Legends, there exist many legends in Equestria, most of them are only a 1,000 years old, some might be a few hundred years old, but there exist legends far older than those, legends that are forgotten, even by the oldest or wisest of ponies, legends only a small hoofful know off, some of those legends could help protect Equestria, while some of them, work as a warning or reminder. Not many ponies can recollect these legends and those who can, they are dismissed as fools believing some old maretales, but one should never dismiss a warning, no matter where it originates from.
In the quiet little town of Ponyville, lies the castle of Friendship, the home of the newest princess of Equestria: Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship.
Twilight was about to leave the castle and enjoy another peaceful day in Ponyville at her side was her trusted friend and assistant, Spike the dragon.
"So Spike, do we have anything planned for today?" Twilight asked the green and purple dragon, Spike checked a long list, "not what I know off," Spike said and yawned, "but I wouldn't mind taking a nap." Twilight rolled with her eyes, "that's what you get for reading comic books all night," she said in a motherly tone, "it's not good for you."
Twilight began to walk towards the entrance of her castle, Spike quickly following after her. "Oh like you one to talk," he said, gaining a glare from Twilight. "Very funny Spike, now let's go."
A short while later, Twilight and Spike were walking around ponyville, saying good morning to the various residents. Spike stopped as he saw two poniese walk towards them, Twilight saw them too and smiled. "Applejack, Apple bloom, good morning," Twilight said with a smile. Applejack smiled and walked towards the princess. "Morning Twilight." Applejack said and tilted her hat, Apple bloom jumping right behind her. "What are you doing this morning?" Applejack asked.
"Oh me and Spike are just running some errands," Twilight said to her friend. "So what about you? It's rare to see you and Apple bloom out in town doing the mornings." Applejack smiled at Twilight. "Well you see Twilight," Applejack started before pulling out a letter and gave it to Twilight.
"Last week I got a letter from one of my cousins, he said that he would come and visit us, it's been a very long time since he's been in town, and as a matter of fact, Apple Bloom have never met him, so I decided to bring her along so she could meet him." Twilight read the letter over a few times. "Applejack, what this about 'need time to look over ancient papers'?" Twilight asked confused.
"Oh right, you don't know," Applejack said and took the letter. "My cousin isn't like most in our family, he's an archaeologist and explore."
Twilight looked stunned at Applejack statement. She looked at her friend an extra time. "But I thought all members of the Apple-family were farmers?" Twilight said. "Well, that is mostly the case, but there are a few that aren't farmers." Applejack told Twilight.
Twilight seemed to think a little, "what's your cousins name? Maybe I've read about him." She asked, hoping he was a famous archaeologist. "His names Apple Whip." Applejack said. Twilight couldn't recognize the name. "I've never heard of him, but I would love to meet him, if you would introduce him." Applejack smile, "I would be honored Twilight." The two said their goodbyes and went on.
Twilight and Spike soon arrived at the local bakery: Sugarcube corner, inside they found a pink mare with a dark pink puffy mane the resembled cotton candy. She was currently making a gingerbread house out of cupcakes, complete with cupcake ponies and foals.
"And then a nice little doggy," she said and placed a cupcake with frosting shaped like a dog, the mare took a pair of mittens on and turned around towards an oven and took ten dozens of cupcakes with frosting in different colors out.
Spike looked shocked at the mare, "how did Pinkie fit all those cupcakes inside the oven?" Spike said wide eyed, Twilight just rolled her eyes. "Spike, I thought you knew not to question Pinkie." Twilight told him with a giggled.
Pinkie then placed one dozen next to her cupcake gingerbread house, before taking out some boxes and packed them. As she moved the boxes over to a stack that was the same size as a house, she saw Twilight and Spike standing nearby.
Twilight giggled at the sight in front of her, "wow Pinkie, you sure are busy today," Twilight said and Pinkie gave Twilight a big smile, which grew even bigger as Twilight got closer. "Hey Twilight!".
The two smiled at Pinkies antics and looked around the bakery. "So, are the Cakes out?" Twilight asked as Pinkie moved towards the counter, "yeah, Mr. And Ms. Cake had a lot of orders," Pinkie said and looked at the stack of boxes, "so the last 10 minutes have been busy."
Twilight then looked over at the boxes, "I guess it's only Pinkie who could get all that done in 10 minutes?" Twilight thought amazed and gave the huge stack a second look.
"So where are the cakes? Are they sick or something?" Twilight asked. "Yeah, Mr. Cake got the flue so Ms. Cake took the twins to visit her mother in Baltimare," Pinkie said and got another 10 boxes of cupcakes done. Twilight then watched her friend bring the cupcakes outside, "do you need any help?" Twilight asked but Pinkie just waved her off, "not at all silly." Pinkie said with a smile and placed a new batch of cupcake in the stove, "I've done this many times before," Pinkie then returned to her cupcake/gingerbread house.
