Author's Note

Hey, Fatail here. Author of that down there. Well, Duh! "Author's notes". Who else could it be? Here's TL;DR for anyone too tired to deal with this shit - I've had a lot of stuff to deal with. Now it's okay..ish, kinda. I'm releasing this revised first chapter as a preview of the improvements that will be made in the future to the already released chapters. More will come, it's not dead. Unlike me, somewhere deep inside. Aren't we all, just a little bit fucked in the soul?

For the rest. Hi, how are you doing?
Because I, am, not, great. Well, I was. Now I'm okayish, as I said.

By the way, the stuff that you should read after the chapter will be put into spoilers, because certain someone doesn't allow author notes on both the start and the end of the chapter *cough*FimFiction*cough* This one time being an exception, you can read the spoiler before the chapter, up until the point when I discuss my own writing, that's meant to be read after. You'll know when to stop.

Now, back to our regular depressing stuff.

Firstly, I'd like to excuse myself for all the delays I've had, then I will talk more about the chapter itself. Do not be alarmed, it's a one-time thing. The rest of those author rants will be funny and strictly about the chapter itself.

A quick round. Firstly, I've fallen sick and it's pretty serious, because turns out it's genetic. Secondly, my Mother was diagnosed with intestinal cancer. She's doing good so far, but you never know. Thirdly, my Father almost died from a stroke. Fourthly, almost lost my best friend to an amphetamine overdose, he's going on rehab but once again, you never know. Fifth, I've found out that I'm losing my apartment in two months, so I must find a more lucrative job and a new apartment on top of that. Sixth and last, my cat died.

All of that In the span of five months.

So... saying a had a shit 2018 would be an understatement. By 2019 most of those situations got better, but all of them are ongoing cases. Well, except the cat. She's dead and I'm not doing Necromancy. I've seen too much Internet to not know where would that go.

In summary. My life sucked dick in a cheap motel, and now it's sucking dick in a classy brothel. It's better but eeeeee... Still, I'll take any improvement I can get. I hope that told you exactly why I was preoccupied enough to fall behind on writing.

Now, into the chapter talk, flavored with my thoughts on my own writing.

Comparing this chapter to it's original... jumping from 5,236 to 11,642 words just on adding some flavor text, so it looks nicer. No significant story changes. *click*NOICE*click*

Also, FUCK rhyming to action. Reaction, distraction, transaction, overreaction. Action, action, action, bloody action. You know what, Dissatisfaction. Is what I feel with the word. Ironically, this chapter is almost all boring talk and even more anti-action. Disaction? Noneaction. Eh, you'll decide the name for me.

"The great pillars of cellulose bestudded with droves of green," he wrote.

*Sigh*... Trees. They're called trees, Fatail.

I hate writing Applejack. I'm not a bum, I can't speak hillbilly. Think even! That's it. I'll have her talk normally, shifting to more "countryistic" while she's stressed to make it more believable.

Fatail, you're a genius of avoiding work. Fuck, I love myself.

I decided that I'll draw a map to this shit sooner or later and stuff it somewhere in the author notes. Otherwise, you will get lost, with how I plan all of this to go. I mean, it won't be terribly different from the official map (At first..), but I just needed to shift some stuff around for plot convenience. So I'll make one for your enjoyment and just for the heck of it. Why not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Now. Ending statements.

I gave my all, I snorted all the coke I could (not really), I sold all the unnecessary organs, even gave up my soul to the Legions of Beelzebub. Let me tell you, the Pandemonium grand palace has nice decor despite being situated, you know, in the middle of The Hell. But, that's a tale for another time. What matters now, is that this chapter won't get any better on my side.

Also, there will be a few different "ficks" released as well, I'm intending to make myself most horse famous before the end of the show. (I swear,If you joke "Who still watches the show anyway?" I'm going to get proper angery.) Because, let's be honest, Fandom itself is never ending. Some of us are too deep into that rabbit hole.

And yes. The notes will be so unnecessary long. Always.

Firstly, I wanted to say, I'm not a native English speaker and this up there, is my first approach to writing something, EVER. Anything moderately long to this point in my life were essays back in high school. Above that, I like to think that I'm a funny kind of guy. I make an abundance of jokes and all that jazz (You like jazz?) (Yes, I just quoted Barry B. Benson, sue me.) And here I go, writing all serious edgy story, not a comedy. (Which I might do in the future) Honestly, I don't know if I'll manage to write this as epic as I want it to be, but shall certainly try.

So you ask - "Why are you writing a serious story first then?"

The answer is quite simple. Because I'm a bloody idiot.
That's why, Billy.

If anyone sees something weird in the chapter, like reluctantly exchanged for the recurrently, notify me right away. Blasted Grammarly. It destroys as much as it helps, the shit. I'm not a pussy for critique, so go nuts. Leave no survivors and destroy my ponut. That way, I'll know where I fucked up and of what I must be aware in the future.

At some point I'll need an editor, 'cause, as you can clearly see my grammar sucks. Honestly, I spend more time fixing my own stupid mistakes than I do on actual writing. Mostly articles. Hate that little sneaky buggers. Using Grammarly helps, but it's not perfect.

I won't lie to you. I don't write frequently nor fast. In fact, often I write nothing for like, weeks. Then, 20,000 words, one night, in a great inspirational burst of madness. I have the vision, but so it happens, I can't write worth shit. Also, I'm a worthless poet. Can't you tell by that last bit?

So, I can't really promise anything, but one little thingy. Be it ten years, I will write that story all the way to its conclusion. I won't abandon it.

Sponsored by music that I listened to while writing this :
Metallica - Blackened and Depeche Mode - People are people
P.S (They don't pay me really, I just like the word sponsored. Sounds professional.

Eternal

Each and every one of exceptional fables generally starts with a beautiful day, birds chirping, peacefulness reigning the world at large, holding most of the things by the throat in a state of blissful harmony. Periodically, the very existence finds itself waiting in excitement and anticipation for something exceptional to happen. Sadly, "Be careful what you wish for" applies to anyone, even a philosophical concept such as reality.

An ever-gloomy day of Monday doubtfully honored the village of Ponyville with its spirit wracking nature. Everything seemed to be covered in a thick layer of clouds, be it the sky with the very literal ones or expressions of the ponies themselves with the more metaphoric kind. Everything, except one place. Rising high above the rest of the mostly thatched buildings stood a magnificent tree shaped castle build out of various crystals who came in every imaginable color of the visible spectrum. The sunlight rays reflected off its surface in the myriad of dazzling hues on account of the whole sky in the perimeter being completely devoid of depressing shades of gray, clouds kept at a distance by the purest kind of harmony magic. Being a place of residence for the Princess, so in consequence, having an exclusive weather pegasus assigned of its very own, helped too. Probably. You never know with the Ponyville Weather Team.

If any of the feathered equines were still at work that late into the day, it would take merely a gaze into one of the building's many windows to take notice of the fidgeting neurotic mess bordering on a diagnosed psychosis or, as some liked to call her, Twilight "The Princess of Friendship" Sparkle.

“Oh Spike, have you seen my spare's spare quill? I can't find it anywhere!” Loudly whined the purple mare, wiggling nervously in the midst of her own spacious bedroom. The pictures of her colorful friends silently judged her hissy-fit from their places near the cosmetic mirror bureau.

Twilight's little dragon assistant allowed himself yet another slow breath as if frustration was given physical form, only to be expelled from his lungs at its own pace. “You're holding it in your magic, Twilight. Third from the right.”

She looked around the study/sleep-room and truthfully to his words, sought quill replacement was lazily defying gravitation above her head, right next to the spare inkwell and spare parchment. No ball-pen though. They're not to be trusted. “Oh... nevermind then...” Her demeanor seemed to flatten a little for a brief moment, only to return in full force a second later. “Wait, and what about my notes? Where did I...” Twilight said while already starting to nervously search for the priceless, not mentioning private, scribbles.

