Prologue

"There once was a beautiful mountain, seen by all in Ponyville. Its beauty was so amazing, the citizens of Ponyville named it, Mt. Magnificent. Mt. Magnificent was a place where all ponies would want to visit, but there was a downfall. Not only being placed smack dab in the middle of the Everfree Forest, it was cursed by Princess Celestia for holding a very powerful entity inside of it, but that did not stop the Miner Family from moving in. The Father of the Miner Family was named, Steel Miner, one of the coldest ponies you would ever meet, although he had a soft spot for his son, Coal Miner. His Wife, Ruby Miner was an elegant woman, far too classy looking for a man like Steel, but no one can change who you fall in love with. Right?

Anyways, they lived atop Mt. Magnificent, where Steel Miner would mine stone for houses, coal for fuel, and gems for the princess. This happened for a while until one day; while Steel was mining he was crushed by an avalanche of falling stone. He died almost instantly. The funeral ceremony was small, seeing as how the Miner Family wasn't a very outgoing family. When Coal and his mother came home, a man was inside the house of the Miner's. He was unwelcomed and unknown to the Miner Family. He took Ruby Miner with him and left the place to rot. Since then, Mt. Magnificent lost its glow and its title. It was changed to what we know it as, Mt. Malevolent, but its name was not changed to Mt. Malevolent for its unsettling appearance. Legend has it; there is a Ghost of the infamous Steel Miner haunting Mt. Malevolent and taking fillies and colts when they come to his mountain. "

Now, will you little fillies go to bed, or am I going to have to bring Steel here to set you straight, hmm?" Said the mare to her children wiggling restlessly in there bed.

"Oh no, mother, we are terribly sorry for keeping you up this late. You go on and go to bed. We will go to sleep," said the little colt mischievously.

The mother stared close at the little colt and smiled. "Well ok, as long as you promise you will go to bed."

"Don't worry mother, we promise to go to bed, right guys?" said the pony to his sisters, bumping the fillies arms with his hoof.

"Oh yea, of course we are," said one if the fillies. "Of course we are, mother," said the other.

"Oh, alright, you guys have pleasant dreams," the mother said as she left the room.

As the door silently crept closed, the young colts mind was a blaze with ideas. Horrible, mischievous ideas.

"Hey guys, how about we ditch this bed and go to that Mt. Malevol-whatever it's called and see if it's REALLY haunted or not. What do you say?" The colt said as he stood up, bravely, staring at his two sisters with anticipation in his eyes.

"Like Tartarus we will. We aren't going anywhere NEAR that spooky mountain." The sister said, as her other sister nodded in agreement.

"Fine, I'll go by myself then! I don't need anypony to go with me!" The older brother said, as he opened the window to their bedroom and began to scale downward. The two sisters tried to stop him, but it was no use. The young colt made up his mind on leaving and took off towards the Everfree Forest.

As he treaded down the cracked path leading to the mountain, he could hear a faint sound chiming in front of him. It was soft, but catchy. A tune that was worthy of humming while strolling down a street to pick up groceries from your local market. As the little pony came closer to the entrance of the mountain, he got shivered just from the sight. Lay out in front of him, a rusty fence broken in parts that looked necessary to keep people out. Ironically, a piece of scrap metal dug into the ground that read "NO TRESPASSING" waited passed the fence, almost mocking the young colt into running away in fear, but the light tuned ticks and bangs of factory work coerced the pony to continue his trek to the top of the mountain

. As he advanced up the spiral path up the mountain side, he gave an audience to the wonderful symphony playing just inside the mountain. An orchestra of ticks, pings, and sounds of machinery filled the air with its muffled beats of rhythm and perfectly timed tunes. As the pony had approached the old decrepit house of what was the Miner's home, he noticed that the music had stopped. No music was chiming through the air, and it seemed to have been darker than usual. As the colt went to the front door, he swallowed hard and knocked on the door hesitantly, but courageous as well. Before he could knock again, the door had opened by itself and the little colt walked skeptically into the abandoned house that lay in front of him.

As he entered, he had noticed some lit candles on the walls and in the hallways. "Funny. It seems they didn't have electricity when this house was build." The young colt said, feeling a strange breeze hit his side, almost like it was coaxing him to go towards the source. As he approached where the strange breeze had come from, he was met by a long corridor downward that became earthier as he continued down the path. The darkness had soon enveloped the poor pony as he was wandering aimlessly down the path. Finally, after hours of traveling blindly through the horrid maze, the pony figured he was just wandering aimlessly this wretched maze. He sat down and began to sob a little.

"I'll never find a way out of here. I'll be stuck here for the rest of my life." The pony said with sadness in his voice.

"This way."

"A voice?" the poor pony thought to himself as he followed the sound of the voice.

Inevitably, the voice had trailed to an opening in the cave. A door that lead to a magnificent place, The Emerald Cave. As the pony entered this cave, his jaw had dropped in the shire beauty of the cave. Emerald crystals protruding from the walls, floor, and ceiling. As the colt looked around, he had seen what must have been making the noise. Tons of pickaxes lay out on the ground, as if dropped suddenly. As the pony began to explore further on, he had heard the familiar sound of a pickaxe chipping away at the wall.

Unknowing of where the sound was coming from, the pony began to step backwards to see if the sound was coming from a higher place. As he walked backwards, he had suddenly bumped into what felt like a person. He slowly turned around to see that what was behind him was A….. Nothing? "Could I be feeling things that aren't there?" The young colt thought to himself, as the familiar sound began to pick up.

He turned around to see all the pickaxes beginning to work on the crystal gems in the walls. "No magic aura to be seen, so it must…have been…a…" The colt said as he felt something, no, someone behind him breathing heavily as if to show they are there. He turns to see it must have been…no... no please don't… NO!