Starswirl: 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
for all time.
We must now face the fiend with the only plan we have.
"I only hope it will be enough."
That's the last entry.
And maybe Starswirl's final words before he vanished!
♪ [dramatic music] ♪
I've always wondered what happened to Starswirl.
This is quite a discovery, Sunburst.
So it's genuine?
You can verify that this journal really belonged
to Starswirl the Bearded!?
Indeed.
From the looks of it, the last thing he wrote
before facing the Pony of Shadows.
Uh, so, the Pony of Shadows was really real?
It appears so.
We never met the other Pillars and we were too young
to understand the danger they faced.
Hold on a second now!
All those legendary ponies were real too?
And they went off with Starswirl to face the Pony of Shadows
and then none of them were ever heard from again?
Ah-ha, yeah. Weren't you listening?
But what happened to them all?
They must have defeated the villain,
since Equestria's still full of light and hope.
But how? And where did they go?
My Olde Ponish is a bit rusty,
but I wonder if the answers can be found somewhere
within the pages of this book.
Well, I just happen to be an expert in Olde Ponish.
I mean, I've practically memorized every ancient text
about Starswirl there is.
Seriously. All of them.
We have fond memories of our old teacher.
If you could discover what happened to him,
we would be most grateful.
Solving a thousands-year-old mystery could take forever!
Think of the research, the re-reading, the re-re-reading.
You might find you need help.
Luckily, she's got a whole bushel of helpers right here.
Totally!
Uh, how long will all this research take, exactly?
Let's get this back to my library.
I'm sure we'll figure out what happened in no time.
[excited chatter]
♪♪
[yawn]
Figure it out yet, Twilight?
[thud]
Wha-WHAT?
What did you figure out?
[gasp] You figured something out!?
[slurp]
What is it?
[sigh] Nothing.
I mean, Starswirl was a genius, obviously,
but forget Olde Ponish.
There's parts where his hornwriting
is like another language!
Agh!
[groan] Twilight, we've been studyin' and referencin'
and cross referencing for three days straight now.
Ugh. I haven't spent this much time reading
since the last Daring Do book came out.
Perhaps it is time to take a break.
This mystery is over a thousand years old, after all.
Another day or two won't make a difference!
Two days!?
I don't want to waste two seconds.
♪♪
I'm close to an answer.
I can feel it.
"Hearg sylfum se Ponhenge," What's that?
The Temple of Ponhenge?
You can read that!?
The hornwriting's pretty sloppy,
but it's nowhere near as bad as mine.
"Toward dol grimlic of fola firgenbeorg?"
At the base of Foal Mountain...
"User endemest scield... "
[gasp] Our last stand.
Spike: [yawn]
Well, that sure sounds like a clue to me.
♪♪
This is it.
Ponhenge.
I can't believe it.
♪♪
I've never seen magical runes like these before.
Have you?
Uh uh.
I don't think anypony's seen any of this for a long time.
[struggle] Woah!
It'd take a whole team of ponies to clear away all this brush.
[clunk]
Even then, I'm not sure we'd find out
what happened here a thousand years ago.
[sigh] You're right.
I suppose it was a long shot.
Cheer up, Twilight.
Finding a whole set of ancient ruins is pretty impressive.
Maybe you could write a paper on it!
I guess I hoped we'd get here and the mystery would just
magically be explained.
[magical shimmering]
Uh, Twilight?
[gasp]
♪♪
[whoosh]
♪♪
Starswirl..?
I-- I've wanted to meet you my whole life!
I can't believe you're here!
♪♪
I don't think he is here.
I don't think any of them are.
♪♪
[evil laughter]
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.
♪♪
[evil laugh]
Drawing me here will only make me stronger.
You will never defeat me!
We did not come here to defeat you.
♪♪
What are you doing?
We came to contain you.
Aaaaahhh!
[magic sparkles]
Well, you did ask for a magical explanation!
♪♪
Uh, what just happened?
