- Everfree Forest, Just outside the remains of the Princess's former castle, Evening.

Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Applejack ran / flew as fast as they could to their destination, which was the castle where they earned the right to be the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. They knew that they had to hurry because they could hear the howling cries of the Timber Wolves that prowled in the forest. They considered themselves quite lucky that they never ran into a Manticore or Hydra though, and hoped their luck continued.

Twilight was quite curious to learn about this new being in Equestria. It had shown extreme intelligence through its use of magic as well as a decent moral understanding since it helped the Cutie Mark Crusaders escape death at the hands of a terrible fire. She galloped faster as the rope bridge came into view. “We're almost there girls, just a little further.”

“Good, I can't wait to get a good look at this thing. I wonder how cool it is.” Rainbow Dash laughed a bit as she did a small barrel roll next to Fluttershy.

“Um...are you sure it won't hurt us? I mean...what if it isn't friendly?” Fluttershy flinched as Dash's wing came close to her for a moment.

Applejack shook her head. “No, thinking back to how things went before, I can tell it meant no harm. When I saw it...the broad shoulder's, the dark cloak, hunkered over my sister, I just slipped into the same mindset I had when we met Zecora. If I had taken a closer look I would have seen that it was trying to help, but I just was to dern bull headed to realize it at the time and over reacted.”

Twilight frowned at the tone in Applejack's voice. “A.J., what you did was perfectly normal. Anypony in your situation would of done the same thing. I'm sure that it will fully understand.”

Applejack nodded a small smile forming on her lips once more. “I sure hope yer right Twi, now lets hurry up. Just one little jog across that bridge and we'll see if you're right about it being here.”

Twilight nodded and lowered her head building more speed. She just couldn't wait to see this being and get to know it.

Within moments the group had crossed the bridge and slowed to a halt on the other side. Applejack froze for a moment before leaning down to look at the ground before them. The two Pegasai landed next to their friends while Applejack lightly pawed at what had caught her attention. “Twi...take a look at this.”

Twilight bent down her eyes narrowing as she looked over what Applejack had found. “It looks like hoof prints...only there are just two of them...and they are big...Only Big Mac could leave an indentation like that.”

Applejack nodded in agreement. “I thought so too. It's in the ruins. You were right to head this way, good work Twi.” She smiled at her friend who turned her head, her cheeks heating up slightly at the praise, but Twilight didn't pause for long as she noticed something else. Narrowing her eyes she bent down and gave it a closer inspection before speaking.

“Girls...from what I can tell, these prints are not from a four legged creature...its bipedal.”

Fluttershy squeaked as she ducked behind Rainbow Dash. “Y-y-you mean it walks on two legs?” She glanced over her shoulder back toward the direction of Ponyville. “Should we get the others?”

Rainbow Dash laughed and shook her head. “Relax Fluttershy, if this thing meant to hurt anypony it would of done so already. Besides, Pinkie was watching the twins and Rarity will be to busy fussing over Sweetie Bell-” She paused glancing at Applejack who was looking down with lowered ears. “Um...look A.J. I didn't mean to say that you don't car-”

Applejack shook her head and smiled at Rainbow. “I know Dash. Applebloom has Big Macintosh and Granny Smith to look after her right now so it's ok that I'm here. Besides, that thing landed in Sweet Apple Acres and as a representative of the Apple family I have to make certain that the farm won't be at risk...just in case.”

Rainbow smiled in return and looked to Twilight for the ok to continue on in the journey. “Are you ok with going on Twilight? I could just zip in there, take a quick look around and be back here in ten seconds flat.”

Twilight chuckled at her friend. “No, we're all going Dash.” There was another howl from the Timber Wolves making her tense and begin to move forward. “Besides...I'd feel more comfortable in the castle ruins...we already know that there aren't any wolves or Manticores in there.”

With that the quartet started on once more heading for the main entryway of the old familiar ruins.

-Everfree Forest, Castle ruins, Evening.

Grevin frowned as he moved through the old castle with careful movements. Often during his travels he found that all it would take was a single miss-step on a floor switch and the next thing he knew, he would be doing his best to dodge arrows, or even ceiling mounted maces. Though, this place seemed rather calm compared to some of the other places he had visited...plus the lack of a majority of the ceiling helped him relax from that particular worry.

He pressed in further passing a rather large sculpture in the center of the room. It stood several heads taller than he and looked as though it were a series of pedestals. “Perhaps they didn't leave anything of value here when they left...I'm surprised.”

