The Timeless Hollow

Chapters

Chapter 1: A lunar visit
Chapter 2: The journey begins
Chapter 3: The Everfree forest
Chapter 4: The Ancient Castle
Chapter 5A: The Timeless Hollow
Chapter 5B: The Timeless Hollow
Chapter 6: The Pond
Chapter 7: The Spark

Chapter 1: A lunar visit

The Timeless Hollow

There comes a time in every fillies life when, against her elders wishes she's bound to do something so brazen and outrageous you have to wonder what was going through their heads ~ Princess Celestia

"Psssst" there it was again, that infuriating hissing noise that kept escaping Diamond Tiara's lips as she struggled to get Appleblooms attention, but it wasn't going to work this time.
"PSSSSST," it became more insistant this time, more annoying too.

Applebloom chanced a glance to the desk near hers and briefly caught Diamond Tiara's eyes, her antagonist smirked and hastily tossed a scrunched up note across the tables, the note bounced off of Appleblooms pencil and knocked it to the floor with a loud clack, gaining the attention of everyone in the room, along with their teacher Ms. Cheerilee who glared in their direction, her expression one of frustration more than anger.

"What in Equestria could you two fillies be gossiping about now?" She groaned, obviously used to their antics, which didn't make the disruption of the lesson any less bothersome.
"Nothin' at all ma'am!" Applebloom muttered scooping up the paper quickly before her teacher could get a hoof on it.
She knew very well that the note probably contained something mean about the fact that she still didn't have her cutie mark and wasn't eager to have the teacher read it out loud.

It was a sore subject for all young foals, not having your cutie mark meant you still didn't know what your special talent was in life, and generally caused you to be the center of a lot of teasing.
Ms. Cheerilee seemed to understand though, with a flare of her nostrils she shook her head and turned back to the chalkboard.

Applebloom blushed slightly as she heard a couple foals giggling behind her, namely Silver Spoon, one of Diamonds little minions who followed her around and doted on her. The teasing didn't bother her all that much, but it was still disheartening all the same. Things had to change.

"Argh, that girl is SO annoying! Makes me wanna use her as a half pipe, I bet I could do some crazy awesome tricks off her face!"
Class was out and Applebloom stood near the schoolhouse with her two friends, an orange filly with a shock of messy dark purple hair, Scootaloo, and a more composed but no less exuberant white filly sporting a lush curly purple and pink mane, Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo revved her short wings for a moment then zoomed a donut out on her well worn scooter, to set an example of what she might do, if given the chance.
"Cause that'll go down well, what with her father probably getting all huffy and stuff, I bet he'd even complain to Rainbow Dash about you." Sweetie Belle giggled behind a hoof as Scootaloo came to an abrupt halt and fell head over hoof off the scooter. "D-dont even joke about that! Do you even know how hard it is to get that pony to notice you?!" She closed her eyes and sighed heavily as Sweetie continued to chuckle at her friends expense.
"Well, she'd certainly notice you then."
"Haha so not funny Sweetie." Scootaloo moaned, not enjoying the idea of that.

"Aw c'mon now girls, this ain't the time for squabbling, we got a sleepover to be planning!" Applebloom chimed in cheerfully and patted Scootaloo's back, "if we wanna get our cutie marks then we gotta have lots of things planned out right?"
"Things?" Sweetie Belle cocked her head to the side, her sparkling green eyes curious. "Yeah...things! I dunno what, but we always come up with sumthin' "
"Like running over anything that annoys us?" Scootaloo's mood immediately brightened and she batted her wings again, ready to ride at a moments notice.
"I think she meant more along the lines of breaking things and scaring people, all in the name of our cutie marks Scoots," Sweetie Belle put a hoof to her mouth thoughtfully, "sadly that's pretty much all we've accomplished over the years..."
"Pft, all we've accomplished was being AWESOME you mean." Scootaloo flared her wings and laughed, "at least that's what I've done."

"There ain't nuthin' stopping us from doing even more awesome things neither! The Cutie Mark Crusaders don't know the meaning of defeat! We laugh at the idea of failure."

A loud shout interrupted Appleblooms small speech and all three of them turned their gaze over to a smaller colt who was arguing with some larger boys.
By the looks of it the larger boys had taken his wooden sword and he was trying to get it back, to little avail.
"Something wrong Pip?" Applebloom trotted over to the scene and put a hoof up to stop the small spotted colt from leaping on her, so fervently was he jumping for his toy.
"Eh, what?" Pip's eyes widened and he stopped mid bound landing with a thump on the soft grass, causing the other boys to chuckle. The ringleader a unicorn, was using his horn to magically keep the sword away from him.
"Oh you know, the usual" Pip smiled brightly at the three fillies as they approached him, he might've been small but Pip was the pluckiest colt the three knew of, nothing ever got him down, he could be a bit of a scaredy doo but he more than made up for it with his indomitable energy and positive thinking.

"We just figured we'd uh...help him out with his jumping skills y'know? Since Pip here wants to become an adventurer like his dad." The ringleader unicorn who went by the name of Lightning Rod grinned at them then waved the wooden sword around a bit for effect.
"Almost sounds like bullying to me," Sweetie Belle pursed her lips and frowned at Lightning who shrugged his broad shoulders, "to you maybe, but what the opinion of some blank flank to me?" This comment caused his friends to laugh and Sweetie Belle to glare at him angrily, her small horn flickered a bit, a detail lost to the bullies but not her friends.
"Calm down now Sweetie" Applebloom warned under her breath, well aware of what a unicorn could do with magic if she let her emotions get the best of her.
"Go for it!" Scootaloo hissed, her face splitting into a huge expecting grin.
"We'd go easier on the kid if he wasn't some worthless blankflank as well y'know." Lightning laughed again and raised the sword out of Pips reach.

Sweetie Belle's horn flashed brightly at the latest blankflank comment and there was a huge popping noise that left everyone's ears ringing, along with the scent of burnt hair.
When the bright flash died down Pip noticed his sword on the ground and pick it up in his mouth gleefully. Lightning Rod was no where to be seen.
"Oh dear, where'd you whisk him off to now?!" Applebloom's voice took on a tone of worry as she scanned the schoolyard and playground.
Sweetie Belle shook her head as her eyes went crisscross, an after effect of using magic that one wasn't used to yet. The top of her mane was blackened a bit and smoking, another after effect of using teleportation magic.
"Who cares!? that was AWESOME!" Scootaloo threw her hooves up and cheered for her friend who smiled shakily and then glared at the remaining two colts who backed up a bit.
"Try to remember this next time you feel like picking on someone you nitwits," she growled in her squeaky, not at all threatening voice.
The two colts eyes widened and it was obvious they had had seen enough and wanted nothing else to do there so they took off without another word.

"Fanks a lot guysh!" Pip shouted through a mouthful of sword, noticing the fillies concerned looks he glanced down then spit the sword out bashfully, "ahaha, i mean thank you!"
"It was no problem at all Pip!" Sweetie Belle smile brightly then bonked hooves with scootaloo who was having a hell of a time thinking of the places Lightning could've ended up.
After a couple minutes of chatting Pip made his exit, mentioning something about adventures and baddies who needed "a good whomping," along with the possibility of his schoolbag being left behind in the classroom. This left the Cutie Mark Crusaders to think of plans for their sleep over.

"Well if that's the plan then I think we're in for an awesome night of crusading!" Scootaloo exclaimed after a short while, her enthusiasm was infectious and the other two felt themselves get a bit more excited about the coming adventure filled night that was awaiting them as they took off to their tree house fort.

As they left the schoolyard however, two other fillies exited the school building, intrigued expressions on their faces.
"So those three dorks are holding a sleepover huh?" Diamond Tiara's round blue eyes lit up maliciously and her friend Silver Spoon frowned a bit at the display. "You have plans I'm guessing?"
Diamond rubbed her two front hooves together and chuckled menacingly, "you bet I do! I think its time for a bit of disruption, dont you?"

Silver Spoon adjusted her glasses and sighed, not eager to do anything too physical, even if it meant ruining the Cutie Mark Crusaders night. "Whatever you want to do Diamond"
Diamond cackled at that, "you're completely right, we do what I want to do!"
The two of them hurried off, eager to set their sinister plans in motion right as Pip popped back out of the schoolhouse, holding the bag he'd forgotten.

"Well that just seems downright awful!" He exclaimed, not pleased about this development.
"Bloomin' meanies mean to ruin those nice girls party! As a hero of all things right in Equestria I cannot allow these sinister plans to come to fruition." With a chomp he bit down on the hilt of his sword and waved it about for a moment, then was gone.

Later that night, in the relative safety of their headquarters, a somewhat newly refurbished old tree that Appleblooms older sister had used as a kid, the Cutie Mark Crusaders started discussing what possible things they could do to figure out what exactly their special talents were.
"How about spies?" Scootaloo pondered, eyes bright with excitement, "I totally bet we could be spies!"
"Nah, we tried that already remember?" Sweetie Belle shook her head quickly and shot that down before Scootaloo got any crazy ideas, "we tried sneaking into Pinkie's place to learn about what she had planned for Rarity's birthday party last year but you started eating the cake there and Pinkie came at us screaming about intruders and firing that blasted party cannon of hers."
"It took me weeks to get all the frosting out of my ears, and I was sneezing confetti fer days," Applebloom grimaced, obviously not remembering that night fondly.
"Ohhh yeahhh... I remember that, the cake wasn't even worth it."

"We could always be mailponies or something I guess..." Sweetie Belle scratched her head and shrugged, "I mean, we tried it that one time with Derpy but who knows if it was us that ended up causing the mail to explode or her, it might not have been all our fault."
"No... I'm pretty sure it was our fault actually, I distinctly remember putting my mail in the bag along with some of those crazy fireworks Rainbow had been saving for her performance at the summer sun celebration." Scootaloo giggled at the memory of fireworks and paper exploding around all around them as they rode a small air balloon attached to derpy as the mailmare flew around Ponyville doing her deliveries.
"Poor Derpy" Applebloom sighed, "this time she really didn't know what went wrong, I never found out if they salvaged all that mail either..."
"Well regardless, we are NOT cut out to be mailponies at all."
The three of them nodded in concordance then let out a group sigh. Exhausted for ideas.

"Gettin' mighty stormy out there by the look of things," Applebloom trotted over to the window and watched the nearby apple trees sway in the wind. "Not a cloud in sight, just the big ol' moon starin' down at us."
" A clear windy night? I guess that means Princess Luna must be doing her rounds up at Canterlot, making sure the city is safe." Scootaloo joined her friend and stared out the window at the huge full moon in the sky.
"I wonder if she'll come down to Ponyville again this year for her festival, its not too far off now." Sweetie Belle bumped Scootaloo to the side and nudged her way in between them to look out the window as well.

There was a huge gust of wind that shook the window and forced it to slam shut with a loud bang, startling the fillies back onto their rumps in surprise. Strangely enough the gust of wind managed to get inside the tree house and swirled around them, rustling the huge map of Ponyville they had and their manes.
"You'd be surprised at how close your Princess actually is," a low and calm voice spoke up from the shadows near the corners of the house.
All three fillies eyes widened with shock as they whirled around and were greeted by the sight of Princess Luna stepping out from a swirling black gate made of shadows, her hooves made loud clopping noises as she strode gracefully across the wooden floor, the sound magnified by how quiet the three had become.

She came to a stop near them then looked down at the fillies, a small warm smile inching its way onto her lips.
"You've nothing to be afraid of, my loyal subjects, I want nothing more than to speak to you."
"S-speak to us?" Applebloom gulped audibly and Luna nodded, ignoring the small amount of fear in the fillies voice.
"Indeed, for I have a request...something I believe only you can accomplish, it is of the utmost importance, and I'm afraid that we have very little time."

