"You alright?" Wayfarer asked as once more Twilight's eyes flickered and dimmed, the blinding white light dissipating as she descended from whatever high the potion had brought her to.

"Y-yeah," Twilight stuttered as she tried not to faint from dizziness. "That one was a trip, and not at all what I was expecting."

"What did you see?" Spike asked as the rest of them looked expectantly at Twilight.

Twilight pursed her lips in thought and looked around at all her friends. There were a lot of things in these visions that were not her stories to give, secrets in them that she'd already sworn not to tell. But it was brutally obvious now that what was happening was intrinsically linked to Celestia, Luna, and Discord's time as members of the Arcana, as well as the Beast and the creation of the Everfree forest itself. All of which Celestia had asked her to keep a secret.

'Does it even matter at this point?' Twilight thought to herself. 'Secrets aren't going to save Celestia, Luna, or Equestria. And besides,' she eyed each of her friends in turn, who were staring back in confusion at her hesitation. 'If we can't trust them, who can we trust?'

"I saw Celestia and Luna encase Discord in stone for the first time," she explained. "I also saw them find and take the Elements from the Tree of Harmony."

"The Tree of Harmony?" Rarity asked. "What in Equestria is that?"

"It's... well it's a magic crystalline tree near the castle of the Royal Pony Sisters."

"You think that might be the source of the vines?" Applejack asked.

"Oh, Applejack," Rarity laughed. "Why would the source of the Elements of Harmony also be the same place these horrid plants came from?"

"Because," Twilight continued. "It's also where Celestia and Luna used Harmonious magic to place a curse on the land."

Rarity turned to Twilight and looked like she was going to respond, but she stopped when she fully processed what Twilight had said. She simply stared back with confusion, along with everyone else.

"What." Rarity said flatly, not so much a question as much as it was a dumbfounded reaction.

"The Everfree Forest isn't a natural phenomenon," Twilight said. "It's the result of a spell that the Royal Sisters cast more than a thousand years ago."

"But- but why?" Fluttershy stammered.

"Celestia told me that there was some sort of creature that came out of the earth to destroy Equestria, and the only way they could defeat it was by sending it back and sealing it up, then they created a forest that would drain its life away. According to my visions, the Tree of Harmony is like a lock that keeps the creature buried and the forest under control."

"Not really doing its job very well than, now is it?" Rarity complained, her face scrunching up in annoyance.

"Something must have happened to it," Twilight mused. "Like the lock is rusting or something."

"So you're tell'n us," Applejack started, with a very irate look on her face. "That yet another thousand year old someth'n or other is coming back to cause a ruckus? First is was Nightmare Moon, then Discord, then Sombra, and now this? What other skeletons are going to come out of the Princesses' closet? Are we going to have to deal with Celestia and Luna's long lost Ma and Pa? Does Discord have a twin sister we should be worried about?"

"I assure you Applejack," Discord said as he popped out from under the farm pony's stetson. "Had I a twin sister that survived the extinction of the Draconequus race, we would have heard about it. She would have sent a friendly monster or twenty my way as a way of saying 'how dare you forget my twenty fifth birthday you big stupid-'"

Applejack grabbed her hat and whipped it around to the side, dislodging Discord and sending him flying. Placing it back on her head, she looked over at Twilight with annoyance.

"So this curse is what's causing all these vines? And we can't just un-curse it because it'll also release some monster? Don't see what the problem is with that, not like we haven't tumbled with plenty of monsters in the past haven't we?"

"Not like this you haven't," Discord said as he sat up from the ground where he landed. "This monster is like the mother of all monsters that came after it. I was there when our dear Sun and Moon Princesses did battle with it, and even with twenty other equally powerful beings alongside them they still only just beat the horrible beasty back into its hole. Believe me when I say that you'd much prefer that the curse ran its course before you dispelled it."

"And leave the sky a complete mess and the Everfree forest to grow out of control?" Applejack shot back. "No way, no how!"

