//------------------------------//
// 33 
// Story: Seven Lights 
// by Fresnor 
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“So is that everything you'll need for the next couple weeks, sis?  I'm not sure how long I'll be gone this time since it's one of those types of jobs.”  Aegis Flare tightened the strap on Scootaloo's saddlebags as the filly gave out a grunt before shaking her head.

“Unless you have something to stop Spike in case he goes crazy and grows to the size of a house again I think that's everything.  Though I don't think I'll need that many bandages for just a few bruises.”  The filly winces as the elder sister prods at them to prove that they are still needed.  She tries to keep her fear for her sister at a reasonable level but after seeing her snatched up by a giant Spike, along with Sweetie Belle, and almost crushed it was hard not to get overprotective again.

Her mind drifted back to the two recent birthdays that she had gone to and the chaos that had stemmed from them.  While Twilight's had ended up fine after Rarity was given a good talking to, the fact that a number of nobles were present and the looks they were shooting at the group was annoying.  As for Spike's, she had heard a bit about how a dragon grew from her parents but she hadn't fully understood what they meant until she saw it.  She was just glad that Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had been able to revert his growth again which she didn't know was possible.

“I doubt Spike will do that again, but I'm sure that you can bring him back again if it does.  Now remember to use that herbal mix when you change your bandages.  Your bruises should clear up in a couple more days with it.  Also try not to give Applejack too much trouble while I'm gone, or else I may have to get more creative with your punishment.”  Scootaloo shivers at the thought of the training field somehow getting worse before she waves to her sister and heads off towards Sweet Apple Acres.  Aegis Flare smiles for a moment while watching her sister head off before turning and grabbing her own set of saddlebags and putting them on.

“Well, it's about time to meet with the group I'm supposed to be escorting for the foreseeable future.  I just hope that whatever they are looking for is relatively easy to find and that they don't give me too much trouble.  I guess this will teach me not to start pulling in favors after going crazy.”  Shaking her head she heads out towards the meeting place that was set on the edge of the Everfree forest.  It didn't take her long to arrive since the location they were meeting happened to be the part of the forest closest to her home.

As she approached the impromptu camp on the edge of the forest Aegis Flare looked over the beings that had gathered for the expedition.  Her eyebrow rose as she took in the rabble, not because of there being griffons and minotaurs along with the ponies, but the fact that they looked nothing like the researchers she had been expecting what with how grungy they were.

With a shrug she searches for the one in charge and finds him overseeing the last of the packing near the center of camp.  The brown coated earth pony that she found was more what she expected with his monocle, pith helmet, and safari vest as well as his professional demeanor.  He looked as if he would be comfortable either out in the field or in a schoolroom, though she felt that he could have been in better shape as he looked a bit overweight.  Taking a glance at his cutie mark to notice that it was a copy of his current head wear she steps forward.

“So you're the client I'm supposed to meet?  I hope you and your group are ready for this since I can't guarantee that you will all make it back alive from the Everfree.”  The stallion looks up from his work to look at her questioningly until he makes the connection.

“Ah yes, you would be the pony that is supposed to escort us to the excavation site.  Yes, I am the one you were to meet, Professor Treasured Find.  No need to worry about us, I've hired some of the best in the business as escorts so we'll be just fine.”  Taking in the stallions overconfidence, Aegis Flare just shakes her head in annoyance.

“Well don't say I didn't warn you, but I'd still like to have everyone gathered before we leave so I can speak with them.  There are still a few things that they will need to know before we head out, but until then I will need to look over whatever map you are using so I can verify our route.”  He is a bit hesitant at first as he looks at his map case before he nods and hands it over before moving to do as she requested.

“Just be careful with it, that map is very old and very fragile.”  As he left the unicorn mare looked over the maps that they had brought as well as the notes that came with it.  Some of the notes were obviously made by the stallion in charge of the expedition but a few of them were marked only with the letter 'C.'  Not finding any more information on this mysterious being she just shrugged and pulled out the maps she had made of the Everfree over the years to try and estimate where they were going.