"Ok Pinkie," Twilight said with a smile and small giggle, "but don't forget that you promised to help me organize the castle later." Twilight then turn around as Pinkie waved goodbye.
Meanwhile, as Twilight was enjoying her peaceful day in ponyville, Princess Celestia was going through some ancient relics. She and Princess Luna had an impotent job to do in a forgotten basement: cleaning.
At the moment, Princess Luna was taking a stack of old books and placing them in bookshelf's. While also coughing from dust clouds in the air. "Sister, I must say, Star swirl may have been many things, but organized was certainly not one of them," Luna said as she placed the last book on its shelf.
Princess Celestia was currently sweeping the floor, "I know Luna," Celestia said, she then took a dustpan with her magic, "but we need to get this place in order," she said as she swept some dust of the floor.
Luna then found and old picture frame, which was covered with so much dust that she couldn't see the picture at all, she then began to clean it, as she saw the picture, Luna soon began to giggle. "What's so funny Luna?" Celestia asked and walked over to Luna, "this sister," Luna said and showed the picture to Celestia, who couldn't help but giggle at the picture too.
On the picture was Celestia, Luna and a young gray colt with a long beard, a cape filled with stars that was too big for the foal and a hat with bells on it, the hat was also way too big for him.
"I had almost forgotten that incident," Celestia said and tried to hold back a giggle. "Yes, Starswirle had a hard time turning himself back," Luna said and snickered a little, "remember when he turned you into an old mare?" Luna asked and looked at Celestia, who didn't look all that amused by the memory.
"Your flank was so big." Luna said and held her hoofs as far apart as she could, Luna then began to giggle from the look on Celestia's face, Celestia in turn then smirked. "Well," Celestia said and Luna's giggles stopped, "how about when he turned you into a baby, and we needed to be placed you in a daycare?" Now it was Celestia's turn to giggle.
Once Celestia was done giggling, she took the picture, "we should get back to cleaning," she then placed the picture on a shelf, once she had let go of the picture with her magic, did the shelf brake.
Celestia and Luna stood in chock as everything on the broken shelf fell down. As the things fell down, they created a huge dust cloud. Once the dust cloud had lifted, could Celestia and Luna finally see how much had fallen down.
In front of them, was a pile of what looked like junk, the pile was twice their own height and three times as wide, as the royal sisters looked on, Luna turned her head to Celestia, "I am NOT cleaning that up," Luna said and turned around.
"Luna! Get back here!" Celestia said, then both of the royal sisters heard something metallic hit the floor. Luna and Celestia then turned around and saw a rectangle box made out of gold, the gold box was decorated with strange and mysterious symbols. On the front was a unicorn head along with a bird wing left of the head and a bat wing on the right side. Luna picked up the box with her magic, the box felt heavy to lift, it felt like it weighted the same as a full grown horse.
Luna began to study the box.
"Sister, do you have any idea to what this is?" Luna asked and tried to open the box, but found herself unable to do so. "I don't know Luna, I've never seen it before," Celestia said and took the box, she then got surprised by how much it weighted, Celestia tried to open it, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make the lid open up.
Luna and Celestia then used the next hour to try and open the mysterious box, but no matter what they did, were they unable to make the lid move at all.
Luna then entered the room. With her, she had a box behind her, "are you sure this will work sister?" Luna asked and pulled out a bottle from the box. "I don't know Luna," Celesstia said and took over the bottle. "But this is something Star swirl wanted to test, maybe he put a spell on the box in order to test this." Celestia said before taking cover behind the junk pile from earlier.
"Sister, are you sure we need to take cover?" Luna asked and joined Celestia behind the pile. Celestia had taken an army helmet on her head and was looking over the pile. "Luna, have you forgotten the last time Starswirle used a untested invention?" Celestia asked and saw Luna pale a little.
Celestia didn't react to Luna paling, all she did was placing another army helmet on her sisters head, "ready Luna?" Celestia asked and took cover, "ready" Luna responded and placed her front hooves on her ears.
Celestia then let a single drop of the liquid fall on the box, once the drop reached the box, an explosion happened. The heat that came from the explosion, turned the two sisters manes into afros and small pieces of debris fell around them.
While some debrief were still falling, moved Luna past the barricade, she was surprised to see a small smoking crater where the box had been a few seconds ago. Luna used her magic to see if anything was left inside the crater. "I doubt anything would remain after that." Luna said but soon got wide eyed.
"I cannot believe this," Luna said and got a shocked look on her face, "what is it Luna?" Celestia asked as she joined her sister. "It's the box," Luna answered and pulled it out of the smoke, "it doesn't have as much as a scratch."
Celestia looked baffled on. "But how? The bottles label said that this stuff is able to permanently kill a Timber wolf...." Celestia said and took the box. She looked at it confused. "How is that, that box isn't damaged? Luna shrugged. "I have no idea sister." Luna told Celestia and began to think, "I doubt you and I will ever be able to open this box."
