Twilight sighed as she exited yet another of the mountains caves.
"Come on Twi, Don't you think what you're doing is a bit much. I mean, I know this is kinda what I would do, and we kinda told you that the prophecy is about you, but exploring every single cave in the Canterlot mountain to find this crazy cave that's supposed to make us go cookoo, just to find out the truth of this prophecy? I wanna go back to the castle." Rainbow Dash complained.
"Rainbow Dash's right Twi. These things take time, we'll find this out when it comes to it. No need ta rush it." Applejack said.
"But if we don't hurry and find out what the prophecy means by 'see the truth and find their place', then Nightmare moon could be upon us and we'd have no way to stop her. Without the elements, this prophecy is our only hope."
"But we defeated her! It will be ages before she comes back!" Rainbow Dash whined.
"But, according to Rarity and Applejack, she is summoning an army, bigger than the one we faced. If we're not ready for that with whatever this prophecy is, then we have no hope of defeating her again."
"Fine. The next one is just up here, lets go." Rainbow sighed. The three ponies walked into the next cave and looked around, there where three routes.
"Perfect, we'll split up, follow the path, don't take a detour, keep going straight. Once we reach the end of the paths, turn around and come back here. Don't go into one another's tunnels, it will make things confusing." Twilight ordered before running down the middle path. Rainbow flew down the right path and Applejack the left. Rainbow Dash's path was more or less a completely straight one, with no other tunnels coming off of it. Several minutes of flying, ended Rainbow Dash in a cave. This cave, like the one where they had found the prophecy, was glowing slightly. Slowly, Rainbow Dash searched the small cave. After a few minutes of searching, she saw something engraved in the wall. Taking a closer look she saw it was another prophecy. This time, the prophecy was in Equestrian, Old Equestrian, but still Equestrian.
Down a tunnel, the lady shall findeth, an entrance of the mind, passing through, without knowing, into a lodging the lady recognizes.
"Another prophecy! I gotta tell Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said to herself before shooting off through the tunnel she had come from.
---
Applejack's tunnel wined round and round, the constant turning was making her feel dizzy. She hadn't been walking very long, 2 minutes at most, but there had already been a few tunnels splitting off of the main one, each intriguing Applejack to no end, but she carried on, following the path. At least, she thought she had, with all this turning, Applejack wasn't sure if she had followed the correct path. As Applejack rounded another turn, she found herself looking at the entrance to her room. (Princess Cadence had let them stay in the castle for as long as they needed to.) Applejack turned around to find no tunnel. She kept spinning, trying to find out how she got here. After a few moments, Applejack fell to the floor, being to dizzy to stand up. Then Rarity opened up her room's door to see who it was that had just fallen. She looked on the floor and saw Applejack.
"Applejack, darling! Are you alright? Where's Twilight and Rainbow Dash? Why are you back so early? Twilight said you'd be gone for most of the day." Rarity bombarded Applejack with questions. It took Applejack a moment to regain her bearings again before she spoke.
"Ah'm fine Rarity. Just confused is all. Ah don't know how Ah got here, all Ah know is that Ah was walking down a tunnel when Ah'm suddenly here. Ah'm pretty sure that Twi an' RD are still in the tunnels."
"Well, Maybe Twilight teleported you out, though I cant think why."
"Yeh, hmmm, Ah don't know. Ah'm gonna try an' figure this out"
"That's fine Applejack, but I must get back to my work, otherwise these costumes wont be ready at all!" Rarity said as she walked off. Applejack grunted. They were trying to prepare for a war that could potentially break out, and Rarity was more interested in making outfits. Applejack turned to look at the spot she had come from. She stared at it for a long time. She was wondering how she could have got back to the castle like that. It was as if...she had walked through a portal. Applejack stared hard at where she had come from, as if expecting a portal to open then and there. She wasn't, actually, expecting that, but, it happened anyway. As Applejack stared, she saw a ripple spread out through the air. Then, a tear formed where the ripple had started. The tear stated to get bigger. Applejack looked at the opening portal in shock. What was going on! Through the portal, Applejack could see the wall of a tunnel. 'Perfect, that's gonna get me back to where Ah was.' She thought as the portal got bigger. Once it was big enough for Applejack to fit through, it stopped growing, and waited. Almost looking at Applejack expectantly. Applejack walked through the portal...and was greeted by Rainbow Dash slamming into her at top speed. Applejack was thrown off her hooves and into the wall, Rainbow Dash, having tried to slow down the moment she saw Applejack, had bounced off of her friend and into the wall,...where she had got her head stuck.