“Hmm, this is a pretty detailed map considering how old it is and judging from some of the landmarks that are missing it must be from before Luna became Nightmare moon.  The Everfree Forest isn't even on here and the rivers and lakes are all over the place.  Of course it doesn't help that the Everfree is a mess to navigate through as it is.”  Looking over the map she also noticed that the Castle of the Two Sisters wasn't on it either, but on checking over the notes found that a small town marked on the map later on became the location of it.

After comparing the locations on the map and the notes that came with it with her own maps she was able to estimate a few likely locations of where they were going.  She had found many ruins over the years, though some were hard to recognize as such, and they weren't in the same locations as before due to the space warping phenomenon of the forest.  Setting the expedition maps down she stored her own after committing the route to memory and she made her way to where the expedition group had gathered.

Examining the group as she approached, Aegis Flare counted two dozen beings, including the researcher, with two minotaurs, eight griffons, three zebras, five pegasi, and the rest earth ponies.  She also noticed that not a single one was female but she didn't worry much about that as any that wanted to try something would regret it.  Noticing a glow from the end of the line, along with the sound of a scratching quill, she had to change up her numbers as she missed a unicorn somewhere as she cleared her throat to get the groups attention.

“All right, listen up!  I've been told that you all are the best in the business but in the Everfree Forest that all means nothing.  If you don't do what I say, when I say it you will die.  Your experiences mean nothing in there and I am your only chance of getting out of there alive.  Any question?”  A couple of the griffons looked as if the were about to speak up but a glare from their employer shut them down causing the mare to raise an eyebrow in interest.  Seeing as there were no arguments she walked along the group towards the end of line.

“Good, it seems that you at least have some brains even if you're missing any survival instincts by going in there in the first place.  Now we will be leaving in thirty minutes so if you have any seconds thoughts about going then you might as well not show up then and...”  She paused as the unicorn came into view and she froze into place before she rubbed at the side of her head with a hoof to soothe the oncoming headache.  “Okay, you heard me, finish up your business and be back when I said, now move!”

Watching for a moment as the group splits up to pack the last of the camp up Aegis Flare then turns to the lavender unicorn that had snuck into the group.  “Twilight, just what are you doing here?”

At hearing her voice, Twilight jumped a little before looking up from her scroll to find that the group had left and she was out in the open for her friend to find.  Shrinking back slightly with a blush at being caught she put the scroll away before clearing her throat.  “Um, well, hehe.  I was hoping that you wouldn't notice me until we were already on the way.  I wanted to get  chance to research more deeply into the forest after what we went through at Pinkie's home and since you said you were escorting a group I looked into it.  I was able to get approval to join the expedition from the one funding it, I even kept the letter.”

She pulled out the letter to show to her friend and Aegis Flare noted that it was the same writing style as the notes with the map as well as the large 'C' used as a signature.  Reading through it quickly she squinted at the flowery words used in it, especially in how they were borderline insulting without actually being an insult.  She tried to come up with a possible guess as to who the mysterious being was but only two came to mind with any amount of ability to get something like this started, but the princess' writing was much different and she didn't want to think about the other one being behind this.

With a sigh she passed the letter back again before once again rubbing at her head.  “Twilight what made you think it was a good idea to join a group heading out into some of the most dangerous parts of the Everfree Forest?  Even I don't take going that far in lightly especially since I still keep seeing things that surprise me in there.  It will be hard enough keeping all those others alive without me having to worry about you too.”

Twilight starts to pout a bit at her friend not wanting her there causing her to scuff her hoof along the ground.  “But I thought that it would be safer with a larger group than just with you.  How else am I going to solve what is going on with the land being displaced.  The answer has to be somewhere inside the Everfree.”

Aegis Flare just shakes her head before deciding to at least meet her part way since she doesn't seem to be giving up.  “Fine, but I want you to stay near me at all times and do what I say when I say it without questioning me.  You also need to not use your magic unless it's necessary in there since your style of magic won't work well once we get deep enough.  Also...”  Digging through her packs she pulls out a gem and passes it over to her friend.  “Keep this with you at all times just in case we do get separated somehow so I can find you.”

