Element of Courage
Ch. 1, Akull Lifeforce
Pinkie Pie was hoping around when suddenly her pinkie sense made her jump into the air and twist really tightly. when she fell back down to the ground she looked scared. “Someone bad is coming….”
********************************************************************************************************
A few hours later at the tree castle.
Twilight was busy trying to learn a new spell that would allow her to calm any beast or monster that was running rampant in ponyville when Pinkie burst in.
“Twilight! I need your help! My pinkie sense was a tingling. Something bad is about to happen I just know it!”
“Pinkie! What did I tell you about-” Twilight was cut off as Party Favour gallops in.
“Your highness I am sorry for coming unannounced but this is important! A mysterious pony is causing big trouble in our town! Please help us!” Party Favour begged.
“Of course Party Favour now who is causing this trouble?” Twilight asked
“Nopony knows who he is. All we know the trouble he’s causing.” Party Favour explained
“Thank you Party Favour. My friends and I will see to it right away.” Twilight said reassuring him. “Sorry Pinkie you're going to have to tell me later get Applejack and Rarity, I’ll go grab Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.” Pinkie nods and runs off to Rarity’s shop and then Applejack’s farm, They all went and met up at the train station.
Twilight goes to the ticket booth. “Six tickets to the village please.” He nods and soon the train comes in. They run onto the train and sit down and the train speeds off.
Twilight turns to her friends. “Ok Everypony we seem to have another monster attacking this town we are going to have to take it out quickly since this village is small and we don’t wanna do much damage.” The others nod and a cloaked figure in the back looks at them and smiles. Before running away, Rainbow Dash instantly flies off at full speed with the others close behind.
“Hey get back here you!” Rainbow shouts before the cloaked figure grabs a pie from a snack cart and throws it at Rainbow.
“AHH I can’t see! Whoa! Ow” she groaned as she smacked into a wall
The cloaked Figure laughs as he sees the others catching up and runs for it. As Pinkie and Fluttershy try and double team him but crash into another pony and lay in a heap
“Girls avenge me!” Pinkie cries
Rarity and Twilight teleported in front of the Cloaked figure and were about to grab him when he shouted.
“Hey look it’s the latest fashion and the spell books of Star swirl the Bearded!” He shouts
Both Rarity and twilight look away and the cloaked figure escapes them laughing creepily.
“Wow… He made us look like a bunch of noobs… I mean seriously we got our flanks handed to us!” Pinkie said a bit dazed
“Alright pinkie we get the point no need to rub it in.” Rainbow said as she lightly whacked pinkie. They all went back to their seats until they made it to town.The houses were in bad shape and instead of monster they were surprised to find a Unicorn with a broken horn and shark like attributes terrorizing the villagers.
“Well Well Well if it isn’t the elements of harmony coming to save the day again. Boring” The mystery pony said with a yawn.
“Hey! Nopony calls us boring Bub!” Pinkie growls
“Yeah” the others add
The mystery pony grabs a small orb out of his saddlebag and whispers a secret word as a black cloud of energy surrounds the main 6. Thier eyes turn black as they see their fears. Using This as a distraction the mystery pony runs out of town laughing evilly. Soon the main 6 come to their senses and looked around for the mystery pony who managed to escape.
“Great he escaped! Now what?” Rainbow asked as the others pondered this for a moment.
“We need to find out who he is. Let’s get back to ponyville and see if we can find something about him and that mysterious orb he had.” Twilight said as her horn began glowed as she cast a teleportation spell on herself and her friends.
Soon they were at the castle’s library looking through several books to find information on the mystery orb.
“No No No No Ugh There has to be something on that orb that our mystery friend used on us.” Twilight said as she levitated different books on dark magic and dark magical items.
“Maybe we could check in the canterlot archives?” Spike suggested as he slid down the ladder
“Good Idea Spikey Wikey” Rarity said happily
Spike simply blushed as he took out a quill and paper.
“Dear Princess Celestia, My friends and I have encountered a mysterious pony today at the unnamed village. We’re not sure who he is but we do know that he is dangerous. Our mysterious friend used a black orb on us that caused our fears to become reality. Do you know anything about this? Let me know if you do.