"Enough!" Twilight shouted. "Applejack, we don't need to undo the curse in order to set everything right. If something is wrong with the Tree of Harmony, we just need to fix it and then it'll go back to keeping the Beast and the forest in check."

Applejack opened her mouth to argue some more, but then simply groaned in frustration. "You're right," she said as she calmed down. "I'm sorry, it's just that this sort of thing is getting a might frustrate'n."

"Quite," Rarity agreed. "But, as we are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, we should see it as an honor to serve our friends and country in a way only we can."

"I second that!" Rainbow Dash shouted enthusiastically. "So what are we waiting for? Let's go save that tree!" With one big united cheer, Twilight and her friends began a mad dash towards the Everfree Forest.

"Au Revoir!" Discord shouted, waving a handkerchief at the departing ponies and dragon. "I promise Ponyville will be mostly intact when you return!"

"Are we sure it's alright to just leave him here?" Rainbow Dash asked the others. "He's bound to cause trouble while we're gone."

"Gotta have a little more faith sometimes RD," Wayfarer said as he matched her pace. "Not like he can do anymore damage than the vines have already done."

"Yeah, y'all got a point there," Applejack said. "I guess you're- hey, wait a minute! Why are you tagging along?"

Wayfarer turned and gave Applejack an incredulous look. "Seriously? My friends and landlord are going on a dangerous, potentially world changing mission, and you're asking me why I want to come and help?"

"Well it's just... you're just... we're all-"

"It's because I'm a stallion isn't it?" Wayfarer said in mock offense, causing Applejack to stumble slightly and Rainbow Dash to start uproariously laughing.

"What? No!" Applejack blushed as she regained her step. "But you don't have an Element of Harmony. How are you going to help when things start going sour?"

"Relax, AJ," Rainbow Dash said. "He's a lot more up to snuff than he looks. Give him a shot and he'll pull a few cards out of his sleeves."

"Is that so?" Applejack skeptically asked, eyeing the sleeves of Wayfarer's coat. "Well I guess we'll just see about that then."

Wayfarer hadn't been anywhere near the Everfree in all the time he'd been in Ponyville. Sure he'd seen it from afar whenever he visited Fluttershy's cottage or on his usual wanderings through town, but the murmurs and rumors of monsters were reason enough to give the woods a wide berth. Now Wayfarer had another reason to stay away from the accursed forest: the place itself was absolutely terrifying. They hadn't even gone in yet and already his eyes were darting about the trees, looking for any sort of inequine shape or eyes peering out of the darkness at him. And that was another thing, the sky might have been half night, but it was still almost as bright out as late morning. Inside the forest however, light almost didn't seem to exist. Past the first few rows of trees, Wayfarer couldn't see anything more than the outline of a tree limb or trunk, and that scared the horseshoes off of him more than any rumors of Manticores or Cockatrices. And then of course there were the vines that coiled around every tree like massive pythons.

"Seems like only yesterday we were headed into these woods to find the Elements of Harmony," Rarity said, she and everyone else completely oblivious to Wayfarer's internal state of mild distress. "Now we're going in to find the source of the Elements themselves."

"Yeah," Twilight responded. "And it seems like only yesterday I was stubborn and foolish enough to believe that I could find them on my own, that I didn't need friendship to succeed."

"Well you came around eventually," Applejack said with a hint of fond recollection. "Don't know what we would have done if you hadn't. Probably would have had to sell the farm, eternal night would have ruined our crops someth'n fierce."

"And we got some fabulous accessories out of the deal as well!" Rarity said, gently adjusting her Element as she did. "Oh, and a chance to meet that delightful river serpent, quite the gem himself if I do say so.

"And a chance to show off how awesome I am!" Rainbow Dash boasted. "You know, by not accepting those phony Shadowbolt's offer and proving to Nightmare Moon that nothing in the world would make me leave behind my friends!"

"Ooh! I hope we run into that baby Manticore again!" Fluttershy added. "I bet he's grown up all big and strong now!"

"I hope there's more ugly trees for us to laugh at!" Pinkie Pie shouted. "I've come up with a half dozen reprisal songs for us to sing if the occasion ever came up again!"

