"Honestly guys, I don't understand your fear over the Castle of the Two Sisters," Twilight Sparkle complained as they ran for the ruins to get out of the rain that had just started.

"T'ain't fear, Twilight," Applejack protested once they reached the cover offered by the structure. "But it is a spooky ol' castle!"

"Full of creepy tricks and traps and such!" Rainbow Dash added. "You should see that hallway of disembodied hoofs! Still gives me the creeps!" she said with a shudder.

"And don't forget it's been abandoned for centuries!" Rarity tossed in. "Sadly, leaving all those wonderful decorations for ruin!"

"Y-y-yes, v-very scary," Fluttershy whimpered.

"It's just a bit run down from the fight Princess Luna had with Princess Celestia when Princess Luna became Nightmare Moon," Twilight countered. "There was a lot of damage done and after Nightmare Moon was banished, Princess Celestia couldn't afford to have the castle repaired."

"B-b-but w-what ab-bout all th-those t-traps?" Fluttershy nervously asked.

"I told you guys," Twilight Sparkled sighed, and not for the first time when speaking about the subject. "When the castle was first built, Princess Celestia wanted to entertain Princess Luna. Those secret passages and trick doors were made for her amusement. According to the diary I showed you, Princess Luna was delighted by the ingenuity that was put into the castle."

"But Canterlot Castle don't have any of those!" Rainbow Dash pointed out.

"Of course not," Twilight replied, tiredly repeating this matter, too. "After Princess Celestia banished Nightmare Moon, Princess Celestia wasn't able to bring herself to recreate the secret passages that reminded her of such happier times with her sister. It—it w-was a very sad time for Princess Celestia," Twilight sadly finished, envisioning how her mentor must have felt at the great loss. The others relented, seeing how badly it was affecting their purple friend.

"But let's remember!" Twilight suddenly spoke out happily, shaking out her wings. "We helped rescue Princess Luna and restored her to rule alongside Princess Celestia! Now, let's get collecting those books for the new library while we wait for the storm to subside!"

That was four days ago.

"Isn't this storm ever going to let up?!?" Pinkie Pie screamed, starting to feel depressed from the constant bad weather. Worse yet, the storm had even begun to sleet and hail. "AND WHERE IS RAINBOW DASH??!!??"

"This storm is too dangerous for any one pony to try breaking up," Twilight tiredly said. "Besides, this is the Everfree. Pegasi aren't able to tame the weather here anymore than anypony can tame the forest."

"Well this sucks!" Pinkie Pie complained.

"You're telling me!" Twilight sighed. "I hadn't counted on the storm lasting this long and—" her stomach gave a loud rumble, emphasizing what she was about to say, "—we don't have anything to eat!"

"Oh dear! This just simply won't do!" Rarity complained, looking at the weather beaten grass she and Fluttershy collected. Rarity had fashioned umbrellas to provide protection for them both. She had resourcefully made them from some of the sorted piles of debris left about the castle from their previous visits and attempts at cleaning up. "This grass is just simply too wild to be tasty and the weather is just too damaging to them!"

"B-b-but w-we d-don't h-have any ch-choice," Fluttershy stammered, picking at some of the edible leaves from nearby trees. "Th-the storm is too p-powerful f-for us to t-try g-going back to Ponyville."

"And it's getting harder to gather up all this," Rarity complained. "We're having to forage further and further into the forest. Of all the calamities to befall us, this. Is. The. Worst. Possible. EVER!"

Fluttershy stopped to stare at the white unicorn, until she finally noticed.

"What?" Rarity demanded.

"N-n-nothing," Fluttershy apologized with a knowing grin.

Dark shadows pelted by the storm moved through the trees, stalking the pale yellow pegasus and white unicorn, watching with greedy, hungry and angry eyes.

"This storm is really weird," Rainbow Dash complained as she hovered in midair alongside Applejack walking as they stalked down another set of dark corridors.

"Yer tellin' me!" Applejack responded. "T'ain't never seen a storm like this 'un. Four days 'n no letup?"

"No, you don't get it!" Rainbow Dash grumbled. She shook her head, trying to find something she could focus on that made sense. Pegasi could instinctively feel the forces at work on weather, having controlled it over Equestria for generations. But this storm ran counter to all that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy knew on both their gut level as well as their intellect. "This thing just feels wrong! It's like—we're right in the heart of the storm, but there's no pressure vortex here and no movement of the center from here the whole time it's been going on! Lightning's going from the clouds and into the ground? And this storm feels like it's more in the ground than above it!"

"Huh-huh!" Applejack laughed. "Don't lightning normally go from the clouds to the ground?"

"Duh! No! Actually, they don't!" Rainbow Dash said exasperated. "It only looks that way to non-pegasi. But we know better!"

"Huh! Well, since it's in tha ground, 'n seeingz how ah'm an Earth pony, how 'bout I give it a buck?" Applejack aimed her rear legs at the wall and gave it a hard slam with both hooves. Surprisingly, a lightning bolt erupted from the wall where it was kicked and streaked down the corridor. Applejack just about pissed herself thinking about what could've happen if the lightning had struck her instead. Rainbow Dash, still hovering in the corridor, looked on unimpressed.

"Don't do that," the cyan pegasus calmly muttered.

"You knew tha' wuz gonna happen, didn'tja?" Applejack yelled, glaring at Rainbow Dash.

"I told you, the storm's in the ground!" Rainbow Dash responded. But then her eyes narrowed in suspicion and turned to look further down the corridor. "But that lightning sure acted weird! Like somethin' was pullin' on it!"

"We may be on to something. Com'on!" Rainbow Dash called, leading the way.

Rarity and Fluttershy finished with yet another bushel and deposited it along with the other three they had gathered.

"Finally!" Rarity exclaimed. "I'm completely exhausted!"

"Oh! D-did y-you hear something?" Fluttershy squeaked, whirling about to face the forest.

"Honestly, darling! I don't know how you can possibly hear anything over this storm!"

Further on, Applejack and Rainbow Dash started hearing a continuous hissing and hum of what sounded like the biggest swarm of angry bees. Then the corridor became lighter as the noise got louder. Finally, they cautiously looked around one final turn that opened into a large chamber.

It was a sight that boggled the mind. There was a large chamber, in the middle of which, looked like a magic portal at one end of a long series of rings standing on edge and lightning was constantly arcing from the walls, ceiling and floor to the rings.

"Whudya suppose tha' thar thing is, Rainbow?" Applejack asked.

"I-I don't know! But I'm bettin' it's got somethin' to do with the storm outside!" Rainbow Dash responded with a nervous gulp.