Aside from the chirping of birds and other small sounds of life, the land the ponies stared across was nearly silent.

Large stone columns littered the otherwise open landscape, currently growing with light grassy vegetation and moss. The weather of time was evident on the stones, but so too were the clear carvings and markings that ever so faintly lined their sides. Once upon a time, these fallen statues may have lined a path to something, but now they were nothing more than fallen titans.

The path they once marked, however, was evident by the oddest thing. It wasn’t a beaten trail, which would have been overgrown, or a small fence, which would have fallen with age. Instead, it was lined and coated with a natural and seasonal sign, a kind of vegetation that you could only see for so long each year.

Flowers.

Small, white, willow-drop flowers were growing down the path. They moved over the grassy terrain in nearly a straight line, marking the road that had been taken back into nature. It was a beautiful sight, but not an impossible one.

What was impossible were the number of flowers growing over the fallen columns, springing up from the hard stone as if it was fertile soil.

Without soil, without nutrients, without anything that could conceivably be considered ground capable of maintaining floral life, the white flowers bloomed. Through the stone and over the marble, they statically turned the dreary and faded grey statues into alabaster images of life.

“Do you like it?” Aisling’s playful tone pierced the veil of thoughts Twilight kept over herself, earning a quick dilation of her eyes. A small shake of her head corrected her vision. She turned to see said girl sitting on a still stable statue, high above the ponies beneath her. “I don’t come here often, but I do still come here.”

“It’s… It is beautiful, Aisling,” Twilight honestly spoke, the awe unable to leave her voice as she did so. “It’s so simple. Using the most common of floral decorations and humblest use of color over the backdrop of the statues creates a euphoric sensation. I…”

“What the egghead is trying to say is that it’s… it’s awesome.” Rainbow Dash summed up the unicorn’s comments rather easily, trotting forwards as she did so. While the rest of the mares around her kept their eyes to the ground, Dash was looking up, marveling at the forest titans that towered over them. A smile was pushed over her lips as the breath left her lungs.

“Yeah!” Apple Bloom eagerly cheered, hopping down the path of flowers as she did so. “They’re just like the flowers ya grew in the meadow before!” The small pony chose to stop on the dirt path, taking interest in one lone flower that grabbed at her attention. The nymph smiled down to the younger pony as she spoke.

“They are the same flowers,” Aisling corrected as she jumped from the statue, her hair trailing smoothly behind her. “Brendan once named them, asking me what they were himself. They didn’t have any names before. They just simply were.”

“Names lend little nature, so long as there is life to nurture.” It was difficult to tell from Zecora’s almost passive voice if she was commenting on Aisling’s words, or still looking about the graceful area in awe.

“So, what did Brendan name them?” Twilight trotted up to the pair, kneeling down between the two. Around the three stood a lone flower, no different than the others aside from its outlying from the group. Staring at the one alone, a single specimen, the astute mind of the unicorn began to work.

It had a mild stem, but split as it grew, arching under the heavier weight of the flower bulb and petals. It was likely due to a lack of cellulose in the steam itself, forcing the flower to lose its rigidity. But despite the lack of structural cells, the petals themselves seemed no less vibrantly white. There were no fewer than five pistols to the single stem, each extending from a different branch. They were aimed towards the ground as well.

“Lilies-of-the-Valley.” Aisling’s words once more drew Twilight from her reverie of knowledge, but this time, it was only to add to her the pool of information she was collecting. She watched as one of the nymph’s pale fingers extended towards the flower, gently brushing at it. Twilight did not miss, nor did she imagine, the flower bending towards the girl’s touch.

“That’s a pretty name,” Apple Bloom complimented, her smile splitting her young features, orange eyes staring with the attentiveness Twilight would a book. The giggle from the Fae was all the sign the unicorn needed to know the filly had spoken the right words once more.

“I like it, too. It’s simple… fair.” Aisling’s hand reached around the stem, sliding down the thin green stalk with her own slender fingers. Silently, they brushed against the ground, encircling the lone flower. “My mother showed me these flowers once, long long ago. They always grow in groups, always together. They grow as a family, and as a family, they stray away from evil things.”

What happened next nearly made Twilight’s eyes fall from her sockets.

