Gems of Wrath

Gems Of Wrath

Prologue

There are many evils in this world; some are so great that they had to be sealed away long ago by forces unknown but these evils never die, they never stop. Always plotting and waiting, slamming the bars of their prisons until some power hungry fool releases them so their terror can spread across the universe once again, consuming all.

Chapter one

Dark, dank, foreboding. Just a few of the words that could be used to describe the caves below Equestira. You would think not much would want to live down here bar the worms and yet the unmistakeable signs of life could be seen everywhere. Barred doors and old worn out torches cluttered the walls.
To someone from the outside this place had the feel of a prison and they would not be far off. Whip cracks and screams could be heard in the distance, the distinctive sounds of slavery. This was a Diamond Dog den and a large one at that.

"Work faster lazy pony" barked a large beast. He was covered head to toe in both black steel and gems. These were the signs of a Diamond Dog who had been lucky enough to strike it rich and thus raise his standing among the other dogs in the den.
"I told you to work faster lazy pony" he screamed again at the small brown stallion. From the look of things he had been down in this cave a very long time, from the lifeless look in his eyes to the dirt caked in to his mane.

Long had the colour gone from his hair leaving it a dull brown on his body with a black mane. The poor creature was not meant for this work as shown by his cutie mark, a pie. On land he had been a baker but down here none of that mattered any more, he was just a slave like all the rest.

That was life down here in these dank caves however and Diamond dogs were not known for their kindness and love of sharing. These brutes want nothing more then to find gemstones of all kinds and shapes and within their world the more you had the more powerful you are, so it was unsurprising that they would do anything to get more. This even lead to enslaving other creatures to do their bidding no matter if they are sentient such as the ponies, or beast of burden caught from the Everfree Forest.
Some are trained as guards and some as diggers in order to sate their need for everything shiny.

One particularly strange creature that they had managed to find was a small mole like beast able to dig ten times the speed of any creature they had found before but they were rare and therefore only seen in use by dogs in higher power. The leader of this mine, Yellow Fang, was without a doubt high in power and status for he had a plethora of creatures at his disposal.

Suddenly as he was about to whip the poor stallion again for falling down on the job out of fatigue, a smaller mutt bounced up from behind the imposing figure with almost the look of ecstasy on his face and only one thing can do that to a Diamond dog: he had found something big!

"Lord Yellow Fang, we have found something in the southern tunnels! Come quick, you will be pleased I'm sure of it !".

"This had better be worth my time, mongrel, you interrupted my fun" he shouted at the smaller, now terrified lackey who turned and ran into the southern tunnels.

"It is it is, oh great one, I promise"

The winding tunnels felt like they went on forever as the small creature ran, hoping to keep his master happy long enough to see the great discovery that they had found. He truly didn't want the punishment involved for annoying his master.

"Master here! Right here! See! See I told you!"

Before the small Diamond dog was a small crack in the wall.
Now no would would call diamond dogs smart but they new the signs of gems and knew the signs of old treasure caverns left by some race long since gone from the world today.

"Open it quickly fool" barked the leader.

"You heard him, open it" repeated the smaller dog, kicking the diggers that were in the tunnel at the time. These few ponies were exhausted from the work they were being forced to do so it took them a little while to make the crack large enough to show the ruins behind it.

Awe-inspiring is the only way to describe the ruins. They had not seen by a living creature in so many years they would make the princesses of Equestira feel old. Large stone pillars held a domed roof in place that looked like it had been carved by a mysterious force, with intricate runes placed into the stone work and small gems set right into the rock. Gems of all kinds; rubies, diamonds, emeralds, they were embedded in the walls around the writing of the race that had left it behind so long ago.

This appeared to be a temple but a temple to what the invaders didn't know and nor did they care as they rushed in, starting to pry the gems out of the walls and pillars ecstatic at their find. But something was wrong this place, it felt unnatural to the slaves who attempted to run away from the chamber before being dragged in to carry the loot which had been found.

After grabbing the biggest ruby he could find Yellow Fang turned to his flunky.

