The Bond

Chapter 15

Wonderful Forenoon

*BRRRRR*

"Alright, that's it for today!" announced the teacher up front, making all of the kids in the room start to pack their books into their backpacks, though my focus currently was on finishing the last of the math problems and leaving me with no homework whatsoever.

"Whew, I'm exhausted!" said Mike, sitting beside me before standing up and dropping his books down to the pack.

I only smirked, as he had basically copied all of the answers from me and had fooled around with his cell phone.

Soon we left the class and turned to walk down the long hallway towards the entrance to the school.

"So, what are you planning to do today?" I asked from Mike while opening the double-doors and stepping out.

"Nothing too special; gonna turn the PS2 on and play something until Mom gets home."

"Mind if I join?"

Mike shrugged before reaching into his jacket pocket and taking out his bicycle keys. Soon the two of us were walking down towards the street, talking about our usual stuff, and after getting out of the yard we mounted our cycles and took off towards Mike's house.

Nothing too unusual happened for the first ten minutes; the usual traffic went by without any notice, people walked down the sidewalks, some older kids hanged around the supermarket yard, etc.

Mike was ahead of me, his mountain bike rolling down the last hill and past the last of the cement cubes before disappearing into the small patch of woods. Thinking that he wanted to have a race, I started to speed up and soon also came to the entrance, but I didn't even bother to look around and instead continued on inside.

But just as I turned my bike to the left where the road continued on...

My carefree smile faded away, as I saw...

The two wheels stopped that instant and I let my bike fall down to the asphalt before I ran to my friend lying on the ground.

"MIKE!"

He didn't answer, and then I noticed his white wool cap was soaked in red, some dripping down past the rest of his face.

Panicked, I quickly searched my pockets for my cell phone, but then I remembered I had forgot to took it this morning. I took Mike's, only to find that the battery was empty, due to him having used it to play the Snake so much...

"SOMEBODY HELP!" I tried to shout, but there wasn't anyone around and I didn't dare to leave Mike alone. I moved the bike from on top of him before taking hold of him, but no matter how much I tried to, I didn't have the strength to  get him up, due to his heavy nature.

Despite this I didn't give up, and I tried to get him up multiple times before finally backing off and seeing that some of the blood had fallen onto my jacket and jeans.

I dropped down onto my knees from exhaustion and I could only watch my friend's breath fade away, sometimes having very large gaps between in- and outhales.

Small streams of tears fell down my cheeks before I buried my face in my palms, trying to get away from this situation.

"Someone, anyone..."

Then suddenly, without any indication whatsoever, I head rapid steps near me. As I turned to look I saw a very familiar kid looking down to me, his gaze keeping upon me while he reached into his pocket and took out a cell.

"A-alex?"

-----

Is this actually happening?

I leered to my front, where the white coated doctor stood.

"How is he?" I coolly said, trying the best to keep my voice from cracking.

The doctor viewed me a bit and took his clipboard.

"He's lucky; besides a concussion along with the tiny fracture on the skull he should be fine." he blandly recounted from the paper until dropping his gaze on me.

"Your friend's a very lucky boy to be alive, because of the two of you."

Grimly, I eyed my side, where the miniscule blond kid sat, head turned downwards above his backpack.

"Indeed... When he's free?"

The doctor faintly smiled before pointing out to the door on the middle of the hallway and walking off.

I sighed and stood up, alarming Alex who turned to look at me.

"Come on; let’s not leave the patient waiting." I frolicked while taking a hold of the frightened Alex and starting to head down to the long corridor.

"W-what y-you're-" he mumbled until seeing something that I very rarely did, even when alone.

A smile.

"Well, Mike needs to see the third member of our little group, doesn't he?"

Alex kept glaring up at me, shivering a bit besides me, as I reached for the metal handle on the door.

A deep chuckle came from me, lasting the time for the door to open, as I pushed the surprised Alex into the room before taking a step in.

* * * * *

Crackling filled the kitchen as the oil started to heat up on the pan.

Slowly the maroon hoof took an egg from the counter top and cracked it open on the metal side, being very careful not to let any parts of the shell fall, before pouring the egg down onto the pan.

A faint whistle soon started to come out of the large Earth pony while his hoof took a hold of the handle and moved the frying egg around so that it would burn steadily, until throwing the pan up, making the omelette flip around in the air before landing back with the perfect brown side on the top.

"Uuhh..." whimpered a voice from the living room, making the Earth pony turn his gaze to see a glimpse of blue colour disappear from sight and soon hear a door close. But as he turned back to the omelette, remembering to flip it, the sounds of vomiting filled the air.

The ready omelette slid off from the pan to the plate resting on a large tray, which already had two still warm omelettes ready, and grabbed the handle with his mouth, soon emerging to the living room that bathed in the morning sun light.

As the tray fell to the table, he slowly made the way to the closed bathroom door and knocked onto it, getting the vomiting to stop for a moment.

"You okay in there?"

For the time, the vomiting stopped and soon the door opened, with an slight crack, to reveal the dusky pegasus; his dark blue coat tangled up in a mess, eye-bags forming under the bloodshot eyes and black mane upraised.

The maroon pony tried to keep his chuckle down as he watched his friend walk past him to the sofa before falling down onto it and grabbing his head in pain.

"Alex... can you tell what the fuck happened?"

