Sunny awoke to the smell of a burning wood and talking. Sitting up from her air mattress. She looked over to see that Hitch was gone. Probably already up and making breakfast. She didn't mind sharing a bed with the stallion. Each pony kept to their respective sides, and neither were in a relationship. She'd never sleep in the same bed as someone else if they had a partner. It wasn't right. Yawning softly, she stretched and looked around the tent. It was a large military style tent. Used for both sleeping and desk work. On the walls of the tent, maps and notes were taped up, and diagrams of ancient pony text. It was her idea to bring along some notes to help identify any new artifacts they may come across. Getting up, Sunny trotted outside and looked around. Hitch and Zipp were talking next to the fire, and Pipp and Izzy were taking selfies with one another.

"Oh! Hey Sunny, breakfast is on the skillet and will be ready in a few minutes," Hitch said, looking up at her and smiling.

Sunny nodded and smiled her appreciation. Not much of a morning talker. Heading to a small table they had set up, she began reading and pouring over her dad's journal. Looking for any entries about the castle they had found yesterday.

"Hey Sunny?" Zipp said, trotting over to her.

"Mhm?" She said, not looking up from the journal.

"I think you and Hitch should head in first. Izzy, Pipp and I will watch camp out here."

"Alright," said Sunny, setting down the journal and going over to Hitch.

"So, you ready to explore the castle?" She asked, trying to keep the excitement she was feeling under control.

"Sure am," said Hitch, standing up and grabbing a flashlight.

Following Hitch up the stairs, Sunny looked up at the tall structure. It had to be at least 4 stories tall.

"Nghhhhh!" Hitch grunted as he tried to push the doors open. "The hinges are rusted over, this thing ain't opening."

"Stand aside," said Sunny, lighting her horn and concentrating. A purple ball of magical energy began to form at the tip as she swung her head back and literally ripped the door off its hinges.

"Woah," said Hitch, looking at Sunny in amazement.

"Heh.. I've.. been practicing... some spells my dad left... in his.... journal." She panted, wiping some sweat from her forehead.

"Well I'm impressed. I'm sure your dad would be too Sunny." Hitch said smiling.

Sunny smiled back at him and gave him a small nuzzle on his neck before trotting inside and turning on her flashlight. The entry hall was enormous. Easily twice the size of her own living room and kitchen combined. A decaying red carpet covered in green moss and tears lead the way towards an extravagant looking staircase. And the walls, although covered in dust were almost perfectly intact. Shining the flashlight around, Sunny noted that there were many doors leading to various rooms. Painted around the doorways were huge depictions of trees, and around others were mountains or clouds. Tall crystal spires shot up between the doors, creating a very beautiful contrast to the wooden doors and brass knobs. Looking to her left and right, she saw that two more hallways lead to unknown rooms.

"Wow... this place is massive." She said, trotting forward and running a hoof down one of the Crystal walls.

"That's an understatement," said Hitch peeking into one of the rooms. "Hey, this one's empty."

Sunny also opened a door and looked in an random room. It was also empty, but if she had to guess it used to be some sort of conference room judging by the tattered tapestries of a Six sided Magenta star with a smaller white star hiding behind it.

"That's Twilights cutie mark," Sunny said, pointing in the room as Hitch trotted over also peeking in.

"She must have been a really important pony to have her own tapestries and castle. What happened to her?"

Sunny shook her head,"I have no idea. Maybe we'll find out if we look around."

Hitch nodded and trotted along the hallway to the stairs.

"All castles have throne rooms. Do you think the throne room is up here?" He asked, pointing a hoof up at the second floor.

"It might be. Let's stay together though, I don't want us to get lost in here." Sunny said, trotting with Hitch up the stairs to the second floor.

Much like the first floor, the walls were similarly decorated. However all the rooms were just as empty. As they journied through the halls, they came upon a large double door made out of what looked like mahogany. The insignias of six different cutie marks carved into the wood. Sunny recognized Twilights but she didn't recognize the others.

"Think this is the throne room?" Hitch asked,

"More than likely, but there's only one way to find out." Sunny said, leaning against the doors and attempting to push them open. Hitch also leaned on them, and as they slowly creaked open, Sunny shined her flashlight inside.

