Okay then! She was only in unfamiliar territory with her two friends counting on her with their lives. What could possibly go wrong? Oh wait, right. That.
Twilight's decision to teleport had been a hasty one. It usually took plenty of concentration and a great familiarity with one's surroundings to pull off a successful warp. Twilight had access to neither of those things. Thus, compared to what could have happened, she should be thankful for where she had gotten placed. She was still in the cave, no doubt. That was a given based on the eight beds that were scattered around the room she was in, four of which were occupied by enormous bears. Enormous bears that could probably step on her without realizing it.
The only thing keeping her sane was the fact that the entire party of them were out cold. There were a couple torches on each wall, granting her the gift of sight without needing the use of her horn. What she could see around the room was relatively shocking: bookshelves everywhere. Next to each oversized mattress was a dainty oak bookcase, all of which looked in better condition than anything else down here. They also happened to be crammed full of large hardcover reading material. Ignoring the rest of the boring, standard fare—limestone walls, a dirt carpet, and very loud snoring—Twilight's curiosity encouraged her to move towards a bookshelf. For hazardous reasons, she chose one that was next to an unoccupied bed.
First impressions were rarely worth much in any instance. Still, Twilight certainly did not pin these 'overbearing brutish brawlers' as bookworms. She neared the well-cleaned shelf, cocked her head sideways, and began reading the covers of the neatly-lined books to herself.
The Art of Weaving Lies; Poison Control: A Bite Gone Wrong; The Hunt: A Guide.
Twilight could barely stop herself from cringing. Is this what a vampire's library looked like? Every one of them she glanced over looked like a self-help book that was written in the underworld. Her eyes moved away from the disturbing collection to lie instead on the form of a resting bear. She was starting to get the unnerving feeling that they were far more dangerous than they looked. And that was saying something. "Why are they so close to Ponyville?" her brain pondered. "How long have they been here?"
Her quest to find good literature having gone horribly wrong, Twilight backed up a few steps. The exit to the room was just over there, in between the beds of two sleeping mammals. It looked like it led upstairs, not that the information helped her figure out where she was. Taking more care than she remembered ever doing before, the unicorn crept toward the doorway taking an average of one tiny step every two seconds. She felt that her fear in awakening these creatures was absolutely justified.
It took maybe a minute, but Twilight made it to the staircase. Just before beginning her ascension, however, a carving in the wall next to the door's "frame" caught her eye. It was within a leg's distance from a giant, snoring bear's noggin; holding her breath, Twilight leaned to the side to investigate it.
PONYVILLE BASE, the top of it read. Below it looked like a series of crudely drawn lines. At least it did until Twilight realized the dimensions of those lines looked familiar. Those, there... that looked like the room she was in. It was a map! She could have clapped her hooves with glee, if that wouldn't have immediately blown her cover. A guide around this place was just what she needed. Making sure to take measured breaths only when required, Twilight allowed herself a moment to absorb the knowledge in front of her.
"All right, so if we started there... That must be there..."
Twilight had it memorized already with no problem. By her estimations, walking up those stairs was the worst possible thing she could do. Luckily, she was now able to feel more comfortable teleporting around the place. With just a simple poof, she was gone.
On her reappearance, there was a crack, and she instantly found herself totally blind. That was, in all honesty, probably a good thing. The practiced magic user casted an illumination spell to cure the problem. The creepy cellar was revealed, and a couple local ponies remarked on her presence.
"That was fast," a southern accent complimented her.
Twilight trotted up to that jail cell. The thought of these things still sickened her. Seeing her friends inside of them without a really good reason by law enforcement only made her feel worse. On top of the welcoming light, Twilight started using magic to fiddle with the lock on the cage. She was no master of lock picks, but there had to be some way to get it open. "I didn't go far. Just to a room over, where there's, like, four more of those things. They were all sleeping though, so I—"
"Wait up, Twi," Applejack interrupted. The sitting cowpony glanced at Pinkie Pie, who was quietly watching Twilight play with the steel lock outside the door. When her head turned back, an eyebrow was raised. "You didn't make that same loud crackin' noise when you left for that warp that you made just now, did you?"
Twilight's eyes sprung open. In a rush of panic, she dropped the pink aura that was hanging around the lock. "There was a noise? There wasn't supposed to be a noise!"
"I'm gonna guess that's not a good answer."
The reverse happened—the unicorn grabbed the lock once more and worked double time to find a way to break it. "Something like that can happen to a teleport done carelessly. I was so excited to get out of there, I wasn't even paying attention!"
Applejack rose to all fours, a look of determination crossing her eyes. As if she had practiced it, she said, "Now don't you go blaming yerself for anything, Twilight. Git us out of here, and we'll make a run for the exit, alert bears or not."
Twilight opened her mouth, but couldn't get any words out in time. The third pony beat her to that. "We can't do that," Pinkie stated. She tried to make it sound like that much was obvious, but a pinch of apprehension could be extracted from her words. "I need to know for sure that the reverstone isn't here."
The free mare frowned. How exactly was one supposed to know if they were making progress picking a lock? Having kept an ear to those words, she decided to throw her thoughts into the pot as well. "As crazy as it sounds, I need to agree with Pinkie Pie. We went through a lot to get here just for that stone. No offense, Applejack."
