The six mares huddled together in Twilight’s library, surrounding an antique oak table piled high with books.
“So you’re saying that some ghost or whatever stole my wings?” Rainbow Dash asked doubtingly.
“Yes. This book Zecora gave me, the journey of an early settler pony describes the same events happening about a thousand years ago! In fact, it even says why your trees aren’t growing, Applejack.”
“Wah? Did they go n’ steal their ability to make apples or somethin’?”
“Actually, it says here that earth ponies have a special magic within their hooves, that brings life to the world around them simply by walking and letting the magic flow into the ground. Back then, their crops wouldn’t grow either.”
“What? Yer sayin’ Bucky McGilligutty and Kicks McGee here are magical?” Applejack said, shocked, looking back at her rear hooves.
“Yes. I’m surprised I didn’t learn about this sooner. It seems like something I’d have learned in Canterlot.” Twilight said, continuing to study the book. “The pony who wrote this said that a group of eight brave ponies journeyed to the gates of Tartarus, which was located on an island at the time.”
“What do you mean, at the time?” Rarity inquired.
“Well, the location of Tartarus shifts across Equestria as modern civilization does. Back then, it was on an island to the east of what is now Caneighda and now that the princesses have settled in Canterlot, it’s off in a mountain in the Everfree forest.” Twilight explained. “Anyway, out of the eight, six had lost their abilities. Only three ponies made it back.
“So this is dangerous… Sure we’ll be able to do it? I mean, with three of us handicapped, it’ll be a struggle.” Rainbow dash asked, worried.
“Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and I can’t to this alone, so we’ll definitely need you. Tartarus isn’t that bad, I mean, I went there once to return Cerberus, but none of the greater evils had escaped. I just walked him to the gate and he jumped straight through the iron, as if it were air. Maybe this time he fell asleep or ran away again, and he let loose a whole horde of monsters?”
“Could be. Maybe.” said Rarity.
“So what exactly does that book say?" asked Applejack.
"I’ve only skimmed it so far, here, I'll read it out loud." Twilight cleared her throat, and started.
“It's been three weeks since it started. For some reason, ponies are losing their magic. Unicorns losing their horns, pegasi their wings and earth ponies like me our fertility. We can't stomp our farming magic into the earth any more. The pegasi can't control the weather. The unicorns can't find any solution and day by day, more and more ponies are losing their power. Us Earth ponies, we're a hardy group of workers. We take our problems head on, headstrong and stomp down and buck anything that gets in our way. We work hard to earn our food and to bring food to others. Because of this curse or whatever, we can't farm. But that don't mean we’ve lost hope. We will fight to bring back Equestria. We will destroy whatever evil lurks in these shadows, and ain't nopony, NOPONY GONNA STOP US.
It's now been about a month. Food reserves are near running dry, there are only two unicorns left in our settlement and one pegasus. The river bank's flooded since we can't control the rain, everypony's just about lost faith that we will ever be able to continue, but I've seen a glimmer of hope. Last night a strange creature walked into town, black with white stripes, or white with black stripes. I don't know. Anyway, I was keeping night guard and I asked this creature, 'Who are ya?' nutjob claimed to be a shaman. Said he'd heard that our village had been struck by curse. Came to investigate. I told him about all that was going on. I was desperate that someone would be able to help. He told me that evil spirits had escaped from Tartarus, determined to steal the powers of unsuspecting ponies. He said the only way to fix things was to go back, take them down, grab our stuff, get out and seal them gates. He wished me luck, then disappeared into the blackness of the night. I don't really know what to do. We have no other options, and if we do nothing we'll all end up useless then starve or freeze to death. It's our only lead, so I'm gonna grab a group of strong fighters, and bring this to an end.
It has been a week since my last entry. Ponies thought I was mad. They didn't want to go down to a hellmouth, they just thought that it would all blow over soon and they'd be all right. Idiots. All I need are a few courageous ponies to go with me; a few brave souls to increase our chances of doing this. If not, I guess I'll go alone.