Maero shook his head and turned to walk upstairs, only to see a smiling unicorn on the other end.

"Morning!" Nucleus indicated of his precense while descending down the stairs and stopping by the bottom, turning over towards Maero and still laying Alto, now holding a pillow over his head.

Maero tilted his head to the tray "There's the breakfast."

The silver grey unicorn continued smiling and took one of the plates before sitting down next to his maroon friend. By now, even Alto had risen under the pillow, thought he definitely wasn't his usual self at all.

"Now, could someone please tell me WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?"

Nucleus lowered his fork down while his eyebrow rose.

"You mean you don't remember?"

The pegasus shook his head.

"Seems like I'm not the only one then."

Alto raised his eyebrow, but Nucleus turned to look upon the Earth pony, who had continued on with eating.

"Maero, care to enlighten us on?"

The maroon pony lowered his plate to the tray before looking at his two friends.

"You both had too much."

Alto groaned before rolling over on the sofa "Bravo Einstein; even I was able to form that conclusion!"

Nucleus on the other hoof was rubbing his chin "Exactly how much?"

"Mike had three cups an-"

Before he got any further, the pegasus flung over back to them and he was laughing out loud.

"HAHA, good one! Now, tell me how much I ACTUALLY drank?" Alto said after calming down, only to see Maero looking at him, not even flinching as the pegasus looked him straight in the eyes.

"Wait... you're serious... aren't you?"

The Earth pony nodded once, making Alto's hooves fell down to the sides, before turning to look at the unicorn, who had watched the stand-off with an interest.

"You had about six cups, thought I have to say you seem to be doing well." Maero said and got a smirk for an answer

"Honestly, I'm currently having an terrible head ache..."

"HEYHEYHEYHEYHEEEEEY!" Alto shouted, getting the attention. "How am I like this when you had twice the much? That makes no sense!"

"Actually it does." Nucleus countered and reached over to the floor to grab the Bestiary of Equestria.

"Ah, here." he said after having gone through most of the book. "According to this, Pegasus ponies are more influenced by alcohol due to their light body structure and it's also believed that the different pressures they feel when flying also affects in their ability to comprehend it, though this is unproven."

"So basically because they have their heads up in the clouds, you also get..."

"Drunk far more easily, yes that's the point in your case." Nucleus said before flipping one more page. "And on my condition? It says here that Unicorns very rarely have what we call 'hangovers' cause of their magical nature and complex nature of mind following of this."

"Oh, so now Unicorns are more superior compared to others?" Alto said in rage.

"Look, I'm just saying what the book says."

"THEN I CALL BULLSHIT ON WHAT IT SAYS! AND ON THIS FUCKING PLACE!"

Nucleus calmly kept his gaze on the boiling pegasus, who's eyes were filled with some sort of primal rage.

"Alto, shouting won't solve anything; calm down first and we can then talk."

The pegasus continued stare at him for an minute, before falling down to the sofa.

"Now, I know each one of us has had an hard time adjusting to our current situation but we have to come to terms and agree that this is now the reality."

"Oh, that we're in an reality filled with marshmallow coloured ponies and that we have just happened to become one of them near an town that wants nothing more than to Snu-Snu us!"

"No, that this reality actually exists outside of ours and that we have been able to cross over here, even if becoming part of the resident population."

"And our DEATH seems to have been only an minor setback?"

"Alto..."

The pegasus sighed before burying his head in his hooves.

"I... I don't know how to feel about this; granted this world is beautiful and everyone’s friendly, but..."

Maero stood up and walked over to the table, silently piling the plates on the tray, while Nucleus had walked over to the distraught Alto, placing a hoof over his shoulder.

"You want to know why we're here, don't you?"

The pegasus nodded, thought he still kept looking down.

"So do I, but who knows the answer?"

At the table, Maero had finished piling the plates and had just took the tray to his mouth.

.... Answers....

All movement, even breathing, stopped.

Even the sounds seemed to vanish from the room, soon filled with an demeaning silence.

"Dude..." Alto muttered while his head had rose up, eyes wide open and mouth hanging loose, and turned onto Nucleus, who was looking as surprised, though he had only his pupils shrunk to small dots.

"I-It cannot be..."

"What are you talking about Tom?" Maero asked, letting the tray fall down to the table, before quickly dashing to get an hold of the unicorn, whose hooves had given up on him.

"I-It's the statue!"

Maero and Alto both turned to look at him in confusion, though the two of them were also shocked about the sudden voice and the fact their friend knew what it was.

"What statue? You haven't men-"

.... Do thy seek them ....

Silence fell over again, as Alto's words fell down under the sudden impact of the foreign voice.

Suddenly, Nucleus shook his head rapidly before pushing the Earth pony off him.

"Yes, we do!" he shouted out loud.

.... Then thou three need head these words....

.... Auld castle perches deep in the ever so free forest near....

.... Seek thou must there, for thy answers....

The maroon Earth pony and the dark blue pegasus continued to look upon the silver grey unicorn, who slowly turned his head down.

A faint smirk bore on his face.

* * * * *

Spike yawned out loud, his hands stretching to the sides and neck knacking. Although he had been awake for the past hours since the first rays of the dawn, after having been woken by his older sibling like always, tiredness seemed to still have an firm hold of him.

"SPIKE!"

