Disclaimer: All MLP:FiM characters belong to Hasbro and DHX Media. I do not own any of them except my OC.

For the last several months, my scepter has been acting crazy. It keeps glowing day and night as if it's telling me something big is going to happen. Oh wait, there is. We've made it to the end of the season which means the return of the ancient pillars and the Pony of Shadows. This was going to be fun. Anyways, today we had to go to Canterlot because Sunburst had discovered Starswirl's journal in the crate of stuff in the barrel that he got at the antique shop in Ponyville a few months back. We were all listening to what the journal had to say. It was a bunch of yada-yada, but towards the end, it got interesting. Here's what it said:

"The best elements within us can spread light and virtue and I know ponies who represent them all: strength, bravery, healing, beauty, hope, and sorcery. Myself and these Pillars of Equestria were gathered together by another to maintain and share the light of these powerful ideals. But we soon came to believe the pony who brought us together, only wanted that power for himself. Cast out and alone, this power-mad pony turned to darkness to satisfy his thirst. Transformed into a Pony of Shadows, he returned for revenge, to extinguish the Pillars' light and rob the world of hope. To stop him, the Pillars and I must make a grave sacrifice. But we shall leave behind a seed in hopes that one day, it will grow into a force to stand against the darkness. We must now face the fiend with the only plan we have. I only hope it will be enough."

There were some flaws with that, and a simple misunderstanding that the Pillars got wrong. Just because you are powerful in magic, does not mean you are wise. I heard Sunburst say "That's the last entry. And maybe Starswirl's final words before he vanished!" The royal sisters had worried looks on their faces while I just rolled my eyes. I think Sunburst was making it a little too dramatic in my opinion. Celestia said "I've always wondered what happened to Starswirl." I can tell you what happened. "This is quite a discovery, Sunburst." I guess, considering it came from a barrel full of old timey stuff from an antique shop. Twilight asked "So it's genuine?" Yes, Twilight it is. "You can verify that this journal really belonged to Starswirl the Bearded?" Why must she do the wing flapping? I get you're excited, but calm down a little will you? Luna said "Indeed. From the looks of it, the last thing he wrote before facing the Pony of Shadows." This caused Rainbow to freak out and asked nervously "Uh, so, the Pony of Shadows was really real?" I said "Yes, Rainbow. The Pony of Shadows was just as real as everypony else. So the whole theory about what was left over of Nightmare Moon's magic at the ancient castle in Ponyville can be thrown out the window literally."

Rainbow dropped her jaw at that. In fact, everypony else did as well. Rainbow asked "How did you know about that?" I said "I have my ways, Rainbow. There are many things you don't know about me that I rather not share right now." Luna said "We never met the other Pillars and we were too young to understand the danger we faced." Applejack said "Hold on a second now! All those legendary ponies were real too?" Didn't you hear what I just said about the Pony of Shadows? Oy vey. "And they went off with Starswirl to face the Pony of Shadows and then none of them were ever heard from again?" I said "That's how it went." Pinkie said "Ah, yeah. Weren't you listening?" Good one, Pinkie. Fluttershy asked "But what happened to them all?" Before I could answer, Rarity replied "They must have defeated the villain, since Equestria's still full of light and hope." Starlight asked "But how? And where did they go?"

I said "I can answer that question. This is what happened:" I lit up my scepter and showed a simulation of what happened to them. I said "When the Pony of Shadows returned for revenge, the pillars fought him. After a little bit, they summoned him to Stonehenge. With all the artifacts they had, it caused a portal to open trapping them and the Pony of Shadows in a place called Limbo where time is non-existent there. Basically, everything happens in the blink of an eye. What became of that seed they planted is what is now known as the Tree of Harmony that sits past the Everfree Forest. There were some things that were misconceptions in the journal, and that leads to this riddle: I wanted friends who cared. They rejected me and the darkness welcomed me. I tried to come back at them, but they trapped me. When I return, I will destroy everything. So that's pretty much how that happened to answer your question, Starlight." After I was done speaking, everypony's jaw dropped and there was dead silence in there.

