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// Chapter 18: An Everfree Ruin 
// Story: Secrets of the Everfree 
// by PaisleyPerson 
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Chapter 18
An Everfree Ruin


I was upstairs, washing the paint off my hooves. I’d been busy trying to catch up with some work all morning, but it was nearly noon by now. Today Wild Flower and Cedar were coming to visit. There was no need to be formal around them, but I needed to be at least a little more presentable. My heart skipped a beat when there was finally a knock at the door.
“I got it!” I called, rushing downstairs. Blaze was closer, and already moving to the door when I zipped past. I accidently unbalanced him in my excitement, but he caught himself on the table. I barely noticed. The teal coat and brown mane of my sister greeted me on the on the other side of the door. 
“You’re here!” I joyfully squealed.
“Sis!” We stopped bouncing long enough to hug, but were back to our hyper, happy selves momentarily. 
“Hi, Cedar,” I grinned, peering around her. 
“Hey.” Her friend grinned foolishly back, probably still laughing at our crazy antics. Kept apart we were more or less sane, but together we could rival Pinkie Pie. “Is Torchwood home?”
“He was trying to do his delivery rounds before you got here, but I guess he wasn’t quick enough. He should be back soon.”
“Got him running your errands, have you?” Wild Flower giggled. I rolled my eyes.
“He technically works for me, but he does so many deliveries he might as well sign up to the postal service.” She laughed, and Cedar’s grin became lopsided. 
“Well, if he decides to switch over, I know somepony.” Wild Flower found this exceptionally funny, and almost doubled over laughing. I wasn’t sure why she found it so humorous, but it was contagious, and soon we were all clutching our stomachs. All but Blaze, anyway. 
“Where’s Nova?” 
“Sorry, Blaze. He couldn’t make it today. Our neighbors are on vacation, and he promised to watch their pets while they’re gone. We didn’t realize he’d be working during our visit.”
“Aw, why didn’t you write?” I whined. “We could have come to you!”
“Well, we figured you’d already made plans.”
“We thought you’d have something in mind!”
“Ugh, here we go again!”
“Well, since nopony made plans after all,” I giggled, silently congratulating myself on a successful prediction, “we could all fly back to Baltimare. Then Blaze and Nova could spend time together, and I’m sure we’ll all find something to do.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure Torch would be alright with it.”
“Alright with what?”
“Hey, hon!” I pressed close in greeting. 
“Well, look who it is. It looks like we’ve got guests,” he grinned, giving Cedar a hardy clap on the back. 
“It’s good to see you.”
“You too. Now, what will I be alright with?”
“Nova’s stuck in Baltimare petsitting. We thought that since nopony made plans, we could all fly back over there so he and Blaze could hang out.”
“Why wouldn’t I be alright with it? Let’s go!”
“Are you sure you’re up for it? You’ve been delivering all morning.”
“What, that little warm up? Now we can do some serious flying. I bet I can still beat you all there!”
“You’re on!” my competitive sister declared. 
“I can’t let you have all the fun!” I agreed. 
“You aren’t leaving me here all on my lonesome,” Cedar smirked. I scooped Blaze up so we could head off, and we all raced to the door. We landed in a dog pile when Torchwood abruptly stopped in front of us, causing a collision. When I looked up to see the reason for it, I found a frazzled, panting Twilight blocking the doorway. Spike was on her back. This wasn’t a good sign. 
“I hope you didn’t make plans,” she wheezed, “because I’ve got something for you to do.” Before I knew what was going on, we were all galloping along behind her. 
“What’s going on, Twilight?” Wild Flower called.
“Oh, hello, Wild Flower, Cedar. It’s good to see you both. I just got a letter from Princess Celestia. She has a special assignment for us.”
“Can we help?” Cedar voiced. 
“I’m sure the Princess will appreciate all the help she can get,” Twi answered with an affirmative smile. 
“Where’s everypony else?” Torch was answered when Pinkie Pie bounded up, followed by all our friends.
“We came soon as we heard,” our cowgirl called. 
“What’s this all about, Twi?”
“Princess Celestia has a special assignment for us,” the alicorn panted. 
“How awesome is that?” Rainbow boasted.
“What kind of special assignment?” 
“She didn’t say, but we’re supposed to be heading to the Everfree. She said she’d send the details soon.”
“The Everfree?”
“I’m assuming that’s why she specifically requested you two.” She gestured to Torch and I.
“Us?”
“You know the Everfree like the back of your hoof.”
“Did she say where in the Everfree we’re headed?”
“She did better than that. She sent a map.” Twilight levitated the page out of her saddlebags in front of us. 
“Hey! That’s not far from my old sector!” Cedar voiced, noting the circled area.
“Can you take us?”
“Sure can. This way.” He instantly took to the sky, forgetting about the three flightless ponies we still had to worry about. Applejack leapt into the air where she was caught by Rainbow, and through their combined effort, AJ was swung up onto her back with practiced precision. Like the gentlecolt he was, Torch took care of Rarity, and Twilight towed Pinkie along in a levitation bubble. Though it required a little extra effort to haul our three flightless friends along, it paid off in the long run, for we’d arrived in less than half the time it would have taken to walk.