The small dragon immediately snapped out of his trance and turned to look at the other side of the table, where the lavender unicorn had her eyes turned on him from behind the large book titled What Every PONY is Saying: An Guide to Speed-Reading Ponies.

"What?" Spike asked while looking back at her.

The lavender unicorn rolled her eyes before levitating the book down to the floor.

"Haven't you listened a single word of what I've said?"

"About how today you're going to go and question these stallions along with your friends and try to get them to crack, which I think is even more crazy than you're making this whole thing out to be? Geez, Twi' just relax a bit."

Twilight groaned out loud, but just as she was going to politely correct her assistant, somepony knocked onto the library door.

"Spike, can you get that?"

The purple dragon muttered under his breath some incoherent words before disappearing to the front part of the library, leaving Twilight to eat the jam toast and the scrambled egg while her mind had started to revise today's schedule, which at this point had every possible minute marked with a red INTERROGATION.

But Spike had a point.

It does indeed sound crazy that they are lying, though I'm absolutely sure on that.

Still... Why would they lie in the first place?

"Umm... Twi'?"

Twilight turned her look at the doorway to see her assistant standing there, mouth still full of the toast and egg.

But that changed, as she saw hints of dark blue behind him.

And as her gaze slowly tilted upwards, her mouth sent the food flying right onto the wood wall.

"P-p-p-princess L-l-luna!"

Spike moved aside, allowing the smiling Alicorn to trott in.

"Greetings dear Twilight. We trust thou fare well with thy studies?" Luna politely asked from the confused unicorn.

"Umm, yes; it's going well." Twilight answered nervously, still looking at the regal Alicorn and trying to understand the situation at the hoof.

Luna kept smiling while walking up to her.

"Twilight, We request thy assistant in an very important task my sister has bestowed upon Us."

A mission from Princess Celestia!!

"YES! OF COURSE I'LL HELP" shouted Twilight while standing up, but Spike, who was now at the fridge getting some ice-cream, snorted.

"Very well then; let us explain." Luna said before the air above her suddenly puffed and an scroll fell down to Twilight. Not even an minute passed, as Twilight's eyes rapidly moved amongst the lines and numbers, before she came back from beneath the scroll.

Her face wasn't the same...

Luna sighed, knowing exactly how the young unicorn felt like.

"Our objective is very simple; to seek out where those three trails exactly lead and to find out, who has left them."

But Twilight's expression didn't seem to change at all...

"It couldn't be..." she muttered quietly under her breath until slowly turning to look upon the confused Luna.

"Princess, I might know who made those trails... "

* * * * *

Why?

Why the hell did that voice come to talk to us?

A tiny breath escaped me, though it came more from anxiety than relief, as I kept looking to the long green patches of grass and hay.

Guess we'll find out soon enough...

"Hey Tom."

I turned my look to the left.

"Yes Alto?"

My Pegasus friend looked pissed.

"Okay first off, why do you keep using those names between us three, even when we're freaking alone and outside of the town, where no one is listening to our blabber?"

I kicked a rock with my hoof while thinking of an answer.

"So that I'd grow fonder of them and start to use them naturally without any fear of accidentally slipping." I calmly explained to him.

He snorted "And let me guess; you're going to order us to do the same?"

"No." I immediately answered without any hesitation, making him turn to look at me.

"I'm asking as your best friend to trust on me and believe it is the best thing to do."

Alto continued to stare at me, his yellow eyes clashing onto mine and I wouldn't have been surprised if some actual sparks would have erupted.

And then, out of the corner, he smirked.

"Well Nucleus, if that's what you think is the best, then I'm fine with it." he said to me before turning to look on his left.

"What do you say Maero?"

The large Earth pony grumbled.

"We're here."

I turned to see that he was right.

From where we now stood, opened a breathtaking view over a immersive forest. The large timbers stretched high up into the air, green leaves covering the top for a mile after a mile into every possible direction, before finally disappearing from the eye view.

"Damn it's huge!" Alto whistled aloud.

Inaudibly, we followed the road until stopping again, now right at the edge of the woods.

It's exactly the same from the second episode!

The road went straight on, leaving a wide opening behind; until vanishing under the lurking shadows falling down from the wood trunks. And though it was very early in the morning, the light didn't seem to be able to pass through the treetops.

Actually there was something that I didn't recall from the show.

A sign stood just on the side of the road.

EVERFREE FOREST

ENTER AT OWN CAUTION

Looks like the Ponyville Tourist Department finally saw that manticores and hydras aren't the best attractions.

Maero turned his eyes on me.

"So this is where we're supposed to go?"

"There's still a long way left." I responded, only to make him grunt and have Alto slyly smile to me before we all planted a hoof down to the ground and entered into the 'forest ever so free'.

Just hoping that I can recall those hazards between us and the Castle...

Oh well, at least there isn't Nightmare Moon waiting at the end.

* * * * *

How could it have gone unnoticed by me?

I feel so dumb now...

Twilight's eyes kept looking down to the table, where the parchment Princess Luna had given to her laid rolled up open.

Princess herself was sitting opposite to her, however eyes closed up and she seemed to be deep in her thoughts.

"Twilight, thy shouldn't blame thou self."

"But..."

Luna's eyes slightly cracked open, but even the tiny gaze she gave to the lavender unicorn was enough to shut her down.

The Princess of the Night respired without a word, though her frustration was clearly visible.

