Standing with your comrades on a lone hill, you watch the world stretch out into infinity. Cilepharus and Celestia’s battle unwinds as Ponyville reverses itself back to normal. A great storm rages about you as you feel yourself pulled back to a previous frame of time. Suddenly, you are back in the Everfree Forest, outside of Zecora’s house.
You and your comrades are walking away from Zecora’s crystallized house. Rarity complains about her tail being turned into a crystalline boulder, to which Applebloom comments that she should have been more careful around that green fog.
As you start heading back toward Ponyville, a pair of gold armored guards slam into the dirt path before you. They say that they heard a great explosive sound out this way and came to investigate, stumbling upon your odd group of ponies way off in the woods. They inform you that the Mayor has gone missing from Ponyville.
In a panic, you raise a hoof to the guards as if telling them to hold on for a moment. You turn to the CMC and ask them to dump their stuff out quick. Sweetie Belle gives you a funny look.
"Are you okay?"
You say that you've got to see what everyone has quick. They look about awkwardly for a few seconds before Applebloom dumps her inventory. She has a Wooden Hammer, a Small Knife and her CMC Cape.
Sweetie goes with it, showing you her Padded Boots and her Cape.
Scootaloo throws a small firework on the ground, making a small explosive noise.
"I got a box of these pop-it things..." She's also wearing her cape.
The guards look at one another. "I guess that explains the explosion we heard..."
"Yes, exactly! We were playing around with those poppers!"
The guards nod, accepting the fact that this extremely small yield firework made a boom loud enough to hear from Town Square back in Ponyville.
Scootaloo whispers over to Applebloom loud enough for you to hear, "Is it me... or are these guys a little...?" You can't see her response, but Sweetie giggles a little. Rarity chastises the fillies for whispering about the guards.
You point back to Zecora's house, saying that you think she was attacked. The guards walk over to the house and quickly investigate, noting the ground is covered with crystal.
"Or... she really has a thing for crystalline carpet. Snazzy style."
You droop your head and march up between the two dismissive guards. You point up at the ceiling toward the burn marks, noting that the scorch patterns.
"Bad concoction. Must have mixed something wrong or something." The other guard nods, not saying a word.
You point at the broken window and all the things that got knocked over.
"She was probably mad that she burnt the ceiling. Took it out on her stuff."
Rarity glowers at the incompetent guards.
You decide that the guards are virtually retarded or just extremely lazy, explaining why they forwent their investigation of the Mayor and headed out here because they heard a noise.
You back out of the house slowly as the guards discuss something completely unrelated to the fact that Zecora's house is in shambles. Rarity urges you to hurry as the group gets away from the guards.
"What utter incompetence. I've never seen such a pitiful display from our resident guardsmen." She struts in front of the group, leading you all back toward Ponyville.
The group looks at you as you take the lead. Sweetie and Applebloom express worry that Cil is still at the boutique and they don't want to go back.
You tell your friends that Cil is more than likely out doing some other evil scheming and probably left the place hours ago. They still don't seem certain that they really want to try and go back, but they follow your lead.
Fluttershy shivers in place, not following the group.
You turn around, noticing that Fluttershy is missing from the group. You see her crouched behind a bench. You tell her that you know she's scared of Cil, but you need to find out what he's up to.
She says that, while Cil is scary, it's not him that she's scared of. She's getting a really bad feeling that they're all being watched. You convince her out from behind the bench and get her to rejoin the group. You let her nibble onto your tail and follow your lead.
You start heading toward the library, telling the group that, even though the mayor is missing, you should go find Twilight first. She can probably help you out the most, especially with the journal. She may also be able to help find the mayor. The CMC nod their heads in agreement, following your lead.
As you head toward the library, you ponder what could have possibly have gotten Fluttershy so spooked. You look over your shoulder and ask her about this 'watched feeling', relating that you've had this several times yourself.
Rarity rolls her eyes.
Fluttershy speaks through her teeth with your tail still in her mouth. She says that she thinks something is following them.