"Good job, I will see you are rewarded for this".

"Thank you, Master! Thank you! Anything else I can.....?"

This conversation was cut short when Yellow Fang saw something glinting back in the darkest part of the room.

"Quiet you mutt! I believe I might of found something even more interesting in here"

Yellow Fang started walking slowly to the back of the room.

" GET ME A TORCH YOU IDIOTS!" he screamed, punching another one of the dogs across the room and grabbing his torch. As he reached the back of the room he realised it was some kind of alter, although this didn't bother him; he knew that the best things were always found in places like this.

The ornate stone altar seemed alive with ominous with drawings of mist and hellish figures. Set into the stone was a large pendent made from an exotic mix of every gem known to the world.

"Now this is what I wanted! Good work boys! We feast tonight!".

As he tried to remove the pendant from the stone he was annoyed to find it wouldn't budge.

"Give me a hand over here idiots"

All of his workers rushed to his aid pawing at the stone and giving it a large pull. It creaked and groaned and finally came loose. A demonic grin appeared on the face of the Lord Yellow Fang.

"We're going com....."

That was the last thing he got a chance to say before it happened.

A bright light engulfed the whole area followed manic laughter which could be heard through the massive tunnels. It was an ominous sign...

---------------

Ponyville was the same as it had always been – small, quiet and peaceful. Not everyone appreciated this though; there was ponies in the small town who wished it could be a little more interesting. Most were happy with their simple lives and were glad nothing overly untoward happened in the small town since the nightmare moon event that had happened in the town just over a year ago.

The town was busy as always with people buying and selling at the market. It was the same as people go in and out of the local bakery known as Sugar Cube Corner so it wasn't strange when a white unicorn with a purple mane came out of the store with a small bag, on her way back to her store, a small but popular dress shop on the outskirts of town.

"Rarity! Hello! How are you today?" a purple pony called out to the white unicorn.

"Twilight dear! How are you?" Rarity responded to the friend calling out to her, also a unicorn with a purple and pink mane.

"Oh great! Just on the way to visit Pinkie Pie. She said there was some new party favour she wanted to show me but you know Pinkie", Twilight smiled.

"Yes I know. I was just at Sugar Cube Corner. She was jumping off the walls as always. Oh! By the way, is Spike in the library? I have been needing to ask him a favour", mused Rarity

"Oh yes, he's doing his daily chores right now", replied Twilight, "I'm sure he would be willing to do you a favour once he's finished, well really must be going or Pinkie is going to come looking for me"

After waving goodbye to Twilight, Rarity carried on her way back to her store but first stopped off at the library to ask the small dragon assistant of Twilights a favour.

"How can one person make so much mess when just trying to read books?" the small purple and green creature thought to him self. Spike had never minded helping Twilight out, after all she had been his friend and he had been her assistant ever since he was hatched, but it was times like this that made him fume.

The tree that the library was made out of was full of books from many dates and eras and normally kept quite tidy thanks to the effort of the small dragon but right now it looked as if Rainbow Dash had been trying to do her tricks indoors instead. There were books everywhere; all different kinds from large tomes to small paperback books all of them looked well read and well loved but they looked like they had just been thrown to the ground. Now Twilight was an organised pony but when she started researching something she always made a huge mess as her mind was always occupied.

The little dragon would clean up the books right after she had read them but, still being a baby dragon, he was unable to stay awake for long periods of times so normally was in bed well before Twilight had finished her studies. When he woke up he was not impressed with what he saw Twilight had left for him to clean up while she went to visit her friend Pinkie Pie.

"Well I shouldn't complain I suppose. I do like helping her and she's always nice to me so I guess its the least I can do" Spike grumbled out loud.

He really didn't mind doing it but it was still a lot of hard work.

