The rest of the week went by quickly, with the expedition coming together remarkably well. Although, if any pony could do it, it would have been Morning Star and Twilight Sparkle. Twilight had announced that she would be leaving on Saturday of that week, and proclaimed Spike the temporary librarian in her absence, in a notice fastened to the front door. The unicorn duo had the organizing capability of a hundred normal ponies, and as such, had their route planned exactly. They would follow Twilight Sparkle's original path into the Everfree forest, and then loop back along a lower route, skirting the Froggy Bottom Bog and emerging on the road south of town. This was done to minimize the amount of water they would be exposed to on the way back, thereby limiting the danger to Morning Star's precious rubbings. They had enough food for five days, in case they were a bit longer coming back than the four they expected to spend in the Everfree forest.
Their last day had been spent getting ready, practicing a few survival cantrips, and going over any last minute changes to the plan. The weather was supposed to be bright and clear over the Everfree for the next week or so, at least as far as the weather team could tell. The captain, Cloudkicker, had swung by to let them know that they would be doing their best to corral the clouds heading over the forest, and they'd be setting up a night watch to make sure no pesky storms rolled in overnight. Twilight had realized only when Cloudkicker had returned to her post that she had neglected to ask about her possible relation to the Cloudkickers in her book. Making a mental note to ask her upon their return, Twilight turned to her bags, setting them off to the side. The hour was late, and she had to be up early tomorrow morning, as they were setting out with the sunrise to maximize their safe travel time.
She had made far more of the sleeping draught than she had intended, so she had simply filled up a flask of it and handed it off to Spike to use as he saw fit. The dragon had slept much better after taking it, and had continued for the past several nights. Had the draught been addictive Twilight would have worried, but the potion was completely safe so long as there was no overdose, and Twilight had no idea as to how much sleeping potion it would take for a dragon to overdose on it. She had been so busy during the day that she often fell asleep right after Spike, waking with the sun each morning. Her good dreams continued, as well as her good mood. She felt her platonic relationship with Morning Star developing into a fast friendship. She had insisted that he take to calling her Twilight, never having been addressed as Ms. Sparkle and finding it extremely disconcerting to be referred to as such. He had accepted, and of course things were now much more informal between them. Her feelings for him still remained a mystery to her, but she had grown used to dealing with them and now functioned more or less normally around the unicorn.
Morning Star was indeed how Princess Celestia described him. He was kind, courteous, and above all intelligent. Top of his class in Magical Studies, with a passion for reading and knowledge, he was like a male version of Twilight. Much like herself, he had a tightly knit group of friends back in Canterlot, fellow archivists whom he spent most of his time with. He loved exploring the lesser-known areas of the Royal Library, and was almost a permanent fixture in the Great Repository, an old area of the Archives where all the books, scrolls, and tomes that were unable to be classified were filed as best they could be and stored. He had a wonderful job and a great circle of friends, but no marefriend. "And no, my gate doesn't swing the other way, if that's what you were thinking!" he had joked, laughing a laugh that reminded Twilight of old oak and sun-warmed earth. She had joined him, her clear-bell giggles lying on top of his like a shooting star touching the horizon, an ephemeral and soaring thing of great beauty.
Anypony near to them would have seen the obvious signs, but Spike was far too busy handling the library during the day to notice their behavior, and Twilight hadn't left the library in some days. Of course, many scandalous rumors had arisen of what the pretty young librarian and the charming scholar from Canterlot were doing behind closed doors, but none of it was taken seriously, and whenever Spike was out on the town, he was quick to defend his friend's honor. For now, each unicorn regarded the other as a friend to be trusted. Spike was still unsure of Morning Star, but he hadn't smelled a lie on him since, and he seemed nice enough. The dragon was willing to give Twilight, and by extension Morning Star the benefit of the doubt, regarding him as a new friend and a decent enough fellow.
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The next day, Twilight rose from bed early, noting the first rays of dawn creeping over the horizon. Quietly, she crept down the stairs, trying not to wake up Spike. Her efforts were for naught, however, as Spike was already waiting at the bottom of the stairs. "Morning, Twi." he rumbled, bringing her into a hug.
"Good Morning yourself!" she replied, returning the gesture. "I thought you would still be asleep. Did you get up just to see me off?" Twilight asked, grabbing some milk and granola from the icebox.
"Yes. I couldn't let you leave without a proper goodbye." Spike said, pulling out a bowl for her and sitting at the table. He watched with a certain fondness as Twilight mixed the two together and began spooning it into her mouth with alacrity. "Also, I just wanted to say..."
Twilight noticed Spike was a bit fidgety, and he looked tired. "Spike? You didn't sleep again, did you?" she asked. "Did you run out of potion? I can make more, or give you the recipe so you can get some rest."
"No, that's not it." he said, looking at her. "I tried to go without the potion last night. And I heard the voices again, but instead of trying to listen, I just laid there and let them kinda wash over me. And I still couldn't make anything out, but I did get sort of a feeling out of it." Spike shuddered, taking a deep breath in.
