After long seconds of weird, unsettling grinning, Cinnamon Rolls and Cloudy Night burst into laughter, leaving looks of confusion on the faces of all three adventurers.

"We totally scared you, didn't we?" Cloudy Night said between her giggles.

"We? I'm not sure. My smile was definitely the scariest," Cinnamon Rolls said, keeping her nose high and adjusting her mane.

"That's not true!" Cloudy glared, trotting up to her sister and placing a foreleg on her nose. "You're so cocky!"

"I'm not."

"You are!"

"I'm not!"

"Girls, could you please not fight in front of our guests?" Shoreline Whisper said, trying her best to not show any sign of anger or annoyance by forcing a grin.

"Yes, mother," the two daughters replied, still shooting frowns at each other.

Scott Free soon trotted up to the group of six unicorns, dragging Trixie's carriage behind him.

"Scott! What is that you're dragging to our mansion?" Shoreline inquired harshly, scowling at the deer.

"Um, it's ours," Trixie answered.

"Oh! If that's so, then it's fine." Shoreline's frown again disappeared immediately. Still, she spoke harshly with Scott. "Now come on, Scott! Move your flank and park the carriage near the mansion."

Scott obliged, dragging the carriage up to the mansion's wall. He then formed a blue sphere of magic between his antlers, and the carriage's saddle was levitated off him.

"Wait...you can use magic?!" Sunburst asked with shock.

"Scott is a magical deer, my dear," Shoreline giggled at her own statement, though she failed to gain the slightest of smiles from the three adventurers. "They live in this land. Never heard of them?"

"Not that I remember," Starlight said, as she and Trixie trotted towards the carriage. She then leaned closer to Scott and whispered, "What is your relationship with them?"

"I'm...I'm their servant," Scott replied hesitantly, letting his head hang low. He and Starlight moved away from each other as Shoreline cleared her throat.

"So, want any help with that carriage?" Shoreline asked as nicely as she could.

"Thanks, we'll be fine," Starlight said, using her magic to pull a towel out of the carriage. As soon as she did so, electric bolts began to dance around her horn, and she felt a sudden urge to sneeze. "Everypony….stand back!" she exclaimed, quickly turning her face away from the others.

Starlight let out a loud sneeze, releasing a powerful beam of magic at the ground. She rubbed her nose and opened her eyes, getting greeted with a long trench dug into the soil in front of her.

"Blessed," Sunburst commented sarcastically.

"I'm so sorry! I don't know how that happened," Starlight apologized frantically.

Shoreline's eyes grew wide for a second, but she quickly retained her smile. "It's fine."

"Are you serious?! Didn't you see how big that blast was?" Trixie exclaimed. "And on our way here, I managed to create a boulder-proof shield, but before that I hadn barely been able to teleport!"

Sunburst levitated the towel Starlight had dropped, but his horn shone brighly, setting the towel on fire. He threw it at the ground and stomped it with his forelegs until the fire was put out.

"What the hay is wrong with our magic?" Sunburst wondered aloud.

"I forgot to tell you," Shoreline started. "In this land, unicorns get a magical increment. Your magic is much more powerful here."

"ONLY unicorns!" Cloudy Night added, pushing her glasses up her muzzle. "Even alicorns don't get a magical boost here."

"Exactly what my daughter said. You may need some time to adapt to your extended powers." Shoreline trotted up to Starlight, inspecting her carefully. "But I must say, that blast was quite powerful. You must be really strong."

"O-or maybe it's luck of the beginners?" Starlight stuttered, forcing a nervous smile.

"You look familiar." Shoreline leaned closer, making Starlight's heart beat fast. After what seemed like an eternity for Starlight, Shoreline took a step away. "No, that's impossible. We don't get many visitors here, let alone repeated visitors."

Starlight sighed in relief. "So, what is this place?"

"This is the land of Jinjabannera. Ever heard of it?" Shoreline said, to which Starlight and her friends shook their heads. "I figured so. This place is almost isolated. Come on then, let's get into the mansion and have some dinner. I bet you're very hungry now." With that, Shoreline and her daughters trotted towards the mansion, gesturing to the others to follow them.

Glimmer.

Starlight heard the whisper as she followed the family of three mares. She turned to her right, and from afar she could make out the image of a huge, damaged building, most likely a castle. She couldn't stop staring at it, and she felt as if it was dragging her. Suddenly, she collided with something soft, which she then found out was Sunburst's flank.