"I so wanted to try and do something to impress Rarity today...... ah... Rarity..." he said while looking into the distance longingly. Although he thought he'd kept it a secret, everyone knew he had a crush on the unicorn. Even Rarity knew though never said anything so as not crush the poor dragons heart though she wasn't that interested. That didn't stop the unicorn from taking advantage from time to time, after all she didn't dislike the dragon and he was normally more then happy to help her out when she needed it and she always rewarded him. After all she couldn't be called the element of generosity if she didn't.

Spike finally put the last book on the shelf and sighed to himself .

"Done at last. Now perhaps I can find Rarity and do something to impress......"

Before he was able to finish his thought there was a knock on the door. As it slowly opened - this was a public library after all so Spike didn't think the knocking any more then the person being polite - he slowly turned to the door.

"Yes how can I help you? Twilight isn't in at the.... oh Rarity! It's you!"

The look on the dragon's face had gone from grumpy to elated in no time.

"Oh hello Spike, Twilight told me I might find you here. I have a favour that I would like to ask of you".

"Anything for you my Rarity" a look of adoration was on Spike's face and he felt as if he was about to float off the floor. He was on cloud nine! Rarity wanted his help. This was his big chance, he thought to him self.

"You see..." chimed the white unicorn, happy with her self that she knew Spike well enough to help her. "I've had another big order in for gem studded outfits and I'm low on gems. I was wondering if you wanted to come gem hunting with me again?" turning to face the small dragon she smiled gently "Of course you would have a choice of the gems to snack on again as a reward for helping me.".

Spike had to steel him self for a moment. He wanted nothing more than to help the unicorn of his dreams but he remembered what happened the last time he went gem hunting with her.

"A-are you sure that's a good idea, Rarity? I mean, remember what happened the last time we went hunting for gems?" A look of distinctive worry was showing on his face when he said this. " We aren't sure if the Diamond Dogs might not try something again"

Rarity had to stop her self from giggling at this. The last time they had gone gem hunting she had been kidnapped by Diamond Dogs who saw she had the ability to find the location of stashes of gems below to the ground. However, this didn't bother her in the slightest as she had used her charm and wits to outsmart the dumb animals, tricking them into mining a large amount of gems for her, then letting her leave.

"Silly Spike! Don't you remember what happened last time? I can handle my self if a few dogs come along!"

A slightly smug look appeared on her face; it was obvious she was proud of besting them last time and confident in her ability to do so again if the worst happened.

"Hmm, I suppose you are right but are you sure we shouldn't ask some one else to come with us just to be safe?"

"I guess we can ask Applejack to come and help but everyone else is busy. Pinkie is showing Twilight something new she had made for parties and Rainbow Dash is busy with her weather work."

"What about Fluttershy?" questioned Spike.

"She is in another town too far away at the moment, looking after some sick animals. I'm afraid she won't be back till tomorrow"

"OK, lets go see if Applejack will come and help then" Rarity nodded and they both started to walk about of the library

"Oh wait! I'm just going to leave a note for Twilight to let her know what we are doing" said Spike. The dragon quickly jotted something down on a scroll he took from the back room before pining it on the door "All right I'm ready, lets go".

On the way to meet their friend Applejack on her farm just outside of the town, Spike started asking about the new orders that needed these gems in the first place. It turned out since Sapphire's tour of Equestria everyone who was anyone wanted the same type of costumes that she had so Rarity needed a lot of gems and fast.

The time went by quickly and they finally arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, the apple farm that had been owned by the Apple family for as long as any one could remember. It didn't take them long to find the orange and blond earth pony, out hard at work around the apple trees which she loved so much.

"Applejack! Hey, Applejack!" cried Spike as loud as he could to get the attention of the pony who was a good few yards away from them.

"Oh howdy Spike, Rarity. What are you two doing out here then?"

"Oh nothing much" responded Spike, a big grin on his face. "We were just wondering if you were willing to come and help us look for gems just outside of town? We would be all right by ourselves but ever since the Diamond Dog incident I'm not sure we should"

"Hmm, I would love to come and help y'all but I'm a mite bust with the trees at the moment since Big Mac has gone an hurt 'imself again. I swear he just doesn't watch where he is going some times" responded the earth pony, a distinctive look of annoyance on her face.