I said "Why do you keep staring at me like that? It's not that big of a deal." Twilight teleported in front of me and said loudly "YOU JUST SOLVED A THOUSANDS YEAR OLD MYSTERY! OF COURSE IT'S A BIG DEAL!" I said "Um, do you mind lowering your voice a bit? I get you're excited, but please calm down." Twilight said "Oh, sorry. This is just so exciting." Rainbow said "I don't know. That might not be very accurate." I looked over at Rainbow and narrowed my eyes. I said "Why do you have such little faith, Rainbow? What I said has been proven history and it cannot be debated. May I remind you that the scepter is never wrong in any circumstance and it comes from the Tree of Harmony. I could explain it right now, but I'll save that for later." Rainbow said "Fine. But I still want to look." Luna said "We have fond memories of our old teacher. If you could discover what really happened to him, we would be most grateful." I said "Believe me, what I said is 100% fact whether if some choose to believe it or not." Rainbow rolled her eyes and looked away. Celestia said to Twilight "You might find you need help." Applejack said "Luckily, she's got a whole bushel of helpers right here." That is very much true.

Rainbow said "Definitely. Umm, how long will it take to do all this research exactly?" I said "If you believed me, it would take no time, but since you insist on reading, it may take you three days." Rainbow rolled her eyes and said "Yeah, yeah whatever." I growled in annoyance and Twilight said "Let's get this back to my library. I'm sure we'll figure out what happened in no time." Ha! Good luck. If you need me, I'll be reading actual important stuff. I said "Ha! Good luck with that. If anypony needs me, I'll be yeeting trash cans to space. See ya!" I went into my shadow form and disappeared to the castle before the rest of the group got there. This was going to be fun alright.

3 days later…

I went inside the library and it was just how I predicted. It would take them three days to read everything. I saw Spike replace the candle and yawned while doing so. He said "Figure it out yet, Twilight?" Twilight shook her head no and Spike threw the old candle near the trash can. It woke up Sunburst and he said "Wha-WHAT? What did you figure out?" Nothing, go back to sleep. This caused everypony else to wake up and Pinkie said "You figured something out?" Fluttershy asked "What is it?" Twilight sighed and said "Nothing. I mean, Starswirl was a genius, obviously, but forget Old Ponish. There's parts where his hornwriting is like another language! Agh." I said not present in the room, in the wall in my shadow form, "Maybe if you ponies actually listened to what I said, you would have figured it out days ago. But nope. You let your doubts get the better of you and look at what happened. So disgraceful. Come get me when I should care." Rainbow growled in frustration and said "We get it okay?! Now stop being such a pain in the flank and actually help us out here." I said "Ha! Not in a million years! I'll come back when you actually want to listen. Goodbye."

I heard Rainbow say "That lion is such a nuisance sometimes." Starlight said "I wouldn't say that." Rainbow said "Why not?" Watch. I said loudly shaking the room "I HEARD THAT! I AM VERY USEFUL COMPARED TO YOU RAINBOW DASH! IF YOU DON'T WANT MY HELP, THAT'S FINE! NOW IF YOU'LL EXCUSE ME, I HAVE TRASH CANS TO GET RID OF!" Starlight said "Told ya." Rainbow said "Okay, yeah I'm never messing with him again. That seemed quite terrifying." At least my yelling woke everypony up. Applejack said "Well, anyways, Twilight, we've been studyin' and refencin" and cross referencing for three days straight now." Well, that's what happens when you don't listen to me. Rainbow said "Ugh. I haven't spent this much time reading since the last Daring Do book came out." Rarity said "Perhaps it is time to take a break. This mystery is over a thousand years old, after all." Umm, in my books, it was 10,000 years ago. If you don't like that, too bad. The author said this is his story and that he can do whatever he wants with this universe.

