Twilight waited for her heartbeat to slow down. That definitely was not natural. She trotted back to the village, the memory of Starswirl's voice scratching at her ears.

Come on, Twilight. Focus. The sooner you get to the cave, the sooner you can find out what happened to Rainbow's brother.

Twilight made a quick scan through the sandy roads. She galloped towards the first pony she saw.

"Hello there! Not a lot of time to explain. Can you point me in the right direction of the Old Hermit's Cave?"

The befuddled red Earth Pony pointed in the general direction of a range of rolling hills past the village.

"Great! Thanks!" Twilight lifted off, taking to the sky for a better view. She shot closer to the hills, gliding down between them to find any cave-like opening.

It took a few minutes, but she eventually did find what looked to be a mouth of a cave. Twilight folded her wings, touching down softly. She trotted over to inspect it. It sure did look unappealing.

Twilight’s observations were cut short when she bumped headfirst into somepony.

"Oh, owowow!"

Twilight rubbed her forehead with a wing. "Oh dear, I'm terribly sorry. That was my fault."

"No no, it's fine," The lime green mare in front of her groaned as she massaged her temple. "I shouldn't have been up exploring like this." The mare, Twilight noticed, was a Unicorn. The expression on her face resembled the shock that everypony who saw her displayed.

"Why were you exploring out here? I was told that this cavern is a safety hazard."

The mare shrugged. "Better than sitting around doing nothing, I guess." She glanced curiously at Twilight’s cutie mark. "What's your name? I've never seen you before."

"My name is Twilight Sparkle. What is your name?"

"Four Leaf. My friends just call me Clover." She wiggled her flank, which did in fact have a four-leaf clover. "Clever, I know." She chuckled. "So, what are you doing out here?"

Twilight straightened up. "Well actually, I'm investigating some abnormalities which I'm certain originate from this cave."

"Ooh, that sounds exciting."

Twilight gave the mare a Yeah, not really look. "It has to do with whatever's been happening to Starswirl."

Clover's ears drooped. "Oh. Poor boy. I really do hope he's alright."

"As far as I know, he's fine. But there's no guarantee it will stay that way. Which is why I need to find out what's in that cave." Twilight chewed on her lip slightly. "I should go get Rainbow Dash."

"Friend of yours?"

"Yes, she is. She's actually catching up with family right now."

~~~

Rainbow Dash stomped loudly. She was mad, and she didn't care who noticed. A small, eensy little part of her mind timidly pointed out that she had missed her mother. The rest of her mind proceeded to beat it up and shove it in a locker.

Rainbow Dash gave the stink-eye to a group of ponies who had stopped to observe her tantrum. That got them on their way fast.

Where's Twilight? I swear, I might punch somepony.

"Rainbow Dash!"

Speak of the egghead, and she shall appear.

"Rainbow Dash, there you are." Twilight galloped up to her. "Come with me, I have a lead."

"Whatever you say, Sherclop Pones." Rainbow Dash fell in line with Twilight.

"So, uh, how was your talk?" Twilight asked.

"Great."

Twilight gave Rainbow Rainbow a sideways glance. "It doesn't sound like it was."

Rainbow Dash groaned. "What were we supposed to do? Hug? Cry together? Pretend that the last fifteen years of my life never happened? Yeah, right."

Twilight raised her eyebrows. "You're mad at her?"

"Well, yeah!" Rainbow Dash scoffed. "How would you feel if your mom ran away and raised another family?"

Twilight paused. "Not so great, I suppose. But Firefly didn't run away. She broke her wing in that storm."

Rainbow Dash huffed. "She could have came back."

Twilight rested a wing across Rainbow's back. "Rainbow Dash, I know you're upset, but please just help me right now. Your little brother could be in serious danger if we don't find out what was in that cave right now."

"What cave?"

~~~

"Oh. That cave."

Clover must have headed home, Twilight noticed; she was nowhere to be seen.

"Starswirl felt a presence down there, and it must be whatever keeps influencing him. So, we're going to find it, and hopefully eradicate it."

"Sounds easy enough." Rainbow Dash cracked her neck. "But it sure doesn't sound like any friendship problem to me."

"I'm confident that it's somehow related." Twilight assured, before stepping into the dark opening. Rainbow Dash grimaced, then followed.

"It's really rank in here." Rainbow Dash coughed, her eyes watering.

"I know. Try to ignore it. Just keep your ears open for whispering sounds."

The two mares ventured deeper into the stale throat within the earth. Twilight kept her horn glowing to offer light. She wondered briefly if they might get lost, but then she saw something at the end of the tunnel.

"A door."

"Where?" Rainbow Dash peered over her shoulder. "I can't see anything."

"Directly in front of us."

"Well, lead the way, Your Majesty."

Twilight inched towards it. She locked her magical aura around the door handle, giving it a tug. It came open rather easily. So far there had been no whispers. Twilight didn't know if that was good or bad.

She stepped in through the door. The foul odor disappeared, and Twilight instantly felt magical energies at work.

"I think this is where we want to be."

Rainbow Dash scratched her head. "If you say so."

Twilight cast her illumination spell again. The room was lit up by a pink glow. Twilight became aware of so much more around her. Desks were strewn with scrolls, chalkboards were littered with ancient text. And books. So many books.

Twilight felt her hind legs give out. "Beautiful."

"What is?" Rainbow Dash looked around.

"All of... all of this!" Twilight scurried around to different bookshelves. She lovingly pried out dusty tomes that looked and felt older than Equestria. Her eyes widened as she pored through the pages of multiple books at once. "This-This is priceless! This is..." Her bright eyes came down in a moment of realization.

She gazed across the room once again. Reading glasses were left by an unfinished letter. A robe and hat were hung on a bedpost. A stone table sat in a lonely corner.

"This is Starswirl the Bearded's study."

Rainbow Dash whistled, waving a hoof in Twilight’s face. "Uh, you okay? There's nothing in here."

Twilight’s jaw dropped. "You don't see any of this?"

"Any of what? We're in an empty room."

Twilight frowned. "He must have placed a protection spell on it. I don't know why I bypassed it, though."

"Who cares? Let's just get out of here. This place is giving me the creeps."

"No," Twilight put the book back. "Whatever Starswirl found, he found it in this room." Twilight’s eyes landed on the stone table. She trotted over. "And I think this is it."

It was a rather plain table. Just one flat stone propped up by another hunk. But Twilight felt a sense of deliberation to it. There were markings scratched on the top, which Twilight immediately recognized as constellations. But what was its purpose?

Twilight thought hard. There had to be something about it. Something in... the books. Twilight froze. She didn't notice it at first. She was just too eager to read them to digest it. Those titles...

Death's Master, Conquering the Underworld, Demons: Myth vs. Fact, Practicing Shadow Magic...

"Come on, I think you know."

The two ponies jerked their heads towards the source of the voice. Clover leaned against the wall by the door, looking rather entertained. "You're smart, Twilight. Come on, tell me you figured it out."

"What's she talking about?" Rainbow Dash hissed as she instinctively shifted into a defensive fighting position.

"Starswirl." Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash, trembling.

"Starswirl the Bearded was a Necromancer."