"Come on, Apple Bloom!" Scootaloo moaned impatiently as she waited for her friend to come out of her room. The orange filly was already dressed up for Nightmare Night, and waiting for her friend. Sweetie Belle was probably already waiting for them at the clubhouse.
Scoots was dressed as Dodo Baggins, the hero from one of her favorite movies. She had on a a brown suit with a black belt around her waist, and a golden horseshoe strung around her neck. It was a pretty simple costume, but it looked good on her. Sweetie Belle had planned on going as a marshmallow, because, well, that was her nickname these days. So cute you could just eat it up. But Apple Bloom had refused to tell them what she would be going out as. They had been planning for this for weeks, but she had sternly kept her lips sealed. Scootaloo was dying to find out why her friend had been so secretive. She was also dying to get out for some candy.
"Ahm almost done!" Came the reply from behind the door. Scootaloo huffed, but had nothing else to do but wait for her friend. After a few more minutes of impatiently pacing around, the door slowly slid open. It was dark inside, and Scootaloo didn't see anypony at all.
"Hey... Apple Bloom...?" She said nervously. No response. "A-Apple Bloom?" She crept forward ever so slightly into the room. She glanced around. Everything seemed spookier at this time of night, an the fact that she still couldn't see much didn't help. If only the hallway had been better lit, some light might have made its way in.
"Apple Bloom!" Almost shouting now, getting really worried. She kept creeping forward, step by step in the dark until she bumped into something. At first she thought she had run into the bed frame, but then she realized that bed frames didn't breathe. What Scootaloo took at the time to be a lightning bolt temporarily lit up the room for her to see the horrifying figure standing in front of her. The creature had a body the shape of a pony, but was more skeletal. Bones protruded from various places on it's body, and it's face was a skull with gleaming red eyes and a half-detached jaw. And that was enough to cause Scootaloo to scream. At least until she realized that the creature was laughing.
"Wha-what?" She managed to utter.
"Ah sure gotcha good, Scootaloo!" The horrible face said. A light flipped on as the creature lifted a hoof to it's face to reveal that that the skull was a mask, with Apple Bloom underneath.
"APPLE BLOOM?!" Scootaloo yelled out, some mix of lingering fear and a hint of anger. The yellow filly burst out laughing again.
"Yep. So whadoya think? Scary costume?"
"Yeah... it's kinda scary." Scootaloo replied, but Apple Bloom knew that her friend had been terrified at the costume.
"I hope you like it. I made it special for this Nightmare Night."
"Huh? What's so special about this one?"
"You don't know?" Apple Bloom asked, kind of surprised. Lots of ponies had been talking about it. "This is the 500th Nightmare Night."
"Okay? So?"
"So, legend has it that 500 years ago, a demon attempted to take over all of Equestria. He was supposedly defeated, but the legend also recounts his last words as 'I shall rise again.' Some claim that he wasn't defeated, only sealed away for several hundred years."
"And this is important because...?"
Apple Bloom sighed. Sometimes it was just hard to get through to her friends.
"Because, Dodo, this is a recreation of the demon from mythology."
"Oh." Scootaloo said in a lackluster tone. "Okay. So, what was his name? How was he defeated, or sealed, or whatever?"
"His name was Hades. He had control over a vast number of undead minions and supernatural spirits. As for how he was beaten... well, I didn't quite get to readin' that part." Was the end of AB's explanation. "But they say that one day he will return, but weakened. To fully revive his strength, he requires a dark ritual, where he must acquire a bride and drain her life force and take it as his own. A young bride. Orange might be a nice color..." The filly trailed off as a howl came from outside, causing Scootaloo to jump again.
"Haha, you're just too easy to scare on Nightmare Night, Scoots." Apple Bloom joked. "It's just mah sister and Winona scarin' the little fillies." Scootaloo let out a moan.
"Come on, let's just get to the club house." She said, trying to change the subject. "Sweetie Belle's probably there waiting for us." Her red-haired friend stifled one last giggle, then pulled her mask down over her face.
"Fine bah me." She said in a devious tone. "Let's go scare another filly."
Scootaloo rolled her eyes, but smiled a little at the thought of Sweetie Belle getting the same good fright she had.
"Yep, let's go."
...
Later that night, the trio of fillies were making their final rounds around Ponyville, getting any last bit of candy that they could. Just like they had expected, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom had found their third member at the clubhouse, and had tried the same trick, but Sweetie's puffy marshmallow costume kept coming down over her eyes. So she hadn't actually seen Apple Bloom show up in her skeletal form until Scootaloo had already shown up too, and by that point it was pointless to try. Though the white filly did say that it was an extremely impressive costume, even if Rarity would have called the fashion police on it. It got dark early around this time of year, so even though it was already near pitch black, it was probably only 7:30 or 8. But the Cutie Mark Crusaders were some of the last few ponies still out. A lot of ponies had actually been avoiding the CMC, scared of Apple Bloom's costume. Some of the older ones praised her for her work; Twilight especially was proud of the red-haired fillies costume and the history knowledge it displayed. And of course, Apple Bloom was glad that other ponies appreciated the effort she had put into this costume.
