"Neither did I, I took a different route and saw several holes and trenches on the other side of this place." She explained, but she then looked serious, "We can come back if you want Emerson, you're injured, but you can still walk away from this... That is if you want too."

I sighed as I looked up into the sky through the hole that I fell through. I glanced behind me and the rebar that stabbed me looked like it belonged to a piece that went on top of a pillar, that's why there was rebar sticking out or it. This rebar, concrete, asphalt and the building up at the surface was getting my curiosity out, wanting to know what exactly is inside. However, I'm injured and I might not be as useful to her if something happened to me again.

Again, I sighed once more, "It's not worth the trip to get myself killed. Let's head back to the house, get some supplies so we're ready to get back."

Catrina nodded slowly, "Alright, we'll go with your wise judgment. I'll whip up some more healing potions and I have one ready in the basement to heal your shoulder."

"Thank you, Catrina," I said, grunting as I got up to my feet. The newly healed calf muscle felt weird, but I could still move it like normal. "Let's get back home."

My girlfriend (or is it mollyfriend?) went under my right arm and wrapped her arm around my torso, I was wobbly on my legs. Probably due to some trauma and shock mixing into my brain. Eventually, the crevasse sloped up to the surface, no climbing needed and we hobbled our way out of the EverFree Forest. Once we got to the path I noticed a difference between where I am and the area surrounding the building.

There were no signs of animals around that vicinity.

As soon as we got into the house Stratus was sitting on the couch, reading some sort of magazine. However, when Stratus saw me and Catrina, she jumped up with her face in shock.

"What happened?!" She squawked, as I walked to sit on the couch with my right arm resting on my lap. Catrina quickly ran downstairs to the basement.

I grunt, "I fell down a hole and there was rusty rebar connected to a piece of concrete," My left-hand push's against the covered up wound which was covered in warm blood. "it went through my left calf and my right shoulder, luckily Catrina had a healing potion on hand."

Catrina finally got back up with a vial in her paw, "Stratus, it wasn't my fault, Emerson didn't know about the geography of the area surrounding the ruined castle." She got close to me, handed the vial to Stratus and slowly unraveled what's left of Catrina's robe, "Open the vial and pour it on his open wound."

With her beak, Stratus uncorked the vial and spat the cork onto the floor, "Alright, but I'll need an explanation of what's going on." When Catrina removed the last wrap and exposed my wound to the air, I hissed and shuddered to the feeling. That feeling went away as Stratus poured the vial into my shoulder and instant relief washed over my face.

"Oh, fuck does that feel good." I sighed as my tense muscles relaxed from this whole ordeal.

Stratus corked what was left in the vial and gave it to Catrina, "What is going on you two?"

Catrina sat down next to me as the Hippogriff sat on the floor, facing us. Catrina and I explained everything that we knew during our failed trip. How we passed Zecora's hut being unoccupied, the odd-looking building close to the ruined castle across the trench, the trench spreading out into different smaller crevasses making the ground unstable and the only thing that caught her attention was the asphalt.

"Hold up," Stratus raised her talons, "You found what?"

"Before my... Fall, I felt that the ground felt flatter than normal. So, I poked my finger through the ground and found out that there was asphalt under the ground. What makes it interesting is that it's not Equestrian...." I shook my head, chuckling "It's from Earth."

Catrina chimed in, "Kludgetown had a type of road which we laid stone to make a path, I've heard of asphalt before, but it was in Mount Aris, correct?"

Stratus shook her head, "We called it asphalt because it was on our roads, but it's just a special type of concrete." She turned her head to look at me, "So, if your finding is true then that building is..."

I continued her sentence, "...It might be from my world, for sure."

All three of us were silent until Catrina broke it, "Should we inform Princess Twilight?"

I thought about that as well, should we bring her as well? Then suddenly I thought about something that I remembered from a class field trip. Something about that trench and that building had me thinking really hard.