"Oh this isn't going be a repeat performance of the apple bucking season from last year is it?" sighed Rarity.

"No no he's not gone and hurt 'imself half as bad as he did last year. He should only be out for a day or two but while he is I'm in charge of everything".

You could see the look of overwork already on her face but there was nothing that could be done. " You two be careful ya hear. Don't wanna have to come running to your rescue again Rarity"

"Oh don't be silly, darling, nothing is going to happen to us. I told Spike we would be fine but he really wanted to ask for help. We should be all right." replied Rarity.

"All right Rarity, I get the point" Spike sighed. He had hoped he could get at least one friend to come and help. He would feel so much safer then until he realised that if any of the Diamond Dogs did attack this time he would be ready and he'd be Rarity's hero instead.

With his plan in mind he turned to Rarity and said "Well we should get going then, we don't want to waste all day do we?" and with that they turned and made their way off, turning to give a wave to their friend to who was now going out of view. They started to make their way out to the rocky fields just on the outskirts of town.

"Spike come over here I've found another cache of gems" Rarity said while concentrating on the spell that she was casting. Her horn had the unmistakeable glow of magic around it. Now there are a few different types of ponies in the world of Equestria. First are the land bound Earth ponies known for their affinity with plants and animals of the world, the second type are the Pegasus ponies with wings that are able to lift them as easy as any bird. The third, and the type Rarity was, is the Unicorn. Although weaker than Earth ponies and unable to fly like the Pegasus, they had one thing that made them just as powerful as the other two. Magic! Every unicorn was able to cast magic in some way or shape, normally only in a certain limited way and Rarity's spell, that she was increasingly good at, was for finding all sorts of precious stones.

"Coming! Wow, we really found a haul this time! And no dogs disturbing us! I think this might go better then we thought" Spike said, a big grin on his face as he began to dig for the stones under the layer of dirt.

Luck, however has a way of changing hands because they were not alone at all although they didn't know they were being watched and studied closely. After a few grunts that could be classed as talking they pounced on their prey revealing themselves.

"Oh.... you scared me! Where did you come from anyway?" she exclaimed to the creatures in front of her. They had appeared almost out of nowhere, frightening the poor unicorn so much she lost her spell. They sort of looked like the Diamond Dogs yet something was different about them; their fur was much darker and almost seemed to take in light and refuse to let it back out like a hungry shadow devouring everything in its path.

"Now we don't want any trouble. Don't you remember what happened last time you tried to take me for my magic? I thought you didn't want me any more?"

They just stood there not speaking and if you didn't look closely you would even say they weren't breathing.

"W-what is wrong with you? Go away! You don't want......." before she could finish what she was saying one of the imposing beasts had taken some sort of powder from its belt and sprinkled it over both their victims. As the purple glittery powder covered them all they could think about was how tired they were and their whole world then went black.

-------------

It must have been a good few hours before Spike was able to shift the magic which had been used on him. As he awoke he noticed that it was already sunset, the vast blue expanse that was above him before he was attacked had become a golden orange colour. Worryingly, Rarity was no where to be seen.

Spike started to panic, she had to be around somewhere. What if they had taken her down to the mines again? He would have to get help, he thought to himself as he turned ready to run back to town as fast as he could. That's when he noticed a voice he would never forget as long as he lived: it was Rarity.

He spun around as fast as he could to get a sight of her and with a huge feeling of relief he saw her almost as she was before, running back up to him as fast as she could. There was however one difference that Spike noticed just before the unicorn managed to get close enough to talk to, she was wearing a pendant that he had never seen before; a golden necklace in the shape of two snakes intertwined with each other. The heads slithered down her neck meeting a large oval stone set into the brightest gold he had ever seen in his life. The gemstone its self was unusual, it never seemed to stay one colour longer then about five seconds and almost seemed to ripple with her movements. Something was odd about this stone, he knew it, but he could not put his claws on what it was.

"Rarity? What happened? Are you all right?" he was able to squeak out, relieved that nothing had happened to her.