"None taken," she responded promptly.
Finally, there was a distinct chinking sound. The lock's inner workings crumbled to Twilight's magic, allowing her to snap it off the door and set it softly on the stone ground. If they had the time, she would have done the same to every lock in the room. That way, no pony could be imprisoned here.
AJ was the first to exit the confined space. Nodding thanks at Twilight, she continued where she left off. "I guess I'm just gonna need to trust you girls on this rock thing ya'll keep talkin' about."
"We'll fill you in on everything when we get out of this mess," Twilight promised, shutting the cage behind Pinkie Pie for neatness's sake. "Pinkie, when we get up the stairs, there should be a door straight ahead. That's the only room it could be in. We're just going to have to go through anypony—err, thing in the way. Now AJ, I'm sure they didn't treat you very well here. If you're not up to fighting—"
"Don't even finish that sentence," ordered the orange pony. "If'n you're thinkin' for one second I don't want to knock the daylights outta them overgrown rats, you got another thing comin'. We'll give you some time, Pinks."
Pinkie's grin was wide; she was genuinely thrilled. "Thanks, you guys. You're the best!"
That wasn't to say Twilight wasn't happy. She too wore a passionate smile on her face. There was a rewarding feeling about freeing a lost friend from enslavement, then getting to mess with the ones who did it. "Come on, girls!"
With Twilight in the lead lighting the way, her two equine friends trailed behind her, equally eager for what the next five minutes held.
Stealth was something of a lost art past that point. Twilight was sure she had at least caused a yellow alarm with that earlier careless stunt of hers; those suspicions were confirmed as they climbed the staircase and a third voice could be heard up ahead. Thankfully, her friends didn't blame her, so she wasn't going to either. The fact remained that those bear things weren't expecting three ponies to charge up the stairs and rush them. Arguably more valuable than stealth, the element of surprise would work just fine.
The sound of hooves clopping against stone steps wasn't particularly subtle. They were nearing the top, making her wonder if they had been heard already. "Get ready," she warned her crew.
"Worms," a bear growled with a strong rasp.
They'd been heard.
Twilight was the first to reach the top and see into the room with the elusive door. It looked no different than when Pinkie Pie had observed it before, with the exception of there being a third brute. "Go, Pinkie!" Wasting no time, Twilight powered up and fired off a volley of magical blasts. Non-lethal, but definitely with a sting to them.
The third guest—the one closest to the staircase in that room—squatted into a defensive stance. "I told you I heard something!" he roared. "It was that unicorn!"
Pinkie darted past Twilight on her left; Applejack blasted past her on her right. The energy orbs all collided into a single enemy, knocking him backwards with a grunt of annoyance. Applejack swerved towards the second of the three, who remained stunned by her sudden appearance. Once within range, she spun around on her front hooves, rewarding the bear's slow reaction time with a buck to the face.
With one bear on his backside and another one Applejack'd, Pinkie found her opening. Without losing focus, she buzzed straight for the wooden door on the opposite side of the torch-lit room. She got a working grip on the handle with her hooves and pulled out, slipping through the doorframe the moment there was enough space.
"Good," Twilight thought. "At least the easy part went well enough."
"Twilight!"
The librarian snapped back to full attention. The third bear had gotten Applejack in a grapple. It was frightening, almost, the way somepony as strong as AJ squirmed uselessly in that creature's hold. Hastily, Twilight attacked with more powerful magic attacks. Her aim was good enough; a couple orbs nailed him in the face, while a few others hit in the gut directly below where he was holding Applejack.
"Owe you one already, Twi," Applejack stated, now freed from that bear hug. She hopped forward, skidding in front of the door their friend was behind. "You make sure we have an exit, and I'll make sure they don't get to Pinkie!"
"Werebears!" the first one cried out. There was no way anything was sleeping through that. "Attack them!"
"Werebears?" Twilight thought to herself. Those books she had found earlier crossed her mind, and her imagination soared with dreadful possibilities.
One of the massive creatures approached Twilight using all fours. Having the red eyes of the bear bore through her own was intimidating enough, but she could already hear shuffling around from their downstairs bedroom, meaning their trouble was about to be doubled. She wouldn't stand a chance without her magic, so she didn't hesitate much to tap into her reservoir of skills.
A streak of white-blue lightning emerged from the tip of her horn. She had never found much use for that spell before, but today was the day. The bolt of electricity struck the werebear dead on. However, something was amiss. There was no grunt, pain, or even comical bone-revealing voltage. It barely slowed the creature down.
Shocked more than the target was, Twilight took a step back to distance herself from it. She relied on her observational abilities and stared directly at where the lightning had hit him. The solution to her problem was reluctantly found: the lush black fur covering the monster. "Their fur is so thick!" she reported to AJ, "My magic can barely do anything!"
"Find somethin', sugar cube," Applejack recommended in return. "It's about to get worse."