You flip all the way around, nearly tripping over your tail. You swear that you see a small green blob in the distance. It appears to be following you. When you make eye contact, it turns it's head toward town and dives behind a building. Two ponies come running your way and pass you, calling out for the mayor.
The blob peeks out from behind the corner of a building, appearing to make eye contact with you again. You start heading toward it slowly. It visibly nods its head.
It starts bouncing your way, making a clinking sound as it contacts the dirt.
Fluttershy jumps behind Rarity and hides. The CMC are horrified at the green bouncing abomination you're approaching by yourself.
You bravely press onward by yourself. Scootaloo calls out that you're gonna get yourself killed, but you ignore her.
As you get within a few feet of the creature, you notice that it has stripes running up its legs... though its hooves are made of crystal. A little line of magic shudders above the crystal on the hoof and just below a broad leaf draped on the creature. You look up.
You see Zecora's face. Her mouth and nose have become crystal; the broad leaf over her eyes seems to keep the magic crystal from consuming her body.
She makes a gleeful noise as you approach.
You tell the others that it's Zecora. Immediately, they run over. Applebloom looks incredibly dismayed and goes to nuzzle her. Zecora makes a very worried noise and pulls away.
She looks like she wants to tell you a ton of stuff, but her mouth and nose are nearly sealed shut. She looks into your eyes, then crosses them to meet the leaf in front of her face. She does this a few times.
"What the hay?! What is that thing?!?" You hear a familiar voice overhead.
You turn and look up, seeing a rainbow tailed pegasus floating above. She looks about ready to divebomb Zecora when you warn her that this 'monster' is in fact Zecora covered in leaves. You tell her not to touch her; apparently, this is a bad thing. Zecora nods emphatically.
Rainbow Dash swoops down, confirming that the pony is indeed Zecora. She scratches her head, wondering what could have possibly caused this. She looks at the crystallized hooves and winces.
"Does that hurt?"
Scootaloo runs over and nearly attaches herself to Dash's leg.
"Zecora, do you want us to do something with that leaf? Or do you want us to leave it there? Stomp once for leave alone, twice for doing something with it."
She stomps lightly a single time, looking you sternly in the eyes. Rarity hears the clink of the hoof on the dirt and tilts her head. "Is that... quartz? What an odd spell..." She reaches in her saddlebag, pulling out an amethyst tail chunk.
"Oh well... a gem's a gem, I suppose..."
Rainbow looks her over again. She comments that she was just about to buck her into next week.
A cold shiver ripples up your spine. You hear a peculiar thud in the distance. Nobody else seems to notice it, all of them concerned with Zecora's health.
You ask Applebloom is she heard the strange noise that just occurred. She gives you a weird look, saying that she didn't hear anything. You look around in the direction the sound came from.
You see the library off in the distance, but there's no immediate signs of anything happening in that direction. You turn back around, suddenly noticing another small group of ponies with horrified looks on their faces.
"M-m-m-m-on-s--"
Your group shakes their heads, trying to convince the other group that Zecora is not a monster. The other group runs off toward town square in their confusion.
"What was THAT all about?"
You flip around, looking at the library again. There appears to be nothing in this direction besides the iconic tree that doubles as Twilight's primary residence.
You hear a snore come from Rarity's saddlebags.
You decide that it would probably be a good idea to get going. Now.
You start moving toward the library, but Zecora moves at a small pony bounce per second. Her legs are too crystallized to allow her to run.
You look back at the worried Zecora. Her brows furrow as she's unable to keep up. You can hear something coming from the town square.
You offer to lift her up, but she pulls away as hard as she can. Rainbow moves in, saying that she can pick her up and carry her to safety in no time flat. Rarity hurries the other CMC toward the library, saying that she'll meet you and the others there.
In an attempt to make your split second decision, you realize that Spike is currently in Rarity's saddlebags... at the library.
The distant noise grows louder and the ground rumbles slightly.
Instinctively, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy all run out to stop the impending mob.
"Raisin, sweetie... make sure Zecora gets to safety, FAST."
They run out and round a corner, stopping and waving their forelegs. A few pegasi stop when they see Rainbow Dash. A heated discussion breaks out between your friends and what sounds like a mob claiming to be pursuing a monster that ate the Mayor.