Gently as ever, but with more power than the unicorn could imagine, the Fae dug her fingers into the dirt, easily pushing away the loose soil as she did so. Then, without the muttering of a spell or glow of magic, Aisling pushed the flower through the dirt path, stopping only when it met the flowers that lined the path.

Twilight could only let her jaw hang loosely as she saw the flower move under Aisling’s command, the soil moving as she did so. Aside from the small amount that was freed under her entry, the ground didn’t groan, stall, or fight the actions of the forest Fae. Rather the opposite happened. It moved with the flower’s trail.

Then, for what had to be entering the double-digits in frequency, Aisling’s words broke the unicorn’s shock.

“It isn’t right to live alone.” The words were simple, carrying a tone that Twilight could read. Then again, her still recovering catatonic state likely played into her inability to judge. “Not when there are others the same as you.”

“Family is important, ain’t any use in denying it.” Applejack spoke upon approaching the pair. Her hooves dug deeply into the ground as she walked, an action that Twilight only faintly noted, but didn’t have the words yet to speak of. “It’s how Ah feel ‘bout my sister. She’s got ta have her room ta grow, but she’ll always have a pair of hooves waiting for her back on the farm.”

“Applejack…” the foal in question spoke softly, looking up at her older sibling with nothing short of complete adoration. “Do ya really mean that?”

“Hey now,” the elder earth pony spoke as she leant down to her sister’s height. “Ya really think Ah’d tell a lie ‘bout my favorite sister?” Applejack snuck one of her fore legs around the filly’s head as she said the question, jostling a giggle from the foal. “Why do ya think Ah worry ‘bout ya so much?”

Apple Bloom fell into her sister’s short embrace, giggling with delight as Applejack chuckled in return. The elder of the two lightly poked and prodded the filly, earning small bursts of laughter from her smaller form. Aisling watched silently.

“They are close, no denying that.” Rainbow Dash spoke up as she settled next to the nymph, carefully about distracting Twilight, who as still staring enraptured at the flower Aisling had moved. “You should see them at the family reunions.” The Fae, however, spoke not a word in return, keeping her green eyes on the two earth ponies all the while. It earned huff of annoyance from Dash.

“Look, I’m sorry for what I said before.” She bowed her head away from the nymph as she spoke. “I really didn’t mean to insult you or anything. I just… look, it isn’t exactly easy being told something that completely turns around what you thought was normal for majority of your life, right?”

As Aisling turned to face the pegasus, she gave the mare a small grin.

“Your friend may be the odd one, but you are the simple one.” Dash’s hooves digging into the ground were the only thing that kept her from leaping from the ground.

“Okay, that was low.” Rainbow returned coldly. “I’m trying to at least make some common ground here. You don’t have to go insulting me with it.” The pegasus scoffed as she looked around the path they were sitting once more, making note of Zecora’s whimsical observation of the forest giants that surrounded them and Twilight’s experimenting with one of the white flowers, playing with it in her hooves.

“It is not bad thing to be simple.” The words earned the attention of Rainbow again, letting her see Aisling rising to her feet, spinning as she did so. A small part of the pegasus’s mind reminded her to not bring up Aisling’s hair in any future conversations with Rarity. The alabaster mare would doubtlessly spend weeks trying to get her mane to flow the same way the nymphs did.

“Wait… it’s not?” Speaking honestly, nearly every time Dash had heard some pony comment about her being simple, it was an insult. The shaking head of Aisling said otherwise this time.

“No, I enjoy simple things. They make the forest easier to understand.” Beginning a point Dash only barely followed, the Fae leant towards the ground, patted the dirt she stood on. “The dirt is here so the plants can grow. The plants grow because they want to live. They live so they can do what they were meant to do. My forest is simple, and I do love my forest.”

Before she was aware of it, Rainbow’s head began to nod in understanding.

“Then, you are simple.” Aisling continued, her hand pointing towards the cyan mare. “You don’t know something, so you say you don’t. You don’t like something, and you say the same thing. That’s simple. Your friend though, the odd one, she asks too many questions to be simple. She’s complicated.” That earned a snicker from the pegasus.

