"Hello? Scootaloo? Kevin? Flight?" With each name, the voice reverberated around the curved white walls. Slowly, Scootaloo turned her head to Kevin, who was quivering in place, staring straight ahead at the wall. She tried to motion for him to extinguish the green light emanating from his horn but no dice—he evidently couldn't see her from where he stood.

The hoofsteps behind them neared and then stopped "Um, guys, I can see you down there," the voice said, sounding more familiar than ever. Sighing, Scootaloo turned around. And then she blinked.

"Mochi?!" Scootaloo exclaimed. Looking down from the top of the smooth white ledge across the room, the older pink mare smiled.

"How'd you kids get down here?" Mochi called down, leaning over the edge.

"We might ask the same of you," Flight replied. "We, uh, had a little incident that freaked us out and accidentally fell down a hole. It was too high up to fly out, though, so we kept walking down the tunnels until we got here."

"And Scootaloo fell down here, so we had to come down and help her up," Kevin said, snickering a little. Scootaloo stared daggers at him before looking back up to Mochi.

"Huh, that's mighty interestin'," the mare said. "I just found the weird tall thing protrudin' from the earth like a smooth white tree trunk and I went up the stairs to the top and then down the stairs inside. From there, it was just a matter of following the path in front of me."

"...Weird tall thing?" Flight asked.

"...Protruding from the ground?" Scootaloo scratched her head.

Mochi nodded. "Them's the things I said—I'm not sure why you're repeatin' 'em, though."

"Just a little surprised, that's all," Scootaloo replied. She glanced around at the ovoid walls that surrounded them. "We still don't know what this place is, and the fact that it's got a part that sticks out of the ground... that just makes it all the weirder."

"I s'pose you're right," Mochi agreed. "That's the whole reason I checked it out, anyhow—wasn't having much luck finding berries in that stretch of the woods."

"Say, Mochi, you wouldn't happen to know how to read lemur-speak, would you?" Kevin asked. "There's a bunch inscribed down here but we're not having much luck at making it out."

Mochi raised an eyebrow. "Inscribed in the walls? That's weird... hold on, lemme get a look." Before Scootaloo, Flight, or Kevin could say anything, the mare leapt off the ledge, falling quickly down until she landed with a clatter on her hooves, making the floor shake. "...Ow," she said once she landed, shaking her head.

"You okay?" Scootaloo asked, concerned.

"Yep, just fine," Mochi replied. "Now where's these mystery words?"

Scootaloo pointed at the wall with a hoof and Flight stood aside to let Mochi approach. The pink mare leaned her face forward so that it was but a few centimetres from the glossy white surface, eyes squinted and darting around. She stood there for about a minute. Then, without looking away, she said, "Nope, sorry, don't understand a word of it."

Flight facehoofed. "Why'd you jump down here in the first place, then?"

"Aw, come on. I used to know a bit of the stuff from back in primary school—they taught us all of the letters and at least a few of the words. And I still remember the letters and what sounds they make—that part's easy. It's the words I got no idea about."

"Huh." Flight tilted her head. "I guess that makes sense."

"Well, whatever," Scootaloo said. "They're probably not that important anyway. Let's just get out of here—I'm starting to feel cavesick."

"Heh, you said it," Flight agreed. "Really starting to need that fresh air right about now."

As Flight and Scootaloo turned towards the ledge, Kevin cleared his throat. "Wait a sec."

"What is it?" Scootaloo asked impatiently.

"Flight, you've got your comlink, right? Doesn't it have some sort of fancy camera feature?"

Flight blinked with surprised. "Oh, yeah, of course! Aeneus above... how did I forget about that? You're a genius, Kev! Hold on." She lifted her hoof to look at the small device on her wrist and, with the tip of her muzzle, pressed a few of the buttons on its screen. Soon the filly had her hoof raised high in the air, turning it around with a series of clicks that signalled that photos were being taken. She even trotted across the ovoid to the other wall to capture whatever was written there. Once she was done, Flight put her hoof back down to the ground and nodded. "Got nearly everything, I think."

"That's awesome!" Scootaloo said excitedly. "Maybe when we get to town, we can find someone who can decipher them."

"Here's hoping," Flight said.

"Hey, guys?" Kevin asked. "Hate to be asking so many questions and all, but... how exactly were you planning on getting us out of here?"

Scootaloo turned to look at the sheer vertical surface in front of her, uninterrupted save for when it curved to form the ledge at the top. Warily, she did a test flap of her wings; however, she flinched at the pain from her fall as the joints moved in their sockets. "Don't think I can fly up..." the filly said.

"Huh," Mochi said, looking up. "You know, I just might have an idea..."