"Thy among with the Elements had no reason to believe these 'ponies' were lying. Celestia and We don't blame you for anything. Understood?

Twilight disheartendly nodded and the Princess backed off, now reaching over for the side to an bookshelf and aimlessly taking out a random book.

She herself couldn't help but to eye the piece of paper once like so many times since seeing it.

It doesn't change the fact 'she' fooled us and the whole town...

"Twi', I'm back!"

Only Twilight turned to look at her purple dragon assistant standing at the now open library door. He moved to the side while also holding the door open and Twilight watched as her five friends, the holders of the Elements of Harmony, walked in one at an time.

Their expression varied a whole lot:

Applejack appeared like her normal self, both in appearance and spirit. The only remarkable thing was the look that she had on whenever trouble had arisen.

Pinkie Pie acted like her goofy self, looking around and expecting something interesting to happen while her hooves tried to keep still.

Rarity's face bore the exact social smile she had on everywhere, yet her act clearly showed her boiling anger that Spike had woken her so early.

Fluttershy was as timid as ever, though she didn't seem to be uneasy when she stepped in, like Applejack and Rarity were.

Rainbow, on the other hoof, was the most distinctive looking. Her tiredness was clearly visible from under the messy coat and mane she hadn't had a chance to clean this morning.

All five of them lined up right front of the door, only to find themselves glaring down to the back of the room.

"Spike, you know what to do." Twilight noted to the dragon, who saluted and flung the door shut.

Please be careful...

Thought the day had been a mess, she was able to muster a gentle smile as her eyes turned back and saw the look on the five ponies faces

"PRINCESS!!" all of them shouted in a choir, granting neither Luna nor Twilight were amused at the reactions, knowing that the time was at hoof, so

Twilight stood up and pointed at the centre of the room, where five chairs laid in a half circle.

"Girls, there's something that needs to be addressed..."

* * * * *

"How much longer?"

Something cracked beneath my hoof, most likely some loose branch.

"Don't know, just like five minutes ago. Now, for the love of Celestia, shut your mouth and keep your eyes open."

My pegasus friend narrowed his eyes and pulled a wry face before walking away from my side, heading towards the bushes that laid ahead. Knowing that he was pissed off for me, I let him be and instead turned my attention to Maero, who was being his 'normal' mute self.

To my shock, he actually turned to look upon me, which was kind of intimidating, seeing that he stood higher than me and had to turn to look down onto everyone else.

I swear he looks like Big Mac, except he's even more withdrawn.

At least Alto isn't angry that he isn't the largest; the wings are great compensation for muscles.

"How was the party?" Maero calmly whimpered.

I shrugged.

"Honestly can't tell; I recall that the start of the night was okay but everything else seems to have completely vanished from my head." Having recounted that, I playfully grinned.

"Just gives another reason to stay away from drinks in the future."

Maero didn't give any indication of response to me, only keeping the emerald eyes fixed on me.

Either cause of luck, irony or just some totally random cause, I remembered something that had caused my drink to spill on the sight.

"By the way, who was the pony holding onto you?" I mentioned, only to get him look away.

"My boss... Carrot Top." he responded, now hiding under the shadow of his hat and locks.

What is it suddenly with these background ponies popping up?

"So you're friends?"

The light yellow rolled over in her dreams, bright orange mane rubbing between her and the bags.

"Oh you're such a naughty colt..." Carrot whispered mutely. Her body flung again, now to the other end of the pile, just that one bag fell over her back and hitting her rump quite harshly.

A moan left her mouth and her cheeks turned bright red.

He simply shook his head for an answer, just as we trotted under a branch to arrive to a small trail that some local wildlife had probably trembled for themselves between the trees and bushes. Ahead, I caught a glimpse of Alto's black tail waving back and forth.

"Do I recall right that she along with Alto's friend Ditzy hanged with us for some time?"

Maero yet again nodded.

"Carrot and that grey pony stayed for some time, until Carrot was dragged away by her sister and the grey one left to pick up someone named Dinky, whoever that is."

"And we left soon after that, correct?"

He chuckled a bit, possibly recalling something from the last evening neither I nor Alto didn't necessarily want to hear and remember.

"The ponies were quite shocked when seeing you pass out. At least you didn't throw up until getting out of the party."

Even I nervously laughed, trying to keep the high mood up for his sake.

"Anyways, you seem to be do-"

"OH FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-!"

Alto!

Both of us immediately turned our gazes back to the front, only to see him nowhere. I took the lead and galloped up the trail, only to soon see...

Oh bullocks, I had totally forgotten about the cliff!

I watched as the curled body of Alto rolled down the steer hill, unable to stop, and rapidly nearing bottom where he would...

Without any hesitation, I jumped from the flat top and started to slide down, having much trouble keeping myself up as dirt and small rocks covered the surface.

Every second that passed, I neared Alto inch by inch, until there was just an tiny gap in between.

I reached my head as far as I could go towards the rolling blue ball, trying to get a hold of the tail that whipped over every time a roll came full.

Just.. an.. inch!

Then, the ball dropped down right in front of my eyes.

My eyes shot open while my movement stopped right on the edge.

Oh no...

"ALTO!"

"Yeah?"

.....................................Wha-WHAT!

My look fell down off the cliff.

