Senseless Writings

Winter, Thunder, and Ace were moving along a dirt road that would lead into the next town they were after. The town was northwest of the town they had just left and the road cut through a forest that was so old many had forgotten its name. It is believed only spirits live in the forest but because of its age it has many dark tales surrounding it. Of course, being only old stories many simply brush them off seeing as nothing has ever happened to the ponies that go through it following the road.

Winter and Thunder were walking along the dirt path as Ace drifted slowly on a cloud as if he was lying in a hammock. Flakes was up in the sky resting next to him on his cloud as they talked in more detail about the incident involving the changeling army back in Weatherville. Although Flakes herself wasn't involved much, she had heard about the rest from Winter and Thunder.

"You really pulled a fast one of their queen, huh? If we really do have a changeling army after us we should be cautious of those we talk to. They may have agents in some of these towns disguised at citizens."

"I doubt that." Winter had quickly replied.

"They need to feed on love to sustain their form. Even if they did find a pony to feed off of they wouldn't be able to stay long because that pony will eventually run out of power. It would be difficult if not impossible for them to have agents in a town without anyone noticing."

"We should still be cautious of strangers at least. It's not impossible for them to spot us and lay a trap. I wonder if I could make a profit from this kind of situation."

"So you really did only come with us for the treasure? Let’s just hope your greed doesn't get in our way."

"Even I'm not a fool. I don't plan to betray you for a profit. Having enemies makes things rather difficult in the first place."

"Winter, I don't think we will have to worry about him too much. If he starts to become trouble we can just abandon him anyway."

"Just listen to your friend; I can only help in this kind of a situation." Ace said while still drifting along on his cloud.

They soon entered the forest the path cut into. The path itself was rather wide but the forest was also of a grand scale. Even if the path was safe the sight itself would make one nervous to enter. Ace was also forced to abandon his cloud as the trees rose high into the sky and the path was more like a tunnel carved through the forest.

The silence more than anything is what likely made them nervous. With the exceptions of spirits whose laughs echoed in the distance the forest was so quite it was frightening. Even things such as insects would begin to live in the forest with how large and nurtured it was. It didn't take long before even the laughs in the distance began to scare the nervous party.

"This place is really starting to creep me out." Ace said while preventing his own body from shaking.

"I wonder if we could find legends in here?" Wondered the large stallion who seemed to hold no fear.

"Maybe we should have our new friend look around the forest for something interesting? He should be able to fly quickly after all." Winter had suggested with a small sarcastic tone and holding a smirk.

"Y-You know it's not really a great idea to split up in a place like this. Shouldn't we keep moving so we can reach the next town soon?"

"It's only late morning. If we keep going we would reach the next town by noon so we should have plenty of time to explore."

Thunder liked the idea of exploring the forest. Although he quickly became worried about Flakes in the case some kind of danger did lurk in the forest. It didn't take him long to drop that worry though seeing as other spirits lived in the forest just fine. With the idea of legends in his mind he led the group off trail and into the forest for some exploration.

Thunder made sure Winter had brought her compass in the case they got lost. She checked her bag and made sure it was inside and working properly. After exploring for a while the scenery seemed to blur together as if it was an endless forest with little to no changes. What made them even more nervous though were the laughs of the spirits. It never got closer; it never grew farther, just always the same echo in the forest no matter where they went.

"I don't think I can take much more of this. Can we just get out of here already?"

"We haven't even seen anything yet. Although the scenery doesn't seem to be making any real changes itself. Let’s start heading north out of the forest then and see if we find anything on the way out."

"I really hope we can find something. I would love to see some real legends."

Winter took out her compass and became the new leader as they began to travel north. Still the spirits laughter never faded or drew closer as it continued to taunt them. Surprisingly however they began to see something in the distance. It looked like an old castle that dated back beyond what any of them could imagine. With caution they continued to near it looking for any sings of movement.

The age of the castle clearly showed although only a few spots seemed to have fallen apart. The bricks were an odd black color none of them had ever seen. One thing they were sure of was its strength seeing as the place hadn't fallen apart yet despite its age. Once past the main walls Winter was a bit shocked when she saw what looked like an entrance to a cave.

"Is that what I think it is?" Winter blurted out to herself.

"What? Is that cave special for some reason?" Ace quickly replied.

"You think that's a crystal cave? Well this castle is pretty old so I suppose it could be." Thunder had answered.

"What is a crystal cave?" Ace asked beginning to feel left out in the conversation.

"In Winter's grandfather's map to the outlands he marked many spots as entrances to crystal caves. They are mentioned in some of the older legends but from what can be gathered almost all of them in Equestria were blocked off and forgotten about. The caves are like an endless maze that is nearly impossible to map and many think they might all be connected to each other. They have many types of crystals in them but they are the cheap kind that you can find anywhere because of how many were mined up back when these caves were actually being mined."

"So we can't make a profit from them then." Ace said a bit disappointingly.

"Still." Winter had interrupted.

"This place is indeed old if it has an open crystal mine. We might find something useful inside the castle then."

With some new hope Ace followed the two into the castle. It was pitch black but Winter used her magic to light the candles as far as she could see brightening the place to a decent extent with the number of candles around. Being able to see should have calmed them, but the candles being black and a blue flame emitting from them only put them more on edge then they wanted to be.

Most of the castle turned into empty room with nothing but useless crystals lying around. Even the weapons and decorations were mostly made of crystals. Eventually they discovered a large chamber with what appeared to have a magical barrier in the center. The barrier was being created from a kind of rune made on the floor that not even Winter had recognized despite her study of runes she had done for the sake of her novels.

After examining it for a while she had found a way to safely disable the rune while still being able to reactivate it if needed. Once the dark barrier had disappeared a pitch black book stood on a strange pedestal in the center. It didn't have any kind of markings on it and looked a bit larger than a normal book. It looked rough and old, but well preserved likely due to the rune.

"Finally! Some treasure! An old book like this is sure to fetch a great price!" Ace said while rushing up to the book.

"Wait! That book was being protected by a rune! It might be dangerous!" Winter tried to caution Ace.

"It's a book in an old castle dating so far back the only weapons they had been made of crystals. How dangerous is a book supposed to be?" Ace had said right before opening the book on the pedestal.

Right when he finished his sentence and opened the book large winds swirled around the room as the shadows themselves shifted and danced. The book quickly drew the party into the center and into a dark vortex that disappeared as fast as it appeared. In the blink of an eye the room was empty again as the book shut itself.