Ancient Awakeningby Mr TinkertrainChaptersThe ruinsParty is overIn the endThe ruinsIt was a warm and sunny day in Equestria. Everypony in Ponyville had to be somewhere. Everypony – besides of a pegasus of a light cyan color and a mane colored in the glorious colors of the rainbow. The Pegasus slept on a cloud on the border of the city. While Rainbow Dash slept, somepony came looking for her: A bouncing pink pony which looked everywhere for her and started to yell Rainbows name immediately as she saw the rainbow colored tail hanging from the cloud. „Rainbow Dash!“ Pinkie yelled at the cloud, continiously bouncing off the ground. She smiled as Rainbow lifted her head over the clouds she was lying on. Pinkie didn’t wait till Rainbow answered, she just went on. „Twilight is looking for you. She wants to meet you at the library.“ Rainbow blinked and asked „What is it about?“ Pinkie stopped to bounce for a second and looked puzzled, like she forgot something. She started hopping again as she shooked her head. „Oh, she didn’t say why. She just told me that she needs you and that it is important.“ Rainbow just sat on her cloud and sighed. „Okay … did Twilight say something about the time when she wants to meet?“ Pinkie shook her head again. „Nope. But if it is so important you should visit her as soon as possible. Oh, look at the time! We’ve got an order to fulfill at Sugarcube Corner, I should be going now!“ The pink pony waved a hoof at Rainbow and started to bounce away into the direction of Sugarcube Corner, leaving Rainbow on her cloud. Rainbow thought about what Pinkie just told her. She weren’t sure if she wanted to go to the library. She just couldn’t imagine why Twilight would need her help. „Whatever“, she said to herself, „I guess Twilight will explain it all.“ She looked into the clear, blue sky above her and enjoyed the warm sunshine a moment longer before she stretched her wings and took off. The cloud below her disappeared because of the power of the take-off. On her way to the library she did what she loved the most: Flying for the sake of it. She flew high up into the sky, enjoyed the wind rushing through her mane and wings. During the flight, Rainbow felt as alive as she possibly could be. She lived to fly. She dove down to the ground again and opened her wings just moments before she hit the ground, performing a perfect landing in front of Twilights library. The Pegasus knocked on the door, until Spike opened up. “Hi, Rainbow. You’re looking for Twilight, aren’t you?” “Uhm … yeah, Pinkie told me that Twilight wants to meet me at the library. It kinda sounded important.” Spike let her into the library. “She told me that she found something in the Everfree Forest, I think. Wait a second …” The little dragon went on the upper floor of the library and came back within a minute, with a folded piece of paper. “Here. Twilight told me I should give you this when she isn’t there when you come.” He quickly unfolded it. It was a crude map of the Everfree Forest, the only points Rainbow actually knew where the old castle of the royal sisters and the border of Ponyville. A red cross was painted somewhere between them, but neither Spike nor Rainbow could tell where exactly it was. “I think it is closer to the old castle.” Spike mentioned. “No, it is definitely closer to Ponyville than to the old castle. Looks like I’ll have to check. Besides, are you sure Twilight already went there and isn’t just somewhere around here?” “I’m quite sure. Else she wouldn’t have asked me to give you this and would have done it herself.” Rainbow thought about this and nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. Well, I should go then. Maybe I can catch up with her, if I can see her through the trees.” The Pegasus went to the door, and Spike followed her. “Sure. Good luck!” He waved at her when she stepped outside and took off to fly into the direction of the red cross on the map. While Rainbow Dash got on her way into the Everfree Forest, Twilight Sparkle walked between the trees of the forest towards her target. The trees of the forest still gave her the creeps after what happened last time she went into the forest and almost were turned into stone, if Fluttershy wouldn’t have been there. Still, Twilight couldn’t wait for Rainbow to arrive. She just hoped that her friend would find the place where she was heading to. She didn’t know what would wait for her there. She found a reference to some kind of magical place in the forest in an ancient book she found at the library and just couldn’t wait get it out of her head anymore. She just had to find that place. So she decided to check it out herself, but not without leaving a message for Rainbow. If something unexpected would happen, the Pegasus would be the only one who could arrive in time. Fluttershy couldn’t fly fast enough while the others would have to walk like Twilight. It made her feel a bit safer in the forest to have Rainbow as backup. She finally reached her goal: A glade was in front of her. She hopped over a last tree stump and stepped onto the glade and looked around her. Everything seemed normal. She walked disappointed into the middle of the glade and almost fell flat on her face as she stumbled over an obstacle on the ground. Onto further inspection it appeared to be a part of an ancient structure, which once might have been here. Twilight focused on the ground in the hope of finding more ancient relics as she wandered around in the glade. After some time, she noticed an ancient stone plate, not far from the piece she stumbled upon first. The plate was covered by grass and moss, but Twilight could see some old carvings on the stone, but she didn’t recognize them. She would have to take the plate back into her library to decipher what was written on it long time ago. She tried to lift the plate with the magic of her horn, but it didn’t move. It was somehow sealed to the ground. She sat down in the grass, hopefully waiting for Rainbow to arrive. Maybe her friend would be able to move the stone plate out of its place. And so she waited. Rainbow flew across the forest. She looked down on the trees while she flew over them. She loved the view of the land rushing away below her and the feeling of the wind in her mane. Rainbow could see the old castle in the distance and pulled a turn. She flew too far. Suddenly, she could spot a place in the forest without trees. She guessed it was a pond or a glade. It was also possible that this was the spot Twilight wanted to go. Rainbow flew straight to the place. As soon as she reached the edge of the glade, she spotted Twilight sitting in the grass there, looking up to the sky, on the watch for a certain Pegasus. Rainbow dove down and landed next to her friend. “Here I am, Twi. Now you might tell me what this is about.” Twilight, who was looking into the other direction, spun around as she heard the voice behind here. “Oh, hay Rainbow. Could you help me to get this stone plate back to the library? It got some carvings on it which I want to study.” “I don’t see a stone plate around here.” Twilight pointed on the plate she discovered earlier. “There it is, under all that Grass and moss there.” The athletic Pegasus just looked at her friend. “Can’t you lift it with your magic?” Twilight just shook her head. “No, I can’t. It is somehow sealed in its place. I hoped you could move it.” Finally, Rainbow just sighed and took a look at the plate. She placed her hind legs on the side of the plate as good as it was possible and kicked against it. Nothing happened. She kicked again, and they could hear how stone scratched over Stone. “Come on Rainbow, you can do it!” Twilight cheered at her friend, who placed a final kick against the stone, which finally glided to the side. Underneath the stone plate was a deep, dark tunnel. Twilight and Rainbow looked at each other, then they stared down into the darkness. Rainbow picked up a nearby rock and dropped it down into the darkness. It hit the ground almost immediately. “So, I guess this isn’t so deep. Maybe we should check out what is down there.” The unicorn looked at her friend, who just shook her head. “So, can you create some light with your magic? Else we would be blind.” Twilight concentrated for a moment and casted a spell, which let a little ball of purple appear above her head. “That will have to do it. Let’s go!” By that time she completely forgot about the carvings on the stone plate and hopped down into the dark. Rainbow looked down into the tunnel. “Come on, Rainbow! There are stairs down