Chapter 2: The journey begins

The journey begins

"Can you see anything?" Silver Spoon groaned, struggling to speak as she tried adjusting her stance, not an easy task with Diamond Tiara standing on her back.
The pink filly craned her neck and peered through the window of the Cutie Mark Crusaders fort, not really able to see anything from where she was.
"Not really..." she hissed, still trying to see inside, and keep her balance. "I think they're just talkin- OH PONYFEATHERS!" She stopped mid sentence and fell off of Silver who looked around then at her, startled and alarmed.
"Hurry" Diamond grabbed her hoof and yanked her away from the window quickly, "wait wha-" Silver started protesting as her glasses threatened to fly off but Diamond crammed a hoof in her mouth and shook her head as the window was tossed open and they heard a voice come through it.
"Gettin' mighty stormy out there, by the look of things."
Judging from the drawl in the voice it was probably Applebloom who had opened the window just to look outside, causing both Diamond and Tiara to sigh with relief.

Some more voices were heard and Diamond shrugged her shoulders, "it sounded like they were going over their past failures to me." she giggled slightly, a somewhat cruel lilt catching her voice.
"Celestia knows they've had a lot of those." Silver snickered alongside her as she adjusted her glasses again.
Suddenly the window slammed shut as a mighty gust of wind picked up, ruffling both of their manes ferociously and causing the tree that the fort was on to shake slightly.
"What in Equestria is going on now? There isnt supposed to be any storms tonight." Diamond got up on her hind legs and peeked into the fort cautiously.
Her whole body froze and she went rigged, causing Silver to frown and poke her flank once, "what do you see now?"
"Uhmm...Princess Luna."
"What?!" Silver gasped and clambered up as best she could, she'd never admit it to anyone but she was a huge fan of the darker princess, something about the mare was so...regal, and beautiful. She wasnt as comfortable around others as her sister, Celestia, but that was part of her allure.
"Seems like Luna has a task for them," Diamond whispered, inching closer to the window.

Inside the treehouse the hush that had fallen from Luna's arrival continued as all three fillies stared in awe at their princess.
Luna stared back at them, unsure on how to proceed, a thousands years on the moon had made her less than accustom to talking to other ponies. She looked around nervously then gave them a strange lopsided smile.
"Are you three....quite alright?"
Scootaloo was the first to get her nerve back and she nodded quickly, "well we were kinda waiting for you to tell us what exactly you wanted, you did just barge in here you know."
"Now thats just rude scoots! She's a princess!" Applebloom gasped, shocked at the ease Scootaloo had with being snarky.
The exchange only made Luna chuckle though and she held up a hoof, "It is quite alright Applebloom, we- that is to say, I enjoy the ability to speak freely with my citizens, and I'd ask you to do the same."
"Well if that's the case then how about you give us an idea on what it is you want us to do." Sweetie belle finally spoke up in her warm squeaky voice that invited comfort and conversation.
Luna nodded curtly then took a seat near them, folding her wings behind her back and looking a bit more comfortable, "there is something I wish for you to recover for me, from the Everfree forest. It is an object of considerable power and I very much want it back in my possession."
"You want us...to get it? Why can't you get it?" Scootaloo cocked her head to the side, unsure of what was going on.
Luna's expression darkened slightly and she shook her head, looking glum, "I'm afraid that I cannot, the object that I seek is deep within the bowels of the ancient royal castle. The castle my sister and I used to occupy before our....differences came into light. There is nothing for me there but overwhelming sadness."
"Then why not ask the grownups?"
"I feel that this journey is one that the young should embark on, if I'm not mistaken the three of you are still on your search for your own special talents yes?"
There was a begrudging confirmation from the three girls who looked none too pleased about the question.
"What better way to discover yourselves and strengthen your bonds of friendship than with an adventure?"
"But what if our sisters find out we're missing?" Applebloom mused, deep in thought, "or Rainbow dash!" Scootaloo gasped soon afterwords, "wait...Rainbow would think that's cool, nevermind!"
"Celestia and I will assure them that you are quite alright."
"Oh so Celestia knows about this too?" Sweetie Belle looked a little relieved at the thought of that but Luna looked around nervously and tried passing a terrible poker face by them.
"...Celestia doesn't know does she?"
"No...she does not, but i would inform her immediately if anything regarding your families came up."

The three girls huddled together across the tree fort and began discussing this offer.
"I'm game" Scootaloo blurted before anyone could say anything, Sweetie Belle giggled at that and Applebloom facehoofed in exasperation, "oh of course, well... ignoring Scootaloo, what do you think Sweetie?"
The marshmallow white filly pursed her lips then glanced back at Luna who waved a hoof, "I don't know... It sounds fun to me, the cutie mark crusaders aren't supposed to fear anything! All in the name of our cutie marks right?"
"I suppose..."
Before Applebloom could continue though the door to their tree fort burst open and Pip stumbled over the last step, his trusty sword still in his mouth.
He saw the three of them and cheered then looked over at Luna and immediately his eyes went wide and the cheer got cut in half.
Luna stared at him sheepishly and almost looked like she was blushing, "good evening young Pipsqueak. How are you doing?"
Pip gulped then bowed down low, "just fine milady, I came here with an urgent message for the girls."
"Well then, by all means" Luna gestured a hoof and tried to not appear so awkward.
"Applebloom!" Pip gasped, remember his message, "I overheard Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon earlier, they were talking about crashing your sleepover here, thought I'd come to save the day and whatnot."
"Oh?" Luna blurted before Applebloom could respond, when everyone looked at her she pointed a hoof to the window and opened it using her horn. "I was wondering who these two were"
Her horn began glowing brighter and everyone heard a loud squeal from outside the window as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon got pulled into the fort effortlessly."
"HEY! let me down this instant!" Diamond wailed, kicking her legs and struggling against the magic.
"Oh dear..." Silver sighed, holding onto her glasses as she turned in circles, suspended in the air.
"Friends of yours?" Luna asked as she put the two girls down gently.
"Not exactly," Scootaloo scowled staring at Diamond who refused to make eye contact.
"Just classmates with a mean streak" Sweetie Belle spoke up to keep her more abrasive from saying something she'd regret.
"Perfect! Now you have three more companions that could join you!" Luna beamed brightly, excited by the idea.
"Wait what?! No way I'm joining these dorks!" Diamond Tiara exclaimed as she picked herself up from the ground looking extremely displeased.
Pip however looked incredibly interested, "join them? like... on an ADVENTURE!?" Judging from his voice he could barely contain his excitement, this is what he'd been waiting for.

Luna sat them all down around her and explained exactly what she needed, Pip agreed to participate immediately much to Scootaloo's glee.
Sweetie Belle had her issues but agreed to go so long as Luna promised to explain it all to her sister, Applebloom quickly gave in after that.
Diamond Tiara wanted nothing to do with them but Silver Spoon kept staring at Luna and mentioned that they couldn't exactly turn down a request given directly to them by a princess.
"I don't see why we would have to go with a bunch of blankflanks is all" Diamond moaned, her petulance showing her voice.
"Your only options are going of your own volition or me making you go, think of it that way." Luna winked at the snooty filly who scowled back at her.
"Honestly I don't think we'd be too upset if those two stayed behind..." Applebloom mumbled, barely audible.
"I know I couldn't care less. Maybe they'll get eaten in the forest!" Scootaloo's eyes brightened at the thought which caused Diamond to balk and Silver to sigh heavily.
Luna gave them a couple moments to talk it out, not that it helped much, but eventually Diamond Tiara gave in, knowing full well that she was gonna be forced along anyways.
"As a sign of goodwill I'll allow you to travel through my shadow gate directly to Zecora's cottage, she'll be able to help you from there." Luna flapped her mighty wings conjuring up gusts of warm wind and her horn shone again as the shadow from the corners of the room congregated near them then lifted themselves off the ground to create a hazy doorway.
"You talked to Zecora about this? You really thought it through huh?" Pip snagged his sword up off the ground and slid it into the belt he often used to hold it, so he could speak easier.
Zecora has been nothing but a great help to me, when I came to her about this problem it was she who suggested I ask you to go. She has great confidence in you."
The next couple minutes were filled with everyone getting anything they thought they'd need, Applebloom tied some food up in a bag which she then tied to a stick, Sweetie Belle got their crusading capes and tied them to her friends and Scootaloo simply folded up her scooter.
Diamond sulked near a corner while Silver Spoon peppered Luna with questions, the princess was not used to the attention however and mostly just mumbled shy answers or avoided them altogether.

"So what are we looking for exactly? You explained that its in the ancient castle that the adults found the Elements of Harmony, but what is it."
Luna thought about the question for a moment then answered, "as for its shape I cannot say, its been known to change from time to time and from bearer to bearer. What you will need to do is move beyond the grand hall in the castle and down into the central garden. From there you'll have entered a hollow, the way forwards will be easy enough to see from there. Everything after that is up to you brave six ponies."
"awright then, lets get outta here" Applebloom lifted her hoof and her two friends bopped their hooves together, joined quickly by little Pip who cheered as well.
The four of them dashed through the gate and were gone.
Silver turned to Diamond who grumbled something and rolled her eyes. "Its ok diamond, I'll be here the whole time," she mumbled softly. The pink filly glanced at her for a moment and didn't say anything but instead nodded slightly then was gone.
"Good luck young one" Luna called as Silver adjusted her glasses one last time before stepping into the gate.

The gate itself was a bit underwhelming, but cool nonetheless, it was like stepping into the shade on a hot day, the air around them got colder and they could see their breathe as little white puffs of air. To the sides was just black space and in front of them was a white light, exactly like a tunnel, a couple moments later and they were standing outside of Zecora's cottage, just beyond the limit of the Everfree forest.
After the three of them Pip popped out, lost his balance and tumbled slightly, he managed to get up and scoot to the side as Diamond and Silver stepped through the gate which then closed without any hesitation.
With perfect timing Zecora's door swung open and the friendly shaman-esque zebra stepped out.
"Ah young foals, welcome to the start, the beginning of the journey on which you embark."
"Evenin' miss Zecora" Applebloom bowed politely and smiled brightly.
"We were told that you could help us?" Sweetie Belle asked, peering into the cottage curiously.
"That I can little one, many a brew i have, or perhaps a potion." She reached her head into the satchel around her waist and pulled out a small bottle with dark blue liquid in it.
"Should you find yourselves in need of help, pour this liquid near what it is that might make you yelp."
She handed the bottle off to Sweetie Belle who put it in her own satchel.
"Thanks a lot Zecora!" Scootaloo said excitedly as she revved her wings with anticipation.
"Yeah thanks a ton" Sweetie Belle did a little hop and chased after the orange filly.
Zecora smiled and patted each of them on the head as they passed by her and beyond her cottage, into the Everfree forest.
"Lets go then Diamond" Silver put a hoof on her friends shoulder then nodded when she looked over at her. "I'm sure your father will understand, he'd want you to listen to a royal princess."
Diamond Tiara heaved a large sigh then squared her little shoulders and took off after the group, with Silver right behind her.