"I, uh, I'm sorry! I wasn't looking," Starlight said, a blush making its way to her cheeks.

"It's fine. Did you find anything important?" Sunburst responded calmly.

"Not really."

For a second, Starlight wondered if Shoreline was the one who had called her in her dreams. But many things debunked that assumption. Shoreline wasn't even half as tall as the figure, and she didn't seem to be in trouble. In fact, she seemed like she could cause trouble. Starlight then wondered if Shoreline indeed had called her and this whole thing was a trap. She wasn't sure, but she had to stay sharp.

"Guys," Trixie whispered to the other two as they entered the mansion, snapping Starlight out of her thoughts. "I don't wanna sound paranoid, but I think these three mares are evil!"

"You're not being paranoid, Trixie," Starlight whispered back. "I know that mare saved our lives, but the way she did it was outright creepy. And if that wasn't enough, the way she's treating Scott Free isn't right."

As the six unicorns and a deer made their way through the main hall of the mansion, they found a collection of big masks with chilling expressions hanging on the walls. Trixie shivered at their sight.

"I know, they're scary," Shoreline said. She thought she heard a 'You don't say' coming from behind her, but she ignored it. "They're a collection of ancient artifacts I collected when I was young."

"Don't worry, they don't bite...usually," Cinnamon Rolls added calmly, punctuating her sentence with a smirk, which made Trixie feel even more uneasy.

"That looks like more evidence that they're evil, if you ask me," Sunburst whispered.

Starlight, Sunburst and Trixie exchanged looks upon hearing strange, faint noises from underneath the floor, something that sounded similar to a metal chain being dragged, but they all shrugged it off as Shoreline spoke.

"The bathrooms are down that hall," Shoreline said, gesturing to a hall to her right. "Get yourselves clean while we prepare the dinner. Scott! Escort them and come back quickly."

"Yes, ma'am," Scott obliged, trotting beside the trio of unicorns through the hallway.

When they were far enough from Shoreline and her daughters, Starlight whispered to Scott, "What's her problem with you?"

"I'm not sure," Scott replied, shaking his head. "But I heard what you said. You are right, the witches are evil. And they're planning for something...really bad. You guys will help stop them, right?"

"I hope so," Starlight scratched her chin. "Why did you warn me from saying my last name to the family?"

"I'll tell you later. If I stay for too long with you, they'll get suspicious." As they reached the bathrooms, Scott quickly turned around and trotted back to the family of witches.

"Well, that totally didn't make me any more scared than before!" Trixie said sarcastically.

"You're not the only one scared, Trixie, believe me," Starlight sighed, a look of concern on her face. "Let's just get clean and act normal. We'll come up with a plan later."

-oOo-

After Starlight had almost destroyed the bathroom and accidentally teleported twice out of it, Trixie had kept creating magic shields that prevented the water from reaching her body, and Sunburst had almost burned the shower, they were finally about to have some dinner. The six unicorns sat on a long dining table as Scott Free served them food. Starlight, Sunburst and Trixie sat on one end beside each other, Starlight being in the middle, while Shoreline and her daughters sat on the other end.

"Scott, you can eat with us this time," Shoreline said before Scott could leave the room, raising her nose and eyeing Scott from the corner of her eyes.

"Oh...thanks, ma'am," Scott replied, fetching a chair and a plate then sitting on the middle of the table.

"So, you're a group of adventurers?" Shoreline asked, placing her fork in her plate of salad.

"Yeah, adventure is our thing!" Starlight answered, smiling nervously.

"Then you must have visited a lot of weird places," Cloudy Night added, levitating something from her plate and throwing it in her sister's.

"Do you like our land so far?" Cinnamon Rolls asked, as she levitated the thing her sister had thrown and throwing it back at her face.

"Well, it's certainly unique," Sunburst said, sipping from his tea. "It's pretty nice and...weird."

"Really? I thought Cloudy gave you a bad first impression," Cinnamon joked, shooting her sister a smirk, which made her face redden in anger.

"Enough, fillies," Shoreline scolded. Her ice cold glare was enough to give Starlight chills. Once again it melted away when she turned her gaze to the trio.