“I packed them earlier.”

“And what if I need-”

“Twilight, calm down, we've gone through entire checklist already. Three times I must add,” Spike replied attempting to calm the almost triggered Alicorn. He knew that it won't help much, but, a dragon can dream.

“I'm sorry Spike, but I'm just so excited! Not only archaeological expedition from Canterlot Solar University discovers traces of a civilization that predates discord himself but Princess Luna asks ME! of all ponies, to go there supervise and help them in whatever they may need my expertise for! Somepony needs my scientific expertise. I always knew this day would come!” She said all in one breath while jumping around a coffee table situated in the middle of the room.

“I don't like it.” Spike played the role of ever skeptic voice of reason. “The location part I mean,” He quickly added with that innocent smile of his. “All the places those ruins could be at, of course, it's Everfree. Almost in the middle of it.” Always this damned forest, he swore. Through their brief time spent together, he and Princess Luna always agreed on some key things, one of them being that the Everfree needs to burn. Right next to the "Snobby nobles of Canterlot" on the Hellfire List. “Also, since when you get tasks anymore after you became a Princess yourself? Moreover, from Luna and not Celestia,” He expressed his worries and questions, which dampened the princess's mood, even if by a little margin.

“Ahem, yes, I was too surprised when the letter showed up with Luna's royal seal, but it's not like she's commanding me to get up and go there. It's more like a friendly request.” That truth was rather hard to miss, with the letter practically begging to go and take care of this. Not that Twilight actually had to be encouraged even more. “Besides, she probably just knew I'd be interested in such a thing,” She responded, very well guessing Spike was just probably worried about her wellbeing, as always.

“Don't worry about me Spike, I'm a grown mare. I can take care of myself,” Twilight said with a big confident smile upon her petite muzzle.

Her assistant only made the sour face. “Somehow, I am not all that convinced.” A positive grimace instantly excused itself from Twilight face, tipped its hat and flew straight 'outta window to never return.

“Well then, better stop doubting me, mister. Was I ever unable to do that?” A barely noticeable hint of pride was carried within her voice.

“Do you seriously want me to answer this question truthfully?” Spike said as he raised an eyebrow and started stomping his left foot impatiently on the crystal floor, cliquing sounds muffled by the fluffy violet rug. If he actually had to count the times Twilight was barely considered a functioning adult, he would have to skip the claw counting. Better go straight downstairs and fetch the abacus.

“Err.. I'd better go already.” Color matching saddlebags designated as hers by the embedded cutiemark were magically levitated onto her back as she prepared to exit the room in shame and fake hurry. “I want to get there before sunset.” From a window in the study, the Sun was clearly visible, occupying a high position in the sky and feeding the earth its life-giving rays, so it was probably still around noon. “The very last thing I want or need is to be in the Everfree in the middle of the night.”

“Hey,” Spike suddenly called causing the purple pony to stop suddenly and look back at him curiously in anticipation. “Just... be careful, okay?” His voice was strangely quiet and barely heard by his companion. Classic Spike. Either overly emotional and forthcoming with his feelings or Rainbow Dash style shut-in.

She smiled and replied equally quiet. “Noted. You take care of the castle for me, agreed?” The Dragon only nodded silently, agreeing to once more be the warden of their house. Finally left on his own in complete silence as the mare left the room and soon the whole prismatic castle altogether.

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Princess Twilight casually strolled through the rustic village while reading, a rather normal occurrence for the denizens of the temporarily quiet Ponyville. Hanging in front of her muzzle and levitating by the magic powers was a meticulously prepared map of the Everfree, as far as the changing forest could be efficiently mapped. Well, at least known to ponies regions of it. Because of her intense focus on the map, she omitted a pair of very distinct voices carrying through the streets and shattering the rural blissful silence, getting slightly louder and louder as she unknowingly got closer to their source.

“What the hell are you even doing? You need to lift it, not push it. You only got it stuck deeper!”

“And what, pray tell, do you think ah'm doin'?”

“I don't think it raised even an inch! I know it didn't!”

“Dash, this here thing weights close to half a ton! Ya know what a ton is?”

“You're supposed to be the strong one, aren't you?”

“Okay smartflank, you try it then.”

“No, thank you. I'd like my wings not strained. Again.”

“Ah thought so. Now shutup and push, missy.”

Under any normal circumstances Twilight would have already recognized two from the six of her closest friends from afar, but being so deeply committed to studying the safest possible routes through Everfree while walking has its obvious downsides and to be honest, Applejack and Rainbow Dash weren't exactly paying enough attention to be in a position of spacial awareness either. If she'd known what was about to happen she would probably stop immediately, but as everypony knows... once Twilight Sparkle starts reading something that genuinely interests her, which would be literally anything, the whole world could be on fire and she wouldn't notice the heat of her own burning mane. That is exactly a sole reason behind why she crashed headfirst into the edge of a big apple cart sitting in the middle of the road.

“Yeowwwww!” She cried in pain, immediately attracting the attention of her two nearby friends.

“Wha- Twilight!” The farmer of the pair shouted in surprise and alarm, followed by the prismatic pegasus rushing in hurry to help a friend in need.

The alicorn in question caught its head in her hooves, already feeling this week's regular migraine coming. There's always at least one. “Ow..ow..ow... why does that hurt so much? I've run into things countless times before!”

“Ohh, dagnabbit!” Applejack grimaced while closely examining the wincing alicorn. “You struck yourself pretty bad, Twah. Just above the eye and it starts to bleed quite a lot. You stay here with her Rainbow,” The enlisted pegasus nodded without hesitation, ready to do her part. “I will run to Sweet Apple Acres and.. grab...” Applejack eyes started to widen as if they wanted to escape the eye sockets of their owner. There, right in front of them, Twilight's wound stopped bleeding and simply started to close on itself. The blood even had the audacity to gather from the cheek and forehead and wave them a proper goodbye, just to offend the mother nature itself and seep back inside the laceration against gravity. After a few brief seconds of silence, there wasn't even a sign that the wound was present in the first place.

“That.. was.. AWESOME! Quick, do it again!” Dash shouted with excitement as she did a quick loop in the air. After all, Dash without a loop? I don't think so. Despite that kind of reaction being the norm for the multicolored pegasus, Applejack threw her a quick glare none the less.

After helping the purple friend to stand on her own four hooves, she just had to ask. In order to satisfy her own curious urges, one needs to be inquisitive. “Wha...what in the hay was that, Twilight? Some kind of new spell you tryin' out?”

Twilight touched her brow a few times to check if everything healed properly and looked at Applejack. “N..no, I didn't use magic at all. It's natural,” She replied too casually, achieving only more confusion between them.

“Regenerative power straight from Spike's comics... you call that natural?” The famous "Brow of Judgment" was starting to act up, but before it could do so fully, It met its greatest adversary. Unexpected exposition.

“Well, natural.. for me at least,” The recently wounded was quick to explain and dispel any puzzlement. “That's just how Alicorn bodies work. Princess Celestia did tell me all about it when I became one, but I haven't thought it would be that quick.” The awe of discovering your body abilities is both amazing and terrifying.

Rainbow Dash, still hovering in the air, quirked her own eyebrow into the mix of other two. “So, now you have some kind of proper healing powers or what?” Pegasus immediately realized what she'd done and regretted her question as she just indirectly asked Twilight to explain something probably too complicated and boring, now she had the green light and the will to go full egghead on her.