And that was the start of their journey

Chapter 3: The Everfree forest

The Everfree forest

Intimidating, not a word Sweetie Belle often used to describe the places she normally went but it was a fitting word for where they were.
The Everfree forest, a cluster of wild growth, tall trees and mysterious animals that always seemed to just stay out of eyesight, flitting from the edges of vision then vanishing in a blink.
They'd only been travelling for half an hour at the most but already night was in full swing, making progress painfully slow, even Luna's magnificent moon failed to reach its light all the way past the thick foliage.
"Just a moment, give me a second here" she asked, coming to a stop. Everyone behind her crowded around as she closed her eyes and scrunched her face up in concentration, her horn flickered weakly then sparked and ignited with a bright light.
"That spell training Twilight has been giving me is paying off finally!" She beamed, pleased with herself.
"You're like a firefly lantern!" Pip exclaimed loudly, his excitement getting the best of him. "At least we can see now...well kinda." Scootaloo squinted her eyes and tried peering through the dense shrubs.
"Can we get moving? The less time we have to spend inside this nasty place the better." Diamond Tiara sniffed loudly then kept walking ahead of them, with Silver Spoon following her footsteps closely.
"Well shucks, looks like someone is eager for an adventure" Applebloom giggled then nudged Sweetie Belle slightly, to get her moving.

They continued along the path that lead directly into the heart of the forest, unwilling to venture too far off in fear of what could be lurking there.
"Now I know Scootaloo doesn't know her way around this place, but do you Sweetie?" Applebloom looked around at their surroundings, a bit of a frown on her face. Scootaloo stopped riding her scooter for a moment and sighed heavily, "aw why you gotta write me off like that? Maybe I know this place just as well as Zecora or somepony else!" Her annoyance caused Sweetie to chuckle and pat her head, "we know that's not true Scoots, you're a chicken when it comes to dark places."
"AM NOT!"
"y'are too, ya big ol' chicken!" Applebloom flapped her hooves and laughed out loud, a charming peal of happiness that pierced the gloom of the forest, if only momentarily.
"Well who wouldn't be nervous in this place?!" Scootaloo flitted her wings in annoyance then zoomed ahead of them a bit in a huff.
"I don't actually know my way through here that well, to answer your question." Sweetie Belle brushed aside a branch then shone her horn to the side a bit, "I imagine that if we keep on this trail it'll eventually lead us to Steven the serpent though, the one Rarity helped out all that time ago. Maybe he'll have directions."
"Or maybe he'll just eat us," Diamond grumbled as she trotted past them, her mouth a straight rigged line of unhappiness.
"Steven would never eat a pony!" Sweetie squeaked, shocked at the very idea, "he's a strict vegetarian! Er... or so I'm told..."
"I'm not going to be pleased if he ends up eating us, I hope you know that" Silver Spoon took her glasses off as she walked and cleaned them rigorously then adjusted them just right. "That would just ruin my day."
"I reckon it'd ruin just about anyponies day really..." Applebloom shrugged and sped up to keep pace with Sweetie who was still scouting about, leery of any wild animals that could be nearby.
A few moments later they heard something that resembled Scootaloo shouting with some urgency.
"Uh oh! Sounds like trouble." Sweetie Belle flicked her horn off then sped down the path towards the shouting, with the other four following her closely.

The path spread out rapidly until it was a full on clearing full of shrubs and weed infested grass but no trees. Smack dab in the middle of the clearing was Scootaloo, brandishing her scooter as a weapon at what appeared to be a light blue hazy apparition.
"Fear not Scoots! I shall put this demon into an early grave!" Pip shouted with more gusto than his size would lead anyone to believe as he drew his wooden sword smoothly with his mouth.
He dashed up to Scootaloo who swung her scooter blindly, completely missing the figure and almost clocking Pip in the head.
"Whoa now, the ghost, the ghost!" He ducked away then leapt at the shape which vanished then appeared a couple feet away.
"Away with you now beast! Leave my friend alone." He brandished his sword and swung it around for good measure.
The shape just floated nearby and watched him, as the rest of the group got closer Applebloom could see that it resembled a pony, a stallion to be exact, it was a lot larger than they were but definitely pony in shape.
"That ain't no monster, its a pony!" She exclaimed, screeching to a halt near Scootaloo who was eyeing the shape carefully.
"A...pony?" Diamond scoffed as she stepped a bit closer for a look. "What would a pony be doing he- oh...I guess it does look a bit like a stallion."
The ghostly figure wavered a bit then vanished only to reappear nearer to them. Scootaloo raised her scooter again in defense and Pip bunched his legs up ready to pounce but Sweetie Belle trotted in front of them and directly up to the mysterious shape.
"Hello there," she gave a small bow then smile warmly at it. After a moment it bowed back then waved slowly, greeting them in its own way.
"At the very least it does appear to be quite friendly," Silver Spoon approached it then tried walking past it, further along the path. The ghost made a popping noise then appeared in from of her, blocking her path off.
"Excuse me!" She gasped, not pleased with the rude gesture.
The ghost shook its ethereal head then pointed off to their right.
"Eh..what?" Scootaloo put her scooter down and scratched her head, "its not gonna let us pass?"
"Aw sure it will" Applebloom said, trotting near the ghost who watched her closely, "it jus' don't like Silver."
Without warning the stallion made another popping noise and appeared in front of her this time, once again pointing to the right.
While the ponies were all trying to get by it, Diamond glanced over to the right and noticed a large rock sticking up from the ground. When she approached it she noticed that blue and red flowers were growing around the stone, in a perfect circle.
"Hmmm..." she stopped right next to the rock and looked around, her shrewd eyes looking for something of importance.
Soon enough she noticed something white and dull also poking up from the ground near the flowers.
She dug at it for a moment then gasped quietly when she unearthed it, it appeared to be a bone, a piece of a leg from the looks of it. A quick scan of the area unearthed a couple more of them, all in the vicinity of the stone.
"I wonder..."

"Well I'm honestly flummoxed." Sweetie Belle sighed after her tenth attempt at sneaking past.
"There you go again with those long words, why can't you talk like a normal pony?" Scootaloo plopped down next to her and batted her wings quickly.
"If its a fight you wish for, then its a fight you shall get!" Pip swung his sword around again, this time doing a full circle, losing balance and collapsing head over hoof.
"If it wanted to fight us it would've already you nincompoop" Silver pushed her glasses up her nose and looked around, "where did Diamond go?"
"She wandered off a bit ago," Applebloom gestured over to where Diamond was still poking around a large rock.
The ghostly figure made a softer noise this time, almost like a breathy sigh and pointed to Diamond who was now looking at them.
"I believe I've found the problem, naturally I'm the only one who thought to look where that....thing is pointing." She tilted her head up and sniffed loudly, pleased with herself.
"Yeah yeah, keep talking you stuffy littl-" Scootaloo started before Applebloom managed to cram a hoof in her mouth.
"What exactly did you find Diamond?" Silver stepped near her friend then down at the few bones.
"Wha- Where'd these come from?!" She took a quick step back and her eyes widened with fright. Diamond merely ignored her and nudged the bones around a bit with her nose.
"These belong to that...ghost thing. He was pointing over here cause this is his grave." She gestured to the large rock that the ghost was now sitting on.
"Ok so the dude is dead, what's he want us to do about it?" Scootaloo eyed the ghost then the large rock in confusion.
"Maybe he wants us to take his bones back home?" Sweetie Belle nudged a bone then shrugged.
"Not at all," Diamond moved a new bone over to the pile. then pointed at some rust old armored that she had uncovered.
"This stallion was a warrior pony, he must have died here after a battle against something." She looked up at the ghost who remained silent and unmoving.
"Daddy told me that nothing is more important to a soldier of Equestria than to be put to rest peacefully once his job is done. For better or worse. What this stallion wants is a proper burial. From the looks of things he died right here and he was never laid to rest."

With some quick digging which both Diamond and Silver refused to partake in, Scootaloo and Pip managed to use their respective scooter and sword as crude shovels to quickly dig a sizable hole in which they laid the bones down respectfully.
All the while the ghost watched them and never uttered another sound.
Once they were sure they had found all his bones they covered the hole back up then rolled the stone atop it, to mark the location.
"You can rest now." Diamond said, looking up at the ghost who stared back silently.
"Have a peaceful sleep" Silver added softly, her voice barely audible.
The ghost looked down at them all then bowed again and vanished with a gentle popping noise.
"Now how did you know what was going on there?" Sweetie Belle turned her attention to Diamond who was still staring at the stone thoughtfully, the question seemed to take her by surprise and her eyes widened forcing herself from whatever reverie she was in.
"My father knows quite a few soldiers, he always tells me stories about them and their codes of honor. It's just a perk of being born into class I guess." She scoffed annoyingly then turned back to the grave marker as Scootaloo groaned and zoomed off, with Pip and Applebloom following closely.
"Well...good job" Sweetie sparked her horn up again then trotted after her friends quickly, leaving Diamond alone with Silver.
"Besides..." Diamond muttered quietly.
"Who could leave such a noble stallion to suffer alone, it was only right."
Silver turned back to her friend then shook her head and smiled softly and left without a word.

Finally able to move forwards the group of six left the clearing behind and were quickly swallowed up by the darkness of the forest again.
The trees grew thinner and thinner, being replaced by vines and springy strange plants. After a while the roar of a nearby river became audible and they all let out a sigh of relief.
"If I remember Rainbows story about how they traveled through here, then the river is near the castle itself." Scootaloo hopped off her scooter and folded it up in one motion then flapped her small wings in excitement. "Other than the bridge that she fixed that is."
"Twilight said something about this river being a tactical strong point for the castle should whoever is occupying it get attacked, the bridge too, it makes the castle very difficult to get to." Sweetie Belle dimmed the light coming from her horn then shook her head as her eyes went all googly for a moment.
"Lucky for us, the only thing in that river is a big ol' friendly serpent now though." Applebloom dashed ahead of them a bit then came to a stop at the waters edge.
The river was relatively calm this night, it rushed by the at a steady pace, not fast enough to whip up rapids but it was deep enough that they probably couldn't swim across it with their short legs.
"Lets look for this Stephen guy then." Pip said, taking the lead, "I shall protect you ladies should he become enraged and lash out at us!"
"So long as Scootaloo keeps her mouth shut he shouldn't have a reason to get mad at us." Diamond sneered causing Silver to laugh behind her. "Yeah yeah laugh it up while you can." Scootaloo grumbled, not amused by the comment.

It only took them around ten minutes to come across the huge purple sea serpent who was sleeping near the river bed, his head and upper body resting in the in sand while the rest of him was in the river.
His loud snores shook the ground below the ponies and the gusts of air he expelled almost knocked small Pip right over but he pressed on until he was right up in the serpents face.
"Stevennnnnn" Sweetie Belle called out loudly, tapping his nose with her hoof.
Steven sniffled then blew her away with a small breath, still asleep.
"Wake up you brute!" Diamond shouted next, an annoying tone taking over her voice.
"YO" Scootaloo ran up to him and put all her weight on her front legs then bucked him as hard as she could in the chin with her hind legs.
The result was a loud cracking noise as one of Stevens scales chipped, barely an inch fell off but immediately the serpent was awake and alarmed.
"OH THE PAIN! THE AGONY! THE SHAME OF IT ALL!" He wailed miserably, holding his chin. "Why would you do that?" He sniffled and looked down at the ponies. Once he realized they were visitors he slapped his hands together and cheered, his suffering already forgotten.
"Oh what cute little guests!" He bent down and put his face near them, so close that his extremely fancy mustache threatened to swallow Pip up in the hair.
"What can I do for you cute little ponies?" He flashed his long pearly teeth in a genial grin, eager to help out.
"I'm Rarities little sister, the pony who lent you uh... a spare mustache." Sweetie Belle rubbed the back of her head and sighed at the ridiculousness of the story.
"OH YES" Steven grew excited again and clapped his hands together happily, "I do remember! She was so stylish and helpful, I'll never forget a pony who knows a good mustache when she see's one!"
"Yeah well, we need to get across the river...If you wouldn't mind, we're too little to actually swim its length..."
Stephen looked back at the river then down at the ponies and laughed.
"Of course! It'd be my pleasure to help you out!"
He ducked his body into the water then stuck his head out and gestured at them to hop onto his back which was sticking out of the water like a bridge.
"Hop on!"
The six of them bounced onto his back then enjoyed a short trip across the river and to dry land on the other side.
"We'll be expecting a return trip before long, I do hope we can rely on you." Sweetie Belle gave him a smile that could melt hearts and the serpent nodded with enthusiasm.
"Just say the word, I'll be here in an instant. Be careful now though. The cliffs over there are treacherous!"
"We will, thanks again."
Without another word the six of them were on their way to the ancient royal pony castle.