Starlight stared out the windows that were a few feet to the table's side. She could see many houses, but some of them were in ruins, and others were clearly abandoned. All the houses were behind the mansion, which explained why they hadn't seen any of them when they had been running from the wolf. She could see two families of Changelings, some magical deers, and wingless dragons as tall as Spike.

"Jinjabannera is really impressive," Starlight admitted. "But I have to wonder, why is it in a...not so good shape? Why aren't there more ponies or creatures living around?"

"You see, few are the ponies who would prefer living here," Shoreline replied, a small smile on her face as she threw a hoof in the window's direction. "The weather is curious, the land is puzzling, I'm sure you understand. Some even wouldn't like the idea that only unicorns get a more advanced energy." She huffed. "Such weird ponies."

"So who's the ruler around here?"

Shoreline slightly jerked her head back. "Why, it doesn't actually need a ruler," she chuckled. "Not a lot of problems happen in Jinjabannera. But the closest we have to a ruler is a mayor, and that is me." She pointed at herself, smiling widely. "That's all Jinjabannera needs."

"It needs an animal control force, too," Trixie whispered to her friends.

Starlight turned her gaze to Scott, and saw him shaking his head to her, his lips pointing downward.

"Alright, then," Starlight said, levitating a sandwich from her plate. "Too bad we're leaving tomorrow." She hesitantly took a bite, chewing it slowly. When she was sure there was nothing funny in her meal, she took another bite.

"Indeed. But more weird places are waiting for us out there!" Sunburst added, letting out a forced chickle.

The rest of the dinner went in awkward silence, and Starlight, Sunburst and Trixie soon found themselves being escorted to the bedrooms.

"Sorry for that, but only one bedroom is available, because some fillies had to experiment in the rest of the spare rooms," Shoreline said, shooting her daughters a frown, to which they reacted by folding their forelegs across their chests and puffing their cheeks.

Good. We must stay in one room, Starlight thought.

"And I must apologize again, because…" Shoreline opened the door, revealing that the bedroom only had one bed.

"One bed?" Starlight and Sunburst said in unison. They met each other's eyes for a second, then turned their gaze to the ground, their cheeks gaining a pink tone.

Trixie shifted her gaze between them, a deadpan on her face. "I don't care! I just want to sleep," she snapped, quickly trotting inside the room.

"After you," Sunburst said, making space for Starlight to enter.

"Thanks," Starlight chimed, giving Sunburst a timid smile as she trotted inside, followed suit by him.

"Sleep well, everypony!" Shoreline said as she closed the bedroom's door, her smile still looking forced.

"Finally!" Trixie sighed happily, slumping on the bed. She then lifted her head and looked at the others. "Um, I mean, I'll sleep on the floor if you want."

"We won't sleep. Not now," Starlight said.

"What?!"

"Trixie, please focus! We need to make a plan."

Sunburst was about to say something, but he was cut off.

"Alright!" Trixie jumped off the bed. "Any good ideas?"

"Um, girls—"

"Actually," Starlight started, cutting Sunburst off. "There was that abandoned building I saw before we—"

"Girls!" Sunburst snapped.

"What?" Starlight and Trixie asked in unison.

"I, ah, I need to go to the bathroom," Sunburst said with a low tone, a light blush on his cheeks.

Starlight sighed. "Alright. Do you still remember the way to the bathrooms?"

"I think so." Sunburst trotted to the door and opened it.

"Just make it quick. I have a feeling the witches won't be happy if they see you snooping around the mansion."

With that, Sunburst left the room and closed the door behind him.

"Trixie, did you feel anything strange while in this house?" Starlight asked.

"Yes; It's big, spooky and inhabited by three evil unicorns," Trixie replied flatly.

"No, not that. I feel like...like I've been here before," Starlight said, rubbing her neck as she scanned the room with her eyes. "Like...a Deja Vu. Ya know?"

"Okay, that's weird. But for me, I've never seen this place before."

"I see," Starlight muttered, turning her gaze to the ground.

Meanwhile, Sunburst wandered around the dark hallways of the mansion. For a moment, he thought he was lost, but he quickly knew where to go when he found one of the creepy masks on the wall. In the cruel darkness he felt as if he was having a heart attack, but at least he knew where he was. He then used his horn to illuminate the way, but instead of emitting light normally, his horn caught on fire like a candle. He panicked at first, but he quickly calmed down when he noticed that the flames didn't hurt him.