"We don't, I have a really, really bad feeling about this," I said which made Catrina look at Stratus.

"What do you mean bad feeling? Is it dangerous?" Stratus asked.

I shook my head, "I hope I'm wrong about it, but we need to go back while we still have daylight."

"Emerson?" Catrina asked as I faced her, "There's something down there, isn't it?"

I gulped, "Maybe yes, maybe no, I have this gut feeling that's making me come back..." My hand grabs her paw and squeeze's it lightly, "Whatever is down there, cannot see the light of day because the technology you guys have won't be able to contain it."

Stratus sighed, "I'll fix us a packable dinner for the three of us, Catrina, how long do you need to fix the potions you need?"

Catrina was still silent looking at me and sighed, "It should take me about an hour of brewing, what do you need?"

I smiled as I explained what she should make. After that, Catrina left to head to the basement while Stratus left the living room and started to make us some portable dinner for us to eat. I realized on that day, Catrina and I haven't eaten our lunch. Time had passed so much. While Stratus was getting pots and pans to prepare for our dinner as I went to the fridge to fix Catrina and I some lunch.

"I suppose you're not going to tell me or Catrina what's going to be out there?" Status asked as she poured some rice into the pot filled with water.

I sighed, "I've seen that type of structure before and it's a type of power plant that used very dangerous elements to power it." I fixed some small sandwichs for us as I continued, "Like I said, I hope that I'm wrong."

The Hippogriff seemed to tense up when I said that, "I see, well, you go ahead and get Catrina's lunch and tell her what you told me."

I nod as I carried a bottled milk and two plates of sandwiches to the basement. I've seen Catrina's potion room before, but it had been changing on a weekly basis. Which was alright with me, makes me look forward to what she changed or added to the place. Walking down the stairs, I found Catrina had changed out of her ripped robe and had picked out an outfit that Rarity made for her recently. It was a knee long brown skirt that allowed her tail to come through from the back and a tan colored buttoned up shirt. Her red hair was down as she was grinding some herbs in a marble mortar and pestle.

Surrounding her is a huge potion rack that is attached to the wall. It stretched from where she is close to the stairs. Her last modification didn't have these racks. There was a cauldron in the corner of the room as well as some planted herbs right next to the basement window. I walked beside her and set the plate next to her as well as the bottled milk.

"So, I explained to Stratus what I'm worried about," I say biting into my sandwich.

Catrina stopped grinding the herbs and snatched her sandwich, "Do tell?" She takes a large bit while humming.

I gulped my second bite and explained to her what. She finished her sandwich and took a drink of milk, "So what you're saying is that there might be some sort of poison in the building?" Scratching the back of my head I shrugged and she sighed, "Well like you said, you hope your wrong, but I believe that you are because Zecora and I have been alright while visiting there to get some herbs surrounding the area."

"That reminds me, what herbs are growing around that area?" I asked.

"Herbs that grow due to a huge pool of magic. Whatever happened around that area some sort of magic user left a tail of magic behind. This made herbs like these," She showed a piece of calendula herb that was enlarged, "grow in a matter of weeks if planted correctly."

I nodded, "So, how long until you're ready?"

She smiled, "Luckily, we don't have to wait long, I have a few potions that I finished last week that can help us out." She held out some glowing vials in her hands, "These are the potions you'll need. One to melt any type of metal or concrete, several healing vials, and several separate potions to mix to seal any large holes."

"Why are they glowing?" I asked.

"Well, the chemicals are reacting to one another by luciferase from fireflies." She explained as she pulled her potion bag and filled it up with the vials from the rack.

"That's awesome," I said looking at the vials in awe.

"I'll be ready to go soon, and maybe after this trip, I can sleep in your bed?" Catrina blushed as she stroked her tail. "I was... Scared when you fell into that hole so..."

My hands touch her shoulder as she looked at me, "I understand Catrina, you can join me in my bed." I smirked, "Just make sure that you bring the gag."

