“Applejack!” Twilight cried, glaring at her friend in anger. “What did you do that for?”

Applejack shrugged. “Ah figured that somepony oughtta do somethin’, so Ah did. Otherwise, Rarity never woulda gotten her keister out there, and ya’ll know it, too.” Twilight had to admit, Applejack did have a point. Rarity would have tried to find any way possible to get out of going into a cave. Applejack, although a little blunt in her methods, had done the right thing.

“Even so,” Twilight scolded, still not entirely convinced. “That was very rude. I want you to apologize when she gets back.” She turned about and walked away, leaving the other four to converse amongst themselves. The moment Twilight was out of earshot, Rainbow Dash leaned over and gave Applejack a hoofbump.

“Nice.”

__________

“Hey Fluttershy, mind if I ask you something?”

Fluttershy and Twilight were sitting together some time later, deep in quiet conversation, when the question came forth. Fluttershy nodded, a little confused.

“Of course. What is it, Twilight?” Twilight watched her for a minute, unsure of how to phrase the question.

“What is your... sudden interest in this book?” She inquired, hesitating and watching Fluttershy’s reaction. As expected, the pegasus’ normally calm, quiet demeanor took a turn for the hostile, reading her question as a jab. The signs were subtle, but Twilight was still able to spot them. A shift in the brow, a twitch of the lip, even the eyes looked different. Fluttershy was hiding something, and Twilight was set on finding out what.

“Whatever do you mean?” Fluttershy retorted, her voice barely carrying her defensive anger. Twilight pointed a hoof at her.

“That. Whenever one of us mentions the book in an even slightly negative light, you get all aggressive. You’re hiding something.” Twilight gave a soft smirk as Fluttershy’s expression changed again, this time giving away her nervousness and shock. “I’m right, aren’t I?”

Fluttershy nodded and hung her head. “Y-yes. I... I can’t tell you what it is though. You’ll... you’ll laugh at me.” Fluttershy began to rise and turn away when she felt a hoof on her shoulder. She turned to see Twilight gazing at her with concern.

“I would never laugh at you. Come on, just tell me what it is.” Fluttershy gazed around the room for a moment, then sighed. She muttered incoherently, her voice barely audible. Twilight smiled and shook her head.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Fluttershy repeated herself, her voice not much louder, but still not understandable. Twilight frowned. “Fluttershy...”

“I said, this book is very special to me.” Twilight paused, raising an eyebrow.

“That’s it? I thought you were going to say your mother wrote it.”

“Grandmother, actually.” Twilight’s mouth fell open. Fluttershy looked away bashfully. “She painted all the pictures, too. It was my mother’s idea to mass produce the book.” Twilight was still staring at her in disbelief. Fluttershy waved a hoof in front of her eyes. “Um...”

“The... the princess... Celestia used to read this with me, sometimes. She said she knew the author. I met her, once. You’re telling me that Crystal Quill,” Twilight paused, pointing a hoof at Fluttershy. “Was your grandmother!?” Fluttershy merely nodded.

“Well, yes. She wrote the book specially for my mother. My mom thought it would be a good idea to let other foals read it with their parents, so she convinced my grandmother to get the book produced. It was a big hit for a while.” Fluttershy paused at Twilight’s continued look of astonishment. “At least... that’s what I’ve been told.”

“So you’re saying that this book could very well be yours? Could very well be the original copy?” Fluttershy nodded again. “But how would you know?” Fluttershy shrugged.

“I’m not sure. I think my mom wrote a message for me on the inside of the back cover, but I don’t really remember what it said. It went missing about... oh, eight years ago. Well before I met you, Twilight.” Twilight paused again, her mind racing.

“Your mother... she wouldn’t happen to have been named Serenity, would she?” Fluttershy nodded, a little confused as to how Twilight knew that. She voiced her question, and Twilight gave her a winning smile. “This is your book, Fluttershy. There is a little message written by a Serenity. I thought it was strange how someone wrote something to their daughter on a library book, but now it makes sense.”

Fluttershy gasped, smiling wide. “That’s... that’s just wonderful, Twilight...” Her face fell after a moment, the realization of just what was meant by “library book” hit her. “But... it’s a library book. Even if it is mine, it belongs to the ponies of Ponyville now. I can’t just take it away.” Twilight shook her head.

“No. Fluttershy, I will do everything I can to get more copies of the book so you can take yours home. I won’t let a book go without its proper owner.” She gave her friend a gentle smile. “Have you ever read the message on the back?” Fluttershy shook her head.