"Ah hope y'all see why I kept this secret!" She bragged for the fifth or so time.
"Yeah, yeah. We saw. Now can we just hurry up and get home?" Sweetie Belle whined. Normally she wouldn't have, but she was getting pretty tired from lugging her marshmallow around.
"Awww, come on... It'll only be the 500th Nightmare Night once." Apple Bloom said, still wanting to go around a little more.
"Fine. One more block. Then we'll go home." Scootaloo said to stop all the complaining. The three agreed and kept going down the street. They kept going forward for a little while longer, with Apple Bloom's costume getting more compliments from the last few ponies they were visiting. But as they reached the end of the street, it started to get dimmer. Scootaloo thought that was strange, since the street lamp was still bright. It took her a minute, but she realized that a fog was rolling in. When she turned to voice her observation Sweetie Belle had already noticed it too.
"Hey, Apple Bloom, did you notice..." Scootaloo started to say, but then realized that her friend had kept walking.
"Where'd she go?" Sweetie Belle asked, right as they noticed her walking right into the fog. "What's she doing?"
"I don't know. But let's follow her!"
"Are you sure, Scootaloo? It seems... frightening..." Was Sweetie's reply.
"Yeah, I'm sure. We gotta get her back home before Granny Smith throws a fit."
The two fillies followed tried to follow their friend, but as they walked to catch up with her, the fog only seemed to get thicker, and she only seemed to get farther away. Sweetie Belle was already worried, and Scootaloo was starting to get uncomfortable as well. By this point, the fog had completely engulfed them, and they couldn't see anything other than each other.
"Apple Blooooom!!" Scootaloo yelled out one more time, but her yellow friend still said nothing. She was barely visible on the edge of the fog by this point, and the two fillies had to run just to keep her in their sights. Yet she still didn't get closer. Then she disappeared into the air.
"APPLE BLOOM!" Sweetie yelled, freaking out so much that she tripped forward, toppling into Scootaloo and sending them both rolling forward.
"WoahwoahwOAH!" they were both screaming as the rolled to a stop, sprawled out on the ground. Sweetie Belle was the first to notice the fog was gone, and Scootaloo was the first to notice that Apple Bloom was standing up ahead.
"Apple Bloom! We found you!" Sweetie Belle was the first one to talk, but their was no response from the yellow filly. Scootaloo looked around. They had wandered to the ruins of some sort of... castle? Maybe a shrine? Either way around it, the stones were run down and broken, and built pretty high.
"Where are we..." Scootaloo murmured to herself as she glanced around at the structure they had found themselves inside. All around them were shattered stone walls, and in front of them in the center of the ruins was a pentagram of some sort. Apple Bloom stood in the center. After one last shout from Sweetie Belle, the red-haired filly slowly turned her head. The mask of her costume was still one, but through the eye holes, her two friends could see that her normally gamboge eyes had a sickly green glow that radiated out from underneath the mask.
"Apple Bloom?" Sweetie Belle asked nervously. Their friend made no response and turned her head back. Scootaloo followed her stare and finally noticed the creature up above them. It was hardly visible, but she could make out the form of something similar to Apple Bloom's costume. But it was imprisoned in some sort of field, blocking most of it from being seen clearly. Apple Bloom began to climb the ruins, which lead in an almost stair-like manner up towards where the creature waited, it's red eyes starting to glow with anticipation. Scootaloo saw what was coming and tried to jump into the air, flapping her wings furiously, but couldn't manage to fly even now. Apple Bloom made it to the field and put a hoof up, slowly piercing the field, the creatures eyes getting brighter the farther in she got. And then the whole field exploded, sending Apple Bloom and Scootaloo flying backwards to the ground, and winding Sweetie Belle, who had been farther away. The creature, now clearly visible, stepped forward.
It was skeletal, just like Apple Bloom's costume, but Sweetie Belle could tell it was real. It's skull was a similar design, with a half-detached jaw bone. But unlike Apple Bloom's, it had three bones stemming out of the skull on each side. Two came out of the connection to the neck, almost making small tusks. Two more came out of the sides of the skull itself, longer than the tusks, and making some kind of antlers. The last pair came out of the back, looking like they would be the creature's ears. Down to its shoulder were more bones, but the shoulder bones were the top parts of skulls of ponies, no jaw, and eye sockets still glowing with the same piercing red gaze as the creature itself. The bones of its front left hoof was bladed with three sharp pikes sticking out, while its right hoof was armored with the skeletal head of a unicorn, horn still attached. Its rib cage was completely visible, with a dark purple energy flowing throughout its body, keeping all the bones held together. The rest of its body was covered by purple robes, which revealed nothing but a lighter purple energy flowing underneath. As it moved down towards the pentagram, it seemed to float, moving it's hooves, but not actually touching the ground.
"HADES." It said simply as it touched down, it's voice sounded like several ponies trying to hiss the name at the same time. As it reached the center of the pentagram, its eyes began to glow even brighter. By this point, Apple Bloom had recovered and her eyes were back to normal.