The lavender unicorn takes the small stone before examining it and letting out a gasp of shock.  “This contains the pure essence of your magic!  Do you know what could happen if somepony gets ahold of this and has bad intentions!?”

The orange mare just rolls her eyes at her friends reaction.  “I know exactly what can happen which is why I'm giving it to you.  I can easily feel where it is at all times and if we do get split up you can use it to find me as well.  At least you didn't immediately assume the other meaning behind me giving it to you.”

It was Twilight's turn to roll her eyes but she also had a bit of a blush as well.  With time counting down quickly until they left Aegis Flare did a quick perusal of Twilight's packs to make sure she was actually prepared for the forest.  She had to keep from slamming her hoof into her face when she opened the first one to find it packed full of scrolls, ink, and books but the second one actually surprised her.  “Huh, you actually did bring food and water bottles with, though I probably would have went for something tastier than emergency guard rations.  Though there are a few things you missed such as a tent and towel.”

At hearing this Twilight's head jerked around to stare at the open pouch with a glare.  “What!?  I didn't pack any of that!  Spike must have switched out all my books when I wasn't looking.”

This time the orange unicorn did slam a hoof into her forehead before she leveled a glare at her friend causing her to wince at the force of it.  “It's a good thing that he did or else you wouldn't be going if all you had were your books.  Did you even think to read the that book I recommended to you about what to expect in there since you seem to have not looked for one on basic wilderness survival.”

Twilight's blush got even deeper by this point as she scuffed at the ground with her hoof again.  “Well I did read a few books including that one but I couldn't find any others to verify the information in it.  I figured that while I was out there I would check on how accurate it was.  That's the only book Spike didn't manage to remove from my bags.”

With a sigh Aegis Flare pulled out the book in question before flipping to the acknowledgments page and putting it in front of Twilight to read.  “Everything in this is recent knowledge of the places in it with information gathered from experts in those areas.  The only way you would find something to compare it to is if one of those experts wrote their own book.”

The lavender unicorn's eyes were fixed on something she had missed her first time reading through the book before she looked up from the book.  “'First-hoof accounts provided by local members of MEEL?'  You mean you actually helped write this book?!  Why didn't you tell me?!”

“You didn't ask.”  Twilight just glared at her friend as she delivered the cliché line with such a dry tone before she closed up her bags and prepared to head out.  The expedition left at the projected time into the forest and Twilight kept her promise to stay near her friend though she had a bit of trouble not resorting to her magic to traverse the difficult terrain.  By the time the first day ended she just wanted to collapse on the ground and sleep but she was a bit wary at the looks the rough males were giving her throughout the day.

Luckily her friend dragged her to her own tent after setting up a barrier around the camp and making sure sentries were set for the night.  When the orange unicorn lay down next to her with her maps she let out a groan.  “You've done this for how many years now?  I could barely get through today, especially with how those stallions were staring at me the whole way.”

Aegis Flare frowned at her friend's mention of the stallions as she had also noticed it herself but ignored it.  Flicking an ear as she heard a sound from outside she glared at the back of the tent before using her magic to surround it with a barrier that kept others out as well as sound in.  Once she assumed that the stalking figure was close enough she pulsed her magic through her shield, sending a gout of flame out the back towards the figure, earning a yelp of pain before she turned to Twilight again.  “I probably should have warned you about how some of the males on these expeditions act, but all you need to do is make an example or two and they'll leave you alone.”

Twilight looked towards the back of the tent where the sound of pain had come from and shuddered as she lay her head onto the ground.  “Ugh, maybe I should have listened to you and not come after all.”  Looking over at her friend her eyes settle on the map in front of her as well as the object in her mouth.  “What is that you have there anyways?”

After measuring out a few things and making a mark on the map she slides it over to Twilight.  “It's just  one of my maps of the Everfree forest I made while trying to make sense of the place.  Not that it helps much as distance means little and it can change depending on the path you take.  I've tested getting to the same place multiple ways before but I often end up somewhere else even though I've traveled the same distance each time to get back from it.”