“Yeah, that’s a light way of putting it.” She felt a smile pulling at her lips, forming the same cocky grin she was known for. Aisling had a similar one overtaking her features, but with a gaze that was far more knowing than one Dash could ever muster. “I am sorry though, and I do mean it. You’re pretty cool.” The sure smile slowly fell from the Fae’s lips, replaced with a twisted expression of confusion.

“Cool?” The nymph repeated. “I wasn’t aware it was cold yet. The winter season is still far off. We’ve only just begun summer.” The comment earned another soft chuckle from the pegasus.

“Yeah, sorry, figure of speech.” Dash hoof-waved the comment away, hoping the nymph would drop it as well. Rainbow knew her strengths, and she was sure explaining anything involving language to an alien creature would be beyond any of her fortes. “So… I know this is all your forest but… how often do you come here? I mean, it can’t be easy, right?” The pegasus’s question was as shaky as her voice, knowing the ground she was treading was hallowed.

“I do come here when I can, but not always; sometimes it is painful.” Those words were enough to calm Dash. But, they were not enough to change her train of thought.

“Yeah, I… I can see why coming here would be tough.” The pegasus spoke with a hoof behind her head, scratching at the roots of her mane. “Can’t be easy seeing the place where… ya last saw your family…”

Applejack was only a few seconds away from turning around and putting her rear hooves into the brash mare’s side, hopefully to knock sense into more than just her brain. But before the farm pony could commit with her action, Aisling spoke again. Her words, however, were not what the mare was expecting.

“That is not why it is difficult.”

The words earned the collective attention of the ponies, Zecora now focused on the Fae and Twilight no longer studying the moved flower. Instead, they were all gazing at the nymph, who looked towards Rainbow Dash with a cocked head and still lips.

“Its… not?” Dash questioned simply, a simple question all the ponies shared. “Look, I’m not exactly… okay, I’m flat out blunt at times, but what do you mean this isn’t difficult for that? Didn’t you say you’re mom died he- Augh!” The pegasus roughly jumped to her side, a hoof raised over her wing as she hobbled to maintain balance. A hiss passed through her lips as she felt the making of a bruise already developing over her now tender feathered appendage.

“Best be watchin’ your tongue Rainbow,” Applejack warned as her hooves settled onto the dirt again. “There ‘re some things ya don’t bring up like that.”

“It’s alright.” The voice of the Fae earned a quick look from Applejack. “It is an honest question, and I can answer it.” She twisted on the ground, spinning on her heel as her hair twirled elegantly around her. Applejack could see the same sight everyday for the rest of her life and she would never tire of it. When the Fae was done spinning, however, she was looking upwards, to the opening in the canopy high above them.

“I lost much here, but not because of this place. I lost much because of what was here.” Her small legs moved her the ground graceful as ever, the point where the mares thought she was gliding.

“Crom took my mother. Crom took my family.” Aisling slowly walked towards the statue that had fallen over the path, white flowers growing over its faded and grey textures. Her hand ran across the stone, now far smoother than when it was carved long ago. “But he is gone now, and the forest is light again. Light because of the book that turned the darkness into light.”

“Wait…” Applejack began, an idea forming in her head as she spoke. She wasn’t sure if she liked it or not. “You said that yer friend wrote his book after he beat this Crom guy. How’d that book have anything ta do with this?” The Fae bent towards the mare before she spoke, a slender pale finger raised as she did so.

“Because Brendan came back before he left. And it is here that he remains.”

It took few moments of silence for the meaning of those words to sink in. When they did, it made the void of sound grow immensely.

Twilight stared blankly at the Fae, more than one dawning realization occurring within her mind. The holiness of the dark place, the reverence for its location, and the peace of the land around it, it was impossible to say it added up to any one thing. But with that simple riddle, that question with an easy answer, it deftly solved the conundrum Twilight had only faintly thought of. And now, it was at the forethought of her mind, new magic forgotten, for now at least.

And remembering how she had almost callously asked to come to this place hurt Twilight more than she would have ever wished to imagine.

“Aisling…” the mare spoke softly, feeling her heart shaking as she did so. “I… I am so sorry.”