Applejack and Twilight looked at the other four with raised eyebrows, before turning to each other and giggling. Twilight confidently looked into the forest and started walking in, the others following right behind.

"I don't know what we're going to face in here," Twilight said. "But I do know that this time I can count on my friends, this time we do it together."

A general nod of affirmative came from the other five mares, while at the back of the procession Wayfarer and Spike just made despondent glances at each other.

"You ever feel like a bit of an outlier when they get like this?" Wayfarer asked the dragon.

"Meh, you get used to it." Spike responded.

It was an achingly long half hour later that Wayfarer's nerves had finally calmed down. Nothing, not even the vines, had done anything to try and stop them. The darkness was still causing a bit of unease, but it was manageable. That, and the quietness was starting to become a lot more noticeable, a fact that Fluttershy of all ponies seemed to become aware of first.

"So Wayfarer," she asked, breaking the silence. "What were you planning on doing this summer? I mean, now that school's out and everything."

"Huh, yeah that's right," Wayfarer muttered. "In all the excitement today I completely forgot that school was over with. I've got nearly four weeks free of any sort of responsibility." Wayfarer pondered the prospect for a while, then gave a rather indecisive shrug. "Well if it weren't for the fact that Twilight refuses to take rental payment from me, I'd probably be looking into getting a temporary summer job. As it is, I'm not really sure what I'll do. Probably try to read right through Twilight's library or spend some time at the watering hole."

"Well there's my castle's inauguration on the eighth of July," Twilight said. "And Breezie Beaches Week before that. You'll find something to fill your time."

"Speaking of which," Rarity said. "What's to become of Golden Oaks Library when you move out?"

"I'm going to give the key back to town hall and hope whoever they get to replace me knows what they're doing. Who ran the library before I came to Ponyville?"

"Some old mare who moved to the retirement home a week or two before you got here." Applejack answered.

"Guess they'll have to find someone new then," Twilight said with a slightly melancholic tone.

"What about me?" Wayfarer asked. Everyone's heads turned to look at him with, at first, confusion, and then contemplation.

"Well," Twilight said slowly. "I was thinking you were going to come live at the castle after we moved out, at least until you found your own place. You know, same plan as before?"

"Uh, Twilight?" Rainbow Dash said bemusedly. "I think he's actually suggesting that he takes over the library in your place."

"Oh! Well," Twilight seemed to consider it for a moment before smiling. "We'll see."

There was a round of giggles and smiles, especially from Wayfarer. Truth be told, the idea had been in the back of his mind for a while now. He'd walked around Ponyville and seen the occupancy rate of the homes in and around town enough times to know that he was probably going to have to build his own home from the ground up. Taking over the library would fix that issue, and now it would reassure Twilight that the library would be left in good hooves. And besides that, Wayfarer had gotten used to falling asleep with the scent of old paper and fresh ink in the air, he would have missed that if he had to move anywhere else.

The conversation and laughter died back down to silence. And for a good minute, there wasn't a sound to be heard. Wayfarer didn't really notice anything wrong with this, but apparently the others did.

"Um, excuse me," Fluttershy spoke up again as her eyes started to dart around. "Is it just me, or has the forest been even quieter than usual?"

"Yeah, now that you mention it," Rainbow Dash agreed.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Wayfarer asked. "Doesn't that mean nothing's waiting in the shadows to jump out and eat us?"

"You would think," Rarity said. "But you'd also think there would at least be the sound of insects or the wind blowing in the trees. But there's nothing."

"It's silent as the grave," Twilight said.

"Don't use that phrasing please," Spike begged. "That's just wishing for something awful to hap-"

"AHHHH!!" Pinkie screamed, pointing into the trees. "Eyes! I saw eyes! And not the friendly yellow eyes that just want to say hello! But creepy lime green eyes that just scream evil!"