Chapter 4: The Ancient Castle

The Timeless Hollow

At last they had reached their destination, behind them loomed the foggy cliffs of the Everfree forest, the lone rope bridge swung in the wind, derelict and out of use. Ahead of them was the grand castle of the old royal ponies. Centuries ago it had been inhabited by none other than Princess Celestia and her sister Luna. Now it stood before them in ruins, forgotten and crumbling slowly. Vines grew up its walls and moss poked out of cracks all over the once sturdy stone gates. Atop one of the tall towers a flag still managed to wave back and forth bearing the crest of Celestia and luna, tattered but no less magnificent. Unlike the castle of Canterlot it was the only building in the vicinity, a testement to its age, existing before many pony villages had sprung up. The once mighty drawbridge was lowered and rotting, the moat was empty and filled with weeds.

"Wow!" Scootaloo hopped off of her scooter and stopped right before the huge gates. "Now this is a castle!"
She took a moment to rest the scooter against a rock then trotted closer to the entrance.
"Careful now Scoots, we don't know what could be around here," Applebloom looked around them cautiously, the area they were in was very quiet, in the Everfree forest you could at least hear animals running around in the brush or underfoot, here there was nothing. Just the moon hanging overhead and a breeze so soft that you couldn't even hear it.
"What a run down dump," Diamond sniffed loudly then poked a statue which crumbled softly with a poof of dust and dirt. "I thought a castle would look a bit...more regal than this."
"Well it hasn't been used in close to a thousand years, I don't see anyone maintaining it, do you?" Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes and made a nagging motion with her hooves causing Applebloom to giggle and Diamond to let out a "harumph" before gesturing to Silver spoon to follow her.
Pip seperated himself from the group and ran along the side of the castles wall waving his sword back and forth, obviously excited. "ADVENTURE! PERILS! HIDDEN TREASURE!" He exclaimed, eyes wild with excitement. "This is what I've been waiting for!" He gave a happy little hop then nearly tripped over himself with glee.
"Easy now tough guy, try making it into the castle before you end up crippling yourself." Scootaloo bonked him on the nose then beamed at him, just as excited.

Just beyond the grand opening to the castle and its rotten old wooden doors was the entrance hall, a truly beautiful room lined with old dusty stained glass windows depicting ancient pony wars and events. The sides of the room were filled with suits of armor and old relics of ages past.
In the middle of the room stood a huge monument, the Elemental Mantle. It was a wide circular shaped column with six arms extending from various points starting from near the ground to the near top, each arm ended with a bowl of sorts made to carry the original Elements of Harmony. Of course the Elements were no longer there, they'd since left their homes of stone and had become the necklaces and headpiece that Twilight and her friends donned on several occasions, that didn't make the monument any less magnificent though.
A hush fell over the foals as they moved slowly through the room, taking in all the history and wonder that it held.
They stopped for a moment near the center of the room and Silver pointed her hoof a little further down the way at a smaller doorway with a plaque attached above it.
"Luna said we had to go past this room to the central gardens right?"
"Something like that, then we'll enter a hollow, whatever that is," Scootaloo shrugged casually and turned to Sweetie Belle when she giggled, "oh really Scoots" she snickered patting her friends head, "a hollow is that part of a tree when they get that hole growing in them, like the ones animals sleep in. I think Luna meant a tree hollow though, its like a clearing but its surrounded by trees."
"uh...huh." Scootaloo gave her a blank stare then blinked slowly causing her friend to facehoof and grin, "don't you ever change Scoots."
"Hadn't planned on it!" The orange filly grinned widely, pleased with herself.
"Luna said what we're supposed to do will become clear once we've entered that hollow, so we must be getting close. Which is good cause I think its almost dawn." Pip tightened his belt then stood up quickly, "we ready girls? ONWARDS!"
"Oh, I'm s'posed to be helping big Mac and Applejack with chores now if its dawn, I'm gonna be in so much trouble, triple chores for a week!" Applebloom bit her lip and frowned, " I really hope Luna does talk to Applejack about this, I don't wanna clear out the pigsties again this week, it took forever to wash that smell off."
"Took me even longer to wash the smell off of my mane from when you fell on me!" Scootaloo exclaimed, not eager to relive the horrors of the pigsty.
"How...rustic..." Diamond tiara wrinkled her nose then moved further ahead of them to get out of range of anything she thought would be attacking her.
"Shoot, that pony wouldn't know an honest days work if it slapped her little tiara thingamajigger off of her head." Applebloom scowled, running to catch up.

Taking a moment to read the plaque above the doorway they saw that it did in fact lead to the garden and went through the passage which lead to a set of stairs leading down further into the castle, eventually the narrow passage widened and opened into the garden which was located directly in the center of the castle, there was no roof here, instead they could see the dull sun as it slowly crept closer to showing itself over the mountain range in the far distance.
The garden was, in some ways, extravagant. Rows upon rows of flower beds were now filled with weeds and old thorn bushes, the remnants of roses bushes and other similar flowers could be seen here and there. Vines grew up several wooden partitions which must've been to support grape vines back when the castle was in use.
At the center of the garden was a statue of both royal sisters, they stood next to one another, Celestia was situated facing towards the rising sun and Luna towards the setting moon with their faces facing towards each other. You could tell that at some point it was a water feature, with streams of water normally pouring from their mouths, but the statue of Luna was missing its head, no chance of that now.
As they walked through the garden quietly they noticed how quiet it was inside the castle, not just the outside, it almost seemed unnatural and made more than one of them antsy.

"Well here we are, now what?" Scootaloo plopped herself down in some grass and scanned the huge garden, "I don't see any trees around here, or hollow things."
"That's strange," Silver spoon muttered as she adjusted her glasses carefully, "Luna said that we would know where to go from here."
"Maybe it's a puzzle...old ruins always have old puzzles!" Scootaloo shot up and started knocking on the walls around then looking for secret entrances, the idea caused Pip to leap up and do the same, "I bet I'll find the treasures before you!"
"I bet you wont!"
"Will too!"
"Will not!"
"There isn't any treasure you twerps!" Diamond shouted, her eyes flashing with annoyance. "Just because this is an old castle doesn't mean there's treasure here."
"PFT" Scootloo rolled her eyes and waved a hoof, "more for us then."
"Listen here you uneducat-" She started ranting but Silver reached out a hoof and stopped her, "It's not worth the trouble Diamond, they're going to think there's treasure here and you can't stop them. We're better off keeping our cool and actually using our heads to accomplish something, like figuring out what to do now."
Diamond flared her nostrils then took a deep breath and nodded, calming down a bit. "Of course, if it were up to those two miscreants we'd be stuck here forever, and we can't have that."

A little whiles away Sweetie Belle and Applebloom stood near a wall looking over the old murals telling stories of the ancient ponies.
"What do you reckon we need to do here?" Applebloom ran a hoof over the pictures then turned and looked at the sun which was still rising slowly, filling the garden with weak sunlight.
Sweetie Belle rubbed her eyes wearily and sat down with a sigh, "I don't know... let's think about this garden."
She tapped her hoof against the ground and began thinking out loud, "this used to be Celestia and Luna's castle, so if there's a trick to this then it'd have something to do with them I guess."
"That'd mean the trick would have to do with the sun..or moon...or both I s'pose."
They sat there thinking for a couple more minutes then stopped to watch Scootaloo and Pip who were still tapping the walls and looking in the shrubs for clues.
Diamond and Silver had moved over to in front of the statues and were looking up at them when Diamond let out a yelp and shielded her eyes quickly.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over at the two fillies who were now bathed in the light of the rising sun. The way the rays of sunlight hit Celestia's statue it let off a beam of bright light reflecting from the jewel that made up the statues eye, which was what had startled Diamond so badly.
"Stupid statue, almost blinded me!" she grumbled still rubbing her eyes.
"Whoa!" Pip shouted running up to the wall where the beam of light landed, "now here's a hint if I ever did see one!"
"Have you ever seen a hint?" Scootaloo trotted up to him then stared at the light beam as well.
"Well...no, but this is TOTALLY a hint, there's no way it couldn't be one!"
"Can't argue with that, this is pretty hintastic."

Silver Spoon looked up at the statue closely, her eyes squinting with concentration, after a bit she turned and looked at the wall the sunlight was projecting onto. "I wonder what Luna's statue would reflect if its head was still there. At dawn the moon doesn't give off any light anymore so there wouldn't be any moonlight."
"Well if you think about it, whatever is being hidden here would have to be something the sisters could access with ease, and obviously you can't access a room like this with ease if you can't get both requirements... unless one of those requirements wasn't moonlight."
Sweetie Belle moved infront of the statue and looked up at Luna's closely, after a little bit her face broke out in a smile and she hopped up onto the base of the statue with an "aha!"
Using one of her hooves she rubbed Luna's leg roughly for a moment then stepped back, "look here!" The rest of them -save Scootaloo and Pip who were still pondering over the wall- crowded around and saw the part Sweetie belle had rubbed clean, underneath all the dust, dirt and age they could see that the statue wasn't even made of stone but rather, glass. Or something similar.
"When the sun used to shine on this one it'd just go right through it all, except for the eye...I think" Sweetie pointed up at where the head would be, "it makes sense that the eye would be a dark stone or something that the sun couldn't shine through, since its shining through Celestia's eye on the other statue."
"So the sun would shine that beam onto the wall from Celestia's statue and it'd appear as a shadow from Luna's..."
Diamond turned to the wall then back at the statue, "but the head is gone now, how are we supposed to make a shadow that high up?"
"Easy! We just make a pony pyramid, climb up there and put your hoof where the sun would be hitting the eye."
Diamond looked at Silver who shrugged then turned back to them, "oh no, I'm not letting anypony stand on me, if thats the plan then I'm gonna be the top pony."
"But Diamond, you're afraid of heigh-" Silver started to mutter quietly but Diamond raised a hoof to silence her, "that doesn't matter, I will not allow another pony to stand on me, I may be here with these dorks but I still have my pride."
Both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle groaned then sighed, not willing to argue about it. They stood shoulder to shoulder then had Silver hop onto their backs, once she was situated she helped Diamond clamber atop them all. At the top Diamond looked down and gulped, then shook her head and reached up for Luna's back, with a grunt she swung herself up, almost lost her balance and yelled loudly.
"Diamond!" Silver reached her hooves up to catch her which unsteadied her balance and she collapsed on the other two who both stumbled and fell off of the statue with a thud.
"Owwww, ponyfeathers, that hurt." Applebloom rubbed her head gingerly then winced and looked up at Diamond who had managed to steady herself somewhat.
"Jus' reach your hoof up there and block a bit of the sunlight!"
"I know what I'm doing you bumpkin! Just give me a moment." She took a huge breath then reached up to where Luna's head would be and waved her hoof carefully.

