"Pony of Shadow's, is that you?"
"Yes. Your shadow told me some things about you," The Pony of Shadows replied.
"How... are you in- How are you in the sword?" Sabre asked, baffled. Sabre faces Shadow Sabre as he began to answer him.
"Well, we were freed by this guy in some dark cloak. Then, in that forest, Madness sent not just me, but the Pony of Shadows into the sword. Luckily, he is just darkness, otherwise it may of not gone so well otherwise. But, I do have a bad feeling that Madness Steve and that guy in the cloak are connected."
"A guy in a cloak? The only steve I know that wears a cloak is M, and I very much doubt he'd have such power to do something... like freeing you both. Plus, even if he could do that, he wouldn't, and I know he wouldn't, because both of you are awful," Sabre responded.
"Well... you two I assume wanted to talk to me. So, what? What is it? Not like I want to talk to the pair of you anyways," Sabre murmured out as he questions his shadow as well as the Pony of Shadows.
"With the might of the three of us, we should bring Madness Steve down! He can't take on us three at once! We can prove that the might of the darkness can overthrow him! Join us Sabre, let the darkness take control! Be the catalyst that your shadow says you can be! Show everypony, and every steve that the darkness is the only way!" The Pony of Shadows exclaimed as he replied, his voice getting louder slightly with each word, postering his left forehoof upward.
"The darkness isn't the solution to everything okay! No matter what we do, he- Madness- He will just come back! I can't do anything to him! This is Demon Void all over again, but worse! I... I just want all of this to stop..." Sabre exclaimed, before slowly and quietly whimpering of psychological hurt.
"It will stop Sabre... don't listen to them... soon, absolutely nothing will happen..." A whisper said in the background.
"You need to know how to use the newfound powers of the sword. Go ahead, make me physically present, and give the sword to me. I can show you how it's done Sabre," Shadow Sabre jokingly said.
"I can trust neither of you! First off, you, Pony of Shadows, snatched the sword off me! And you, Shadow... well, I don't need to explain what you did to make me not trust you," Sabre instantly snapped in response at the Pony of Shadows, but cooling his tone as he turns to Shadow Sabre.
"Well, if you need me, I'll be in your shadow. Watching over you, until the end of time..." Shadow Sabre's voice echoed as he and the Pony of Shadows disappeared. Sabre sighs deeply, with a frustrated growl. He now ends up where he intended to end up in the first place, where the mane 6 and Starlight are.
He isn't in the same spot they all were when Sabre left to go to the Orange Kingdom. They are in another location, a place in Equestria Sabre hasn't been at, or at least, an area Sabre hasn't been made aware of. All he could guess, is that they are underground. The room is well light, as to avoid Madness Steve finding this area. The room he is in isn't too big, it's fairly small. The entire room is made of shiny blue opaque crystals, being kept well lit by small lanterns. There is a door behind him made of green wood, held together by black stainless steel, but the only way in the room is with magic. Sabre almost instantly notices the mane 6 and Starlight.
"Hey ponies, I'm back. Had to uh... sort some things-"
"Sabre, you're back!" Twilight exclaimed as she rushed over to him to hug him, then lets go shortly afterwards.
"Sabre, how is the Orange Kingdom? Are the Orange Steves okay?" Fluttershy asked.
"It's not good. It's happening at the Orange Kingdom too. I'm afraid Happy uh- He's gone as well. I suspect it's happening in all the kingdoms," Sabre started off.
"Oh, hello Sabre. Where are your two other friends?" A voice asked Sabre, who looks to his right, and there are the 3 other alicorns, Celestia, Luna and Cadence. The voice was Celestia's.
"Oh um... they have other stuff to deal wi- Celestia!? Luna and Cadence too!? Where have you three been!?" Sabre exclaimed.
"Well, the times Discord said he had been watching over everypony, he as well as us three have actually been searching for these... books. According to him, there are these books out there that may have vital information to defeating Madness Steve," Cadence explained.
"So, he wasn't just watching. Okay but, where are we?" Sabre asked.
"We must not speak of this location, Sabre. If we do, and... well, he happens to be listening, then this area will be compromised," Luna replied to Sabre.