"Another day or two won't make a difference!" Another day or two means more entertainment for me watching you ponies fail miserably at the fact you can't believe things I say. However, Twilight would not settle for that. She said "Two days?! I don't want to waste two seconds." Then how about you listen to me and we can move on to the more important things? "I'm close to an answer. I can feel it. What Zach said may help us." At least she acknowledges the fact about what I said. Starlight said "Hearg sylfum se Ponhenge. What's that?" I said "That would be translated into the Temple of Ponhenge." Twilight grew wide eyed at this and said to Starlight "The Temple of Ponhenge?! You can read that?!" Apparently so, Twilight. Starlight said "The hornwriting's pretty sloppy, but it's nowhere near as bad as mine." Gee, I wonder how bad it truly is. "Toward dol grimlic of fola firgenbeorg?" I said "That would translate to "At the base of Foal Mountain…" Starlight said "User endemest scield…" I said "Which that would translate into "Our last stand…" Hence, the containment of the Pony of Shadows in Ponhenge."

Spike yawned and said "Well, that sure sounds like a clue to me." It is, Spike. He blew out the candle and fell asleep. Sunburst grabbed a book that showed where Ponhenge was and we followed it to there. When we got there, it was a hot mess. There was overgrown plants, the rocks began to decay, and just a lot of stuff laying around. Twilight said "This is it. Ponhenge. I can't believe it." I said "I can. I've seen this place a million times already." Twilight rolled her eyes and said "Well, that's good for you. The rest of us haven't." I can tell. Sunburst said "I've never seen magical runes like these before. Have you?" Twilight said "Uh uh." I said "I have, but even so, they are quite interesting." Rainbow said "I don't think anypony's seen any of this for a long time." I said "Well, that's because one, this place hasn't been touched for tens of thousands of years, and second the overgrown plants from the Everfree Forest have taken over this ancient landmark."

Rainbow tried getting rid of the plant, but she fell backwards and into the bushes. Applejack saw this and pulled Rainbow out. She said "It'd take a whole team of ponies to clear away all this brush." I said "I can fix that. You might want to step back though." They all listened and I cleared away all of the overgrown stuff using my magic. Then, I signaled them to come back. Fluttershy said "Even then, I'm not sure we'd find out what happened here over a thousand years ago." It was 10,000 and if you ponies would listen to me, you would find this out sooner. Twilight sighed and said "You're right. I suppose it was a long shot." Not really, you just need to do something that you haven't tried yet. Spike said "Cheer up, Twilight. Finding a whole set of ancient ruins is pretty impressive." I can definitely agree with that. "Maybe you could write a paper on it!" I doubt that will help, Spike. Twilight said "I guess I hoped we'd get here and the mystery would just magically be explained." That might happen.

She set the book down and the book came to life. Wait what? Suddenly, the scepter sent out a beam of magic and my crown did as well, along with my eyes glowing white. I think because the scepter is somewhat connected to Starswirl, it's showing what happened all those years ago. Spike said "Uh, Twilight?" She turned around and gasped at it and then she saw what happened. When the book opened, it showed Starswirl in there. But he was just standing there. Twilight said stammering "Starswirl? I- I've wanted to meet you my whole life. I can't believe you're here!" He's not Twilight. It's just a simulation of what happened that dreadful night. Sunburst went up to it and put his hoof through it showing it was hollow. He said "I don't think he is here." You would be correct. "I don't think any of them are." Then, the scepter's magic showed all the Pillars and they appeared as well. Of course, everypony was very confused and I couldn't blame them. I would be confused if I had not watched the episodes.

Then, the scepter's magic connected with Starswirl's and brought forth the simulation of the Pony of Shadows. It caused everypony to back up and the Pony of Shadows just gave an evil laugh. He said "You summon me at your peril, Starswirl. Once I defeat all of you, this realm will embrace the darkness as I did so long ago." That's the thing about villains in this universe. They get arrogant and cocky before they follow through with their plans. Which results in them getting defeated. He made a loud noise and covered them in what almost appeared to be a spider web, but I couldn't tell and I don't know how to describe it. Then he threw in another evil laugh and the whole world came down like a sea of darkness trying to wipe out the light. "Drawing me here will only make me stronger. You will never defeat me!" You are sadly mistaken. Starswirl said "We did not come here to defeat you." Suddenly the scepter used it's magic again to connect with the pillars breaking free from the Pony of Shadows' hold and forming a hexagon shape from the artifacts they possessed.