"Oh I'm fine, don't worry your little head about me. They wanted me for my gem hunting spell again, they never do learn. Thank Celestia, I was able to get away from them just in time by tricking them again".

"Um...where did you find that necklace?" Spike asked, not able to take his eyes off the strange gem.

"Oh this thing? One of the dogs had it and I was able to get it away from them before I escaped; just lovely isn't it?" she said grinning, pleased with her accomplishments. "I told you I could handle myself Spike. Now lets go home"

He didn't ask any more questions. Although still nervous about the necklace that Rarity had managed to find, he was just glad she was safe and they could go home.

------------------------

A few hours beforehand.

Rarity was awakened to a foul odour. Whatever it was, it did its job of waking her up. It took a while for her eyes to adjust to the darkness she now found herself in.

She realised that she was before some strange altar covered in strange patterns that she didn't understand in the slightest. She knew it couldn't mean anything good and her heart rate began race. Were they going to sacrifice her to something? Yet she had never seen anything even close to this the last time she was kidnapped. In fact as she looked around she noticed that the room was empty apart from torches giving the room a soft glow.

She gave a sigh of relief thinking perhaps there was some way she could get out of the shadowy room before they came back. As she got to her hooves, however, she realised that she was chained to the ground and was unable to go anywhere. This would of bothered her more if not for the fact that she noticed one of the shadows in the room had begun to move towards her. It took all of her willpower not scream until she passed out. Even so she was unable to keep her balance and she fell, gasping in terror.

As she watched, it was like the shadow started to pull away from the floor and began taking a familiar shape; it was one of the diamond dogs she had seen beforehand when she had been caught again. They could never do this before. Something was certainly wrong.

"Mistress Dusk Whisper we have brought you a gift" the beast said in a low growl pointing to Rarity. "I'm sure it will please you".

The look of fear on the unicorn captive grew even more as she noticed a large ball of dark energy forming on top of the altar, again taking shape. Unable to process the event happening before her eyes, Rarity could only sit there in a state of paralysis as the creature took the shape of something unfamiliar to anything ever seen before in Equestria. It was as tall and had the same aura as the princesses of the kingdom who raised the sun and moon every day and night. Whatever it was, it was strong. However this is where the similarity ended for it was not like any Alicorn she had seen. It was up on two legs like the Diamond Dogs but was a lot thinner compared to them. It had long, almost branch-like, arms in a long flowing black gown that looked like it was made out of pure shadows. On its back it had two ragged wings that looked like they may have belonged to a giant bat of some kind.

Nonetheless, the most horrific part of the entity shown to Rarity, was its face. It never stayed the same always shifting into other forms. One second it would be the most beautiful face that Rarity had ever seen in her whole life, the next it would lose all its skin showing the bone behind - as if it had died long ago - before reforming into a horrifying bat monster.

There was only one thing that stayed the same that drew the eye, a necklace that adorned the creatures neck - a stone of changing colours on a gold chain.

"This is what you have brought me! What can I do with a stupid horse? I told you to find me a power source or do I have to take back the gifts that I have bestowed on you?" the creature spoke in a voice that was dipped in malice and hatred for every living thing.

"But mistress, this is a unicorn: a creature of magic! Surely you can make use of it?" quivered the tall beast cowering, showing that he was terrified of the dark being.

"It's not enough! I need something bigger, much bigger..... wait I can sense this unicorn magic you talk of. Far too weak to be useful, nevertheless there is something else there" the terrifying force began to move towards the cowering unicorn.

Once she was standing over the white mass of fear she began to wave her bony hands over her, breathing deeply in at the same time.

"Yes! This will work. There is old magic in this one but its only a part of it. The rest must be close; magic like this binds its holders to each other". A large grin adorned the monster's face "Little creature, feel lucky I'm not going to kill you after all. Be proud, you're going to help me if you like it or not!"

The creature's laugh sent a shiver down the poor unicorn's spine just before the necklace began to glow engulfing the room in a purple unearthly light.

