Equestria, the land where Harmony reigns and peace is the backdrop. Granted like any ideal kingdom, there are the issues that underlay it. Some are minor whereas others tend to get out of hoof; one would be surprised how often the latter happens in the town of Ponyville and the city of Canterlot. Many citizens of the kingdom have even jokingly stated that both cities were magnets for disaster, you’d be half right.

In reality these two settlements were merely the first targets due to their placements and position of power respectfully. Like a beacon attracting moths, evil would always congregate to these places in an effort to take them over or make them examples, usually the former more than the latter. But that is beside the point for you see, wherever there was evil, there were protectors to fight it. One such protector was a purple alicorn who was currently trudging through the underbrush of a dark and at times cursed forest. Levitating before her was a massive piece of parchment and a quill was absently scribbling something down upon it.

To some, it would seem Twilight Sparkle was trotting and studying. Though this was not uncommon of her to do, this was not such a time. Instead she was doing something she had meant to do for quite some time and that was to make a map of the Everfree Forest from scratch. Being as she was, she leapt at the intellectual challenge of mapping out the peril filled maze of tree and vines. Though she was scared, her thrill of discovering the unknown ruled out and she continued forward, however the fear of her companion was evident.

“Twilight can we PLEEEEEASE go home now?”

Twilight sighed as she glanced at her assistant, “Spike honestly, I understand you’re scared. But think about this for a minute,” she smiled, “you have a princess of Equestria with you. I’m ten times scarier than anything we’ll meet in here.”

Spike smirked slightly, “Yeah that’s for sure, whenever you try to fly at high speeds you end up crashing like a monster.”

Twilight growled in annoyance at the comment but stopped when they came upon a familiar castle structure, “Annnd,” she quickly scribbled on the map, “The castle is catalogued! Come on Spike, just need a few more things down here and…,” she took note of Spike’s scared and unamused expression and smiled warmly, “then we can head back to Ponyville for the day.”

Spike smiled at having won and leapt on Twilight’s back as she flew over the castle and landed at the tree line beyond it, “Alright Spike, this is it,” she inhaled, “once we step beyond this treeline, we’ll both be deeper than we have ever been before.”

Spike faked enthusiasm, “Yippee.”

Twilight paid him no mind and placed an attentive hoof forward…only to fall forward with the baby dragon in tow. Twilight and Spike let out a series of screams as the tumbled in twin purple balls of motion. Twilight attempted to concentrate and light her horn with magic, but the constant upon constant bombardment of motion and pain prevented her from doing so. Eventually their screaming reached a new octave when they went from rolling to falling, Twilight quickly looked up and noticed that she and Spike had split an ivy canopy open which resulted in their current predicament. Twilight, thinking quickly, lit her horn up and engulfed her and Spike in a bubble of magic. The spell itself would act as a cushion and they would touch down harmlessly, at least she hoped that it would. She and her dragon shut their eyes as the floor approached, and then they bounced harmlessly off of it before the bubble dissipated. Twilight then lit her horn once more to shed some light on the situation at hoof, from the look of things they had crashed into some form of cave network. She hoped deep down that it wasn’t diamond dog turf as she stepped forward, only to regret it

“AHHHHHH!”

The scared mare gazed down to find that her precious map was now in pieces and the fact that she had stepped on it only further worsened the situation. Twilight stared down in dismay at the map and shook her head as if to refuse the damage before her, it didn’t work.

“Twilight snap out of it,” Spike gestured forward, “We need to find a way out of here!”

Twilight gave her head a shake and nodded, “Right,” she glanced up and spread her wings only to flinch in pain, “YEE! I think I hurt my wings in the fall,” she gazed into the dark maw of the tunnel before them and gulped, “Looks like we’re walking.”

Spike gulped as well as they began their trek into the abyss before them. The further they walked, the darker it seemed to become around Twilight’s horn. It was as if the darkness itself sought to snuff out the light that dared to enter its home, but Twilight pushed forward undeterred. For many hours they walked in black stone but soon light became present. The party of two then smelt something familiar, the smell of flora! Twilight quickly plopped Spike on her back and surged toward the scent, they found its source much to their surprise. The cave they had been in opened up abruptly in what one could describe as a pocket of paradise. The sun shined brightly upon the large patch of land the two found themselves in, vines hung from the trees and were adorned with unique and rare looking flowers. The ground and grass even smelt like the dew of the morning, Twilight couldn’t help but inhale the fresh forest air.

“Holy moley,” Spike gazed around and noted the afternoon sky, “Where are we?”

Twilight was still in awe, “I know we’re in the Everfree Forest, the clouds are still moving by themselves,” she glanced around as she walked forward, “but as to where, I’m not sure.”

The duo advanced further into the oasis taking in the sights, surely a thing of beauty in itself. But what confused Twilight was how something such as this could exist in the Everfree. This like many other questions asked by her would go unanswered for the time being. As the two ventured further within, they came to a stop on the top of a hill and beheld what lay below in a small valley. A massive ruined temple of grey and black stone marred the peaceful and bright landscape like a blemish, but none the less, Twilight was further fascinated.

Twilight started trotting toward the structure as Spike voiced his objection, “Twilight, we can’t go in there! There’s no telling what kind of monsters, traps, or other things cou-“

Twilight shushed him, “Oh come on Spike, look around,” she gestured to the area, “Does this place look like it has any monsters in it?”

“Well no but…”

Twilight then smirked, “Then stop being such a scaredy dragon, this temple could hold untold knowledge! I have to investigate.”

Spike remained silent but eyed the walls suspiciously as the entered. The walls themselves seemed to have been damaged from some sort of massive concussive force. Judging by the cracks and stone displacement, it seemed to come from deeper within the temple. It was as if the force in question had traveled through the foundations and threatened to bring down the whole structure from within. Twilight kept a mental note of this and traveled further down the massive hallway only to come to a stop. The floor itself had long since fallen away before her and formed a jagged mouth of a hole leading down into the bowls of the building.