The Pony of Shadows became confused at this and asked "What are you doing?" They're trapping you in Limbo so you cannot extinguish everything that is good in this world. Starswirl replied "We came to contain you." They began to rise up in the air and the Pony of Shadows screamed at the top of his lungs as he and the Pillars disappeared. The artifacts fell and the book closed up. Then, my eyes stopped glowing and the magic disconnected from the book. Everypony was in shock. Pinkie said to Twilight "Well, you did ask for a magical explanation." I think it was more than she had asked for, Pinkie. Twilight picked up the journal and Rainbow asked "Uh, what just happened?" I said "Well, if you were paying attention, Starswirl cast a spell to bring the Pony of Shadows here so that he and the rest of the Pillars could banish him to limbo."

Starlight said "I think he's right. It looked like Starswirl cast a spell that banished the Pony of Shadows." Sunburst said "Of course! Powerful magic like that would leave an impression on this place. Bringing the book back here let us see what happened." I said "And because the scepter right here is connected to Starswirl and the Tree of Harmony, it would show events of recorded history here." Applejack asked "Which was what?" Twilight said with a heavy heart "Starswirl and the rest of the Pillars sacrificed themselves to save Equestria." You act like that's the saddest thing you've ever heard. I've heard worse and so have you. We got back to the castle and it was the next day. I heard Sunburst and Starlight talking while headed to the throne room.

I heard Starlight say "It's amazing to think one of the greatest mysteries of Equestria was solved with a musty old book from an antique shop." That is quite interesting. How it ended up there, nopony will ever know, not even myself. Sunburst said "But I wouldn't say the mystery's solved. Starswirl's spell was one of the most powerful feats of magic in all of history." Was it? "It'll take years of study before we fully understand it." Actually, it's not that difficult to figure out. Twilight said in the library "I think I understand Starswirl's spell!" Finally, she came to the throne room and began to explain what the situation was. She said "I know I've finished one of Starswirl's spells before, but this one was on a whole different level!" Of course it was. "Was it an explosion of magical feedback?" I doubt that. "An evocation?" I don't know what that is. "A kind of incantation?" I don't know what that is either. "It's Starswirl, so the possibilities are endless!" Not really. I have reached so many dead ends with Starswirl's spells. I am not making that up by the way.

"And once Starlight set me on the right track with his crazy hornwriting- I mean, he was a genius, so I guess we can forgive a little messiness- I went through the journal again and it's amazing!" It is? Rarity said in confusion "Twilight, darling, we understand you're excited, but that's all we understand." Exactly, you are using very complicated and technical terms that nopony but yourself understands. Rainbow asked "What exactly is so amazing?" Before I could answer, Twilight said "Only how Starswirl and the other pillars sent the Pony of Shadows to Limbo!" Applejack asked "They did what now?" I said "Finally, somepony actually believes me. It only took you five days to figure that out." Twilight rolled her eyes and said "I did believe you, but I had to check first just to make sure." Of course you did. Thanks a lot, Rainbow Dash. Twilight sat back down on her throne and explained the spell that the Pillars used.

She said "They used their magic to open a portal between worlds, to Limbo and pulled the Pony of Shadows inside. Basically, mostly what Zach said earlier." Of course the cardboard thing disappeared into thin air and Rarity exclaimed "Darling, your diorama!" It's not that bad. Twilight said "I made more." I can tell as some of them collapsed on one another. "Starswirl thought the only way to trap the Pony of Shadows in Limbo was for the Pillars to take him there." Therefore, they've been stuck in there for tens of thousands of years and light has dominated the darkness since. Applejack said, finally realizing what Twilight was saying "So they got stuck too!" You would be correct. That's how magic worked back then, but now it's been very much improved. Fluttershy said "The Pony of Shadows must have been really awful for them to do that." Yeah, he was practically the devil himself.

