The mood amongst the four of them was, understandably, a bit tense, as they continued to journey through the dense undergrowth of the Everfree Forest. Every tree they passed, every patch of darkness, and the three inexperienced members always feared that there would be some attack on them. But none of that ever happened, as Rainbow continued to forge ahead, her bow in hand, glaring warily at every shadow, every rustling branch. She knew what to do and where to go, that much was certain, and for a time, the others seemed willing to defer to her experience on the matter. However, it was also clear that some were less than happy about this arrangement, as evidenced by the scowl Spike continued to wear. For a brief moment, as Rainbow was a little further ahead of the group, the young Prince walked a bit faster, catching up to Twilight and leaning forward, before starting to whisper to her.

"A you sure following her is the best idea?"

To this, Twilight let out a sigh, before turning to him and whispering right back.

"I...I know telling her all that was a risk, but...what choice did we have? She knows her way around, and we don't. And she wasn't going to help unless we spilled."

Spike snorted at that, continuing to frown at their guide up ahead. As time passed, he narrowed his eyes, looking to Twilight once more.

"Don't forget how we first met her. I think we need to be ready to act in case..."

He didn't finish that sentence, largely because he didn't need to. For one look at Twilight's eyes made it obvious to him that she understood his unspoken intent. However, before either of them could say anything else, they found, to their surprise, that their newest acquaintance soon spoke up to them as she continued onwards.

"I promise you, kid, if I wanted to hurt you guys...you wouldn't be here to complain about me right now."

Needless to say, Twilight looked quite embarrassed that their so-called hidden conversation had been so easily overheard. As for Spike, he continued to look on with disapproval at the older girl ahead, made all the more pronounced when said girl looked over her shoulder, giving her wards a brief smirk. However, soon afterwards, when she looked ahead once more, her smirk vanished, and was replaced instead with a more intense expression. She stopped walking, and moments later, the others did the same, watching her with a mix of curiosity and concern. After a while, Rainbow looked over her shoulder, frowning slightly as she addressed them.

"Besides, you shouldn't worry about me leading you in the right direction."

Looking ahead again, she raised one hand, pointing forward.

"We're here."

The other three looked to where she was pointing, and as soon as they did, their eyes widened with surprise. For there, just ahead of them, beyond the next patch of trees, there was indeed the site of a ruin of some sort. Old, crumbling, and, more importantly, foreboding. it was an intimidating sight, even in this dilapidated state, and as the four of them took cautious steps towards it, Pinkie suddenly started rubbing her arms against one another, shivering slightly.

"Is it just me...or is it getting cold around here?"

Rainbow nodded to that.

"Yeah...this place does that."

The ranger moved ahead of the others, heading straight towards the ancient stone archway leading into this place. A look of nervousness passed between the other three, but, in the end, they followed. Twilight went first, and, after entering this old castle in earnest, she started looking around. What little of this place that hadn't been taken over by vines and weeds over the years was broken or aged beyond recognition. But, as ever, curiosity began to overwhelm her, and she soon strayed from the group, heading to one of the nearby walls. Noticing this, Rainbow frowned.

"Don't go taking too much of an interest, Sparkle. This place is dangerous."

But Twilight was already too focused on the wall to pay attention. As she drew closer, she noticed, even in spite of the centuries of wear and tear, that there were markings all around those old stones. She raised a hand, gently placing it upon the wall, carefully brushing aside some of the accumulated dust, before squinting at the stuff.

"I think...I think there's something here."

Spike turned to her, raising an eyebrow, and then started to walk closer to her. As he stood beside her, he folded her arms, waiting for her to continue. He too had noticed some kind of markings, but the expression he wore was not that of someone who actually recnognised them. Seeing this, Twilight didn't waste any time in speaking to him.

"There are a few characters here that...that I think I've seen before. Back at the library in Canterlot, at the school, some of the older books had these same markings."

Spike nodded.

"So...what do they say?"

Twilight sighed, slumping her shoulders slightly.

"No idea. The language is old. Very old, in fact. Some scholars have even gone on to say that it might have even been the first real language in our world. Or, at least, the oldest one we know of."

A frown crossed her face.

"Unfortunately...those who spoke it have been dead for centuries, so, chances are...we'll never know what it says."

As one would expect to that, Spike let out a grunt of annoyance.

"Ugh! Well that doesn't do us any good."

Twilight nodded in agreement, but was unable to say anything, as Rainbow then shouted over to the both of them.

"Hey! What did I say?! This place isn't safe, so stay close where I can keep my eye on you!"

The two youths turned to her, though Spike was, as usual, pretty annoyed with the way she was speaking to them. As for Twilight, she, by contrast, simply nodded to her guide, and started to walk towards her, with Spike close behind. Once back together with Rainbow and Pinkie, the young mage continued to look around her, with her face a mix of both curiosity and fear.

"Have you been here often?"

Rainbow shook her head.

"Once or twice. Nothing to speak of really. Mostly, it's just the unsavoury sorts that camp out here. Whatever this place was...it stopped being of any importance a long time ago."

Twilight continued to look away, looking, for lack of a better word, distracted.

"It's just...there's something...something about this place."

Rainbow raised her eyebrow at that behaviour, but Pinkie, standing close by, tilted her head in confusion.