Her hoof sent a long strangely shaped shadow down to the wall but it was enoguh, with a huge groan and a ripping noise the wall shifted violently enough to cause Scootaloo to shout and latch onto Pip who shouted as well but only because Scootaloo blinded him with her hooves and refused to let go.
The rumbling continued as a portion of the wall started sinking into the ground revealing a doorway behind it.
Diamond Tiara inched her way down the statue then hopped into Silvr Spoons grasp and straightened her tiara, "now dont you all thank me at once for my brave actions."
Sweetie Belle made a gagging face and chuckled alongside Applebloom who took off towards Scootaloo and Pip, once she noticed them approaching Scootaloo quickly hopped off of Pip as the rest of them came up to the wall and composed herself quickly. She'd never hear the end of the chicken jokes if she let something like that scare her.
"Aha, so you solved it!" She grinned sheepishly as Pip picked himself up and shook his head, his eyes googly. "G-good job!" he cheered, trying to get his senses back, to little avail.
"Yup! That wasn't so hard." Sweetie Belle cheered then bopped hooves together with her two friends.
"Everypony look!" Silver pointed to the top of the new doorway where a new plaque had appeared.
One that read, "The Timeless Hollow."

Chapter 5A: The Timeless Hollow

The Timeless Hollow

Despite the sunlight that had been filling the garden for several minutes there was no seeing what lie beyond the doorway they had just revealed.
Past its stone frame was just the inky blackness that came with an area covered in shadow. Naturally this made all six of the foals very reluctant to move forwards.
"It can't be that dangerous if Luna wants us to go in there right?" Sweetie Belle poked her head into the doorway and ignited her horn, trying to see anything but the darkness persevered and the light was cut off barely inches from her head.
"I don't think she'd let us get into any sort of harm, but then again we're dealing with something Luna said was incredibly powerful, who knows what to expect." Diamond Tiara stepped backwards and let Sweetie retreat from the tunnel then turned to Silver Spoon and rubbed her eyes wearily, "either way I'm exhausted...let's just get this over with."
"You're finally speaking my language!" Scootaloo cheered and had already started making a beeline for the doorway when Applebloom caught her tail in her teeth and stopped her.
"Hold up now, we're all going together, We don't want you jus' runnin' in there and doing Celestia knows what."
Pip reached down to his belt and drew his small wooden sword with much flair, "should anything go wrong, I'll be sure to defend you ladies!"
"Psh, please." Scootaloo stuck her tongue out and grimaced, "like I need protection."
She lead the way and took two steps into the doorway then turned and gestured for them to follow. One at a time they all entered the Timeless Hollow.

Diamond Tiara was the last pony to enter the doorway as she was loathe to travel through dark areas, it wasn't that she was scared of the dark but it was not a situation she wanted to be in.
"I don't even want to be here at all," she muttered grumpily, her mouth twisting into a petulant frown as she followed Silver Spoon through the blackness, she took one look back and saw the light of the sun getting weaker and weaker as they traveled down what looked like a tunnel. No one could see the walls on either side but because of the claustrophobic blackness it felt like they didn't have a lot of room to maneuver.
"If it weren't for those dorks I wouldn't even have to be here, I'd be at home sleeping." She sighed and hung her head sleepily, she'd been up all night and was severely lacking in beauty sleep now, her eyes drooped low as she tried keeping up with Silver who she could barely see through the shadows now.
"Silver? Wait up, I don't want to walk that fast," she snapped her head up from her sleepy stupor and realized that Silver Spoon was no where to be seen. "Silver?"
She stopped walking and looked to her sides but it was impossible to see anything, her friend could be feet from her and she wouldn't know, but then again wouldn't Silver respond to her calls?
"S-silver?" Diamond felt her ears droop and she came to a halt, completely alone.
"No use in standing around...I guess..." she gave her sides another leery look then kept walking forwards slowly, alert and uneasy.
She continued simply walking forwards for a couple minutes and wasn't able to hear anything, not her group, her friend or even her own footsteps, it was like she'd sunk into a well of solitude that was slowly trying to swallow her forever.
After another ten minutes she came to a stop and scanned her surroundings, not that it helped much, even if she squinted her eyes.
As she stood there looking around carefully she slowly became aware of an actual noise, just barely she heard something making a low scraping noise but she couldn't tell where it was coming from.
"S-silver?" She turned around quickly and the noise stopped but she still couldn't see anything at all.
"Applebloom?" she began walking unsteadily, a sense of dread growing her chest, as she moved the noise started up again but this time a bit closer.
"Is that you Pip? dragging your sword on the ground or something?" There was no response and she felt her pace quicken, along with her heart rate.
"This isn't funny at all Scootaloo," she began running now but the noise persisted behind her, managing to keep pace with her, "I'll tell my father on you! Rainbow Dash too, you don't want to get scolded by her!"
Panic was slowly creeping its way into her voice, latching itself to her chest and restricting her breathing as she fought to keep running blindly forwards with no particular destination in sight.

She lasted a couple more minutes before exhaustion started taking in and she was panting, she still managed to run though however, until she turned around to look behind her and her face was hit by a gust of icy wind that startled her so badly she tripped and fell with a thud on the ground, her legs tangled up underneath her.
"S-stay back!" She gasped, trying to get her balance back but already she could hear the rustling noise get louder and closer until it was like someone was dragging something inches from her face.
A cold sensation pricked her shoulder and she shuddered violently at the freezing nature of the touch, it vanished for a moment then came back on her hoof which she kicked out in protest.
"What is this?!" She stood up sluggishly, unable to call forth any energy, it was like whatever was near her was sapping what strength she still had left.
The touch came back, this time on her ribs and with a twitch she fell over, losing the power to stand anymore.
"Get...back," her hoof kicked out in defense one last time before she was unable to move and felt her eyes drooping despite her best efforts to stay awake.
As her eyes were closing for what she thought was the last time there was a loud ringing noise accompanied by a brilliant white light that flashed under her eyelids right before she passed out.

"Pip, take the one on the left! Don't let it touch you though, you don't want them sapping your energy!" Sweetie Belle ducked away from her assailant which was being revealed by the bright light emanating from her horn, it had no actual form, instead looking like a huge mass of constantly contorting shadow with tendrils that snaked off of it like arms.
She leapt away from one of the shadow creatures lunges then fired off a short round of magical energy from her horn into its center of mass. The white light hit the creature with such a force that it was torn into pieces which fell to the ground and faded away like dust in a breeze.
"Get outta here!" Pip growled as he swung his sword at another one of the creatures, it backed away from him, confused by the sudden light from Sweetie Belle, it had obviously never seen anything like that before. When Sweetie turned to face it as well the beast cringed away from her giving Pip his chance to leap into the air and slash at it with his sword which, despite being wooden seemed effective against it. The creature shuddered as his sword rent it in two and it poofed away in a cloud of shadow.
"Diamond!" Sweetie closed her eyes tight and forced her horn to glow brighter so that she could see the pink filly who was still collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily.
"I think one of them got her a few times."
"More than once?" Pip put his sword away and joined her, " It was bad enough when I got jabbed on the leg, felt like I was gonna pass out right there, I can't imagine getting hit more times."
Sweetie Belle put a hoof on Diamonds cheek and a worried expression took over, "she's very cold, and she's not breathing right."
With a single motion the white filly flipped her saddlebag off of her back and started rummaging through it.
"Will she be ok?" Pip's voice got very quiet all of a sudden and he knelt down by Diamond who hadn't responded to them at all.
"I'm gonna use that potion Zecora gave me, it made my horn stronger so maybe it'll be able to warm her up from whatever those things were."
Sweetie Belle held the bottle of dark blue liquid in her mouth and popped the cork carefully, she moved over to Diamond and tipped it ever so slightly so that a couple drops fell into her open mouth.
"She did say to use it when we were in need of help." Pip bit his lip and watched Diamond closely.
It took a couple tense minutes but eventually Diamond coughed loudly and stirred, much to their glee. A couple minutes after that her breathing regulated and she opened her eyes blearily.
"D-daddy?" She whispered in a raspy voice, rubbing her eyes sleepily.
"Not even close girl," Sweetie giggled as she put the potion away in her bag again.
Diamond stood up slowly, her legs wobbly and shook her head. "Sweet...ie? What happened?"
"You were attacked by some weird shadow...things, Sweetie Belle shot one of them with magic and I stopped the other one, it was close but I think we're safe, for now." Pip filled her in and Diamond made a strange frown as she listened, not liking the explanation.
"Shadow creatures? I got saved? Well that's just wonderful, I suppose you're expecting a thank you?"
"Not really, just hoping you don't scare me like that again." Sweetie Belle shrugged her small shoulders then looked around them now that she could see slightly thanks to her horn.
Diamond seemed taken aback by her response but still managed to blush and stutter out a "thank you" without looking at either of them which made both Pip and Sweetie smile warmly.
Not even a couple seconds later she shook her head and tried to cover her embarrassment by asking, "so...where are the other three?"
"We don't know actually," Pip shrugged then pointed off into the blackness, "I was just walking for a while then I realized that I was all alone, then one of those...things poked me and Sweetie came outta no where with her horn magics! She saved me."
"I had a similar experience," Sweetie explained, sitting down. "I was walking behind Scootaloo for a while then I noticed I was all alone and my horn wasn't helping at all. So I remembered Zecora's potion she gave us, thought I'd try it out and voila! My horns magic got way stronger, the moment I turned the light on I saw Pip getting attacked and the rest is history now."
"Do you think that your magic is what broke the....spell I guess you could say, we were all lost in our own personal wells of darkness...but then your magic banished it?"
"Could be, that's what I was thinking. Whatever it is Zecora gave us, its powerful stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if she knew what we'd be going up against in here and readied that potion just for this place.

Their next course of action was figuring out where to go next, they were together in part now but it was still pitch black all around them, although bright Sweetie horn only lit up the immediate surroundings, a few feet at best.
"Our only option is to press forwards I think, it's not like the direction really matters at this point, we'll end up somewhere." Pip was still unusually happy, as if the idea of being lost down there didn't worry him at all, truth be told it probably didn't.
"I agree, we're bound to find the others or our way out of here eventually." Sweetie Belle nodded then stood up, the two others quickly followed suit and they were off.
It was eerily silent again, which they took as a good sign that the shadow creatures weren't coming back.
After about ten minutes Diamond was the first to spot something ahead of them, she gestured with her hoof but it was still too far away to see, the only thing they could make out was that it was lit up and pierced the darkness.
As they got closer they saw that it was a tree, or a multitude of trees, all sitting in a large circle.
"Could this be that Hollow then?" Pip asked as he picked up the pace, eager to reach the spot and explore. "Probably, a huge black area is certainly hollow but its not "a" hollow." Diamond noticed that the tree's were wide enough apart in one area to make a sort of entrance and veered towards it, as did Sweetie and Pip.
The trees grew taller and taller until they came right up to the location, it was there that they noticed the tree's themselves weren't shining, it was whatever was in the center of the circle that was giving off such a powerful light.
"No guts, no glory!" Pip cheered dashing into the Hollow of trees without a seconds thought.
"Oh c'mon!" Diamond shouted in an exhausted voice as she dashed after him, the two of them didn't notice the trees shift to block off the entrance once they got in but Sweetie Belle did.
"Looks like this is the Timeless Hollow then," she whispered as she dulled her horn out completely and let out a relieved sigh.
"Oh wow!" Pip shouted, some distance from her, "Sweetie! Come look at this!"
"I hope the others manage to get here safely."

Chapter 5B: The Timeless Hollow

The Timeless Hollow

Contrary to her friends scuffle in the darkness Scootaloo found herself in a very different situation, she only wandered the abyss for a few minutes before the area began lighting up slowly from some unseen source. Once it was bright enough she saw that the floor underneath her hooves was made of stone, huge square slabs like that you'd see in a castle. In fact, she could have sworn she was still in the castle itself.
The corridor widened out slightly but seemingly had no end in sight.
"Aw ponyfeathers, I wonder how I ended up getting so lost in here...I swear Sweetie Belle was like, right behind me..."
She stopped her steady trot and glanced behind herself at the long hallway, there was no one, she was quite alone.
"Ugh this place is so... creepy," she sighed and continued walking slowly, keeping an ear open for any sign of her friends.
"It's cool though," she shook her head clear of scary thoughts, "They'd just call me a chicken if I got scared in here, Rainbow would just cruise along without a care in the world!"

