Trials and Errors

The rabbit was small and white, and sat on its rear in the centre of a path thinking rabbit-y thoughts. It then skipped daintily away, off to forage in the undergrowth for tasty treats, and came to the ancient, matte white wall which behaved as the edge of its world.
To all the creatures of its forest, the wall acted as defining proof that the world was flat. After all, why else would a vast blockade be needed if not to shield the rest of the animal's kingdom from the void that lay beyond? Sure, the odd cuckoo would tell them that over the wall was just more land, but everyone knew that the birds were lying.
The rabbit stared up at the wall, once again admiring its cleanliness and purity, and not for the first time debating whether the animals of the wood were right about its purpose. These musings were quickly put to rest, of course, when a stellar implosion of epic proportions appeared in the sky beyond it.
The rabbit returned to its foraging , content with this clearly infallible proof.

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Far off in Canterlot, a princess with a flowing mane walked up to a podium placed at the city's edge, turned her back to the rolling hills, and spoke to a crowd
"... And the medal for best ice skating goes to..."
There was the sound of an envelope being neatly torn, and then a short pause. The crowd waited in silence.
"It's the town favourite, for the second year running, Twinkle Toes!". Princess Celestia smiled as a small white unicorn with a neatly trimmed blue mane walked up to the podium to accept her reward. The crowd applauded, and Twinkle began thanking friends and family.
Behind her, as all attention focused on the young filly, a white outline of a small triangle drew itself on the air behind the podium. A similar circle began to sketch itself around it, and this became neatly encapsulated in a square, from which more circles began to grow, spreading from the centre of its four sides. A pentagon slotted itself around the pattern.
Lines continued to weave simple shapes around the pentagon, as each of the layers began to rotate steadily in alternate directions. More and more patterns were added, moving at higher and higher speed until the design hit two yards in diameter and spun at such velocity one could only just make out each of the signs. It was impossible to ignore now, and the onlookers gawped as a churning wormhole flew from the centre, swallowed the princess whole, and vanished.

The geometric designs' spinning eased to a stop, the lines flickered out, and a pony began to scream.

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Twilight sparkle yelled, and ran out of the door. "This is not possible, I mean, Not POSSIBLE." she babbled. "There has to be some mistake! There has to be! Oh, thank Celestia, APPLEJAAACK!"
Applejack looked around from her stall in the market.
"What in tarnation?"
"No time to explain, sorry, but will you help me gather the others?"
Applejack's face turned from confusion to seriousness. "You got it!" she replied as she galloped off.

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Spike opened the door. He called out to the fleeing lavender coated pony.
"SO WHAT DID THE LETTER EVEN SAY?"
No answer came. Spike sighed.
"I'LL JUST Go and get some supplies?" he called.
No reply.
"Why yes, I am fine, Twilight, thanks for asking." Spike grumbled, heading back inside.

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After a short sprint, Twilight arrived at the carousel boutique, and hammered on the door.
No answer.
"No, no, NO! Rarity can't be out, she can't!" she stressed. She tried again, but to no avail. Once more, she battered the door, and peeked through a window before giving up doorknocking and speeding back towards Fluttershy's house.

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Spike left the library, a small bag on his back, and began to head towards the town square in pursuit of his friends.

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Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie pie greeted her halfway, and to Twilight's surprise, so did Rarity. Twilight asked what she'd been doing down at Fluttershy's cottage.
"Well," Rarity answered eagerly, "she and I have been doing a teensy little ...project." she replied, nodding to the glistening garment on her back.

The "project" was a silvery white sheet, silk-like in quality, covered with sweeping purple spirals and trimmed neatly in lace. Whenever the sun caught it, the threads shone beautifully, dappling the ground nearby; whenever it was moved, it seemed to glide behind its wearer, tracing shapes on the air as if drifting through water. It was pure, and stainless, and utterly dazzling.

"The idea for it came to me when I was reading this article in a magazine..."
"That's great, Rarity, but we don't quite have time. Sorry." Twilight interrupted politely. "You can tell us later, okay? Okay."
She gathered herself.
"Girls, Princess Celestia was taken away from yesterday's Canterlot Awards Ceremony in some kind of wormhole, and it is up to us to..."
"Celestia's been KIDNAPPED?"
It was Rainbow Dash.
"What? Who by? Do we have to rescue her? Will there be monsters? Like, big ones? Can I..."
"We don't know any of those things; that's our big problem" Twilight interrupted. "The magic that was used is far beyond anything I've ever heard of, literary or otherwise. What that means is we have no leads. She could be anywhere, with anypony"
Twilight turned back to the rest of the group, which now included a slightly confused Spike holding a bag. Spike flung it to her, and she slung it over her back "What we're looking for is something hugely powerful that has never been recorded in books" she said "so something, um, like..."
"Really old?" Fluttershy suggested. All the others stared. "Sorry" she said, to nobody in particular.
"Actually, I believe she may have it" Rarity reasoned. "Of course, It would have to remain unseen for centuries, but what else would stop something existing in the written word?".
The others thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
"So that's settled!" Pinkie pie said cheerfully."Let's all split up and go find a dangerous thing we know nothing about!"
The group laughed a little, and turned to go. All except Twilight.
Twilight did nothing.

