If it wasn't for the fact that she had seen the sun high in the sky not moments ago, Twilight could have been forgiven for assuming it was almost night-time right now. So thick were the branches and so entwined were the leaves above her head, that light was barely able to make it through to the ground where she, Spike and Pinkie were walking. The relative muddiness of the ground, not to mention the sheer number of fallen leaves and twigs, had all but eliminated whatever tracks they had picked up to enter this vast forest. All around them, there could be heard neither the gentle breeze of the outside, nor the pleasant singing of birds they had grown accustomed to on their trip so far. Instead, all they could hear was a thousand small noises and screeches and calls of creatures they knew not of, both far and close by.

Needless to say, this was a less-than-pleasant place to be right now.

But, on they walked, for they knew that this current path was the only hope they had of figuring out what was really going on. Pinkie, for the first time on this journey, had forgone her usual smile in lieu of a look of concern, one that was readily shared by her two companions. Though Twilight was, admitted, of fairly poor eyesight without her glasses, it was clear to her from looking that even Spike was having trouble seeing ahead of where they were right now. Gloom and mist conspired together to hide their path, or what little of it could be seen anyway. Occasionally, Twilight would look up at the imposing trees around them, taking a moment to wonder, just briefly, how ancient they must have been. Few, if any, would ever seek to come here, or so Pinkie had told them, and after having walked through it for some time now, it was not hard to see why.

"Uh...Spike?" Twilight asked.

Her friend turned to her.

"Yes?"

"Did...did I make a bad call? Bringing us here, I mean?"

Spike's face gave away his hesitancy.

"Well...I'd be lying if I said that I was comfortable right now. I feel like I'm one stray step away from being eaten, to be honest."

To that, Twilight gave a nod.

"Yeah...can't blame you for that one."

Seeing the less-than-happy mood the other two were in right now, Pinkie took a moment to appear deep in thought over something. Then, moments later, she broke out into her now-expected wide grin.

"Hey now, turn those frowns upside-down!"

Looking to her as they continued walking, Twilight and Spike both bore somewhat incredulous looks, eliciting a brief giggle from Pinkie.

"Seriously! You two are both so gloomy! But, think of it this way! I mean, sure, it's a pretty dark and scary-looking place, but, we haven't run into any more trouble yet, right?"

The other two took a few seconds to consider that, and, after a while, they were at least willing to accept that truth, if only because Pinkie seemed to be so trying so hard to cheer them up. A sigh escaped Twilight's lips after that brief silence, and she offered her latest companion a small smile in return, which, inevitably, made Pinkie's smile grow just that little bit wider.

"There we go! You'll see, we'll get to where we're going, and then everything will be-WARGH!!!"

Immediately, her calling out caused the other two to stop, and they spun around. There, they saw that Pinkie had fallen over, apparently having tripped over something. Spike rushed to her side, helping her get up. Fortunately, Pinkie didn't seem that hurt over it, with the only real damage being a bit of mud on the front of her outfit. Fortunately, it was quickly brushed off, and she let out a now-embarrassed-sounding giggle.

"Well...that was unexpected."

Spike shook his head at that kind of response, but, before he had the chance to tell her to be more careful where she was walking, he instead looked over to Twilight, who walked past both of them. He and Pinkie looked to her with interest, seeing her kneel to the ground by where Pinkie had tripped. A look of curiosity gripped her face, and she raised a hand, brushing aside a lot of twigs and leaves and mud from that spot. After a few moments, her eyes widened, and she stood up. It wasn't long before the other two realised what had caused her such concern, for they could now see exactly what Pinkie had tripped over. At first glance, it appeared to be a stone, but, given it's colour and general shape, it soon became clear to all what it really was.

"Is that...a...a gravestone?" Spike asked grimly.

Twilight gave a solemn nod, and she once more knelt down towards it. She reached forward, examining it closely. There were, as one would expect of a gravestone, words written upon it. Unfortunately, through clear weathering and the passage of a great amount of years, there was no way to tell exactly what those words were exactly. Realising this, Twilight took on a look of sadness, because she knew exactly what that meant; whoever this had been, they were now forgotten. But, it wasn't long before a new, and more disturbing thought entered her mind, and she stood tall once more, turning to her companions.

"We need to keep moving."

Here, at least, there was no argument, and both Spike and Pinkie nodded in unison, though waited until Twilight started walking ahead before following them. The atmosphere had been very much darkened by this new discovery, and none of them said a word for some time, instead just walking on and on through this increasingly-terrifying place. Trees and darkness, trees and darkness. That was all any of them could really see, no matter which way they looked. For a while, Twilight was worried on how they were going to do this, how they were going to get any answers, especially since the tracks they'd been following had well and truly gone by now. But, they at least had some good news soon afterwards, as they entered an area with fewer trees than normal. Here, at last, sunlight managed to make it's way to the ground, and to them, causing a smile on the young mage.

"Ah...that's better."

Unfortunately, her smile faded when her life-long friend, Spike, spoke in a nervous tone.

"Um...Twilight?"

The girl turned, and immediately, she saw what had concerned her friend. By way of the greater sunlight, she at last had a better means of seeing what was around them, and could, therefore, see that all around them, there were dozens of glistening eyes, staring out at them from the darkness of the surrounding forest. Spike and Pinkie huddled closer to Twilight, and the latter started to feel more than a little fearful. Her concerns were well-founded it seemed, because not two seconds later, those eyes emerged fully from the gloom, revealing themselves to be a very large, not to mention very hungry-looking pack of wolves. The fearsome beasts snarled and growled at what, presumably, was going to be their intended meal for the day, leading to no end of concern for the three.

"So...ideas?" Pinkie asked.

Twilight said nothing, staying silent to concentrate long enough so that, eventually, her hands began to glow with her magical aura. She didn't know what she was planning to do, or how, but she did know that intimidation probably wasn't going to be an option here. Spike followed suit, setting both hands aflame, ready to fight, just as he had against those three bandits. The wolves, for their part, seemed undeterred by this, and growled all the louder, much to the concern of the others. The animals drew closer and closer, with a fight almost imminent. But then, to the shock of all of them, that was not what happened.

"Okay, that's close enough!"

Taken aback by the arrival of the new voice, the three looked up, but couldn't see where it was coming from. What they could see, however, was the sudden and unexpected arrow that now came shooting down from the branches above, landing just short of one of the wolves. The creature backed up, surprised at this attack, but, sadly for him, it was far from the last of it. Arrow after arrow came pouring down from the sky, like some kind of deadly rain, causing many a wolf to back away, all while not actually hitting any of them. In the end, the creatures snarled angrily at their unseen assailant above, before, at last, turning around and fleeing. Needless to say, Twilight, as well as everyone else, were a little confused as to all of this, as evidenced by the look on the former's face. It wasn't until they were absolutely sure that the last of the wolves were gone before Twilight even said a word.

"What the...?"

But, before anything else could be said, she heard a loud sound, that very much seemed to be the sound of something or someone landing fast behind her. Unfortunately, she couldn't turn fast enough, and very soon, she felt something very sharp poking her in the back, accompanied by the mysterious voice.

"So...care to explain what you three are doing here?"