“Yes. Well, kind of. You see, any Alicorn body contains such enormous amounts of purest magical energy, that it constantly needs to expel some, otherwise it will just build up and trust me, magical overload is not something you want nor something to be trifled with. Think something akin to a living, walking bomb,” The other two winced at the analogy, signaling that it certainly got across. “So, now think of an Alicorn's skin like a membrane for mana. It discharges magic evenly through its whole surface, but.. if the skin is damaged, instead of the membrane it starts to act more like a balloon with air(Magic in this case,) inside of it. And exactly like a balloon would do, magic starts to escape on the path of least resistance, most often some kind of a wound, and instantly heals it exactly like it's formulated and thoroughly described in Red Cross's Third law of Thaumic healing! Isn't that great?”

“Wait,” Rainbow treated the recent question as rhetorical. “So that's why the Princesses have those flowy manes and all?”

As a sharp gasp emanated from Twilight, Rainbow already knew she's not going to like the probable revelation behind it. “Rainbow! You just made an educated, not mentioning accurate, guess! On your own!” The purple pony was well beside herself with joy.

At the moment Rainbow's hooves reached her cranium and hooves tasted the dirt again, she thought that's it. She was going to die. The nerdiness, It's contagious. She knew, it took years of exposure, but now she knew to be right from the very start. Her theory was right, Yup, she regretted it alright and now apparently she formulated theorems. Theories! She scolded herself mentally. I'm already using big words! No, bad!

Applejack stood beside her, silently observing a clearly anguished Rainbow Dash, opening and closing her mouth a few times in an attempt to understand. “Okay, ah'm not going to pretend that I understood even half of the weight behind what you've just said... or whatever Rainbow is doin' now. But instant healing? That's mighty handy Twi! Hell, if I had one of them Alicorn features, I would kick apple trees as hard as I want.” Even with a mere second lasting gaze the great pillars of cellulose bestudded with droves of green managed to beacon her invitingly. “If mah' bones decided to give up on me, they would heal in no time and back to work I'd go!”

“That doesn't mean it would not hurt, you know,” Twilight said with the level of enthusiasm normally reserved for the inanimate slabs of concrete.

“Still would be nice, though.” Applejack cemented her conviction in stone.

“I suppose it would,” The alicorn admitted defeat with a sigh. She won't lie, despite the few drawbacks, it is ehm... nice. “Now, I have one question of my own. Why does exactly your biggest cart, full of produce, stand IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD?” The mix of frustration and curiosity overwhelmed the young mare, yet her orange third of a counterpart dismissed the blame, shifting it to the more avian part of the duo.

“Ain't my fault. Ask missus "Fast as lighting" over there.” She pointed in the self-appointed fastest mare's alive general area.

“Oh, buck off AJ,” Rainbow Dash once again flew to the cloudless air swiftly as a bird. Her pout and rejection of accusation clear as the skies she soared through. “You're the one who wanted to take this road in the first place.”

“Yes I did, BUT if I recall correctly and I do, you were the one who argued that we should go way quicker. Pushed cart so fast that it dug itself into the ground and now it's stuck. Am I right?”

Knowing that Applejack was correct, as she didn't lie, after all, the pegasus tried to formulate some kind of an excuse. “Well, you on the other h-” Only to be interrupted by groaning Twilight.

“Girls, there's no need to argue, don't even start. Look, I'll fix it for you, ” She exclaimed and quickly started the repairs just as she promised. Applejack felt as her own coat suddenly stood upright akin to an electrified ball of yarn, which usually meant that someone was using a considerable amount of magic. Then she watched as her wagon was encased in a field of violet aura and abruptly jerked up and to the side without spilling any of the succulent apples. Then the translucent magical cloud ceased to be as swift as it manifested itself.

“Whoa Twilight. I always kinda knew you were powerful, but you didn't even break a sweat this time. Whoosh, like lifting a book,” said Rainbow Dash, attracted to everything that requires a great deal of prowess or strength. Yes, even if by the strength you mean strong magic.

“That's nice of you to say Rainbow and I appreciate it, I really do.” The future Wonderbolt already sensed a "but" brewing somewhere in there and when Twilight gazed longingly at a nearby line of the fateful forest, she was more than sure of it. “Yet, I would be grateful if you kept that knowledge to yourself. Same goes for you Applejack.” Apparently being powerful wasn't something that sat exactly right with one of the four rulers of their land. That said, she looked pleadingly in the eyes of her both friends.

“Aww, why do you have to be like that?” Rainbow's expression changed true to her name, fast as lighting and into something resembling the face of a young foal that dropped their freshly bought ice cream. A fun interlude, precious and exciting, now laying in ruins on the floor and all broken.

“You know Rainbow, it might come as a shock to you, but not all of us like to brag about their capabilities and love all the attention they are getting because of that,” Twilight said with a slight trace of accusation in her voice, which shifted to anxiety and unease at a rather steady pace. “Even after all this time, I'm still not used to some ponies treating me like.. like I'm some kind of infallible demigod ascended to the heights of wisdom.” Her muzzle reflected a hint of disgust and outright revolt.

The difference a pair of wings could make for some beings. A change between "Powerful, but not worth the attention." and "Oh. My. Goddess. It's Her!" It is a skill to make friends with anyone. Yet, it is art to choose them rightly.

“Well, I'm not,” She declared with conviction, knowing that she wasn't any more special than anyone else. It's our deeds that prove our worth and even that's not always the case. “I am Twilight Sparkle, a former librarian, student and bibliophile. I'm their friend, not their superior officer.”

“Well, ya kinda ARE their ruler, Twilight.” The apple farmer truthfully pointed out with a Rainbow's silent accompaniment. Twilight was quick to deny their train of thought.

“That's not the point Applejack. What I'm trying to say is... if they treat me like that now, what some of them would do when they discover that "she's not only smart and has wings, she's rather powerful as well"?”

“Come on Twilight, if not everypony else, Ponyville's folk surely knows better than that, won't you agree?” Applejack asked carefully as if she wasn't certain of her own words. She did live all her life in this town after all. That made you a little wary of everypony living here, even yourself to some degree.

All she had gotten back was a blank slate of a stare from her regal friend.

“'Key, yer kinda right there,” She shamefully admitted, while trying to look at some most unimportant bushes on the side of the road. Still, the silver lining is always there. “But, at least our closest friends won't change their opinion on the matter, you know that.”

The goodwill reassurance paired with the gentle smile of a good friend easily got the point across. “I know, I know, but that unavoidable "what if" still sits somewhere deep in there.” She poked her temple a few times in emphasis. “I guess some things never change.”

“Okay, so that's settled. Why were you in such a hurry again?” Rainbow blatantly asked from her's safe position in the air, completely disregarding all the mawkish atmosphere that could only lead to more serious talks. No pony would want that, Goddess forbid.

“Oh, I'm on my way into the Everfree,” Twilight replied all carefree and immediately saw their eyes widen a little bit. Okay, that came out wrong, she thought. “Not without an important reason, I meant to say. I can't say too much, because I simply don't know much myself.” Much to her internal dismay, that part was just too true. “Princess Luna asked me if I'd be interested in Canterlot's University archaeological excavation site, which-” Twilight explanation was rather rudely interrupted before she could get in the lecture mode.

You could say a lot of things about Rainbow "Danger" "Professionalism" Dash, but not that she wasn't learning from her own mistakes, “Egghead alert. Don't care,” Attempting to seem as unimportant as she possibly could, the mare gladly gave up her talking privileges on account of Applejack.

“Well ah for that matter, care, but know I probably wouldn't understand a quarter of the important part and I, 'scuse me, WE still have some work to do,” Applejack lazily pointed with one hoof at the fully loaded cart, it's delicious cargo waiting to go inside somepony's belly. Now that it was in proper condition and ready for transport, that is.