"Wha-what's goin' on?" She asked, confused. Scootaloo was scared speechless. Sweetie Belle was a wet marshmallow. Apple Bloom looked at them questioningly, then turned around to see the creature staring down at her. She didn't even have a chance to scream before his eyes flashed and she was suddenly drawn towards him. She tried to fight against the invisible force tugging at her, but there was nothing she could do to get free.
"FEAR ME." It said as she was pulled closer. A purple vortex opened up below them in the pentagram. Scootaloo realized where this was going and snapped herself out of her trance, charging forward to try and save her friend. But she was already too late,and she could do nothing but watch as her friend was dragged into an abyss leading who knew where. The portal closed on itself, with Hades and Apple Bloom both gone, and the only remnants being the same hissing voice leaving of a frightening statement:
"I ARISE."
...
Apple Bloom opened her eyes to find herself in a dark cave. Or something. It looked really similar to the ruins she had been at before, except that it wasn't decayed. The shrine that they were at now had the same pentagram in the center of it, and the yellow filly noticed that Hades stood at the center of it. She cringed back and tried to hide, but realized that he wasn't looking in her direction. Maybe should could make for the exit...
"THERE IS NO EXIT." Spoke the hissing voice, without actually turning around.
"How the hay di-"
"IT IS NOT OF IMPORTANCE. YOU WHO KNEW THE LEGEND, WHO SAW FIT TO WEAR MY GARB. YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED FOR MY RESURRECTION. AND SO I HAVE DRAWN YOU TO ME."
"Whadya mean? I ain't... Ah can't... NO!!!" She yelled out, and sprang forward to try and escape from the shrine, but she was grabbed by the same purple substance that made up Hades's body, and simply pinned back down.
"IT'S POINTLESS TO FLEE." The sound of the voice alone terrified Apple Bloom. Now that she knew what he wanted her for, she couldn't help but try and flee. But pinned down, even that was out of the question. She had nothing left to do other then whimper in fear as Hades turned to face her. "DON'T DENY THE INEVITABLE."
...
"What... just happened?" Sweetie Belle managed to get out, still confused. Scootaloo, on the other hoof, was busy having a freak attack.
"It can't be... but that just happened... but Hades can't actually be a demon... but... that just happened." She was mumbling to herself, trying to find any other way to explain what had just happened. Anything that meant there wasn't a demon king running around and kidnapping their friend. And if Apple Bloom had been taken by the demon, then... "Sweetie Belle, what do you know about Hades?" She asked.
"Hades? You mean Apple Bloom's costume? Well, I don't know very much." Scootaloo groaned. "Sorry. Why?"
"Because whatever just took our friend was the resurrection of a demon who needs to drain her life to gain his own strength back."
"Um... don't you think you might be going a little far there?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"I wish I were, but Apple Bloom told me a story about a demon by the name of Hades that tried to take over Equestria five-hundred years ago. He was defeated, and assumed dead, but it looks like he had just been sealed. And now he's been released."
"Sort of like Discord?" The curious filly asked.
"Well, yeah, I guess." Scootaloo replied. "Except that this guy is a demon king that can control the undead!"
The weight of that sunk in on Sweetie Belle, and she realized just how grave the situation seemed.
"And, why does he need Apple Bloom?" She asked, already fearing the worst. Scootaloo looked away for minute, but turned back and answered:
"He needs a young mare to steal life energy from to revitalize his own."
"Oh. This... could be bad."
"Ya think?"
"So how are we gonna beat him?"
"Heck if I know, that's why I was asking you... I guess we just need to do some research, but we better make it quick." So Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle went to the library to ask Twilight what she knew. She was curious why they wanted to know, and where Apple Bloom had gotten off to, but they managed to dodge the questions, saying she had been pulled away on urgent business. Sort of true. Twilight shrugged and pulled out a book. It described the legend of Hades, a pony with powers rivaling those of Celestia's or Luna's. Five-hundred years ago, he had attempted to take over all of Equestria, using an army of zombified minions and evil spirits that he had under his control.
"Okay, so who stopped him?" Sweetie Belle let out.
"Legends says that Hades was defeated by two heroes, friends of the bride he had taken, who wielded three powerful stones: The Stone of Gaia and The Stone of Cronus are required to locate the third stone, The Stone of Tartarus. The heroes used the power of these stones together in order to seal Hades in a prison for what they thought would be an eternity. But some legends claimed that Hades was only beaten, not killed, and that he would one day return to the world to once more try and claim it."
"You could say that," Sweetie mumbled to get the response of Scootaloo quickly striking her throat with her hoof. "I mean, there's no way that creepy skeleton could come back." As Scootaloo facehoofed.
"Are... you girls sure nothing is wrong?" Twilight asked. Scootaloo sighed. She didn't want to get anypony else involved, but it felt bad to keep secrets from Twilight.
"Well... this Hades... sort of... came back to life and kidnapped Apple Bloom." Twilight stared at them blankly for a few seconds, then burst out laughing.
