope, seems legit."

Pinkie brought a hoof to her chin. "Hmmm... I'm betting a ghost. Or an alien. Or an alien ghost. Maybe a demon?"

Rainbow chuckled. "Probably a ghost."

Cadance, who stood next to her, cleared her throat, before taking a step forward. "Um... hello there. I'm Princess Cadance, and what is your name?"

"..."

Silence came, nevermore.

"Oh, and he's silent too... ," Pinkie whispered. "Totally a bad sign..."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Come on, maybe he or she's just shy. When whoever this is teleported, I bet they weren't expecting to see us here."

"Mmm... I've still got a bad feeling about this, though," Applejack gulped.

Rainbow huffed in annoyance. "Ugh, well we're not going to find out anything but being just as quiet as him!" She then darted forward an inch, her eyes narrowing. "Hey! If you're mute or something, can you please tell us?! We're burning daylight here!"

The group gave her a blank expression, to which she simpered at.

"Er... alright, maybe that was... a little stupid."

Applejack chuckled slightly to herself, shaking her head, as Rainbow turned back to the figure.

"But yeah, seriously! We're not here to hurt you or anything. You can take off the hood!"

Pinkie bounced merilly into the air. "Unless you can't because you're a ghost held together by your cloak or your very sight drives ponies insane! Oooo, I bet it's the latter, insn't it?! You're totally the friendliest Eldritch Abomination ever, then-"

"Errr..." Shining said, before stepping forward, a neutral expression on him. "Hey uh... are you alright? Did you over-extend yourself teleporting? Happens to me a lot... no shame in it..."

"..."

"I really think we need to get out of here," Fluttershy squeaked, backing away slightly. "I-I am not comfortable at all right now..."

"We did not come all this way for nothing!" Rainbow snapped. "If he isn't going to talk, we're just gonna trot right around him, right girls?!"

"Mmmm," Twilight said, squinting in thought. "I'm not sure..."

"Well... it's the only thing I can think of," Cadance said.

She began to inch forward.

"Woah, hang on, honey!" Shining called.

She merely stuck her tongue back at him. "Oh come on, your name is Shining Armor, not Shining Sissy! We'll be fine..."

"What if he's dangerous, though?" Twilight asked.

"Well, there is eight of us and one of him," Shining grunted. "I'll be keeping my eye on him, though."

With that, with Cadance in the lead, the rest of the group made their way forward. However, after only a few seconds, they suddenly snapped in place.

"Tel'shiar Cadance tia Crystal Empire?"

A voice emanated from the cloak, a gruff sounding, yet medium pitched one, making it hard to tell if the figure was female or male.

Cadance was the first to recover from the surprise, glancing at the figure with a hint of curiosity and unease.

"Um... I'm sorry, what was that?" she peeped.

The figure made what sounded like a huff of annoyance, before asking again:

"Tel'shiar Cadance tia Crystal Empire?"

At that, Rainbow turned to Twilight, whispering, "What language is he speaking?"

Twilight blinked in bafflement. "I... don't know."

"And neither do I, and that is very... very strange," Princess Cadance said, before glancing at the figure again. "Do you... speak Common?"

"Com - mon?" he said slowly, quirking his head.

"That means no," Shining sighed.

The figure than took a sudden step forward, causing the entire group, save for Rainbow Dash and Shining, to take a startled step backward. He paused, glancing at Princess Cadance's form, before slowly nodding his head.

"Tel'shiar Cadance..."

Cadance slowly nodded back. "Um yes... I am... Cadance."

"Tel'shiar must mean leader..." Twilight said, curiosity overtaking her fear. "Or Princess."

The figure sighed at that, and in a sorrowful tone added, "Tara Luna... soi creyal."

With care, the figure levitated a blue crystal out of its robes. It looked nearly identical to those on the cave walls, save for the fact that it was not emitting any light.

Slowly, the figure approached Cadance, who glanced at the crystal warily.

"Is this... a gift?"

The figure nodded eagerly.

"Sia! Gift!"

Cadance smiled back at him, nodding.  "Yes, a gift!"

"C-Can we please just leave?" Fluttershy squeaked again.

Applejack, however, merely raised an eyebrow. "I don't know... I'm usually good at telling if someone's lying, but whoever this is is telling the truth, from what I can hear. He really thinks it's a gift."

Twilight shrugged towards Cadance. "She's never been wrong before."

"Maybe we should examine it a bit first, though, just in case," Shining said cautiously, before glancing at Cadance. "Mind if I take it?"