“I perfectly understand, won't keep you away from your task then.” The former unicorn understood the value of honest work. Friendship is good and all, but it won't put the food on your plate. Not for long, at least. “I need to go anyway if I want to get there before Heart's Warming.” She was getting ready to resume her rudely interrupted trek, checking if the saddlebags were still attached as the should be. The last thing she would want is to let them slip off somewhere in the middle of the forest. They would be lost forever.

Twilight was about to leave them in peace when the reluctant voice of Rainbow Dash reached her ears from above. “Twi..?”

“Yeeees?” Twilight asked, turning her neck back in the general direction of the voice with a grin starting to wiggle its way onto her muzzle, akin to a worm wriggling its way through the dead carcass. Quickly and efficiently.

As much as Rainbow always would be hesitant to confess it, her friends could read her emotions way better than she would be willing to admit out loud. “Just...becarefuloutthere ,” Rainbow rather coughed quietly than said, as if she hoped no one incidental would hear her.

Now joined by a full-blown genuine smile strapped to the front of her head with an invisible tape of emotion, Twilight responded calmly as if fully prepared for the situation, “I will.” Which she was.

“Gotta dash to work, bye,” Rainbow replied almost in the form of one word and flew back to the now operable cart, indigenously checking the most unimportant of parts I hope to make herself scarce.

“Yeah, that thing that she said,” said Applejack and quickly added her own bit. “Both of those.” After that, with nothing more left to say she joined her spectral friend beside the applecart, ready to set out once more. Future arguing may be included in the package.

Looking at her friends getting further away while working in unison when none of them really had too, imbued Twilight with that feeling she always gets in the moments like this. “Don't worry girls. I've got this,” she said more to herself than anyone. She will pull her own weight. If she didn't, what kind of Princess she would be compared to the other three. Resuming her path that would ultimately lead her deep into the green heart of the ancient and mystical forest, the thoughts of her friends prevailed over the depressing reality that awaited her in the thicket of the unnatural forest.

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The gargantuan woodland of Everfree, dreaded and mythical, was a place of both wonder and danger simultaneously. For any unprepared daydreamer would be swiftly made aware why almost no one dared to venture too deep or settle within the forest itself, barring a few scarce exceptions.

The menacingly looking tree trunks cast in a perpetual shadow courtesy of the light-blocking cover of twisted branches and sickly looking leaves were normally enough to dissuade any unwelcome visitors from getting past the initial vestibule part of the forest. The slightly more adventurous of the travelers could make it usually a quarter of the way before getting full-on Everfree experience. Putrid and indestructible Timberwolves fighting over territories with the bat-winged Manticores, Multi-headed Hydras lurking amidst the swamps in the company of camouflaged Cragadiles, radiant Ursas caring for their young within the depths of earth and Dragons sleeping the centuries away under the rich mountains of gold or other wealth. All more than ready and willing to take care of the more unfortunate ones to cross the path with any of the apex predators of their respective food chains.

Finally.. there were those who did not heed the age-old legends or any kind of warnings as they pushed forward, straight into the corrupt black heart of the primeval thicket whose vile mysteries long since faded from the memory of most living beings, immortal or not. Seldom any of them liked what they found inside and absolutely none saw the warm sunbeams of Celestia ever again. The very unlucky ones never died within, then again... they never truly left either.

“Be grateful that Everfree has a border, so you can stick close to it,” The timeworn proverb used by the communities living closest to the forest went. Simply speaking, if you had no vital business going inside.. don't. Sometimes, the whole world will be better for it.

However, all of that advise could be wrapped up in a nice cloth sack and drowned in a lake with a help of a few heavy rocks, swiftly thrown away and disregarded for the current individual broaching through the most infuriating part of the forest rather loudly, probably alarming all the beasts in a ten mile radius by doing so. But, what is yet another deadly monster in the eyes of the greatest predator of the universe? For none can compare or even come close.. to Idiocy. It always strikes suddenly, in the least expected moment, with an all-encompassing force. Other dangers pale in comparison, quickly disregarded just to get away from it most rapidly, for none can withstand it for too long bar the idiots themselves.

Being frustrated by it beyond the capacity of any mortal coil also could lower your tolerance for the forest's most menacing advances, need or want to care for such reduced to zilch.

“Vine... vine... more vines... aaaand... aha! Wait, no. That's a vine too. Drat...” Twilight cursed both her current position and the recent reasoning for certainly justified annoyance. “Who came up with the wise idea of marking the right path with colored strings of material? No, not in bright hues or something. Ohhhh noooo, why would we do something that's rational?!

The mare looked around her murky surroundings in difficulty, struggling to spot the next in the line of badly placed strips of cloth upon the branches of ever twisted trees. While none of the offending textiles fluttered even close in the range of her vision, something else was slowly approaching her mental horizon. A promise of a thorough reprimand.

Green. Dark.. green. “Just enough so that they don't stand out from literally EVERYTHING ELSE in this forest!” She shouted in frustration while examining yet another piece of low hanging flora which she thought to be the searched material, just for it to dare and turn out to be yet another useless piece of greenery.

“Oh for the love of.. WHEN I get there, somepony's gonna get a piece of my mind. I will- ” Rest of hers supposedly very drastic monologue never left the depths of her inner mind as she was suddenly interrupted by a familiar blue mane and the orange cranium it was attached to, as well as the rest of the pegasus guard roaming in front of her.

“Princess Twilight?” Flash Sentry cocked his head in confusion, not expecting to stumble upon Princess in the middle of the goddess forgotten Everfree of all places.

“Aaaahh?!” As predicted, Twilight did not take being suddenly ambushed lightly.

“Buh? Eh!” As predicted, flash produced intelligible scream as well, only even more disoriented than terrified.

“AAAAA!” Twilight continued screaming, resulting only in more daze on flash'es side, prolonging the peculiar shouting contest even more.

“Aah?”

“AAAAA.”

“WAGH?! WHY ARE WE STILL SCREAMING?”

“AAAAaaaaiiiii.. don't know.” Twilight stopped her self-induced fear loop and swiftly turned it into yet another outward cacophony. “You.. you just scared me half to death Flash! Why on Equis would you do that?! I thought you are some.. some kind of a monster, Manticore or.. I don't know.. something!” Practically in one breath, Twilight took out all the frustration on the poor sergeant, not really thinking what she was talking about or really worrying for something like proper logic at the moment.

“Do you think I would be announcing my presence to anypony if I was about to attack?” He deadpanned, slightly hurt at the indirect insinuation of his incompetence. He wasn't inept after all, just.. prone to hiccups. “And... why Manticore exactly?”

“I don't know if you noticed, but we're in the middle of Everfree. Where such beasts live? Not to speak of your slightly similar color palette.” Twilight conveyed her reasons on to flash which, in truth, convinced him, but he desperately tried to win this argument none the less.

“Come on, my mane color is the exact opposite of Manticore's. Red versus Blue, I mean come on.”

“You know what I'm talking about, flash,” Twilight wasn't getting any of it, not while she was at the edge of her patience from the previous display of whoever was responsible for the markings. Goddess watch over the poor soul.

Maybe Flash wasn't any kind of scholar, but he easily knew a lost fight when he saw one approaching from a mile away. Unlike he saw Twilight. Because.. he didn't, to be honest. “Fair enough,” At this point in conversation Flash suddenly realized who was he talking to. In theory, his superior. Not only his superior, like a lieutenant or Captain Armor.

No.

His HIGHEST superior, the very top of the ladder. The top of the ladder that was also the sister of his other, proper superior straight from the Crystal Empire. “I..I.. I mean, fair enough Princess, sir.” He stood in silence a few seconds before coughing and correcting himself. “Ma'am, I mean,” Flash mumbled quickly, visibly starting to sweat and not so visibly, think. I... just lost my job, didn't I?