She smacked my shoulder with a blush as I winked, "Get out of here you." She playfully pushed me away.

I chuckled as I rushed to the stairwell, "Alright, alright. I still got to prepare as well for this trip. I'll meet you upstairs alright?"

Catrina nodded as her tail wiggled in excitement, "Yep!"

After we prepared for everything, it was already early afternoon. Stratus carried the food, Catrina carried the necessary potions while I carried a backpack with some camping supplies while I was holding my phone that had the information I needed to confirm my suspicions. It didn't take long to get to our destination and this time the hair on the back of my head stood up.

"This is really creepy." I shuddered.

Stratus raised an eyebrow, "What is it?"

"Listen." I say as we hear only the wind going through the trees, "No animals or sounds of insects around this place."

Catrina noticed it to while her ears swiveled to hear anything, but drooped down, "It wasn't like this before. I know there was some animal activity here even before I showed up. This must be because of the pool of magic." She said leading the way, "Luckily you'll know what is up if you see anything right?"

I nodded with a gulp, "Yep, hopefully, I'm wrong."

We carefully checked the ground around us, Stratus was in front as she hovered with her wings, poking the ground with her talons. We ran into three hallow ground areas while we did this. After the third one, we finally got to the building. Judging the way the building if formed, it was a single story building being taken back by nature, and the windows were already shattered with vines going into the sill. There were no signs of what this building could be, however, I grabbed my phone from my pocket and searched through the images.

Stratus interrupted me, "Hey Emerson?" Catrina and I rushed to her, "I think I found something." With her talon, she cut through a bunch of vines to clear what looks like to be a sign. I decided to help her out by moving the vines away as Catrina looks at the entrance of the building.

"What in the name of..." Once we got the natural foliage away from the sign, I froze looking at it. 'Чернобыль' Why did this sign look familiar? I closed my eyes to remember a particular trip with my class. I gulped, "Chernobyl..."

Catrina looked over my shoulder, "You understand that nonsense?"

I ran my fingers through my hair, "Yes, it's a different language in Russian... This building, even though it's abandoned, was part of my world. I can't remember much about the disaster that took place, other than the nuclear explosion." With my finger, I found the black and white image I took from the class trip and showed it to them.

The image itself was the Nuclear Plant Chernobyl devastated after the disaster.

"What does this mean?" Stratus asked as I sighed.

"I have no idea, however, whatever is in that building will probably give us some answers," I said getting up.

"Is there anything we should be worried about then?" Catrina asked.

I went to another image and showed them the schematic of the Nuclear Plant. "If you see a dome-like structure, do not go inside under any circumstances. I don't know if there is any radiation out here, but I feel like there might be some Uranium rods left that can do more harm than good." I gestured to Catrina and as a group, we walked forward.

We finally stepped inside the front entrance and I sighed in relief. This building was just a reception building. The ground was covered in a light layer of moss, dirt and dead leaves. In front of us was a desk with two computers sitting on top. To our left and right were two open doors leading into the building.

"Good news." They turned their heads to me, "This isn't the power plant or a part of it, its the reception facility." They seemed to calm down just a bit from the news. "However, were in a dilemma, while this building is one story," I glanced at the concrete pillars on the wall, "It might be unstable."

"Zecora did tell me that she saw this building collapse twice so far. Despite that, it hasn't fully come down just yet." Catrina informed us.

Nodding I thought about where we should go to, where ever it is, I'm sure we're going to find some information soon.

Author's Note

The mystery thickens! Where will Emerson head to? I know it looks like two doors, but there is a surprise third option that has popped up.

The results are in!

Looks like Emerson will be checking out the computers by a winning vote of 13. Meanwhile, the Left and Right door have 0 votes. This chapter may be delayed because of College Tests and whatnot. I'll try my best to get to the deadline, but at the same time, studying comes first.