Welcome back, 'Old Friend'
Welcome back, 'Old Friend'
Far away from civilization, two ponies were wandering an ancient forest. Deep inside was supposed to be a statue lost to pony kind. It’s shape, it’s worth, and it’s history all unknown. As the ponies cut through a thick wall of vines, one of them spotted an oddly shaped stone.
“Oh, is that it?” He asked, approaching the piece of stone. It looked like a long mouthed mask, with a strange line design that looked like wide lips.
“What do you think it is?” the female pony with him asked, “A stone mask?”
The male pony walked closer to the stone. This was the rare statue that was lost many years ago? What the ponies didn’t notice was that they were being watched by an unknown being. As the male pony went to grab the stone, the female pony felt something touch her hoof. She jumped back with a scream as both ponies saw what had been watching them. The last thing the male pony saw was the insides of his travel companion... then his life went to a stop.
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Celestia was pacing the throne room. She felt a terrible presence from far away and had sent some guards to investigate.
Soon, the door opened and her squad entered, “Alpha Squadron, Report!”
“The mask was lying on the ground. It had a giant crack in it, with a hole inside. We also found two bodies that had been completely destroyed. Most likely eaten.”
Celestia looked very worried now, “No... no no no. Alpha Squadron, go see if you can find Idcarus! It does not reach Ponyville!”
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“Alright, Cutie Mark Crusaders! We need to think of anything that can get our Cutie Marks.” Applebloom stated
from the inside of the tree house.
The three fillies began suggesting ideas, most of them not easy or not possible. After about an hour of ideas, the fillies realised the time and went to go home. They all ran in their direction to their houses. Applebloom ran to the farm, Scootaloo ran to her house, and Sweetie Belle went to the boutique. The girls were so energetic they couldn’t sleep when it was bedtime. Applejack was about to head for bed when a knock came from her door.
She opened the old wood door and saw a guard on her porch, “Oh, uhh yes?”
“Excuse me, but have you seen any strange activity lately?” the guard asked Applejack. She noticed another guard looking around.
“Can you speak quieter? Everyone else is asleep. No, I haven’t. Has something happened?” She asked the guard.
“There has been an accident but that’s all we may say.” The guard told her. He then bowed, “Thank you.”
Applejack nodded as the two guards left. She wondered about what kind of accident this could have been. She decided not to worry too much and went to bed. She peeked inside Applebloom's room and saw she was deep asleep already.
She smiled and stroked her little sisters mane, "Goodnight, Applebloom."
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The guards had been flying for hours, searching for whatever was inside that mask. One guard then stopped, "I see it!"
Sliding on the ground was a mass of a black substance. The guard flew down and stood their ground, "We must stop it before it reaches civilization!"
One guard ran for an attack but the mass stretched forward and caught his leg. the guard tried to pull free but only got him one thing. His leg was torn off and sank into the mass. The sound of flesh and bone being crushed came from the mass. The guard was screaming in pain as his comrades ran to help their comrade. Out of the black mass, what looked like a mask appeared. the guards went for a charge but the mass stretched and caught them. It began crushing their bodies into bloody messes and absorbed them. The wounded guard was horrified but lucky for him... it soon was over as the mass grabbed his head and crushed it.
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"Sister?"
"What is it Luna?" Celestia asked her little sister, putting a blanket on her.
"Idcarus is gone right?" She asked innocently.
Celestia took a second to think over her answer. She then smiled at her sister, "Of course it is. Mother sealed it away, remember? It won't ever be here again."
Luna smiled and got snuggled up in her bed, "Good... That was a scarey time."
"Yes, it was. Anyway, get some sleep." Celestia kissed her sisters forehead and left the room.
Once she was out of the room and closed the door, she regretted lying to her sister. Idcarus was free'd now but she would get the Element bearers to try to re-seal it away. She went to her bedroom, telling her guard goodnight and to keep watch. As she got into her bed, she began remembering the terrible blood shed that Idcarus caused many years ago. During his killings, Ponyville was painted in blood and the innerds of other ponies. Celestia slowly fell asleep, hoping her squad would stop Idcarus from reaching Ponyville.
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Ponies screamed as the black mass spread, killing everyone that it caught. The western style town was being stained in blood and black substance. The mask appeared on the mass, looking around at where it was. Many ponies tried to get away, but they had their legs torn off then were dragged into the mass, their bodies being destroyed inside. A yellow colt was talking to a young female buffalo, telling her to warn the nearby town about the mass. The young buffalo nodded, and started to run but stopped. She ran back and gave the colt a quick nuzzle then resumed to running off. The colt watched her run off, wishing this wasn't happening, but when he turned around, the mass had reached him. Appalosa was lost to Idcarus... Idcarus made its deep chuckle as the mass grew a little in size. The mass then sank into the ground and traveled to its next target so it could continue its feeding.