Using her newfound determination fueled by her hero she ventured further and further down the hallway, minutes passed and then an entire hour but there was still no end in sight, feeling tired from not sleeping all night she felt her strength flagging slightly and even her wings buzzed more slowly than normal.
"This would be a great time for you guys to actually lift me you know," she glared at her small wings then tried flapping them, the only result she got was the humming noise of them moving but she didn't even lift an inch.
"Stupid wings... You're supposed to make me fly, like a normal Pegasus!"
Before she could start feeling glum there was a loud slamming noise from further down the hallway, out of side but definitively there, it reminded her of a door shutting loudly.
"I bet that's Applebloom and Sweetie Belle now! I wonder how they got so far ahead of me!" She took off running despite her oncoming exhaustion and came to a stop several hundred feet along the way.
In front of her loomed a huge wooden door, it reached all the way up to the ceiling and was incredibly intimidating. It was much taller than she was, and the handle was smack dab in the center of it, far out of her reach unless her wings started lifting her magically.
"Can't even reach the door handle...man, what's gonna happen next, some stupid trap made for catching fillies who wander in here?"
As if on cue the floor below her started rumbling violently, threatening to knock her off balance. The shaking was followed by a loud cracking noise as the huge stone slabs began giving away and falling some distance behind her.
"....aw crab apples."

Glancing up at the handle again she tried flapping her wings but got nowhere fast, it was all she could do to kick up a mini dust storm around her hooves.
"You can push a scooter with my friends on a wagon but you can't lift me a couple feet when I'm about to fall like a billion feet?!" She grimaced and shrugged off her saddle bag quickly, "there'd better be something useful in here or I'll one toast filly."
She shuffled through her old torn crusading cape, a couple apples and a broken handle of an ancient scooter before she stumbled on something that she was sure she had never packed. A small round vial that was about halfway full of a dark blue liquid.
"Huh? Didn't Zecora give this to..." shaking her head quickly she popped the cork off the top and looked at the liquid suspiciously, "who really cares how it got there, I'm a goner if I don't at least try!" She tilted it back and let a few drops fall onto her outstretched tongue then shuddered at its bitter taste.
At first she noticed nothing, it was like she'd bitten into a piece of tree bark, but after a couple seconds she felt her strength surge back, it was a huge rush of energy, like she hadn't even been adventuring all night.
The rumbling grew louder and she could see another slab fall away, just two pieces away from where she was.
Perspiration ran down her forehead and dripped into her eye, stinging it. She ignored the discomfort and set her gaze on the door handle once more.
"Alright door handle, time to meet your maker!" She bit her lip and started revving her wings up quickly.
"If I can't fly, then I'll just jump!"
After taking a couple steps back her wings were in full on scooter propelling mode and it was do or die, quite literally.
"HUP!" She ran at the door as fast and she could and leapt as hard as her legs would allow her. The door closed in quickly and she noticed that she was quite far below the door handle, flapping her wings as fast as possible she closed her eyes and prepared for the worst, but when no thud of hitting the ground came she opened them and looked down.
Much to her surprise and excitement she wasn't getting any closer to the ground, she wasn't getting any further up but that didn't matter right then.
"I'm flying?!" She looked over at her wings which were flapping in overdrive then noticed that while she wasn't quite "flying" she was in fact, hovering a couple feet above the ground.
The door handle was still a while above her and try as she might she couldn't seem to ascend any further, she stretched out a hoof and waved it at the handle, just out of reach.
"Dumb door!" She yelled, smacking the door with her hoof. There was a loud creaking noise and the door shuddered, then the handle fell off, rusty and broken. After a moment the door swung open without protest and Scootaloo fell through it in surprise.

"What in the hay?! Get offa me you varmit! I'll clobber you good!" A familiar voice caught her attention as she crashed onto something soft and warm.
"Applebloom?" Scootaloo shook her head and gave her eyes a moment to adjust after her crash.
"That's mah name, right under you." Applebloom rolled over and knocked her off quickly, brushing herself off.
"Now where in the name of Celestia did you come from?"
Scootaloo gave her friend a strange look and pointed behind herself, "that ribbon on your head too tight? I fell through that door, good thing too, I was about to fall a lot further!"
"Ah...wut door?"
"The big wooden one obviou- huh?" Scootaloo's eyes widened as she turned and saw that there was no door behind her at all. It didn't even look like she was in the same area even more, below her hooves was grass, and surrounding the two of them was a field. There was no stone floor or door to be seen for miles.
"Well I have no idea how I went from being in a castle to a field of grass, but thank Celestia I did."
They took a couple minutes to explain what exactly had happened to them, apparently Applebloom had just ended up wandering in that same black area for a bit then came out in this field, the strange thing was though, only a few minutes had passed by for her.
"I'm wonderin' though.... Didn't Zecora give that potion thingy to Sweetie Belle? How'd you end up gettin' it?"
"I have no idea, it totally weirded me out too! It was just in my saddle bag, hold on, I'll show ya."
Scootaloo tossed the bag off her shoulders again and dug through it, "huh?" She frowned then bit the bag and dumped its contents out, everything was still in there, except for the Vial.
"I know I didn't leave it behind, where could it have gone..."
"Who really knows with the things Zecora handles. I wouldn't be surprised if she used some sorta magic from her homeland on it or somethin'."
Together they packed up their stuff and started heading in the direction Applebloom was heading before getting landed on.
"I don't suppose you've seen anyone else? We're still short four fillies."
"Nope, just you when you crashed into me, hopefully they're somewhere on this field." Applebloom scanned their surroundings then tapped her hoof on the grass curiously. "Aren't we supposed to be...underground? How in the hay did we end up here of all places? Where is here?!"
"You got me, this whole place is all freaky and lame, I don't even understand what's really going on."
"Well the way I see it, this whole place is set up to be downright annoying, to keep out intruders an' the like."
"There's certainly enough traps and weirdo dimension breaking doors to go around, that's for sure."
"That means we can assume that whatever is at the end of this place, the thing that Luna wants is highly valuable."
"I plan on making it to the end too! I might not be able to fly properly yet but nothing is gonna stop me!"
With that, they picked up the pace with renewed vigor.

As they traveled through the verdant rolling hills of the plain the grass started giving way to larger and larger boulders that were stuck haphazardly in the ground, creating shapes that might have been monuments at one point in time, but years of weather damage had worn them down into indiscernible lumps of rock.
"At least its warm and peaceful here, that's a good sign...right?" Applebloom hopped up on a rock and scanned the horizon for any landmarks or living creature as Scootaloo kept trying her hardest to get her wings to lift her.
"I guess so... it's almost too quiet for me, you'd think we'd be able to hear like....birds or something."
"Pst!" A hiss came out of nowhere startling them both into action, "JUST TRY AND COME AT ME!" Scootaloo shouted putting both her front hooves up, ready for a fight, despite the tremor in her voice.
"Shut up you dork, you're gonna attract them!" They both looked up a tall rock and noticed a small crevice, after a moment a grey hoof poked out of the crevice and gestured for them to climb on up.
Once they reached the top they came face to face with Silver Spoon who was looking haggard and leery.
"You didn't see anything down there...did you?"
"We haven't seen nothing in forever...it's freaky."
"That's probably because there's nothing left here, that's alive that is."
Silver peeked out from the crevice and looked around quickly.
"There's these...things lurking about, I'm not sure what they are but they kind of look like shadows."
She pointed a hoof to a pile of black dust then kicked it angrily, "that was one of them, before I gave it the boot."
"You fought a...shadow?" Scootaloo turned her head and cocked an eyebrow in disbelief.
"Of course I did, I didn't want to die! Or get...shadowed, or whatever it is they wanted to do."
"Huh, I never took you as much of a fighter, way to go."
Silver Spoon blinked, taken aback, then almost smiled at the compliment but caught herself and cleared her throat before cleaning her glasses off distractedly.
"It was nothing, back when we were younger I used to have to defend Diamond from bullies from time to time, it came naturally."
"Bullies? Diamond? Never would've seen that coming." Scootaloo's voice dripped with sarcasm as she rolled her eyes but it was lost on Silver who was still adjusting her glasses.
"Oh you know, silly ponies who wouldn't accept her helpful criticisms, happens all the time."
"Riiiight...."
A sudden low scraping noise caught all three of their attentions and Silver Spoons eyes shot wide open, instantly alert.
She put a hoof to her mouth then peeked over the ledge and pointed at them to look.

Down below them they could see the creature that Silver had been speaking of. If they had to guess they thing was about as tall as Applebloom's older brother big Mac, completely black with no actual facial features, it walked on all fours like a pony but its front legs were far longer than its back ones, making it walk in a strange lurching fashion that oozed abnormal.
"Do not let it touch you, it has some weird magic that will sap your strength instantly. They're fragile though, any tough impact should shatter them."
"I got this" Applebloom winked then hopped down to the ledge below them, but still above the creature.
It stopped its slow walk and looked up at her right as she leapt from the ledge and her hoof outstretched in a judo kick "HIYAH!" Her hoof made contact with what would've been its face and the creature instantly exploded into a cloud of black dust.
"You ain't so tough!" The filly stomped her hoof in the dust pile then kicked it over.
"Look out Applebloom!" Scootaloo shouted from above, she pointed behind her friend where another creature was making its way slowly over to her. Without thinking she jumped from the high ledge and landed unsteadily then lowered her head and snorted loudly.
"Back off you creepy freaky thing!" She growled, narrowing her eyes. The creature stopped for a moment and she could have sworn she felt its eyes sizing her up, if it had any.
"Get outta here freak!" She closed her eyes then ran at it full speed, headbutting the thing as hard as she could, it exploded without resistance and she had to screech to a halt to keep from crashing headfirst into a wall.
Silver Spoon shouted loudly behind them and they turned to see another shadow monster bearing down on her, Silver was on the ground and the thing had its shifting shadowy claw on her side, draining her of what it could get. In an attempt to escape she rolled to the side, away from her assailant, and right off the ledge.
"Yikes!" Applebloom dashed forwards and caught the small filly on her back safely as Scootaloo bounded up the rocks and delivered a mighty kick to the creatures side, exploding it instantly.
"Here you go," She picked up Silvers glasses that had fallen off with her mouth and handed them over.
"T-thank you, both of you." Silver blushed and put her glasses on then looked down at the ground, "I guess i was more tired than i thought, one of them had already gotten me, I didn't even hear it coming."
"It was nothin' Just happy to help!" Applebloom beamed brightly then plopped herself down and sighed, "I do feel mighty tired though, who even knows how long its been since last night. I can't make head or hoof of this place."
As the three of them rested quietly a warm breeze picked up around them, tousling their manes and stirring up the remains of the strange creatures.
The wind seemed to draw in the dust and gather it, once they noticed what was happening they all turned to watch as the breeze carried the dust over to a wall, it spread it over the rock surface making the shape of a rounded entrance and with a loud crumbling noise the rock fell away revealing exactly that, an entrance.