Yesterday we finally ran out of food, and the crops are still dead. One of the unicorns lost her horn too. Poor girl, cried all night. Some ponies had the sense to realize we had to take action. Seven ponies have agreed to come with me, my brother, the last Pegasus and unicorn and a mixed up bunch of powerless ponies. This is gonna be one hell of a trip. We leave tomorrow.
It's our first night out, we made camp and one of the hornless unicorns wandered off. His name was Dust Mite, he a real bookworm. Anyway, he walked away from camp and we searched for hours trying to find him. We followed his tracks to a ravine, where it looks like he lost his footing and fell in. Darn fool. Anyway, we're down to seven ponies and spirits are low. We've made good distance though, we're about a quarter of the way. I'll make another entry should anything interesting happen, or when we reach the gates of Tartarus.
Dangit dangit dangit! I was a fool. I forgot, the gates were on an island. We don't have boats, three of us can't swim and I doubt that any of us could possibly swim that far out. Now we're stuck on this beach and we don't know what we'll do. I think we can chop down a few trees, make a couple crude rafts and pray that they hold.
Dangit, we've messed up bad. We made a couple rafts, set them out to sail and they fared pretty well. Until the storm came. Without pegasi regulating the weather, this stuff appears spontaneously and hits hard. A couple of sapped ponies went under, our Pegasus did his best but could only save one. The unicorn was busy trying to keep the boats together, or at least stop the logs from skewering anypony. Everyone else was panicking, it was so disorienting and confusing. It was dark as the storm clouds blotted out the sun, the waves rose high and crashed hard. We're lucky that we only lost one. Shame we weren't luckier. The pony we lost, True North. He was our navigator. It's gonna be hard getting around now. Everypony's distressed, we don't know what we're going to do now. If another storm comes, I doubt we'll be as lucky. We need to think.
It's been a few days, and I think we're going to try the boats again. Dang, we're taking too long. The ponies back home, I hope they're okay. When we left them, they were scavenging fruits off of the trees around us. I hope they don't touch anything poisonous. I hope my family's alright. They're a tough bunch, they aren't going to give up easily. As long as they fight, I'll fight. We will all fight, for a better tomorrow. We will restore our powers, and seal the gates. Nothing will stop us.
We're on the island. Thankfully, the weather's been calm. The unicorn rigged up some sort of pedal-motor thing with some leaves and sticks, fixed it to a raft, and it worked incredibly well. It didn't take nearly as long as I expected, we got there in a few hours. Everypony's a bit shaken up, I don't know if it's because of our past trials, or the knowledge that what we will find in that cave will be a thousand times worse.
Sweet starswirl, we found it! It's a monstrous thing. Huge iron clad doors, twisted dark metal practically screaming damnation. The smell of brimstone is strong, possibly because it's seated at the base of a volcano. We're as ready as we'll ever be for this. May we find the strength to take this challenge on, bring back our powers and go back home to our families. This may be my last journal entry. Into the belly of the beast, the hellmouth, the abyss of flame and death. This isn't going to be pleasant.
The writing here gets really shaky and there are dots of red on the paper" said Twilight "a lot of it's illegible, but I'll read what I can. 'The... Demon... Did it... Dead... Pegasus just fell... Burned... Dying... Made it... Never again... Sealed... Sacrifice...'
Oh good, it clears up.
