Twilight contacts her friends Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy, and explains the situation to them, and afterwards, they agree to go on the journey with her, Spike, and Starlight.
As the eight of them began walking through the Everfree Forest, Twilight asks her friends, “So all of you had nightmares about the same cave as us?”
“Ah guess we did.” Applejack said.
“Ooo it was soooo spooby!” Pinkie said hyperly. “I was never so scared in my life! I was like ‘aaaah’, and then the ponies were like, ‘booo, you’re not funny, Pinkie Pie’! That’s just terrible! I can’t live with myself if somepony calls me ‘not funny’!” Pinkie begins tearing up as she started binging eating taffies. “Ow, my teeth. Ow, my teeth.”
“I have to agree with Pinkie Pie.” Fluttershy said sadly. “It was the worst nightmare I’ve ever had!”
“Oooh! I don’t think I will ever be able to heal from that awful dream!” Rarity cried.
“HA! Big deal!” Rainbow Dash said boldly. “My nightmare wasn’t THAT bad!”
“Oh yeah, Rainbow Dash?” Applejack asked mischievously. “What was your dream about?”
“Well, I… I…” Rainbow stuttered nervously. “It was a dream about all of Ponyville calling me disloyal after I, err, abandoned all of you in that cave while it was raining, and… hmph! It wasn’t so bad, cause… ehh… I knew it was a dream! Yeah! How about you, Applejack?”
“Well ah didn’t know it was a dream at first to be honest.” Applejack said. “The family and ah were campin’ in Everfree Forest, but it began to rain so we took shelter in the cave, but once we got in, the family was gone. They just vanished. Ah never felt so scared in my life!”
“You lost somepony you cared about too?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yeah.” Applejack said sadly. “What was your dream about, Fluttershy?”
“Oh it was terrible!” Fluttershy said as she started tearing up. “I had to give my best friend in the whole world! I had to… RETURN HARRY THE BEAR BACK INTO THE WILD!” The others just looked at each other awkwardly.
“Seriously?” Rainbow asked.
“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity angrily said to her. “That bear is a really good friend to Fluttershy, no matter how many, eh, fleas it might have.”
“Exactly.” Twilight agreed. “And it would be hard for her to let go of a friend. Do we need to remind you about a similar circumstance?”
“Well he DID return after Spring came!” Rainbow reminded her.
“Go on, Fluttershy. Tell us more about the dream.” Applejack asked as she comforted her.
“So… I-I had to return Harry to the wild, so I released him by the cave we’re going to now.” Fluttershy explained. “It started to rain as I cried.”
“Ah’m very sorry to hear that, Fluttershy.” Applejack said. “But we have to remember: it was just a dream.”
“Well MINE felt so realistic!” Rarity freaked out.
“Oh yeah, Rarity? What was yours about?” Rainbow asked. “Your dresses were ruined?”
“Sweet Celestia, Rainbow Dash!” Rarity yelled angrily. “Do you have to automatically assume that happened? Does everything have to be about dresses for me?”
“Sooo… what was it about?” Rainbow asked.
After an awkward silence, Rarity admitted, “It was about dresses being ruined, but you didn’t know for sure.” Everypony just rolls their eyes. “I was delivering these dresses over to Dodge Junction for a very important event, but it started to rain, and the dresses were RUINED! I had to take shelter in the cave just to dry them off, and just hope for the best, but the dresses just shrunk!”
“Uhh, you do realize dresses don’t shrink unless they’re in hot water, right?” Twilight reminded her.
“Uh, obviously!” Rarity answered. “It was a very unrealistic dream. I would NEVER go through Everfree Forest delivering an important order; and even if I did, they would’ve been in very secure waterproof plastic bags to keep them dry from the rain! Hmph! If somepony wanted to make a dream, they should’ve at least done it properly!”
Pinkie began to explain her dream in a very hyper way; “My dream was about ponies calling me unfunny AND unfun after the super doper party I through for them right in front of a super fun cave! I even made chocolate milk rain and everything! Nopony was happy!” She starts binge eating her taffy again, and then squirts whip cream in her mouth. “It wath the worth dream of my life!” She then tosses a bunch of cherries in her mouth.