"I reckon that was another one of them tests we've been doing." Applebloom bit into one of the apples Scootaloo had been carrying then poked her head into the entrance but didn't see anything. She walked around the rock and noticed that it was only about three feet wide, there was no way there could be a pathway past the entrance, but who knew what could happen where they were.
"Judging from what you two told me, it does seem that way. I guess we passed. Hopefully we can find the other three soon. I'm sure your friends aren't appreciating Diamonds company as much as they should be." Silver finished her apple and tossed the core aside then stood quickly.
"Ugh, I could just fall asleep right now and sleep for a week!" Scootaloo rolled over on her back and groaned, stretching her legs out sleepily.
"If we guess that the other three have all met up just like we did then chances are we're gunna be able to find them soon too. Then we'll all be together, we can't be too far from the end now." Applebloom nudged her friend roughly with a hoof making Scootaloo groan and stand up slowly.
"I guess, I still wanna sleep though."
Together they packed up their things into the saddlebags and entered the small cave that had opened.
The cave immediately went on further than the rock would normally allow but after all the strange things they had seen it didn't cause them to bat an eye.
It only took about five minutes of walking at a steady pace for some light to shine through ahead of them, an exit.
As they approached the other side they caught a glimpse of some tree's and grass.
"Looks like a clearing you would see inside of a forest." Silver Spoon stopped at the exit and looked around.
It was indeed a rather large clearing, the trees lined the grassy cove in a circle, blocking off entrance to the area, making it a Hollow.
"Oh wow! Look at that!" Scootaloo's eyes shot wide open and she dashed past them, eager to get closer to what she saw.
"Looks like we found the actual Hollow....finally. I hope the others are here already." Applebloom sighed happily and trotted after her friend.
"Indeed..." Silver Spoon kept looking around, an uneasy expression stuck on her face.
"I guess we have..."

Chapter 6: The Pond

The Pond

"Oh wow! Sweetie! Come and look at this!" Pip stopped abruptly about thirty feet ahead of Sweetie and Diamond as soon as his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting in the Hollow and he could make out what lay in the center.
Laid out before the three of them nestled in the green grass was a pond. It's surface was glassy and calm, no wind made it into the Hollow to disturb the near mirror like appearance of the water.
Fireflies glittered around the pond which reflected their cheerful yellow and oranges colors, shimmering beautifully as a result. The bugs parted in their paths as the ponies approached then zoomed around their heads, completely comfortable with the company.
"This is so..." Sweetie walked up to the water and looked down at her reflection then fell silent, speechless at the beauty of the location.
"It's beautiful, simply beautiful," Diamond finished for her as she stood next to the white filly, eyes wide in wonder.
"This place hasn't seen real visitors in over a thousand years, but everything is still growing and thriving, despite how dark it is... totally a magical place!" Pip ran past them again and dipped a hoof into the water then yanked it out quickly, his eyes going wide.
"You ok?" Sweetie belle trotted up to him and gave him a concerned look but he returned the look with a wide grin, "actually... yeah! It's really warm, I just wasn't expecting that! It's like bath water."
Diamond walked around the other side of the pond and looked around, she couldn't really see anything other than the grass and tree's they were completely alone in the Hollow, as far as she could tell.
"Let's just find what it is that Luna wante-" She stopped mid sentence and looked down at the grass she was standing on, it seemed to be glowing brighter than it had been a couple minutes ago.
Both her companions stopped what they were doing and looked at her, then down at their hooves.
"um.... was the grass glowing like this a moment ago?" Sweetie lifted a hoof and shook it nervously.
"I don't.... think so?" Pip looked around at their surroundings quickly and noticed that all the grass was glowing a soft blue color now, the fireflies had vanished leaving them alone with the pond that had taken on a blue-ish hue now, reflecting the grass.

"What in the name of Celestia is going on here?" Sweetie belle scooted closer to Pip while Diamond rejoined them and together they huddled near the waters edge.
"Anyone else feeling sleepy all of a sudden?" Pip rubbed his eyes and yawned widely before his voice trailed off and he looked back at the two of them who gave him concerned looks.
"Not really...why?" Diamond cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes at him, Pip just shrugged and yawned again in response then pointed at Sweetie, "your horn is glowing Sweetie."
"So it is!" Diamond exclaimed, looking at Sweetie's forehead as the filly reached a hoof up to touch it, "really? I didn't try to do any magic..."
Before she could say another word Pip yawned for a third time and flopped over on his side.
"Pip?!" Both of them ran to their friend who was now snoring softly in the grass.
"How could he just...fall asleep!?" Diamond poked him a couple of times with a hoof then sat down, looking scared.
"Probably some magical spell in this area, to keep intruders from doing anything Luna didn't want."
"Then how come it didn't affect us?"
Sweetie Belle sat down and tapped a hoof on the ground thoughtfully, "I'm not good at this sorta thing, Twilight would know in an instant, there's probably some weird magic at work or something.
"Like....that?" Diamond pointed back to Sweetie's horn which was still glowing a pale white color."
"Hmm like a natural defense against the magic? That'd explain why I'm not all zonked out now..."
Diamond's eyes caught something in the grass and she looked down at the area surrounding herself and Sweetie Belle, she noticed that the grass in their immediate area wasn't glowing anymore, just all around them, like they were surrounded by an invisible bubble.
"See that?" She pointed so that sweetie could see, "it's like that bubble thing Twilight can bring up to block people out, only yours seems to be protecting us from the magic."
"Poor Pip just couldn't stay next to us though, at least he's only asleep." Sweetie patted the colts head and he grumbled in his sleep before rolling over contently.

"OH WOW LOOK AT THAT!" A familiar hoarse voice interrupted the peaceful quiet of the Hollow causing both fillies to jerk with surprise and twist around to look in the direction of the noise.
"Scootaloo!" Sweetie belle leapt up from her sitting position and dashed over to her friend forcing Diamond to stumble awkwardly towards them in an attempt to not get left out of the bubble.
"I'm so glad that you're alright!" The white filly hugged her orange companion tightly and refused to let go even when Scoots groaned loudly in fake pain.
"oh man, you sap! lemme go, I wanna look around!"
"You can't!" Sweetie exclaimed, her voice cracking loudly, Scootaloo gave her a weird look then tried prying away from her again but Sweetie wouldn't budge.
"There's some weird spell in this place, if you don't stay near me then it'll put you to sleep, it already got Pip."
"Then what about Applebloom and Silver?" Scootaloo looked behind herself at the two other fillies who were following her more slowly.
"I don't know what's come over me, so...sleepy." Applebloom blinked slowly then looked over at Silver who had already laid down, "Agreed, it's so warm and nice here, perfect for a nap..."
Applebloom plopped down sleepily, put her head on Silvers back and that was that. Two more fillies fast asleep.
"Aww horsefeathers!" Scootaloo took a step back from Diamond and Sweetie but was careful about not leaving the bubble.
"What happened to you three? Boy do I have some stories to tell you guys what we've been up to!"
The three of them sat close to each other in the grass and began going over each of their adventures through the magical areas until all the stories had been told.
Scootaloo stood up and moved to the pond, looking down into the glassy water she said,
"So this must be the Hollow then....so, where's the treasure?"
"We don't know, we've only been here a couple of minutes ourselves, I haven't seen anything that looks like a treasure though, just this pond here."
Scootaloo continued to look into the water blankly, her eyes reflecting the beautiful blue water, "how can we be sure that the treasure isn't...in the water? like at the bottom."
Diamond and Sweetie looked at each other then moved to stand next to Scootaloo who pointed a hoof at the water, gesturing deeper.
The water was clear enough that they could kind of see the bottom of the pond, it was covered in brightly colored flowers and sand, nestled in the middle of it all was a shape, one that they couldn't quite make out.
"Think that's it?"
"It could be"
The two of them took off their saddlebags and placed them on the ground carefully as Diamond back off slightly,
"I don't know about you two dorks but I'm not one to go swimming in strange magical ponds that're probably hundreds of miles under the ruins of a creepy old castle."
Diamond Tiara wrinkled her nose at the very thought of diving into the water.
"We're gonna have to if we wanna find this object Luna wants, and you're gonna have to follow us, unless you wanna fall asleep for some shadow thing to find." Scootaloo smirked as the filly paled suddenly.
"No choice, for any of us. This is the last stop." Sweetie Belle took a deep breath then let one hoof sink into the lukewarm waters of the pond.

Pip wasn't exaggerating when he said the water was a lot like bath water, it was warm to the touch and had the slightest scent of lavender, the lapping noises it made as they waded through the shallow end was peaceful and lulling, had this place been anywhere else less dangerous it'd have been a great napping spot.
"Let's be careful now, we don't wanna just fall in or get attacked by some weirdo fish monster!" Scootaloo took the lead immediately, eager to appear brave.
"Don't get too far ahead of us Scoots," Sweetie warned nervously, "who knows what's out there."
"Psh, nothing we can't handle! I dare some fish monster to come at m- whoa!"
No sooner had she said that did she fall face first into the pond, with a loud sputter and the kicking of hooves she yanked her head up out of the water and gasped then looked around curiously, like something had surprised her.
"Scoots?" there was no response as the pegasus plunged her head into the water again and held it down there for a moment then lifted it slowly.
"WHOA! I can breathe underwater!"
"You feeling ok there dork?" Diamond furrowed her brow and bonked her on the head with a hoof. Scootaloo shook some water from her ears then pointed down at the water, "just try it! It's like Sweetie's little magic bubble let's us breathe underwater, I totally just did it when i fell in, took a big gulp but nothing happened, it was like breathing."
Without letting the other two test it out first Scootaloo grabbed both of them and went dead weight, dragging them underwater, into the deeper end of the pond.
"S-scootaloo!" Sweetie yelled loudly, struggling to escape her grip, "why'd you do that- hey! I can talk...underwater!"
Her eyes widened in amazement as Scootaloo grinned widely and let go, "I told ya!" This is so awesome!"

Thanks to the protective nature of Sweetie Belle's magic bubble not only could the three of them breath normally underwater but they could also speak normally, swimming was as easy as walking and thankfully there didn't seem to be any creatures living in the pond.
The underwater world was surreal though, sounds didn't travel all that well, in fact they couldn't hear much of anything outside of their own voices, everything looked a bit fuzzy and almost like it was blending in with the surroundings, like a painting that had gotten splashed with water before it was dry, everything blended together in a mishmash of colors.
Before long they reached the bottom of the pond and walked through the sand as they would dry land up above.
"Applebloom is gonna be so jealous of us! I can't wait to tell her about this." Scootaloo giggled excitedly as she kicked up sand and watched it spread out in the water instead of just dropped back down.
"Speaking of which, we should hurry, the last thing we want is for more of those horrible shadow things to show up while those three are sleeping up there." Diamond looked up at the surface nervously, obviously feeling a bit worried about Silver Spoon.
As they approached the strange object that they'd seen up above it revealed itself to be a statue that was mostly buried under the sad, only the head was visible and it showed that the statue was of Luna.
"Well....that's not treasure, it's a statue." Scootaloo floated up to the top of it and stood on top then shrugged.
"Astute observation there doofus, really helpful." Diamond snorted as she rolled her eyes.
"Hey! Don't call me that! What does that even mean?"
"She was being sarcastic Scoots, we can all see that it's a statue, but where's this thing we're supposed to be getting? I don't see anywhere else to go down here."
Sweetie Belle tried looking out further but the water made it really hard to see all that far, judging from the size of the pond from the surface though, there wasn't much else to explore.
As the other two looked around for clues Scootaloo sat down on Luna's stone head and kicked her hooves around in the water, enjoying how warm it was, she shifted her weight and felt something shift with her.
"Wuzzat?" She hopped off and floated above the statue looking down at where she had been sitting. After a moment she noticed something that didn't look stone.
The crown that was resting on the princess didn't appear to be made of stone at all, it was black and shiny. Like metal or something similar.
"Hrmmm" After a quick glance around Scootaloo reached down and grabbed the crown, with a bit of resistance the metal object struggled against her then popped off of the statue so suddenly that Scootaloo flew back in an underwater back flip.