"Consarn it Rainbow Dash! Can't you be more careful when you're flyin' round! You could'a hurt somepony!" Applejack scolded, whilst trying to get Rainbow's head from out of the wall "An' what are ya doin' in mah tunnel anyway? Twi said to stick to our own tunnels."
"I'm in your tunnel?!" Rainbow Dash almost shouted, her head now free from the wall "For your information, I'm still in my tunnel, and I'm not the one who just walked out of THE WALL! How did you do that anyway? There are no other pathways down this tunnel."
"What'dya mean Ah walked out o' the wall, Ah did not wa- Oh" Applejack trailed off upon seeing there was nowhere else she could have come from and that she was indeed, in Rainbow's tunnel. "Ah don't know how Ah came out o' the wall." She said. "Ya still could be more careful when yer flyin'!"
"Well, how was I supposed to know you were gonna walk out of the wall. Plus, I don't think I'm going to be doing any flying any time soon." Rainbow Dash stated, looking at her limp right wing. It had been a few days since Rainbow's wing had healed properly, and she had been ecstatic when Fluttershy told her she could fly again. Now she felt dejected again. "Anyway, I was going as fast as I was because I found something you guys should see."
"What?"
"Another prophecy, this time in ancient Equestrian."
"Another prophecy?? Whats it say?"
"Something about a lady finding an entrance in a tunnel, going through it and ending up in a 'lodging' she recognizes. Come on, let's go back to Twilight."
When the two friends got back to the entrance of the tunnels, Twilight was already waiting for them.
"I thought I said to stick to your own tunnels." She demanded.
"We know, but Applejack found a way to walk through walls." Rainbow Dash sighed, she was still dejected.
"How in the world world wide of Equestria did you find a way to walk through walls?!" Twilight asked, very surprised.
"Well, Ah, ughh, ya see, it's a long story." Applejack finally answered "Anyway, Rainbow Dash found another prophecy. Ya need to come see it."
"Another prophecy? Lets go!" Twilight shouted excitedly before running down the tunnel her two friends had come from. Applejack ran after her, Rainbow Dash followed, though not as eagerly.
When she got to the cave, Twilight had already found the prophecy and was reading it.
" an entrance of the mind, passing through, without knowing, into a lodging the lady recognizes. What does it mean?" She asked herself desperately. Then Applejack spoke up.
"Ah think Ah know what it means." She said.
"You do?" Twilight asked her "What is it?"
"Well, Ah think Ah know what it means. Earlier, when Ah was goin' through ma tunnel, Ah ended up back in Canterlot castle somehow. It was like Ah went through a portal. Ah think Ah did, 'cause when Ah tried to think how Ah got there, another portal opened up. So Ah walked through, thinkin' it were gonna take me back to where Ah was, when it took me straight into Rainbow Dash here's tunnel." Applejack said "The prophecy, talks about a gal who goes through an entrance without knowin' it, an' it took her to someplace she knew. Which is exactly what happened ta me."
"But what about the mind thing?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I think that means the portal. Applejack, could you open it again?"
"ughh, maybe. Let me try." Applejack said. She then began to focus on a spot in the cave. She watched it for a few minutes, straining to open it.
"Try thinking of somewhere you want to go, that might help." Applejack heard Twilight's voice beside her. So Applejack began to think of somewhere that she wanted to go. She thought of Canterlot castle, where the rest of her friends were. Sure enough, the ripple came again and the air was torn open by an unseen force. Through the portal, Applejack, Twilight and Rainbow Dash could see the shocked faces of Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity. All three of them where in the dining hall, having lunch, staring at the portal that revealed their three friends who had gone out earlier to try and complete Twilight's prophecy.
"There ya go Twilight, one portal back to Canterlot castle." Applejack said.
"Pinkie dear, what did you put in the punch?"