The sounds of clanging metal and rock could be heard echoing throughout the entire cave. The Appleloosans were accustomed to work in the open air, tending to the apples and other crops, rather than working in damp confined places such as this one, but they were hardworking souls and managed to adjust. The enclosed space and lack of light were the least of their problems.

One yellow pony with an apple cutie mark had been digging in his own little corner of the cave. “Braeburn!” shouted another pony. The yellow pony turned around at the mention of his name. He recognized the shouting pony as the sheriff of Appleloosa, who did not appear pleased with what he was looking at. “Braeburn, how many times have you told you not to dig in this corner? We’ve found nuttin’ but worthless dirt. If you’re gonna help us dig for jewels, start working with the other ponies. You’re wasting mah time!”

Braeburn let out an annoyed sigh. “But Sheriff,” he replied. “For the past few days ah’ve been hearing something from the othah side of this here wall! Ah know if I keep digging ah’ll eventually find what’s been calling me.”

The yellow pony stared intently at the wall. The mustached pony looked concerned. Braeburn had been obsessing over that wall for three days, claiming he could hear a voice calling from beyond it. That pony wasn’t right in the head. “Look, son, ah think you’ve been overworking yourself. Ah think you should take a vacation. Your enthusiasm is appreciated, but your health comes first. Maybe after relaxing for a bit, you’ll be thinking straight again.”

None of this seemed to get through to Braeburn, who had gone straight back to digging during Sheriff Silverstar’s speech. He was grunting “Must… find… voice” with every swing of his shovel.

The sheriff whistled to get the other ponies’ attention. “Everypony, Emergency Plan Pie Pacification!”

One side of the cave was dedicated to the worker ponies’ lunch. Being a town dedicated to growing apples, it was naturally filled with apple products. Underneath a table were boxes labeled “Emergency Pies”, filled with undercooked pies that were intended not for eating, but rather subduing crazed ponies and buffalo. The nearby worker ponies kicked the boxes open and grabbed the pies, ready to put Braeburn out of his miserable state. Braeburn panicked and shouted, “But there is really is something behind this here wall! The voice has been calling out to me ever since ah got here!” The ponies launched their pies at Braeburn until he fell unconscious.

Silverstar removed his cowboy hat in remorse over the troubled pony. “Medic! We’ve got another crazy on our hooves! Make sure he gets plenty of rest.”

Braeburn had not been the first pony to fall victim to the voices. He was the fifth pony since the beginning of this mining venture that claimed the walls were calling out to him. Silverstar had considered blocking off the wall Braeburn was digging into, and this reinforced his decision.

After Braeburn had been carried out by a medical pony, Silverstar shouted, “Everypony should take a lunch break. Ah don’t want y’all to be discouraged by the accidents we’ve been facing. The conditions are rough, but we all know it’ll be worth it in the end, and the troubled ponies will recover soon. Just take a break and don’t let yourselves be overstressed, ya hear? Grumbling and mumbling filled the cave. Everypony but Silverstar left the cave, whispering suspicions of a conspiracy or a curse.

The last pony put his hat back on. “Well, ah best be moseying outta here. Gotta deal with Braeburn’s family and comfort them.” He wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon, as a voice convinced him not to leave.

“But don’t you want my treasure?” The voice was ancient and slightly mad, the kind of voice no pony should trust, but there was a hypnotic quality to it, as if it were all-knowing.

Silverstar stopped dead in his tracks. “Who goes there?” he shouted out. “Is somepony pulling a prank? It ain’t funny!”

The voice replied, “No joke. I only speak the truth. I simply wish to help everypony progress beyond their wildest dreams, but first they must help me! I only ask that you dig through this wall and free me.”

The perplexed pony was trying his best to ignore the voice and leave, but he felt himself oddly compelled to hear more. “How are you going to help me? Ah need proof that this ain’t a prank!” He groaned as the room went out of focus, as if the cave were melting. The walls went black for a brief moment only to be filled with a glorious light that rivaled the visage of the sun.

“Holy Celestia! You’ve been hidin’ this beaut from me? Well why didn’t you say so? Ah’ll dig you out in no time.” The newly crazed pony picked up Braeburn’s shovel and went to town on the wall.

The voice chuckled maniacally at Silverstar’s actions. “At last! At last!” it cried. “My time here is finally at an end!”

-------------------------------------------

“Applejack, we got ourselves a problem!” yelled Apple Bloom, far from the Appleloosa mines and in the comfort of Sweet Apple Acres. The young filly had a nervous expression and was covered in anxious sweat. Applejack had been mashing apples to turn into applesauce behind the barn house and didn’t notice the problem Apple Bloom was yelling about. The apple-mashing mare took notice of Apple Bloom when she ran into the barrel of apples Applejack was working on.