“Don’t be sad. There is no reason to be.” The words felt wise, even as they were carried on a playful and youthful voice. “Brendan left long ago, and he knew he was leaving, we both did. He wanted to stay with me, and I didn’t wish to see him ago. So when he left, I let him stay. The forest helped me, because the forest wanted him to stay as well.”

“A home for the lost and gone; a place of rest away from amon.” Zecora mused, releasing a sigh as she did so.

“Ah’m a bit confused.” The voice of Apple Bloom earned the ponies’ attention. Applejack, however, already had dawning recognition of what her sister was going to ask. “How did Brendan leave but sta- hmph!” Her voice was cut off as the elder sibling’s hoof was placed over her lips.

“Ha ha, sorry ‘bout her. Guess you could say I’m in charge of keepin’ the lips in line.” Applejack gave a nervous grin to the Fae as she spoke, holding the filly in her hooves still as she spoke. Apple Bloom fruitlessly pushed against the legs.

“It’s alright,” the nymph gently spoke, ushering away the concern the farm mare had. “It’s not hard to explain. It’s simple.” Aisling commented as she walked towards the filly.

Apple Bloom, who had freed herself from her sister’s muffling hoof, looked up at the nymph with a curious stare as the nymph leaned down to her level, white hair falling neatly from her sides. As soft as the texture of her hair, the Fae lifted one of her pale fingers towards the filly, letting the tip rest on the pony’s forehead. Apple Bloom’s eyes crossed to look at the thin appendage.

“Brendan’s mind is gone,” she spoke in a soft voice, a calm tone that belonged to the forest. Her finger slid down Apple Bloom’s coat, tickling the filly as it descended. It stopped when it pressed against the foal’s soft underbelly. “But his heart is still here. I cannot speak to him, but I can see him. I cannot play with him, but I can dream with him.”

“He’s always with you, no matter how long you live.” The calmness of Twilight’s words betrayed the torrent of sorrow that was building in her mind. “Aisling, I… I am so sorry for asking you to take us here. I had no idea this was… this place was so important to you.”

“I told you, there is no reason to be sad.” Aisling twirled deftly towards the unicorn, stopping with her face just breath’s length away from Twilights. “I knew Brendan would leave, and he knew I would stay. You shouldn’t be sad when something is over. You should be happy with memories you made.”

Twilight felt a ball in her throat swell. No amount of swallowing or chocked breaths made it go away. Applejack was faring little better, pulling her hat over her eyes.

“The faith in your ties gives my spirit rise.” Zecora trotted closer to the Fae as she spoke, the small over her features haunting. “I only wish every pony was just as wise.”

“It comes with time,” Aisling spoke with a slight giggle. “You haven’t seen the ages past as I have. You haven’t seen a mountain fade or forest grow like me.”

“You’re looking pretty good for… however old you are,” Rainbow loosely spoke. “I bet Rarity will want your beauty tricks.”

“Who is Rarity?” The nymph asked with a cock of her head, pursing her lips as she did so. “Is she a different kind of pony?” An amused grin pulled itself over the pegasus’s lips.

“Well… yeah, I guess you could call Rarity a ‘rare’ kind of pony.” She stifled her laughter against her hoof as she spoke. “She probably likes to think of herself as one-of-a-kind.”

“But all things are one of their own kind.” Aisling responded to the mare, oblivious to the sarcasm Dash draped her words in. “There is no other you, and I am the only me. The same for the trees, the flowers, and the path we walk. There is ever only one.” Dash’s hoof descended back to the ground, but her smile remained fixed on her muzzle.

“I agree with ya there. There is only one Rainbow Dash. Me.” Her wings expanded as she finished, much to the childish delight of the Fae. That was just before she felt a small pressure on her leg. Turning, the nymph saw the her bow haired friend looking up at her, a question already forming on her lips.

“Um, Aisling I got a question.” Apple Bloom spoke carefully. “How are we gonna get ta Brendan?” The filly honestly, naively almost, asked the question. “Ah mean, how are we gonna get over the fallen statues?”

“Um, a lot of ways.” Twilight spoke up from behind the filly. “We can walk around them, climb over them, Rainbow Dash could fly us over them…”

“I can move them.”

The words seemed to cause a lapse in Twilight’s logic, forcing a mask of empty disbelief to mask her features. Her blank stare was met with only a childish grin from the Fae. Twilight was having an equal amount of trouble deciphering the look as either teasing or innocent honesty as she did the magic she had observed earlier.