here!” The Pegasus sighed and followed her friend down. Twilights spell just caused a small radius of sight , everything else got swallowed by the darkness around them. “Well, let’s see where those stairs will take us!” As soon as Twilight said that, she started to follow the stairs deeper into the earth. Rainbow followed her close up to not lose orientation in the darkness. Silence fell over the ponies as they walked down the stairs. Rainbow was the first of them who spoke again. “Soo … you don’t have any idea what this once could have been, no?” Twilight thought a bit about this question. “No, I don’t know. We’ll see.” “Maybe we should go back and just leave this place.” Rainbow hoped that Twilight wouldn’t hear how nervous she was. “Oh, come on. Don’t be scared. What could possibly happen?” Twilight smiled at Rainbow in the dim light, and then she continued walking. Rainbow looked behind them. She couldn’t see the opening anymore. She sighed and followed Twilight on their trip into the unknown darkness. Soon, they reached a cave, and Twilights spell wasn’t strong enough to light up to the ceiling, nor they could see the walls to their left and right. Twilight walked straight into the cave, not looking left or right. And Rainbow followed her. As they reached the opposite side of the cave, Twilight started to stare intensively at the wall. “Err, Twi? What are you doing there?” said Rainbow Dash “These carvings, Rainbow, they’re the same as on the stone plate!” “Yeah, that’s nice. Can we go back now?” Twilight didn’t listen to her friend. She tipped her hoof against one of the carvings. A click sounded, barely hearable. But what happened afterwards would still haunt them days after. There was a rumbling, and then the cave started to collapse. Rocks fell down from the ceiling and almost buried the two ponies under them. They could just watch as the carving on the wall started to glow in a deep red, and a roar echoed through the entire cave. Rainbow, who reacted first, took off and grabbed Twilight under her fore legs in the same move. She couldn’t see far, but they made it through the rain of rocks and to the tunnel again. At least she believed that it was the tunnel they came in through. She flew into it and up the stairs in a rush and almost hit the ceiling more than once. Finally she reached the exit and flew up into the cool air. She dropped Twilight on the earth and laid down next to her friend and breathed heavily. “Do you mind explaining what this was?” Twilight turned to her friend. “I have no idea.” “Well, then let us get out of here.” Twilight pointed at the stone plate. “And what do we do with this?” “Try to put it back on the opening with your magic. If it doesn’t work, just leave it. You can come back later to decipher it.” This time, Twilights magic worked on the plate and she put it carefully back in place. “Ok. Fine. We’re done here now. Let us go home.” Rainbow was eager to get back to Ponyville again. Twilight nodded. “It’s also evening already. We should hurry up.” “Yeah, you’re right. Then let’s get going!” Shortly after they left the glade, a fine, dark mist crawled out under the plate, vanishing into the depths of the forest. Party is overAt the next day after the events in the cave, Rainbow Dash just carried on with her usual activities – in this case napping on a cloud around Ponyville. Unlike her, Twilight couldn’t let go of the past events and stayed in the library the entire day till the evening. She read book after book in hope to discover what happened the day before. She hadn’t had any success with it, most of the books about ancient cultures and lore didn’t say anything about another building in the Everfree Forest than the old castle. She just wanted to give up, as she found a reference to an old shrine in an ancient book about myths. The book told a story about a cave, which were some kind of cursed place. Everypony who went there never came back alive or died soon after. So they sealed it and built a shrine on the opening of the tunnel, so nopony would ever go down there ever again. However, it said nothing about how those, who went into the cave, died at all. It just said that they disappeared and when they showed up again, they were … changed. The book didn’t explain it further. Although Twilight was disappointed that she didn’t find anything about the strange carvings on the plate and in the cave. But it seems that it was just an old tale. That must have been some superstitious ponies back then when they wrote that book. However, it was a nice evening and Twilight needed a breath of fresh air anyway, so she decided to visit Rainbow Dash and tell her about what she just read. Twilight left the library and stepped out into the light of the dusk, which baptized the entire city in a golden light. Not a single cloud was seen on the sky. Twilight went straight to Sugarcube Corner. On her way there, she always kept an eye out for the cyan Pegasus with the rainbow colored mane, or a cloud she could be napping on, but she arrived at Sugarcube Corner without spotting either of them. As soon as Twilight entered the store, Pinkie Pie almost jumped into her face. “Heeeeeeey, Twilight!” The pink pony started to bounce around her friend in circles. “You’re invited to a party!” Twilight just was confused. “Uh … Pinkie … I’m just looking for Rainbow. Did you see her today?” “Rainbow?” Pinkie stopped bouncing for a second and thought about it … “I’ve seen Applejack and Fluttershy today … Rarity is busy with some dresses … Nope, I haven’t seen Rainbow aaaaaaall day!” “Do you know where she could be?” Pinkie looked sad. “I think she’s at home. Will you come to my party?” “Well … I’ll need to talk to Rainbow first, but if I find time afterwards I’ll come. Promised!” Twilight just hoped that Pinkie wouldn’t catch her with the lie. Pinkie just looked suspicious for a while, then she smiled again and handed Twilight a letter. The invitation to the party. And she gave Twilight another one. “And this one is for Rainbow, when you find her, invite her for me please!” “I promise. See you later then.” Pinkie smiled and bounced again. “See you at the party, Twi!” “Yeah … see you then.” Twilight left the store and headed for Rainbow Dashs' House. She reached half the way, as she got knocked off her hooves by a whirlwind of some kind. Twilight was a bit dazed at first and didn’t realize what knocked her over at first. She just realized what and who knocked her over when the daze wore off. It was a certain Pegasus who flew straight into Twilight. “Rainbow! I was looking for you! Do you remember that cave we found in the forest?” While Twilight rambled on, Rainbow just lifted her head again. “Huh?” She shook her head and got back on her hooves again. “How could I forget that cave. You know, it was yesterday that we almost got buried under rocks.” “Well, I found a book about myths in the library which actually said something about that place we found. It was a shrine.” Rainbow looked quite bored. “So, you looked for me to tell me we brought an ancient shrine to collapse?” She was definitely not interested in this story. “About that, the book also said that it was a cursed shrine. And that Everypony disappeared who went to that place. If they returned, they were somehow changed or different.” This caught Rainbows attention. “Different? How do you mean that?” Twilight just shook her head. “I don’t know, the book didn’t describe that- It just said that everypony who returned was changed.” Rainbow was quite confused. “Well, do you believe this story?” Once again, Twilight shook her head. “No, not really. I think it is just an old myth. Oh well, Pinkie invited us to a party. Here is your invitation.” She handed over the letter Pinkie gave her. “A Party? I guess this will make us forget about this stuff.” Twilight nodded. “Well, then let us go back to Sugarcube Corner.” While they walked to the towns candy store, both of them had a nervous feeling, as if something bad was going to happen. They arrived at Sugarcube Corner and entered. The doorbell rang, the store was decorated like always when Pinkie threw a party, but nopony was there. The entire store was empty, not even Mr. or Mrs. Cake were around. The store was completely empty, besides of Rainbow and Twilight, who were still standing in the door. “Hello? Anypony here?” Twilight yelled. But she received no answer. Twilight and Rainbow looked each other in the eyes and saw that they both equally were concerned. Pinkie wouldn’t throw a party and then wouldn’t show up at it. They