Twilight glances at the map before shaking her head and looking at the other object.  “Okay that does sound interesting and I'll want to know more later, but I was talking about that.”  Aegis Flare looks down at what her friend is pointing at with her hoof to find her writing utensil and wonders what is so special about it for a moment until it hits her.

“Oh right, that.  I guess they haven't released it beyond MEEL yet, though it should be soon.  It's a new innovation called a fountain pen and for the past year the creator has supplied the organization with them to test.  It combines both a quill and inkwell into a single object making it easier to use, though it does get gummed up occasionally.  I can see it being really popular with earth ponies and pegasi since it's easier to use in your mouth than a feather is.”  She rolls her eyes as Twilight examines the object from every angle and even tests it out herself on one of her own scrolls.  She chuckles a bit at her friend's fascination with the little tool before yawning and laying her head down for the night.

<><><><><><><>

The next couple days were pretty routine as Aegis Flare led the group through the forest towards their destination.  The forest was surprisingly quiet as they traveled and it was starting to worry the unicorn as a group of this size should have been attracting some of the more dangerous creatures.  By the fifth day her worries were proven to have merit as when morning arrived it was revealed that one of the minotaurs and five earth ponies ha vanished from their beds and the expedition leader stormed up to her.  “What use is your magic if something can just walk through and take my stallions without you noticing?”

The mare only grunted as she looked at one of the griffon sentries that was still sleeping away on his tree branch.  “My magic was only a side precaution.  There's a reason why I asked for you to put up a night watch since there are things that aren't stopped by magic.  If anyone is to blame it's them for not doing their job since my barrier is still active.”

The stallion continued to glare at her for a moment more before he growled and turned away to go buck the sleeping sentries out of the trees to berate them.  With a sigh Aegis Flare turns away to pack up her things before looking for Twilight.  She eventually found her at the edge of the camp examining something on the ground.  “Hey Twilight, we're about to head out, what are you doing over here?”  As she neared she noticed what her friend was looking at, causing her to stop in place.  “Twilight?  Back away from that, slowly.”

The lavender mare jerked back at her friends voice and turned to look at her curiously.  “Why?  It's just a flower.  What could something like this cause?  Wait, what's it doing now?”  When she jerked around quickly her motion was enough to agitate the flower as it started to entangle itself around her hoof, revealing that it was attached to a longer vine.  With a sharp yank the unicorn was pulled rapidly into the forest trailed by her screaming voice.  “Flare!  HELP!”

As she watched her friend get dragged off into the foliage, Aegis Flare sighed and shook her head before striking a nearby sleeping sentry's flank with a small burst of flame causing the griffon to squawk in pain before turning to glare at her.  “Tell your boss that I've found what invaded the camp while you and your friends were asleep on the job.  I'm going to clean it up and you'd better hope my friend isn't hurt or else you'll be sorry.”

With that she darted off after her friend who was easy to follow as she left a lot of damage behind her as she tried to free herself from the vine holding her.  Aegis Flare knew that it was pointless as the body of the creature that took her repelled magic which was how it got through her barrier without her knowing.  That wasn't the worst thing about the creature but considering that Twilight was a highly magical unicorn she suspected it wasn't after her for the worst reasons.

As she neared she slowed down and moved carefully as she kept an eye out for more of the vines.  Her movements and bright colors drew Twilight's eyes as she flailed in the grip of the vine above a larger flower.  “Flare, help!  My magic isn't working on this thing and I think it wants to eat me!”

The flower below started to shift as the center began to open up revealing a pit rimmed with tooth-like protrusions along with a horrid stench.  As a faint mist started to be pulled from Twilight into the maw Aegis Flare shook her head wearily.  “I did tell you to stay near me Twilight and this is why.  You're just lucky that this mutant rafflesia only wants to feed on your magic.”

Twilight was still in a panic but she was still able to level a glare at her friend.  “Is this really the time for this?  Get me down before it eats me!”

With a shrug she walked over towards a nearby rock and climbed atop it to get a good view of the plant.  After a moment of observing it tasting her friend she lights up her horn and aims at the center of the plant causing Twilight's eyes to widen.  “What are you doing?!  I already told you that magic wasn't working on it!”