"Since you all left for Zecora in the morning a few days ago, we went and met up with Star Swirl. We told him about Madness Steve. Then, with Star Swirl's magic, we've made this room, designed to be kept well hidden from Madness Steve," Celestia explained.
"Wait, Star Swirl built this room?" Twilight asked with a high voice almost instantly after hearing Star Swirl's name mentioned.
"Okay I'm sorry excuse me, but who's Star Swirl now?" Sabre asked.
"Man, when I think I know everypony, there's like another ten to know. Well, I mean... they are like the steves- Well, not exactly, they're ponies. But, I can spot a few similarities between them," Sabre thought to himself in his mind.
"One of the ponies from the Pillars. They were who we were going to meet before Madness Steve followed us into Professor Red's lab," Rarity explained.
"Oh, the Pillars. Cool, cool cool," Sabre responded.
"Only us three, the Pillars and Discord know where this place is exactly. These past few days, we've worked hard on finding at least one of these books. This place has been our work area of sorts, and had to be kept well secret, until now, as we have found a book. We can't do anything more to help everypony or every steve," Celestia replied to Sabre, levitating a book over to Sabre,
"Woah, this book, it... it looks ancient- No, older than ancient," Sabre stuttered before safely putting the book into his inventory.
"Thank you, the three of you. I know you three were called out of retirement and all of this were happening. But, you still done whatever you could to help. Thank you," Sabre thanked.
"Well, not me. I weren't in retirement," Cadence pointed out, correcting Sabre. Sabre nodded. Sabre, as well as the mane 6 and Starlight looks over to Luna as she began speaking.
"Our ability to use magic has greatly diminished since retiring. We won't be able to help much further other than this."
"Sabre, I thank you greatly for your consistent hard work helping everypony. Now, you all must work together to stop all this. Cadence will be ruling Equestria on Twilight's behalf until all of this is stopped. So, you all have some time," Celestia added onto Luna.
"We won't fail you Celestia. Thank you. Alright. Let's go to Light-"
"No! We can't risk you channeling that lightning to teleport. It's very loud, and could get this room found," Celestia said loud and firm, to get Sabre's attention before he summoned lightning with the Shadow Sword to teleport.
"Oh yeah, right. Good shout Celestia," Sabre responded. Celestia then opens the green wooden door with her magic, only complete white being outside. The door is actually a portal.
"We must not risk this place getting found. This portal will take you back to outside Twilight's castle," Luna explained.
"Okay, again, thank you. I'm glad you three were okay this entire time. Stay safe," Sabre said as he went through the portal. The mane 6 and Starlight waved and said goodbye as they followed Sabre through the portal.
Sabre, the mane 6 and Starlight are now outside Twilight's castle. They look behind themselves, and nothing was there. The room Celestia, Luna and Cadence were in is definitely well hidden
"Okay, let's go to Light, and then we can figure all this out with the book," Sabre stated. Everypony agreed. Sabre began using the Shadow Sword, and teleports to the Yellow Kingdom. If Light Steve is there, he is most likely there.
Sabre, the mane 6 and Starlight are now by the outpost, where he went to get Light Steve and warn him about the possible return of Madness Steve. They look around, and see no Yellow Steve in sight.
"What, where... where is everybody?" Sabre wondered.
"Uh, this... ain't lookin' good..." Applejack slowly spoke.
"I think we may have made Madness Steve angry..." Fluttershy quietly spoke as she began to shake.
"Sabre! Ponies!" A voice exclaimed. They turn around, and see Light Steve as well as one of his elite Colourless Guards.
"Huh, Ligh-"
"All the steves... they're gone!"
"Sorry Light but WHAT!?" Sabre exclaimed.
"It isn't Madness... it's something else..." Light Steve panted, beginning to crouch a few times.
"All calm down! Start from the beginning," Starlight requested.
"We were out checking the kingdoms. We came back from the Green Kingdom to check the Violet Kingdom, and there were none there. Then, we came back here, and no steves here either," The Colourless Guard explained briefly.
"Okay, split and and shout if you found any Yellow Steves," Sabre firmly ordered. Everyone agreed as they split up to find any Yellow Steve whom may still be in the Yellow Kingdom.
(A few minutes later)
No one could find any steves. Sabre, the elite Colourless Guard and the mane 6 met up as they happened to find each other.