went around the counter to check the backroom of the store and Rainbow bumped into Twilight, as she froze in her movement. “Hey, Twi, what’s the matter? Why did you …” Rainbows look fell on the backdoor of the shop, which certainly weren’t usually hanging shattered in its angles. And the blood wasn’t normal. Neither were the scratch marks on the remains of the wooden door, which were still in place or scattered around in the room. They looked at each other and saw the deep fear in their eyes. Rainbow, who reacted first, rushed up to Pinkie Pies room. She didn’t bother with opening the door first and expected an impact, but it just swung open. Rainbow heard somepony crying and sobbing. Rainbow stormed into the room and looked around immediately. She spotted the pink pony in a corner of her room, completely scared and shocked of what she might have seen. Shortly after Rainbow, also Twilight entered the room. As she saw the pink pony cower in fear and terror, she slowly approached her. Twilight heard how Pinkie spoke to herself, but couldn’t understand a word of what she said. As she noticed the unicorn approaching, she screamed and pressed herself against the walls. “Hey, Pinkie, it’s me, Twilight.” She just received a slight whimper as answer. Pinkie kept her eyes closed, until Twilight placed a hoof on her shoulder. She let out a shriek, opened her eyes in shock and covered her face with her forelegs. Just now, Twilight saw the scratches and open wounds on Pinkies body. Pinkie calmed down as soon as she realized who was standing in front of her, but she was still nervous and scared. “Is … Is it gone?” She asked with a fearful look at the door. “What, Pinkie, what is gone? What happened here?” “I … I was making some muffins, as the backdoor burst open, and I flew into a pile of flour bags and lost my consciousness. When … When I woke up, Mr. and Mrs. Cake were gone and I was alone. I just saw the blood on the destroyed back door and ran up to my room …” Twilight turned over to Rainbow. “We can’t leave her alone in such a state. I’ll take her back with me to the library, and you go and try to find Mr. and Mrs. Cake in the area behind Sugarcube Corner. When you find something, come into the library.” The Pegasus gave a short salute and was out in a second. Twilight looked after her friend as she left, then she turned over to Pinkie Pie, who was still cowering in the corner. “Well, Pinkie … You can’t stay here for sure. We’ll be going into the library, okay?” Pinkie slowly nodded, but didn’t move, Twilight had to help her up and push her out of the store. As they passed at the sales room, Twilight threw a worried look into the backroom, but it was like they left there. Whatever did this, it was gone now. She just hoped Rainbow wouldn’t stumble upon it. She left Sugarcube Corner with Pinkie and went on to the library. Maybe she could find another book about what was going on. While Twilight took Pinkie to the library, Rainbow followed a track of blood spots on the ground she just found outside of the stores backdoor. She had to fly on a low altitude to see the small red spots on the ground. It was even more complicated by passengers crossing her way. Soon, she reached the borders of Everfree Forest. The trail of blood led directly between the trees. The Pegasus didn’t think twice and followed the trail into the forest. It turned dark, and the moon rose up. His light fell through the leaves of the trees and reflected on the blood on the ground, which glittered in a bright red on the dark green grass. The Pegasus slowed down and followed the red dots, now hovering just over the ground. Soon, the dots became more frequently and were easier to follow. Sometimes Rainbow also saw the same claw marks on the trees as on the door in Sugarcube Corner. But she didn’t think about returning to Twilight without finding out what happened at the store. Soon, also blood smears appeared on the ground, as if somepony with a serious injury was dragged over the ground. Suddenly she stumbled upon a puddle of blood – with the hat that Mr. Cake usually had worn during his work . The Pegasus picked up the hat with her hooves and flew up into the sky, ignoring leaves and branches in her way. She hovered a while over the tree tops. Not too far away, she could see the glade Twilight and herself found that shrine. Then she turned around and flew into the direction of Ponyville, the bloodstained hat in her hooves. She didn’t know what she should tell Pinkie, or even if she should tell her the bad news. But Twilight had to know that this thing wasn’t just kidnapping ponies without reason. She had the feeling that Twilight and she were responsible for this. It surely weren’t a coincidence that the blood led her to the glade. Rainbow flew to the library and just hoped that they could stop that thing before it attacks other innocent ponies. But for now, all she could do was to fly back to Twilight and Pinkie and to tell them what she found. She looked at the bloodstained hat once more. It would probably better not to confront Pinkie with it right now. It became night now, and the air was cold, so Rainbow hurried up a bit, soon leaving the forest and flying over buildings again now. In the endTwilight turned her head to look for Pinkie. She walked quite slowly, probably as an aftermath of the attack, but they finally arrived at the library. The unicorn opened the door and waited for her friend to enter. She looked over the night sky for any signs of Rainbow. As she couldn’t spot her in the dark sky, she closed the door behind her. She hoped that Rainbow would return soon. She checked for Spike, who was asleep in the upper Room, and as she came back, Pinkie rolled up in a pillow and slept. Twilight looked on the shelves labeled ‘Ancient Myths’. She knew what she would do while waiting for Rainbow to come back. Twilight took a pile of books with her to the window, lightened a candle and started to read. Somewhere in those books must be an answer. Rainbow Dash just entered the town and lowered her altitude until she flew shot a few hooves above the ground, but she didn’t slow down till she saw something moving at the edge of her field of view, in a dark road. She slowed down and stared down into the dark, but she couldn’t see anything, as suddenly something ran away from her. “Hey!” She yelled, but whoever this was, he ignored her. She took the pursuit through the streets, and whoever this was – he was fast. But not fast enough to escape the best flyer in Equestria. Soon, she could see the silhouette of her victim. It was a young filly, a Pegasus. She grabbed the hind legs of the silhouette and brought it to trip and to fall on the ground face first. Rainbow turned her opponent on his back and realized who were almost crying under her hooves. “Scootaloo? What are you doing out here?” asked Rainbow the young filly didn’t answer and looked to the side, tears were filling her eyes. “Nothing. I did nothing … I mean I was on the way home, yeah, on the way home!” Scootaloo tried to wind herself out of Rainbows grip, as she knew that the cyan colored Pegasus won’t believe her, but she couldn’t get away. “Stop lying to me. Anyway, I won’t let you run around alone in the night. You will come with me to Twilight into the library.” She let the filly get on hooves again. “Now let’s go or we’ll be even later than now.” The young Pegasus had some problems to follow Rainbow, as she took off and flew in the direction of the library. She was just flying too fast for Scootaloo. Rainbow didn’t think twice about the little filly behind her until she heard her scream. Rainbow turned around inflight, but couldn’t see Scootaloo anywhere. She just heard the screams of the filly, as she was speeding through the dark city and relied on them to catch up to her and her captor. Slowly the screams faded until they stopped entirely. Rainbow moved into the direction the last scream came from and just hoped that she wouldn’t end up at another puddle of blood like that she found Mr. Cakes hat in. She flew over the city, but without success. She stopped at the border of the city and looked at the forest. She made a decision. The decision to get Twilight and, if necessary, also Pinkie and go back to the shrine with them. She wouldn’t leave the little filly out there to die. Twilight read the fifth book about ancient myths and lore and already felt tired. She looked over to Pinkie, who still was sleeping on the pillow since they arrived at the library. A knocking at the window caused Twilight to turn her