It's been two weeks since we left Tartarus. I'm just barely recovering and I'm writing this to let it all out. My wife says it'll help my nightmares some. So, as expected, it was Hell. As soon as we opened the gates, we came across a sleeping three headed dog. We made sure not to wake it up. We journeyed further in and there was a pony, charred black and blazing, racing toward us, but missed and exploded into ash on a nearby wall. We kept pushing on. The Pegasus was flying over a lava lake, when all of a sudden his wings just disappeared. He fell into the lava before we could do anything to save him. He burned to death. The unicorn was shaken up, scared. She started firing magic bolts at the demons. They didn't like that. A horrible beast with a snake's head, four gigantic purple arms, and a stomach made of a twisted mouth with rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth grabbed her and he... I don't want to describe it. It's too gruesome. The rest of us ran, the four left. My brother, a former guard Pegasus, a farmer and I. We ran like, well, hell. The beasts following us lost interest, going back to whatever it is that demons do. We reached a pedestal, surrounded in flame. Upon the pedestal was a glowing white orb. The shaman had told me that this orb needed to be shattered in order to restore our abilities. We took the orb and I stood on my rear legs, holding it high in my forehooves as I prepared to smash it. Before I could though, I was pushed by some invisible force. The orb fell into the guard's saddlebag and I barely kept myself from falling into the flames. I guess the spirits didn't like getting their stuff smashed. For the guard pony, all these deaths had hit him hard. His whole life was about keeping others safe and he had been helpless to save the four we had lost. He started screaming, completely insane, about how he was damned and deserved to live here for all eternity. He threw himself into the flames, burning himself alive. I can still hear his screams in my nightmares. It's horrible, what that place can do to somepony. It's a miracle I'm still here. After he burned to death, the orb was still intact, sitting in his pile of ash. We took it, then under our hooves, stomped it into oblivion. As it shattered, wisps of silver shot up and flowed into our bodies. My brother and I felt the magic return to our hooves, solid as stone and ready to buck up some demons. The silver wisps surrounded our last companion, a trick flyer named Barrel Roll. The wisps of silver surrounded his back, forming a wing shape and solidifying. We had our abilities back, and the remaining silver wisps started to flow away. We chased after them, hoping it would lead to an exit. Thankfully, Tartarus's occupants were too busy with eternal damnation to try and stop us. We made it out alive, relatively unchallenged, which I am thankful for. If we ignore the damned, they tend to ignore us. We were so relieved to be out of that hellhole. We shut the gates, but then we realized it still needed to be sealed. The gate needed blood. Real, fresh pony blood. I took my forehoof and slit it against a sharp rock. I smeared my blood across the entrance, bringing forth a bright red glow that stemmed from the carvings my blood had touched. Every groove was alight with that demonic glow, outlining the twisted and horrible inscriptions about what lay inside. It finally raced up and down the gap between the doors, making the gate seamless. It just looked like a big wall with a bunch of weird engravings once the glow subsided. We bandaged my hoof with what few supplies remained in our bags and returned to the mainland on our raft. The trek home was uneventful and seemed to go by quick. Maybe it's because of what we saw that made it feel that way. I don't know. We arrived home to find our people well again. They were celebrating, pegasi soaring in the air, the unicorns shooting out fireworks, the earth ponies dancing. For the first time since I'd left, I smiled. I know I'll never be the same. The terrors of that hellhole are too innumerable to count. A mad pony could ramble for eternity on the horrors of that place, had he lingered there for mere seconds. I don't want to remember. I want to forget. I want to forget that place even existed. I will remember the sacrifice of those ponies who came with me, but died valiantly. I pray they've gone to a better place than what we saw. I don't know how to end this journal, after all of that. I'm just venting it out, the horrors of this journey, to get it out of my system, but that's it I guess. I have nothing more to say. I need to rest, and after all that, I'm pretty damn sure I deserve it."
Twilight set the book down and looked grimly at her companions. Having been kept silent and captive as she spoke, they just stared back.
It was a beautiful day in Ponyville, the sun was shining high and bright in the sky without a cloud to be seen. It was as though summer’s warmth was enveloping all of Equestria in a blanket of heat. It was a shame that nopony could appreciate it, seeing as they were too busy panicking.
A mysterious phenomenon was sweeping the land, affecting only unicorns and pegasi. Some called it a disease; others believed it to be a curse. Whatever it was, it stole from the ponies their horns and wings, taking away their ability to fly or cast magic. The world was in chaos as the ponies scrambled to find a cure. A clear example of this chaos could be found in Ponyville's library.