You quickly ask a bouncing Zecora if Spike's fire could get rid of the quartz. She looks down, then shakes her head back and forth. You can see that she's nearly sweating bullets trying to get to a nearby bush.
As Zecora desperately bounces toward a bush, you ask her if you could use a cape to help push her along. Her eyes perk up. She looks your way and gives you a set of uneven brows. It doesn't seem as though she has an answer to that.
You realize that Rarity took the CMC to the library, leaving you without a cape to test this theory.
You look about for a nearby building. There seems to be a few unoccupied residences, but they're further away than the bush at the moment.
You look back, seeing a pegasus peeking over Rainbow and looking your way. A look of surprise takes their face.
You rush over and uproot the small bush. You toss it through the air. It lands on top of Zecora, completely obscuring her body from view.
You wave at who you assume to be the leader of the pegasus mob. They all fly over Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. One lands right in front of you, inspecting the newly placed bush.
"What was that green thing that was here a second ago?"
You decide it best to come out straight with the truth. Now that they are right here and less apprehensive, you inform them that the green thing was in fact Zecora after a potion had gone horribly wrong. She's sick and trying to get help over at the library.
The pegasi look around for a moment.
"Well, okay then... you're an honest kid, we trust ya. We were certain that it was some kind of monster." Another pegasi pipes up. "We're a bit panicked after the mayor disappeared... you can't be too careful."
They say that they'll tell the mob to disperse.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy come back by your side, dumbfounded as to how you got the mob to go away. You explain that you just told the truth.
The bush by your side is crystallizing as you speak. You hear a panicked cry erupt from the bush.
You immediately grab for the bushes, careful as to not touch the crystallizing portions. You lift it off of Zecora, giving it a toss into the street. As it flies through the air, a couple broad leaves fall out of the bottom as the bush solidifies and shatters before hitting the ground.
Zecora is missing a few of her leaves. She's got a few on her head and shoulders, but her flank is now completely crystallized. She cannot move her hind legs anymore.
You hear another noise from the Library. The balcony doors shut.
You tell Fluttershy to safeguard Zecora and make sure nothing bad happens to her. Fluttershy agrees with a nervous squeak. You ask Rainbow Dash to airlift you over to the library, but she just looks around awkwardly.
"Ya know, we're probably like 10 seconds away on foot..."
You decide to trot on over and look for your friends. You see Rarity standing next to the side of the front door. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom are at her side.
They tell you that Scootaloo got tired of waiting and climbed up into the tree. They heard her shut the balcony door behind her and don't know what's going on at the moment.
You strap on Sweetie's very cozy boots. They feel extremely well insulated from the cold; for some reason, the residual warmth of Sweetie's hooves remind you of Hayseed's mane, but you can't figure out why.
You put your hooves on the door handles as you hear another rap of knocks downstairs. After a few seconds, the kitchen door opens up. You can hear Rainbow Dash introduce herself, but the conversation is too muffled to eavesdrop on.
You open the doors slowly. Scootaloo hasn't seen you yet, but she looks like she's seen a ghost.
“Chicken”
Suddenly, Scootaloo peels around. She looks terrified, but doesn't let out a peep. She looks at you with an aggravated expression. She tip taps her way over to you, saying that she saw Mr. Creepo head into the basement with a big pot of... something. She was sneaking her way downstairs to open up the front door, but then he started coming back.
He apparently pulled a red vial from his cloak and was walking toward the staircase upstairs. Scoots says that she's thankful someone knocked; she was sure Cil was going to get her.
You can still hear a muffled conversation occurring downstairs. A lower, male voice sounds slightly annoyed.
You tell Scootaloo that she needs to get out of the library. She assures you that she can keep quiet, probably more quiet than you.
You look down the stair case and see the basement door a little ways further. The conversation in the kitchen sounds mostly like Rainbow is blathering on. Cil seems to be sitting through it.
You decide to bring your overconfident friend with you. You sneak through the main study room, your padded boots absorbing all the sounds of your steps. Scootaloo makes a little pitter patter as she follows your lead toward the stairs.
