The group assembled on a wooden bridge, merely feet away from the gaping jaws of the Everfree Forest. Lucent wore a serious look, ready to end the thousand year struggle between him, and the darkness. Celestia was ready to take revenge for what hurt not only her closes friend, but also her sister. The Elements of Harmony stood prepared to continue defending their home, and the lands of Equestria. Lucent was the one who took the first step, and the other followed.

~

It was no easy task to traverse the forest. Branches and roots blocked the path, hindering the teams advancement.

"Do any of ya'll have any idea where we're goin'?" Applejack asked. She had taken point for the time being, her powerful legs seemed unhindered by the forests attempts at stopping them.

"The castle is at the center of the forest, so we just head straight until we reach it." Lucent said.

Applejack moved a branch out of her way, and took a step forward. Her foot hit no ground though, and she felt her entire body fall forward.

"Applejack!" Lucent called. He dashed forward and chomped down on her tail as hard as he could, suspending the eart pony in mid-air.

"H-Help meh!" Lucent said through clenched teeth.

Rainbow Dash flew out and grabbed a hold of Applejack's torso, and together the two pulled her back to safety.

"Gee, thanks partners. I owe ya'll one." Applejack said, still attempting to catch her breath.

The group then carefully made their way down the cliff.

"Say, Twilight?" Applejack said as she reached the bottom of the cliff.

"Yes, Applejack?"

"Isn't this the same cliff that ya'll almost fell from?" Applejack looked up the cliff as memories of the last trek flooded back to her.

"Why yes, it is." Twilight said, also remembering her near death experience.

Applejack chuckled, "Guessin' it was my turn to have a tumble. Thank ya again, Lucent." Applejack turned to Lucent.

Lucent smiled warmly to Applejack, "It's no problem at all. You can trust me."

The team moved on while Applejack stayed behind, looking at the cliff again.

"Honesty..." Applejack said quietly to herself.

"Applejack!" Twilight called.

"Ahm' a comin'!" She called, and galloped to catch up with the rest of the group.

~

The trees began letting up, allowing the team to proceed faster.

As they neared a clearing, they heard what sounded like snores.

Lucent proceeded quietly ahead of the group to look around. He found a sleeping Manticore behind a bush, curled into a ball.

He turned back to the group and made a "Shh" noise. The group then quietly passed by Lucent as he watched over the Manticore, making sure it didn't wake up.

Fluttershy moved beside Lucent, also looking at the Manticore. She looked at its paw, and noticed a scar on it. She gasped, but not loud enough to wake the sleeping beast.

Lucent looked over at Fluttershy with a curious look.

"I know this Manticore. I helped it once, and we became friends." Fluttershy said, remembering when she removed the thorn from its paw.

Lucent looked back at the Manticore. His horn began to light up, and so did the Manticore's paw. The scare began to slowly fade to match the rest of the paw, and was eventually gone all together.

Fluttershy gasped again, and looked at Lucent.

He simply returned a smile before moving away from Fluttershy to catch up with the rest of the team.

Fluttershy floated over to the Manticore, giving it a soft pet with her hoof.

"Kindness...." She said to herself.

Lucent cleared his throat as quietly as he could.

Fluttershy looked up to find him waiting for her. Together, the two rendezvoused with the group.

~

The trees of the forest began growing thicker, blocking the light of the moon and stars. What little light there was caused the trees to cast strange and frightening shadows on the ground, and each other.

"This is really creepy..." Twilight said.

"Don't ah know it..." Applejack replied.

Pinkie let out a sharp gasp causing all the ponies to jump a bit.

"Pinkie! Don't do that!" Twilight shouted, her legs were wobbling uncontrollably.

"Girls! Don't you remember this place!?" Pinkie said, excitedly bouncing around.

Lucent looked around, wondering how anypony could remember this place, it looked just like the rest of the forest.

"This is where we..." Pinkie took a deep breath in.

"Uh-oh." Rainbow placed a hoof over her face.

"Giggled at the ghostly! Guffawed at the grossly! Cracked up at the creepy! Whooped it up with the weepy! Chortled at the kooky! And snortled at the spooky!" Pinkie sang.