Aegis Flare just ignored her as she started charging her magic into a compressed ball of fire above her head.  Watching the rate at which she saw the mist pouring off of Twilight she estimated that about half of her power should be enough as she took aim.  With a light flick of her horn she sent the ball of magical flame towards the center of the flower and once it reached the area under Twilight it was rapidly sucked into the pit below her.

Once the ball was pulled into the maw of the flower Aegis Flare put up a barrier sealing it shut before ducking behind the rock she was hiding behind.  When she released control of the devoured magic the plant reacted poorly as it started to flail around as if it was in pain.  Twilight was flung around in the air causing her to yell out in panic before the vine released her, sending her flying into a nearby bush.  Climbing out of the bush she shot a glare at her friend for not trying to catch her but her expression soon vanished when the plant exploded in a shower of ooze, coating both her and the surrounding area.

The orange mare, having dodged the slime shower behind the rock and an umbrella-shaped shield, stood up to look around at the clearing.  “I really hate having to deal with these things, next time please be more careful Twilight.  Um, where did you go?”

Looking around she couldn't see the lavender unicorn through all of the plant matter until her eyes fell on a shivering lump of green.  With widening eyes she threw up another shield as the large lump exploded outwards as Twilight shrieked and fired of a telekinetic burst, clearing a wide area around her of the sludge before she started flailing in horror.  “Oh Celestia it's everywhere?  And the smell, ugh, get it off, get it off!”

With a wince, the clean unicorn looks over at the now green-tinged unicorn apologetically.  “Eheh, I guess I should have warned you about that.  Don't worry, the color will wash out easily enough and will leave a shine even Rarity would be envious of.  The smell though...  Well it's a good thing that we'll be out here for at least another week before the smell fades, sorry.”

Twilight just glared at her with a look of horror on her face at this news before shuddering.  “A week?!  I know I was complaining about the looks I was getting from those stallions but this is NOT the way I wanted to drive them away!”

Twilight was about to continue on but her tirade was prematurely halted by a pained groan from the far side of the clearing behind a tree.  “Was that?  Was that one of the missing stallions?  They sound hurt, we need to go help them!”

As Twilight rushed off, Aegis Flare's eyes widened in realization before she started chasing after her.  “Twilight, wait!  You don't want to to see this!”  Unfortunately she was too late as when she caught up she found her backed up against a tree with her hooves in front of her face as a look of horror was plastered across it.

In front of her was the missing minotaur of the group but he was far from any state of being able to be helped.  His abdomen was swelled out into a great dome and green tendrils could be seen running throughout his body.  From the openings in his body, except for his mouth, vines emerged before curving around to form a pod-like structure around him.  The thing that horrified Twilight the most though, was the fact that he was still aware of what was happening and was repeating two words which is what Twilight had heard, 'Kill me.'

With a sigh, Aegis Flare walked over and sat next to Twilight and put her foreleg around her in a gentle hug.  “Rafflesia.  Stinking corpse lily.  There are many names that these kind of plants go by, but this specific kind has another name that sums up its horrors, the zombie bloom.  It uses live bodies to incubate its young and once the victim finally dies the young plant takes control of its nervous system and walks to a new location.  Many zombie stories are the result of beings running into these victims and not knowing the source of the problem.”

Turning the purple mare away from the scene, she lights up her horn one final time before setting the area around the body on fire, creating a pyre to give the minotaur on final mercy.  As the two walked back towards camp Twilight eventually recovered enough to speak again.  “That's so horrible, how could something like that even exist?  And why did your magic work while mine just seemed to be pushed away from the plant?”

Aegis Flare just shook her head at the first question.  “In the Everfree all manners of creatures can be found, and that's not even the worst of them.  As for why my magic worked, tell me, how much do you know about the various kinds of so-called magic immunities and how to deal with them?”

Getting a thoughtful look on her face, Twilight thought back to what she read from her books.  “Actually I don't remember there being much at all about things that are immune to magic other than the books saying that unicorns should avoid them.  There may have been something in the dark archives that the princess keeps sealed but there was nothing in the public areas.  There aren't many unicorns that would risk themselves to do a study on it since they couldn't protect themselves if something went wrong.”