As he continued forward moving through the main hall and up towards a tower he had seen through a window he couldn't help but think about the pony that attacked him. She was only a head or two shorter than himself, wore a hat, and spoke quite clearly. Perhaps their species were the dominate creatures of the land.

He made his way into the main chamber of the tower with slow methodical steps. He relaxed believing himself to be alone and safe here, at least for the moment. He took some time to take in the architecture of the structure and was quite surprised to see how ornate the various columns were in the room. He imagined that back in it's prime, this entire castle was quite the sight to behold. Stepping forward he decided to see if he could find any more guidance though magic and began to channel it once more into his fingertips.

He immediately felt a large pull at his very core that nearly pulled him to his knees. He didn't know what it was he felt, but he knew he couldn't just sit there and not explore a bit. He stepped further into the room allowing his magic to fade. His breathing came slowly now as he began to feel the familiar weight in the air once again surround him. Something had happened here but he did not know what.

Deeper and deeper into the chamber he walked moving closer and closer to the pillars on the far side of the room when he heard the sound of hooves on stone. His mind slipped into survival mode making him immediately take rushed quick steps to the back of the room sliding himself behind a pillar and slipping into the shadows. He kept his back flat against the cool stone of the pillar he stood behind and turned his head to listen to first the sound of the hooves, and then the sound of voices in quiet conversation echoing off the ancient walls.

He inched his way to the very edge of the column peaking around using as much shadow to hide himself as possible. As the figures came into view he noticed that they were the same ones from before. He recognized them all from the orchard. There were two with wings that were hovering in the air, one cyan blue with a rainbow shaded mane, and one that was a pale yellow with a long pink mane. There was a purple unicorn with a violet mane with a stripe running through it and then there was the one that had attacked him before. Upon closer inspection he noticed her coat to be orange in color and with a very long blonde color mane with a large hat atop her head.

He frowned believing that they were there to confront him for earlier. He had no wish to upset the locals any further so he decided it would be best to remain hidden, watch them from the shadows and wait for them to give up their search and be on their way. He slowed his breathing to be as silent as possible and carefully listened to them as they spoke.

-Perspective change

“Twilight, how do you know it came in here? For all we know it could be still out in the forest.”

“Applejack, you know that this place was where the Elements were unleashed, it's only logical to be drawn to this place.”

Fluttershy shivered as she looked at the old archway of the room entrance. “Um...What if we scared if off?”

Rainbow Dash flew up towards the ceiling to get a better perspective while Applejack turned to face her timid friend. “Ah sure hope not Fluttershy. If we find it...and if it's friendly, then I want to apologize for my actions earlier. It saved Scootaloo, Sweetie Bell and Applebloom...Ah owe it a big thank you for all that.” She lowered her gaze her ears drooping.

Twilight frowned as she moved further into the room. “Now where could it have gone...there isn't exactly many places to go from here....” She trotted up to the pedestal that brought back very familiar memories to her. This was the same location where she and the others confronted and defeated Nightmare Moon. The place where Princess Luna was reunited with her sister Princess Celestia. She looked up at Dash who was looking around the room from a higher perspective. “Do you see anything Rainbow?”

Dash sighed as she floated back down. “No...Its so dark in here I can barely see my hoof in front of my face. We may have lost it Twilight.”

-Perspective Change,

Grevin smiled a bit as he listened to the conversation between the four ponies. They didn't seem to be as bad as he first assessed, and even seemed somewhat concerned. However, he didn't wish to trouble them more than he had already. All his life he felt that he was a burden on people and now that he was in this strange land, he knew he couldn't fully trust anyone or anything. He had to depend on himself and only himself to survive and find his way home.

He slowly maneuvered himself away from the edge of the column making certain not to create much noise as he moved. All it would take was a single loud noise to draw their attention to him. He faced the back wall and began to see if there was another, hidden way out of the room. As he squinted through the dim light at the seemingly blank wall face he couldn't help but notice something on a large brick in the wall a few feet from him. He glanced over his shoulder hoping that as he moved from column to column the four ponies wouldn't notice him.