Everyone jumped and then bunched up into a tight circle, all eyes facing outward, most looking to the place that Pinkie had pointed out. Nothing moved, no one even breathed as they stared into the darkness, looking for whatever it was that had startled them. Wayfarer felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up as the seconds ticked on, he could feel the stare of something out there, even if he couldn't actually see who or what was doing the staring. Eventually, Applejack gave an exasperated groan and turned to Pinkie Pie.

"Pinkie," she said frustratedly. "Are you just trying to scare us? We're already on pins and needles as it is without you making us jump at nothing."

"But I did see something!" Pinkie Pie said. "It was a pair of big green glowing eyes!"

"Zecora did mention that she saw a changeling in here the other day," Wayfarer said.

"Oh, now you tell us," Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes.

"Let's just keep moving," Twilight said. "Maybe whatever it was won't bother-"

Twilight stopped short as a low rumble reached their ears, which grew louder and louder as the earth began to shake beneath their hooves.

"Earthquake?!" Rarity shouted as they all braced themselves.

The shaking only lasted a few more seconds before it ceased. Everyone looked at each other, eyes filled with unease, there hooves gently moving and feeling the ground, unsure it it would start quaking again.

"M-maybe it's just the vines moving around?" Twilight hypothesized, though the look she gave Wayfarer suggested that wasn't her main theory.

"There's been all sorts of earthquakes in the last few months," Fluttershy pointed out nervously. "All my little animal friends have been so frightened, I just can't-"

A mighty thunder like crack resonated out from the ground as the tremors returned with even greater intensity. Everyone was immediately thrown to the ground as the earth split apart, like a giant opening its maw. The crevasse diverged right through the middle of the group, leaving half of them on either side as the gap quickly spread to almost five feet in width.

Wayfarer's grip on the ground began to slip as the edges of the tear began falling inward. He backed up as quickly as possible, grabbing Spike by the tail as he did so and dragging him away. His gaze flitted around to the others, watching them retreat from the opening as well. Save for Twilight, who was in the crevasse, holding on to the edge for dear life.

"Twilight!" Wayfarer cried as he sprang upright, only to be sent back to the ground by another violent shake. Helplessly, Wayfarer watched as Twilight panicked in her attempts to get out, her wings flapping out of sync, her forehooves digging at the ground in front of her.

"Hang on Twi!" Applejack yelled as she and Pinkie Pie started crawling to their friend's aid. Before they could reach her though, a large, very old looking tree next to the crevasse, began to topple over right on top of them. Pinkie Pie, seeing this, grabbed Applejack by the tail and yanked her back with a brutal jerk. Applejack went sailing over Pinkie's head, and Pinkie, in a startling defiance of physics, got dragged along with her. The tree crashed into the ground, barely missing the two, but cutting them off from Twilight. The ground around the tree, now loose from all the roots being pulled from it, made it easier for the quake to shake apart what little ground Twilight was able to hold onto. In a moment that made Wayfarer's heart stop, he watched as Twilight's support fell away and she tumbled out of sight.

The earth, seemingly satisfied with having claimed a victim, slowly stopped shuddering again. With the ground stable, everyone rushed to the edge of the crevasse, watching their step to avoid falling in themselves.

"Twilight!" Rarity called into the hole.

"Twilight! Are you okay?!" Fluttershy yelled.

"Consarn it! Say Something!" Applejack cried.

Silence. The seven of them stared into the darkness with bated breath, waiting for some sort of response. After a very pregnant pause, the sound of a groan reached their ears, then Twilight's voice drifted up to them.

"I'm alright!" She called. "I'm pretty sure I'm bleeding in a few spots, but I'm alright!"

There was a collective sigh of relief, then Applejack rushed to a nearby tree and began pulling a vine from it.

"We'll have you out of there in no time Twi!" She called out.

"Are your wings alright?" Rainbow Dash yelled into the hole. "Can you fly out?"

"The crevasse is too narrow!" Twilight's voice responded. "I tried fanning out my wings to slow my fall and they buffeted against the sides!"

"Speaking of which," Rarity said, giving Rainbow Dash an irritated look. "What was stopping you from flying to the crevasse and catching her before she fell?"