The two sisters stared at the box until Luna got an idea. "Perhaps Twilight could figure out how to open it," Luna said, Celestia seemed to think about it. "Perhaps, she might be able to do it or maybe one of her friends would." Soon, Celestia and Luna got the box ready to be sent. It didn't take long for Celestia to send the box away with magic.
As the Box vanished, the two sisters felt a chill run down the necks and backs. "Sister, did you feel that?" Luna asked scared. She looked towards Celestia and saw that she was scared too. "Yes Luna, I felt it too," Celestia said, looking around the room. "But what it was I don't know."
The two looked at the spot the box was a few seconds ago with worry.
"Do you think we made a mistake by sending the box to Twilight?" Luna asked, getting a feeling of dread. "I don't know Luna," Celestia said, before turning towards the door. "But I think this is enough cleaning for today." The two slowly left the room.
Back in ponyville, Twilight and Spike were making their way back to the castle, when suddenly Twilight stopped, she could feel a sudden chill run all the way down her neck, closely followed by a sense of dread. Spike walked into Twilight and fell down. "Ow, what's the matter Twilight?" Spike asked and got back up on his feet. "Sorry Spike, I just got this... chill," Twilight said confused.
As the two got ready to walk again, Spike stopped up and looked sick. Twilight looked at him worried, "Spike? What's wrong?" She asked concerned.
Soon, Spiked belch green flames that transformed into the golden box with a letter attached to it. "We got to find a different way to get mail from the princesses." Spike said as he left the room with a sick look on his face. Twilight took the box with her magic and opened the letter. "It's from the princess."
As Spike went to his room, entered Twilight her library and got herself ready to read the letter.
My dear Twilight, I send you this mysterious that me and my sister, Princess Luna, found in Star swirl The Bearded's study, we were unable to open the box and hoped that perhaps you would have more luck than us. The best of luck for you, yours sincerely Princess Celestia.
As Twilight finished the letter, she turned her look to the box. "It doesn't seem that hard to open." The magic aura around the box intensified as she tried to open it. But was unable to do so.
As Twilight finished the letter, she turned her look to the box. "It doesn't seem that hard to open." The magic aura around the box intensified as she tried to open it. But was unable to do so.
For the next hour, Twilight had tried everything she could think about to open the box. She was currently placing it on top of a small pedestal and looked fiercely at the box. "Well, if I can't open the box... I'll just blow the top off of it."
As she was getting ready, the door behind her slammed open. "Hey Twilight!" Pinkie yelled as she and Spike appeared in the doorway. Twilight got shocked that the magic she had stored shot out of her horn shot out.
When the magic hit a bookshelf, it bounced off it and flew around the room. Pinkie, Spike and Twilight avoided the magic beam several times as it flew around the room. The beam flew out the door and hit a vase, giving it wings before it flew away.
"Pinkie! Haven't we talked about this? You need to knock before entering when I'm alone!" Twilight told the pink party and walked over to the box. Pinkie watched as Twilight struggled with the box. "Sorry Twilight." Pinkie said as she popped up next to Twilight, "but what are you doing? Weren't we supposed to organize the castle?"
Twilight stopped pulling at the top of the box and turned her look towards Pinkie. "I'm sorry Pinkie, but I need to cancel that..." Twilight said and pulled even harder at the box. "Celestia sent me this box and I just can't open it." Twilight placed the box on the floor, before moving towards a stack of books.
"Let's see... I think I have a book on opening locks somewhere around here." Twilight said and looked at a tall stack of books. "Done!" Pinkie said, Twilight turned around and saw that Pinkie held the box in her hoof, the lit of it hanging down the side. "What? b-but how? I've tried everything I could?"
Pinkie just shrugged at Twilight, "it wasn't really that hard, I simply just lifted the lid, like I do with every other box or jars." As the three looked at the box, black smoke slowly rose from inside of the box, gathering into a dark cloud near the ceiling.
Pinkie, Spike and Twilight looked at the cloud while a menacing female laugh filled the room, meanwhile Twilight got the biggest shivers she had ever had in her life.
Meanwhile, as Twilight, Pinkie and Spike were dealing with the laughing smoke, inside a train headed towards ponyville, a dark red pony with a red and green mane, a sand colored vest, a down under hat and a whip strapped to his hip along with a apple shaped whip cutie mark, looked out the window and saw ponyville in the distance.
"It's been a long time since I've been here." He said with a thick Australian accent, he then placed his hoof in a bag next to him and found a picture, he looked at it and smiled.
The picture had a younger version of Applejack, a big red stallion with orange mane and a yoke around his neck, an much older green mare holding an infant in her hooves, they all were standing next to a younger version of the pony himself.
"I wonder if anything changed."
He then looked outside and saw the crystal castle. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. "Eeyup, something have defiantly changed."