Spike hopped down, “Oh well, looks like we can’t go any further,” he then started speed walking toward the exit, “Now let’s figure out a way back to Ponyville and tellGAK!”

Twilight yanked him back toward her, “OH NO you don’t mister! We’re seeing this through,” she flashed her horn as a slab of stone made a makeshift platform which she hopped on, “Come on.”

Spike sighed in defeat and joined Twilight as they descended. The explorers looked around at the walls and took note of the destruction around them, it seemed somepony or something had torn its way through the floor and went downward. Twilight noticed marks that looked like that a blade would leave behind, what aroused her suspicion further was the fact that the walls were lined with them. It was almost somepony had used a weapon as a means of slowing their decent. Soon they reached the bottom of the shaft and noticed that they had landed on a balcony of some form with a grand staircase that led down to the floor below. The floor below was a complete disaster zone; massive chunks of stone and rocks littered the area that resembled a battle zone in size and appearance. Twilight walked down the stairs as Spike looked around in awe.

“What do you think went on here Twi?”

“Hard to say,” Twilight walked around a large boulder and froze, “SPIKE!”

Spike ran and skidded to a halt beside Twilight, “What?! What happened?!”

Twilight pointed forward and Spike gasped. Standing on a broken piece of stone reared back and with a look of horror plastered on its face was the stone statue of a stallion. Twilight approached the statue with caution and walked around it, the stallion seemed to wear some form of armor on his barrel and shoulders. The same armor covered it’s front and hind hooves and had some odd runes inscribed upon them. What drew her eyes however was the fact that around its neck was a flawless ruby like stone in the shape of a teardrop and unlike the rest of it, it wasn’t stone.

“WHOA!”

Twilight turned her head and noticed Spike just barely managing to heft a massive battle axe that he had found, “SPIKE! Put that down! You’ll hurt yourself!”

Spike immediately dropped it and the clang reverberated throughout the chamber causing Twilight to scowl at the now sheepish dragon. Her attention went back to the stallion as her hoof inspected his muzzle.

“This is far to detailed for a statue,” she tapped the stallion’s nose, “It must be some form of curse.”

Spike was at her side, “Twilight, I know that look,” he pointed a claw at the stallion, “maybe this guy was frozen for a reason, I mean remember Discord?”

Twilight nodded, “That might be true,” she noticed with mild sadness that the pony had a scar on its eye, “But…I just have this feeling. I don’t think whoever this is means any harm.”

Twilight’s horn lit up as Spike took a step back, “If you say so,” his claw found the battle axe’s handle, “But I got your back.”

Twilight nodded as her face scrunched up in a show of massive exertion, her horns aura flared larger and brighter. The color began to transition to white before she fired it at the stallion. The magic lingered along the stone surface of the statue before it was absorbed by the stone around its neck. In a flash, a series of cracks erupted along the stone letting out matching light. Twilight backed up as the cracks continued to splinter off and the glow intensified. With a resounding crash and flash of red, the stone exploded off the stallion that then flopped to the ground with a clunk thanks to the armor.

Twilight ran to the now unfrozen stallion and checked him, “He’s breathing! Spike, drop that thing and get over here!”

Twilight’s eyes widened when she noticed he lacked a cutie mark, how could this be? She then took note of the stallion before her. He seemed to be just around Big Mac’s height and had a fairly good build. His armor was dark blackish chrome and shined slightly in the light even though it was scuffed in some areas. The trim of the armor plates on his shoulders were white fur and it appeared in good condition despite the circumstances. His mane and tail were wild looking and were rose red and his coat was a light peach color.

Twilight nudged him slightly, “Excuse me,” the stallion stirred slightly with a groan.

Twilight got closer to his face, “Sir, are you alright?”

A pair of emerald green eyes met hers for a brief instance before the stallion got to his hooves and backed up in surprise.

Twilight raised her hooves in a calming gesture, “It’s alright, I mean you no harm,” she slowly approached him mimicking Fluttershy’s stance to approach a frightened animal, “I’m Twilight Sparkle, princess of Equestria.”

The stallion took note of the dragon that clutched the battle axe that was far too big for him, “Why are you holding my axe?”

Spike dropped it immediately as all three flinched, “I-I was just keeping it warm for you.”

The stallion walked over to the axe and grabbed the handle in his mouth…and lifted it up like it weighed nothing. The stallion flicked his head around as a metallic clack was heard, the axe somehow snapped in place and rested perfectly on his back.

Twilight blinked away her surprise, “Sir, you’ve been imprisoned in stone, and I just un-“

“Baen.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, “Excuse me?”

The stallion gave her a smirk that reminded her a lot of Rainbow Dash’s smirks, “It’s not sir, Sparkles, it’s Baen.”

“Sparkles,” Twilight thought on it but shook her head, “S- I mean Baen. Do you know where you are right now?”

Baen tapped his chin as he reflected for a moment, “The unicorn city of Nightvale if I remember correctly.”

Twilight was confused by the statement, “Um…no you’re not. You’re in the Everfree Forest.”

“The what now forest,” Baen’s eyes widened in a sudden realization, “What year is this?”

Twilight blinked, “Um….the year 650 of the 5th Solar Cycle.”

Baen shook his head, “No. That’s not right; it’s the 5th day of Estel.”

Twilight blinked, “The fifth of what?”

Baen’s pupils turned to pinpricks, “No……,” he looked around and started to hyperventilate.

Twilight ran to him, “Baen! Calm down! If you don’t you’ll-“

*THUNK!*

“Pass out,” Twilight sighed, “Spike, help me with him.”