--------------------------

The rest of the day was rather uneventful, since the creatures that had attacked them had not stolen any of the gems that they had collected. This meant Spike was able to go back to the town happy that Rarity had enough gems to finish the outfits that she had on order. Something, however, was bothering him. That pendant Rarity had been wearing on her return... he had a bad feeling about it. As a dragon he knew gemstones, dragons were able to eat them after all so it was something he like any other dragon enjoyed doing. He had never seen a stone like that so something didn't sit right with him.

After bringing the subject up with Twilight last night he had been brushed off, being told he was probably just tired from all the work they had done so was probably worrying over nothing.

At any rate, he could not just sit back and relax when he was sure there was something putting his dear Rarity in danger. Once he had finished his daily chores he told himself he was going to find out what was going on. To do that he was going to follow Rarity until he got a better idea of the events unfolding before him.

Yet the day was almost so normal that at one point Spike thought that perhaps Twilight had been right and he was just worrying over nothing. He was just about to give up when he noticed Rarity, still wearing her trophy from the other day, heading towards Fluttershy's cottage. Nothing too out of the ordinary, the yellow and pink maned Pegasus was a good friend of Rarity's, they often found themselves going to the local spa with each other every week. In spite of this, Spike just couldn't shake the feeling something was going to go wrong so chose to keep up his spying game for a bit longer.

Everything seemed in order as Rarity got to Fluttershy's cottage with Spike in tow just out of range behind her. Rarity knocked a hoof on the door and was greeted by the overly shy pony within giving a small happy grin at the visit of her good friend.
Spike saw them both go inside the house and close the door. There appeared nothing strange about it yet spike wanted to try and get a closer look. Before he had the chance to get to the window there was a large blast of unearthly light coming from all the windows. By the time Spike had got himself together after the blast Rarity had stepped out the door.

Squashing his urge to run up to the unicorn and demand what happened and inquire if they were both safe, he chose to just watch and see what was going to happen next. He couldn't believe his eyes! Rarity's back began to grow and deform until eventually becoming a black mass that began to reshape around the unicorn. Once it retracted he saw something that should never be. Rarity was standing there as if nothing had happened but she was sporting a new pair of yellow wings, Fluttershy's wings!

The mix of two ponies began to test its new appendages to see that everything was working before flying off behind the trees of the forest where spike could no longer see her. He was sure there was something wrong now and he had to get help! He turned and ran as fast as he could back to the library.

"Spike, stop being so silly. You know Rarity doesn't have the kind of magic to grow wings. You must be seeing things" the purple unicorn said with a stern look on her face, getting annoyed at the stories her assistant had been giving her over the past few days.

"Twilight, I know what I saw and something is wrong! If you're not going to help me then I'm going to find a way to help myself" his face contorted in anger as he stormed out of the room into the library proper.

"There has to be a book about this somewhere" he pondered to himself as he began rummaging through the books. Finally he found something he thought might help.

Slamming the old dusty tome onto the table, the small dragon mouthed out the title of the book "Enchanted Gems Jewels and Accessories". There had to be something in this book, he told him self as he began to rummage through the pages looking for something, anything, that might tell him what had happened to Rarity while he had been knocked out.

Hours rolled by with no luck. The book was big so he wasn't giving up hope yet. It was then a thought entered into his head like lighting. What if this thing was doing to the rest of his friends that had happened to Fluttershy? That bright light still stuck in his mind. He shook his head and began to double his efforts to find the answer and hopefully reverse whatever had happened to his friends before it was too late. He was about to give up when he found something; a small page on an old civilization that had meant to have existed before even pony-kind had stepped up to take control of Equestria.

They had apparently sacrificed themselves in a last ditch attempt to seal some unknown and great evil at places of power scattered around the world. Legend says that these evil beings used to sow chaos through their ability to steal the likeness of another and the memories therein. As well as moving through shadow as if it was water. They were sealed within places of great power which used focuses to seal the evil forces within focus gems, which in turn could be damaged to weaken the force trapped within it and give a chance to release all the creature had stolen. There is however only one way to destroy these gems fully, and in turn the entity linked to it, and that is using the secrets of the race that sealed them away which have been lost to time.