“Uh, Aisling, I think you may wanna listen to Twilight on this one.” Rainbow interrupted, lifting a hoof as she did so. “I mean, I know it’s technically in the way but… we aren’t exactly… stuck…”

“But moving them now would make coming back later easier.” The, expectedly, simple response from Aisling answered Rainbow. “Things change to make other things simpler. Sometimes I make the change. It is my forest.”

“Yeah, alright, still, how do you plan on moving that?” The pegasus pointed her hoof at the large boulder as she spoke, clearly indicating its massive size. The Fae walked up to it as the pegasus continued to speak on. “I mean, it’s like the size of a house, and it’s made of out solid rock! That’s like trying to push an entire storm cloud by yourself, or… or bucking an entire orchard in a day.”

“True enough it ain’t easy.” Applejack offered lightly behind Dash. Aisling, however, only cracked her knuckles as she stood in front of the fallen statue, leaning down to tuck her fingers between the hard surface and the dirt beneath it.

“Look, Aisling, I know you're old and wise and a lot of other stuff, but I mean, there’s gotta be a limi-” Rainbow’s words died on her lips, cut off and cut short. Just in front of her, barely a few pony lengths ahead, Aisling had lifted her arms up and over her head.

The statue entire was held up by her frail arms.

No parts of it leaned against the dirt, no sections of the smoothened rock were lightly grabbing at any foliage. It was sitting in the air under the command of the nymph, who was but a speck of white beneath the massive column of gray stone above her.

She looked behind herself to see the faces of disbelief over the faces of the ponies behind her. She had seen their open mouths and wide eyes more often than she had seen them smile.

With just as little effort as it took her to life the boulder, Aisling pushed her arms towards her side, tossing the boulder out of her hands and off of the path.

BOOM!

The impact shook the ground, much like Twilight’s now fragile sanity.

The sudden crash, however, silenced the woods following its wake, scaring away the wildlife that hid nearby. The small meadow was filled once more with silence, different now only with the a bit more of the white flower-lined trail being revealed.

“There,” Aisling said with lighthearted finality, turning to face the ponies with a rather proud smile. “Now we can continue.” The words were enough to jostle a thought from one of the mares.

“Wait… whoa, hold on a second,” Rainbow Dash spoke as her mind began to move again, shocked still by the sudden display of strength on Ailsing’s part. “What… what was that?” Her hoof motioned towards the now-moved statue, laying at the foot of a pair of forest giants.

“That is a statute. It still is actually. I only moved it.” Aisling shrugged as she spoke. For once, Rainbow wished someone would be a bit more detailed in their explanation. That was just way too simple a way to excuse what she had seen.

“No, Aisling, the more appropriate question Dash is trying to ask is… well… how did you throw it!?” Twilight’s voice was near exasperated as the question came from her lips. It caused not a confused state within Aisling’s mind, nor did it incite any shocked form for the sudden display on the unicorn’s part. Instead, it only made the bright green eyes of the Fae narrow dangerously, no differently than when Dash had spoke against her forest before.

“It’s not hard.” Aisling spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, one that did little to ease the now hectic mind of the unicorn. “I only had to move my arms. The forest did help, once I asked.” Twilight what she needed.

“So the forest, your forest, made you stronger, just by asking.” She ended every clause with a punctuated emphasis on her words. As with the sarcasm before, it flew clear over the Fae’s head, leading the what-once-appeared-to-be a little girl to nod at the unicorn, white hair billowing as she did so.

“Yes,” she began. “I asked it to help me move the statue. It let me of course. It is my forest.”

Twilight took a step back, raising a hoof to the base of her horn as she shut her eyes in focus. As carefully as she would organize the notes in her library, she sorted the thoughts in her head.

“Okay, she can communicate with the forest with song and silence, said forest can alter its shape or grant her strength, and to top it all off, she has many moral lessons as Princess Celestia, possibly even more if age is a true factor for wisdom.” A slow sigh left the unicorn’s lips, complete with her hoof dragging down her coat. “This is so much more than I expected.”

