Link stood at the end of the bridge, looking at the ruins of the castle. Step by step, he made his way across, only to be halted by a warning from his companion.

"Link, there's … something wrong with this…" she said, flying in front of his face. "Not wrong like, ‘This is a bad idea, we shouldn't do this, let's go back' wrong. More like, ‘Proceed with caution, because I feel something strange in there' wrong." Navi flew onto his head once more.

"There's nothing to worry about. The only thing in there is a busted wooden door, courtesy of Applejack." He continued over the bridge, not looking down the chasm beneath. "If we were to find something dangerous, we'd have found it yesterday."

In moments, they stood in the doorway of the castle. Just as it looked yesterday; the stairs to their sides, the balcony, the doors further down the sides, and stairs in the middle going below. Unlike yesterday, in the grand room, stationed several moving wooden creatures. Each one stood twice as tall as himself, easily, and had glowing yellow eyes. He only knew the eyes part, because one had noticed him and started his way, snarling.

"Oh… that kind of wrong…" Unhesitantly, he drew his sword and shield. With one swipe of the creature's arm, it connected with Link's shield, sending him hurtling to his left, barely staying on his feet. Wait, that's not bone… It sounded like wood… Sheathing his sword and putting his shield away, he ran at the construct.

It swung again at his side. Link jumped off its arm, and again off its lowered face, springboarding him over the entire creature. Link continued running, toward the stairs on the right. Barely glancing back, he saw two more constructs chase after him. He started building up magic in his hands. One of them split off toward the wall, got beside him and lunged. Quickly, he threw up a barrier on that side, stopping the attack. This let him get through the opening in the wall where the stairs go up.

Once inside, he threw up a second barrier to keep them out. "What are those?! They almost killed me! They weren't there yesterday! Is that what you meant?!" Link took this moment to sit on the stairs. He wasn't in there yesterday, so he was surprised to see that they go downward as well.

"Calm down, you're safe for now. Those are called Timberwolves. They live in select parts of the Everfree Forest. Yes, they did almost kill you, but they didn't. No they weren't there yesterday, they sleep at night, most of the time. And lastly, yes, I do believe that was what I was feeling. Anything else?"

"Yes. How many more are there?" he asked, seeing the barrier start to crack.

"Uh, they usually live in packs of up to 10, so I'd say about 7? Also, you may want to get moving. I don't suspect it'll hold up much longer."

In agreement, he got up, and headed up the stairs. Peeking over the top step, he saw two more wolves. More? With a sigh, he slowly walked around the corner, so he didn't attract attention. His back against the wall, he walked the length of the hallway, finding a door behind him about half way down with a sunburst mark on it, similar to Celestia's cutie mark.

"Here it is," Navi whispered. The door creaked open, revealing a nice room. Inside was a wooden desk with several scrolls scattered about it, a map of Equestria and its bordering nations hung on the wall, a few bookcases against the wall beneath the map, and a nice bed that seemed to …

"Navi, who's that?" he asked, shutting the door behind him.

"How am I supposed to know?"

Link walked over to the bedside and got a better look at the form beneath the covers. There, he saw a pony with a red coat, and light red with orange mane. Judging from muzzle structure, it appeared to be a mare. She lacked a horn, and there was no form in the covers where there would be wings.

"It's an earth pony mare." He looked around once more, and saw a bookmark in one of the books on her bedside table. "I think she lives here…"

Navi flew to the scrolls. "These are relatively new scrolls, not tattered as I'd expect in an ancient temple. Even has a fresh inkwell here. If you ask me, I'd say she's lived here for quite a while. After all, the wolves aren't actively trying to kill her, so then two things are possible: she's tamed them, or they fear her."

"Is that even possible? Them fearing a pony?" he asked, looking at his companion.

"Yes. See, in the pack, the strongest is the leader. She might have beaten the previous pack leader, and took the position. Such a thing is not unheard of."

Link slowly stepped toward the drawer beside the bed and opened it, revealing a set of needles, a few spools of thread, and some fabric. "Huh. She must be bored out here." Closing it, he opened the one below it, showing a few scrolls already rolled and bound.

"So many scrolls. This one's an unfinished letter." She read the last few sentences aloud. "‘Thanks again for sending me reading material. You know how I like adventure books. In other news' … it cuts off there. I wonder why…"

"Maybe she'll finish when she wakes? If it were-"

"There they are," Navi interrupts, pointing at the wall beside the door. There, hung saddlebags with a kind of fire patch on it. Beside it, hung a key ring with three keys on it.

Link saw them, walked over and retrieved the key ring. One had a sun handle, another with a moon handle, and a third that looked silver with an open handle and two prongs to open something. "Heh, a small key. This has to be it. !!" He looks back to the sleeping pony, who turned to the other side in slumber.

Quickly, he pocketed the keys as Navi hid under his hat again. Out the door he went, door creaking in both opening and closing. With the door shut behind him, he continued down the hall away from one of the wolves. Around the corner he went, and the first thing he saw was a painting on the wall of a young Princess Celestia.

"This is what she looked like a thousand years ago, huh. Doesn't look much different, maybe her height, but that's about it." Link looked further down and saw another. Walking to it, he made out the image of Princess Luna. "And this is her younger sister." He looked back to the first and noticed a third spike in the wall. "... Is there supposed to be a third one?"

"Don't know… I only know of the two."

"Luna's room should be down the hall and around the corner." Further he went, rounded the corner, and sure as heat in fire, there stood another door, this time with a crescent moon on it. "Luna's door." He tried to open it, but found it jammed.

"Pull harder?" Navi offered. "Oh wait, maybe it's locked."

