Death is smiling broadly at Shade, her poudrette gems shining brightly.

Shade groans inwardly, already regretting telling Death her plans for the day.

"So, you want to go on an adventure?" Death beams.

Shade rolls her eyes. "In one of the books, it tells of an old castle in the Everfree " She stops when Death's cheerful demeanor fades to dread. "What?"

"You can not go into the Everfree Forest," Death states.

"I can go wherever the fuck I want to," Shade challenges Death's statement.

Death smiles, remembering who she is talking to, and clears her throat, "Shade, sweetie; it is dangerous, and I would like to keep near death experiences to once a year, okay? There are monsters that far exceed your power right now. I don't want a repeat incident with the bear. I just don't want you or Pinkie Pie to get hurt."

Shade presses her lips thin and knits her brows. "What did happen with the bear?"

"You over-exerted yourself and passed out. Passing out in the Everfree would be certain death."

"You'd just come save me."

Death smiles, "You have that much faith in me?"

Shade kicks herself mentally. She turns around to leave out the door, "Whatever."

"So no Elements of Harmony for us?" Pinkie inquires after walking in silence for minutes.

Shade continues kicking a stone down the cobblestone street. "Not today. Like she said, I'm not as powerful as I once was. We need to take. . . foal steps. The Elements of Harmony may be the most powerful artifacts but are not the only artifacts." She stops and looks at Pinkie Pie. "Death got her hooves on ancient tomes that told of a time before the Three Tribes of Ponies came together. A time where an extinct species of sapient deer called the 'Parandrus' ruled these lands.

"The Parandae were powerful wizards and kept equally powerful artifacts. They enslaved all of ponykind, and it was during those dark times did a single light emerge Aurora Borealis, the unicorn of legend and dame of Celestia and Luna. She brought the ponies together and overthrew the Parandae. The ancient capital of the Parandae, Cersylvannia, lies in what is now Whitetail Woods.

"The story goes, that once Aurora and the ponies sacked Cersylvannia the Parandae leaders used an artifact to make their citadel disappear never to be seen again. I think there might still be artifacts in the woods buried under millennia of dirt. I learned a spell that can scan the ground like sonar and allow me to see the objects."

Pinkie Pie prances merrily beside Shade, "I've never heard of Parandae. Or sonar."

"It doesn't matter. I don't expect to find anything. Just a way to kill some time."

"You like reading, huh?" Pinkie Pie voices.

"Keeps me from thinking about the past. Plus, I like to learn new things."

"What happened in your past?"

"Things I don't want to talk about."

"Okay!" Pinkie chimes. A minute of walking in silence passes before Pinkie pipes up again. "So, why do you want to take over the world?"

"It's been about a thousand years since someone tried taking over the world. Might as well end the drought."

Vivaldi's Spring plays in the background as the two fillies traipse through Whitetail Wood. Shade stops wondering where all the random music originates from or all the sound effects Pinkie generates; she chalks all the abnormalities up to Death's overactive imagination. Shade can tolerate the music.

Things are peaceful in the woods and back to normal. Shade breaks away from the beaten path and follows a game trail. Fresh deer tracks spark a thought in her mind: are deer descendants of Parandrus? Another thought trails after and she voices her question to the springy filly beside her.

"Hey, Pinkie, are deer sapient?"

Pinkie titters. "No! They are deer, silly, not snakes!"

Shade sighs. "Sentient."

"I don't think so. Why?"

"No reason, Pinkie," Shade grins devilishly. She plans an activity for her and Vinyl to do tonight.

Before Pinkie can further probe Shade, the white filly stops in her tracks with her horn flashing.

Shade sees the object glowing under fifteen meters of soil and rock. Her spell informs her the object is gold in composition which is promising. She scores an 'x' on the ground and instructs Pinkie, "Dig about fifteen meters."

"'Meters'?" Pinkie tilts her head to a side.

"Fifty feet. There is about forty feet of soil and five feet of rock. When you break through the rock, start to dig five more feet carefully."

Pinkie salutes Shade, "Roger, roger!"

Shade marvels at how Pinkie's mane morphs into a drill shape and begins drilling. Apparently, Death threw the Laws out the window with Pinkie's creation.

A flash from the hole and ground shaking alerts Shade. Screaming crescendos from the hole and Pinkie launches out. Shade catches the filly and brings the screaming, flailing filly back to terra firma.

"Pinkie!" Shade shouts over her screaming.

"Yes?" Pinkie replies with a smile and bright eyes.

"What happened?"

"I dunno! I touched it and KABLAM!" Pinkie emphasizes by standing on her back legs and stretching out her forelimbs.

Thundering and more rumbling make Shade swivel her head around to locate the source. Breaking through bushes, a herd of deer, all running towards them.

"Stampede!" Pinkie cries and starts to run. She stops a second later when Shade is not following her. She sees Shade take a battle stance and ignite her horn. A blast of crimson magic cones out from Shade and knocks back the deer charging her. Pinkie watches the deer flying over the trees with awe.

Shade snorts and stomps the ground. "Seems awfully convenient for deer to stampede when we find something mysterious."

"There eyes weren't normal. They glowed a deep blue." Pinkie points out.

"As if something was controlling them," Shade concludes. Shade returns her focus to the ground with her magic and notices the object missing from the ground. "Of course." Shade groans and starts heading back home with Pinkie close at heel.

Death drops a drinking glass from her magic which shatters to the ground. "What did she do now?!"