It looked like Starswirl cast a spell
that banished the Pony of Shadows.
Of course! Powerful magic like that
would leave an impression on this place.
Bringing the book back here let us see what happened.
Which was what?
Starswirl and the rest of the Pillars sacrificed themselves
to save Equestria.
It's amazing to think one of the greatest mysteries of Equestria
was solved with a musty old book from an antique shop.
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.
It'll take years of study before we fully understand it.
I think I understand Starswirl's spell!
I know I've finished one of Starswirl's spells before
but this one was on a whole different level!
Was it an explosion of magical feedback?
An evocation?
A kind of incantation?
It's Starswirl, so the possibilities are endless!
And once Starlight set me on the right track
with his crazy hornwriting--
[snigger] 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!
Twilight, darling, we understand you're excited,
but that's all we understand.
What exactly is so amazing?
Only how Starswirl and the other Pillars
sent the Pony of Shadows to limbo!
They did what now?
♪♪
They used their magic to open a portal between worlds,
to limbo and pulled the Pony of Shadows inside.
[poof]
Darling, your diorama!
I made more.
Starswirl thought the only way to trap the Pony of Shadows
in limbo was for the Pillars to take him there.
So they got stuck too!
The Pony of Shadows must have been really awful
for them to do that.
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.
The thing is, I think I can get them out.
Twilight, are you serious?
You can save the most legendary ponies of all time?
I don't know..
Opening portals between worlds didn't work out well for me.
Are you sure it's safe?
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.
Equestria would be safer with him in it.
We have to save him.
But you'd be savin' all the Pillars, right?
And they disappeared ages ago.
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!
I actually built another model to demonstrate--
Agh!
[bang]
What can we do to help?
If I'm right, we need to find items that are connected
to the Pillars in some way.
You mean, like, stuff that belonged to them?
How would we know what to look for?
Or where?
Luckily, Starswirl took a lot of notes.
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.
Um, Twilight, what are you doing?
I'm not doing anything!
Rockhoof's shovel!
Flash Magnus' shield!
Mistmane's flower!
Meadowbrook's mask!
And the blindfold Somnambula wore
when she faced that nasty sphinx!
I guess we don't need to figure out who should get what!
♪♪
Professor! It's a Mighty Helm headpiece!
Maybe it belonged to Rockhoof himself!
Legends don't wear helmets.
This belonged to a real pony.
Applejack: Oh, I can guarantee
Rockhoof was as real as you and me.
[laughter]
And I suppose that ravine was dug with his trusty shovel
to save the village from an erupting volcano.
Probably.
I love old legends as much as anypony,
but a pony strong enough to save a village from rushing lava
with a shovel is... preposterous!
[crack]
[rumble]
[shouts]
[grunt]
[crash]
I can't believe you just did that...
You saved us!
I bet if you told somepony else the story,
it might sound... preposterous.
♪♪
I suppose some stories.. might be true.
♪♪
And Rockhoof's appears to be one of them!
[clink] [gate opens]
♪♪
[slap] OW!
You keep those hooves to yourself, dearie!
This place has been in my family for generations
and I'm not about to let some whippersnapper
take the last good piece of it!
Time was, ponies came from far and wide to see these gardens.
But that flower's the only worthwhile thing left!
♪♪
Perhaps it just seemed like your gardens were worthless,
but a little pruning can work wonders.
Of course you will have to look after
more than just one flower now.
You've given me back my family's legacy.
The flower you wanted seems like a fair trade for that.
♪♪
I can't believe Flash Magnus' shield
ended up in the Dragon Lands.
Good thing you brought the Official Equestrian Friendship
Ambassador To The Dragons to help you navigate our customs.
Like our favorite sport: gorge surfing!
Whoo hoo! HA HA AH AH!
[cheering]
OK. That was awesome!
Dragon Lord Ember commanded us to make peace with ponies,
but it doesn't mean you can surf in our spot.