Lucent found himself smiling and nodding his head to the tune. His smile eventually turned into laughter at Pinkie Pie's shenanigans.

The rest of the team looked to Lucent, then each other, and also joined in the laughter. As they laughed, the darkness seemed to disappear all together.

"Thanks, Pinkie." Lucent said as the group started to settle down.

"For what?" The pink pony asked, her head cocking to the side.

"I think we all needed a good laugh." Lucent began walking ahead, still giggling to himself a little.

Pinkie turned to the trees, remembering all of her friends lying together on the ground, laughing together.

"Laughter..." She said with a smile.

"Pinkie?" Lucent was looking at her.

"Coming!" Pinkie said as she began her signature hop to the team.

~

"Are we there yet...?" Rainbow Dash asked in an annoyed voice.

"Almost, Rainbow." Twilight spoke up.

The team came upon a large river that cut through their path.

Rarity walked to the front of the group and looked into the water. It was very calm and clear.

"Something wrong, Rarity?" Lucent asked.

"Oh no, not at all my good sir." She said, raising her head. "Just reminiscing is all."

"Memories are a great place to find strength." Lucent said with a smile. He began to trot across a shallow part of the river to the other side.

Rarity's thoughts went back to the purple sea serpent that her and her friends encountered on their first voyage to the forest. She remembered cutting her tail off and using her magic to repair the serpents beloved mustache.

When she came back to the present, she noticed she was in the air, and being brought to the other side by magic.

"Forgive me, I simply thought you wouldn't want to get your coat wet." Lucent said as he brought her to the ground.

"Oh, thank you very much, Lucent. How generous of you." She said, bowing her head to the alicorn in thanks.

"It's no problem." He said and began to walk on.

Rarity looked further down the river where she thought she saw a purple body rise out of the water only to submerge itself again.

"Very generous indeed..." She said quietly to herself. She then began to catch up with the others.

~

After what seemed like hours of walking, the group had found their goal. The castle that Lucent came from rested across a great gorge ahead of them.

"Strange." Lucent said, kneeling down to observe a broken rope bridge.

"What is it, Lucent?" Celestia asked.

"This bridge wasn't out when I awoke."

Rainbow dash dove over the cliff and took one end of the rope bridge in her mouth. She began flying over to the other side to repair it, when she noticed the load became significantly lighter. She glanced over to see Lucent using his magic to help levitate the bridge.

The two landed on the other side of the bridge and retied it to the posts.

Rainbow looked at the bridge, then turned around to look at the ground where a patch of grass was burnt away and had never recovered. That was where the 'Shadowbolts' landed when they attempted to recruit Rainbow Dash and make her forget about her friends.

"Rainbow Dash?" Lucent asked.

"Huh?"

"We should get back to our friends. We wouldn't want them thinking we left them." He said with a light laugh.

"No way would I ever do that. I'm too loyal..." Rainbow Dash said to herself with a smile. She then began to fly back across with Lucent.

~

The group now stood outside the doors of the dark and abandoned castle.

Lucent was in front, eyeing the door with a very stern and serious look. What felt like fear was gripping at his heart, hindering him from moving forward.

He felt a sudden warmth against him. He looked to see Celestia nuzzling his side.

She flashed him a warm smile, and he responded with one as well.

"I don't know if we can beat him, I don't even know if he will be here." Lucent said.

"That doesn't matter, you have your friends here with you. Remember?"

Lucent nodded, "Yeah. How could I forget?" He asked himself as he turned to look over the group they had assembled.

Applejack, strong and honest. Flutterhy, calm and kind. Pinkie Pie, energetic and funny. Rarity, beautiful and generous. Rainbow Dash, fast and loyal. Twilight Sparkle, smart and magical. Luna, ruler of night. Celestia, ruler of the day. And himself, ruler of light and good.

A brave smile overtook his face as he assured himself that they would all be safe, he swore it.

He began climbing the steps to the doors. It was only roughly a day ago that he had awoken with no memory, scared to death of this place. Now he was approaching it willingly without an ounce of fear in him.

"Come out, Acerbus. I'm ready to settle this score." Lucent said to himself as his magic opened the large doors.