"Spiiiiike! Where's that book on 'Exotic Equine Diseases' I asked for ten seconds ago?"
"Hold on Twilight, this book's heavy!"
Twilight Sparkle sat among piles of books, papers and pens floating about randomly, graphs and machines measuring and monitoring various different things, chalkboards covered in notes and equations, random telescopes shot out of every window, everything shining with a light purple glow. It was if a high school had snoo-snoo with a science lab, then the offspring had been sick in the middle of the library. Twilight's face was frantically shoved in book after book as they hovered in front of her for only brief seconds before being discarded, deemed worthless for her purpose.
"Hold on? How can I hold on when my horn could vanish at any moment? This is urgent, Spike! We are in a crisis, and I need to do my part in finding a cure!"
Spike was about to respond, when a knocking on the front door suddenly interrupted him. He walked over, unlocked the door and no sooner had he pulled the handle than a white coated, purple maned pony barged in and dramatically yelled while swooning,
"Twilight! Of all the worst things that could happen, this is the worst possible thing!"
Rarity was a mess. It was clear that she was distressed, her usually perfectly styled mane was wild and unkempt and her coat splashed with bits of mud. The most notable difference, however, was her missing horn.
"Oh no Rarity... Not you too!" Twilight's voice was deep with concern, as she saw one of her dearest friends without her magic.
"I just woke up, and looked in the mirror, and it was gone! Oh Celestia, what ever am I to do? I'll never be able to make another perfect dress, or cut a diamond, or style my mane properly! It's terrible! You have to help me Twilight! Surely you've found something, anything, that can fix this?"
Rarity's eyes grew wide and teary as she pouted, pleading.
"I'm sorry Rarity, but out of all these books, the closest I've come is a disease that only suppresses magic. I never thought I'd see the day when my books would fail me in my hunt for knowledge!" Twilight sighed, almost breaking under the stress. "I swear, I'm trying my best to find a cure."
"Twilight, what am I going to do? How am I supposed to live without magic? Please, you have to help me!"
"Uh, this is a disease, right? Like a plague or something?" Spike blurted in.
"We don't know Spike. I think it's a virus or something, that's somehow managed to spread throughout Equestria, and we don't know what it is, how it works, how we contract it, or how to stop it. Others think it's something as silly as a curse" replied Twilight distantly, her face buried yet again in another book.
"Well, Zecora knows a lot about diseases, curses and stuff, right? Couldn't we ask her and see what she knows?"
The pages of the book in front of Twilight's face froze mid flip. The purple glow faded and it fell to the ground, as hope dawned on her face.
"Spike! You're a genius! Aaargh, how could I have forgotten? I was so focused on books that I totally forgot about her! We have to go see if she knows anything about this; there's no time to waste!"
"Do you think she can re-grow my horn?" Rarity asked hopefully.
"Maybe. Hopefully. We'll see when we get there." Twilight said as she levitated her saddlebag onto her flank, filling it with spare sheets of paper, inkwells, quills and other miscellaneous supplies. "Spike, I need you to stay here and clean up this mess."
"But I want to go and-" He was cut off by Twilight's piercing stare. "Fine. I'll stay."
”Thank you Spike, you’re my number one assistant!” Twilight said with a smile, patting him on the head.
As the two mares exited, Spike began to pick up and sort out the piles of books strewn about on the ground.
"I never get to go out on stupid adventures..." he muttered to himself.
___________________________________________________________________
Twilight and Rarity galloped through Ponyville, making extreme haste to reach the Everfree forest.
"Hi Twilight! Hi Rarity! Where are you guys going so fast? Is it to a party? Parties are fun! I love parties, they make everypony happy, but nopony has had time for my parties lately, they're all panicking over this curse thingy, but I'm not affected, since I'm an Earth pony, and I-"
"Not now Pinkie! Please, we can't waste time talking, we need to go see Zecora about this epidemic as fast as possible!"
The pink mare bounded happily along the two unicorns. (Well, technically one, anf former unicorn.) She effortlessly bounced along and kept pace with the two.