“Anypony mind tellin’ us what we’re doin’ here?” AJ called, jumping off Dash and landing neatly back on solid ground. 
“The Princess just said that she’d send the details when she could,” Twilight repeated, dropping Pinkie gently back to the ground. 
“And when might that be?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do what are we supposed to do? Just wait around here until she sends something?”
“That’s what we were doing before we got here,” I huffed.
“It’s very unlike the Princess to make us wait,” Twi agreed.
“Well, I, for one, am gonna go take a look around and see if I can find anything the Princess might’ve sent us out for,” Rainbow declared. 
“I’ll go with ya,” Applejack offered. “It’s not like we got anythin’ better to do.”
“I wanna see if I can find any cool thestral things!” Pinkie said, gesturing to the pile of belongings abandoned by those who left.
“I shall accompany you,” Rarity offered. “I’d like to see if they’ve left behind any gems I could use for my new line of dresses!”
“It might not be a bad idea to set up a perimeter,” Torch spoke, scouting the area. “We don’t want to be caught by surprise by any monsters in the area.”
“I remember an unpleasant pack of timberwolves settled somewhere in these parts,” Cedar agreed.
“T-timber wolves?” Fluttershy quivered. Even her abilities didn’t seem to extend to them.
“I’ll come, too,” I offered. “You up for it, Blaze?” He looked to Spike, who gestured for him to go on.
“Where you go, I go.”
“Well... alright... but everypony be careful!” Twilight directed. I split off with Torchwood, and Wild Flower trotted along behind Cedar. “Looks like it’s you, me and Spike, Fluttershy,” Twilight tried to soothe the frightened mare. She still trembled as Twilight set her to work with some scrolls. 
We were supposed to be keeping watch for monsters, but since I was alone with my family, it felt more like a leisurely stroll.
“What do you think the Princesses sent us out here, for?” I asked, trying to spark a conversation. 
“I have no idea,” he confessed, holding aside a clump of ferns for me. “But her map didn’t exactly encircle the sector itself. It was trained more around the area southeast of here. Cedar just brought us to the clearing to wait for instructions.”
“You’d think the Princess would send it all at once like she usually does,” Blaze grumbled.
“I’m sure there’s a reason for the delay,” I assured. 
“Still, it couldn’t hurt to check it out,” he pressed.
“Right now our job is to check out the perimeter.”
“Oh, I’m sure Wild Flower and Cedar can handle it,” Torch slyly winked.
“You, too?”
“Come on, Acrylic. Aren’t you just the least bit curious?”
“Of course I am!”
“Well, let’s go! Believe me, we’ll be leaving them in good hooves. I’ve seen Cedar single-hoofedly take on a whole pack of timberwolves.”
“Are you sure?”
“How do you think he got his cutie mark?”
“Well, I guess it couldn’t hurt to take a peek...”
“That’s the spirit. Come on!” We didn’t fly for fear of missing whatever it was we were looking for beneath the dense canopy. I chased him through the underbrush instead, letting the leaves and bristles sting my coat. Though most thought the feeling unpleasant, it brought back memories of my youth. Torchwood seemed to be enjoying it as much as I, but Blaze had to shield his eyes. He hunkered down and I fashioned my wings into a protective dome, shielding him from the branches. 
We could have been running for a mile, or ten. I was just enjoying the moment. I barely felt Blaze’s weight as we frolicked through the brush of our old home. Torch got into the spirit of things too, and it wasn’t long before we were both bouncing around the forest like five-year-olds. Blaze gripped my mane tighter so he didn’t fall off, but didn’t complain aloud. I finally settled down when I thought I’d lose a good chunk of my mane if I didn’t let up. Torchwood still bounded ahead, but I held back a moment to catch my breath.
“Acrylic! Blaze! Come look at this!” I looked up at Blaze, who was as curious as I. We hurried to catch up with him. We finally hit the edge of the trees, and Torch stopped me from toppling down into the valley below. 
“Whoa,” Blaze breathed. I was struck speechless.
“Was this always here?”
“It couldn’t have just appeared out of thin air.”
“I don’t know. We’ve seen stranger.” Situated in the valley was the old ruin of a castle unlike any I’d ever encountered. This definitely wasn’t the Castle of the Two Sisters. 
It was huge, with dark spiraling towers and looming columns. Long, narrow windows lined every floor, and it looked to be at least five stories high. Watchtowers were posted at all the prime locations. The queer thing, though, was it was completely overrun by plants. I expected a couple of creepers here and there after so many years of rot and neglect, but it wasn’t like that. It was almost as though the flora had been incorporated into the original structure somehow. Most of the cobblestone walls had been welded into massive trees. In fact, now that I had a better view, some of the towers were trees, hollowed out and perhaps at one point trimmed. Branches and vines served in place of several main supports. The whole castle had been constructed to blend with the rest of the forest. 
“I think we found what the Princess sent us out here for.”
“Yep.”