"Oh, that's a good one girls. You almost got me. So, I suppose Apple Bloom is right outside waiting to come in an scare me?" She said through her laughter, but then she noticed the stern looks on the fillies' faces and stopped. "You mean your serious?" Sweetie Belle looked away and Scootaloo said nothing, only gave a little nod. Twilight wasn't sure how to respond. Her face was some mix of confusion and fear. She obviously hadn't expected this to happen, even if she had known more about the legend than most other ponies would have.
"Oh. But..." Unable to react, she walked out of the room, mumbling to herself. This was a pretty usual occurrence, so the two fillies just stood there, waiting for her to come back. After a few minutes of nothing, then another few seconds of loud banging, Twilight came back in, carrying a rock that seemed to glow with an eerie greenish-brown color. "I received this from the princess about a week ago. I thought it was just some sort of gift at the time, but now it looks as if it might actually be one of the stones from the legend. After all, if Celestia gave it to me, it must be important..." She trailed off, hovering the stone over to the fillies, gently placing it between them.
"Yeah, Twilight!" Scootaloo said excitedly. One down already. "Now if we can just get your help with the rest of this mess..." But now Scootaloo was the one to trail off, as Twilight slowly nodded her head sideways, a sad smile on her face.
"Sorry you two, but according to the legend, it has to be the victim's friends that gather up the stones. You must find the other two on your own. I can't go with you."
"But we're... we're just fillies." Sweetie Belle said, obviously discouraged by the fact that Twilight would be unable to help.
"That doesn't matter." Twilight put in instantly. "Apple Bloom is your friend. That alone will give you the strength you need to get through this. Just don't give up on each other. And never give up on yourself." She finished with a confident tone.
"Easy for you to say." Scootaloo muttered, just quiet enough that Twilight didn't hear it. The purple mare moved on.
"And remember, if you need any information, that much I can provide. Trust me, I don't like this any more than you do. I'm worried sick about this whole situation. But this is something only the two of you can do." Putting it like that almost made the fillies feel better. "Now, straight to business." She said, completely changing her tone to serious. "Hades's ritual is complicated, and takes several hours to prepare. And it can only be performed at dawn; the dawn of his revival, so to speak. You have until then to find the other two stones. The legend says that when the Stone of Gaia and the Stone of Cronus are together, they will lead the path to the stone of Tartarus. That's likely where Hades has taken Apple Bloom. The deep abyss home to some of the most feared creatures in all of Equestria."
"And we have to... go there?" Sweetie Belle asked, worried.
"It says that the stones will protect all who pass through the gates holding them."
And that was about it. The two fillies asked if Twilight had any guesses where the other stones were. The one they already held was most likely the stone of Gaia, so that left Cronus and Tartarus, which would most likely be found in Tartarus. So Cronus was the main objective. The books didn't give any specific details, but simply said that the stone would appear when the time was right. Quite helpful.
They weren't exactly thrilled about it, but Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had no real choice in the matter.
"Thanks for your help Twilight, but now this is a job for Dodo Baggins, and her... faithful... marshmallowy... never mind." And with that, they marched off into the night, carrying the Stone of Gaia in Scootaloo's candy bag.
...
Hades hadn't moved in quite some time. He had gone five-hundred years inside that prison, hardly able to move, so what was a few more hours? The ritual he would perform later that morning would require all the strength he could muster, so why waste it now? Soon, a young mare's life force would become one with his own. His captive lay semi-conscious a little bit away. She was still awake, but couldn't manage anything more than a few sentences of rubbish every now and again. And despite all this, Hades couldn't help but shudder just the slightest bit. He was perfectly at home in Tartarus, just the right place for a demon king to reside, but yet something didn't feel quite right. He could sense a presence, far away, but definitely there, that he could never forget. The Stone of Gaia gave of quite a distinct aura, which any being in tune with its powers could easily sense. Someone had learned of his history, and intended to try and stop his plan. Five-hundred years of waiting. He would not be stopped again.
As his red eyes flashed back to life, he silently commanded three of his nearby servants to come forth. Materializing from the shadows came three creatures terrifying enough to make a grown stallion go numb with fear. Two of them stood on four legs, and looked like they could be timber wolves, except that they were made entirely of a similar energy to that which flowed through Hades. They were about twice the size of a full grown pony, had purple eyes, but more like 7 on each side, arranged in no particular order. The only other part of their bodies with any distinct features were their teeth, which looked sharp enough to cut straight through metal. The third creature stood on two legs, though it was severely hunched over. Instead of the flowing energy, it was simply a skeleton of a beast that had once roamed the lands. It could have once been a dragon, reminiscent of the two bony wings sticking out of its back. Its eye sockets contained nothing, and most of its body looked like it couldn't possibly stay together; but here it was anyway.
"GO." Hades commanded, and the creatures of the night set out to do their master's bidding. Still fading in and out of reality, Apple Bloom saw the creatures leaving, and her dazed mind managed to process the information and make a guess at what was going on.
"Please be in time." She said, just quietly enough that Hades didn't hear her.
...
"So, if I were a magical stone, where would I be?" Sweetie Belle asked for the umpteenth time, causing Scootaloo to sigh in frustration.
