My Little Pony: The Four Horsemen
Chapter 9: The Awakening of Good and Evil Part 1
The Cutie Mark Crusaders trotted into Ponyville to get to the Golden Oaks with Applejack following close behind them.
"Come on, ya!" Apple Bloom said turning to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle beside her. "I can see that der library around da corner."
"Though, I wonder if Twilight is home since she wasn't at the picnic at White Tail." Scootaloo stated.
"I'm pretty sure she is." Sweetie Belle replied. "You know Twilight: Ponyville's greatest book room!"
"More like greatest egghead!" Scootaloo joked before the other two fillies began to laugh. Applejack on the other hand, rolled her eyes for believing the joke was poor at best.
Twilight drys herself off with a towel after taking a quick shower to wash away the foul odor that she was covered in. After leaving the bathroom, she heads downstairs to the Main Reading Room towards the kitchen to get dinner started, not before passing the Ares Maverick statue and giving it a quick smile of success that she finally proved the existence of the Horsemen. She couldn't wait for later to use her magic to free him.
"This is going to be EXCITING! EEEEE!" The purple squealed while standing on her hind legs and reaching the ceiling with her forelegs in victory.
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
Twilight's moment of celebration was interrupted by a sudden knock outside of her front door.
"TWILIGHT, 'RE YOU HOME?!" Came a familiar southern, female adult voice.
Twilight slowly crept to the window on the leftside of the door and peered through it. To her horror, it was four unexpected guests that she never thought would be visiting at a time like this – Apple Jack and the Cutie Mark Crusaders! She let out a soft shriek and hid underneath the window sill. Beads of sweat pour down her face as she felt her heart beat increase speed and her body shiver in a state of panic.
"TWILIGHT! SUGARCUBE!" Apple Jack called again from behind the door.
Just then, an exhausted Spike emerged out of Twilight's bedroom with a blanket in hand.
"What's all the comotion?" The baby dragon yawned.
"SPIKE!" Twilight hollered in surprise. "THANK CELESTIA YOU'RE AWAKE! YOU NEED TO HELP ME!"
"With what?" asked a clueless Spike.
"Applejack and the Crusaders are here and they are outside my door! YOU NEED TO DISTRACT THEM!
"Why?"
"THEY CAN NOT KNOW ABOUT ARES' STATUE! I got to hide him! Gotta HIDE HIM! GOTTA HIDE HIM!"
"Whoa! Take it easy, Twilight. Umm...maybe you can hide in the one place that no pony would ever think of looking. Uh...perhaps the bas..."
"BASEMENT! OF COURSE!"
Another loud knock on the door from Applejack is heard."TWILIGHT! SUGARCUBE, 'RE YOU IN DER?! OPEN UP!"
Twilight gasped. "SPIKE! DISTRACT THEM! GO GET YOUR GEMS AND YOUR WAGON FROM MY ROOM! HURRY!"
Outside of the library, Applejack and the Crusaders were still standing in front of the main door. The honest cowgirl knocked and called Twilight Sparkles name one last time but received no answer.
"TWILIGHT!" Applejack said outloud.
"Maybe she's not home." Sweetie Belle said. "She could be in Canterlot spending time with the Princess or..."
FLASH! A bright purple light illuminated through the windows from withinside the library that made the four ponies jump out of their fur. The flash lasted for only a brief second until things were normal and quiet.
"What was that?!" Scootaloo questioned.
"Ah recognize that flash." Applejack replied. "'t must've been from Twilight's magic teleportation."
"So...does that mean she's home or not? Apple Bloom asked her sister.
Applejack shrugged at her little sister's question and attempts to knock on the door one last time. Before her right hoof was able to make impact with the door, it flunged open with sudden force with a grinning Spike pulling his little red wagon carrying a bag of gems.
"Uh, hi girls!" Spike said still smiling.
"Howdy, Spike." Applejack said. "Is Twilight present?"
Spike began to stammer. "Umm...mah...yeah! She is here!"
"Well, can da fer of us come in?"
"HOLD ON! Before you do, would you like to see something cool I can do with my gem collection?"
The three fillies and the orange mare glanced at one another and then all four looked at Spike. "Um...maybe later...bu..."
"PLEASE! PRETTY PLEASE!"
"But..." Applejack paused for a minute and realized how desperate Spike is becoming. "...fine. Go ahead, fella."
Spike unzips his bag and pulls out ten different colored and shaped gems: purple, orange, cyan, white, yellow, pink, gold, gray, dark blue, and red. With the gems in hand, he began to show off to the ponies by juggling all ten of them, hopefully it will be impressive enough to get their attention.
"You see," the baby dragon stammered. "I can ju...juggle with these things. I...I...have been practicing for years and..."
"Spike!" Sweetie Belle interrupted. "We all you know you can juggle gems since you showed us last year."
Those last words from Sweetie Belle caught Spike offguard that he dropped his gems."Uh...ye...yeah but...don't you want to see me do it again?"
"Spike, fer Celestia's sake," Applejack said. "Can we all just stop this 'ere nonsense and see Twi..."