"What was it?" Twilight asked, her voice full of concern.
"Whatever it is, I wasn't supposed to hear it. That much is for sure. And whatever it was, it was sneaky. And very powerful. I've seen you do some amazing things, Twilight Sparkle. But whatever that voice is, it's very old and very powerful." Spike said, his voice troubled. "It makes me nervous. I don't know what it is, but I can tell it's there."
Twilight nodded. "When I get back, I'll update the spells around the library. We'll search for any hint of mental magic, and plug up any holes we can. Keep on the potion, and I'll be back soon." She noticed that Spike seemed afraid, which he usually wasn't. "Hey. Don't worry, we'll figure it out. I promise."
A weak smile made its way to Spike's face. "Pinkie Promise?" he said.
"Easy there, that's taking it a bit overboard." Twilight said, returning his smile.
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Morning Star arrived about ten minutes after sunrise, ready to go. Twilight was there to meet him outside of the library.
A final goodbye was said between Twilight and Spike, and she turned to him with an excited grin on her face. "Ready to go?" she asked, a gleam of adventure in her eye.
"Absolutely." Morning Star replied, smiling back at her. "Don't worry, Spike, I'll take good care of Twilight. I promise." he said, shaking his claw. Spike drew him in close.
"See to it you do." he said, his voice low and cheerful at the same time. "If anything were to happen to Twilight, I'd be very upset. So upset, in fact, I'd take it upon myself to utterly destroy whatever it was that harmed her. So thoroughly, actually, that they'd be hard pressed to find all the little pieces in order to identify what did it." Morning Star blanched a bit, and Spike flashed him a very toothy grin. "Don't worry. I'm sure she's in good hooves, right? See you in a few days. Have fun, you two!" That last sentence was directed at them both, as he walked back into the library. The grin never left his face, and Morning Star got the feeling Spike was staring at him even after the door had shut.
The white unicorn shook his head, putting that rather disturbing conversation out of his head and walking alongside Twilight through town. They chatted as they walked, excited to finally be on their way. The few ponies out this early waved and smiled as they passed, wishing them luck and a safe journey. Soon the road stopped its meandering through Ponyville, becoming a straight track leading towards the Everfree Forest, which seemed to defy the bright and cheerful morning being forced upon it.
Twilight remembered what Applejack had said, at the beginning of her journey, all those years ago. "T'aint natural. Folks say it don't work the same as the rest of Equestria." she had mumbled, head on a swivel and looking for trouble. That caution had been totally warranted, as not moments after she had said that Nightmare Moon had collapsed a cliff they had been walking along up until that point. Twilight looked ahead. The forest waited for them, brooding patiently. Twilight suddenly had a sense that the forest was alive. Not in the way that a forest should be, with trees growing and animals living inside. No, it lived like a vast, unknowable monster. It was hungry, aggressive, and possessed of cunning and a terrible intelligence. Creepers covered the path and ground in front of it, as though claiming as much land as it could for its own.
For all that, though, there was something strangely wonderful and exciting about the place. It was wild and unpredictable, throwing blessings and curses at those that traveled in seemingly as it wished. Twilight had noticed that her spells worked better inside, for some reason she couldn't explain. It was an area of balance, the Everfree. Twilight was reminded of another pony. Cowering under her covers during a thunderstorm when she was just a little filly, her mentor Celestia had said "Twilight. As you travel through life, you will find that for every place of darkness, there is also one of light. Beauty and horror exist in equal measure, because to lose one is to risk losing the other." She had taken that message to heart, and though she had spent the rest of that night shivering in fear, in the morning her teacher had woken her up early to see the sunrise cut through the air overhead, causing a low rainbow to form briefly on the horizon near the Everfree. That had been the last time she had been scared of thunder.
With a start, she realized they had reached the edge of the forest. "You ready, Twilight?" Morning Star asked, glancing at her. She looked him over. Celestia, he was so excited and confident! Twilight hadn't felt safer in a long while. She knew her teacher and friends were with her in spirit, and here was a unicorn she was ready to trust implicitly at her side. A fire caught in her stomach, and an excited grin spread across her face.
"Let's go!" Twilight said, and the two trotted together into the dark of the forest.
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Celestia tore her gaze away from her scrying pool. At last, they were headed into the forest. It was up to her Candidate now, she had no power there anymore. He had done more admirably than she could have hoped. It had taken a bit of nudging, but the foundations had been laid. The die had been cast, now it would fall where it would. She strode forward onto the balcony, her raiment gleaming like the sun itself. She smiled, and stretched her wings in flight, heading to court to begin her day. Finally, the plan was in action. All going as foreseen. Laughing a silvery laugh, she landed, acknowledging those bowing to her with a smile and greeting. Settling onto her throne, she began Court. As she listened to the grievances of others, her mind was elsewhere, plotting and planning, hoping that her Candidate would succeed in his quest. A smile curled her face, a lovely sight. He would, Celestia was sure of it. After all, he had been trained for this his whole life. It could hardly go wrong at this point.