"I haven't found anybody. Any luck?" Sabre asked as he began to panic. He had a grudge on who may be responsible for this.
"No," Each of the mane 6 answered.
"Nothing," The Colourless Guard answered.
"If everyone's gone and it's not Madness, what could've changed in that time period? What could've- Wait a second..." Sabre said as he teleports the Colourless Guard and the mane 6 outside of the destroyed Steve Village, just by where the Green Village Leader's house used to be.
"The Unnamed..." Sabre slowly said to himself.
"The Unnamed!"
"Who's the... what now?" Rainbow Dash sighed.
"It's the Unnamed! It has to be!" Sabre exclaimed as he opens the trapdoors, then runs down the stairs. The mane 6 and the elite Colourless Guard followed down the stairs with him.
They all make it to the bottom of the stairs, where the floor is granite. Sabre continued running until he reaches the room where the Unnamed is... well, was. The red armour isn't there. The only trace of it, are those 4 chains.
"No no no no no no- NO! HOW!? All I did was remove ONE chain!" Sabre exclaimed loudly, starring where the Unnamed was chained up.
"It was just one chain..." Sabre murmured, but the pitch of his voice being higher.
"I didn't remove any others, how did he get out?"
"Sabre, what have ya done?" Applejack questioned.
"This... looks ominous..." Rainbow Dash spoke, with anxiety in her voice. The building anxiety in her even made her stop, and land on her hooves. The anxiety though, continued building up, as well as in the rest of the mane 6 as well as the Colourless Guard.
"I can't believe this. Was it him- No, it can't be. He- He couldn't have escaped on his own right?" Sabre continued to himself, the frustration and panic also building in him.
"I mean- All I did was... remove one! Was it my fault?"
"Sabre, what's... happening?" Twilight asked firmly as she steps over to Sabre, making him have eye contact with her. Sabre could only see sheer concern in her eyes.
"I don't understand! If everyone's gone from here and he's gone, then..." Sabre paused, he notices 2 others who were with everyone, aren't with them now.
"Light and Starlight..."
"This looks bad-" Sabre cuts off the Colourless Guard from speaking.
"Light and Starlight- LIGHT AND STARLIGHT! LIGHT AND STARLIGHT! WE LEFT LIGHT AND STARLIGHT ALONE! EVERYONE, WE LEFT LIGHT AND STARLIGHT ALONE!" Sabre shouted as he immediately teleports everyone back to the Yellow Kingdom ASAP.
They are back where they originally were at before teleporting to that cave. Sabre looks at the Colourless Guard outpost, and sees a lot of red stains, on the walls and on the ground. The 8 gulped, dreading the worst.
"No no no! This is bad! This is bad!" Sabre exclaimed as he runs to the outpost and breaks the door down. First, they see a massive hole in the wall. Sabre first sees what had took place, and he doesn't like what he sees.
"No! Light! Starlight! NO!" Sabre screamed, before crying. Sabre hasn't cried more than any other time. He is full on crying by what he is seeing. To the left, the mane 6 see Starlight lying on the floor, covered in a lot of blood. She is dead, and has several holes in her body, which some blood is still pouring out of. Some of her guts and organs even being visible through some of the holes. Seeing this makes the mane 6 scream in horror, especially Twilight.
"STARLIGHT! NO!" Twilight screamed as she rushes to Starlight's lifeless body, sitting close by her, lifting her up with both her forehooves and tightly wrapped them around her. Starlight's dead blood began staining all over Twilight.
"SAY SOMETHING! PLEASE! Please..." Twilight screamed, tears shooting out her eyes, the only reason she screamed quieter and quieter. The rest of the mane 6 does too, forehooves around Starlight, and bursting into tears. The friend they've known for so long and had reformed, is now gone. To the right, is Light Steve lying on the floor. He is also dead, lying in a pool of blood like Starlight was. Light Steve's corpse isn't as torn and ripped open as Starlight's, but has much more cuts.
"No! Light! LIGHT! Say something!" The Elite Colourless Guard shouted, trying to sit Light Steve up against the wall. As he tried, Light Steve instantly fell back down. Sabre looks through the hole, and sees the very entity he destroyed just a week ago.
"YOU!" Sabre growled, tears soaking through the blindfold, running down his face. He instantly held out the Shadow Sword.