[growl]
Whoa! Fellas.
As the Official Equestrian Friendship Ambassador
To The Dragons, I have to say, that's not very friendly.
Garble: Well, what do you know?
The puny, pony dragon's sticking up for his pony pal.
Hey! That's an ancient pony artifact.
Hooves off my gorge board!
I found it in the desert and finders keepers.
It isn't yours.
Huh. It sure looks like mine.
But, I might consider racing you for it.
No problem.
Um, no.
I mean.. you.
Heh heh.
[jeering shouts]
[raspberry]
[gulp]
On your marks...
Get set...
Surf!
♪♪
[panicked shouts]
[pants] I won? I won! WOOO-HOOO!
Give up the shield, Garble.
Lord Ember only commanded us to be nice to ponies.
She never said anything about pony-loving dragons.
Uh.. since Dragon Lord Ember commanded you
to make peace with ponies, you can't very well
attack one of their friends, can you?
I guess we'll find out!
[grunt]
[shout]
Ugh. Why is he always hiding behind ponies?
I wasn't hiding when I beat you down the ridge.
You fell.
Wow, you must be slow, if all Spike had to do to win
was fall down.
I'm faster than you.
Doubt it.
Fine.
I'll race you back to the top.
If you win, you can have your pony junk.
But if I win, you'll leave and I get to give it to him!
Fine. I'm pretty sure I could beat you anyway,
but with that heavy hunk of metal on your back,
it'll be a snap.
Huh? Oh, yeah. Thanks for the tip.
[clank]
See ya at the top, loser!
♪♪
Hey! That's mine!
Finders keepers, remember?
See, because that's what you said to them
when they first showed up and--
♪♪
Just remember not to turn away from them, Cattail.
Flash bees can get pretty aggressive.
I guess that's why none of the other bayou animals
can get to the water.
Wouldn't it make more sense for you to wear the mask
that calms the bees?
It would... if I didn't have to fly up here to move their hive.
There!
[buzzing]
Now the other bayou creatures can get to the water
without the bees feeling threatened.
You know, you didn't have to help with this.
I would've lent you the mask anyway.
I know. [giggle]
But I couldn't leave without helping.
[magical glowing]
I don't think anypony can find anything in there.
I wouldn't give up hope just yet.
[gurgling]
This old blindfold was stuck in the drain.
Weren't you looking for a blindfold?
Oh, yeah!
♪♪
I can't believe I'm going to meet Starswirl the Bearded,
you know, outside of my dreams..
I can't believe you're actually going through with it.
What do you mean?
I'm all for pushing the envelope, obviously,
but this is pretty out there for you, Twilight.
What's "out there" about saving the most legendary ponies
of all time from a thousands year-old prison?
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'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's true. And you did get your wings
from finishing one of Starswirl's spells.
Exactly.
But, then I messed with one and nearly destroyed the universe,
so...
Starlight, Starswirl the Bearded is the greatest wizard
who ever lived.
The chance to have him back in Equestria is worth the risk.
Spike: That's good news.
Otherwise, we'd have brought this shield for nothing!
Applejack: I hope you don't think you're the only one
to find her artifact, because this here shovel says otherwise.
Honestly, you two...
Not everything is a competition.
But.. Mistmane's flower is by far
the most attractive of the artifacts.
You're just saying that because you didn't have to scuba dive
in a pit of green slime to get yours.
Or move a Flash Bee hive.
Good work everyone.
Let's do this!
[zapping]
♪♪
[crashing]
What-- What has happened?
It worked! We brought you back!
To where?
You and the others have been trapped in limbo
for over a thousand years,
but I figured out how to get you ho--
What!?
No, no, no, no! You must undo what you've done!
What? Why?
I mean, I don't think I can.
You cannot bring us back!
But I did.
I brought all the Pillars back.
You cannot bring only the Pillars back...
[thunder]
[screams]
♪♪
[evil laugh]
Oh, no...
♪♪