Link retrieved the key ring from his pocket and tried the one with the moon on it. He heard it click as he turned the key. "That did it."

The two entered, shutting the door behind them. In this room sat a bed with nothing on it save for a few dark colored blankets, another desk with scrolls strewn about its surface, a map of Equestria, a few more shelves of books than the previous room, a table with a larger map of Equestria decorated with pins and pieces. On the walls were several paintings of the sisters, and one more spike where he believed a painting should go.

"Hold on a moment." Link went and sat on the bed, which let out a loud creak as he applied pressure. "It's about time for lunch. Feel free to look around," he granted. Navi's first destination was the paintings on the wall. He reached into his pocket and retrieved the juice and one of the apples. "… Something's wrong with my pouch."

"Hm? What's wrong with it?"

"My slice of pie. It's not here." He searched the other one, coming up empty handed. "It's not in the other one either."

"That makes sense. You didn't exactly take it with you. If I remember correctly, it's sitting in the fridge back at the library, if Spike or Twilight haven't eaten it already."

Saddened a little, he munched into the apple and found that it retained its freshness. "Huh… It's still cold. Like the pockets retained its temperature. Cool, literally."

"Link, you may want to see this," Navi said from under the desk. Link looked and saw a wooden chest with a metal frame holding it together. With his small key, he walked over, apple lodged in his mouth, and opened it, revealing a blue object with a mouthpiece, and 7 finger holes.

"This is the ocarina? A bit underwhelming if you ask me," he commented, removing the apple from his mouth. "This thing made a storm? Hard to believe just from looking at it. Hmm…" Without warning, he played three notes, then the same three notes, then again, skipping the middle note.

"What are you doing?!" she nearly screamed, kicking the instrument from his hands. Link looked around and saw nothing happening. "Who knows what you could have done! Do not try to play anything on it until we get it analyzed by Twilight, got it?" Navi sighed, and lowered her head. "You could have called down a hail of meteors, for all we know. Just… don't try it again… okay?"

"Yeesh, I just wanted to play a tune, see what would happen. No better teacher than your own errors, right? Besides, I seriously doubt this little thing can cause such a cataclysmic disaster."

"In our homeworld, the Ocarina of Time is used as a vessel to travel through time. I feel it may have the same, if not similar effect here. But we have to get this back to Twilight for further study."

"Fine…" he conceded. Pocketing the instrument, he finished his apple and began looking around the room. He noticed another bookmark in one of the books on the shelf. Opening it to the page, he read, "Check this out. ‘It was at this time, when my hope was no more, a blinding light guided my path through the heat of the desert. Was it delirium? Or perhaps the spirit of salvation aiding me in my hour of need? I know not the truth. With little water to my name, I followed, hoping not to be led astray by this strange light.' Wow, this is an old one."

"Sounds like it. Finish your juice, or save it for later so we can get back. !!"

The door opened to the room and there stood the same pony from before. "What are you doing here!?" Without warning she marched in. "Leave! Now! Before you get yourselves hurt!" It was apparent she didn't care they weren't ponies. In a hurry, they ran out the door, leaving his juice opened on the table. "And don't ever come back!" Before they could get far enough down the hall, the pony's hooves lit red with what seemed to be magic. She got on her hind legs and threw a fireball at them.

What the! He turned, and blocked it with his focused magic shield. Though hastily made, it held up. Not completely though, as the blast cracked it. If it takes another hit like that, it'll shatter. "Okay, not happening." He started walking back to the pony. "I got some questions for you, if that's alright."

"Link, no!" Navi warned from under his hat.

"Oh you want some more, do ya?!" She launched another, this one in increased size and force. Link easily dodged it and continued.

"First off, I was tasked to come her by Princess Celestia herself. If anything, you're invading private property, unless you own this castle, or are here with express permission." With that, she stopped, and dropped to her fours again, and retreated into the room, Link following close behind. "My question, how'd you learn a fire spell if you're not a unicorn?"

"I-I don't have to tell you anything." She slammed the door shut and locked him out. "Go away! Or I'll call the wolves!"

"So I was right. You're the alpha. You control them." Navi said from his head.

"That's right, so get lost or else!"

"Calm down, we were leaving anyway. I didn't mean to intrude on your lifestyle or anything." He turned away from the door, and stopped. "What's your name, by the way?"

"Ruby Inferno. Now just go away!"

"Fine." He continued down the hall, and down the stairs, turning back to see the wolves crawling up the stairs opposite him. Quickly, he jumped down the stairs, and dashed out the opening in the wall and over the bridge, hoping they didn't follow.

"That was way too close. Listen to me next time, or you could end up pushing daisies."

Link pulled the ocarina from his pocket. "We got what we came for, right? We can go back."

"Yeah, but… we're at least 2 miles out, and we went down a cliff past a sleeping manticore. It'll be an hour before we get back."

"Right… Time to move then." He started walking into the woods.

On this trip, he crossed the wooden bridge, the shallow river, the manticore was gone so he climbed the side of the cliff, and past the treeline. With Ponyville drawing nearer, he saw some ponies gathering together in town square.

"What's this now?" Link asked, looking around. The closer he got, the more he could make out a … stage, empty, but right in the middle of everything.

Elsewhere, in the unforgiving mountains northeast of Canterlot, a mare shook her head out of some illusion she thought she had. Bundled up as best as she could, her goal was to reach the peak. This mare had lived her entire life not knowing what she was meant to do, unaware of what her place in this world was. With a turn of her head, she perked her ears. "Did you hear that?" she asked herself. Again shaking her head, she replied, "It's just the icy winds, Epona. There's not another pony around you for miles..."

The other half of the previous chapter. Also, Navi gets a backbone.

Any questions? Ask away!