"I would have," Rainbow responded. "But Fluttershy panicked and grabbed me before I could do anything!"

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Fluttershy tearfully repeated over and over.

"Oh shoot, sugarcube," Applejack said, carrying over the first few vines for their improvised rope. "Once we get her out of there it'll all be water under the bridge."

Twilight's fall had, thankfully, been a short one. The landing was rough, but most of the damage had been done as she fell along the sides of the chasm. Her voice, as she reassured her friends of her condition, had echoed all around her, telling her she'd fallen into a cavern. After standing up and doing a few quick stretches to see if anything else was injured, she sparked her horn and illuminated her surroundings.

At first, it seemed like a very standard hole in the ground: lots of dirt and rock, uneven surfaces, and a stalagmite or stalactite here and there. But as her horn's glow grew brighter, she noted that the cavern was nearly wide enough for several pegasi, perhaps even ones as big as Celestia, to fly through comfortably, wing tip to wing tip and then some. She also noted that while the walls were indeed rough, they seemed to curve up and around the ceiling in a uniform shape, like they'd been hoof carved that way. Finally, Twilight looked toward either end of the chamber and saw that her light was only going so far. She realized at this point that she was in a tunnel, one that felt eerily similar in size and build to the corridors beneath Ponyville castle, where the Shadows nested.

"Oh no," Twilight whimpered before she tilted her head up and called out to the others. "Whatever plan you have to get me out of here, I'd appreciate it if you did it fast!"

"Hold on Twi," Applejack called back. "Just got to make sure these vines aren't going to snap when we pull you out!"

Twilight directed her attention back to the darkness reaching out to her from either direction. She focussed her light into a single beam and pushed it as far as it would go, determined to see danger coming long before it got within grabbing distance of her. Her breathing slowed down and deepened as she tried to remain calm. Her attention darted back and forth, staring ahead for no longer than a few seconds before looking the other way. Her ears twitched, searching for even the slightest sound of movement.

Then something started muttering, a voice, as if far away, echoed around her and in her head. The muttering slowly grew louder and more coherent, until she could pick up a few words here and there. Twilight flattened her ears against the side of her head, trying to block out the voice, but it was like the voice was coming from within her now and would not cease. When the voice finally solidified, if whispered only a few words, right into her ear, like whoever it was was right behind her.

"Hello little filly. Are you lost?"

Twilight felt like she'd been dipped into a pool of ice water. The voice reminded her of her mother's, but the reverb and echo that she'd come to associate with the voice of a Shadow removed any semblance of warmth or compassion, replacing it with only a horrible hunger.

"Any time now please!" Twilight called upwards as she jumped away from the spot she'd been standing in and spun about, but there was no one there. The sound of something crawling along the ground sent her attention back down the tunnel, where several Shadows had appeared and were inching towards her. "Get me out of here!"

"Twilight? What's wrong?" Rarity called back.

"Oh don't cry," the tunnel's voice said as the Shadows began to morph and change. "You'll be with Mother again very soon."

Above the crevasse, the others were weaving together the vines for their rope, when Twilight began to shout in panic they started calling out to her again.

"What's happening?!" Fluttershy cried. "Are you alright Twilight? Say something!"

Once again there was a moment of silence, then Twilight called out for help with one word, not to her friends, but to herself.

"PERSONA!"

A flash of blue light burst from the crevasse, followed by an eruption of lightning that sent everyone flying away from the hole.

"What in tarnation?!" Applejack shouted when she picked herself back up.

Then the earth started to shake again, but not in the long, continuous tremor like before. This time it was more like shockwaves caused by something heavy striking the ground.

With almost no hesitation, Wayfarer rushed to the edge of the crevasse, picked up the vine rope, and against the cries of the others, leapt into the opening.

Within moments, Wayfarer found himself in the tunnel, where dozens of Shadows of different shapes and sizes were trying to dog pile Twilight and Tyche.

