The group trudged on, mostly in silence, except for the occasional admonishment from Twilight to Dash whenever she kept getting ahead of the group. Eventually they reached the top of a small hill and could see The Castle of The Royal Pony Sisters just ahead. The last time they went there, it was night time and they had approached from the point the Everfree Forest met the castle, a route that represented not only the most direct route to the castle from Ponyville but also the most perilous. This time Twilight had picked a route that she had hoped would keep them the shortest time in the forest and be the safest. However the forest is a chaotic creature, constantly shifting and is bigger on the inside than the outside with towering peaks, deep crevices, and rivers that meander with no obvious starting point or destination. Trying to make any maps and planning of routes is just simply impossible.

Now that they were free of the forest and standing in the bright morning sunshine, they could see the castle in a way they couldn't on that first quest. The castle, even in its state of ruin, was still a magnificent sight to behold; a couple of its towers still stood, soaring into the sky, and many of the smaller buildings still remained intact. Even with what remained of the main hall, where most of the damage exists, there still stood a skeletal outline, allowing one to easily imagine what it would have looked like before the first battle between Celestia and Nightmare Moon claimed it a little more than a millennia ago. Twilight had memorized the layout of the castle, so from her vantage point she could easily make out the library, and could tell that it was, much to her relief, mostly intact. She turned to the group to give them an update only to see Dash flat on the ground.

"You…guys…are….so….slow." complained the rainbow tressed pony.

Twilight let out a sigh but then gave a little smile, "Okay Dash, you can fly up ahead and scout out the castle. Report back if there are any surprises."

Dash stood on her feet, smiled, and in less than a blink of an eye was replaced by a billowing cloud of dust. A rainbow coloured contrail marked the route she travelled with Dash as the blurry cometary nucleus at its anterior. While it took a mere three seconds for her to cover the distance to the castle, it will take the remaining companions of her group another 30 minutes to cover the same distance. The area around the castle was clear of any threats, so she proceeded to take advantage of the situation and took a quick cat-nap while her friends caught up. When her friends arrived, she woke up, opened one eye and said, "What took you so long?"

Twilight just rolled her eyes and shook her head, but she smiled, she knew Dash was only teasing. She then proceeded to do a quick visual survey of the library's exterior. Up close it looked in significantly worse shape than it did from a distance. Fallen stone and mortar lay along the side of the building from the result of years of weathering. She could also make out very old impact craters along the base from the fight so long ago. She worried that some of the blasts may have penetrated the basement, destroying the map room in the process, making their troubled journey all for naught. Even more worrisome was the fact that the exterior door into the library was slightly ajar.

She cautiously led them inside. They found themselves standing on a large staircase landing. Twilight's heart sank a little bit as she could see some blue sky above her from where the roof had partially caved in blocking the stairs leading up to the main floor of the library. She knew there was no chance of books still being there, but she briefly and wistfully wondered what it would be like if she could have had a chance to read through those books; just imagine what mysteries and wonders they could have unlocked. The stairs down were free to traverse; debris had been pushed to the side making it easy to travel. The disturbed dust patterns made it obvious that it was recently cleared.

They headed into the basement, causing the numerous star spiders to scurry, annoyed by the passage of such large creatures threatening their delicate webs. They reached the bottom finding another wooden door, though this one was forced open, its latch splintered. They entered a large room, lit somewhat by tiny shafts of sunlight coming from slits along the south wall and from the occasional breach located at different points around the wide space; however a dark gloom still claimed most of the chamber. Both Rarity and Twilight both engaged a simple light spell to dispel the remaining darkness, causing multitude of insects to crawl in panic and seek safety in whatever dark crevices they could find. The light also revealed a large topographical scale map of Equestria as it was one thousand years ago that covered close to two thirds of the basement. It suffered some damage, but here too there were signs that fallen debris had been moved off to the side.

Applejack, who had gone to the south end of the room where the bottom of the map ended, called out, "I found a wooden pole here!"

Twilight ran quickly around the map and joined her to study the find. "The can be no doubt about it," Twilight finally said, sounding beaten and downcast. "Trixie's been here already."

"How could Trixie have gotten ahold of another headpiece?" questioned Rarity who, with the rest of the team, had joined Applejack and Twilight at the bottom of the map.

"I don't know," replied Twilight, "I had assumed there was only one." She paused and looked at the group with sad eyes, "I'm so sorry. It's my fault it took us so long to get through the Everfree Forest. It's too late, Trixie has probably already found the Ark."