The Bearded Journal

Silence woke up a full 1800 count before the magical lights lit up the underground cavern. He went to go wake up Starswirl, but was surprised to find that he was missing. Expecting the worst, he galloped down the stairs, headed for the door. Before he could open it, though, he was distracted by a smell coming from behind him.

Following it to an open door, he was greeted by the sight of Starswirl magically applying jelly to some toast.

"Well good morning, sleepyhead," Starswirl said with a laugh.

Silence only stared at him disbelievingly. Starswirl had never woken up before him before. Usually, he was the last one up.

"Oh, relax, would ya? It's not like the impossible has happened," Starswirl said.

Silence finally collected himself and walked towards one of the empty seats around the table. Turning to Starswirl, he used his wings to blow the jelly into Starswirl's face.

"You and I both know that's a load of crap," he said laughing as he watched Starswirl attempt to wipe the jelly off his face with his hoof.

This only succeeded in smearing the jelly all the way from his eyebrows down to his chin. With another flick of his wings, Silence caused a sizable amount of jelly to fly up Starswirl's nose, prompting even more laughter from Silence. That is, until Starswirl snorted and sprayed said jelly all over him.

"You're entirely right," Starswirl said, "With us being down here, we have no idea what's happening on the surface. The impossible might very well have happened. Though I suppose the correct question would be How many times has the impossible happened already."

Silence, smartly, grabbed a napkin before attempting to wipe himself down, "Still doesn't explain how you woke up before me."

"That's easy. I didn't sleep last night."

"I call BS. You were out like a light as soon as your head hit that pillow."

"You forget so easily. Magic is my specialty, and one kind of magic in particular. Could you perhaps remind me what it is?" Starswirl asked, giving Silence the most obvious 'how dumb are you?' look that he could.

"Illusions," Silence said with a sigh, "So, if you were up all night, what were you doing?"

"Follow me and I'll show you," Starswirl said as he rose out of his seat and started walking away.

Seeing no choice, Silence got up and followed him. After passing several dozen doors 'How big IS this house?', he and Starswirl finally stopped before a solid stone door, emblazoned with a rune circle about 3 hooves across.

"Before we enter, I must warn you not to touch anything. How long can you hover?" Starswirl asked, his tone deadly serious.

"Don't be insulting. You know I can hover indefinitely," Silence said with a mock look of hurt on his face.

"Very good. Now, let me show you what I've done," Starswirl said as he magically levitated himself.

Placing his hoof in the center of the rune circle on the door, he floated there as the runes began to spin faster and faster. Slowly, they started giving off smoke and sparks as they sank into the door. Once they had drilled about a foot into the stone, the runes didn't go any further. Instead, they seemed to stretch back to the surface of the stone, creating a rotating cylinder of magic around the stone inside the circle.

As the rune cylinder spun, the stone inside seemed to change. It went from the white of the surrounding stone, to the gray of twilight, and then to a black that was darker than any night. Soon after that, it appeared to fade from Silence's sight all together.

"Please follow me," Starswirl said as he floated into the void where the stone had been, his body disappearing as it entered the limits of the rune cylinder.

Silence, hesitantly, flew into the void, shutting his eyes and bracing himself for some kind of resistance. When he felt nothing, he opened his eyes. What greeted him was beyond imagining. Right before him was Equestria, but it was nothing like the Equestria he knew. Where his was plagued by floating pieces of land and chocolate milk rainstorms, this one was calm and peaceful, with rolling hills covered in the greenest grass he had ever seen as far as he could see.

"Hmm," Starswirl said from behind him, "So this is what the inside of your head looks like. At least, the good part of the inside of your head."

"What do you mean?" Silence asked without even turning around, "How could this be inside my head? I've never even seen Equestria like this."

"I guess it would be more accurate to say that this is what you want most, more than anything else in our world."

"This can't be right then," Silence said looking around, "Something's missing."

It was then that he noticed the cottage, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Playing outside it were two foals, both pegasi, and standing in the doorway was Pinkamena.

"Ah," Starswirl said, still floating along, "My sister. So this is what you want most in the world. A family."

Ignoring Starswirl, Silence flew towards the house, where he embraced the two foals in a hug. Immediately, the sky began to darken as thunder rolled across the sky. Discord appeared above the house, laughing. With a snap of his fingers, Pinkamena and the two foals were pulled inside the cottage as it caught fire. Silence found that he couldn't move, and so he watched helplessly as the cottage burned down.

"What happened?" He finally managed to ask after what seemed decades.

"I warned you not to touch anything you see in here. What we just saw was your worst fear: losing everything you care about in this world. Do not worry. Everything that happens in here, stays in here. Upon exiting, this place will, for lack of a better term, reset. Which means that next time you come in here, it will look exactly as it did when you first came in here. Unfortunately, you can't get in here unless I unlock the door," Starswirl put a comforting hoof around Silence's shoulder and led him away, "Come on, let's get out of here."