"Persona!" Wayfarer shouted as he swung into the fray. Ekchuah crashed into the ground, scattering Shadows about before unleashing a gale of sharpened air. Wayfarer backed up to cover Twilight as Ekchuah did the same with Tyche. A circle started to form around them as Shadows came from all sides to surround them. The two Persona users shared a glance, before crying out their familiars' names, commanding them to battle.

"Tyche!"

"Ekchuah!"

Wind and lightning criss crossed through the tunnel, the two Personas dancing around casting spell after spell and mowing down the enemy numbers. It was like a hurricane of destruction, with Twilight and Wayfarer at its eye. The floor began to flood with the Shadow's goopy remains as they were whittled down. Ekchuah used the now slick surface to slide back and forth, swatting the remaining Shadows with his spear or occasionally a fierce backhand whenever they foolishly tried to flank him. Tyche, using the slight conduciveness of the substance, arced electricity across the floor, zapping several Shadows at once. Soon all that was left were a few larger creatures that seemed far more resistant that the small fry. But any intimidation factor the stragglers might have had meant nothing to Twilight and Wayfarer. Smirking confidently, the two of them, moving in sync, stepped forward and shouted in unison.

"PERSONA!"

Ekchuah and Tyche, mimicking their summoners' movements, raised their weapons and raised up a powerful maelstrom. Wind and thunder roared through the tunnel like a cyclone, the shadows were torn apart by claw-like blasts of air and incinerated by electrical talons that grabbed hold of them. The gale carried their charred and bisected remains into the air and blasted them into the darkness. The thunder echoed back at the two ponies, and then, silence.

After a moment of tensely held breath, Wayfarer and Twilight sighed. Then they started to pant and giggle, looking at each other with utmost amusement as they tried to recover from a lack of oxygen. They didn't realize it at the time, but both of them were so focussed on not dying that they barely had time to breath during the entire scuffle. Now as air filled their lungs, they both could barely restrain themselves, before the sound of Applejack calling for them brought the two back to their senses.

"You two have ten seconds to get your flanks up here and explain what in Tartarus that was all about, or I'm coming in there and bucking the answer out of you!"

"Cat's out of the bag," Twilight said sadly, though still with a smile on her face. "Come on, let's get out of here."

"I think we might have destroyed the rope with all that magic we were swinging around," Wayfarer pointed out, not being able to find the vines he'd swung in on. "Hold on, I've got an idea. Quetzalcoatl!"

Ekchuah, in a flash of light, shifted into the shape of a winged serpent. Twilight allowed Tyche to disappear as she and Wayfarer climbed on top of Quetzalcoatl. The snake then used the claw like tips on the joints of its wings to climb the walls back into the crevasse. Twilight and Wayfarer held tight to the Persona's scaled hide, so as not to fall or graze their heads against the opposite wall. Unfortunately, Wayfarer didn't take into account the reactions of the others to a giant snake crawling out of the ground their friends had fallen into. Rarity's scream when Quetzalcoatl's head rose into view could be heard for miles around.

"What in the name of Celestia?!" Applejack swore.

"Girls!" Twilight called trying to reassure her friends as she and Wayfarer came into view. "It's alright, it's just us."

Rarity and Fluttershy weren't listening thought. Rarity had fainted and was now being fanned by Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy was currently bawling into Rainbow Dash's side as the later patted her on the head. Only Applejack and Spike's attention were on the two as they dismounted the serpent. Applejack's mouth was wide open in disbelief, and it nearly fell completely off when Wayfarer allowed the snake to disappear.

Spike stared at Wayfarer for a few moments before shaking his head violently, as if trying to dislodge whatever was making him hallucinate, then he walked over to Pinkie and Rarity to see if he could help, leaving Applejack to fumble her words about.

"I... What was... when did you..." The farm pony stuttered as she tried to collect her thoughts.

"You all wanted to know what's been going on?" Twilight asked. Applejack blinked in surprise, Fluttershy pulled a teary eye away from Rainbow, and Rarity seemed to instantly revive herself. "Come on, we can talk on the way."