"Um...what, exactly?"

Twilight shook her head slightly, taking a few steps away from the group.

"I...I don't know. Sometimes...sometimes mages, even inexperienced ones, we...we can feel magic in a place. I've felt it many times, usually when I was studying back at Canterlot, being around stronger mages than me."

Slowly, her face morphed into one of uncertainty, and then, concern.

"But this place...there's magic here, but...it feels...wrong somehow."

Needless to say, a statement like that gave all of them cause for concern, as they looked to one another, not quite sure of what to do or how to respond to that. Instead, they continued to watch as Twilight continued staring around her, almost as if she were in a trance of some sort. Her gaze drifted to the walls, to the vines, to the markings all around, until, at last, she looked down to the floor nearby. Here, her eyes widened, and she saw something that, in all honesty, she was embarrassed she hadn't noticed before now. A gaping crack, right in the middle of the floor, as if something had burst out from it.

"There."

Immediately, the others turned, and saw the crack she was staring at. Again, they said nothing, instead walking over along with Twilight to look at it properly. A silence continued to persist amongst them, until, finally, it was Rainbow who broke it.

"Hmmm...this definitely wasn't here the last time I visited this place. It looks...new."

Kneeling, the ranger placed her hands upon the jagged edges of the broken stone floor.

"This stone is thick. Whatever did this...it was strong."

As before, Twilight looked to this thing with interest, slowly walking closer and closer. Spike, seeing this, reached out for her, but a look from Twilight made it clear to him that she knew what she was doing. Though hesitant, Spike at least seemed willing to trust her on this, for which she seemed grateful. Then, her expression became stern once more, as she then knelt beside the gaping hole. Carefully she peered inside. As expected, there was nothing but shadow and darkness in there. Nothing could be seen in that kind of light, and that gave Twilight and idea. Lifting her hand, she concentrated, and it wasn't long before her hand became aglow with her magic. Using this new light, she peered once more into the hole, and with this new illumination, it wasn't long before she caught sight of something.

"...There."

Curiosity gripped the other three, and they too began to look within. Seconds afterwards, their expressions became ones of shock, for there, lying at the bottom of that pit in the earth, was something that none of them needed any help in recognising; a skeleton. It was, in all likelihood, just as old as the rest of their surroundings, and bore no garments or wrappings. No markings or other insignia were there to let them know who it was that was laid here. All they could see was that the passage of time had done it's work, leaving those old bones filthy and broken, to the point where it barely even resembled a human. Spike took a step away from it, looking to Twilight with worry.

"Twilight?"

The young mage, now being looked upon by all of her companions, started to back away herself, and now began looking all around at the stones and walls that surrounded them.

"This...this isn't a castle."

Looking to Spike, her expression was steely.

"It's a tomb."

As one would expect, declarations like that did not cause any pleasant feelings amongst those who heard them. As the group looked to one another, trying to figure out what to do with this information, it was Rainbow who elected to take charge, frowning at just about everything around her and speaking up in a clear and authoritative manner.

"That's it! We're getting out of here!"

This time, Spike had no argument with her, and gave her a short nod. Pinkie followed suit, and together, the three of them started to march with intent out of this place. As for Twilight, she, for the moment, stayed where she was, continuing to look all around her. In time, she noticed something nearby; scorch marks upon the ground. It was the obvious sign of a campfire. Someone else had been here, and she knew, it must have been those three men. They had been here and this place was important to what was going on. But, for the moment, she didn't have the opportunity to figure out why, as Spike, having finally noticed her, stopped walking away and called out to her.

"Twilight!"

His voice snapped her out of her daze, and she turned to him, nodding to her friend before starting to walk over to join him. Unfortunately, do distracted was she right now, that she wasn't really paying attention to where she was going. Whatever it was that had burst out of the ground, the rift it had made had loosened many of the stones on the surrounding floor, including one that Twilight, unfortunately, just happened to walk into. Her expression became one of shock as she tumbled from this, falling to the floor with a loud thud. Rainbow and Pinkie turned as they heard this, and Spike, having already been watching her, rushed to her side. As per usual, her glasses had fallen off her face, but this time, Spike soon found them, handing them over.

"Thanks, Spike."

Twilight's words were genuine and heartfelt, and she gave her friend a small smile, which was soon returned by the boy. Unfortunately, those smiles soon faded, for as Spike attempted to help Twilight up off the ground, the young mage then let out a yelp of pain. Her face was one of discomfort, while Spike's was that of concern, and after the former looked to her friend with confusion, she looked over to her leg. It was the very leg that had struck that stray floor stone. She tried moving it, only to have yet another bolt of pain run through her.

"Argh!"

This time, it was Rainbow's turn to rush to her side, as she set her bow aside for a moment, examining Twilight's leg. In time, and after being watched by the two youths, the older girl put on a frown.

"Ugh! I think you sprained your ankle, Sparkle."

Twilight, rather expectedly, looked worried about this, and her tone reflected that.

"Wha...what do we do? We didn't bring any bandages or anything!"

Rainbow let out a deep sigh, appearing deep in thought for a moment before, slowly, breaking out into a grin.

"I think...I've got a friend who might help."