He started slowly but as he got closer his pace quickened. The image he barely saw before became clearer and clearer though layers of thick dust. He again glanced over his shoulder before taking in a slow breath and gently blowing away some of the dust to reveal a rather intricate design etched into the tile. He took another breath and again blew more dust away. Waving his hand in front of his face to clear the air he couldn't help but feel his jaw drop and his eyes widen at what he saw before him. Etched into the wall was a large ornate shield with a pair of feathery wings on either side of it...the very same design found on the armor he currently wore. “What the...?”

He froze bringing both his hands to his mouth cursing at himself for being so foolish. Sure enough he heard the conversation behind him pause as the four ponies turned to face the general area of where they heard the sounds. He moved back as quickly but silently as he could pushing his back against the cool stone of the nearest column hoping to conceal himself before it was too late.

“Girls...d-d-did you hear that?” Fluttershy shivered as she ducked down holding her hooves over her head.

“Ah sure did Shy...Ah don't think we're alone in here....” Applejack began to move closer to the back of the room followed by Twilight who's horn was beginning to glow to provide more light.

Rainbow jumped into the air and followed her friends. “Ok, come on out, or I'll get you out of there in ten seconds flat.”

Grevin mentally kicked himself while remaining silent. Hopefully they wouldn't get to much closer and he could find a way to duck out a window. For a moment he even considered trying to fight his way out but he knew that would only make things worse. As he His eyes however, continued to glance over the large tile still before him, causing several questions to rise into the back of his mind. As the light from the unicorn grew closer, the etching became clearer and clearer revealing that it was indeed the same design on his armor.

Grevin knew it had to be more than just a coincidence. He felt it in his very soul. Slowly he moved closer to the tile again. He could almost feel it calling out to him begging to be touched. Slowly he rose his hand up moving closer and closer. Just inches away he saw a faint glimmer of magical energy skim through the image making him move in closer. Slowly his gloved fingers lightly touched the shield, his mind forgetting about the potential danger now. He ran his fingertips over the image and against his better judgment he channeled a light amount of magic into his fingers hoping to unlock this tiles mystery.

That was a mistake. As soon as his magic touched the tile, it flashed brightly and released a large wave of pressure that threw Grevin back into the column he was just hiding behind. He grunted out a single curse as he slammed hard into the cold unmoving stone his head hitting with a sickening thud causing him see stars before slumping to the ground out cold. This was not the only repercussion though. The entire chamber began to shake violently. At first dust would fall from various area's then windows began to crack and fall shattering into sharp pieces on the ground.

Twilight and Applejack moved away quickly as the columns began to shake and rock back and forth threatening to fall. “Twi! Whats happening?!”

“I-I don't know!”

Rainbow Dash was forced to begin dodging sharp pieces of rock that would fall from the ceiling above her. It was then that she turned and saw something that terrified her. Above Twilight, Applejack, a column had begun to fall toward them. If it hit them, they would be crushed and killed. She narrowed her eyes knowing she had to act. “Hang on guys!” She reared back and shot forward tackling her two friends pulling them with her into safety while the column shattered into pieces where they just were.

After a few moments, the shaking began to slow and then stop giving a small sense of peace to the castle once more. Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash slowly stood up shaking the dust from their coats. Twilight looked at the shattered remains of the column where they once stood and then over at Rainbow “Thanks...any later and we would have been really hurt.”

Rainbow smirked as she shook her feathers clean. “Pfft, please that was nothing....but you're welcome.”

Applejack slowly trotted forward taking stock of the room now. A few columns had fallen, and there was now a lot of debris on the floor from the ceiling. As she looked over towards the front of the room though her breath caught in her throat and she visibly paled. “Twi...Dash....”

“What is it Applejack?” Twilight trotted over and followed her friends gaze only to gasp and step back. “Oh no...”

Dash frowned as she moved to her friends and looked over as well. She too paled and shot forward immediately. “Oh no...no-no-no....”

Before them was Fluttershy, pinned under a pile of rocks from chest down, pale with red liquid beginning to pool around her. Her eyes were open and looking up at her friends with fear the blue orbs rimmed with tears of pain, her breathing was labored and shallow. “...Help...Me...”

Authors Notes: Well, another chapter down and I do hope everyone enjoys it. I'm still getting used to writing proper dialogue for characters so I'm sure I'm using certain catch phrases to often. I'll work on that and try to continue to improve. As always I appreciate the supportive reviews and I hope to continue to write an enjoyable story. Also as always, please forgive any grammar or spelling errors. I'm still hoping to stay as consistent as possible in terms of character behavior, development and all that good jazz. Thank you again for reading. Have a good one.