The orange unicorn could only shake her head.  “Of course the so-called best unicorn school in the country would be missing information like that.  Of course everything I know came from personal experience as well as some guesswork on types I haven't seen before.  Basically, magical immunity is often a mislabeling as the only thing truly immune would be untouchable by magic of any kind as it all would pass through it.  Just about anything else still can be beaten with magic if you know how.”

Twilight glares at her at her bad mouthing of her old school but she shrugged it off as she was starting to get used to he friends attitude about Canterlot.  “That still doesn't explain why your magic worked just fine when mine was just shrugged off effortlessly.”

Aegis Flare smirked at being able to each the princess' student something that she didn't know about magic.  “Well it was only the outside of it that repelled magic, but if you crushed it from all sides with enough power you could have overwhelmed it.  The way I beat it though was because it also eats magic along with flesh so I just flooded it with more than it could handle at once.  That's why it didn't just eat you right away since it was slowly draining you of magic.  I found out about that my first time meeting one by accidentally dropping a mana potion into its mouth.”

With a look of interest, Twilight had to restrain herself from pulling out her writing implements with her magic, but she still committed everything to memory for later.  “What about the other varieties of immunity?  What have you found and how would you deal with them?”

She looked thoughtful for a moment as she thought back to her experiences and tried to remember what she had found.  “Well most of the time you just have to overwhelm their defenses with more power than they can stop or drain.”  She paused as she looked thoughtful for a moment.  “Actually that's really the key to most of it.  If it absorbs, repels, eats, or even redirects magic there is usually a limit to how much they can prevent so it can be overwhelmed.  But if it isn't affected in any way you have to indirectly deal with it by using the environment.  Even something completely unaffected by magic can be hurt by using air pressure alone usually.  Theoretically there could be something out there that negates magic but it would have to be pretty specific or else it would negate its own abilities so it would be possible to work around it somehow.”

Twilight thought on her words and resolved to do some more studies on the subject but that was for later as they were coming up on the camp.  After notifying the expedition leader of the fates of the missing minotaur and stallions they were finally on their way for the day.

<><><><><><><>

“Ugh, finally the smell is gone.  I still don't know how you could stand being near me as everypony else looked as if they wanted to vomit whenever they came close to me.”  Twilight looked over at her friend who was going over her map for the night.  Aegis Flare sighed before lifting her goggles up to look over at the lavender mare in the dim light.

“Honestly its more that I've had a lot of practice breathing only through my mouth especially since I've smelled worse.  You should really get some sleep though since it looks like we finally found where we were going.  Both my estimates and what the professor read on the ruins all say that this is what we were looking for.”  Turning to look in the direction of the ruins they had found through the tent wall she shook her head as she thought of the little she had already seen.  Plans had been made to enter the temple in the morning but from what she had seen they were being rather reckless in their efforts.  She was glad that she wasn't entering with them and she had already managed to convince Twilight not to go either especially since there was still something bothering her about the group.

“I still don't know why you don't want me to go with them into the temple.  Who knows what I could learn in there that has been lost to time.”  Rolling her eyes, the orange mare started putting everything away as she bedded down.

“I don't trust them for some reason and even you are wary of them.  This place looks pretty important but they still haven't told us what we are here for.  These are supposed to be professionals with us but I'm still looking for what they are supposed to be pros at.”  Twilight doesn't say anything as she pulls her blanket over her head but her mind still was focused on everything she was going to miss even though the reasons for it were good.  As they drifted off to sleep neither unicorn saw the smoke that was slowly streaming in from the back of the tent even through the barrier that was in place.

The next morning the two awoke feeling extremely groggy but unfortunately that was the best part of their situation which they found out when they tried to move.  “What the-?  Why am I tied up?”  Twilight tried to light up her horn while she struggled at the ropes but when her magic hit the ring on her horn she let out a help of pain.  “What's wrong with my magic?!”