You look down, seeing a room strewn with books. The conversation at the door seems to by dying down.
"Twilight is beginning to recover. I hath given her a broth from mine homeland that shall cure her soon."
Rainbow continues on, saying that soup is the best thing you can possibly eat when you get really 'good and sick'. She strings more words together to keep the conversation going as Cil doesn't seem like much of a talker.
You see a small chemistry set, some books, and papers laid all about as you make your way down the stairs very slowly.
You look about the library, stopping for a moment to look for the soup or any sign of Twilight.
Besides chemicals and the smell of something earthy emanating from the kitchen, the library is empty. Scootaloo hovers up a bit, looking up into the beds. She whispers down that she doesn't see anything like Cil was talking about. She lands on the step, making a hard little clop noise. She covers her mouth, then looks over toward the kitchen. She breathes a sigh when Cil doesn't poke around the corner.
You continue through the library, looking at all the open texts. You see a few books that detail some obscure Everfree Forest flora. A couple papers lay strewn about with odd markings upon them.
You warn Scootaloo to be quieter.
The kitchen door conversation seems a bit faster. "Come back when she is well." Rainbow blocks the door from shutting with her hoof, saying she'd love to come in and say hi. Cil refuses, trying to shove her out.
You hear the door conversation shifting and get a bit nervous. You tell Scootaloo to hitch a ride because she's too noisy. She says that she's being quiet, but will take you up on your offer.
Her added weight makes you a little slower, but now you're absolutely quiet. You nearly run across the floor. Some of the odd papers strewn about the room start following you.
Cil is still trying to get RD to go away. As you pass the kitchen entry, you look in and see him shoving up against the door. Rainbow starts saying that she knows what he's up to.
You carefully open up the basement door and enter, closing it behind you.
It's pitch black. Cil must be able to see in the dark, Scootaloo figures, because he didn't have a candle or anything down here. You can't see anything, but can barely hear Cil in the other room mumbling something.
Inventory check:
You reach into your saddlebags, bringing out one of your 2 candles. You use the stompstarter on it and light it up. Immediately, you can see something glimmering down the staircase in front of you.
You hear a loud crash in the main room. Rainbow Dash is yelling something incoherently. You can hear Rarity outside the front door before you hear a window go out.
"Man, they're having a heck of a fight out there... and it's reeeeally dark in here... should we go back and help?"
You tell Scoots to stay at the top of the staircase by the door. She braces herself against it as you venture into the darkness.
You can clearly hear Rarity scream upstairs. There's another very loud crash.
You approach the glimmering object. It's a crystalline pony that resembles the mayor exactly. She's tied up to the wall.
You feel a dark chill run up your spine.
You turn toward the center of the room. Suddenly, Twilight is face to face with you. She has a very odd look in her eyes; they appear reddish with a pulsating swirl in them. She stares at you blankly. She's tied to the floor with a funnel looking device hanging out of her mouth.
On top of her head is a strange looking harness. To her side is an empty pot.
You look about the room a bit more, seeing a very small vial off to the side with some sort of a map above it. There's benches and equipment set up everywhere down here.
The noises upstairs start to settle. You hear a very loud slam against the door. Scootaloo jumps down and hovers towards you, unsure of what to do.
She shivers, terrified.
You pull out your knife and start sawing away at the harness wires. The paring knife makes slow work of each wire. You tell Scoots to jump back up the stairs and brace the door while you try to free Twilight.
The door bursts open, flying down into the room. Nobody is standing in front of it.
"I know you're down there. Thy friends have fallen; give up."
Cil yells down into the basement from around the side of the door. A green mist drifts down the first few steps of the stairs, but doesn't continue into the darkness.
You toss your candle over to Scootaloo and tell her to throw it up at the mist. You hear a few sudden footsteps as Scootaloo chucks it up at the door. A loud explosion shakes the tree.
Crystals fall down the stairs, sliding off into the darkness.
"So, thou hast learned the secret of my potion? Impressive... but it shall not save thee."
You hear Cil run back into the library. You fervently saw away at the wires, desperate to get Twilight freed from them.