“Before I left Cloudsdale, my mother was supposed to give me the book,” Fluttershy replied, her ears drooping. “Unfortunately... I never got it. It got mixed up in the shipment somehow, and I got some strange book on alchemy. Never did understand what that book was trying to say at all.” Twilight rolled her eyes.

“Must’ve been Ditzy Doo. You know, Derpy’s mom. I may not have been in Ponyville for as long as you have, but I know that our mail system has a notoriously bad reputation.” Her smile returning, Twilight continued. “Well, if you’ve never read what your mother wrote... I think you’re in for a very pleasant surprise.”

Fluttershy’s smile grew wide, and the two shared a fond embrace for but a moment. When they separated, Rainbow Dash made an unnatural gagging noise.

“Laaaame. I mean, yeah, that’s cool and all, that this is Flutter’s book, but seriously, what’s next? You should know the book pretty well, Shy, so what can we expect?” Fluttershy turned to the others, who were watching her and Twilight. Apparently, they had heard the whole conversation, and were now waiting for Fluttershy to explain.

“W-well... um, I remember that the, um, the mountains... well,” Fluttershy mumbled, trailing off into silence. Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“Really, are we really going to do this, Fluttershy?” Fluttershy made a small ‘eep’ and shook her head. “Good. Now, what about the mountains.”

“Well,” Fluttershy replied, her voice stronger, but still quiet. “I-if I remember correctly, there are four very dangerous creatures living on the four peaks. One of us is going to have to battle one of them.”

“Alright!” Rainbow cried, stomping on the floor. “I’ve been itching for some action!” Twilight rolled her eyes.

“Rainbow, we don’t even know who’s going through the door yet. You can’t just assume it-” She was cut off as Pinkie lept up.

“Oh, she will be going through the door. And I’m still kinda mad about not being able to go to the jungle.” She smiled at Twilight’s glare. “Just trust me on this. When have I ever led you wrong?” Twilight’s glare did not cease. Not until the wall fell open and Rarity stepped inside.

__________

“Rainbow, you can’t just call dibs like that.” Twilight growled, turning to face her friend. To her surprise, Rainbow Dash was no longer standing in the place she had spoken. Instead, she had moved clean through the barrier onto the landscape outside. She grinned cockily at Twilight.

“You were saying?” She called out before the door sealed shut in front of her. She found herself in a vast, beautiful expanse of rolling hills, leading up to a panoramic view of three tall, thin mountains. Their peaks were capped with snow, and for some odd reason, the rocks that the mountains consisted of seemed to be blue, almost the same shade as Rainbow was.

Standing in the midst of the mountains was a massive tower, one that radiated darkness and shadow. Although the sun shone bright overhead, the tower seemed locked in perpetual night. It was almost as if one of them had encountered a similar tower before, but she couldn’t be certain. Regardless, Rainbow eyed it warily.

“Looks like fun... if only I could fly...” she sighed, gazing at her wings forlornly. She gave them a test flap, feeling the pain course through her shoulder. It wasn’t excruciating, but it was enough to keep her grounded. She thought she might be able to pull off a short flutter through the air, but knew that sustained flight was impossible. Groaning in annoyance, she trotted forward, heading towards a path off to her right. Knowing that it would fork into four, Rainbow decided to deliberate about her options.

“So, four paths... each one with a different... boss? Mini boss, maybe?” She shrugged. “I dunno. Whatever it is, it’s waiting at the end.” Furrowing her brow, Rainbow frowned and paused momentarily, putting a hoof to her chin. “But I have no idea what’s at the end of each path... great.” Shaking her head, she doubled her pace, intent on finding out anything she could about the roads ahead.

As expected, the path did eventually fork into four. Rainbow had been running for some time, and was relatively close to the base of the mountains when she encountered the fork. Finding small signs posted next to each path, Rainbow trotted over to each, taking a quick look over her options.

“General Use Trail, The Midnight Tower, Alpine Slopes, and...” Her expression deadpanned, and she nearly facehoofed. “Frustration. Really? That’s the name of the fourth path? Frustration?” She groaned. “Well, that doesn’t help. I still don’t know whose flank I’ll be kicking. All I know is there will be flanks, and they will be kicked. The questions is... which one?” She closed her eyes, rolling things over in her mind.

At last, she opened her eyes, and, with a brief murmur of “Pause for dramatic effect,” took off at a steady and thoroughly anticlimactic trot.

Author's Note

What sorcery is this? With my schedule at home about to become a bit more busy, I figured I'd get this out to you. Next time: Dashie ventures forth into the unknown!