The ground underneath Diamond and Sweetie rumbled softly causing them to stop their investigation and look around nervously.
"What'd you touch Scootaloo?"
Their friend stopped herself in mid flip and frowned, "what makes you think I had anything to do with...what wait?"
"The ground just shook, what'd you touch?"
"Probably whatever she's got in her nosy hooves there." Diamond pointed at the crown and Scootaloo held it out to them, "this was on the statue, it was shiny so i grabbed it."
"How...typical..."
Before they could say anything else the ground shook again and a torrent of bubbles flew up from the ground as the sand started shifting from the rumbling.
"Uh oh, this could possibly be my fault." Scootaloo grinned cheekily then ducked away from Diamond who swung at her.
"Of course its your fault you dunce!"
"Girls! Not now!" Sweetie Belle grabbed Scootaloo tightly then gestured for Diamond to joined them, "lets get out of the water before.... whatever is happening happens!"
More bubbles burst from the ground and the shaking continued making them swim as fast as their hooves would let them go.
Below them the sand started shifting and falling away from whatever was underneath it which was soon revealed to be stone. Large stone blocks started raising up through the water and as the three of them burst from the water with loud shouts of glee the entire pond erupted loudly with splashes and a huge wave of water rolled over them.

The ground kept shaking as the stone blocks broke the surface of the water along with the now crownless statue of Luna revealing a small little temple in the middle of the pond. In front of the small building was where the statue stood, Luna was standing on one leg with her other three raised in a pose befitting a regal princess.
One by one smaller stones floated to the top, creating a bridge from where the fillies had clambered out of the water back to the building.
Scootaloo shook herself off then looked over the crown to make sure it wasn't damaged then laughed happily, "maybe I helped this time! I mean, I got...whatever that is to come up right?! I bet there's treasure in there!"
She waited a moment then when here friends didn't respond she turned around slowly to look at them, "guys?"
Sweetie Belle and Diamond Tiara were behind her still but they were facing outwards, away from the pond, at the large number of shadow creatures who had began oozing out of the ground forming a large ring around the three fillies and their three sleeping friends.
"Aww ponyfeathers."

Chapter 7: The Spark

The Spark

"Well this certainly doesn't look good..." Diamond backed up slowly until she was behind both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, together the three fillies watched warily as the shadow creatures shuffled silently in front of them, to their back was the pond so they were completely cut off. Applebloom, Silver Spoon and Pip were still sleeping peacefully in the grass where they'd put them just a little while ago. Right between them and the creatures
"Careful Scoots!" Sweetie belle held out a hoof to stop Scootaloo who'd taken a few steps forwards which caused her friend to stop and shake her head, "I won't let them touch Applebloom, Pip or Silver! They're gonna have to force their way through me first!"
The orange filly spread her front legs and snorted loudly, eyes narrowed and deadly serious, ready to put up a fight if need be.
Sweetie looked to Diamond who was still shirking behind her and gestured for her to move forwards. "Scared or not you're gonna protect your friend...aren't you?"
Diamond looked over at the creatures and audibly gulped then nodden shakily, "y-yeah, there's no way I'm gonna let those filthy things dirty one hair on her."

The three of them crowded around their slumbering friends protectively as the creatures shifted and began forming a dark circle around them.
"Just try it!" Scootaloo shouted loudly as she flourished her small wings, next to her Sweetie Belle scrunched up her face and her horn shone even brighter than it's normal dull glow.
In that same moment, the shadows started their assault.
"Don't let them touch you!" Sweetie warned as she evaded a swipe and bucked the monster in the head causing it to explode into a pile of ash.
"Easier said than done!" Scootaloo headbutted a creature then leapt to the side and rolled out of reach of another, behind them Diamond just whimpered and backed away, she remained standing over Silver Spoon though, her legs trembling and eyes wide with terror as several shadows converged on her sensing her apprehension.
"S-stay back" she stammered, choking on her words, "I won't let you touch her!"
The closest creature lifted a wispy front hoof and reached towards her slowly and Diamond clenched her eyes shut in fear, prepared for the worst.
"Oh no you don't!" There was a loud crash followed by a grunt then a groan which cause her to pop her eyes open just in time to see Scootaloo pounce on a shadow angrily, with a swift smack to it's head the thing poofed and vanished.
"S-scoot! look out!" Diamond squeaked meekly but it was too late, two creatures had already gotten behind her and snared her in their grips.
She struggled for a moment but their icy hold had already started spreading the weird magic through her, her face flushed first then her head drooped low, the magic took effect much faster than normal this time, probably cause there was more than just one creature.
"H-help Sweetie..." Scootaloo pleaded, her eyes growing dull as her strength failed her and she collapsed to the ground, unmoving.
Diamond whimpered again and looked over at Sweetie Belle who was backing away from three shadows, by the looks of it one of them had already sapped her a bit. Her horn flickered weakly and she stumbled over her hind hooves as she backed away cautiously.

Diamond could feel her heart beating in her throat and felt like someone had dropped a ball of hot butter into her stomach, now it was sloshing around uneasily causing her to shake uncontrollably. She tried gulping but it got stuck and sat there making it hard to breath as she watched the white filly slowly run out of options.
"C'mon Tiara" she whispered softly with her eyes closed. "This is nothing, just some shadows, you've already dealt with them before, this should be easy...You can do it, for Silver, for your friends."
It was then that she felt a spark
The spark blurred her vision for a moment and and ran down her entire body. When she blinked it was gone, replaced by an image in the back of her eyelids, an image of a crown. The one Scootaloo had found specifically.
She looked to her side where Scootaloo was laying and saw that her saddlebag was shining softly.
"The crown..."
She looked around for any nearby shadows then ran up to Scootaloo who didn't budge, she got close to the fillies face and was relieved to feel her breath, at least she was still alive, just passed out.
Throwing open the saddle bag she dumped it's contents out and stared at the crown.
The black iron crown looked different now, it was glowing a beautiful midnight blue color and had a small gem inlaid on it's front, a sapphire by the looks of it.
"Here goes nothing," she muttered putting the crown on.
In a split instant her mind and body was flooded with emotions that caused her to coil her back then fall into a ball on the ground, feelings of sadness, anger and utter grief gripped her mind in a vice like grip until she felt uncontrollable tears rolling down her face. This sensation continued for several excruciating seconds then vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. Now more images flashed by her vision, still pictures of everyone present, like the crown somehow knew what was going on around itself, she was greeted by smiling faces of the fillies she went to school with and teased, even ones she secretly might have admired.
A new feeling took over her body now, but not one of fear for herself, it was the feeling of impending loss. The feeling she'd have if she allowed anyone in the Hollow to fall prey to the shadows.
Strength surged through her small frame and with the bright crown adorning her head she stood up confidently, ready to take action.

"HEY!" She bellowed, her voice commanding attention, which is exactly what she got, the three creatures who had be pursuing Sweetie Belle all stopped in their tracks and turned to her. Sweetie Belle collapsed on the ground and craned her neck to look at where the voice came from. What she saw amazed her.
It was Diamond Tiara, the snooty little filly who often laughed at others expenses and never had anything nice to say but she was different now. Taller and more mature looking, with a long flowing luminescent mane, she was graceful and strong looking. Topping off the look was an enchanting crown that sat above her eyes which were now shining a brilliant white color. White lightning crackled around her hooves, darting around her body before dissipating into the ground.
In unison all the remaining shadows turned and started towards her, acting as one body. They lurched awkwardly into each other, every individual shadow getting consumed by the one it walked into until it was one large shape.
"If you think I'm going to let you harm a hair on their heads then you've got another thing coming you disgusting abominations."
Diamond stomped a hoof on the ground and the lightning crackled loudly in response.
The large shadow remained quiet and unmoving, it just stood in front of her silently, it's intentions a mystery.
"Your hooves!" Sweetie yelled feebly, noticing what was happening first, "look at your hooves!"
Diamond looked down and saw a multitude of black tendrils snaking their way out of the ground reaching for her legs, before she could react she was snared and held down from each leg in cold strength sapping grips, but she was ready to fight this time.
"Not so fast" she growled, her white eyes flashed dangerously as bolts of lightning crackled around her, zapping every dark tendril out of existence.
Summoning all of her new found strength Diamond concentrated everything she had on the crown she was wearing, she could feel power brewing in it as she fed it what she could.
"You made a grave mistake attacking my friends, there's no way I could let you get away after that."
She closed her eyes and lowered her head so that the jewel in the crown which was humming softly now faced the large beast who remained still, not attacking anymore.
"Good bye."
There was a high pitch whining noise followed by a thin white bolt of lightning that shot out of the crown with the force of a firework, it flew in a straight deadly line before plowing into the shadow so hard that the entire being was lifted off the ground then promptly exploded.

Everything was silent for a moment then Diamond walked over to Sweetie Belle who had passed out from exhaustion, relieved that she was ok Diamond allowed herself to grin very slightly before checking to make sure the other four were alright.
Once she was convinced that they'd be ok she stopped and stumbled slightly, suddenly very tired. The crown slipped a bit cause it to fall off her head and into the grass.
Her vision blurred, consciousness fading fast and as her eyes closed she caught a glimpse of a midnight blue hoof walking past her and up to the crown.

Luna bent down and nuzzled the old crown with the side of her face, a look of peace fell over her and she smiled warmly as she looked around at the Hollow.
"So you could see the spark as well?" She mused quietly looking down at Diamond who was sleeping peacefully a couple inches away.
"It only shows itself to those in desperate need of friends, be it gaining them, protecting them or holding onto them. It figures that you of all people would be able to use it."
Luna took a moment to lift each of the small fillies and lay them down next to each other, once she'd finished lining them up a warm wind rushed through the normally still Hollow and a white hole opened up nearby, a portal, much like the one she had made earlier in the night for the children to walk through.
"Sister." She bowed her head then smiled at Celestia as the other princess stepped out from the gate.
"I felt the spark, I should have known it was you." Her older sister spoke quietly and her eyes fell on the old crown that Luna was now holding.
"It was actually this one here," Luna patted Diamond who murmured and rolled over in her sleep, curled into a little ball.
"You sent these six to retrieve that old crown? Why would you do that? There's no need for that old element now that the new six have been formed, I doubt it even has much power left in it."
"For the same reason you still wear your old element I suppose" Luna gestured to the crown on her sisters head. "Nostalgia, fondness... Sometimes I like to be reminded of the times before my banishment. Besides, it did have some power, enough to help these fillies fight the spirits of all those stallions lost when we...fought...so so long ago.... They can rest now, finally."

Celestia looked around slowly, her face an emotionless mask before walking up to her sister and resting her nose on the top of her head, "I understand, you should be allowed to keep an object from back then, especially your original crown." After a moment the white alicorn moved away from her sister and gazed out at the pond then around at the trees, a look of forlorn sadness tinging her brilliant purple eyes. She stood like that for a moment then shook her head and nearly stepped on something, a small vial filled with a dark blue liquid.
"A potion? I guess you had Zecora brew it up for the fillies?"
Luna nodded then giggled softly, "Zecora did actually make it but that's no potion, it's just a mix of sugar water and some energy boosting herbs. It was to make them think it was a magical cure-all, when really they managed to do everything here on their own. Whatever those feats might've been, they did it with their own wit and strength."
"If anything this journey would've taught these fillies a couple things then."
"I should hope so, they still have so much to learn as the grow but friendship and trusting their own abilities should be the first thing they master."
Luna looked down at the sleeping fillies one last time and smiled happily,
"I think they're well on their way."