As they entered the castle the area around them they saw what looked like an older Unicorn with a dark green coat with a lavender mane and tail. She entered the corridor to the left where Twilight’s friends went to recuse her. Thinking it was strange to see any pony there Twilight called out to her. Without a reply the strange mare disappeared into the corridor.

“Well that was a Rude McRudypants! Not even a hello.” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as they walked to the corridor in question.

“That sure was strange, well we were headed there anyways so let’s goin’ y’all. Maybe we can see where she’s headed off to. She might not have heard us or somethin’.” Apple Jack said looking at everypony as Twilight kept staring with a confused look on her face.

“Somethin’ wrong sugarcube?”

“Well not really? As you said, sure was strange. Anyways we’ll see what we’ll see.”

As they entered the corridor they saw the mare enter a room near the end of hallway. As they walked there Twilight said, “ I originally wanted to come here to relive that night we all became friends. But this seems like something worth looking into, and we can ask what she’s doing here. I didn’t know anyone knew of this place other than us.”

By this time they walked into the room to see that it was empty. “What? Where did she go? Hello!”

All that answered back was her echo through the moss covered crumbling walls. The room looked like it was once a room of some sort, with furnishings that looked like they had succumbed to the sands of time ages ago. The only two things that were intact was an old bookcase filled with books, and an old chest. They searched around the room calling out for the Unicorn mare but had received no reply.

It was Twilight who looking through the books in the book shelf who the book that opened the secret stairway behind the bookcase. Calling the others over they walked down. As they stepped down the stairs Twilight’s and Rarity’s horns illumination was made unnecessary as the old torches on the side of the spiraling stair case lit up with an electric blue fire.

“Ooooo Pretty!” Pinkie said pulling out a stick with a marshmallow on it from where ever it was that Pinkie grabbed her assortment of oddities out of.

“I’m not even going to ask where you got that from, but I have to ask why?” Twilight asked Pinkie as she held the marshmallow over the fire which refused to toast the marshmallow despite Pinkie’s valiant efforts.

“Easy peasy Twilight. For smores of course. You can’t have smores without roasted marshmallows.”

“Riiight. Well I’m glad to see you back to your old self.”

“I know.” She said softly, “Well it doesn’t matter I guess since this mean fire won’t toast it.”

“I know this place is starting to feel more and more weird. I don’t like it.” Rainbow Dash whispered as she flexed her wings defensively. The mixture of the weight of time and knowing that they were now under several tons of earth was starting to make everyone feeling slightly uncomfortable. As if they were going somewhere they weren’t meant to be, yet drawn onward for a reason they couldn’t quite place.

Twilight was starting to get unnerved and decided that she should use her Alicorn eye powers. Although it was something that still drew discomfort from her when she used it, although nowhere near as uncomfortable as when she first started. Looking at the area around her she noticed that the magical network of the earth was super saturated in the stair ways. As if it was made completely of magical energy, it would explain how the books and even this place was in immaculate condition, although it didn’t explain the atmosphere that surrounded them.

As they turned the corner what she saw shocked her, the Unicorn mare they were following didn’t exist. More accurately she might of existed at one point in time, but she had no magical pathways all living things held, had no aura, and when looking at the foreground and background magic at her location. Noticed that she was a whole in the fabric of magic, like magic didn’t exist around her. It was even more confusing when before anyone could talk to her, she placed her horn to the wall before them and it lit up. Just before she disappeared from their sight.

Walking to the wall she noticed the etchings of an intricate series of runes and seals forming an interconnected lock and spell. Looking at the runes only visible to her Alicorn sight, she deduced how to activate the seal and follow, she looked over to her friends and said, “I know how to enter here. I have to ask this though, we didn’t come here looking for a mystery. But I feel like I should follow, although you’d never believe me if I told you what I saw about that mare we’ve been following. So I ask, do you all want to follow me or do you want to stay back?”

“Listen egg head. We said that we’d follow you where ever it took us. We’re going to follow you, even if it takes you to Tartarus if that’s what you need.” Rainbow Dash said as she flew to Twilight to stand beside her. The rest agreeing that they were going to go with.

