Twilight and her friends had discovered the cave with the legendary portal and decided to go through it. As they went through nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. Firefly asked, "Twilight, are you sure that was a portal and not just our eyes playing tricks on us, everything seems to be the same."
While things did seem to be the same suddenly the sound of a waterfall could be heard. Posey asked, "Uhm, do any of you hear a waterfall?"
They listened harder and they indeed hear a waterfall. They headed towards the direction of the sound and soon found themselves at the exit of the cave. They had one problem though, they did not know how they were going to get past it since they can't teleport. Twilight was looking closely and noticed that if they walk just right, they may be able to get out. She said, "Girls, if we walk just right, here along the edge of the hill, we can probably get out."
Her friends nodded and they began to exit the cave. While most of them would have no problem getting out, there would be one that would. As Posey was exiting the cave, she got caught in the falling water. "Help! Somebody help me!"
Firefly sprung to action and despite having a few problems getting her freed from the falling water, she was able to get her free. "Thanks Firefly," said Posey, "you saved my life!"
Firefly replied, "Don't mention it."
The six ponies began to examine their surroundings and quickly noticed that they were in a dense forest, a very dark, dense forest. Something did not seem right about it to them. Twilight asked, "Is it just me or does this forest seem different than the ones in Ponyland?"
Surprise replied, "Yeah, this place seems spooky."
Firefly grunted, "So it's a bit darker than the ones we're used to. We need to get going if we're going to save Majesty and Megan."
Her friends agreed in unison and started their journey through the forest. Applejack asked, "Before we go too far, how are we even supposed to know which direction we're supposed to go?"
Sparkler added, "Yeah, shouldn't there be a path or something?"
Twilight replied, "I doubt it. From the looks of things, it looks like this is an area that ponies almost never venture to. Maybe if we walk far enough, there will be some sort of landmark that will guide us to where we need to go."
As they continued their way south they could hear growling and had this constant feeling that they were being watched. Even Firefly, who puts forth a strong and tough attitude couldn't help but feel unnerved. She asked, "Is it just me or does it seem like we are being watched?"
Posey shrank down and replied, "It does. You don't think we'll get attacked by something do you?"
While most of them were worried about predators watching them, Twilight was more focused on the task at hand. She sternly said, "Look, we might have predators watching us but we can't let that stop us from doing what needs to be done."
They were a bit surprised by Twilight's stern tone of voice but weren't shocked by it. After a couple hours of walking they reached a clearing and breathed a sigh of relief. Posey said, "Thank goodness, I thought we'd never get out of that scary forest."
Applejack commented, "Well I think this might just be a clearing." Her guess was correct when they all looked off to the right and saw a castle in ruins.
Twilight suggested, "Look everyone, an old castle. Maybe we can find some information in there as to how to get to the nearest town."
As they crossed the bridge they couldn't help but be nervous as it was swaying back and forth. Twilight couldn't help but be concerned that all the weight on the bridge could cause it to collapse. She asked, "Surprise, Firefly, could you two fly across? I'm worried that all our weight will cause this thing to collapse."
Firefly and Surprise flied across the bridge while the others safely crossed it. Before them stood an old castle that lay in ruins. Applejack asked, "I wonder what happened here? I wonder why this castle is in this bad of shape?"
Twilight replied, "Perhaps this land was once ruled by monarchs but powerful ponies like those large eyed ones decided that they should take over and overthrew the government. That could explain why this castle lay in ruins and is so isolated."
They entered the castle and were amazed by what they saw. They saw two old banners, one with an Alicorn and the sun and one with an Alicorn and the moon. These images stunned the six, especially Twilight. She continued, "Wait a minute, unicorns with wings? Were there unicorns with wings here at one time?"
Sparkler replied, "I'm betting there were, either that or they were deities that the ponies worshiped."
Before getting too far into the castle they discovered something else amazing, they discovered a massive library. They looked in amazement as this library likely had more books in it than all of Ponyland combined. Surprise gasped, "Wow, that's a lot of books!"
One thing they couldn't help but wonder though was why would such a wealth of information be left in a place that is exposed to the elements. They began to wonder if perhaps the old monarchs were incredibly intelligent yet the power of the other ponies allowed them to take over and abandon the knowledge and revert the country into a more primitive state.
A piece of ceiling fell and nearly hit Posey causing her to suggest, "Uhm, I don't know about you but I think we should probably leave this place. I think the roof is about to cave in."
After a couple more chunks of ceiling nearly fell on them Twilight replied, "Yeah we better get going. We need to find a way out of this forest before nightfall. I have a feeling this place is rather dangerous after dark."
This caused them to head back across the bridge and continue their journey southward. It was not long until they finally found a path. Sparkler said, "Thank goodness! Now maybe we can find our way out of this place and to a town."
Firefly commented, "Well if that is the case, we had better be careful. Chances are it would likely be populated by large eyed, powerful unicorns."
After a couple more hours the forest began to become less dark which lifted the spirits of the ponies, until they heard the same growling they had heard earlier in the day. "There is that growling again," said Applejack "I wonder what it is?"
Soon they heard barking and saw three things that looked ferocious running after them. "Run!" shouted Twilight.
"Bark, bark, bark"
Twilight and her friends were terrified. They had never seen or even heard of such creatures in their lives. As they neared the edge of the forest they heard a voice yell, "Come and get me you goons!"
They saw a figure off to the left that had distracted the creatures that were pursuing them. Soon they heard howling as the creatures were getting hit with rocks but knew that they couldn't stop running and watch what was going on. As they were running towards the light in the distance Firefly yelled, "Wow, whatever that is, they must be brave!"
Firefly's yell would not be wise though as one of the creatures began to run after them again. Sparkler yelled, "Firefly, you just had to get their attention again, now didn't you?"
Firefly grunted and just as they reached the end of the forest, Posey tripped and found one last beast ready to pounce on her. She yelled "Help......"
The sound of splintering wood would stop her in mid-sentence. Something pounced on the creature causing it to fall apart. The figure yelled, "That'll teach yah to go after other ponies!"
While the ponies, especially Posey, were happy that the last creature was destroyed, they were shocked by how it was destroyed and what it was made of. What would shock them most was what stopped it from attacking Posey.