“Being a bit frank here,” Applejack spoke up to her friend. “Just what were ya expectin’ when we found the gal?” Twilight only shook her head.

“I… I don’t know…” Her eyes shifted back towards the Fae, who was in the middle of flexing her arm for the filly, zebra, and pegasus surrounding her. Despite the apparent isolation she had endured for sometime, passed only with memories, she carried herself well with strangers. Twilight would have envied that, if there wasn’t so much she was already trying to figure out.

When Aisling moved towards the next fallen statue, however, complete with cheering from Apple Bloom and Rainbow Dash, Twilight got an idea.

“Here Aisling, let me handle this one,” the unicorn lightly offered, her hoof carefully touching on the Fae’s shoulder as she did so. The unicorn was quick to note the smoothness to the bare skin of the girl, as well as the warmth it had. She was quicker to note the look of confusion in the green eyes of the nymph.

“Handle?” The Fae spoke the words as a question. “Do you know how?” Twilight did her utmost to hide her reaction from what she took as an insult to her abilities.

“Of course. I have handled much larger objects than this before.” The Fae turned her gaze back towards the statue that had fallen over the path, the flowers blooming over it swaying in the soft wind. Then the green eyes turned back to Twilight, this time, with a smile on her lips.

“Alright,” the Fae spoke, crossing her arms as she did so. “But I am warning you. It is not as easy at it looks.” Once more Twilight hid the grimace that so badly wanted to pull down on her smile.

“Well,” Twilight began. “I am rather talented with my magic so I should be able to handle this. Besides, it feels rude as… as a guest of your forest to be asking you to do everything for us.” The unicorn saw the brightening in the Fae’s eyes, a spark of pleasure towards the words she had chosen. Twilight was grateful for it.

“Alright then,” Aisling motioned with her arm towards the fallen statue in the path. “Use your magic. But remember to be careful.” Twilight gave a small, but polite, bow towards the nymph before trotting the short distance up to the stone, just before a hoof stopped her.

“Uh, Twilight, what are you doing?” Twilight followed the blue hoof pressing against her side up to Dash’s squinting eyes and bent ears. “I’m pretty sure Aisling can handle moving another one of those things, and you’re not the kind of pony to try and shake out of routines, so why are you trying ta do her job?” The unicorn leaned into the pegasus before she spoke.

“I want to see what kind of power fluxes I experience while I’m here. If I’m right with what I’m thinking, I’ll be able to lift up that rock as easily as I lift a table, or maybe a bookcase.” When the confusion riddling Rainbow’s features persisted, Twilight spoke on. “I know you can feel it too Rainbow. I’m not the only mare here who’s in touch with her natural talent.”

A slow look of dawning realization grew over the pegasus, softening her cheeks and loosening her jaw. A wing extended from her side, lightly flapping by it. Twilight nodded at the action.

“So… you think I could fly faster here, or something?” Twilight licked her lips before speaking.

“It’s the ‘something’ part that has me thinking. Aisling says she asked the forest for help, but I want to see if it’s an exclusive trait for her, or if it’s mutually beneficial to all forms of life.” Dash was close to being satisfied, but not quite.

“Why would you think that? I know you well enough to know you have a reason.” Twilight momentarily banished the question as to how Rainbow knew that. Her question was a good one. The answer was also too simple to not say.

“Because flowers were growing in rock, Dash.” A small grin pulled and released at her lips. “I can’t think of another way for that to happen other than magical interference.”

“Okay, yeah, I’ll give you that one.” The pegasus turned towards the boulder ‘blocking’ their path once more. “Just be careful, kay?” Twilight nodded in response.

“I promise,” the unicorn honestly replied. “Now, stand back. I’m not sure if I’m right or wrong, and I can’t tell what could be possible outcomes if my hypothesis is correct, I might be able to turn it into a theory.” Giving the usual chuckle of only partial understanding, Dash nodded as she trotted away from the unicorn, giving Twilight the requested space.

Turning her lavender eyes upwards, her mind began to work.

By her quick calculations, the size and mass of the stone was substantial. Accounting for the density of granite, which the statue was likely made of, in combination with her by-eye measurements, the rock was nearly 37,000 kg. It was a hefty amount by any scale, but it wasn’t a record on her books.