“Apple Bloom,” said Applejack with a stern expression. “Be more careful ahround the produce. If any of the apples fall, we’ll have to clean them again.”

Still looking nervous, Apple Bloom replied, “But Applejack, there’s a letter here for you from Appleloosa, and it’s marked urgent!” Applejack noticed the envelope in younger sister's mouth, and it was indeed marked “urgent” in big red letters.

“Ah’ll give it a quick read.” Applejack took the letter and tore it open with her teeth. Inside was a document that looked too official to be from Braeburn or any other Apple family relatives. Applejack read it aloud so her sister could hear it.

“Dear Miss Applejack, your cousin Braeburn has fallen severely ill. He has become bedridden after overworking himself and has been raving about imaginary voices. We’ve tried our best to treat him, but he’s still disturbed. He’s also been clamoring to see you and your friends. We think he might calm down if you and your friends were to come to the Appleloosa Hospital and pay him a visit. Signed, Nurse Blueheart.”

Applejack was shocked. While she hadn’t known Braeburn as well as some of her other relatives, he was still family. Apple Bloom’s worried expression only deepened when she heard the contents of the letter. “Big sister, are you gonna go visit cousin Braeburn?” she asked.

Applejack did her best to hide her sadness from her little sister. She didn’t want the little thing to be like this. “Don’tchu worry, little pony,” said Applejack with her best attempt at bravado. Her face was twitching slightly, but Apple Bloom didn’t catch it. “Cousin Braeburn is sure to recover once he sees little ol’ me and the rest of the gang. The doctors seem sure of that, and that’s good enough for me. Ah’ll go tell Granny Smith and Big Macintosh about the news before ah leave. Oh, the farm will be needing some extra hooves while ah’m gone, so could you take care of the apple-mashin’?”

Inspired by AJ’s tough disposition, Apple Bloom cheered up a bit. “Yes, ma’am!” said Apple Bloom. “Ah’ll be the best extra hooves you ever saw!”

Applejack was proud of her little sister, despite the bad news. “Ah couldn’t ask for a better little sister.” She dashed off to the Apple family home to tell the other Apple ponies of her upcoming trip, while Apple Bloom jumped onto the barrel of apples and started mashing.

Her new confidence was briefly broken by a sudden thought. “Wait, why does Braeburn want to see Applejack and her friends and not the rest of his family?” She lingered on the thought for a few seconds, and then resumed mashing the apples. Something that small couldn’t have possibly mattered right now. There was work to do and an older sister to make proud.

-------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, in a library on the other side of Ponyville, a certain purple unicorn mare had her own set of issues to deal with. Books littered the entire floor, a cranky owl flying around, and a baby dragon chased said owl; Twilight Sparkle didn’t need all of this nonsense, not right now.

“Spike!” yelled Twilight Sparkle. “For the last time, Owloysius did not take your secret sapphire stash. You probably just misplaced it.” Spike continued to ignore Twilight’s shouting and focused on his prey. While he had accepted the owl as Twilight’s night assistant, that didn’t mean he could get away with stealing his food. He’d make the flying ball of feathers hoot even if he had to tie him down and interrogate him like one of those cops he read about in Twilight’s books. That was, if he could get close to Owloysius. Spike wished he were a winged dragon right about now.

Twilight let out an audible groan. “Okay, if you’re going to be like that, I’ll have to take measures into my own hooves.” She closed her eyes and focused on a spell; the glowing purple energy in her horn transformed into a magical lasso and flew at Spike, snaring his ankles and rooting him to the ground. Taking advantage of his hunter’s disabled status, Owloysius flew out the nearest window to safety.

Spike glared at Twilight from the messy floor. “But Twilight, I was saving those sapphires for a special dinner with…” He clammed up before he could mention whom he was having a special dinner with. Twilight just shook her head. She tried her best to not interfere with Spike’s love life, but she knew how crazy he was over a certain fabulous white unicorn, so she empathized with his stress.

“I know those sapphires were really important to you, but I can’t have you and Owloysius fighting and making a mess of the place, especially today. I did mark today’s big event in bold red on the to-do list, right?”

“Oh yeah, that lecture thing,” said Spike. Luckily for him, the list was buried underneath the books he was lying on top of. Twilight had a habit of writing every little detail of the day down on her lists, but rarely did she mark one event in bold red. “You were going to have a lecture on that old dude that’s been dead for hundreds of years. Now can you untie me?” Twilight dissipated the magical rope, but she frowned after hearing Spike speak dismissively like that.