"Oooh, can I come!? I always love going to see Zecora, she's really nice, even though I thought she was an evil enchantress who did evil dances, and that when you look into her eyes, she’d put you in trances, but she didn't, and we were wrong about her, and she-" Pinkie stood abrupt, and her tail twitched.
"AAAAAH!”
Pinkie screamed as she was interrupted by a cyan blur that had fallen from the sky right onto Twilight.
"Nooo! My wings! My beautiful wings!" Rainbow Dash screamed, crying, as she lay on top of Twilight.
"Ow! Rainbow... You're hurting me..."
"I bet it doesn't hurt as much as not having wings!" she sobbed.
"Please, get off of me" Twilight said as she struggled to escape.
"Sorry..." Rainbow apologized, sniffling then rolling off of her. "It's just without my wings, I'm nothing! What's a pegasus that can’t fly worth?"
"Rainbow! Don't talk like that! You're our dear friend, and the element of Loyalty. Even if you can't fly, you'll always be that, and that's worth more than a million sonic rainbooms, or barrel rolls, or whatever it is that you do." Rarity said, consoling her flightless friend.
"Thanks Rarity..." she sniffled "We need to find a way to fix this. Anypony got an idea?"
"Well we were going to Zecora's, because she's totally NOT an evil enchantress, who does evil dances, and..." Pinkie's voice droned on and on.
Twilight rolled her eyes. "We’re hoping Zecora will have a solution, so we're headed to her house."
"All right, sounds cool. Mind if I tag along?"
"Not at all, but we really need to get going. We can't afford to waste any more time!"
"Then let's move!"
Rainbow Dash set off on a gallop, closely followed by Pinkie, then Rarity and Twilight.
___________________________________________________________________
As they made their journey to the Everfree forest, a voice exclaimed in distinct southern accent "Twi! Ah need your help!"
For the second time, the group slowed to a halt. "For the love of Celestia... What is it, Applejack?"
"Mah apple trees, they’ve come down ill wit somethin'. Ah was hopin' yah'd have somethin' from all yer fancy books and the like. Ah think it might be related to this whole plague thingermajigger too!"
"I'm sorry AJ, but we really don't have time for this. We need to get to Zecora so we can ask her about this disease. If you come with us, maybe she'll be able to tell you what's wrong with your tree."
"Good idea, Ahm sure she will."
And so, with another companion, the group set off for the forest.
___________________________________________________________________
As the five ponies continued their gallop, they finally neared the edge of the Everfree forest.
"All right girls, it's going to be dangerous in there, especially since two of us have lost our abilities. I want you all to stay sharp, stick together and be careful!"
Twilight spoke with concern and purpose, making sure the four other mares understood her loud and clear.
She turned to face the dark forest, and started "We have no more time to waste, we've had enough delays. Let's get moving!"
Pointing her right hoof high into the air adventurously, she began to take the first step.
"Uhm, Twilight? Could you spare a few minutes? I mean, if it's not any trouble or anything..."
Caught off guard by Fluttershy, Twilight fell face first into the dirt.
"Oh no, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to startle you! I really didn't, honest! I'm so sorry Twilight, are you okay?"
Face still in the dirt, a very annoyed Twilight responded "It's okay Fluttershy. I'm sorry, but we're on an important mission! We can't waste any more time, we're busy trying to cure this disease. I wish I could help you, but I have to go see Zecora. We're behind schedule!"
She rose from the ground, dusting off her coat with a soft purple glow from her horn.
"Oh, that was what I was going to ask you about. You're the one in charge of finding a cure, and I thought maybe you'd found something, because you see, some of my birds' wings have just gone and they can't fly! Can I come with you? I won't be a bother or anything, don't worry..."
Fluttershy's voice trailed off until it was inaudible, as usual. She stared at the ground and gently kicked a pile of dirt, as she awaited Twilight's response.
"Of course you can come! We'll actually need you if we encounter any wild animals, now that I think about it... And it'll be great to have somepony who can fly too."