Alto whimpered loudly beneath me on a small ledge that stuck out of the solid rock wall.

"Well, aren't you gonna come?" he mumbled between his swears before tilting his head to the side, where similar kinds of ledges made the whole way to the bottom.

Maero had just stopped next to me, as my mind had been able to comprehend only two possibilities.

Either Someone is watching us or Alto's simply the Gladstone Gander when I'm the Donald Duck

Still, I closed my eyes and leapt down.

* * * * *

Demeaning silence...

The worst kind of one, when even the most natural voices you grant as a self-explanatory seem to have fell down.

All this, just cause of an simple parchment, a Royal Alicorn and a twenty minute speech...

The five ponies sitting around in the half circle no visible expression of neither joy nor disgust, yet each one's head currently holstered a mini warzone of emotions that erupted on different scales but sharing the same taste of betrayal.

Twilight and Luna were the only ones that kept cool and looked over each one, before Luna had the scroll disappear in a purple smoke.

*SLAM*

All of the faces turned to look at the enraged farm mare.

"AH AM GONNA BUCK THEIR SORRY FLANKS!" roared Applejack as her hooves slammed once more down to the library floor.

Fluttershy meeped on the sight, however none noticed, as Twilight stood from her stool and walked in front of her friends.

"Girls..."

"So, wait, I hosted a super-duper-extra-sweet-welcome party for some meanie pants?" asked the confused Pinkie Pie in regards to her ever so goofy attitude.

"Yes Pinkie, now-"

Pinkie gasped "Oh no, now 'she' knows how to hold the perfect super-duper-extra-sweet-welcome party!"

Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Pinkie, I highly doubt that your party secrets have fallen into wrong hooves. And besides, you hold these 'special' parties basically on every occasion."

"But never-ever for the EEEEEEVIL ONES!" Pinkie emphasized to her, making Twilight lower her face to her extended hoof.

"Look, the point is that..."

"When they come through that door, we'll have some baddies to deal with." sneered the cyan pegasus on the corner and Applejack opposite to her nodded.

"Rainbow, Applejack, there's no need fo-"

"OH WHY!"

Everypony turned to and watched as the marshmallow unicorn rolled on the floor and pounded her hooves down.

"THIS HAPPENS E-V-E-R-Y SINGLE TIME!" Rarity sobbed out loud, thought it came out more as an whimper than actual cry.

"WHY EVERY REGAL STALLION I MEET HAPPENS TO BE EVIL! WHY, WHY, WHY..."

"Rarity, please!" Twilight plead, but it went unheard.

"WHY, WHY, WHY, WH-"

"Enough!"

An enormous crack formed on the nearby window following the booming Royal Canterlot Voice. The six ponies reluctantly viewed the Princess, who had finally lost her temper for a brief moment.

Luna's eyes continued to glow bright white for a time, until turning back to the normal stern one she had had on since the beginning.

"Thou five of the Elements don't need to concern thou selves; We'll handle the situation along with Twilight. Thou only needed to know about this 'involment' of our old foe."

A small squeal came from behind Twilight, where Fluttershy had taken cover.

"Umm... Shouldn't we... give them a chance?" the timid pegasus quietly pointed out, yet to no avail, as Luna firmly shook her head.

"There is nothing reasonable to discuss with Nightmares."

Out of the blue, the front door burst open and smashed against the wall with full force, sending one of the flower pots down to the floor. Immediately all of the ponies jumped up, specifically Luna who took a proper combat stance and pointed her horn at the door.

"Spike?" Twilight began in disbelief.

The purple dragon panted heavily while he leant against the open door, visibly exhausted as the sweat drops clearly indicated to everypony eyeing him.

"H-hold on a sec..." Spike plead and continued to breath away, until nervously rubbing the back scales on his head.

"Okay, which you want first; the good or the bad news?"

Luna took an step forward, making a shadow fall over the now even more anxious dragon.

The look the Royal Alicorn made on him, was enough to get him to talk.

"The bad one it is then. Heh..." Spike laughed, only to hear a grunt come from the Goddess in front of him.

"Yeaaah, the guys weren't at their crib."

Just the shock value was enough to keep even Pinkie Pie quiet.

Only Luna was able to, once again, keep her cool.

"And the good news?" she added, only to see the purple dragon smirk and show a small piece of paper in his claws.

"They left a note." Spike responded, before clearing his throat.

We're sorry.

There's something that we need to check alone.

Please don't follow us.

If we aren't back by next day, search for us in the Everfree Forest..

As soon as he had finished and lowered the note, Spike was thrown back by the roar that erupted from the Alicorn, which made the window next to the door literally explode into dust. Soon thought, Luna calmed down and turned to gaze at the six ponies behind her.

Twilight levitated the Book of The Elements off from her bedroom and laid it open on the floor.

"Come on girls; we have to chase after them!" Twilight commanded, as she placed the tiara on her head.

* * * * *

*Crack*

"Aaah!"

Oh for Luna's sake!

Both Maero and I could only groan for an response to our feathered friend, who tucked firmly in between the two of us.

"Your phobia is still this bad?" I mumbled, my words slurring a bit.

Alto didn't respond, yet he kept shivering like it was freezing.

One note, it is quite cold here.

Must be the lack of light.

"It's okay." I reassured, but I couldn't help but to make a brief look behind my back, at the shadowy path we had been following for some time now, since having gotten down from the cliff.