Pinkie said "I suppose being trapped for all time with a super-duper bad guy in limbo might be OK if you were doing the limbo, but that's still pushing it." Maybe. Twilight said "The thing is, I think I can get them out." That's a bold statement. Sunburst said "Twilight, are you serious? You can save the most legendary ponies of all time?" I think so. Starlight, however, said "I don't know. Opening portals between worlds didn't work out well for me. Are you sure it's safe?" I said "That's completely different. This has to do with different dimensions, not changing the timeline in history." Twilight said "He's right. First of all, you opened portals through time. And second of all, Starswirl wrote the spell you used to do it. If he'd been here, he could have stopped it." Yes, but then the whole Friendship is Magic part would be useless. If he had been here, Twilight wouldn't have become friends with Starlight, and she would be stuck in Limbo too. Now you've basically crushed Starlight.

"Equestria would be safer with him in it. We have to save him." I'm not sure about that. Although, the tension between the Pillars and the Pony of Shadows is quite old at this point. They need to talk things out because of the broken friendship that still exists in each and every one of their hearts. Applejack said "But you'd be savin' all the Pillars, right?" It's the only way. "And they disappeared ages ago." Yes, thanks for stating the obvious, Applejack. Twilight flew back down on her throne and said "That's the thing about Limbo. It isn't one place or another. It's in between, so time stands still. If we can pull them out, it'll be like they never left. Like Zach said, it would all happen in the blink of an eye." Thanks for acknowledging that. I appreciate it. "I actually built another model to demonstrate-" when Rainbow cut her off by banging her head on the table groaning. Twilight just stared and Spike asked "What can we do to help?"

Find the artifacts and then pull out the Pillars and the Pony of Shadows as well? Yeah, sounds about right. Twilight replied "If I'm right, we need to find items that are connected to the Pillars in some way." Exactly. Rainbow asked "You mean, like, stuff that belonged to them?" Yes, you would be correct. Fluttershy asked "How would we know what to look for? Or where?" Watch this. Twilight answered "Luckily, Starswirl took a lot of notes." Yes, yes he did. "My compatriots are as varied as the realm itself and hail from every corner of our land, bringing with them artifacts and talismans of great power." Suddenly my eyes turned white again and the scepter's magic connected to the book, presented the artifacts and cast them to where they were located. Starlight asked "Um, Twilight, what are you doing?" She's just reading, that's all. Twilight looked up and gasped. She said "I'm not doing anything!" Well, you were reading something that must have activated a spell or something.

Applejack said "Rockhoof's shovel!" Rainbow said "Flash Magnus' shield!" Rarity said "Mistmane's flower!" Fluttershy said "Meadowbrook's mask!" Pinkie said "And the blindfold Somnambula wore when she faced that nasty sphinx!" Suddenly, my eyes stopped glowing and the scepter disconnected it's magic. Rainbow asked me "How come your eyes glow white and your scepter blasts it's magic at everything?" I said "Well, since this scepter has the Tree's power in here and that it's connected to Starswirl, it shows everything related to this. It's kinda complex." Twilight said "I guess we don't need to figure out who should get what!" Everypony got their artifacts and we met back at Ponhenge. I was across from Twilight and Sunburst and just admiring the landmark here. I heard Twilight say like an excited little kid "I can't believe I'm going to meet Starswirl the Bearded, you know, outside of my dreams." I said "Didn't you already meet him though?" Twilight said "That was in your head, this is reality, well maybe not, ugh! You know what I mean." I do.

Starlight said "I can't believe you're actually going through with it." Twilight asked "What do you mean?" Starlight replied "I'm all for pushing the envelope, obviously, but this is pretty out there for you, Twilight." Not really. Sunburst asked "What's "out there" about saving the most legendary ponies of all time from a thousands year-old prison?" I said "It was tens of thousands of years." Sunburst said "Same thing." No, it's not. Starlight said "Well, nothing when you say it like that. Unless the "most legendary ponies of all time" knew what they were doing and we shouldn't mess with it." I said "That may be true, but there is an unresolved conflict that needs to get fixed. This is part of the reason why Celestia said that Starswirl did not understood friendship."