head to it. A Pegasus was hovering outside of the window and knocked furiously against the glass. Twilight opened the window to let Rainbow in and ask her about what she found, she got knocked over as Rainbow charged inside.. “Woah, Rainbow! What happened?” Twilight asked, as she regained her balance. “On my way back to the library, I stumbled over Scootaloo. I wanted to bring her back here with me, but she couldn’t keep up with me and this … thing got her! We need to rescue her! Now!” Twilight watched her friend as she explained what happened, but shook her head. “We can’t. We need to find a way how we can stop it before we encounter it ourselves.” She turned her back to the Pegasus and carried on reading the book as she did before Rainbows arrival at the library. “Somewhere in here must be an answer to all this …” Twilight muttered, more to herself than to her friend. “And … I found this in a puddle of blood in the forest.” Rainbow said as she held up the bloodstained hat. Twilight turned around again, her eyes locked onto the hat. She lowered her voice, as she spoke to Rainbow. “Don’t let Pinkie see this. At least don’t show it to her yet.” Twilight went back to her book. “She is sleeping downstairs. You shouldn’t wake her up.” Rainbow nodded, even if Twilight couldn’t see her and sat down on the ground. “So … what are we doing now? We can’t just sit around while Scootaloo is out there alone.” Rainbows question remained unanswered, as Twilight focused on the book. The Pegasus almost couldn’t hear her whispering. “This is it.” She whispered, more to herself than to her friend, who got a puzzled look on her face. “What are you talking about, Twi?” The unicorn turned around to her friend. “The solution, I found the solution to all of this, Rainbow! This book describes a spell they used long time ago to capture an evil being in the same shrine we discovered!” Rainbow stared at Twilight, as she jumped around the Pegasus. “But it is really difficult to cast. You’ll need to distract this thing while I cast it.” Rainbow still just was sitting around. “Let me get this straight. You found the spell they used to seal this thing, right?” Twilight nodded as an answer to the question of her friend. “And now you want me to distract something that kills without a second thought about it, while you cast the spell?” The unicorn nodded again. “It’s not like we have much of a choice.” Rainbow nodded. “I know. Well, what are we waiting for? We got to rescue a filly!” Rainbow yelled almost enthusiastically. In a conclusion of that yell, Pinkie came trotted up the stairs and as soon as Rainbow and Twilight heard her steps on the stairs, they both charged for the bloodstained hat and almost collided over it, but Rainbow managed to grab it an hide it behind her back, just a second before Pinkie came up the stairs. “Hey, you woke me up. What’s the matter?” She asked. The Pegasus was the first of them to answer. “Twilight found out how to defeat this thing that attacked you in Sugarcube Corner, and now we’re going to beat it up.” She looked to the side. “And I’ll have to be the bait.” Even Twilight noticed that her smile looked somehow stiff. “Oh, may I come with you? Please?” asked Pinkie Twilight and Pinkie looked at each other. While Rainbow shrugged, Twilight shook her head. “Well, Pinkie …” Twilight started. “We don’t want you to get in anymore danger than you’ve been in already.” Rainbow supported her friend as she nodded. “You should go back to sleep again.” Pinkie looked sad as she heard this. “But I want to come with you!” Twilight shook her head. “You still have injuries from that attack on Sugarcube Corner. You should stay here. Wake up Spike if you should need help.” Pinkie nodded and let her head hang down as she went downstairs again. Twilight looked after her friend as she went downstairs again, while Rainbow put the hat on Twilights desk. Twilight looked at Rainbow. “Is it a good idea to leave her here?” She asked. Rainbow just shrugged as answer. “I don’t know, it probably was the better decision to leave her here with Spike. If you’re ready we’ll leave now.” Twilight nodded and grabbed the book in which she found the spell in. Just in case she forgot something. Scootaloo could feel how she was dragged over the ground in the forest by her hind legs. Whoever caught here and brought her here wasn’t caring about her at all. It was dark around her, she couldn’t see anything. Sometimes she could recognize a tree, but that was all she could see. She heard branches break and snap as her captor rushed through the forest, not caring about them hitting him. Scootaloo lost the track of time as she got dragged through the forest. Until they reached a glade, the pale moonlight provided just a little light, but enough to see the silhouette of her captor. It was a tall, dark creature, covered in shadow. It dragged her into the middle of the glade, to a stone plate. It was already covered in blood while bones were lying around it. The look of that scenery left the little filly with a bad feeling about her near future. But a small, moving spot at the dark night sky gave her a little hope. Rainbow gave her best, but with Twilights additional weight in her hooves, it got hard to fly at full speed, despite knowing that every second could save Scootaloos life. But they should be faster at the aerial way than this thing was walking through the forest. Both, Twilight and Rainbow, hoped they wouldn’t be too late to save her. They knew that all this was their fault, and they would do everything to stop it again. “Rainbow, stop!” Twilight yelled from below. “We’re already there. Fly down!” Rainbow did as her friend said and lowered her altitude. The pale moonlight shone upon the glade, and indeed – there was something in the glade. The stone plate they found that tunnel underneath got turned into some kind of creepy altar, covered in blood and bones. Twilight could feel an cold shower running down her back as she thought whose bones were lying there. Then she could see a little, orange spot on the altar. “There she is! Rainbow, let me down at the border of the glade, I’ll cast the spell. Distract it, so it won’t notice it until it is too late.” Rainbow let her friend down where she told her to. Twilight looked up to the Pegasus one last time, before she prepared herself to cast the spell. “You know what to do. Good luck.” She could see Rainbow nodding in the dark, even if it was more a feeling than visible. The Pegasus then turned away and flew into the direction of the creature and its victim. Rainbow hoped that Twilight would hurry up with her spell, as she started to circle around the creature, which didn’t seem to pay much attention to the Pegasus. It was completely focused on the filly which the creature held down with one claw-tipped hand, while the other hand was about to strike down. Rainbow knew what she had to do. She flew up close and kicked the creature with her hind legs where she guessed it face were. It staggered a few steps backwards and put one of its hands over the place where the Pegasus hit it, while it tried to catch Rainbow with the other hand. Scootaloo, who knew that this was probably her only chance, jumped back on her hooves and ran up to Twilight, who managed to cast the spell successfully. The creature ignored Rainbow as soon as it noticed the effects of the spell, its shape flickered and began to disintegrate into shadows. As it moved onto Twilight, it sacked together and disappeared into nothingness. Letting out one last, deep growl, it fell over and disappeared entirely. Finally, it was over. Scootaloo stood next to Twilight and looked at the cyan Pegasus flying near. As Rainbow was close enough, Scootaloo almost jumped her in the face. Rainbow held her back for a moment and turned her head to Twilight. “Is it over now?” Twilight nodded. “I did everything right, according to that book. I just hope, nopony will ever stumble upon this place anymore, not now and not in the future.” Rainbow looked back to the bloodstained altar. “Yes, I hope so too. Let’s go back. We still have to tell Pinkie about Mr. and Mrs. Cakes fate.” Twilight gulped. “Yes, I almost forgot … We left the hat in the library. I just hope, she didn’t find the hat.” Rainbow looked up into the sky. “I hope she will get over this.” Twilight nodded, and turned around to leave the glade. “For now, it is over.” She said, before she left the glade. Rainbow took the little filly on her back and followed her friend. She was right. It was over. Until the next ones stumble upon the shrine and break the seal.