"Oh my gosh..." said Sunny in awe.

The first thing both of them noticed was the enormous round table in the center of the room. The second thing was the 6 white crystal thrones surrounding it. As Sunny trotted forward, she shined a light on each chair. The one directly across from her bore Twilights cutie mark. Beside her throne however, sat a smaller chair.

"Maybe she had a dog?" Asked Sunny, shining her light on the rest of the chairs. To the left of the small throne was one the same size as Twilights, only this one had rainbow lighting bolt coming out of a cloud carved into the back. The next one was was a trio of pink butterflies, the one after that a mix of three balloons which were blue and yellow, then it was a trio of diamonds, and the final throne had 3 red apples.

"Wow," said Hitch, "who's cutie marks do think these are?" He asked looking at them.

"I dunno, maybe friends of hers? But..." her eyes widened, and she dug through her saddlebag, pulling out six miniature pony dolls.

"This is them!" She exclaimed happily. "These thrones blonged to these ponies! Her friends Hitch!"

Hitch smiled and gazed at Sunny as she pranced around excitedly. She was always so happy when she discovered something new and interesting.

"If only your dad was around to see this Sunny. I cant imagine how incredibly proud he would be of you," he said, giving Sunny a hug.

"I know he would," said Sunny, still smiling as she hugged him back and looked up at the ceiling. "Oh my gosh..."

Hitch also looked up and made an 'wow' motion with his muzzle. Hanging from the ceiling were crystals, and as Sunny shined the light at them, Pictures of ponies smiling appeared. Flying up, she gently took one in her hoof and looked at it. The picture was of a group of ponies, standing in front of the castle she and Hitch were currently in. However the castle looked brand new and instead of a forest, lush green fields ran behind it, a small pond off to the right. She recognized the ponies immediately, they were the same ones as her action figures. Untying the Crystal, she brought it down to show Hitch.

"Look, it's her friends. These ponies." Said Sunny, setting the dolls on the table. But as she did so, the castle shook a little and the table began to flash.

"Um... Sunny?? What did you do?" Asked Hitch, folding his ears down and looking at the table.

"I don't know!" She exclaimed, watching as the table began to spin slowly and a fuzzy 3D image of a map appeared.

"Is... that a map?" Asked Hitch, stepping forward and blowing off some dust. When the dust was cleared the picture became sharper and more clear. So with Sunnys help, they dusted off the table and stood in awe at the map displayed before them. It was a map of Equestria, various towns and cities displayed all over the continent.

"Manehattan, Canterlot, Ponyville, Appleloosa, Los Pegasus, Baltimare, Vanhoover, Cloudsdale?" Hitch read. "I've never heard of these cities before Sunny. Have you?"

"Only Ponyville and Canterlot," She said, studying the mountain where Canterlot was. "Say.... doesn't that mountain look familiar??" She asked.

Hitch leaned in closer and looked. "You're right, it does. Because that's the mountain Zephyr Heights sits on."

"But..." Sunny started, her word trailing off. "But Canterlot and Zephyr Heights can't be in the same place. Can they?"

Hitch began to think, looking from the map, to her pony action figures. "Unless.. Zephyr Heights is Canterlot?"

"But that's not possible.. is it?" Sunny asked.

Hitch shrugged, "I don't know, it's possible. We'll have to investigate once we're done here and with Ponyville."

Sunny walked over to a small bookshelf built into the wall behind Twilights throne. There were some books left surprisingly. Most of them decaying due to time. But one in particular caught her eye. It was a red book, extremely worn and had a gold spine. Taking it off the shelf, she opened it and looked at the words inside. It was strange because they weren't written in Ponish but another language her dad had taught her.

"Amik, jusfed fiedbal buyhur?" She read.

Hitch came over and looked at the book.

"What are you reading?"

Author's Note

Hey everypony! Thanks for reading my story! There will be more chapters coming out soon, so don't worry. I have big plans to make this easily a 20+ chapter story. All feedback and comments are welcome. Just make sure comments are appropriate. I fell in love with the new generation as soon as I saw it. And yes, there will be bubbling romance in this story hehe. I hope you enjoy the new chapters that will be coming out, as I enjoy writing them.