Twilight's jaw dropped. She said "How did you know about that?! I was the only one there!" I said "Like I said many times Twilight, I have my ways. Besides, it's kind of a sixth sense I have with these things." Sunburst said "Anyway, I'm sure Starswirl and the Pillars did the best they could back then, but magic has come a long way, mostly because of the work they did." That is very much true. Starlight said "That's true. And you did get your wings from finishing one of Starswirl's spells." I said "The one that Celestia said Starswirl didn't understand about friendship. I don't know what he was doing, but whatever." Twilight said "I still don't know how you know that. It isn't necessarily public knowledge and as far as I can remember, none of us told you about it." I said "Like I said already, I have a sixth sense with this stuff. Also, most of the time, because this scepter wields the Tree's magic, it picks up everything that happened in the timeline and tells me everything. I know it sounds creepy, but that's just how it works."

Twilight said "Anyway, yes exactly." Starlight said "I don't know how to describe yours Zachary." I said "Eh, it's a bit more complicated. It's fine though." Starlight said "But, then I messed with one and nearly destroyed the universe, so…" Twilight said "Starlight, Starswirl the Bearded is the greatest wizard who ever lived." According to you. Twilight sent me a glare and I just rolled my eyes. "The chance to have him back in Equestria is worth the risk." I said "Exactly. Sure, it might not be the most practical idea, but there will be a great lesson learned from it. I can't say though, because the Tree will kick my rear end if I mention anything. Sorry." I heard Spike say "That's good news." Rainbow said "Otherwise, we'd have brought this shield for nothing!" Applejack said "I hope you don't think you're the only one to find her artifact, because this here shovel says otherwise." No one ever said that. Rarity said "Honestly, you two. Not everything is a competition. But Mistmane's flower is by far the most attractive of the artifacts."

Doesn't that make you sound like a hypocrite? Pinkie said "You're just saying that because you didn't have to scuba dive in a pit of green slime to get yours." It was difficult for her as well, Pinkie. It all was. Fluttershy said "Or move a Flash Bee hive." That's probably the most painful one out of all of them. I said "How you got it doesn't matter. It's all the same. Now we can move on to more important stuff." Twilight said "He's technically right. Good work everyone." She put the book down and said "Let's do this!" Here we go. All of us with powerful magic began the spell. Sunburst fired off his magic first, then Starlight, followed by Twilight, and then me. It made the same pentagon shape and everypony had different expressions. Twilight and Sunburst had excited expressions on their faces, Starlight had a worried expression, and I had a curious expression on my face.

After the shape spun around a bunch of times, the pillars returned. However, there were rocks everywhere. The girls got them away from the rocks while I destroyed them. Then, Starswirl himself fell. He said "What-What has happened?" You have been freed from Limbo and returned to Equestria, that's what happened. Twilight said excited "It worked! We brought you back." This confused Starswirl and he asked "To where?" Equestria, you do-do. Twilight said "You and the others have been trapped in limbo for over a thousand years, but I figured out how to get you ho-" before getting cut off by Starswirl who said "WHAT?! No, no, no, no! You must undo what you've done!" And why should we do that? Twilight asked "What? Why? I mean, I don't think I can." I could, but it would not solve the initial problem. Starswirl got up in Twilight's face and said "You cannot bring us back!" She already did, Starswirl. It's too late.

Twilight said "But I did. I brought all the Pillars back." Starswirl said "You cannot bring ONLY the Pillars back." Suddenly, lightning and thunder appeared and a black ball formed as everypony retreated. The Pony of Shadows has returned! He gave an evil laugh symbolizing his return and Twilight said "Oh, no…" You are right in that. He has returned!

To be continued…

AN: First part of this two-parter done! This is actually the first real action stuff in this fanfiction so far. It will only get better as time goes on. Trust me. Anyways, the second part is going to be even more action packed than the first. I won't release this chapter until the second one has been finished. Then, I'll release both of them. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this chapter.

Next Chapter: The actual return of the Pony of Shadows! When Twilight brought all the Pillars and the Pony of Shadows back, it causes a major threat to Equestria. Starswirl is completely focused on getting him back to Limbo and considers him irredeemable. Starlight finds that to be untrue as she had her own personal experience with that, but Starswirl refuses to listen to that. Twilight wants to say something, but doesn't want her idol to get mad at her. Zachary knows the solution to this, but he has to play it out carefully since no one will listen to him. Will all of his friends and the pillars believe what he has to say, or will they make a mistake they would regret forever?

Until then, my fellow readers