She had lifted entire orchards worth of apples before, all with the same level of magic as she was about to use now. The richness of the air was not lost on her, as she could feel the magic within her nearly glowing with strength. It was just another variable she had to consider.

Taking a deep breath, Twilight dropped her horn towards the stone, lighting shutting her eyes as she did so. The lavender aura of the unicorn surrounded the stone, her horn humming as she did so. The feeling of strength flowed through the unicorn as she performed the most familiar command to her, the first spell she had ever learned, levitation. With a small flick upwards of her head, she forced her aura to rise, aiming to drag the stone in the air as she did so.

What usually came next was the sensation of a small weight bearing on her mind, a bit of pressure to remind and indicate where and what the object was. That feeling didn’t happen yet. A small flurry of questions rushed through Twilight’s mind, but they were just as quickly dispatched as when they appeared. She simply was lifting enough.

Forcing more of her magic through her horn, Twilight strengthened her hold on the boulder, lifting it up even higher. This time she was rewarded with the weight of her effort.

“Whoa!”

And, a shout of surprise from behind her.

Startled, Twilight released her magic and spun, facing the mares behind her. Her lips were already open, ready to ask what had happened, but she stopped when she saw their gazes looking not at her, but high into the sky above them. She twisted her head upwards to see what they were gazing at, imagining it to be a dragon descending down to them, or another unorthodox appearance of weather.

Instead, Twilight saw the statue sailing into the air at a rate she faster than she could believe.

In another moment, it was out of sight.

The stillness that came over the glade was matched only by the perpetual silence.

The group continued to watch the small patch of sky available to them through the canopy of the trees above, staring into the endless blue the statue had disappeared into.

Until laughter began to echo around them.

Dimly, Twilight turned to see Aisling lying on the ground, her hands wrapped around her midsection as she rolled back and for the over the grass off the flower-lined path. Her long white hair blanketed the ground as she rolled over it, green eyes shut tight as the laughter continued to roll from her lips. It didn’t take much longer for Apple Bloom to settle next to her, lying on her belly over the nymphs pale hair.

“A child!” The Fae cried out amidst her laughter, gritting her teeth in a futile attempt to still her vibrating muscles.

“You have the control of a child! Using all your strength and no restraint!” Her laughter picked right up as she was finished. Her pale arms closed around Apple Bloom as she did so, the filly laughing into the Fae’s neck as she did so.

“But… But I… I don’t…” Twilight was beginning to think the Broca’s area of her mind was deteriorating, given the amount of times her speech had failed her today. That, or her frontal cortex was being overloaded with the amount of information she was having to process and memorize.

“And here I thought I was crazy seeing Aisling lift the first statue by herself,” Rainbow began wistfully, eyes still looking upwards as she spoke. “But then you go and throw another statue clear into orbit. Remind me to never get on your bad side, egghead.”

“That truly was a display of skill, though the ease behind it bodes ill.” Twilight’s head was close to falling off her shoulders with the speed she was shaking it. Zecora’s words did little to help.

“But that doesn’t make any sense!” Her eyes alternated from staring at the now bare patch of land to the blue sky high above them. “I didn’t use even a fraction of my magic pool trying to get that to lift. I used more force while I was lifting the silo in Ponyville, and that was at most a sixth of the weight of the statue!”

“I ain’t gonna pretend I know what yer getting’ at with your math, but I recognize that we’re far past the ‘norm’ right now.” Applejack spoke up as she trotted towards the pair, adjusting her hat on her head as she did so. “Sides, yer probably just not used to this place ‘er somethin like that. Heck, if what Dash told me you told her is true, Ah might be able ta clear buck one of these forest giants straight from it’s roots, not that Ah’m keen on that.”

“Your words hold much truth,” Zecora spoke in agreement with the farm pony, her golden eyes alternating from the now clear dirt path and the chortling Fae and filly. “Though there is little to sleuth.”

“I’m just… sorry, I-I usually have at least a vague idea of how my magic is going to work in new areas.” Twilight took a calming breath or two as she righted her mind. “This is… it’s like I’m standing in the center of a magic reservoir, like I’m directly using the power of the Elements.” Every mare there had experienced the full power of the Elements once before. It made the statement carry more weight than anything else Twilight could have mentioned.

