"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..."

Poof!

"...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 Star Swirl's final words before he vanished!"

Whaat?!

"So it's genuine? You can verify that this journal..."

"...really belonged to Star Swirl 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."

Sugarcube, please. Time and place.

Come on, Spike, don't leave a pony hanging.

Did Pinkie break a Pinkie Promise or something?

That's gross, darling.

Three days and nights' study; no food, no rest, no sign of a clue except what ungrammatical Old Ponish can tell.

"Hearg sylfum se Ponhenge..."

"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."

"Our last stand...!"

"Is that Cheese Sandwich, singing an Old Ponish version of 'Word Crimes'"?

PONI
RULES
(No joke. That's what these runes say when decoded.)

Applejack hasn't done that since Season 4!

Uh, it was like this when I found it! I swear!

"I don't think he is here."

"I don't think any of them are!"

Twilight and Sunburst must be blinded after that. Wait, does light work like that?

Oh no, Mistmane!

Flash Magnus!

STARSWIRL!!

Pony of Shadows = Venom real

"You will never defeat me!"

"We did not come here to defeat you."

A hexagon!

Pony of Shadows: Uh oh

"We came... to contain you."

NOOOOOOO!!!

And the audience is blinded!

"You did ask..."

"...for a magical explanation!"

"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."

"Star Swirl'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 Star Swirl's spell!"

Correction: Hours of study.

Twilight, that's a little too close for comfort.

Congratulations, Twilight, you made Starlight feel bad. I hope you’re happy.

"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."

Here's the kick...

It's good!

It's Indiana Jones! All that's missing right now is his theme!

That's not Rarity's aura color. Is the Old Gardener helping in the restoration effort?

How to get your flank/tail kicked in one easy step: Claim you're faster than Dashie.

Rainbow Dash Vs. Garble! Fight

Uhm, Garble's a might outclassed in this contest...

"Hey! That's mine!"

"Finders keepers, remember?"

"See, because that's what you said to them when they first showed up—"

Oh, shut up.

I'm...not sure I wanna know what that is....radiation?

"Weren't you looking for a blindfold?"

Count on Pinkie to be immune to toxic substances!

"I can't believe I'm gonna meet Star Swirl the Bearded!"

"You know, outside of my dreams." T.M.I., Twilight.

"And you did get your wings from finishing one of Star Swirl's spells."

"Exactly."

"But then I messed with one......"

"....and nearly destroyed the universe, so..."

We know you nearly did, Starlight.

"Let's do this!"

Why did I volunteer to do this?

Here goes nothing.......

It's working......

Who would've thought that Starlight would be the one nervous about doing something crazy like this?

...here it comes....

At last, they are here in the flesh.

Finally, after seven entire seasons of being mentioned...He's finally real!

"What... What has happened?"

"You and the others have been trapped in limbo for over a thousand years..."

"....but I figured out how to get you ho-"

Wait a minute....

"What?! No, no, no, no!"

"You must undo what you've done!"

Ah....what?

"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!"

What you do mea- oh.

Oh, no....

This can't be good....

It can't be....

It's not just the Pillars who are free...

...but also you know who!

Way to go, Superfan! You just unleashed an ancient evil!