"What do you mean? I'm not the only pegasus here, Rainb-oh.." Fluttershy stopped, noticing Rainbow Dash's lack of wings, red eyes and generally disheveled appearance. "Rainbow, I'm so sorry! Your wings were so important to you... And Rarity! Your horn! Oh no, this is so much worse than I thought... We need to help you two! In fact, I promise I won't rest until we cure this!"
Fluttershy stomped the ground, determined.
"Shy, you don't have to do that. If you can, just don't mention my wings. I'm still trying to cope, and constant reminders aren't helping."
"Me too…" Rarity echoed sadly.
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean t-"
"Girls!" Twilight shouted, annoyed by the delay. "We have a crisis on our hooves, and you're just talking?! You can sit here and chat all day, or we can work toward a cure! I'm leaving now, you can follow me or not. I can't wait any longer!"
Twilight huffed, then turned and stomped into the woods, soon disappearing into the dark shadows cast by the leaves.
"I think Twilight's angry" Pinkie said.
"We should go catch up with her 'fore she gets lost. C'mon girls!" Applejack said, leading the ponies into the forest after Twilight.
___________________________________________________________________
"Silly conversations... Time wasting... Absolute disregard for schedules and deadlines..." Twilight muttered under her breath, as she trotted down the path to Zecora's house. She cast an illumination spell and a bright light shot out from her horn which helped light the dark path ahead, although it was still very dark.
"Twi! Wait up!"
She stopped, looking back and seeing her friends on their way.
"Twi, you can't just up and leave us like that. We're friends, and we've got to stick together if we're gonna get through this."
"I'm sorry Applejack, it's just that I want this to be over so bad!"
"So do we, but ya just need to take it a bit slower. Ya don't need to rush everything. Relax a bit, don't be in such a haste."
Twilight sighed. "Fine, but I can't just sit on my flank while ponies lose their magic, or flight!"
"Ah understand, Twi. This whole thing's been stressin' us all out. But ya gotta slow down a bit. Have patience."
"Okay, I'll try."
"Good, now let's get movin’."
The six mares delved deeper into the forest; thankfully the journey was uneventful. Eventually, they saw the traces of light from Zecora's hut through the thick foliage.
"Finally! I hope she has some answers."
Twilight trotted the last steps of their journey, and lightly tapped the front door with her hooves.
The door opened, to reveal a smiling zebra. "Twilight Sparkle, what is it you need? Perhaps a spell book, or a magical seed?"
Twilight levitated a quill and some parchment in front of her, ready to take notes.
"Hello Zecora, it's actually none of that. There's actually been a strange phenomenon going across Equestria, taking unicorn horns and pegasus wings, even some species of birds have been affected! Have you ever heard of anything like this?"
Zecora's face turned grew pale upon hearing her words. "This is dire news, if your words are true. If so, the spirits are loose, and are coming for you!"
Pinkie pie interrupted "Spirits? What do you mean? Like Evil ghosties? Do they like parties? Maybe we could inv-"
Applejack shoved a hoof in front of Pinkie's mouth. "Pinkie Pie, could you please be quiet for just a bit longer? This is serious."
Her curly mane deflated slightly, as she apologized and stared at the ground.
Zecora recovered from the outburst, continuing, "The spirits of mischief, they come from the gate. To steal your powers, and spread about hate!"
"What gates?" Rarity inquired.
"From Tartarus they come, the spirits of theft. They will keep stealing until no wings or horns are left."
"There has to be a way to stop them, and get my wings back!"
"To stop them, closed the gates must be, your things retrieved or lost forever, you see."
"You're telling us we need to go down to Tartarus and fight the hordes of evil creatures down there, trap the spirits, retrieve the stolen wings and horns and then somehow seal the gate forever?"
Zecora simply nodded, a grim look upon her face.
Twilight's quill snapped, covering a large portion of the parchment in ink. She groaned, saying "And I thought this was going to be easy..."