Twilight sighed loudly, getting yet another repeat of what she was trying to explain to Applejack and Rainbow not so long ago. Even amongst friends, she had to clarify it time and time again. Somehow she knew, it wasn't the first and certainly not the last of such. “Flash, how many times did I tell you.. I don't like when you call me any official titles. We're friends, aren't we?” Twilight gestured between them empathetically.

Flash, albeit surprised, didn't waste a second to answer her question and jumped on the given chance immediately. “Of course. Of course, we are.” The crystal officer glanced around the forest uncomfortably in search of anything that could steer him away from the current talk. Though, when no Hydra attack happened, he had to say something. Unfortunately. “But... I'm a guard, that's like.. what we do basically. Calling higher-ups titles and such.” The hesitance didn't leave his voice quite yet.

Twilight let herself smirk a little. Just a little, “Well, don't be a guard around me then. Be yourself, Flash Sentry.”

Flash seemed to think for a split second. A quick flash you could say, before his visage brightened some more in an attempt to match Twilight's. “I can do that. I think so, at least. Habits die hard.”

Twilight smiled slightly, “Heh, I believe in you Flash. So... what brings you to these here parts?” Her half serious-half joking question pushed the conversation forward onto the more productive tracks, getting a shrug out of the soldier.

“Just patrolling, is all. Also looking for yo... oh... Ohhh,” Only now, he remembered his exact orders provided to him beforehoof. Two, the only two orders he had. Flash, you absolute boob.

“Oh?” Twilight twisted her head in question, already suspecting where flash was going with this.

“Exactly, capital O. In case I spotted you I should immediately escort your hide to the excavation site.” A well-placed head scratch was needed here. If he had his trusty spear instead of this broadsword, he would use that to do it. “Not uhh.. stand here and talk to you. For like fifteen minutes.” Broadsword was good and all, but he didn't need a haircut just quite yet.

So Gods do exist after all, for their mercy apparently does. “You have no idea how much I would appreciate that, Flash. Lead the way then.” Twilight encouraged him with a wave. In a probably completely wrong direction.

“Of course Your Majesty. Follow me, Lady Sparkle.” When he could literally hear the scowl the mare was giving him over his shoulder, he couldn't pretend anymore and resumed his trot. “Aw, all right. I'm done.”

When he ceased the banter, Twilight traded her grimace for a smile and happily obliged her friend's request. Following him even deeper into more of the underbrush and murky canopy ahead, the pair carved the way ahead in no less anguish than the mare had previously.

====================================================================================

“aaaaand we're here. Lo and behold.” Flash pointed with his hoof at the current state of encampment for a dramatic effect. In all honesty, it seemed a lot cooler in his head than it was in reality. Twilight swiveled her head around, making mental notes now that the ample tent city was visible in its entirety.

Being so close to the proverbial heart of the forest had its rather obvious drawbacks, but fortunately, they weren't there just yet. The core was a rather loosely defined term, reaching from the true geographical center a few hundred meters in some places, only to stretch its corrupting tentacles a few kilometers more in the others. To the most studious ones, a true and accurate the map of the Everfree, if one existed, would look like a familiar image of a microscopic sample taken from the natural world. A true carbon copy of the ever hungry and pungent mildew transferred into the macroscopic scale.

Fortunately, a substantial number of guards from all three branches were assigned to providing the best protection the nation could afford. As long as they won't trespass on the inner land where the forest was considered slightly more than mere consciousness, it will leave them alone and no other beasts should be a problem to the highly trained soldiers of the royal sisters.

The campsite itself was a vast and extensive hub positively bustling with activity, ponies going to and fro with either materials to construct buildings or supplies to maintain such. Couriers delivering written instructions of workload between the more studious of the inhabitants and finally the experts themselves mingling with the ground in search of any traces left by those long since gone, thus fulfilling the sole purpose this whole area was established for in the first place. Alas, probably none of the clearly busy ponies would be the wiser a Princess just graced them with a visit if not for Twilight herself, making them aware with her's rather distinct voice.

“Excellent!” Twilight beamed happily. “Now I can go, find whoever is responsible for marking the way here, tell them what I think about handling that and what I think about them!”

“Exact.. wait, what?” Flash wasn't entirely sure he heard that right. Yet, before he managed to inquire more on the matter, the newest Princess already moved on deeper into the outpost, leaving him no choice but to follow. “Ehh.., here we go again...”

The true scope of the establishment just began dawn on Twilight as she pushed her temporal vengeance on the further slot. She grasped the scope only when they left the outskirts behind them after a few minutes of nonstop trotting, entering the part more intended as an inner ring of the whole thing. Where the edges were mostly composed of fields upon fields of khaki green military tents, the innermost part was dominated by the more permanent wooden structures and even a few stone buildings standing two or three stories high situated mostly dead in the middle. Although Twilight had no concept of just how long ago ponies came here in search of centuries past, she knew it couldn't be longer than a few weeks, which made the sturdy looking masonry even more impressive. Truly, a work worth titling as best of the earth pony craftsmanship.

Though I'm not entirely certain I want to know the costs of establishing such an expedition.. Twilight wondered as a delivery pony slipped past her with some materials, barely avoiding crashing straight into her and muttering a hurried apology while already running anew to his destination. Or even maintaining it... but, with supreme knowledge at stake no price is too high, right?

After taking a more detailed and inquisitive glance around, Twilight realized that this whole camp was less of an actual camp and more of a small, short-lived city.

Some of the wooden constructions were more specialized than the others. Sure, still a lot of them were just warehouses or another such, but there.. two buildings down you had a barber. Then there was a blacksmith next to it, just beside a makeshift outdoor gym for the guards wanting to stay in shape even after the hours. Also, one of the stone dwellings, she just now realized, was a tavern.

Easily visible through the windows, creatures going on and on about what kind of workday they just had to the merry smiles and jokes of their colleagues, their thirst quenched with some delicious cider, most probably delivered from the Ponyville itself. Ohhh, that's why the big apple cart was.. yup, got it. It was a refreshing thought that despite being focused mainly upon the pursuit of academia, ponies still delegated some time to bond and cherish their free time in each other's company. Simply spending the periods free of labor as friends. As a Princess of Friendship, Twilight could and certainly did respect that.

Though she could scarcely believe it, the camp here somehow contained even more ponies than before, with a few representatives of other races as well. The thing was packed, so it was no surprise that her arrival didn't go unnoticed for very long as she noticed somepony strolling towards her with a literal hop, skip and a jump.

Big, in fact.. massively built, dirt brown earth pony moved up quickly to the Princess just as slightly sweaty Flash caught up with his peer. He really ought to do more cardio. The newcomer stopped with a big smile, no doubt drawn by the presence of the ruler on site and the commotion they probably caused because of that. Yes, they. That one wasn't on Flash.. this time.

“Princess Twilight! Finally, you're here! It took you so long.. in fact, we thought you weren't coming at all.” He threw a quick, albeit graceful half-bow, minding the moves so that his wide brim Stetson wouldn't end up on the ground, again. “Deep Dig, Chief Archaeologist of site Everfree. I know, zero creativity, but at least it's easy to remember.” Deep Dig said with great enthusiasm that was unbelievably even bigger than his actual corporeal size. It seemed that rules of every temporal settlement still worked quite well. You want to meet the ones in charge? Go center.

Up close Twilight could see that the stallion was easily the size of Big Macintosh, maybe even taller. The simple round nerd-glasses which adorned his muzzle only brought out more of that curious excitement from within his teal blue eyes. Surely he wanted to say something more but ended up being outpaced by Twilight. “Ah, Mr.Dig, just the pony I wanted to see. Would you be so nice to search your memory for me.. who was responsible for marking the safe way leading to the campsite from the village of Ponyville?” Twilight inquired of the stallion, who quickly realized that the smile on princess's face instead of "gladness" actually said Answer correctly to my question or this will be the last thing you're going to do AT ALL.