"... I'm an coward..."

"Nonsense! Everyone's afraid of the dark at some point in their life." I tried to tell him, but he shook his already shaking head.

"... A seventeen year old who's afraid of the darkness..."

Admitted, that is a bit odd.

He had always been like this in an 'unknown' darkness; something he knew to be safe worked.

Then again, I never got to finish my psychology courses...

I turned to look at him, praying that this might have some effect on his general mood.

"Look, how about you tell me about last night's party? Let’s say... ah, what's your thing with Ditzy?"

Alto's shiver slightly tuned down, though his yellow eyes were still missing the joy as they glared at me.

"...She is a work pal..." he whispered as if fearing to be heard.

"Yes, but what she's like?"

Alto huffed and narrowed his eyes.

"Wee!" cheered Ditzy as she swam through the letter pile in search of those precious letters that might have gone unnoticed yesterday from her and the 'assistant'.

Yet soon, they grey pegasus re-emerged out of the not-so-more large pile, only to admit to herself that there was none left to quadruple check.

Seems like we were good.

Too good!

Ditzy gradually made her way to the side and took one of the basic mail saddles from the hangers.

"Where is he anyways? she wondered.

And then the 'obvious' realization clicked her.

"Oh yeah, the party..."

The pack fell down onto the centre table, sending couple of letters flying, and soon Ditzy's head followed.

Her crossed eyes scanned the room fully, admitting that there were couple of piles left to be sorted to the respective saddles.

Guess I can handle this on my own.

Too bad Alto isn't here. He's such a funny Pegasus...

But you owe me a BIG TIME!

"...Fantastic..." he replied in a confident tone.

"Hey."

Alto and I leered at Maero in confusion of what he meant. He groaned before tilting his head to the left, where...

First to react was Alto. His shivering stopped on the instant and he squeezed out from the pocket between me and Maero.

"Light!" he cried out loud.

Indeed, a small glimpse of light glittered in the distance. Kind of in a similar fashion to one of those 'light at the end of the tunnel' pictures, expect the brick wall was replaced with old timbers and the top...

Actually, what is keeping the light away?

From the looks of it, there isn't actually anything above-

I shook my head in disbelief, just as Alto watched Alto jump into the brightness and Maero slowly walking towards it.

Maybe it's something that I shouldn't question.

After all; this is a world based on a cartoon.

Or...

A surge hit my head.

And an idea came to me.

Or maybe...

Nah, I'm just overthinking again.

Besides, it wouldn't make any sense.

For now, I discarded my thoughts and started to walk towards the light.

However, as I entered it.

"Nuc', we've got a serious problem." echoed Maero from out there.

Instantly after I stepped into the light, a pain struck into my eyes, probably from the lightness level change. Luckily it only lasted a while and soon I was able to open them to see that my memory had served me correct.

River.

We're getting closer.

As I turned to look around, Maero stood still right next to me. Alto had sat down at the shore, his head leaning over the water for a sip. But otherwise, he seemed to be fine, as he didn't shiver anymore.

"Let me guess; there isn't a way across?" I jokingly said.

Maero's face twitched a bit, still he nodded. A playful smirk rose on me, as I walked past him and up to where Alto was now laying on the grass. He breathed in relief from the light of the sun above and seemed to nearly fall to sleep on the spot.

"Looks like we'll need to get ourselves wet." Alto grunted from his slumber state.

Heh, good to have you back, my friend.

"Not necessarily."

He, along with Maero who now stood beside him, raised his eyebrow and glared at me, while I turned my back to the running stream and inhaled deep.

Hopefully he's here...

"Hello! Anyone hear me?" I shouted, much to my friends’ confusion.

Alto rose to sit "Umm... Nuc', why you're-"

And without any warning, the ground began to tremble underneath us. I calmly kept my look at the water and particularly on the middle section, where large quantities of bubbles had started to appear. Alto and Maero, on the other hand, had their eyes bulging out from their sockets, as the three of us witnessed how the water suddenly burst everywhere.

"OH JESUS MONKEY CHRIST!" snapped Alto, much to my dismay, while the large scaly head appeared from underwater and the large pupils turned to look at us.

Alto you...

The violet sea serpent, thought, didn't seem to mind his outburst and instead smiled for us in an very awkward fashion while some water dripped off from his orange moustache.

"Oh this is just wonderful! Thought I must ask who is this sea-serpent 'Jesus Monkey Christ' you're confusing me to. Oh never mind my blabber, I'm just so excited to finally see anyone civilized in these part of the woods!"

"Yes;" I started while making 'that' glare to my feathered friend, who sheepishly smiled back at me.

"We're very sorry to disturb you mister..."

The sea-serpent cleared his throat.

"Magnet. Steven Magnet, the keeper of the Everfree Stream."

...Perhaps sometimes it isn't good that fandom is right...

"And let me guess;" he continued and pointed at the other side of the river "You want to get across?"

* * * * *

In the middle of a small meadow, deep inside the deeps of the Everfree's hallow trees, was a lone stump sticking off from the moulded ground. The stump itself wasn't a single bit different from one's basic image of one; old greyish colour coating the sides while mushrooms grew from the sides in large bunches.

On it, sat a perfect example of adorable little puffy critter; a bright orange squirrel to be exact. The tiny thing silently kept still on its place, using the large fluffy tail as an oversized pillow underneath it.