Before he could start down the hallway to the bathrooms, the sound of chatter caught his attention. He searched for the source to find light leaking from under the door of a room. He understood two words: 'Awake' and 'Queen'. That surely got him hooked. He tip-hoofed his way to the door and listened.

"Ugh, why did you even save them, mom?!" Cinnamon Rolls asked in annoyance.

"Isn't it obvious?" came the answer from Shoreline. "The Amarok would only eat one of them and leave, and then the others would rage and ask me why didn't I help. We don't know how strong these unicorns are, I couldn't risk their magic going haywire or running away and telling somepony. Besides...I didn't want a mess on my lawn."

"But what if they cause trouble?" came another question, this time it was clearly Cloudy Night.

"They won't. They're leaving tomorrow morning. And as they trot away, I will use my magic to wipe out their memories of this place," Shoreline spoke again, her voice more firm than before, to which Sunburst widened his eyes. "Our weapon is almost done, so we must avoid any complications. Let's just act normal and let them leave tomorrow peacefully."

"Great. We are waiting one more day because of unexpected visitors," Cinnamon groaned.

"Well, I told you to create a magic shield around the kingdom regularly!" Shoreline snapped. "But you didn't listen!"

"No pony ever dares to get close to our kingdom, none of the citizens dares to try and get out, and renewing the shield is an annoying task even with a magical boost, so why should we do it?!" Cloudy whined.

"First, this isn't the first time. Second, because somepony had enough luck to enter our kingdom today, as you can see!" Cinnamon answered angrily. "It was your turn to renew the shield."

"No, it was your turn!"

"Your turn!"

"Shut up both of you!" Shoreline interrupted. "I know very well that you two rarely rarely renew the shield. But forget about it now. We should focus on the spell at hoof. Then everything will be ours."

"Mom, just wanted to ask…," Cloudy spoke, using one foreleg to scratch the other. "Aren't you getting bored of this? I mean, we've been trying to make this weapon work for ages. Perhaps it's about time we...moved to something else?"

Shoreline was taken aback, frowning. "What?!"

"Actually, I'm just a little bit with Cloudy," Cinnamon added. "I'm sure there are a lot of…'exciting' things out there that we can try instead of this."

Shoreline chuckled in contempt. "Listen to yourselves. Giving up now? Now that power is almost in our grasp?! Have some patience! I promise that it will all be worth it in the end."

"Of course, mom," Cinnamon and Cloudy said together in a dull tone.

"I don't want to hear these sentences of despair from you ever again." Shoreline began trotting towards the door.

"Oh, my…" Sunburst muttered, quickly turning around and rushing to the bathrooms.

-oOo-

"You're finally back?" Trixie said, as Sunburst entered the bedroom in a hurry and closed the door.

"What's wrong, Sunburst?" Starlight asked worriedly, noticing Sunburst's expression.

"The witches...I over heard them," Sunburst panted. "They said something about a weapon, about 'awaking' something and a 'queen'. I don't know exactly what they're up to, but—"

"Ah yes, an evil queen!" Trixie interrupted Sunburst, smiling widely. She then wrapped a hoof around Starlight's shoulder. "We've done it before, Starlight, and we can do it again. Last time we didn't even have magic, this time not only do we have magic, but it's also boosted!"

"I admire your enthusiasm, Trixie, but this is serious," Sunburst said taut. "Yes, we do have a boost, but so do they. This is more dangerous than you think."

Trixie turned her gaze away, muttering a "Pessimist!" with a pout.

"Did you make any plan?" Sunburst inquired, fixing his glasses.

"Well…," Starlight started, before something hit the window of the bedroom, startling everyone.

"What the hay?!" Trixie whispered, hugging Starlight's foreleg.

Carefully, Starlight and Sunburst approached the window. When they saw nothing, they opened it, and Starlight volunteered to poke her head out.

"Pssst!"

Starlight looked down, getting greeted with non other than Scott Free.

"Scott, you scared us to death!" Starlight said quietly, loud enough for Scott to hear her.

"Just get down here! We don't have time to waste," Scott responded, turning left and right in fear.

After exchanging looks with her friends, Starlight wrapped everyone in her magic and brought them down to where Scott was standing. There was something different about the land, though: it was snowing.