"No, I'll be fine sweetie," Cadance said, smiling at him. "Whoever this is must have travelled from far away to meet me. I intend to give them a warm welcome to the Empire!"

Shining narrowed his eyes at the figure. "You're sure?"

She chuckled, winking at him. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll swoop into save me if things go wrong."

"My genre savvy senses are still tingling though," Pinkie gulped.

Her ears suddenly began to twitch.

"Hey, your ears are twitching!" Rainbow Dash announced. "Doesn't that mean something weird's about to happen?"

"Usually," she squeaked.

Cadance, however, was unphased, and began walking towards the figure in black, who was still levitating the crystal before him.

"I'm sure everything will be fine," she said.

"Famous last words," Rainbow gulped.

And after a tense thirty seconds, they met in the middle, both only a few feet from each other. They stood, silent for a second, Cadance glancing at him curiously (while apparantly trying to gain a peak as to what was under the hood).

Then, the silence was broken by a sorrowful tone.

"Sara... Luna tara Lupus... sial."

A fraction of a second later, as the group gasped in shock, a flash of light nearly as bright as a star flickered to life for a brief instance, emanating from the duo.

"What the heck?!" Shining shouted.

"My eyes!"

"EEP!"

When the world came back into focus for them, the group gave another gasp. Princess Cadance was lying on the ground, the figure standing before her... and the crystal he levitated was now glowing. Within a second, he glanced back at the group, and in a neutral tone stated:

"Gift."

Shining let loose a snarl.

"Yeah, my flank!" he roared, his horn powering to life as he charged forward. "What the heck did you do to her?!"

The figure snapped its head towards him.

"..."

"ANSWER ME!"

Sparks flew from the horn.

"Shining, wait!" Twilight called.

"Screw that, I'm with him!" Rainbow Dash hissed. "I'm knocking this guy back to wherever they came from!"

At the same time, Shining was nearly right on top of his new adversary, and from his horn came a purple beam of light aimed straight for the figure's chest.

"Still not talking?! Well, then I'm sorry about this, but you're about to get a taste of your own medicine!"

"..."

As the figure stood motionless, the beam of light collided with him. However, as soon as it did, it, without warning, changed from purple to black.

Shining's eyes widened in horror. The black beam bounced back towards him, creating a small gunshot like sound near his horn.

"AAAACK!"

He roared in pain as he flew backward, landing at the entrance of the cave.

Rainbow Dash paused.

The rest of the group stood motionless, awe-struck.

"..."

The figure had no comment.

"SHINING!" Twilight cried, before snapping towards the figure. Her horn was now glowing as well.

Spike flailed his arms her way. "Twilight, hold on! He's just going to do the same thing to you!"

"Don't worry Spike, I know what I'm doing!" Though her expression was filled with spite, she managed to grunt through gritted teeth, "Positive energy, not anger... positive energy, not anger..."

The figure glanced towards her, glancing at her with a tilted head as if to say, 'What? It was nothing personal.

"Shoal Sia?"

And just as she finished, another purple beam of light ripped towards him.

Rainbow hollered in glee. "WOOO YEAH, GET HIM TWILIGHT!"

"RELO'C TEK!" he hissed, and suddenly, a black shield sprung up about him. A split-second later, the beam of light barreled into it. There was a crackling sound, and a plethora of black smoke was released from the impact sight, obscuring the figure.

"Yo, did you get him?!" Rainbow Dash called.

Twilight lowered her eyebrows. And suddenly... the smoke cleared.

The figure was gone, along with his glowing crystal.

"What the hay?! Where did he go!?" Rainbow growled.

At the same time, Fluttershy darted to Shining's side. She checked his pulse, nodded to herself, and then made her way to Cadance. Upon doing so to her as well, she sighed in relief. "They're alright."

The rest of the group sighed as well.

"Good," Twilight said, before turning towards Spike. "Spike, you stay here and make sure they're alright."

"..."

He remained motionless, his gaze transfixed on Cadance.

"Spike?!"

Suddenly, he snapped towards her, a look of bewilderment melting off his face. "Uh... yeah! Got it!"

"Wait?! What are we doing?!" Rainbow said.

"We're going after him," Twilight said, her eyes narrowing.

"But we have no clue where he went off to!" Rarity proclaimed.

"I wouldn't say that."

The group turned about, looking at Applejack, who was in turn looking at something in the distance.

A figure with a black cloak, darting across the snow.