Twilight and her friends sat in the entrance hall of Canterlot castle. They were called by the princess but didn't have any idea why. The message said it was urgent so Twilight got her friends at the castle as soon as they could. Twilight was pacing the room, wondering what could be so urgent. Before she could talk, the door opened and Princess Celestia walked out of the throne room. She made a head movement telling them to come in, The six ponies walked inside the throne room and Celestia closed the door.
"I'm glad you got here so soon." Celestia told them, as she walked over to the middle of the throne room, "I have dreadful news. Twilight, did you ever read that book I gave you called The Dark Age?”
Twilight thought for a minute then shook her head, “I didn’t read it fully. I stopped at the chapter called Idcarus.”
“That is why I’ve called you all here. The demon Idcarus has escaped his sealment.”
The six ponies looked at each other. None of them had ever heard of Idcarus. Celestia walked to a door on the side wall and from it, pulled out a statue. It was a mask with a large mass of some substance behind it.
“This is a replica statue of Idcarus. Twenty thousand years ago, Idcarus appeared from nowhere and went on a rampage, killing every pony in its sight. He had killed about twelve villages and four cities before he was stopped.”
Rainbow Dash looked anxious to hear, “How was he stopped?”
Celestia looked a little saddened, “My mother lured Idcarus to an old forest, bringing some gems that contained dangerous magic, and sealed him inside his own mask. She had turned it to stone so he couldn’t get out but to do so... she had to sacrifice her life so the stone could become powerful enough to keep him inside. I have no idea how he could of returned but I’m afraid he’ll head toward Ponyville.”
“How dreadful!” Rarity stated.
“So you want us to stop him with the Elements of Harmony?” Twilight asked.
Celestia nodded, “Yes, but we need to prepare the village for if he gets to Ponyville anyway. Now, you six need to rest. It’s getting late now.”
The six ponies nodded, bowed and left back to Ponyville. Sweetie Belle was wandering the boutique, waiting for Rarity. When her sister walked in the door, she ran over, “What happened? Is something wrong?”
Rarity looked at her little sister and patted her head, “No, everything’s fine. Now, I do believe it’s your bedtime.”
“Awww! I don’t wanna go to bed!” Sweetie Belle whined, “I wanna stay up!”
Rarity pushed Sweetie Belle toward her bedroom, “It’s getting late and it’s past your bedtime.”
Sweetie Belle whined and complained until she was in her bed, tucked in and snuggled up. She still complained, just not as loud or constant. Rarity smiled as her sister basically fell asleep right when Rarity closed the door. She realised it was very late and went to bed early.
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Idcarus was sitting in the middle of a tribal camp, looking around for any sign of life. The black mass was now similar to a cloak made of black smoky energy. The mask turned around to see the damage it caused. The tent were torn and stained in blood from the buffalo that were devoured by Idcarus. It turned around as it heard a train passing by. It made its deep chuckle and decided to follow it to civilization.
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Applejack was in the fields, bucking apple trees. She heard a strange noise nearby and turned to look. There were only apple trees and buckets of apples. She shrugged and continued with the apples. She then heard the sound again. It sounded like a deep chuckle. She stopped and turned around in the direction of the sound. Applejack walked toward the sound, in the dark area of the Apple Tree field. The sound slowly faded. Applejack then saw something; a mask.
Applejack then looked down and saw a strange substance grab her hoof, “What in tarnation?”
Applejack then saw that the mask was part of the substance. She realised this was the demon Celestia was talking about. She tried to buck the mask but it moved away from her hooves. Applejack then remembered her hoof was caught. She tried to pull away but all it got was her hoof ripped off. She screamed in pain as her leg was pouring blood. Her hat fell off her head as Idcarus grabbed her leg. Applejack could feel her leg being slowly ripped off. She screamed loudly in pain as the leg was torn. The section of the mass had some blood falling from it. Applejack could hear her leg being crushed inside. Then she saw the area that looked lips on the mask split, creating a mouth. There were two rows of razor teeth inside. Idcarus looked at the earth pony and spread his jaw. Applejack let out one last loud scream.
Big Macintosh heard the scream from the barn. He let go of the cart he was pulling and charged toward the scream. He knew she was in danger by the tone of the scream. When he got to the source, he only saw her hat, stained in blood.
He shook his head as his eyes began to tear, “...N-... Nope...”
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The next day, Applebloom sat at a small gravestone that had AppleJack’s hat on it, crying. Her only sister was now dead and no one knew how or by whom. She wiped her eyes as she heard Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo walking over to her.
“Applebloom... I’m sorry.” Sweetie Belle told her friend, hugging her.
Scootaloo joined the hug, “Yeah...”
Applebloom hugged them back, “It’s just... Wh-Who would killed ma sister? She was a good pony. She never did anythin
bad to anypony.”
The two fillies just kept their friend in embrace, trying to calm her down.
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Twilight sat in her library, crying about the lost of her best friend, “... A-Applejack...” Now there were only five of the six Element of Harmony bearers to stop Idcarus. Could they still stop him with only five?