The slightly abashed pony stammered a little under the pulverizing gaze of the much smaller mare, which in hindsight, looked a little comical. “I.. ah.. I think Thunderstroke was delegated to that particular task,” He responded, pointing at the Pegasus in question, who just conveniently happened to walk nearby while carrying some wooden crates on his back.

Twilight immediately snapped her sight left, for a nanosecond transferring from a kind mare to a new kind of pony magnet. Frightening the stallion who already eavesdropped on the whole conversation, she swiftly prompted him into formulating a masterful excuse. The Crystal Guard standing beside her surprisingly had vastly different concerns from work safety at the time.

“Thunderstroke? Whoa, your parents must have hated you..”

“Uhh, firstly.. I dindu nuffin,” He quickly pointed out, setting the crates aside as he started to slowly back away from the rapidly approaching Princess and looking for some help to the questioning guard. “Secondly, only my father,” He attempted to appease to their sense of humor, which unsurprisingly did not work. Yah, real smooth Thunder. Eh, they can't all be gems.., he thought to himself while pondering about this more profoundly, he needed to be more convincing this time. The is a high probability of his cojones being at stake here.

“It..'s not my fault, really, one hundred percent honest truth!” The hastily patched worthless explanation didn't seem to change alicorn's expression any, much less actually work properly as he intended it to. “Look, Princess, I'm really being truthful here. My task was to do, not to question how or why. I got supplies shipped here and used what I was provided. I know what's wrong with them..,” He stopped for a quick breather and his brow furrowed a little in frustration. “..But I don't exactly have time to fly to the closest town for a new shipment just because they're the wrong color, now do I?”

Twilight looked him over cryptically, searching with a critical eye for any kind of dishonesty, but she isn't Applejack. So when faced with finding nothing of the sort, she settled for believing him on that one. “Okay, I'm game for now,” Thunder breathed with relief, only to be reeled back in. “..But after we're done here I want your list of suppliers. Somepony could get lost in that forest, stumble upon some beast, one of many of its kind. I can guarantee... that close to the heart of the forest? There would be nothing left of whoever that was.”

After a brief glance at the distant tree line forever looming over the safe camp, Thunderstroke realized where she was going with this and who most likely would be held responsible if such a thing truly happened. “Understood, Princess.”

The Alicorn signed with relief that the point got across easily and turned back to Deep Dig with intent to continue right where they left of, “I'm sorry Mr.Dig, I'm sure you had something important to say before I interrupted you?”

“I..uh.. I'm just glad that the issue had been resolved swiftly. And no Mr's, Princess, Deep Dig or Dig will do, ”He stopped to take a quick calming breath, “Actually, yes. Just before I was made aware of your arrival, our teams discovered something seemingly astounding and it requires your immediate attention!” the stallion said enthusiastically, with his curiosity's flame kindled anew, it's glow reflecting in the rounded frames of his glasses.

Feeling he is needed no more, Flash started to slowly walk away from the scene fully intending to fulfill his regular duties. “I guess the appearance of smart stuff talk is also my cue to leave. See you around, Princess.”

Twilight didn't even bother to scold him this time. She simply started to follow beside Deep Dig towards their newly revealed destination, leaving the slightly confused Thunderstroke all alone in the middle of the camp with his supplies.

“And I... I.. will resume my work. Yes,” He elected hesitantly, not sure what else was there to do. Hey, he still wanted to be some kind of useful. He picked the boxes up, volatilizing from the premises before somepony else accuses him of breaking yet another thing that he simply didn't know he made a mess out of.

Already a good couple meters away from the poor fool, Twilight, now that her attention wasn't wasted on something so meager and paltry in the light of knowledge to be had, shifted into That one filly, who got a present on Hearts Warming, the one that they thought beyond reach mode. “So, now that everything is in proper order as much as it can be.. can you tell me more about that discovery, anything at all?” Now with her priorities shifted, she could actually relax and focus on why she was sent here in the first place. To take some of the burdens away and be in charge. Yeah, science! “Oh, I'm just so excited. I can't wait!”

Deep Dig properly shared her youthful enthusiasm, “Oh definitely, the same thing going on here without question. I'm just not as.. uhh.. expressive, as some would be led to believe.” He stopped by the station of a seemingly random Lunar guard who was close enough to hear the latest parts of the talk with the princess, attracting his attention by the way of a playful shoulder poke. “My emotional palette is rather.. dirt brown. Eh? Eh?” When the soldier rolled his eyes in the most disappointed fashion imaginable and outright left his post without a word in order to go elsewhere, Dig searched for others complaisant enough. “Anypony? Anyone?” Yet quickly gave up without much of a fanfare, like he was already used to it by now. “No? Ooo..kay then. Attempt Fifty-seven- Failed.”

“Uhhhh...”

The justified confusion of the violet blob in Dig's peripheral vision shook him out of his antics. What he probably didn't realize was that the blob did not only understand completely but empathized with him as well. “Oh, excuse me, Princess. That's just a little, let's call it.. an experiment of mine. My own private trek into the studies of friendship, so to speak,” His hoof joined an embarrassed smile as it scratched and corrected the hat upon his head. After sharing a quick chuckle between them, it was the time to get back on track.

“Anyway, back to the issue at hoof.. even considering all of my accumulated knowledge and experience, I'm afraid I won't be much of help explaining our most recent development. It's rather hard to do without seeing it with my own eyes, the vague and hast descriptions can get you only so far. To think, I was just getting briefed all about it when all of a sudden I'm being informed that you showed up, Princess,” He got excited as he waved two ways in emphasis. “Wonderful news here, even better there. Hah, what a day!” The hat almost fell to the ground again with all the adventurous passion bubbling inside the stallion's head.

“It? What do you mean by "It"?” Now Twilight's interest in the matter was seriously reaching dangerous levels, ones prone to emotional explosions if not satiated quickly.

“A place of cult, princess!” Finally, some answers came. “..Or even something more concrete, like a burial ground! From all the fuzzy descriptions I managed to get out of my workers, those two seem like the most likely ones. He reached to his muzzle for a split second, only to straighten his glasses and continue the explanation without delay.

“While acquiring yet another set of absolutely boring regular rock samples from one of our dig sites, no pun intended, one of the cliff walls just.. collapsed on the spot and revealed an entry to the cave system. No worries though, no one was hurt in all the commotion, the only result is just a lot of granite rubble left everywhere.” The mare breathed a little easier after hearing she didn't have to worry about anypony. As the countless tents shifted by as they walked, one particular part of the stallion's description interested her slightly more than the rest of it.

“A granite wall collapsed?”

“That's the thing. Normally that type of rock is rather resistant to outside conditions. It must have been positively ancient to just crumble like this.” Deep Dig wondered for a moment, going even as far as to produce an audible humming sound. “Well, either that.. or the Everfree screws with us once more, establishing its own set of rules in yet another branch of studies.” Even though he laughed immediately after, thanks to her alicorn physique, Twilight could hear a barely audible "Blasted forest.." coming from him. “When the present employees shook off the initial scare, they shined some light inside and saw.. now get this.. stone columns, distant minuscule markings on the walls... Suffice to say, they dropped whatever they were doing and ran like wind to inform me.”

“Wait, hold up, you mean to tell me... that they never went inside, and we are the ones to see it as first beings in probably countless centuries?” She absolutely needed to know, right now. If that was actually true, she will.. she could just..

“Yeah, that is exactly what I'm trying to say. Isn't it great?” Deep Dig responded and in the process fulfilled some primal desires hiding deep within the studious mare.

“EEEEEE!”

He smiled fondly at her unladylike display, noticing that it earned them quite a few curious stares from the naturally inquisitive creatures abundantly gathered around. “Hmm, nice to know somepony shares my point of view.”