"Shoreline wasn't lying," Sunburst said, staring at the snow around him "The weather here is weird."

"Why did you call us here?" Starlight asked.

"I want to help you. We only have this night," Scott answered. "I'll do anything to get rid of Shoreline and her tyranny. And I know where to start looking for a solution."

"The abandoned castle, am I right?" Starlight said, pointing at the castle she had seen back before she had entered the mansion.

"Y-Yes. How did you know?"

"Call it a lucky guess."

"Then follow me." With that, Scott started towards the castle, followed by the trio of unicorns.

"Do you think we can trust him?" Sunburst whispered to Starlight.

"I hope so," Starlight replied, then addressed Scott. "So, if Shoreline is so bad, why doesn't anypony in Jinjabannera stand against her? Is there no one strong enough? Or why doesn't anyone leave?"

"Are you kidding?" Scott raised his voice slightly. "Shoreline is insanely strong. And if that isn't enough, when she took over she removed all the books from Jinjabannera, to make sure that no one could ever become strong or smart enough to stand against her. And since the citizens are weak, non of them dares to leave Jinjabannera because the surroundings are dangerous. This is one of the reasons why I told you to head to the mansion directly, because Shoreline would be so mad if she saw you interacting with the citizens. On top of that, Shoreline used to use cruel living conditions to keep Jinjabannerans busy with their own lives..."

Starlight gazed away at the houses as she listened to Scott, noticing two young deers playing with snow. "Sounds a little too familiar to me," she muttered, dropping her ears and facing the ground. She raised her head again as she felt a hoof landing on her shoulder, getting greeted with Sunburst's reassuring smile, to which she could only respond with a smile of her own.

"I always wanted to see lands beyond Jinjabannera," Scott continued, a small smile making its way to his face as he stared at the sky. "I always wanted to visit Equestria and learn more about everything. But alas…" he finished, letting his head hang low. "You guys are adventurers, right? I so envy you."

"That isn't entirely true," Starlight said, to which Scott raised an eyebrow. "We came here specifically. It may sound weird, but somepony called for help in my dreams and gave me a map that led us here. Apparently, it wasn't just a silly dream."

"So aren't you going to tell us why did you warn Starlight from saying her last name to the witches?" Trixie inquired.

"Honestly...I-I don't really know," Scot stuttered, bracing himself for the response.

"WHAT?!" Starlight and her friends yelled, and Scott motioned them to stay quiet.

"Please listen," Scott started again. "I don't know exactly what does the name 'Glimmer' mean, but I know that Shoreline hates it so so much. I think I know the name, but I don't remember exactly from where. Maybe I heard it in a dream, or a vision."

"So you're basing all of this on a dream?!" Trixie replied, gaining a raised eyebrow from Starlight. "No offense!" she waved her hoof in defense, smiling sheepishly.

"It always baffled me, to be honest," Scott continued, scratching his head. "The earliest thing I remember was Shoreline asking me about 'stupid little Glimmer', and she was extremely angry, then she forced me to become her servant. Anything before that is a mystery for me, as if my life started there, but I know it's impossible." He shook his head and rubbed it in pain.

His memory must have been damaged magically, Starlight thought, scratching her chin as she tried to make sense out of Scott's words. She then turned to Sunburst and whispered, "What he said almost confirms that I'm connected to this place. But how? And why? It doesn't even make sense!"

"Let's hope we can find some answers in that castle," Trixie replied instead of Sunburst. Quickly, her thoughts began to wander back to the previous night, to the conversation she had had with Starlight. That joke Starlight told me about an ancient deity...could it be...

"So what can you tell us about Shoreline's weapon?" Sunburst asked.

"Not much, only that it's very dangerous," Scott replied. "It has something to do with absorbing or channeling magic. But what baffles me is that they're keeping something dreadful in the basement."

"What? What kind of 'dreadful thing'?" Starlight asked, her face reading confusion.

"I don't know, and I think I don't want to know. They never told me about it and I've never tried to check the basement." Scott shivered. "I guess whatever it is, it's better off down there."

Soon later, the group found themselves standing in front of the entrance of a big, abandoned castle. Only one half of the gate was there, most of the walls were broken, leaves and vines covering them, and the roof was almost non-existent. Time had left it's mark of decay on the place, everything looking pale, sad even.