The ruinsIt was a warm and sunny day in Equestria. Everypony in Ponyville had to be somewhere. Everypony – besides of a pegasus of a light cyan color and a mane colored in the glorious colors of the rainbow. The Pegasus slept on a cloud on the border of the city. While Rainbow Dash slept, somepony came looking for her: A bouncing pink pony which looked everywhere for her and started to yell Rainbows name immediately as she saw the rainbow colored tail hanging from the cloud. „Rainbow Dash!“ Pinkie yelled at the cloud, continiously bouncing off the ground. She smiled as Rainbow lifted her head over the clouds she was lying on. Pinkie didn’t wait till Rainbow answered, she just went on. „Twilight is looking for you. She wants to meet you at the library.“ Rainbow blinked and asked „What is it about?“ Pinkie stopped to bounce for a second and looked puzzled, like she forgot something. She started hopping again as she shooked her head. „Oh, she didn’t say why. She just told me that she needs you and that it is important.“ Rainbow just sat on her cloud and sighed. „Okay … did Twilight say something about the time when she wants to meet?“ Pinkie shook her head again. „Nope. But if it is so important you should visit her as soon as possible. Oh, look at the time! We’ve got an order to fulfill at Sugarcube Corner, I should be going now!“ The pink pony waved a hoof at Rainbow and started to bounce away into the direction of Sugarcube Corner, leaving Rainbow on her cloud. Rainbow thought about what Pinkie just told her. She weren’t sure if she wanted to go to the library. She just couldn’t imagine why Twilight would need her help. „Whatever“, she said to herself, „I guess Twilight will explain it all.“ She looked into the clear, blue sky above her and enjoyed the warm sunshine a moment longer before she stretched her wings and took off. The cloud below her disappeared because of the power of the take-off. On her way to the library she did what she loved the most: Flying for the sake of it. She flew high up into the sky, enjoyed the wind rushing through her mane and wings. During the flight, Rainbow felt as alive as she possibly could be. She lived to fly. She dove down to the ground again and opened her wings just moments before she hit the ground, performing a perfect landing in front of Twilights library. The Pegasus knocked on the door, until Spike opened up. “Hi, Rainbow. You’re looking for Twilight, aren’t you?” “Uhm … yeah, Pinkie told me that Twilight wants to meet me at the library. It kinda sounded important.” Spike let her into the library. “She told me that she found something in the Everfree Forest, I think. Wait a second …” The little dragon went on the upper floor of the library and came back within a minute, with a folded piece of paper. “Here. Twilight told me I should give you this when she isn’t there when you come.” He quickly unfolded it. It was a crude map of the Everfree Forest, the only points Rainbow actually knew where the old castle of the royal sisters and the border of Ponyville. A red cross was painted somewhere between them, but neither Spike nor Rainbow could tell where exactly it was. “I think it is closer to the old castle.” Spike mentioned. “No, it is definitely closer to Ponyville than to the old castle. Looks like I’ll have to check. Besides, are you sure Twilight already went there and isn’t just somewhere around here?” “I’m quite sure. Else she wouldn’t have asked me to give you this and would have done it herself.” Rainbow thought about this and nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. Well, I should go then. Maybe I can catch up with her, if I can see her through the trees.” The Pegasus went to the door, and Spike followed her. “Sure. Good luck!” He waved at her when she stepped outside and took off to fly into the direction of the red cross on the map. While Rainbow Dash got on her way into the Everfree Forest, Twilight Sparkle walked between the trees of the forest towards her target. The trees of the forest still gave her the creeps after what happened last time she went into the forest and almost were turned into stone, if Fluttershy wouldn’t have been there. Still, Twilight couldn’t wait for Rainbow to arrive. She just hoped that her friend would find the place where she was heading to. She didn’t know what would wait for her there. She found a reference to some kind of magical place in the forest in an ancient book she found at the library and just couldn’t wait get it out of her head anymore. She just had to find that place. So she decided to check it out herself, but not without leaving a message for Rainbow. If something unexpected would happen, the Pegasus would be the only one who could arrive in time. Fluttershy couldn’t fly fast enough while the others would have to walk like Twilight. It made her feel a bit safer in the forest to have Rainbow as backup. She finally reached her goal: A glade was in front of her. She hopped over a last tree stump and stepped onto the glade and looked around her. Everything seemed normal. She walked disappointed into the middle of the glade and almost fell flat on her face as she stumbled over an obstacle on the ground. Onto further inspection it appeared to be a part of an ancient structure, which once might have been here. Twilight focused on the ground in the hope of finding more ancient relics as she wandered around in the glade. After some time, she noticed an ancient stone plate, not far from the piece she stumbled upon first. The plate was covered by grass and moss, but Twilight could see some old carvings on the stone, but she didn’t recognize them. She would have to take the plate back into her library to decipher what was written on it long time ago. She tried to lift the plate with the magic of her horn, but it didn’t move. It was somehow sealed to the ground. She sat down in the grass, hopefully waiting for Rainbow to arrive. Maybe her friend would be able to move the stone plate out of its place. And so she waited. Rainbow flew across the forest. She looked down on the trees while she flew over them. She loved the view of the land rushing away below her and the feeling of the wind in her mane. Rainbow could see the old castle in the distance and pulled a turn. She flew too far. Suddenly, she could spot a place in the forest without trees. She guessed it was a pond or a glade. It was also possible that this was the spot Twilight wanted to go. Rainbow flew straight to the place. As soon as she reached the edge of the glade, she spotted Twilight sitting in the grass there, looking up to the sky, on the watch for a certain Pegasus. Rainbow dove down and landed next to her friend. “Here I am, Twi. Now you might tell me what this is about.” Twilight, who was looking into the other direction, spun around as she heard the voice behind here. “Oh, hay Rainbow. Could you help me to get this stone plate back to the library? It got some carvings on it which I want to study.” “I don’t see a stone plate around here.” Twilight pointed on the plate she discovered earlier. “There it is, under all that Grass and moss there.” The athletic Pegasus just looked at her friend. “Can’t you lift it with your magic?” Twilight just shook her head. “No, I can’t. It is somehow sealed in its place. I hoped you could move it.” Finally, Rainbow just sighed and took a look at the plate. She placed her hind legs on the side of the plate as good as it was possible and kicked against it. Nothing happened. She kicked again, and they could hear how stone scratched over Stone. “Come on Rainbow, you can do it!” Twilight cheered at her friend, who placed a final kick against the stone, which finally glided to the side. Underneath the stone plate was a deep, dark tunnel. Twilight and Rainbow looked at each other, then they stared down into the darkness. Rainbow picked up a nearby rock and dropped it down into the darkness. It hit the ground almost immediately. “So, I guess this isn’t so deep. Maybe we should check out what is down there.” The unicorn looked at her friend, who just shook her head. “So, can you create some light with your magic? Else we would be blind.” Twilight concentrated for a moment and casted a spell, which let a little ball of purple appear above her head. “That will have to do it. Let’s go!” By that time she completely forgot about the carvings on the stone plate and hopped down into the dark. Rainbow looked down into the tunnel. “Come on, Rainbow! There are stairs down here!” The Pegasus sighed and followed