"DAMN IT!" screamed Spike "I was so close to finding an answer too! Well there is nothing I can do. I've got to show this to Twilight, she has to believe me now".

Slipping a bookmark into the pages of importance he slammed the book closed and he set to the task of convincing his friend that something very evil was coming this way.

---------------

"Hmm, all right Spike, I can see that you are worried. You did find something on it as well so lets go check on Rarity to see if any of this might be correct" Twilight Sparkle said as she was moving towards the door of the library in order to go check up on their friend. Yet before they were able to open the door some one had opened it from outside letting in the chill wind of the sunset air.

"Rainbow Dash? Is that you?" said Spike as he saw the blue Pegasus enter the room.

"Who else would it be? Pinkie Pie?" said the intruder to the library with the normal gusto that she put into everything. Spikes look turned to dread as he noticed what hung around Rainbow's neck. That same gem the one that Rarity had been wearing.

"Who are you and what have you done with my friends?!" screamed the dragon with rage burning in his eyes.

And all Rainbow Dash could do was laugh and laugh hard. Nevertheless, this wasn't a normal laugh; this reeked of evil and pain.

"So... figured it out, eh? I should of guessed it would be a dragon that would do. You creatures were an irritation when we ruled the land as well, I suppose that was so long ago no one will even remember"

"What are you?" questioned Twilight as she began to channel magic into her horn in case she would have to defend her self against the imposter of one of her best friends. "And why are you doing this?"

The creatures laugh began again, this time drilling into the very souls of everyone who could hear it.

"Power, why else? After all, being imprisoned for long I'm weak and I need to renew myself. You ponies have exactly what I need although at the time I didn't know what it was. Now I know its the elements of harmony; old magic, old and strong"

A demonic grin appeared on the face of the Rainbow imposter "As for what I am, well I suppose its been so long you need an explanation. I am one of the Shadowborn - the true rulers of this world and many others. That was until that race of goodie-goodies sacrificed themselves to seal us in these damn gems"
The grin on the face of the creature had contorted into a grimace of great anger. "I'm connected to this damn thing as much as I don't want to be. I have to draw my power from it now, its a weakness I'm unable to remove from myself and return to my true form".
Again that horrid grin graced the face of Rainbow Dash "That is where you and your friends come in, your elements are just the power that can free me from the walking prison I now occupy"

Suddenly the creature began to shift and meld into one big mound of black ooze on the floor. Spike and Twilight had to stop themselves from vomiting at the sight. Once it had finished reforming, it was like nothing they had ever seen before. It appeared like some Frankenstein creation; as if someone had taken bits of all their friends and put them in one body. Its face was unmistakeably Rarity's along with her horn but its hair was Pinkie Pies, its body was Applejack, its wings were Rainbow Dash and its tail was Fluttershy. It had taken the best and most powerful parts of all their friends and was going to use them to capture the final element, Twilights element.

"I'm not going to let you take my friends from me" Twilight screamed, overcome by anger and sadness at the creature that stood before her. Before she knew it, she was overcome by magic that began channelling an unknown, powerful spell at the assailant in a desperate attempt to somehow get her friends back and save herself. Before the spell could hit the creature the pendant it was wearing began to glow with that same unearthly light that Spike had seen before. A ray of that light from it had hit mid air with Twilight's magic creating an overwhelming force.

"You're strong but not strong enough!" screamed the monstrosity using all five voices of her friend's at the same time.

It seemed as if the creature was winning, slowly but surely her spell was going to hit Twilight soon if nothing was done. Spike could only look on in fear as he saw his best friend slowly being pushed back by this chimera. He had to do something, anything, or he was going to lose everything he had ever known and worse the world would be in grave danger without the holders of the elements of harmony.

"I'm here Twilight!" he screamed at his friend who was unable to hear him through the onslaught of magic that she was trying desperately to fight back.