In fact, nothing too unordinary caught the attention to the critter.

Suddenly, the thing extended its arms forward, to reveal what it was holding.

And that definitely would have caught anypony's attention.

Between the tiny claws was a dark purple crystal that had a dim light inside.

* * * * *

Don't look down.

Don’t look down.

In my darkness, I kept moving;

onwards through this plain which didn't know the word calm.

"Come on, just a couple of feet left!"

Extensions of mine feeling the scraps the wood beneath left;

ears savouring the squeal that the stretching ropes made.

Don't look down.

Whatever you do don't-

*Snap*

And came to end the dark world;

it's outer gates penetrated by the light from the empty countess.

I wonder...

The brush ran through the locks of the curly light rose mane in long strokes from the top to the near bottom.

... what'll happen when he walks in?

Thought she was inside of class, the clear laughter and screams from the outside yard made the cherry red mare come back to reality. She put the brush back to the small box and instead took out a hoof mirror to confirm her look was okay.

But instead, she found herself staring at her reflection's green eyes.

Will he... greet and talk with me?

For the couple of seconds, her emotions ran wild yet none came to be expressed on the outside.

However, a large smile slowly painted across her as the mirror lowered down back to the box and she turned to look outside into the yard, thinking of starting the first lesson soon.

Of course he will. What are you thinking Cheerilee?

"Gah!" was the only thing that escaped me as my stomach rose to my throat from the sudden drop.

I reacted fast, trying to not freeze still from fear, and quickly clenched my mouth to part of the snapped rope. It seemed that it was close, as the wood planks that made the swing bridge fell down to the crevice and I lost my foothold. The rope that I had grabbed swung forward towards the rock wall and I crashed into it back first, though I was lucky the impact wasn't strong enough to make me loose my hold.

"OH SHIT!" I heard Alto shout in despair, echoing around the solid walls.

I leened up, careful not to let go, and saw him along with Maero looking down at me.

Both breath in relief.

This is it.

The last obstacle in our path is done!

For some odd feeling, I glared down just as the rope began to rose.

* * * * *

Why am I feeling such unease over this?

It feels like I'm missing out something very important...

"Your Highness; the delegation is waiting for Your presence." spoke the dark grey unicorn guard.

The white Alicorn nodded and turned her back to the balcony while her two guards opened the door ahead her.

Still, she once looked back to get a glimpse of the town afar in the distance before descending down the stairs.

How 'she' could have possibly returned?

* * * * *

Broken bricks and centuries of old dust littered around the floor from the years of ignorance and the natural elements running free. Large holes both in the walls and on the inner ceiling were the only light sources available, as only the metal stands for the torches were left, though some old stone windows had been preserved and rays shone past the lattices of the openings.

All this the three eye pairs, minus the yellow ones, registered at the end of the steps and under the huge archway that once must have had a gate leading in.

A lone whistle echoed over between the long ivy covered columns, that formed a straight path forward until dispersing into a large circle around what once must had been a fountain.

"Heh, reminds me of Castlevania, expect without Dracula's minions running around." commented Alto while stopping at the middle circle and looking over the edge of the fountain, only to find no water in it. He groaned, though his dry throat made his voice rattle a bit, and turned to look back,

where the large Earth pony had his eyes fixed onto the columns that disappeared into some sideway.

"Hey M', what does this place remind you off?" the blue pegasus joked.

Maero briefly glanced at him for a moment, emerald eyes barely visible under the locks of blond mane,

"None."

The groan coming from the blue pegasus echoed throughout the hall, yet the maroon pony only tucked his hat deeper while glaring behind his back where the silver grey unicorn still observed the room from the doorway.

He finally snapped out of his thoughts and sheepishly smiled to his friends before joining them at the centre.

"Sorry, this place is just so fascinating!"

Alto could only roll his eyes to this obvious statement.

"Yeah yeah, we know it's exciting for you to be in here but remember why we're here."

Nucleus sat beside him, only Maero stood as the stone didn't look reliable enough for him and instead decided to take a look over at the other side of the fountain, only to let out a troubling sigh.

"And that's where the second problem comes in..."

"Which is?"

Nucleus leaned up front and dropped his gaze up to the ceiling, particularly at the one hole that was just above the fountain that was meant to be there.

"That we don't specifically know where in here these 'answers' specifically are:"

Alto rubbed his chin and thought about it until returning his look back on the leaning unicorn.

"Huh, guess that a major prob-"

Then something about his friend caught even Alto's numb attention, leaving him momentarily speechless. Nucleus noticed his sudden change and fixed his eyes back to the blue pegasus, whose eyes now bulged past the eye socks while his hoof pointed up towards the unicorn's forehead, where...

Even Nucleus dropped his bland face as he turned to see his horn fully engulfed in the silver glow.

"Huh, what theAAAAH!"

Without any warning, Nucleus's head shot to the left and away from the fountain. The horn kept glowing, actually now shining even brighter, and turning to point itself at the end of one path that led away from the centre, making the rest of the body follow behind.

At the end of the path laid a large pile of stones, blocking the way past.

Now even Maero had noticed this, now galloping back, just as Alto tried to get a hold of the moving unicorn that now had started to gather some speed. His effort was however futile, as the horn continued to glow and point at the crumble.