Was he joking, how could she not? “Are you kidding?! Oh, this is just like that time we found cavepony all over again!” Twilight practically squealed with joy, only to remember the exact details of that little adventure. “Minus all the destruction, of course.”

“Huh?”

“Oh, it's a wonderful story I should tell you later, I'm sure you'll absolutely love it. But for now, I think we're heree!” The mare singsonged and dashed forward, towards the towering magma effusion of the past, leaving the confused and clearly disappointed stallion in the dust.

“But-”

“No but's, wisdom to be had awaits!” Lavender Alicorn denied him the flavor story, subconsciously pulling a roll of parchment and a quill out of her saddlebags.

Although reluctantly, Deep Dig agreed with her judgment. They have more pressing matters for now and it's not like he's going anywhere anytime soon. So with a promise of a gripping tale in the future, the thought became an action and brown stallion swiftly traded his Stetson for a spelunking helmet eagerly provided by one of his many assistants standing in front of the gaping maw of an entrance, now in the process of being warded off with the immortal and forever relevant, yellow tape.

And what an entrance it is... He mussed quietly, in awe of what mother nature could do in just a moment. Just yesterday he stood almost in the exact same spot and there was a cliff in front of him. I mean, there still is one, just.. less of it. It's also a good thing that this was just a starting point in a rather average sized mountain range stretching from here further south, almost all the way to the Ghastly Gorge. If they were at a higher attitude within proper mountains and that collapsed? He shuddered to think about the potential consequences.

“Ready?” The purple mare asked him eagerly, patiently waiting for him to get all the necessary gear. She thanked the very same pony who provided Dig with his helmet when he came back with a second one for her. With that addition and Chief Archaeologist equipped with a belt full of brushes and chisels, they were green-lighted to set off.

“Born ready, princess. Ladies first,” He said, encouragingly pointing with his hoof at the inviting entryway to the cavern.

“Don't mind if I do,” Twilight replied as she trotted happily inside the cave. Her companion for the foreseeable future was quick to follow, but first things first. With a hastened trot and speedy gimme that.. he reclaimed his stetson from the hooves of the yellowish pegasus, only to put it atop his helmet and cover it entirely.

After a short stroll inside in order to rejoin the mare, he wanted to apologize for the delay, yet any of that was instantly pushed at a further plan. Almost immediately he realized exactly what wonders the workers had seen and what was normally obscured by the dimness of the damp and humid underground. Now it was clear as a sky just why they reacted in such a way. Rows upon rows of enormous stone columns arranged in a chessboard pattern reaching high up, all the way to the ceiling of the immense cave. With frescoes and ornaments intricately carved upon their surface, they looked like a futile attempt to make stained glass windows out of solid rock. Walls of the cave, ceiling and even stone infiltrations themselves were decorated as well in the same, without question, very time-consuming style.

“By all kinds of existing Gods...,” Deep Dig said quietly in amazement while staring at the darkness obscured roof of the vast space with an open mouth “This is... amazing, to put it simply,” When his peer responded with a quiet nod rather than verbally, he continued. “Sheer amount of work hours to make something so beautifully complicated must have been astounding. Whoever the constructors of all this were, they must have been great in numbers. Otherwise making this would take decades... centuries even.”

Twilight just now stumbling out of initial shock, felt like throwing her two bits in, “Maybe they did just that... but, that's not the strangest thing. Look at the theme of all that art.”

This time Deep Dig took a closer look at each individual carvings rather than on the whole picture and that's when he saw it. All of the ornamental chisel-work showed various beings in distinct states of peril, ongoing agony or already dead. All of the elaborate depictions showed grievous destruction, carnage and suffering on a scale beyond simple mortal comprehension. Draconian scenes of lovers driven apart, children orphaned, families torn asunder, homes reduced to the ash by the infernal fires and futures burned to the ground displayed upon every imaginable surface.

The uncomfortable silence between the pair lasted a while in somber contemplation of the phenomenon, before Deep Dig took an example from all the depiction and tore their quiet wonderment asunder.

“Well, this got.. rather morbid pretty quickly,” Deep Dig stated, like if it wasn't blatantly obvious already. “If this really is a temple of a kind, it was definitely dedicated to a ruthless deity. I guess some things really are better off forgotten..”

That simple remark of the scholar stallion sent Twilight on a minuscule debate with herself, one that she had gone through countless times already at different points in her life. Yet, the answer she got to.. was never satisfactory enough...

Are they really? On the one hoof, yes by a thousandfold, absolutely. She repeated mentally once more. Who would want the abhorrent mistakes of pony ingenuity to linger and taint the bright future of all races with their pathetic visage? Unholy and depraved areas like Necromancy, Haematomancy, Moonchant? Having knowledge of them preserved in any kind is just asking for trouble down the road. Best of them to be lost among the ever-shifting sands of time for all eternity.

“Maybe it's a tomb? Belonging to some bloodthirsty warrior of past... or maybe..”

On the other side of the spectrum.. how are we to hypothetically defend ourselves from something we know nothing about because we cast that knowledge out? How are we to educate others about the dangers that go with the dark arts and properly discourage from pursuing them? A proper moral quandary and each answer had it's rather obvious downsides. In the first case, you have to trust the others to never unearth the buried wisdom. The second variant... you have to trust yourself enough to never tread into what you know.

With the internal discussion coming up negative once again and Deep Dig going on about the different possibilities regarding the true purpose of the cave, it was the time to resume.

“Mm.. maybe... but we can throw "maybes" around all we want, yet they won't explain the other strange thing that is going on in here.”

“Huh? Whatever do you mean?” Dig asked, pulled out of his deliberations.

“Take notice of the species depicted in the designs.” Now that it was blatantly pointed out to him, stallion's eyes went ever wider when he noticed another little detail he omitted, too absorbed by the joy of fresh discovery.

“But... that is not.. possible. They show multiple..” The archaeologist briefly struggled to construct coherent sentences. “They show Ponies, Griffons, Zebras, even Elk or extinct Caribou and.. it that a Changeling?”

“Exactly. Considering we both think the age of this place to be positively ancient, now confirmed to be at least a few millennia based on the species shown all around.. but to our current knowledge.. our species haven't met each other then yet..” Twilight started a sentence, likely waiting for him to complete it, to which he immediately complied without question.

“..That means we were wrong. Our ancestors DID interact with each other. Twilight, do you know what that means?” His head turned towards her in a pleasantly surprised smile, too shocked to remember any titles at this point, “This outright scrambles our Pre-Celestial knowledge to proverbial shreds,” The brown earth pony plopped on his rear to gaze around the rest of the spectacle in a moment of honored silence and he would sit where he sat for a long while if he hadn't just realized something very alarming. “Books about ancient history will have to be rewritten. Teachers reeducated, the curriculum's accommodated,” he gripped the brim of his hat, not sure if he was about to explode from the happiness or simply have a migraine.

“Very likely,” Twilight quietly agreed, already thankful for a chance to be a part of such an important revelation. “What's more, we're not even remotely done yet.

Deep Dig struggled a full minute to shift his curiosity away from the marvelous place around them, but when he finally succeeded, most of it was given to the strangely acting mare sitting beside him. “Why are you so calm about all of this? Life of a Royal cannot be that exciting...”

“I'm not calm. I could burst and explode in a bunch of colorful confetti any second now.” The pensive Alicorn truthfully admitted and that made the stallion finally notice. She actually shivered where she stood with giddiness. “It's just that.. I know there's more. This is probably not even the main, but an entrance chamber. Vestibule, of a sort. I need to see the rest of it. I can scream and cry in happiness all I want.. after I see all of it.”

“No argument here,” Deep Dig took the convincing explanation in stride and moved his keister up from the dusty floor. “It certainly looks that way from the placement of the pillars.” And indeed, in the middle of the pattern was a wider empty space, as if it was designed to guide whoever came visiting deeper inward. “We should proceed further. As you said, we'll have time to study.. all this, at a later date.”

