"So the queen was Twilight Shadow?" Spike asked, tilting his head.

"Twilit Shadow," Requiem corrected. "Our ancestors called her Queen Twilit. Legend has it she was kidnapped by a power-hungry Bat stallion who usurped the throne. Thankfully, within a fortnight, Princess Luna found the queen and helped her take back her throne."

"But that was at least a thousand years ago," Twilight shrugged. "This proclamation is as ancient as Nightmare Moon. How does this correlate to anything related to the Bat Kingdom?"

"It said that the Bat Palace is in the center of the Everfree Forest, while this castle was on the edge," Echo contemplated. "But since this was written a thousand years ago, the Bat Palace should be where the center of the forest was at the time."

"Well, I've been looking at maps of Equestria from different time periods," Twilight offered. "And according to them, the center of the forest a thousand years ago is a few miles northwest of here."

"But how will we all get there?" Rarity inquired. "Not all of us are fliers, in case you haven't noticed. We'd only slow down the trip."

"No way are we going to try the Butterfly Wings spell," Twilight snapped. "It was hard enough getting it to work only one pony. It would be impossible if I tried it on more than one."

Applejack smiled like a light bulb went off in her head. "I've got an idea..."


Echo inspected the large, crudely-made wooden chariot that everypony helped to make. It was constructed with long, sturdy branches from the trees, held together with vines and reinforced with hardened Changeling slime from Dragonfly.

"Looks like it just might make the round trip," Echo stated finally. "Good idea, Applejack, having us make this chariot for the non-fliers. Requiem, Nocturne, I'm sure you two can pull the chariot to the Bat Palace?"

"Of course, Princess Echo," Requiem nodded. "As a matter of fact, we were the ones who pulled Princess Luna's chariot on her first Nightmare Night off the moon."

"I was wondering why you two looked familiar," Twilight mused softly.

"Enough chitchat!" Rainbow barked. "We've got a palace to find, everypony! ALL ABOARD!"

Applejack, Starlight, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie climbed into the wooden chariot while Spike rode on Twilight's back. Requiem and Nocturne attached the longest branches of the chariot to their armor. The others took to the skies, with the wooden Chariot and Bat guards pulling the chariot airborne behind them.

Echo's eyes swept over the Everfree Forest as the group flew over the trees. True to her words, the wooden chariot held firm as Requiem and Nocturne pulled it through the air.

"The Bat Palace should be around her somewhere," Twilight told her fellow Princess of a different race. "But I can't see anything. Not to mention it'll be getting dark soon."

"I've been able to handle the dark, Twilight," Echo replied. "Now that I'm in my true form, I feel my eyesight has sharpened." Echo's eyes locked on a wafting flag not far ahead, caught in the forest canopy. The edges were tattered, but the midnight blue fabric still had the unmistakable bright blue slit eye and violet flame-like wings, similar to the armor of a Bat guard. Not only that, but some tall, dark-colored towers poked through a huge clearing in the trees: a circle of six spires standing around a massive tower in the center.

"Something tells me that's where the Bat Palace is," Dragonfly mused, looking towards the Bat guards pulling the chariot. "That flag down there has a symbol that looks just like your armor."

Nocturne looked toward the flag, eyes widening. "That is the Bat Palace! We must get down there, Requiem, quickly!"

"You heard him, everypony," Echo called out to the other fliers. "We're right above the Bat Palace, so descend carefully through the dense canopy." Rainbow, Fluttershy, Twilight, and Requiem and Nocturne nodded, and they all slowly descended into the clearing, finding themselves in an enormous courtyard. The non-fliers climbed out of the chariot to join the others as they gazed in awe at the castle.

The entire structure appeared to be made of dark gray stone, with violet crystal as the roofs of the towers. The alluring, glass windows were clouded with dust; fragments of the crystal roofs and shredded flags and banners lay strewn on the ground of the courtyard. The entire group looked over the Bat Palace in nostalgia, awestruck by the sheerness of the palace's mysterious beauty.

"So, this was where my mother once ruled," Echo breathed, breaking the silence. She quietly walked to the black double doors of the Bat Palace, using her magic to slowly open the large doors. "Come on, everypony," she called softly, "let's see what the inside looks like." The others snapped out of their trance and followed the Bat princess inside.

The Bat Palace's corridors had ceilings just as high as the Castle of the Two Sisters, but not nearly as light-colored; instead, the corridor walls were almost black from the shadows. Seeing the others' unnerved expressions, Echo used her magic to light the torches alternating along the walls. The soft, flickering firelight revealed a huge number of framed paintings of Bat alicorns, radiating power and authority - Previous queens, Echo presumed. As the group continued along the corridor, they noticed how the pictures grew gradually more recent the further they went. Echo also noticed how each queen had two silver rings on each of their legs, with a jewel at the center. The paintings finally stopped at a painting that was the most recent: a Bat alicorn with a blue coat so dark it was almost black. Her silver eyes gleamed under the forelock of her dark purple mane. Her wings were flared as the painting portrayed her in a rearing stance, fangs bared and glittering as much as a white crystal crown on her head. Echo read the name of the Bat alicorn engraved on the bottom of the preserved wooden frame.

"Queen Glistening Shadow," Echo read aloud. "No wonder the paintings end here. That queen... was my mother."