Without thought, he leapt as hard as he could at this adulteration of his friends knowing it wasn't them. It pained him to do this; it was as if he had to hurt this real friends. But he pushed onward and once he had a good grip on the creature's mane he breathed in as hard as his little body was able to and gave the biggest burst of dragon fire he had ever created in all his life.

It seemed to do little more than stun the creature but this was all that had to be done. The Shadowborn lost control of its spell. Twilight, using this lapse in concentration began to get the upper hand, eventually blasting the pendant with a huge discharge of magic and thus cracking it. Falling to the floor exhausted, Twilight fell unconscious, losing whatever energy she had. Everything faded into black.

The beast stunned was unable to keep its power within the gem any more. It began to shift erratically between shapes until eventually becoming something close to the form that Rarity had seen what seemed like forever ago.

"It seems.....I......underestimated you and how weak I was after my imprisonment" the creature gasped attempting to get control of the chaotic magic spewing forth from its once solid gem. "No matter. You may of stopped me but I was only the first. There are more just waiting for someone greedy to touch their stones, unleashing them"

Reeling back, releasing a final pillar of energy the creature roared "We will not be beaten back for long, the shadows will return!" And with that the gem shattered into pieces and scatted to the floor leaving nothing behind of the being that once wore it.

"It's over! But what about my friends? Am I ever going to see them again?" Spike said out loud to himself, sadly rushing over to help his exhausted friend who had collapsed to the floor after the attack. Before he was able to start crying the left over gem started to glow a brightly. Spike steeled himself, worried that the creature was coming back.

The demonic figure did not return; instead he saw all of his missing friends looking around bewildered at what had just happened to them. The pink pony was the first to say something,

"Wow! Was I dreaming or something? One second I was coming up with new ideas for the best party ever and then all I remember is a bright light. It was pretty though".

Next Rarity spoke up "Spike what happened? I remember us being attacked and then nothing"

"Its a long story. Come and help me get Twilight to bed first. She overused her magic again" Everyone in the room rushed to the aid of the downed unicorn.

--------------

"...And that is the whole story" the small dragon said as he recalled the story to the rest of of the ponies in the room.
"H-h-how scary!" said Fluttershy hiding behind the others, scared that whatever it was might come back
"But its over now right?" said Rainbow Dash
"I really don't know" stated Twilight sitting up in her bed trying to ignore the splitting head pain that she had. "I sent a letter to Princess Celestia asking if she knew anything about this. We should get a reply soon"

As she said that she saw Spike giving a loud burp which normally signalled the arrival of a letter from her mentor.

My faithful student Twilight Sparkle

It is worrying news that you have told me and I hope that you are all well after your ordeal but I am afraid I have never heard of these Shadowborn before. I have put together the best researchers that I have back in Canterlot looking for anything that might give us a clue as to what we may have to fight again in the future. For now however I hope that no one finds any more of these gems and pray that they are all gone now.

Your teacher Princess Celestia

"I guess that is all we can do for now and try and get back on with our lives. Let's pray no-one else is foolish enough to disturb another one of these gems" sighed Twilight hoping with all her might that what she said would be the truth.

Meanwhile far away from the small village of Ponyville, in a vast desert that life hardly even touched, two small figures could be seen travelling towards some old ruins that lay half buried in the sand.


"This is the place" the first cloaked stranger said. By her voice she was a filly of medium build but all the clothes needed to protect them from the sands outside hid any other defining features.

"Perhaps I can get my payment now?" the other cloaked figure removed her hood showing her to be a light blue unicorn."You promised me something rare, something that I could use to regain my fame."

"You will be paid when the great and powerful Trixie finds something that fits that promise"

As they both moved into the dark sand beaten temple, Trixie saw something glinting in the back of the room. Closing in on it she could make it out a little better - a necklace fitted with a large square gem that seemed to shift in colours.

"You may just get paid after all" the great and powerful Trixie said before showing a huge grin on her face.

 

extra work is being done on this to try and sort the few problems it has so forgive it for now