All three alicorns shook their heads. Red looked at Pinkamena. "Nope. Nothing." She told him. "Well, I guess that means it's one of mine..." Red was starting to wonder why any of this happened to him. Then he remembered who his family was. Stepping into the clock tower section, Red looked around. It was exactly the same as the one in his memories. Walking up the steps, with the others close behind him, Red swore he felt something watching them. Once they got halfway up the steps, a loud crash was heard below them. Looking down, Red saw the pony with the helmet again. "Not to burst anyone's bubble, but we have to hurry." As Red said that, another crash could be heard. "Now!" Red began sprinting, and the others started galloping. Pinkamena looked behind her, and tapped Red's shoulder. "What is it?" Red asked, and looked behind. His eyes widened, and he began running even faster. The stairs were collapsing behind them.

As they began to near the top, Red lost his footing, and tripped. Pinkamena, who was launched from Red's back. landed on the top, on her back. As Red began to get back up, he looked behind him, and saw the collapsing stairs starting to catch up to him. He started sprinting, even faster, from not having to carry Pinkamena anymore. Once the three alicorns reached the top, the stairs started collapsing even faster. Red began to draw closer to the top, but the collapsing stairs were right at his heels. As soon as Red knew he was in jumping distance of the top, he lunged. Something grabbed his foot, just as he was about to land. It pulled him down. Luckily, Red was able to grab onto a ledge. Looking down, Red saw that it was a black tendril that had wrapped around his leg. Red unsheathed his sword and swung at the tendrils.

He missed, Red swung again, and again missed. Red was starting to get tired. He swung one final time, and managed to cut through the tendrils. He sheathed his sword, and climbed up. Only to see that he was completely alone. Well, shit. I guess I'm on my own for quite a while. "Hey, it'll be just like old times, am I right?" "Actually, I'm still here." "Oh yeah. Hey, wanna hear an embarrassing story about the person your currently residing in?" "Eh, why not?" Both of you can go fuck yourselves. "So, he's in the kitchen getting a midnight snack, right? Then, suddenly, out of nowhere..." I swear to god if you tell that story, I will put myself into a coma just to shut you up. "You know, I have a question, when you met Discord. Exactly how old are you? Really?" Red chuckled at the question Nightmare asked. Well, I'm technically thirty-five. My true age is thirty-five thousand.

"What!? There's no possible way for you to be that old!" You'd be surprised what kind of advantages being born into the wrong family has. Like, for example, eternal youth. Not immortality, that something entirely different. I just can't age. "But..." "Don't question it. It'll make your head explode. I'm not joking." Red walked along the walkways that were still standing. When he came across a locked door, Red tried to kick it down, but failed. Hey Nightmare, what can this sword cut through? "Well, considering that I made that out of something found only in the Everfree, I'm guessing pretty much anything. Why?" Wouldn't want to break the gift you gave me, now would I? Red slashed through the door, sheathed the sword, and stepped inside. It looked like a control room, of some kind.

Red looked around, but didn't see anything of any importance to him. Walking back through the doorway, Red saw that there were even less walkways now. In fact, there was only one way he could possibly go. Walking along the path that was laid out for him, Red felt the feeling we was watched again. Then he realized he was always watched. When he reached the end of the walkways, Red went through the door that was at the very end. The door led him to the same room that he was just in. God dammit... Red walked around the room again, checking everything he could. Then, he found a key next to a lever. "Great, a key. I'm sure that'll be useful..." Hey, at least it's not a riddle... "True. Man, I fucking hate those things." Red walked out of the room, and noticed that there were more walkways.

"So, what are we looking for?" What do you think? A door. After walking for a couple of minutes, Red noticed another door. There were no walkways to get to it. "Wait, are we seriously jumping?" What other choice do we have right now? "I fucking hate it when you make a point." Red began running to the door, ready to catch the knob if he had to. When he jumped, the door suddenly swung open. Red landed inside. Then the door slammed shut.

Red got up, and noticed that there was a pedestal in the middle of the room. On either side of the pedestal, was a door. On the pedestal was writing. It read: To the right, your darkest secrets will be revealed to the ones you trust. To the left, You will find out the secrets they have hidden for years. Only the correct path will allow you to leave. Red walked to the door on the right without hesitation, opened it, and walked through. "I hope you know what you're doing..." Next Chapter: Return Part IV Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 14 Minutes