“OK here we go.” Placing her horn to the wall she flowed her magical energy through the seals of the wall, igniting the runes. A bright flash was all they saw before being enshrouded by darkness. Little did they know when they opened the seals, it released a black mist that flew by them as they traveled to their new destination.

As they flew through the darkness a bone chilling cold permeated their entire being as if their very bones were dipped in ice. As the darkness passed and warmth returned to their bodies they found themselves in a strange room. The entire room was lit in the same blue flamed torches that were in the stair well. On the left was a huge library filled with scrolls, if anyone were to scan for spells they would find several spells to prevent aging, and damage from the elements. On their right was a double door that was more larger than the one to the Princesses Castle in Canterlot that allowed access to the building proper. On the door were etchings of runes and glyphs that were older than anything Twilight had ever come across, and before them set an ornate ritual chamber.

It was there that the Mare that was not really there walked into the center. Encircling her was a highly complex, ritual circle. They watched as she sat in meditation there her horn glowing before the circle came to life, enveloping her before she suddenly flashed from exitance. The only thing left of that room was a large book it’s last page open before them.

“OK who else thinks that’s weird?” Rainbow Dash asked, lookin back at her friends and seeing that they stood in a room that had several doors behind them, “And what the heck are those doors?”

They all looked behind them and saw the row of doors, and walkways beneath them that stretched from one of end of the wall to the other, as far as the eye could see. “I think we should mark the door behind us just incase, but I think they lead to other places. And I agree that was strange, especially since no magic happened. I think what we saw was a recording.” Twilight explained.

“Well ah reckon that was the strangest thing ah’ve ever seen before.”

“You said it AJ. So what do we do know Twi’?” Rainbow asked.

“Well first I want to see that book before us, then I need to teleport the Princesses here and see if we can’t see what this place is. First I need to send the Princesses a letter telling them what just transpired, and see if they can come right now. While I’m doing that why don’t all of you do a bit of exploring, I mean if this place is as big as it looks it must have somewhere to get food, or where some food might be growing.”

As Twilight started to write she heard Pinkie yell for her to come over. Thinking it was something dangerous she teleported over to see Pinkie standing outside the door with a large sign before them, and a map under it with a dot before a large section that Twilight guessed was their current location. Over the sign and the source of Pinkie’s outburst was a guide to the building written in ancient Unicorn from pre-equestrian text. She knew the language because it was a requirement for pursuing some of the more ancient spells she loved to catch up on. But her friends wouldn’t be able to understand it.

“Ok listen I’m going to use a language spell that will teach you all how to speak and read ancient texts flawlessly. This is an ancient unicorn dialect, that’s been dead for well over three thousand years so this should help you get around.” With that Twilight focused her magic on her friends and did a spell that copied her knowledge of the language to them directly.

With a gasp that they could finally understand the chicken scratch before them, they went left to see what they could find while Twilight went back to her writing. A thing she prided herself of while being a Princess was that she was now able to use brevity while writing, so instead of a thirty page letter as she would have done not to long ago. She kept it as short and to the point as possible. In this case it only took her two pages front and back to tell them what had transpired and her insights into the manner. As well as a request to summon them into the room she currently resided in.

Following the trail of background magic from where she was to them took her five minutes of meditation to plot it out, and a simple teleportation spell to send the letters. While waiting for a reply she decided that it would be a good use of her time to look at the book before her. The title read “Almareda’s Journal”, it was a green leather book with a design on the front that she could only guess as Almareda’s Cutie Mark. It was a circle and with in the circle was a trident like road bisecting it.

She had gone through a hundred pages when a scroll finally appeared from the Princesses that said that they were ready to be summoned. Putting the book down she looked around and saw that her friends were still gone. She stepped away from the table she was working on and used the summoning spell to draw the Princesses to her. But when they arrived they looked ghost like before fading away. Twilight thinking that she had killed the Princesses went on full on panic mode before another scroll popped in front of her. It said that they were ok, but were going to use the entrance that she described in her scroll. Still in full on panic mode Twilight fainted from the anxiety of the moment and let sleep take hold of her.