"No matter how many time you ask that, I'm still not going to know the answer all of a sudden." She replied. When they had left the library, the clock had read around 8:15, but they had probably been out looking for 3 or so hours already. It was starting to get frustrating, but they weren't about to give up on the quest and leave Apple Bloom to die. So far, they had checked just about every ally-way or other possible hiding place in Ponyville, but it was starting to look like the stone might not actually be here. They didn't have enough time to go anywhere far away, so they had to hope it would be nearby. There was one possible place that they hadn't checked, but it wasn't exactly high on the list of places they had hoped for it to be.
"Sweetie Belle?" Scootaloo asked, getting the white fillies attention.
"Yeah?"
"I don't think it's in town... you know where we have to go next, don't you..." Sweetie gulped, knowing exactly where Scoots was talking about.
:"We have to go into the Everfree Forest... don't we?"
"It's my last guess. It's for Apple Bloom. We have to try anything we can." The Everfree Forest was scary enough during the day time. Even scarier at night. And on Nightmare Night, it was about the scariest place any filly could think of being. A night of terror inside one of the scariest and most dangerous places in Equestria. Not really something either of them had wanted. But here they were anyway, standing right outside the forest, trying to build the mental preparation to go inside. The last time they had gone in there, it had been trying to find Fluttershy's chicken. They had pretty much stayed away from it since then, out of fear. But now they had to face that.
The two fillies both took a deep breath, then took their first step into the forest together. Almost in complete darkness, the two had to wait a minute for their eyes to adjust now that they couldn't see the moon. Once they could actually see where they were going, they started to walk deeper into the forest. Walking side by side, they began to cover the ground. Scootaloo looked left, while Sweetie Belle was glancing around on the right. They walked for a long time, neither actually knowing how long it actually was, without anything in the sky to help keep track. By now, it was probably about one in the morning. Sweetie Belle was struggling to keep going, and wanted nothing more than to collapse and sleep. Scootaloo wasn't quite as tired, but had still slowed down. So at first, neither one noticed the quiet noise from the trees on Sweetie's side. Walking on, the two felt strangely uncomfortable. Then Scootaloo actually noticed the sound coming from the right. She froze, and whispered to Sweetie Belle to stop. The two stood motionless, and both heard the sound as it got louder and louder, and from the depths of the forest emerged...
A rabbit. Scootaloo let out a breath of relief, while Sweetie Belle ran a hoof across her forehead.
"For a second there, I thought that would be bad."
"Yeah, me too." Sweetie replied. She turned to get back on the path, but bumped into something. "Oh whoops, darn i..." but she trailed off as she looked up and found herself staring at a large dog-like creature with a lot more eyes than a normal dog had. She let out a squeak and backed up slowly. The hell-hound growled and pushed forward. Scootaloo noticed by this point to, and started to back up as well, but she stopped when she bumped into something behind her. She jumped around quickly, and found herself face-to-snout with another dog. This one went straight on the offensive, and took a slash at Scootaloo's head. The orange filly ducked away quickly and barely dodged the swipe. The second dog took this chance to dive at her back, but Sweetie Belle saw it coming and kicked it in the side. The shadow creature split right in half from the blow and fell to the ground in halves.
"Nice, Sweetie!" Scootaloo shouted out, her confidence boosted. The second dog seemed a little more weary of the two fillies, who now stood side by side, and no longer pushed in recklessly. Instead, the two parties circled each other, until Scootaloo saw an opening and rushed it, trying to take down the creature in one blow like her friend had. But before she could reach her target, she was stopped in her tracks by the reappearance of the second hound, which had somehow regenerated its body. It got its head underneath her and flung her forward, slamming her straight into a nearby tree. She hit hard and fell to the ground, fine but momentarily stunned. Sweetie Belle was still surprised by the reappearance of the second dog, and was too shocked to dodge when the other hound took a slash at her, and its claws raked through her costume and straight into her side, leaving three lines of red down her body. The pain grew worse as blood started to flow out of the wounds, staining the marshmallow red in the area, and Sweetie had to struggle to stay standing. Scootaloo had recovered from hitting the tree, but now she and Sweetie stood on opposite sides, with the two hounds standing back to back between them. And then if that weren't bad enough, now they noticed that there was some sort of skeleton hovering over them.
Scootaloo muttered something that Sweetie Belle was probably glad she couldn't hear over the howl of the hell-hounds. Each one dove forward towards their targets, with the dragonic skeleton touching down where they had been. Sweetie Belle couldn't dodge by running, so she tossed her body to her good side and rolled away. Scootaloo stood her ground, and took a swing at the creature with her candy bag. The bag had enough in it that it smashed right through the creature's head, causing its face to dissipate. But her triumph was short-lived as the head quickly reformed, and the dog was angrier than ever. It slashed at the bag, ripping it to shreds, and sending its contents flying all over. Among all the candy sent flying was the Stone of Gaia. As the stone flew out, all three of the creatures instantly ceased their attacks and turned their focus to it. Scootaloo pieced together that this probably wasn't a random attack; these creatures had been sent to take the stone, and that meant Hades was likely on to them. Though how that could be, she didn't know.