Then, the something that shone escaped from the tip of the horn, sending Nucleus backwards and into the two ponies behind him, making the three of the fell down.

As they rose back to look, none could believe what they saw.

"The fuck..." Alto swore.

"How's that..." even Maero muttered in disbelief.

"It's magic. If I was you I'd start to get used to it." Nucleus commented to the tow of them, as they all stood up.

The depriss of the path didn't simply 'vanish' or 'disappear' out of the way. Somehow the archway had rebuilt itself back to looking pretty much the same like the rest of the walls, even mimicking some of the carvings. But what was interesting was that this archway didn't continue straight on as a corridor.

In fact, the quite opposite.

Immediately after sticking their heads past the archway, they saw that somewhat large step that descended downwards onto the stone. None of them whispered a single word, as they started to carefully make their way down into the... light?

Indeed, they had actually dropped from the second floor into what now looked to be an underground dungeon.

"Okay, now this definitely reminds me of Castlevania!"

The room consisted of couple of columns similar to ones upstairs dotting the side and also including torch stands that were actually holding burning torches. It looked like the room was round in shape, though it was hard to tell as the walls were covered in some sort of chalk and lines that crossed paths with one another, forming some sort of lines. From the centre ceiling hung a tiny chandelier, which had all candles light up, waving from left to right and making some wax fall down below.

Their amazement was further subdued by what laid in the centre.

Right in the middle, where the stone floor suddenly seemed to blacken, there was a odd looking stone pillar that reached up until stopping at the eye level. The end of the stone curved downwards, a tiny slab resting on the base, like there was supposed to be something there.

Which wasn't there...

.... Answers....

Now the amazement turned into shock.

.... You shall have them....

.... In time....

"Hey wow wow, time out!" Alto objected "You said that the answers were here."

.... Lies make a path for the real truth....

Alto snorted "Great, this must be how Kratos must have felt like..."

.... Answers....

.... Those you three have to find on your own....

"And, may I ask, how will that happen?" inquired Nucleus carefully.

Then what seemed to be a like a large sigh came to be.

.... We're sorry....

* * * * *

Out of all places it had to be this one...

Gently the dark hoof ran across the stone surfaces, re-tracing the slopes that had been carved into her former home's walls centuries ago.

Ironically they relaxed her a bit inside here, a place of sad and tragic memories, where she had personally swore not to enter ever again.

A long breath came deep from her and she turned back to look on the Elements, who all leant over the small fragment of paper and watched as Twilight's magic did its job.

On the other hoof, Luna wasn't going to allow anypony to disgrace this area with any vile magic. Less, that of whom she had harboured so much hatred for so long in her time as a prisoner of her desires.

"Aha!" Twilight finally exclaimed and stood up, making the pile behind her fall back.

"They're definitely here and according to the map in... somewhere there." the purple unicorn told while pointing to left where laid stairs that led up.

Without any words, Rainbow uncurled her wings and darted up in the air, leaving only a cyan flash behind. Applejack also was the first to react and quickly followed behind, leaping up the steps in a hurry and making the necklace bounce up and down. Pinkie Pie hopped after them, though even she had her 'serious' face on and she looked like she was ready to take on a dragon. Even Rarity firmly followed after her three friends while also dragging the reluctant Fluttershy from the pink tail.

Now only Luna and Twilight remained. The two exchanged a brief look before slowly heading up the stairs.

"Princess... what will we do to 'them'?"

Luna sighed, knowing there was only one option on how to deal with these things.

"The only thing that there is to do with their kind." the Royal Alicorn stated as they rose up the steps and stopped at the end, where a large archway led in.

Neither spoke no more, though both viewed the room in avail; Twilight from only knowing little about the deeper parts of the Old Castle and Luna from having the tiny scraps of memory from the classical times remind her of just what happened to what she had once called her home.

How dare those *things** come in here!*

Luna and Twilight kept walking up to the centre of the room, where Rarity and Fluttershy were relaxing their hooves at the fountain. On the other hoof, Pinkie Pie didn't seem even a tiny bit fatigued from the long trip and instead continued to bounce around the lines of pillars like it was an huge obstacle course.

"Hey! There's something in here!"

Everypony turned their heads to see Rainbow and Applejack standing at the side. As they all trotted by there, a dim light shone from the far, deep, end of the stairs.

"We'll take the lead." Luna sternly ordered, receiving nods from the six ponies, before starting to walk the steps down, her eyes gleaming in the dark and her mind ready to withstand any possible surprise attack.

But as they got to the end of the stairs...

The emotion of confusion washed over every single one of them, as they all stared at the centre of the room.

But nopony was as shocked as the Princess.

Ones they had been chasing all this time, in such of hurry and haste to make sure no harm would happen, laid motionless down on the stone floor. The 'Pegasus' and the 'Earth pony' looked like they had been thrown back away from the middle, as they laid on their sides and had some bruises over them. Right on the middle laid the 'Unicorn' over something made out of stone.

"Are they..." Fluttershy worriedly whispered, but soon Luna shook her head after having done a minor life scan over the room.

"They're... unconscious..." Luna muttered in disbelief, making Twilight gasp and rest of the girls look at one another in confusion, yet she still calmly approached the middle and proceeded to push the 'unicorn' to its back.

The something fell down beside the silver grey body with a tiny 'thump'.

It was a book.