her friend down. Twilights spell just caused a small radius of sight , everything else got swallowed by the darkness around them. “Well, let’s see where those stairs will take us!” As soon as Twilight said that, she started to follow the stairs deeper into the earth. Rainbow followed her close up to not lose orientation in the darkness. Silence fell over the ponies as they walked down the stairs. Rainbow was the first of them who spoke again. “Soo … you don’t have any idea what this once could have been, no?” Twilight thought a bit about this question. “No, I don’t know. We’ll see.” “Maybe we should go back and just leave this place.” Rainbow hoped that Twilight wouldn’t hear how nervous she was. “Oh, come on. Don’t be scared. What could possibly happen?” Twilight smiled at Rainbow in the dim light, and then she continued walking. Rainbow looked behind them. She couldn’t see the opening anymore. She sighed and followed Twilight on their trip into the unknown darkness. Soon, they reached a cave, and Twilights spell wasn’t strong enough to light up to the ceiling, nor they could see the walls to their left and right. Twilight walked straight into the cave, not looking left or right. And Rainbow followed her. As they reached the opposite side of the cave, Twilight started to stare intensively at the wall. “Err, Twi? What are you doing there?” said Rainbow Dash “These carvings, Rainbow, they’re the same as on the stone plate!” “Yeah, that’s nice. Can we go back now?” Twilight didn’t listen to her friend. She tipped her hoof against one of the carvings. A click sounded, barely hearable. But what happened afterwards would still haunt them days after. There was a rumbling, and then the cave started to collapse. Rocks fell down from the ceiling and almost buried the two ponies under them. They could just watch as the carving on the wall started to glow in a deep red, and a roar echoed through the entire cave. Rainbow, who reacted first, took off and grabbed Twilight under her fore legs in the same move. She couldn’t see far, but they made it through the rain of rocks and to the tunnel again. At least she believed that it was the tunnel they came in through. She flew into it and up the stairs in a rush and almost hit the ceiling more than once. Finally she reached the exit and flew up into the cool air. She dropped Twilight on the earth and laid down next to her friend and breathed heavily. “Do you mind explaining what this was?” Twilight turned to her friend. “I have no idea.” “Well, then let us get out of here.” Twilight pointed at the stone plate. “And what do we do with this?” “Try to put it back on the opening with your magic. If it doesn’t work, just leave it. You can come back later to decipher it.” This time, Twilights magic worked on the plate and she put it carefully back in place. “Ok. Fine. We’re done here now. Let us go home.” Rainbow was eager to get back to Ponyville again. Twilight nodded. “It’s also evening already. We should hurry up.” “Yeah, you’re right. Then let’s get going!” Shortly after they left the glade, a fine, dark mist crawled out under the plate, vanishing into the depths of the forest.
Party is overAt the next day after the events in the cave, Rainbow Dash just carried on with her usual activities – in this case napping on a cloud around Ponyville. Unlike her, Twilight couldn’t let go of the past events and stayed in the library the entire day till the evening. She read book after book in hope to discover what happened the day before. She hadn’t had any success with it, most of the books about ancient cultures and lore didn’t say anything about another building in the Everfree Forest than the old castle. She just wanted to give up, as she found a reference to an old shrine in an ancient book about myths. The book told a story about a cave, which were some kind of cursed place. Everypony who went there never came back alive or died soon after. So they sealed it and built a shrine on the opening of the tunnel, so nopony would ever go down there ever again. However, it said nothing about how those, who went into the cave, died at all. It just said that they disappeared and when they showed up again, they were … changed. The book didn’t explain it further. Although Twilight was disappointed that she didn’t find anything about the strange carvings on the plate and in the cave. But it seems that it was just an old tale. That must have been some superstitious ponies back then when they wrote that book. However, it was a nice evening and Twilight needed a breath of fresh air anyway, so she decided to visit Rainbow Dash and tell her about what she just read. Twilight left the library and stepped out into the light of the dusk, which baptized the entire city in a golden light. Not a single cloud was seen on the sky. Twilight went straight to Sugarcube Corner. On her way there, she always kept an eye out for the cyan Pegasus with the rainbow colored mane, or a cloud she could be napping on, but she arrived at Sugarcube Corner without spotting either of them. As soon as Twilight entered the store, Pinkie Pie almost jumped into her face. “Heeeeeeey, Twilight!” The pink pony started to bounce around her friend in circles. “You’re invited to a party!” Twilight just was confused. “Uh … Pinkie … I’m just looking for Rainbow. Did you see her today?” “Rainbow?” Pinkie stopped bouncing for a second and thought about it … “I’ve seen Applejack and Fluttershy today … Rarity is busy with some dresses … Nope, I haven’t seen Rainbow aaaaaaall day!” “Do you know where she could be?” Pinkie looked sad. “I think she’s at home. Will you come to my party?” “Well … I’ll need to talk to Rainbow first, but if I find time afterwards I’ll come. Promised!” Twilight just hoped that Pinkie wouldn’t catch her with the lie. Pinkie just looked suspicious for a while, then she smiled again and handed Twilight a letter. The invitation to the party. And she gave Twilight another one. “And this one is for Rainbow, when you find her, invite her for me please!” “I promise. See you later then.” Pinkie smiled and bounced again. “See you at the party, Twi!” “Yeah … see you then.” Twilight left the store and headed for Rainbow Dashs' House. She reached half the way, as she got knocked off her hooves by a whirlwind of some kind. Twilight was a bit dazed at first and didn’t realize what knocked her over at first. She just realized what and who knocked her over when the daze wore off. It was a certain Pegasus who flew straight into Twilight. “Rainbow! I was looking for you! Do you remember that cave we found in the forest?” While Twilight rambled on, Rainbow just lifted her head again. “Huh?” She shook her head and got back on her hooves again. “How could I forget that cave. You know, it was yesterday that we almost got buried under rocks.” “Well, I found a book about myths in the library which actually said something about that place we found. It was a shrine.” Rainbow looked quite bored. “So, you looked for me to tell me we brought an ancient shrine to collapse?” She was definitely not interested in this story. “About that, the book also said that it was a cursed shrine. And that Everypony disappeared who went to that place. If they returned, they were somehow changed or different.” This caught Rainbows attention. “Different? How do you mean that?” Twilight just shook her head. “I don’t know, the book didn’t describe that- It just said that everypony who returned was changed.” Rainbow was quite confused. “Well, do you believe this story?” Once again, Twilight shook her head. “No, not really. I think it is just an old myth. Oh well, Pinkie invited us to a party. Here is your invitation.” She handed over the letter Pinkie gave her. “A Party? I guess this will make us forget about this stuff.” Twilight nodded. “Well, then let us go back to Sugarcube Corner.” While they walked to the towns candy store, both of them had a nervous feeling, as if something bad was going to happen. They arrived at Sugarcube Corner and entered. The doorbell rang, the store was decorated like always when Pinkie threw a party, but nopony was there. The entire store was empty, not even Mr. or Mrs. Cake were around. The store was completely empty, besides of Rainbow and Twilight, who were still standing in the door. “Hello? Anypony here?” Twilight yelled. But she received no answer. Twilight and Rainbow looked each other in the eyes and saw that they both equally were concerned. Pinkie wouldn’t throw a party and then wouldn’t show up at it. They went around the counter to check the