When Aegis Flare woke up she knew better than to struggle wildly when she felt the ropes binding her and when she heard her friend's sound of pain she looked over to her to see the ring on her horn.  Crossing her eyes she tried to look up at her own horn but couldn't really see what kind it was from where she was.  Looking around she didn't see anyone nearby, but she could hear the faint rustling of feathers so she knew there was at least one guard nearby.

“Calm down, Twilight.  I've been in worse situations from this and they've already made a huge mistake.”  Twilight stopped her struggling but still had a look of panic as she looked over at the orange mare.  With a good amount of wiggling Aegis Flare pulled herself over to near Twilight to get a closer look at the dampening ring on her horn before she gave a snort of disgust.  “Really?  They think that this cheap thing is going to do anything?  It barely even goes halfway down your horn and I think this is the kind meant for foals in a hospital.  Even if it was strong enough it's worthless if it's nowhere near the base.”

With a raised eyebrow Twilight glanced up at her friend's horn to find that she was right about it being a foal-sized ring.  Now that she was thinking instead of reacting she had calmed down enough to realize that the shock the ring gave her was more surprising than painful and something like this wouldn't have contained her magic even when she was a filly.  Focusing once more on her magic while being prepared for the pain she channeled as a large amount of power into her horn causing the ring to shatter as it was overloaded.  Divesting herself of the ropes she turned to help Aegis Flare to find her already standing yet her horn ring was still in one piece.

Seeing Twilight gaping at the still whole ring the orange mare shrugged as she kicked it away.  “What?  There's a reason why horn rings are supposed to be fitted correctly to the base of the horn.  I would have thought that the princess would have taught you how to use magic with the separate parts of your horn in order to teach you control.”

Shaking her head Twilight throws off her confusion before blushing a bit.  “Well yes, she did.  But she always told me that it wasn't something that I should be showing others since it is supposed to be a guard secret.  I never really needed to use that skill and kind of forgot about it.”

Rolling her eyes at her friend she looked around at the building they had been thrown in before she heard the sound of hoofsteps approaching the entryway.  Turning towards it she charged up her horn and, on seeing two of the earth ponies that were part of the group she was escorting, unleashed a wall of energy slamming the two into the wall and into dreamland.  Turning once more towards Twilight she sighed at her look of shock before walking towards the door.  “We were tied up while they were calmly walking in Twilight.  It's obvious that the entire group was responsible for this.  Now come on, we should really find out what they were looking for that made them decide that tying us up was a good idea.”

The two exited the building and quickly found their way to their tent to grab all their things which had been left untouched.  While Twilight just put her bags on, Aegis Flare dug through hers for a couple leg pouches which she strapped to her legs and filled them with a couple useful objects while passing Twilight a coil of rope.  “It's been a while since I've had to enter an old temple, I hope I remember all the little tricks that I learned.”

Quickly making their way to the entrance that the group had used, Aegis Flare stopped Twilight before she could go rushing in.  “Why are you stopping me?  We have to catch them before they find whatever it is they are searching for.”

Ignoring her for a moment she instead focused on the carvings around the door before she stepped to a section nearby that was covered in moss.  Lighting up her horn she burned it all away revealing more of the wall including the ancient writing carved into it.  “First rule of exploring ruins, never rush in recklessly.  While I can't read this writing, I did learn to work out a couple of symbols and this one I have found to always mean that the passage is trapped.”

As she pulled out a blank scroll and her notes she started to sketch on it what she was guessing the shape of the temple was before jotting in some mathematical formulas.  While she was doing that Twilight was looking at the carvings that were exposed.  “Hmm, that symbol can be used in a couple ways but commonly means forbidden.  Wait!  This is an ancient unicorn temple of the moon!  The last one of these were lost long before Princess Luna rose to lead Equestria with Princess Celestia!”

Glancing up in surprise at her friend being able to read the carvings she shook her head in annoyance.  “Of course you can read it, how else would you be able to read some of the older books.  Still, if it's a unicorn temple then...  Here!”  With a flourish she points at a spot on her parchment before rushing off around the hill the door was set into.  Twilight followed after her at a slower pace but was confused as to why she was heading away from the entrance.  Soon the two came to a section of the building's original wall that was sticking out of the hill as the orange mare observed the wall above them.

