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// Away From Town; An Old Castle: Cornered! 
// Story: A Mishap Between Friends 
// by Kalreas 
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They had all awoken as the sun came up. Twilight and Pinkie Pie both woke up at nearly the same time. They had begun making breakfast when the rest slowly awoke.

Twilight was the leader of the group, so she decided to set a plan. She also decided to release the idea for the plan at breakfast, after the party. The town was peaceful at morning, unlike Ponyville, much to their surprise. The sun had just peaked itself over the mountain horizon. The glow cast a dim reddish-orange shade across the town. The setting really looked absolutely beautiful for such an early morning.

The sun had risen more as time went by, and as the meal was being prepared. Sorin had just woken up and walked outside to meet Pinkie and Twilight. As he walked over to the cooking breakfast, Twilight greeted him with a sudden, quick kiss. It surprised Pinkie when she had done it, making her gasp in happiness.

Sorin simply sat down next to the cooking meal, staring at the fire. His eyes slowly moved to the vibrant, glowing eyes of Twilight. His gaze was lost in the sea of emotions pouring from her eyes, and into his soul. He felt a strange, indescribable feeling of happiness and contentment.

"So," He started. "I don't suppose you have any plans or ideas you want to share?" He asked, looking away from Twilight and Pinkie, staring at the fire once more. Breakfast was going to be served soon.

"Actually yeah." Twilight answered honestly. "I had been thinking of actually searching for an ingredient. For the potions... To cure our spell." Twilight averted her stare from the stallion so that she could move the meal away from the fire. She set it on the ground, letting it rest and cool.

"It's funny..." She started, staring at the fire, thinking about the past. "We started this not too long ago, not really knowing what to expect. We've gone from houses in Ponyville, a nice, cooled down area... To needing to build fires, or cuddle together during the night." She closed her eyes and sighed. "I just didn't expect our lives to change this much, simply because of a spell. A random spell put on us by Discord... That didn't have a natural, magical cure."

By this time, the others had awoken and stepped outside to greet the new day. Sorin saw the state of Rarity and simply giggled, starting to stand to say something.

"The slumbering bear greets the dawn, huh Rarity?" He couldn't contain his smile any further. She checked the condition of her mane, and swiftly fixed it as well as she could. Giggling slightly, the stallion turned and started walking towards Twilight. They had all awoken at this point, as breakfast was being served.

"Is my hair fixed? Oh, it infuriates me so how I can't even see how I look, whether through a mirror or not. Curse this magic." She stared at the group, one by one, hoping for an answer. Upon receiving a little help from Twilight, she relaxed and started acting naturally, feeling better.

Minutes passed as the group was sitting by the fire, eating breakfast and making small talk. Only moments after all was silent, Twilight spoke of the plan.

"So, I was thinking." She looked around the group of her friends, eyes lingering on those of the stallion. "I was thinking about searching again for a specific ingredient. I've brought a couple of books that detail the most of the rare ingredients. So I basically know where to look for the ingredient I'm hoping for us to find."

They all began looking at one another, deciding if they should or not.

"So? What say you?" Sorin said, surprising the entire group and causing Twilight to give him a confused stare. After only a moment further of thinking, the group decided to agree one by one.

Rarity spoke first. "I believe that the best course of action would be to look specifically for an ingredient."

Then Applejack. "Ah reckon there ain't no harm in lookin' fer one."

Rainbow Dash was next. "Alright, let's go look for another... whatever-it-is."

Fluttershy was the last to speak. "I'll go if you all will."

Once they had all decided what to do, the group put out the fire and set off. It had begun with Twilight listing off the text from the book. The day progressed as the group gathered their strength or walked around town for the last time, before they set off. They had planned on going to an abandoned ruin, somewhere inside the forest.

"Deep in the forest," Twilight started explaining, reading the text from the book. "There lies an old abandoned castle." She stopped reading for a moment to look at the map.

"There it is on the map." She said, sliding the map across the ground and tapping her hoof to the part she was detailing. "We'll need to follow a path in the forest... It says here that there's an old road that's nearly decayed that runs halfway through the forest, leading to the castle. So if we follow the path when we find it, it'll be as easy as following the road to the castle... Because that's basically what we're going to do."

She looked around the group, all assembled now at the edge of town.

"It's just like Ponyville..." Applejack stated. "Leavin' town, goin' through a path in a forest." 

"You're right, AJ." Twilight stated. "Except we haven't lived in this town for several years."

"I'm just glad we had time to have a party in this one!" Pinkie said cheerfully. The rest of the group nodded.

They begun their walk, making their way through the forest, towards their destination. Only a few small things distracted them, as they made their way through the many trees and often damp earth. It didn't take long for them to find the path that the book detailed. Once they were on the path, it was as simple as following it.

The gate to the castle was decayed, and slightly swinging back and forth from the wind. It was rusted and had vines attached to it from the nearby swamp trees. They quickly walked past the gate, now gazing upon the great sight of the castle. It was a grand sight, even in its old, stained and overgrown condition.

The entire group marveled at the sight of it. It was quite large, despite the age and decay breaking some parts of the walls. There wasn't a single sound escaping from it, as the age would already tell you.

"We should step inside." Twilight said boldly, already stepping a hoof inside of the castle entrance. The rest of her friends quickly followed, Sorin going first after her.

Minutes of searching had been seemingly wasted, so Twilight thought of another plan. She told the group that they should split into a few groups. She stated that it would be best to send the five of her friends off to the bigger part of the castle, while herself and the stallion stay and search the library.

Only few moments had passed before they all nodded, thinking out the scenario. Twilight had a good mind, that much was sure. The majority of the group went their way, while the stallion and the lead mare turned to the long hallway. The walk was long, and it had doorways dotting the sides of the walls.

Above every doorway, there was a window, letting in the faint light of day seeping through the leaves. Twilight kept walking down the hallway, looking for a specific room. "Do you think," She started, not even looking to her side. "the rest of them will be ok?" She finished, looking to her side, then behind her. Then to her other side.

He wasn't there.

"Sorin?!" She shouted. No response. She trotted back down the hallway, looking for the stallion.

"Twilight!" A response finally came. She could tell that he was in the very first room, on the left. She wasted no time in going to the room he was in. He was laying down, reading what looked to be a scroll. Similar to the scrolls that she would send to Celestia. 

"What's that?" She asked.

"I'm not quite sure, but it details something I have a personal look-out for." He stated boldly, continuing his reading. Only few moments passed for him to be able to read before they heard a scream from the other side of the castle. He jolted his head up, looking out the door, then at Twilight.

They both nodded at each other, starting to walk out the room. Once they had walked outside the room, they were forced to stop by a wall. They were both confused, because they both came from that direction. An idea popped into Twilight's mind.

"We're being forced further apart. Somepony put this wall here, using a hidden contraption. This is the way we came through the hallway in the first place. That means somepony else is in the castle with us..." She trailed off, looking behind her, to the other end of the hallway.

"Only one way to find out if I'm right." Twilight stated, trotting down the hallway to the other end. Sorin quickly followed, adding his thoughts.

"While that is completely possible, I have my doubts about that."

They shortly arrived at the other end of the massive hallway. They kept walking through the castle, only stopping every now and then to look in rooms. As they were halfway through another hallway, the passageway in front of them started closing. They both made a gallop for it, but it closed just before they got there.

They turned around in time to be greeted by at least half a dozen darkly dressed ponies.

"Doesn't look very inviting." Twilight said nervously.



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