backroom of the store and Rainbow bumped into Twilight, as she froze in her movement. “Hey, Twi, what’s the matter? Why did you …” Rainbows look fell on the backdoor of the shop, which certainly weren’t usually hanging shattered in its angles. And the blood wasn’t normal. Neither were the scratch marks on the remains of the wooden door, which were still in place or scattered around in the room. They looked at each other and saw the deep fear in their eyes. Rainbow, who reacted first, rushed up to Pinkie Pies room. She didn’t bother with opening the door first and expected an impact, but it just swung open. Rainbow heard somepony crying and sobbing. Rainbow stormed into the room and looked around immediately. She spotted the pink pony in a corner of her room, completely scared and shocked of what she might have seen. Shortly after Rainbow, also Twilight entered the room. As she saw the pink pony cower in fear and terror, she slowly approached her. Twilight heard how Pinkie spoke to herself, but couldn’t understand a word of what she said. As she noticed the unicorn approaching, she screamed and pressed herself against the walls. “Hey, Pinkie, it’s me, Twilight.” She just received a slight whimper as answer. Pinkie kept her eyes closed, until Twilight placed a hoof on her shoulder. She let out a shriek, opened her eyes in shock and covered her face with her forelegs. Just now, Twilight saw the scratches and open wounds on Pinkies body. Pinkie calmed down as soon as she realized who was standing in front of her, but she was still nervous and scared. “Is … Is it gone?” She asked with a fearful look at the door. “What, Pinkie, what is gone? What happened here?” “I … I was making some muffins, as the backdoor burst open, and I flew into a pile of flour bags and lost my consciousness. When … When I woke up, Mr. and Mrs. Cake were gone and I was alone. I just saw the blood on the destroyed back door and ran up to my room …” Twilight turned over to Rainbow. “We can’t leave her alone in such a state. I’ll take her back with me to the library, and you go and try to find Mr. and Mrs. Cake in the area behind Sugarcube Corner. When you find something, come into the library.” The Pegasus gave a short salute and was out in a second. Twilight looked after her friend as she left, then she turned over to Pinkie Pie, who was still cowering in the corner. “Well, Pinkie … You can’t stay here for sure. We’ll be going into the library, okay?” Pinkie slowly nodded, but didn’t move, Twilight had to help her up and push her out of the store. As they passed at the sales room, Twilight threw a worried look into the backroom, but it was like they left there. Whatever did this, it was gone now. She just hoped Rainbow wouldn’t stumble upon it. She left Sugarcube Corner with Pinkie and went on to the library. Maybe she could find another book about what was going on. While Twilight took Pinkie to the library, Rainbow followed a track of blood spots on the ground she just found outside of the stores backdoor. She had to fly on a low altitude to see the small red spots on the ground. It was even more complicated by passengers crossing her way. Soon, she reached the borders of Everfree Forest. The trail of blood led directly between the trees. The Pegasus didn’t think twice and followed the trail into the forest. It turned dark, and the moon rose up. His light fell through the leaves of the trees and reflected on the blood on the ground, which glittered in a bright red on the dark green grass. The Pegasus slowed down and followed the red dots, now hovering just over the ground. Soon, the dots became more frequently and were easier to follow. Sometimes Rainbow also saw the same claw marks on the trees as on the door in Sugarcube Corner. But she didn’t think about returning to Twilight without finding out what happened at the store. Soon, also blood smears appeared on the ground, as if somepony with a serious injury was dragged over the ground. Suddenly she stumbled upon a puddle of blood – with the hat that Mr. Cake usually had worn during his work . The Pegasus picked up the hat with her hooves and flew up into the sky, ignoring leaves and branches in her way. She hovered a while over the tree tops. Not too far away, she could see the glade Twilight and herself found that shrine. Then she turned around and flew into the direction of Ponyville, the bloodstained hat in her hooves. She didn’t know what she should tell Pinkie, or even if she should tell her the bad news. But Twilight had to know that this thing wasn’t just kidnapping ponies without reason. She had the feeling that Twilight and she were responsible for this. It surely weren’t a coincidence that the blood led her to the glade. Rainbow flew to the library and just hoped that they could stop that thing before it attacks other innocent ponies. But for now, all she could do was to fly back to Twilight and Pinkie and to tell them what she found. She looked at the bloodstained hat once more. It would probably better not to confront Pinkie with it right now. It became night now, and the air was cold, so Rainbow hurried up a bit, soon leaving the forest and flying over buildings again now.
In the endTwilight turned her head to look for Pinkie. She walked quite slowly, probably as an aftermath of the attack, but they finally arrived at the library. The unicorn opened the door and waited for her friend to enter. She looked over the night sky for any signs of Rainbow. As she couldn’t spot her in the dark sky, she closed the door behind her. She hoped that Rainbow would return soon. She checked for Spike, who was asleep in the upper Room, and as she came back, Pinkie rolled up in a pillow and slept. Twilight looked on the shelves labeled ‘Ancient Myths’. She knew what she would do while waiting for Rainbow to come back. Twilight took a pile of books with her to the window, lightened a candle and started to read. Somewhere in those books must be an answer. Rainbow Dash just entered the town and lowered her altitude until she flew shot a few hooves above the ground, but she didn’t slow down till she saw something moving at the edge of her field of view, in a dark road. She slowed down and stared down into the dark, but she couldn’t see anything, as suddenly something ran away from her. “Hey!” She yelled, but whoever this was, he ignored her. She took the pursuit through the streets, and whoever this was – he was fast. But not fast enough to escape the best flyer in Equestria. Soon, she could see the silhouette of her victim. It was a young filly, a Pegasus. She grabbed the hind legs of the silhouette and brought it to trip and to fall on the ground face first. Rainbow turned her opponent on his back and realized who were almost crying under her hooves. “Scootaloo? What are you doing out here?” asked Rainbow the young filly didn’t answer and looked to the side, tears were filling her eyes. “Nothing. I did nothing … I mean I was on the way home, yeah, on the way home!” Scootaloo tried to wind herself out of Rainbows grip, as she knew that the cyan colored Pegasus won’t believe her, but she couldn’t get away. “Stop lying to me. Anyway, I won’t let you run around alone in the night. You will come with me to Twilight into the library.” She let the filly get on hooves again. “Now let’s go or we’ll be even later than now.” The young Pegasus had some problems to follow Rainbow, as she took off and flew in the direction of the library. She was just flying too fast for Scootaloo. Rainbow didn’t think twice about the little filly behind her until she heard her scream. Rainbow turned around inflight, but couldn’t see Scootaloo anywhere. She just heard the screams of the filly, as she was speeding through the dark city and relied on them to catch up to her and her captor. Slowly the screams faded until they stopped entirely. Rainbow moved into the direction the last scream came from and just hoped that she wouldn’t end up at another puddle of blood like that she found Mr. Cakes hat in. She flew over the city, but without success. She stopped at the border of the city and looked at the forest. She made a decision. The decision to get Twilight and, if necessary, also Pinkie and go back to the shrine with them. She wouldn’t leave the little filly out there to die. Twilight read the fifth book about ancient myths and lore and already felt tired. She looked over to Pinkie, who still was sleeping on the pillow since they arrived at the library. A knocking at the window caused Twilight to turn her head to it. A Pegasus was hovering