“Spike,” she said. “It’s not just any old ‘dude’. This is Star Swirl the Bearded we’re talking about here!” Spike muttered under his breath, “Oh no, here we go again.” Twilight didn’t hear him. Her eyes lit up as she prepared to go into a nerdy discussion about historical wizards.

“Star Swirl was one of THE most important wizards of the pre-classical era. If it weren’t for him, we’d probably still be in the dark ages of Equestria. I’m seriously shocked that no pony knew who he was when I dressed as him for Nightmare Night. I did heavy research into what he wore and got it perfectly. Even Princess Luna complimented me on my accuracy, and she’s old enough to have known Star Swirl.”

She continued to talk about Star Swirl for what seemed like hours to Spike, who stopped paying attention and started cleaning up the library. Twilight was in her own fantasy world. When Spike finished cleaning up, he tapped Twilight on the shoulder and asked, “Um, wasn’t your lecture supposed to happen in about ten minutes.” Twilight gasped.
“Gah, I’m sorry, Spike. I got so caught up in my knowledge of Star Swirl that I forgot to check the time. I have to get my books, and I also promised that there would be snacks for all of the guests.”

“Don’t worry, Twilight,” said Spike. “I got your books on Star Swirl right here, though honestly you know so much about him that you could probably write a history on him from memory.” Twilight blushed awkwardly at that remark. “Oh, and Pinkie Pie promised to bring snacks according to your list, so I think we’re good there.”

“Thank you, Spike!” Twilight hugged Spike. “You’re still my number one assistant.” Spike smiled innocently. “Aww, you don’t have to remind me,” said Spike. There was a knock at the door.

“I’ll get it!” said Twilight Sparkle. The purple mare opened the door to reveal four familiar faces. The pink one had a basket of cupcakes saddled on her back.

“Happy lecture day, Twilight!” said Pinkie Pie in her usual upbeat manner. “I hope I brought enough cupcakes for everypony!” Twilight levitated the basket off of Pinkie Pie and set it on a table in the middle of the library.

“Thank you so much, Pinkie,” said Twilight. “You’re ten minutes early, girls, so you can just relax inside while I review my materials for the discussion on Star Swirl the Bearded.” She stepped aside to let the four ponies walk inside.

Pinkie spoke again. “I was testing out a new cupcake ingredient just for this occasion.”

“Dare I ask what the new ingredient is, Pinkie?” asked Rarity, the dazzling white unicorn. She was staring at the cupcakes in a hungered awe. The cupcakes were coated in deep blue frosting, with a red stem poking out of each one of them.

Pinkie Pie replied “If I told you what it was, it’d ruin the surprise.” Rarity stepped away. As much as she wanted to trust her friend, she knew Pinkie was very eccentric and would have put just about anything into a cupcake if she found it to be unique.

The yellow pegasus among them spoke up.

“Um, I hope we’re not the only ponies here,” said the meek Fluttershy. “I wouldn’t want to see all of your effort go to waste, Twilight.”

“Don’t you worry, Fluttershy my dear,” said Rarity. “My exquisite posters surely grabbed everypony’s attention. Just take a look outside the window.” The five ponies saw a sea of posters outside, each adorned with the image of a wise wizard dressed in regal robes. Twilight was awestruck.
“Rarity, I can’t believe you were able to get this many posters up when I only gave you the heads-up yesterday!” said Twilight.

The blue pegasus with the rainbow mane butted in.

“That’s because I’m the fastest poster pony in Ponyville,” said Rainbow Dash. “Rarity gave me the posters once she was finished. It only took a few minutes.” Twilight blushed at all of her friends.

“Aww, I knew I could count on all you. I’m sorry I put so much work on you when you’re busy with other things, but I was just too busy setting up the lecture itself that I needed some extra hooves.”
“It’s no trouble at all, darling,” said Rarity. “Personally, any lecture about a stallion in a lovely cape is worth helping, though he could lose the bells.”
“And if he’s as cool as you’ve said he is, Twilight, then it’s definitely worth sitting down for a boring lecture,” said Rainbow Dash.

“All right, girls, we have five minutes left before we officially begin. Just make yourselves at home while I do some last-minute reviewing,” said Twilight. Twilight trotted to the podium over at the other end of the room. Spike had arranged the books he gathered on it in alphabetical order, just the way Twilight loved it. The other ponies began chatting, but then Fluttershy noticed something was missing.