A cold gust of wind blew from inside the castle and into the group standing in front of it, adding more to the unwelcoming feel the sight of the castle had already created.

"What happened here?" Starlight asked, staring at the castle in both awe and fear.

"Clearly a great battle. For me it's always been like this," Scott replied. "But it's likely that Shoreline hides all the books of Jinjabannera here."

Starlight was starting to get irritated by how little information Scott could offer, but she did excuse him since his memory was clearly damaged. She took a deep breath and started towards the castle's entrance, only to be stopped a few inches away by Sunburst.

"Stop!" Sunburst said, pointing at the ground after the gate. "Look at this."

Starlight inspected the ground for a few seconds, lighting her horn to sense anything abnormal. She then noticed a thin black line carved into the floor. "It's an alarm spell," she said, following the line with her eyes. "And it looks like it's connected to a trap. Thanks for saving my flank, Sunburst."

"No problem," Sunburst said, smiling.

"Let's see if I can deactivate it without blasting the whole thing by accident." Starlight lit her horn and lowered her head to the black line on the ground. After concentrating for a few seconds, with a horn blazing with magic, the black line finally faded.

"I think it worked," Sunburst said, reluctantly placing a hoof inside the castle. When nothing happened, he and the others trotted inside.

They were in a long, wide hall that ended with a broken throne. It was so wide that it felt like a field. There were many pillars, a few of them broken, and there were several other rooms, but they seemed to be empty. Silver sets of armors stood on both sides of the hall, and some of them were damaged. They looked eerily life-like; much to Trixie's dismay.

"What's wrong with this place and creepy inanimate objects?!" Trixie muttered, worriedly looking left and right.

Starlight searched for anything piculiar, and found a small door on the ground. "That door," she suddenly said, gesturing to the door she had found. "What does it lead to? It's less dustier than everything else and there are less plants on it."

"That means it gets used often," Sunburst added.

"You're right. I'll try to open it," Starlight said, trotting up to the door and engulfing it with her magic, but once she did so, the whole thing exploded, revealing a staircase that led to a room below. "I didn't mean to do that!" Starlight replied, biting her lip, then turned her gaze to the stairs. "There must be something important down there."

Sunburst looked at Scott, and noticed him shifting his hooves, a look of nervousness on his face. "Are you okay, Scott?" he asked.

"I-I'm sorry, but I'm scared of narrow and enclosed places," Scott replied, wiping sweat off his forehead.

"Is this why you never tried to explore the mansion's basement?" Trixie asked.

"Y-Yes."

"If you want, you can stay here while we go downstairs," Starlight suggested.

"No! I need to know what is in there. I-I think I'll be fine," Scott stammered.

"If you say so." With that, everyone trotted downstairs, using their magic to illuminate the darkness.

As soon as they arrived at the bottom of the stairs, they found piles upon piles of books. There were some shelves where books rested, but clearly they weren't enough to contain everything. There were some small artifacts, but nothing stood out.

"This is insane," Sunburst commented, touching one of the books, only to scratch a thick layer of dust.

"Twilight would die if she saw this," Starlight said, levitating a book and flipping through its pages. "There are some really valuable information here. This one says that unicorns get a boost in magic in Jinjabannera only when they hit puberty. It also says that the boost differs from a pony to another, and it says something about the risks of inexperienced unicorns having a boost." She closed the book, turning to Trixie. "Good thing you studied magic when you were young, Trixie."

"Yeah yeah, the whole School for Gifted Unicorns thing," Trixie replied, scratching her nose. "I learned so much valuable things, but applying them wasn't as easy."

"Me and you both, sister," Sunburst commented with a chuckle as the group trotted deeper into the room, then turned to Scott. "I heard the witches talking about awaking something, but nothing here seems like it could be 'awakened'."

"I-If they said so, then it must be something really bad," Scott said, sweating and scanning his surrounding nervously.

"Um, guys, is this 'bad' enough?" Trixie trembled, pointing at something that she had illuminated with the light from her horn.

Everyone turned to see what Trixie was talking about, gasping at the sight they were met with. Standing there was a statue of a gigantic centipede with big mandibles, standing on the back quarter of its body, looking as if it was ready to attack at any moment.

"Because it looks bad enough for me!" Trixie added.