But that didn't matter at the moment. Scootaloo made a daring dive for the stone, which was just about to touch down. She smacked it with her tail and sent it flying towards Sweetie Belle.
"Sweetie! Keep away!" She shouted. The white filly managed to move herself into position and catch the stone in her mouth. The creatures turned to face her, and she almost dropped the stone in fright, but she managed to hold it, only tossing it back to Scoots when they got closer. Though the game of catch was keeping the creatures at bay for now, it was no more than a stalling tactic, and it would only be a matter of time before one of them dropped it. And when that happened, they might not be able to get it back. Scootaloo noticed that the glow of the stone had diminished in the time she had been holding it. For some reason, that made her want to protect it even more. No, now's not the time to give up. And as that thought when through her head, the stone's glow began to brighten until it almost hurt to look at it. The light green aura began to surround her, and the creatures hissed at the radiance. The skeleton attempted to shot a blast of the same purple energy everything else was made of, and Scootaloo closed her eyes and waited, but nothing happened. When she opened her eyes, she realized that the aura from the stone was physically surrounding her and protecting her from harm. And on the other side of the creatures, she noticed that Sweetie Belle was being coated by a similar aura, only blue. The two fillies stared in amazement as a shining blue stone materialized in the air in front of Sweetie Belle. It looked exactly like the Stone of Gaia, except for its coloration. The Stone of Cronus had appeared. The why could be figured out later. At the current moment, the same blue glow surrounded the creatures, and them frozen in place. Scootaloo took the opening and charged in to hit one of the dogs in the face one more time. The blow never connected, because when she started to swing her hoof, a green glow surrounded the creatures as well, and the ground rose around them, engulfing them in earth, and dragging them down below the surface.
With the creatures defeated, the two fillies fell to the ground in exhaustion. Scootaloo was noticed that all of their wounds had been healed. The scratches on her back from nailing the tree, and the claw marks on Sweetie Belle's side were all gone.
"These are some awesome stones." Scootaloo said. And right as she did, the two stones began to glow again, not quite as bright, and only part of the stone. They lifted themselves away from their owners, and moved forwards slowly, almost like they were waiting for the fillies to follow. They both murmured a "huh?" at the same time, and moved to follow. But as they started to move, so did the stones. And when they stopped, so did the stones.
"Um, I guess we're following them." Scootaloo said.
"Should... should we go talk to Twilight first?" Sweetie Belle asked. Scootaloo shook her head.
"Trust me, I want to. But we don't know where this is going, and we've already burned away too much time here. Who knows how long we have. We've... gotta go straight on." Sweetie didn't look thrilled, but unfortunately she had to agree with Scootaloo's logic.
"All right..." she said quietly. The pair began to walk in silence, following the gentle glow of the two stones. Neither one of them knew how long they had been walking, but they continued to trudge on through the night. Then the fog rolled back in. At first, the two were terrified that Hades was coming for them next, but the fog seemed gentler somehow, less compressing than what they had been in earlier. And when it lifted, they found that they had arrived at the gates to Tartarus. The trees around the area were all dead and leafless, though still standing (mostly), and the grounds were littered with bones and worse. The gates themselves stood large overhead of the fillies. It wasn't very comforting that they also seemed to be made out of bones. The gates were massive, bigger than any building in Ponyville. And the fillies were on top of them. Literally. The pile of bones was part of the ground, but visibly split straight down the middle. When they realized this, the stones began to react with the gates, causing them to slowly start to creak open. Scootaloo was the first to turn and get off of them as the hole in the earth slowly widened. Sweetie Belle didn't need much more time to do the same. The doors were almost open, and the two were in danger of falling in, but Scootaloo managed to get just enough wing power to flutter them the short distance to solid ground.
Barely safe, the two now stared down into the depths of the earth, a long winding staircase leading the way down. The two stones hovered over top the whole in the ground, beckoning their holders to continue following.
"Guess we don't have much of a choice." Sweetie Belle said.
"We never did." Was Scootaloo's reply. And with that, she started on her way down. The stairs seemed to go on forever, and would have been pitch black had it not been for the light of the stones, still guiding them downward. It had been hard enough to keep track of time in the Everfree forest, but it was even more meaningless underground. Finally reaching the bottom, the stones went straight to the center of the chamber they were now in, then exploded with light. A large skull decorated the the floor, one stone floating over each eye. And on the other side of the chamber was a door with a similar skull on it. And guarding the door was Cerberus. The creature so used to darkness was momentarily blinded, but quickly recovered and saw the two fillies that had entered its realm. And the fillies saw the giant beast, and noted that its eyes were blank and soulless. Not a usual thing.
"Um, Sweetie Belle?"
"Uh-huh?"
"Do you think Hades's power over demons counts giant three headed dogs?"
"Uh-huh."