“That was fun,” Aisling spoke on the ends of her laughter, her chest calming beneath her thin cloth. As for the filly, her forelegs were much the same, her form lax over the Fae in a tired state, doubtlessly ready for a long nap. “It reminds of the first time Brendan tried to climb.” Her laughter started again, only to end swiftly afterwards. “From climbing bushes in his village to one of the forest’s elder trees. It took him time to learn.”

The Fae rose to her feet, or more accurately, jumped to them. She leaned back onto her shoulders, placing her hands on the dirt beneath her white hair. Then, with a light push, propelled herself forwards, landing softly and gracefully in her bi-pedal stance. Apple Bloom was caught easily in her embrace, who settled back onto the ground soon afterwards.

“Do you want to meet him now?” It took a quick moment for the mares to remember what the question meant.

“O-Of course.” Twilight spoke up, trotting towards the Fae as she did so. “I mean, if you’re still alright with it.”

“Why would I not be?” Aisling asked honestly. “I did invite you, and the entrance is right there.” The Fae’s pale hand extended past the mares, pointing towards the path behind them.

It didn’t take a dramatic turn of the head to gaze at what the nymph was referring to, nor was it a sight they had not already glanced at. But, without the distraction of magical mysteries and cold revelations, they were not able to appreciate the beauty they saw in it now.

A cave of stone covered in white flowers, shaped rock surrounded by forest giants, and moderate entrance given emphasis by the statue cracked in half around it. Where as the flowers only lined the path before, here they bloomed over the stone in grand numbers. Where the giants only surrounded the path they walked, here they shadowed the large hollow stone. And where the statues before needed moving, here one was already split. The ponies did not want to imagine what had done it.

Despite the light that Aisling spoke of now living in the meadow, the cavern grew dark inside, no light shining from within or sources to fall from on high. Like any hollow material, the deeper in they gazed, the less they could see. However, what little they could see within the cavern, was not escaping Twilight’s attentive eye.

“Those carvings,” Twilight spoke as she slowly trotted forwards, wary of approaching the cave she now blamed for her sudden spike in magic. “They are not ruined nor faded. How has erosion not touched them?” The unicorn expected Aisling to answer her. Instead, she received an almost rebuff remark from Applejack.

“C’mon do ya even have ta ask?” The farm pony questioned with a tilt in her eyes. “I got ten bits saying Aisling asked for it ta stay the same.”

“Yeah, it is her forest.” Dash added in, initiating a high hoof with the farm pony. Twilight let her head fall, grinning as she did so. There were some things she needed her friends to remind her of, complete with their usual show of synergy.

Aside from the trio, however, Zecora looked around the structure, admiring the beauty of the art, the assembly that nature itself had preserved. Change may be needed, the zebra was keen to remind herself, but not while forgetting what once was. Sometimes, you needed something physical to remind what you were.

It made sense to her that the forest would keep a part of itself constant to allow the rest to change. It was unspoken, as she dare not speak it, but Zecora suspected the same remained true for Aisling at her side.

“This truly is a beautiful sight,” she spoke with only truth. “It shines wonderfully under the day’s light.”

“It is easy to see the good, the beauty and yes, the light.” Aisling spoke calmly, smiling with what Zecora recognized to be the mask of euphoria, the expression one donned when they gazed upon something or held someone they loved.

“But that is not why I come here. You do not see what I see.” The question to ask was as obvious as the cave before them.

“And what do you see,” the zebra asked curiously, “what is hidden from me?”

Aisling said nothing. She only smiled sweetly at the memory of the past standing amidst the remains in the present.

“Something I saw long ago, many ages past.” The Fae spoke no more, not until she had taken leaps forwards over the ponies, giving their necks another quick exercise in trying to keep up with her movements. “But you can come in. There is much you can see.” Her gaze turned to the unicorn. “And more you can ask.”

Aisling then swiftly jumped into the cavern, disappearing into the inviting darkness.

“Hey! Wait up Aisling!” Apple Bloom galloped in behind her, her little hooves, clopping against the ground to keep pace.

With only a nod towards one another, the other mare followed. Next Chapter: Where Memories Wait Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 52 Minutes