The first attempt was a complete failure, ending somehow with Fluttershy inside the cage instead of the stone. The second and third attempts went better, but by the fourth attempt, they were all a little fed up with the plan.

"No" Twilight tried to explain to Rainbow Dash "You can't just use your hooves to pick up the stone and put it into the cage, when we're up against the real Shadow-Raven, it isn't going to just let you pick it up, is it?"

An argument was about to break out amongst the six ponies when a strange voice spoke up from the nearby tree.

"Oh, bravo! Encore! Is this the plan to capture the elusive Shadow-Raven?"

The six ponies stood in silence, searching the tree for the source of the voice.

"And, might I ask that you refer to me by my name when speaking of me? It's only polite, and it is such a nice name."

The voice was deep and sounded as if the speaker was at the bottom of a deep well, the words echoing up out of a darkness unfathomable.

"Uhh… Ok." Applejack was the first to speak up "What's your name?"

She asked the disembodied voice.

"Ah, finally somepony polite enough to ask. My name is simply Raven. Not 'the Raven' or 'Mr Raven' or 'it', as most of you have been calling me. Just Raven."

And with that said, Raven appeared, as if out of mist and shadow, sitting on the branch where Twilight had originally put the stone to represent him. He bowed to them, and then reclined against the trunk of the tree, watching them.

Twilight frowned. "Is that him? Is that… the Shadow-Raven?" she whispered to her friends.

"It's rude to whisper about others, whether they can hear you or not." Raven's voice came from behind Twilight, causing the group to jump. And there, perched on Twilight's back, was Raven. Twilight didn't recall feeling anything on her back, but there he was, acting as if this was a perfectly natural and normal situation. She looked back to where he had been reclining only moments before, but he had most definitely moved.

"I'm sorry…" he frowned. "You're probably not comfortable with me perching here on your back." He flapped his inky wings and landed in front of the group, and studied them each one in turn.

First he hopped over to Rarity, turning his head to one side to look at her more closely. Rarity was horrified to see that what the nervous guard had told them, about the horrible disfigurements and injuries, was true. There where his eye should have been, there was a simply a hole, and his chest sported many jutting bones and even a horrible gash through which you should have been able to see inside him but was, thankfully, shrouded in shadow.

He then moved on to take a closer look at Rainbow Dash. He was especially fond of her mane, and kept asking her if that was her natural hair colour. ("For the SEVENTH time, NO I didn't dye my mane like this!")

Applejack's hat seemed to amuse him, as he lifted it up off her head using a shadowy magic to manipulate it. "Hey! Gimme that back!" she said in protest as he removed it from her head. "Oh, I'm sorry." He said, with what looked like a sly grin. He placed it back on her head, and flew on.

Fluttershy shrank back from him as he came closer. He stopped, and landed a distance in front of her. There he paused, before taking a few steps closer, to which she responded by moving a little further away. He sighed. "I scare you, don't I?" Fluttershy didn't answer him. He hung his head. "Very well then. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." And moved on.

Pinkie Pie didn't shrink back or move away, but Raven had a hard time getting her to stand still. "Are you always this… bouncy?" he asked her, frowning.

Finally he got to Twilight Sparkle. He circled around her a few times, and stopped in front of her. He was still inspecting her when she asked him "I don't mean to be rude, but what are you doing?" Raven paused, looked at her and replied "I am trying to get to know you better."

He then asked them something they weren't expecting.

"Tell me, young ones, do you believe me to be evil?"

Twilight didn't know whether he really wanted an answer or whether he was simply stalling, but before she could think of something to do, Rainbow Dash spoke up.

"Yeah! Of course we do! We've been told about what the Shadow-Ravens did three-thousand years ago. You stole ponies' crops and attacked their villages!"

Raven sighed, a long and heavy sigh of someone carrying a heavy burden.

"'History is written by the victors.'" He looked up and, seeing the confused looks he was receiving, he tried to explain. "'History is written by the victors.'… You know… Churchill. Winston Chur- oh never mind, I forgot, you wouldn't know him anyway. My point is that the shadow-ravens didn't start the conflict that happened all those millennia ago, but of course you would rather believe your history books than what the vanquished enemy has to say."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

"Of cooouuurse they didn't." She said, sarcastically.

It took Twilight a while to realize that her friend was keeping Raven talking, giving the others time to act.

"Now, girls!" She shouted and, with surprising efficiency, the ponies jumped into action. Applejack lassoed Raven and tied the ropes tight; Pinkie Pie flung him, struggling, into the air, where Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash caught him with the cage. Rarity quickly used her magic to close and lock the cage door, and Twilight did the fastest bit of enchanting she had ever performed.