FLASH! A burst of purple aurora exploded next to Spike which scared him and the four mares by surprise. It was Twilight Sparkle who appeared in front of everyone with a huge grin. "HI EVERYPONY!"
"Uh...hi, sugarcube."Applejack replied while coming back to the reality after the unicorn's use of magic. "We came by to ask fer a favor."
"Sure! What do you need?"
"We're doing a book report about the Four Horsemen." Scootaloo said to Twilight. "Unfortunately, we don't have a copy of the book and we are asking you if we can burrow one."
"Alright!...uh...I'll go get it. BE RIGHT BACK!"
Twilight disappears with her use of her teleportation back into the library to find the book and in a second, she reappears with her own copy of the Four Horsemen story.
"Here you go, girls!" Twilight said while giving the fillies the book with her left hoof. "Is there anything else you need?"
"Nope!" Apple Bloom replied after receiving the book. "That's all we need for today. Thanks, Twilight!"
"Anytime, sweety." Twilight said smiling. "Good luck on your book report."
"Alright, yall." Applejack said to the CMC. "Let's head home befer the sunsets. Bye, Twilight."
The three fillies and the cowgirl left Twilight's residence as they head back to their perspective homes.
"Whew, that was close." Twilight said to Spike.
"You said it." Spike replied as he puts his gems back in the bag. "So...what now?"
"We wait until nightfall to free Ares Maverick from his stone imprisonment before anypony finds out about it."
"Wait! Aren't you going to report this to Princess Celestia?"
"I will until we free Ares! Now, come on. I need you to help me practice my stone release spell. Grab your wagon and gems and come inside."
Spike grabs his stuff and heads inside the Library with Twilight as sun starts to set.
Meanwhile, back at the abandoned Diamond Valley, a small group of ten Changelings with Slither and Thorn entered the underground caverns where Twilight Sparkle and Spike found the statue of Ares Maverick. Five Changelings went with Slither as they searched East and North while the remaining five went with Thorn to the South and West. Each member of the two groups began to dig through the dirt and rocks looking for any sign of gray stone while the team leaders searched by the use of their dark magic from their horns to illuminate a green light to search dark areas around the caverns. For the first several minutes, they only found nothing but gemstones and diamonds buried within the walls and grounds of the place. All of them cared less about that and cared only about completing their mission.
Above ground, Queen Chrysalis stood near the entrance of the underground cavern with two Changeling guards standing near her. She waited patiently for a few minutes until a member of Slither's group flew out of the hole to deliver a message.
"My queen," the messenger said, "Slither has some fantastic news: we have found the statue located 80 meters North from your position! We're waiting for you now."
"Wonderful." Queen Chrysalis said. "Just lead the way to where Slither is."
The insect-like queen and her guards followed the messenger to the area where he previously mentioned. As they approached the supposed spot, the dark queen's horn began to glow a green aurora and shot a powerful stream of magic onto the ground, where lines began to form in below them. When the magic ceased and the lines formed, the ground began to crack, gave way, and it sank to another portion of the underground cavern where Slither, Thorn, and the rest of the excavation team are waiting. Chrysalis trots to the edge of the hole and looks down to see the team's discovery – Black Mist's statue!
"At last," The queen smirked. "After 100 years, you are in my hooves."
She turns to her Changeling guards. "You two bury this hole again while the rest of subjects and I will take our new guest to my castle. Slither and Thorn, you have some midnight patrol to do in case any of Celestia's guards become suspicious about one their own missing."
"Wait, my queen," Slither interrupted. "What about Twilight Sparkle and that one stallion that she discovered earlier? What if they come back looking for the other buried stallions?"
"If Ares gets in your way, just keep him busy. Bring him and his team back to my fortress...ALIVE! Ares and the Horsemen are Black Mist's responsibilities and as for Twilight Sparkle...well...I suggest you bring her, too."
Slither and Thorn nodded and bowed to their queen in agreement.
"The rest of you," Chrysalis said to her subjects. "Let's depart to my kingdom. It's time for Black Mist to be awaken from his eternal slumber."
Chrysalis horn shot another stream of green aurora and formed a huge, magical dome around her, the excavation team, and the Black Mist statue. In a flash, they disappeared while leaving her two Changeling guards and Slither and Thorn in Diamond Valley as they have some tasks to do.
Back in Golden Oaks Library of Ponyville, as the night finally arrived, Spike gathered a few candles and placed each one in front of another clockwise to form a circle around the Ares Maverick statue in the Main Reading room. When he was finished, Twilight Sparkle began to use her magic to light the candles as the baby dragon went up to the bedroom to grab the one of the spell books that contain the instructions on how to free somepony trapped in stone. He ran back downstairs where Twilight stood right in front of a wooden book holder stand in front of the statue and in between the first and last candle around the circle.
"Here you go, Twilight." Spike said as he handed the book to the purple unicorn.
"Thanks Spike." She responded as she used her telekinesis to bring the book to the stand.
She flips through the pages until she found the spell about undoing stone imprisonment. "Ah, found it! Are you ready, Spike?"
Spike gulped. "Uh...I...yeah. I'm always ready."
"Then lets begin! Time to awaken our hero from the past!"