"Hold on a second." she said after a pause.
"What? Why?" Asked the rest.
"Because I reckon we can narrow this down a bit further..." Twilight said slowly. She paused in thought, staring into middle distance for a while. "Rainbow dash!" she piped up. "You can fly, right?"
"Well, duh."
Twilight ignored her, and kept on talking without stopping. She began to pace. staring at the floor. "So you've seen most of Equestria from above... and so has most of the Pegasus community over the last few thousand years... So for something to stay hidden for that time, it would need to be covered up and unseeable from the sky... In a cave, perhaps? No, the entrance would be visible... A cave in a forest? Like the Ursa Minor one? In fact, a forest alone would hide things well enough... So Everfree forest? No... That was the seat of power at one point, so hidden things are unlikely, and besides, Applejack searched around it for 'future danger' and found nothing, so it can't be there...". She looked up.
"Girls, can you think of any other Equestrian forests?"
There was a pause.
"Everfree? Wait, you said that..." said Pinkie Pie.
"Whitetail wood? That's pretty big!" suggested Applejack brightly. Rarity laughed.
"Come now, Applejack! How could something possibly stay hidden in a place as benign as Whitetail wood! Everypony runs through it in full every single year!"
"Actually," replied Twilight, "That' s not entirely true. The race is more symbolic than functional, which is why not everypony needs to participate, and so we only run through the most direct route."
"But still, it's hardly going to present a danger to a would-be explorer..."
"True, but perhaps its dullness meant nopony ever really bothered exploring it properly... And besides, it's the only possible place we can think of so far that fits all criteria, so we might as well prove ourselves wrong and get it over with..."
Twilight smiled weakly. Rarity sighed "Well, all right then..." she agreed reluctantly.
"So... what Twilight's basically saying is that it has to be in Whitetail wood because it could be anywhere." said Spike. "Is it me or is that argument just a tiny bit flawed?"

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At last they had arrived at the edge of the woods, and stopped to contemplate the task at hand. Applejack was first to speak.
"So, uh, how do we find one thing different in among all those trees?" she said, partly to herself.
"Let's split up" Rainbow dash said heroically "I will take this half," she made a vague gesture that roughly indicated the whole of Equestria, "and you lot can do the other half."
"But R.D..."
"Applejack, I am an expert on this subject. I have read loads of adventure books, and this is just, sort of, what you do, okay?" She slid an imaginary helmet on. "ONWAAARDS TO ADVENTUURE!!
Now, which way to go first?"
Fluttershy piped up "Straight on from here until the big fir tree, then a half turn left and you should be facing it." she said. "Keep low or you'll miss it."
The others stared in amazement.
"This rabbit told me" she explained proudly, holding out a small white ball of fur.
"Apparently there's a great big wall that's been there for as long as anyone can remember, so that must be it, you see."
"Well then, perfect!" said Twilight in shock, slipping the map she had been studying into her bag. "Come on girls, let's go!"

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"…and so the entrance the bird told me about must be somewhere just around... here."
Fluttershy stopped. Before them stretched three long, winding paths.

The great white wall that was so famed amongst the fauna of Whitetail wood was in fact one of six, grouped into three trails by the paving, ancient, cracked, but purest white, that joined them together. Each one was in some way different. The first was heavily netted overhead and appeared to be made with the intention to be a sort of flying course, judging by the way it occasionally swept upwards or went into loops. These sections were made not of stone but of some sort of tough, woven wood. The second was open air and appeared to be made specifically for unicorns, with enchanted blockades and boulders too great for even the most trained pony to lift without magical aid, and the last, built for earth ponies, was filled with devious puzzles and intricate traps, designed to confuse and confound all but the most ingenious of pony folk.
The group stared, making tiny noises of awe.

And then, all of a sudden, a sound like a universe scratching its fingers down a chalkboard resonated around them. The ponies covered their ears, Spike grimaced, and Pinkie pie attempted to bury her own head. It seemed to come from the walls themselves, and surrounded the friends, drowning them in a sea of sound. They gasped and groaned, and began to feel faint as they fell, and fell...
And then the noise subsided, and was replaced by a low hum.

The hum spoke.

WELCOME, it said, TO HOWLMORE PATH.