“Wait, wasn’t Applejack supposed to come early with us?” she asked to everypony. “I thought Pinkie Pie sent an invitation to all five of us telling us all to come early.

“I did,” said Pinkie Pie. “She said she’d get off work early, but maybe she had more work than she thought.”

“It’s okay, girls,” said Twilight who was listening while reading. “I’m sure Applejack will show up soon…” It was then that another knock was heard at the door. “Enough,” finished Twilight. She was staring wide-eyed at the rumbling door.

“Ooh, I’ll get it!” gleefully said Pinkie Pie. She bounced towards the door and opened it, and as soon as the door was open wide enough, an orange flash of light streaked by.

“Girls, we got trouble!” yelled Applejack. She was clearly shaken up and was saddled up for a trip abroad.

“Trouble? Is no pony coming to the Star Swirl discussion?” asked Twilight.

“No, Twi, it’s far worse than that. Mah cousin Braeburn is severely ill, and we have to see him quick as lightning before he gets worse!”

“Oh no, Applejack, I’m so sorry. But I’ve been setting this discussion up for weeks now and it’d be hard to reschedule now without cutting into my other studies.”

“Twi, you need to understand this. The doctors told me that he needs to see all of us, or he might not get any better. He’s been ramblin’ in bed and he won’t calm down until we all come down there and see him.”

“All of us? What about your family? Wouldn’t he be more interested in seeing the entire Apple family instead of one Apple and her friends?”

“He’s not right in the head, Twi. The doctors say he’s been hearin’ voices. What if Braeburn stays like this forever? Ah can’t stand to think about that happenin’.

Twilight pondered over what her farmer friend had just said. She had put a lot of effort into preparing her discussion on Star Swirl the Bearded for some time now, but Applejack was her friend, and while the old Twilight would have put books before friends, the current Twilight knew what the right thing to do was.

“Okay, Applejack, we’ll come with you to Appleloosa. I can postpone my Star Swirl discussion for later.”

“Woohoo, I don’t have to sit through a boring lecture!” yelled Rainbow Dash. Everypony stared at her. “I mean, darn, I was looking forward to knowing more about how awesome Star Swirl is.” She nervously laughed off the staring.

Twilight turned to Spike, who was napping in the corner. “Spike, wake up!” She nudged him with head.

Spike muttered, “Don’t you worry, dame. I’ll get you the finest gems in all of Equestria even if it kills me.” He opened one eye and saw Twilight nudging him. He quickly opened up the other eye and sprung up. “Oh, Twilight, is the lecture over yet? You didn’t hear anything from me, did you?” he asked.

“Spike, I’m sorry, but the discussion has to be postponed. Applejack is having a family emergency right now, and she needs me and the other ponies to come with her. We’ll be gone for a couple of days, so could you look over the library while I’m gone.”

“Oh, that’s it?” asked Spike. He started dozing off again. “Sure thing. You go have fun with Rarity and the others, and I’ll make sure nothing goes wrong.”

Twilight hugged Spike, who had already gone back to sleep. “Thank you so much, Spike!” Spike responded with a snore. Twilight turned towards the rest of the ponies. “Okay, ladies, you heard Applejack. Braeburn is depending on us, and we can’t let relatives of our friends down. Pack your things, we’re heading to Appleloosa!”

With that said, she trotted upstairs to gather her belongings. Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinkie Pie left to do likewise, while Twilight was overlooking every room in the library to see if she was missing anything for her trip. She had already stuffed her bag with quills, parchment, and other essentials, but there was still room for one more thing. “Ah ha, I know!” She levitated the largest of her books on Star Swirl into her bag.

“No sense in me ceasing my studies on Star Swirl while I’m gone. I’ll need to be ready for next discussion,” she said to herself.

Applejack was still waiting in the main room. “You ready, Twilight?” she asked.
“I’m ready, Applejack,” said Twilight. “When does the train leave?”

“Ten minutes.”

Twilight freaked out. “Ten minutes? Why didn’t you say that earlier? The other ponies need to know!”

“Sorry, Twi. Ah was in such a rush that I forgot to mention it. But don’tchu worry, ah got the tickets ahead of…” Twilight didn’t hear the rest of that sentence as she teleported out of the room, off to gather up the other ponies as soon as possible.

“Wait for me, Twilight!” Applejack dashed out of the library.

A few minutes later, dozens of hooves knocked at the door, waking up Spike again. He crankily walked up to the door and muttered to himself, “Twilight, did you forget anything?” He opened the door to a dozen impatient ponies outside. “Aww nuts.”