outside of the window and knocked furiously against the glass. Twilight opened the window to let Rainbow in and ask her about what she found, she got knocked over as Rainbow charged inside.. “Woah, Rainbow! What happened?” Twilight asked, as she regained her balance. “On my way back to the library, I stumbled over Scootaloo. I wanted to bring her back here with me, but she couldn’t keep up with me and this … thing got her! We need to rescue her! Now!” Twilight watched her friend as she explained what happened, but shook her head. “We can’t. We need to find a way how we can stop it before we encounter it ourselves.” She turned her back to the Pegasus and carried on reading the book as she did before Rainbows arrival at the library. “Somewhere in here must be an answer to all this …” Twilight muttered, more to herself than to her friend. “And … I found this in a puddle of blood in the forest.” Rainbow said as she held up the bloodstained hat. Twilight turned around again, her eyes locked onto the hat. She lowered her voice, as she spoke to Rainbow. “Don’t let Pinkie see this. At least don’t show it to her yet.” Twilight went back to her book. “She is sleeping downstairs. You shouldn’t wake her up.” Rainbow nodded, even if Twilight couldn’t see her and sat down on the ground. “So … what are we doing now? We can’t just sit around while Scootaloo is out there alone.” Rainbows question remained unanswered, as Twilight focused on the book. The Pegasus almost couldn’t hear her whispering. “This is it.” She whispered, more to herself than to her friend, who got a puzzled look on her face. “What are you talking about, Twi?” The unicorn turned around to her friend. “The solution, I found the solution to all of this, Rainbow! This book describes a spell they used long time ago to capture an evil being in the same shrine we discovered!” Rainbow stared at Twilight, as she jumped around the Pegasus. “But it is really difficult to cast. You’ll need to distract this thing while I cast it.” Rainbow still just was sitting around. “Let me get this straight. You found the spell they used to seal this thing, right?” Twilight nodded as an answer to the question of her friend. “And now you want me to distract something that kills without a second thought about it, while you cast the spell?” The unicorn nodded again. “It’s not like we have much of a choice.” Rainbow nodded. “I know. Well, what are we waiting for? We got to rescue a filly!” Rainbow yelled almost enthusiastically. In a conclusion of that yell, Pinkie came trotted up the stairs and as soon as Rainbow and Twilight heard her steps on the stairs, they both charged for the bloodstained hat and almost collided over it, but Rainbow managed to grab it an hide it behind her back, just a second before Pinkie came up the stairs. “Hey, you woke me up. What’s the matter?” She asked. The Pegasus was the first of them to answer. “Twilight found out how to defeat this thing that attacked you in Sugarcube Corner, and now we’re going to beat it up.” She looked to the side. “And I’ll have to be the bait.” Even Twilight noticed that her smile looked somehow stiff. “Oh, may I come with you? Please?” asked Pinkie Twilight and Pinkie looked at each other. While Rainbow shrugged, Twilight shook her head. “Well, Pinkie …” Twilight started. “We don’t want you to get in anymore danger than you’ve been in already.” Rainbow supported her friend as she nodded. “You should go back to sleep again.” Pinkie looked sad as she heard this. “But I want to come with you!” Twilight shook her head. “You still have injuries from that attack on Sugarcube Corner. You should stay here. Wake up Spike if you should need help.” Pinkie nodded and let her head hang down as she went downstairs again. Twilight looked after her friend as she went downstairs again, while Rainbow put the hat on Twilights desk. Twilight looked at Rainbow. “Is it a good idea to leave her here?” She asked. Rainbow just shrugged as answer. “I don’t know, it probably was the better decision to leave her here with Spike. If you’re ready we’ll leave now.” Twilight nodded and grabbed the book in which she found the spell in. Just in case she forgot something. Scootaloo could feel how she was dragged over the ground in the forest by her hind legs. Whoever caught here and brought her here wasn’t caring about her at all. It was dark around her, she couldn’t see anything. Sometimes she could recognize a tree, but that was all she could see. She heard branches break and snap as her captor rushed through the forest, not caring about them hitting him. Scootaloo lost the track of time as she got dragged through the forest. Until they reached a glade, the pale moonlight provided just a little light, but enough to see the silhouette of her captor. It was a tall, dark creature, covered in shadow. It dragged her into the middle of the glade, to a stone plate. It was already covered in blood while bones were lying around it. The look of that scenery left the little filly with a bad feeling about her near future. But a small, moving spot at the dark night sky gave her a little hope. Rainbow gave her best, but with Twilights additional weight in her hooves, it got hard to fly at full speed, despite knowing that every second could save Scootaloos life. But they should be faster at the aerial way than this thing was walking through the forest. Both, Twilight and Rainbow, hoped they wouldn’t be too late to save her. They knew that all this was their fault, and they would do everything to stop it again. “Rainbow, stop!” Twilight yelled from below. “We’re already there. Fly down!” Rainbow did as her friend said and lowered her altitude. The pale moonlight shone upon the glade, and indeed – there was something in the glade. The stone plate they found that tunnel underneath got turned into some kind of creepy altar, covered in blood and bones. Twilight could feel an cold shower running down her back as she thought whose bones were lying there. Then she could see a little, orange spot on the altar. “There she is! Rainbow, let me down at the border of the glade, I’ll cast the spell. Distract it, so it won’t notice it until it is too late.” Rainbow let her friend down where she told her to. Twilight looked up to the Pegasus one last time, before she prepared herself to cast the spell. “You know what to do. Good luck.” She could see Rainbow nodding in the dark, even if it was more a feeling than visible. The Pegasus then turned away and flew into the direction of the creature and its victim. Rainbow hoped that Twilight would hurry up with her spell, as she started to circle around the creature, which didn’t seem to pay much attention to the Pegasus. It was completely focused on the filly which the creature held down with one claw-tipped hand, while the other hand was about to strike down. Rainbow knew what she had to do. She flew up close and kicked the creature with her hind legs where she guessed it face were. It staggered a few steps backwards and put one of its hands over the place where the Pegasus hit it, while it tried to catch Rainbow with the other hand. Scootaloo, who knew that this was probably her only chance, jumped back on her hooves and ran up to Twilight, who managed to cast the spell successfully. The creature ignored Rainbow as soon as it noticed the effects of the spell, its shape flickered and began to disintegrate into shadows. As it moved onto Twilight, it sacked together and disappeared into nothingness. Letting out one last, deep growl, it fell over and disappeared entirely. Finally, it was over. Scootaloo stood next to Twilight and looked at the cyan Pegasus flying near. As Rainbow was close enough, Scootaloo almost jumped her in the face. Rainbow held her back for a moment and turned her head to Twilight. “Is it over now?” Twilight nodded. “I did everything right, according to that book. I just hope, nopony will ever stumble upon this place anymore, not now and not in the future.” Rainbow looked back to the bloodstained altar. “Yes, I hope so too. Let’s go back. We still have to tell Pinkie about Mr. and Mrs. Cakes fate.” Twilight gulped. “Yes, I almost forgot … We left the hat in the library. I just hope, she didn’t find the hat.” Rainbow looked up into the sky. “I hope she will get over this.” Twilight nodded, and turned around to leave the glade. “For now, it is over.” She said, before she left the glade. Rainbow took the little filly on her back and followed her friend. She was right. It was over. Until the next ones stumble upon the shrine and break the seal.