"So do I. Not GOOD!!!" Scootaloo screamed as the guardian charged across the room. The friends screamed and tried to run away, but then they noticed that Cerberus wasn't getting any closer. Some kind of field was blocking it from getting passed the school design on the floor. And that's when they noticed the third source of light in the room. Hovering above the skull's was a third stone, a swirled mix of red and purple. The fillies couldn't help but smile. They had found the third stone. The three stones began to react and draw a triangle between themselves, which then launched out and enclosed Cerberus. For a brief few seconds, the dog fought against its bindings, but just as quickly, it calmed down, the light returning to its eyes. It seemed like these stones really did hold power over Hades.
With Cerberus returned to his senses, the three stones migrated from the skull on the floor over to the skull on the door, taking up the same positions, but now vertical. The door controlled where in Tartarus "visitors" would go. The stones had a specific destination for their chosen wielders. The skull on the door began to shift, forming a skull like that of Hades. And the last thing the stones informed their bearers was that there was an hour left until sunrise.
...
Hades felt the shifting of his lair as the entrance creaked open. The place where his attackers would enter and the place where he now resided were quite some ways apart. This was the deepest circle Tartarus, after all. One couldn't simply walk into it without large amounts of power... or a certain three pebbles. Only an hour remained (being immortal may have given him a sharpened sense of time) before sunrise. Only an hour remained to keep them at bay. Now that they had the three stones, none of his minions would be able to stop the invaders; only he could have the power to do that. But the one thing they could still do was buy time. And with the minutes ticking away in this final hour, time was all that remained. He looked over at his captive, who was slowly feeding him with her life. The process had already begun, but it was slow, and couldn't be completed until sunrise. And so he hissed once more, and his minions rushed to stall the intruders by any means they could.
...
The first wave of skeletons had been a surprise. The second wave of those wolf-things had been slightly more expected. The vampire swarm was just meh. And by this point, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were completely used to plowing through all the creeps that came their way. The ghouls and other creatures that came their way didn't stand a chance against the powers of the three stones. But at the same time, they were eating up time. And that was an actual problem. They kept rushing as fast as they could, but they kept getting slowed down by wave after wave of undead creatures. They could sense that they were getting closer through the stones, but they could also sense that time was running scarce. The clock was ticking. It had to have been almost an hour. But it just can't have been. Scootaloo thought desperately, holding on to all hope that they would make it in time. Fighting past more minions, they finally reached the ritual circle where Hades sat, waiting for their arrival.
"SO YOU HAVE COME." He said, looking over the two shrimps that dared to challenge him. Forty seconds left. "BUT YOU ARE TOO LATE." Came out in that awful hiss.
"Come on Sweetie Belle, let's get him!" Scootaloo charged in with her friend right behind. But she stopped for a brief second when she noticed the pale yellow, almost lifeless body of her friend. Thirty seconds. She shook it off and resumed her charge, now behind Sweetie Belle, and pushed in to fight the demon lord up close. The three stones positioned themselves, like they had every other time they were needed, on the outsides of the circle, and began to glow. Fifteen seconds. Hades attempted to strike at the Stone of Tartarus, but Scootaloo jumped in and knocked him backwards. Ten seconds. The stones began to activate their powers, and Hades's body began to turn to stone, from the back towards his head. The paralysis had reached his neck. Five seconds. his head was just about to freeze over as well. But it was already too late. The clock had struck zero. He had won.
Apple Bloom let out a dying breath as she her skin color faded to full-on white. At the same time, the stones all instantly shattered. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo gasped, and were thrown backwards as Hades sent a stream of energy out in a circle, with him at the center. A dark purple shroud enveloped him, pooling around his body. Through the cloud of energy, the tattered fillies could see a bright glow.
"I ARISE AGAIN!" They heard over the roar. When the energy cloud faded away, Hades still remained, but he had clearly changed. His bones were now a solid gold, and his purple fabric had transformed itself into a robe of pitch blackness. "IT HAS BEEN DONE. ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE TODAY." He said calmly. He stamped his golden hoof to the ground, and the remaining shards of the stones faded away to oblivion.
The two friends looked at each other and gulped. Hades began walking towards them, and their jaws dropped in fear. They had bet everything on those stones. And they had been destroyed just like that.
"YOU WERE BRAVE TO FACE ME, I'LL GRANT YOU THAT." He said, raising the hoof with the golden unicorn skull. "BUT BRAVERY OFTEN GOES WITH FOOLISHNESS." And with that, a magic blast enveloped the entire room, crumbling the monument, and sending everything flying towards the walls. Hades was laughing.
As Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle slowly tried to recover from the blast. A little to their left lay their friend's ice cold body. A single tear ran down Sweetie's cheek, followed by a rage of blind fury. Demon kings weren't usually scared of anything. But at the same time, there was something oddly frightening about a small fluffy marshmallow of death. Sweetie Belle charged forward, disregarding any knowledge or common sense. Even Scootaloo was shocked by her friend's aggressive display. Hades was caught temporarily of balance, and Sweetie managed to place a whack with her front hooves right in the demon's rib cage. Surprisingly, the ribs shattered at the blow. Even Hades seemed shocked by how much damage a fluff ball could cause. Then he realized that their was still a faint glow around the marshmallow and the orange pony. Even though they had been destroyed, the stones were still leaving behind traces of their power. Alone, they hadn't been able to stop him. But with a conduit of pure emotion, their power was amplified. Scootaloo stood by in awe as Sweetie Belle actually managed to push Hades back. But the demon had had enough, and once again sent a shock wave to toss marshmallow back. Scootaloo took the moment to charge in, trying to keep Hades off guard. She jumped on top of the demon, and proceeded to pummel his spine. It was sturdier than the ribs, but it took a major beating before he was able to shake the filly off. She landed hard not to far off, and was winded by the blow. Hades. slammed his left hoof down on her, pinning her to the ground, and blocking any chance she had had of recovering from the landing. Sweetie Belle was back up, the remaining power of the stones accelerating their healing, and she tried to rush back in, but her costume had been through a lot that night and was beaten up to the point that when she tripped, it kept on going and flew right off of her. Then it landed right over-top Hades's face, blinding him. While Hades struggled to get the marshmallow costume off, Scootaloo broke free from his grasp, shattering his left hoof, and tried one last desperate move. She took the horseshoe from around her neck, and rammed it straight through Hades's shattered rib cage. The blow pierced up through his pummeled spine, severing his body. The purple energy started to pool itself back together and reform the bones, but Sweetie Belle was already recovered and charging back in, and with one last jump, smashed straight through Hades's skull. Everything stood still for a few seconds.
Then there was a hissing sound as the same purple energy leaked out from his body, gathering in one spot. The two fillies were about to panic and prepare to attack again, but as it flew together, the color of it turned from its blackish purple to a light yellow. The golden bones of the demon began to wither away into nothing but dust, as the gathered energy hovered in the center of the room. Scootaloo dropped in exhaustion as Sweetie Belle tried to make her way over to her friend's body. Everything was done. She could take the time to cry now. As she heard the sound of the weeping, Scootaloo pulled herself up and slowly came over. They let their tears flow openly now, their eyes closed as they hugged their friend's body. So neither of them noticed the yellow energy move over to them and into Apple Bloom's body, slowly restoring her color. Her body started to warm up. And she started to breathe again.
"Huh?" Scootaloo let out, starting to notice the changes. Sweetie Belle looked up and was too overcome with joy to say anything. Apple Bloom had no idea what was going on.
"Wha-what?" She said, slowly regaining her whereabouts. "Can somebody tell me what just happened?"
...
Back in Ponyville, today was one of the most glorious days ever. For three friends in particular, the day was beautiful. After the two adventurers had calmed down from all the remaining highs, the were calm enough to explain the whole adventure to Apple Bloom. All the risks the had taken, trying to find those three stones to save her, how they had been too late, but the energy Hades had absorbed returned to her after he was killed. It was a lot to take in, but at the same time, made the fillies feel pretty proud that they all got out of this mess alive. The sun had never been more beautiful. Apple Bloom in particular, wanted nothing more today then to just sit back and relax. Enjoy the day, and not have to do anything. But at the same time, it would be to hard to sit still for that long. They were already focused on how they hadn't gotten their cutie marks on this adventure. At one point, Apple Bloom put in a suggestion for their next adventure, but the other two really didn't want to do monster hunting at the moment, and the fact that she was still wearing her mask didn't help. When she was turned down, her eyes began to glow a dark red. The other two cringed back, instantly afraid of what was happening.
"Okay, okay." Scootaloo put in to stop her. "We'll try that." Apple Bloom smiled and laughed taking off the mask.
"Ah just love those special effects!" She cheered, leaving Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle to chase her around. The three enjoyed the rest of their day, just running around without a care in the world.
...
In the middle of the afternoon, Twilight Sparkle returned home from visiting the Cutie Mark Crusaders. She had heard their epic tale straight from the horses mouth. She was proud that the three of them had managed to brave through all that chaos and come back stronger for it. When she got back to the library, she found that Princess Celestia had already sent her a letter. She lifted it up with her magic, unfurled it, and started reading:
"My Faithful Student,
I'm so glad you and your friends were able to defeat Hades. I sealed him five-hundred years ago, but was unable to kill him. My sincerest congratulations on your victory. Okay, now that that's out of the way, I'd just like to warn you that four-hundred and ninety-nine years ago, I did battle with Thanatos and sealed him away. So, next Nightmare Night-"
Twilight stopped reading and crumpled up the letter. Silly Celestia, always making other ponies do her work. Oh well. Now Twilight knew she had another group that she could throw the tasks on. Time for another year!
Author's Note
Apparently "Gamboge" is a color. And that's what I learned today:
http://www.perbang.dk/rgb/F1A313/
This demon is "loosely" based off of Hades from Smite. So for those of you who don't know what that means, picture this in pony form:
http://www.joborgame.ru/wp-content/uploads/Smite/Gods/Hades_Card.jpg
So despite being a Halloween story, I like to try and keep a little humor in these things. My friend couldn't get over Sweetie Belle being a marshmallow. So all in all, the moral of the story is don't f*** with marshmallows.