“Flare?  What are you looking for?  Should we really be wasting time out here when they are getting further ahead?”  Aegis Flare looked over at Twilight again before she realized that she hadn't said anything about what she was doing yet.

“This is supposed to be a temple, right?  So why would they build an entrance that they travel through constantly just to fill it with traps?  Back there is just a fake entrance which means the real one should be somewhere over here, most likely covered with magic or accessible only with it.”  While she turned back towards the building, Twilight looked thoughtful as she reevaluated her expectations of ancient temples.

“I guess I never though about that.  I guess I never thought about how they would be designed beyond what I've read in my Daring Do books.  But since this is a unicorn temple then wouldn't they also protect the entrance from being blocked as well?”  The orange unicorn looked down at her once again curiously before nodding when her eyes widened in shock before slamming a hoof into her face.  With a grin Twilight stepped up to the exposed wall before lighting her horn causing a section of the wall to disappear leaving a large doorway behind.

The two entered the building to find a simple corridor that had the occasional room along it.  Following it the eventually found themselves at a balcony overlooking a large room, though the stairway down had long since collapsed.  They realized that they had been out longer than they thought as they found the professor along with three bloodied griffons standing next to a vine wrapped pedestal bearing a golden idol also wrapped in the vines.  “They're already here and we're stuck up here.  How are we going to stop them?”

Rolling her eyes, Aegis Flare takes aim at the quartet below with her horn before firing off a ball of flame down at them.  She had been aiming at the professor but he must have sensed something as he dropped to the ground at the last moment causing the attack to fly over him, impacting into one of the griffons instead.  With him rolling around in pain the lead stallion glared up at the balcony before barking orders out at the other two.  “Well don't just stand there, stop them!”

The remaining two took off into the air while the stallion reach out to rip the golden idol off of its stand and rushing for the way they came in through.  The two griffons spread out to opposite ends of the room in the air before they charged at the two mares.  Twilight started to take a combat stance before she was halted by an orange hoof and she looked over to see her friend smirking.  Cracking her neck to the side she just lit up her horn and caused an ever-expanding wall of power to expand away from the two directly at the griffons who stopped in wide-eyed shock.  Moments later she banished her large shield leaving only two imprints in the far walls of the two unconscious griffons.

“That felt good, though I probably shouldn't waste my magic like that.  Come on, let's get down there now.”  Figuring that the expended energy would be worth the time she created a spiral path down into the room which the two charged down quickly.  As they passe the pedestal where the idol was the orange mare slowed as her eyes focused on the plant growth around it.  “Twilight, wait a moment.”

As the lavender mare skidded to a halt the other unicorn examined the vines closely before she started chuckling.  “Well we don't really need to worry about why they wanted that thing anymore now.  It's completely worthless to them.”

Twilight's eyebrow slowly rose as her friend started digging around at the base of where the vines were emerging.  “How would you know that?  We don't even know what that thing was supposed to do and he's getting further away as we wait here.”

Aegis Flare just points at the vines which the lavender unicorn only now noticed were slightly glowing.  “These vines are an odd kind of plant that I've discovered that usually congregates around magical objects.  Normally its harmless to whatever it grows around but if it is there long enough it starts to drain the magic from it.  Since he tore that statue away from the vines all the magic was still trapped in them.  If he removed the vines at the roots then it would have all drained back into it.”

Twilight watched in interest as her friend dug up the vines before wrapping them up in cloth before placing them in her packs.  “So you mean that even though he has the idol it was all for nothing?  But what if he finds a way to recharge it somehow?”

Aegis Flare just shakes her head.  “Even if he does it won't work the same without the same kind of magic.  Besides it's who he is working for that should be the one we worry about but I just need to let a friend know about this so she can keep an eye on him if it's who I think it is.”

Looking around again she smirks as she realizes that with this her job is now complete.  “Well since their contract has ended, especially after what they did to us, how about we look around like you wanted?  Since I don't have to show them back we can take all the time you want to explore and study on our way home.”

While Twilight worried about the injured beings from the other group, she couldn't help but get excited for finally being able to take some time to study something that nopony else had.