Twilight expressed her gratitude in an instant with a simple smile yet one that meant more than a thousand words and led them further into depths of the dark cavern system. After a while, they noticed the area that they traversed slowly forgone the pillars and started to widen the available walking space only to resemble one of Canterlot Castle many hallways, finally encasing them in an elongated four walls and actually becoming a proper corridor. Wide and high to accommodate great traffic, spacious yet ominous. In stark contrast to the welcoming white walls of the palace, it brought only more carvings and depictions of misery. So much, in fact, that twilight started to wonder if this cave consists of something more at all, only to be driven away from her thoughts by her companion's rising voice.

“Do you see that shimmer too or am I just imagining things?” Deep Dig said cryptically, catching Twilight off guard. Though she immediately tried, nothing of the sort stood out, making her doubtful of what he was talking about.

“Shimmer? What shimmer? I see nothi-”

Not waiting for any kind of confirmation, eager stallion bolted forward in response, as if demonic forces of Tartarus itself chased him, “Let's go! A shiny among all the drab rock must be something crucial. It must!”

“Wait for me!” The mare shouted after him, immediately giving chase despite him being well ahead of her.

After a brief trot to catch up with Deep Dig's speed she was mildly annoyed, as she wasn't planning on getting her daily dose of exercise at this exact moment, “What has gotten into you?” As they stopped abruptly she looked the smiling stallion dead in the eyes while he continued to dumbly stare ahead with his grin slowly growing. “What could possibly be so.. so.. so...” Twilight looked at what he had been staring this whole time and suddenly
lost her ability to word proper sentences.

One, big, rectangular room with no carvings at all. The blank walls telling no story whatsoever, decorated only by a myriad of stone tiles on each and every surface, ceiling and floor included. Slightly below the floor level of the corridor a set of plain stairs leading about four meters down. The room itself wasn't the thing that shocked Twilight though. In the middle of the room at a slightly elevated platform, lied a golden chest. No, Twilight thought. Not a chest.. a sarcophagus.

Despite most beings never seeing any, most of them would describe the one in front of them as worthy of a Princess.. or any kind of monarch really. If the carvings on the entirety of the place were minuscule then the ones before their eyes could be called microscopic. To say it would require a master of the art to even attempt something like this, would be a disgrace to the one who actually did it. Not to say that the structure was completely bereft of bigger and more artistic representations, like statures of different races inhabiting vast Equus or some mysterious depictions of various objects. Yet, most of the space was reserved by the never-ending tumult of wavy lines, coiled curves and interwoven circles or so would seem to an untrained eye. Twilight, by who she was at her core, instantly recognized carefully laid out runes for what the were. Beautiful.

The lengths to which some ponies will go to ward against malevolent spirits or ease the coming travel into the afterlife...

“See? See! I knew I saw something!” Dig argued, pleased with himself and for a good reason.

Twilight was no less amazed by his abilities. “How on Goddess above did you see that from so far away?”

“No bloody idea! Maybe I just have eyesight superior even to an Alicorn.” The strong smug carried across the room like a tangible fragrance. Which of course didn't stop Twilight Snarkle from voicing an appropriate response.

“You wear glasses...”

“So I do. So.. I.. do...” After promptly disregarding the entirety of the exchange like it never even existed in the first place, the archaeologist continued to stroke his ego. “So It is a tomb after all hahaha...” Deep Dig laughed quietly to himself and trotted with the intent of approaching the sarcophagus, only to have his ego curbed and trip on one of the dislodged stone tiles. “Oh, horseapp-” *Smack* “Ugh..” he uttered audibly his pain while laying face first on the floor.

Twilight threw herself right away to help him up, “Oh my gosh! Are you alright?” She asked while helping him to stand on his own once again. “You need to be careful. You tripped on this.. inscription?” She told more to herself than to him. How convenient is that?

“Inscription?” Deep Dig asked her while massaging his poor snout and putting back his helmet and more importantly his hat on its righteous place. Then his gaze corrected itself to reflect on text plaque situated right underneath his hooves. “Wow. I'm supposed to be the archaeologist here and I have no idea what language I'm looking at.” He was absolutely right, as most of the beings alive today would see nothing more than a bunch of squiggly lines and dots interconnected in a seemingly random pattern.

“I figured you'll say that. It's ancient Zebrican, Malao dialect to be exact,” she answered surprisingly quickly and just as swiftly being awarded by the blank stare from the stallion. “What? I had a lot of free time to learn various things as a filly,” Twilight responded meekly, yet turning it into pride a moment later by putting a hoof up to her chest, “Fortunately, ancient Zebrican lingo one of them.”

“Uh-huh. You sure you're Princess of Friendship and not something like.. extensive cramming?”

“Oh, ha-ha. Veeery funny, mister "Chief Archaeologist", who apparently can't do his JOB properly.”

Deep Dig looked only slightly offended, but that didn't stop him from exaggerating and turning it into another joke. “Ouch. You wound me. While we're at it, it seems like Princess of Acid would be an appropriate title for you as well.”

“Oh shush,” While she never asked him to drop the title, he did so on his own with what little time they knew each other and got a great deal more approachable. Judging by the things they both had in common, she could already feel they will be great friends. “Why don't you go look over that golden treasure ark of yours, while leaving the translation of this here to the professionals, okay?”

That seemed to lift his spirits a little bit, “Yes ma'am, you don't have to ask me twice.” With a mock salute and a shrug, he went to examine his finding of the century while Twilight, despite all the dust accumulated through the countless years of rock erosion, lied down in front of plaque and looked over her current task.

“Hmm, let's see here. In Malao, a number of dots in each character indicate which letter of the alphabet it is. While a total number of lines in a word decides the grammatical case in use.” Okay, so.. if we count that together... and treat THAT as separate line.. it roughly gives us..

With the time itself leading forward creation,
Aboard chariot of gold from dust into a nation.
To be the bridge between lady fate and mortal kin,
A tool was created. That's all he'd ever been.
Choose the hour, transform thought into action.
Generation by generation, upholding a regency of abstraction.
Blaze, undoing, havoc, peril and agony,
Such a cruel life's masterpiece, its symphony.
The binding mustn't ever be molten,
Without them he shall be awoken
Broken once, nigh attempt to break it twice,
Woe to you who dare to be it's thrice.

Well, somepony here was one jolly barrel of laughs and an auto-didactic poet at that. Twilight summed up the entirety of the poem. Wow... what an extensive language. How in blazes all of that even fit in here?

At first glance, it seemed like one of those paranoid prophecies that some cardboard wearing ponies spew out at every street corner all year round, claiming it to be the end of the world. Yet, that one was a completely different case. After a few seconds, she started to connect all the dots. It wasn't some crazy bum dressed in last Tuesday's newspapers... It was a desolate, unreachable place close the very heart of the legendarily dangerous Everfree Forest. Cave with no apparent entrance, trapped behind the whole cliff of stone for an untold amount of time. Pillars, corridors and golden arks accented by multiple variously brutal carvings. Who, now she grasped, likely weren't a reminder of some brutal events of the past, but most probably a warning. A deterrent.

At that moment, she understood all too well. This wasn't a tomb, for whomever it belonged to wasn't gone or departed. It was a prison.

“Hey, Twilight! There's another inscription here. Come take a look!” Deep Dig reached with his hoof to indicate the place on the back of the shining case he was referring to.

Twilight's eyes widened with emotion instantly painted into her irises by the brush of horror.

“No! Don't touch it!” He looked at her with an interrogatively confused stare not sure what she was talking about, his hoof calmly laying atop of golden confinement.

Then, his whole existence turned into the least amusing festival of misery in written history.