"What do we do?! Where did he go?! WHAT SHOULD WE DO?!" Scootaloo panics.
You split another wire and tell Scootaloo to grab the special vial on the counter. She feels around in the darkness, unable to see anything.
Miraculously she picks up the vial in her mouth. Just as you're about to give her further instructions, you see Cil's silhouette darken the doorway. He's got a white potion in his claw.
He stops.
"Cease now or I shall free thee from thy mortal coil this very moment."
You yell up at Cil, telling him that if he doesn't back off, you'll destroy his precious little vial in a heartbeat.
He stands up at the top of the stair, cocking his arm back. "Destroy it and thou shalt perish. The potion is incomplete without the stabilizer; thou shalt surely die."
He visibly trembles at the top of the stairway. Another wire snaps.
"Cease. Do not cut those wires, fool. She will tear this place asunder."
You snap the final wire to the harness. Cil takes a step back.
"Thou shalt burn."
He cocks his head back, throwing a fireball into the room. Twilight doesn't seem to be waking up from her spell immediately. The fireball heads straight for you and Twilight.
You yell for Scoots to throw the vial into the flames. Cilepharus dives into the room.
"NOOOO!!!"
He bats for the vial as it flies through the air, making its inevitable impact with the fireball. It shatters. You hear a thud on the ground. Scootaloo shrieks for a moment, then bumps into you and Twilight.
The only noise in the room is a soft whimper.
"I spent two half a lifetime on that formula... 400 years I spent... burned in a second..."
He starts shaking the white vial in his claw.
"Goodbye."
You and Scootaloo start slapping Twilight as hard as you can to snap her out of her spell. She starts shaking her head, but Cil's vial starts to glow.
You toss the stompstarter over to Scootaloo. She catches it in her mouth and gets busy lighting a candle. You jump off of Twilight and tackle the suicidal dragon. You hear a few crunches as you tackle the small set of robes.
Cil just chuckles to himself. You've stopped his arm from shaking the small white potion, but a green mist pours out of his robes.
"In the end, it's all the same..." He coughs.
"I win."
Cil smiles as he turns into a solid chunk of crystal. You watch the deadly vapors pour out into the room. Suddenly, your hooves begin to crystallize. A loud explosion shakes the tree once more as the floor instantly turns to crystal, but the rock continues to spread up your legs.
Twilight lifts you up.
"Not you too!"
Scoots and Twilight panic as the crystal begins to envelop you.
As the crystal wraps over your head, you tell them that the countercurse is inside of the journal. Confused and terrified, they watch the crystal wrap around your face.
Everything goes dark.
...
...
"R...s"
You hear an echo. The darkness begins to melt away.
"Raisin? Raisin? Are you awake, yet?"
You shake your head. Your joints feel extraordinarily stiff. You ask the voice where you are.
"We're in Canterlot. Twilight tried opening that journal, but we couldn't read anything inside. She took it Celestia; we found a weird potion bath that was supposed to undo this crystal junk. Almost everyone is better... though you took a long time to come around."
You shake your head, finally seeing that Rainbow Dash is talking to you. "That dragon guy turned us all into sculptures."
You breathe again, a sigh of relief. The CMC run over to greet you.
"You're back! We thought we lost you!"
Sweetie Belle and Applebloom give you a group hug. Scootaloo waits until they're done and gives you a brohoof. "Not bad... for... you know, being so incredibly young and stuff."
You lean back, chilling with your friends in the Canterlot hospital, Hayseed at your side. Immediately, you ask about Cilepharus.
"He's on display in the garden..." Scootaloo says.
"His smile is really creeepy..."
“..did... did we get our...”
You check your flanks. Applebloom speaks up.
"Nope. None of us did."
You try to imagine how hard it must be to get one of these things, considering the certain life-threatening peril you just put yourself through.
You get a little panicked, informing the CMC that the journal has a terrible curse on it, granting peepers horrible, bad luck.
"...you know, that would explain a lot..."
You ask about getting an official cape. Sweetie Belle just gives you a smile and clears her throat, motioning down at your 'blanket'.