“Wow, we really had some terrible nightmares, had we?” Starlight asked.
“So you really think the answer we might get is in the cave, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked.
“That’s what Princess Luna said.” Twilight said.
“There better not be more sad faces when we get to the cave!” Pinkie said. “What if our worst nightmares come true?! It would be the OPPOSITE of a fantastic theme park! It would be a… mean park!”
“Setting those jokes aside, Pinkie Pie does have a point.” Applejack said. “If you think something is summoning us to the cave, could it be a trap?”
“We can’t know until we find out for sure.” Twilight said.
“Do we even have ANY idea where we’re going?” Rainbow asked.
“Yeah, I don’t want to get my hooves dirty just because we’re ending up in the middle of nowhere.” Rarity said.
“Rarity’s got a point.” Starlight said. “We don’t even know where this cave is.”
“Well if we need to know any mysteries about the Everfree Forest, we can always ask a guide!” Twilight said.
“Well if it isn’t Twilight and her friends that I see! Have you come looking for me?” Zecora asked as she was hiking through the forest with basket satchels around her.
“Zecora!” Twilight said excitedly. “Are we glad to see you?”
“I don’t know! Are we?” Pinkie asked. “I know I am! I can’t speak for anypony else!”
“So what are you doing out here, Zecora?” Spike asked.
“I went to go look for exotic plants for a special brew, but it turns out that I came and found you!” Zecora said.
“We need some directions to a cave.” Twilight said.
“Telling me a specific cave is a must, because there are a lot of different caves around this forest.” Zecora said.
“That… doesn’t rhyme.” Spike commented.
“Well… it’s a cave with a mysterious symbol on top of it.” Twilight said. Zecora raised an eyebrow hinting her to be more specific. Twilight continued, “Each of us had dreams about a particular cave with a mysterious symbol on top.”
“Hmm.” Zecora thought. “To your clues, I am stunned. Do your dreams have more in common?”
“Well… each of our dreams, it was also raining.” Starlight said.
“Ah! For your clues I can see much more clearly! I do know the dream that you seek!” Zecora said. “A historical wizard had a secret den around made, but the known of it’s existence has nothing but fade. This cave you seek is without a doubt, Star Swirl the Bearded’s Hideout.”
“Of course!” Twilight remembers. “The Private of Den of Star Swirl the Bearded!”
“Here we go.” Spike said as he rolled his eyes.
“I can’t believe it! The place we seek is Star Swirl’s Den!” Twilight jumped in excitement. “We’re going to Star Swirl’s Hidden Den!”
“Sheesh! The ways some ponies get excited!” Pinkie commented.
“What’s so special about Star Swirl’s Den?” Starlight asked.
“It’s been lost for ages!” Twilight explained. “Legend has that Star Swirl the Bearded needed his privacy to continue his research. It hasn’t been used since even before Nightmare Moon’s banishment. Nopony but Star Swirl and those he trusted most knew where his cave was. Not even Celestia and Luna knows of its whereabouts. But wait, Zecora? How did you find it?”
“I one time found it during my exotic plant hunt, only thing is, the doors are sealed shut.” Zecora said. “Outside the cave, the rain never stops, and it has a mysterious symbol right on top.”
“So to find the cave, we have to find the rain.” Twilight said.
“The rain is random throughout Everfree Forest, Twilight.” Rainbow reminded her.
“I think I might know of a trick.” Zecora said. “This rain can’t even be stopped by any magic.”
“Thank you so much, Zecora!” Twilight said gratefully. Zecora smiles with glee as she walks away.
“So what’s the plan, Twilight?” Applejack asked.
“Rain in Everfree Forest can be stopped by magic, but only temporarily.” Twilight said. “But if I use my rain stopping spell, and the rain doesn’t stop, the cave has to be nearby!”
“Honestly, Twilight, are there ANY spells you don’t know?” Spike asked.
“Come on!” Twilight leads the way as they went searching for the rain.