Your faithful student Twilight Sparkle.”
Spike rolled up the letter and burned it as it began its journey to the princess.
“Now that’s out of the way let’s keep looking.” Twilight said
********************************************************************************************************
At an unknown location
The mysterious pony walked down a dark alleyway as the moon shined brightly lighting his way as he found a black door. Opening it he saw nothing but an empty room. He simply smirked as he shut the door and knocked on it a few time before reopening the door to see a small smithery. Different weapons, helmets and armour lined the walls of the shop as he removed his saddlebag and placed it onto the table. Opening his bag he grabbed the blackened orb and a old spell book filled with powerful dark spells.
“Now then let’s see what I can do to strengthen the spell of fright.” He murmured as his horn began to glow. The orb was lifted into the air as it began radiating a strange aura around it as the screams of ponies were heard.
“Show me the fears of Princess Twilight” He commanded
The orb glowed for a moment before revealing Twilight’s fears.
“Excellent. The spell is a success.” He smiled evilly as he performed and practiced more spells.
********************************************************************************************************
Back at ponyville
Twilight and her friends are all sitting in the throne room discussing the differences between the person on the train and the one from the town.
Rainbow dash mutters with a furrowed brow. “They were definitely different ponies for one there voices were completely different sure the both had deeper tones but one sounded like he was mocking, while the one from the train sounded….. playful. Like he was having fun.”
Applejack scratched her head through her hat. “I agree with you there dash we are dealing with two separate people I just hope they aren’t working together.”
Twilight let out a defeated sigh but then perked up with an idea. “Lets see if Zecora has any knowledge about either of these two ponies.” Everyone agreed and leaving spike in charge of the castle they ventured into everfree forest to talk to the zebra. The group easily found her at her hut working in the garden.
Zecora looked up from her work at the ponies, “Hello friends what brings you to my home? The villagers seem to only come with the need to groan.”
Twilight nodded in understanding. “Hey Zecora we were wondering if you knew anything about a crystal orb that revealed people’s fears?”
Zecora pondered this for a moment. “The orb of fright is what you seek. But where it's found is like walking up a creek. To find the orb this day look for a place where dark shadow plays.”
Twilight and the others look confused but decide not to ask her more or be face with a worse riddle.
Rainbow dash moved towards Zecora a bit. “We were also wondering if you would know anything about a weird cloaked pony that we met on the train.”
Zecora smiled at her friends. “The creature you seek is not a pony or griffon but a species that nopony has seen or written. The creature is called Canandehar and nopony has seen it or heard of it true but the book of legends shall help you.”
The cloaked figure from the train stepped out of Zecora’s house handing her some herbs and darting back inside.
“Wait a second who was just here?” Pinkie asked
“They dear pinkie pie is my herb collector. Though little Lifeforce can be a bit of a spector.” Zecora said as she looked at Akull.
“Hello there everypony” Akull waved shyly from Zecora’s window
“Oh my goodness! You look absolutely absolutely amazing!” Fluttershy squealed
But just as she was about to pounce onto Akull Pinkie and AppleJack grabbed hold of her waist and dug their heels in so she wouldn’t attack him. Akull cowered back into Zecora’s back
“Is your friend always like this?”Akull asked nervously
“Only when she meets new animals. I am Twilight and these are my friends Pinkie pie,Rarity,AppleJack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.” Twilight said
“Nice to meet you all.” Akull said as he moved away from Zecora.
“Hey Akull do you anything about a orb that shows some ponies worst fears?”
“No I don’t. But I do know of a book that has a legend about it. I believe it’s in the Canterlot Archives.”
“Perfect now lets go find that book! Akull want to join us we can use the help.” Rarity asked
“Sure I am happy to help.”Akull said
With that said the main six and there new friend left Zecora’s and went to the train station. Akull of course wore his cloak as they boarded the train to Canterlot. When they got off the train surprisingly nobody tried to ask them anything so they quickly made it to the castle, When they got there the princesses were alone and agreed to let them look for this book.