Twilight dared to take her eyes away for a moment to look at the staircase. Three more bears, all of which she recognized from her earlier stroll down there, were pounding up the steps. With six-hoof-tall bears everywhere, the room was getting crowded very quickly. Worse yet, they had barely given Pinkie five seconds to look around yet; if they couldn't find a weakness soon, she wouldn't have friends to walk out to.
Twilight gulped. Growing ever less confident, she flared up her horn one more time.
The fight seemed as fair as it was going to get: two three-on-one matches. Applejack looked at the encroaching enemies. Unlike Twilight, she had nothing to rely on but pure power to muscle the werebears down. Considering how much stronger those things were than the farmer, that fact left her unnerved. Scraping together some willpower, she launched an assault anyway. A sweep of her leg, meant to trip an oppressor, worked successfully. She was given the opportunity for a free buck, one she took without another thought.
A second bear stepped up and tried stomping on her. She was barely able to catch sight of the attack in time to dodge it. Even with one deft evade, the last enemy was ready. He grabbed AJ on her side with a massive claw and dragged her across the floor—all the way up to smashing her into the wall. There was no time to relax; he took his other claw and attempted to pound Applejack's face into the dirt with it. After the first agonizing blow, the "dodge" she executed was more like an accidental stumble in a safe direction. All three bears were now back in the game, the one she had kicked showing no pain at all. The sight nearly made her collapse to her haunches.
Panting and in pain, Applejack refused to move far from that door. "Twi..." she groaned, "we got a problem."
Twilight was in danger of losing control of her position. She continued backing up, too unsure of what might be effective to try anything. When Applejack's plea reached her ears, however, she had something of an epiphany. If strength and magic weren't doing much against them, maybe the use of some wit would. Her conclusion: a rush forward. The three bears, seemingly not about to curse her practical surrender, all lunged for her just as her horn glowed. She teleported away to the opposite side of her enemies, this time really not caring if she made any noise with it. With their backs against one another, Twilight mule kicked the nearest werebear. Of course, it was hardly a respectable shove compared to Applejack's moves, but it at least knocked the target to the floor. She whipped around and hurled some more magical pellets at a different one.
Before she was able to confirm any damage done with them, her attention was diverted by a pair of furry arms enclosing around her. She much preferred Pinkie's hugs to this one. Her legs were all held in a position by the werebear's body that made even squirming around difficult.
Her friend was able to notice the danger she was in. Still, there was only so much that shouting her name would do. As Applejack tried barging her way through the swarm of her own enemies, she was plucked off the ground like a ball in a sports game. She too was squeezed hard against the sharp, unkempt fur of a werebear. "Dumb... fur ball!" she muttered when she could find the breath for it.
Just as quickly as she had been scooped up, one of the most unlikely rescues was made. A door was bashed open; Twilight couldn't see it due to her predicament, but since there was only one door in the entire cave, she could guess who it was. The bear holding on to Applejack had been standing directly in front of the hinged block of wood, breaking his concentration (and nearly his back) when it was shoved with so much force.
AJ fell to the ground on her hooves while Pinkie Pie slid in between the bear's legs to reach the other side. "Twilight, clear the way!" Pinkie requested, galloping in her direction.
There was another set of hoofsteps, too. Applejack must be right behind her. Twilight cursed under her breath. If it was so easy to "clear the way," she would have done it five minutes ago. A thought breached her mind—a second spell that she had had little use for before now. Since her horn was helpfully unimpaired, she used it to create fire... a fire on herself. Her entire body erupted into flames with nothing but a very thin sheet of magic protecting her from herself.
The room was instantly made about ten degrees warmer. Against their own wishes, the two werebears that were circling Twilight backed away, while the third made sure to release her from his grasp first. Her plan had worked. Somehow.
Her two friends bolted past her and the rest of the bears. When they had safely crossed to the other side, Twilight warped to meet them. While they made a break down the hallway that led to the exit, the unicorn turned back around to face the werebears. "Don't look back, girls!"
The snarling bears took notice that one was staying behind. They crept towards her, as they had done so often today. This time, though, she had an actual plan to follow through with. She cast a spell of a different nature. This one made a blinding flash covering the entire room. With her eyes closed, she could smell a touch of the pleasant fragrance in the air... and then thud.
She deactivated her horn and opened her eyes. Scattered around the entire room were six werebear bodies. All of them seemed to be in a contest to see who could snore the loudest. They were all out cold, which made Twilight feel like she deserved a sigh of relief. Smirking at one that was snuggled up in a sort of cute ball, the up-and-coming sorceress flipped herself around and chased after her friends.
It felt so good retracing her way back up the stairs leading outside. She could never look at a cave the same way again. Trotting up the stairs, she could see the sun waiting for her. It looked like it was just about to begin its descent for the day, casting a wonderful atmosphere on the world outside. That made her pick up the pace by a bit.
That wasn't all that was waiting for her. When she finally reached fresh air, she found her two close friends in a hug with each other. The scene was made even more memorable by Pinkie wearing Applejack's cowboy hat, not that Twilight was sure where it had come from. A part of her felt like she was intruding; a bigger part of her wouldn't have wanted to miss the embrace, and those smiles, for the world.
"I definitely missed you, Pinkie," AJ stated, perhaps not noticing Twilight yet. "After all of that, I think I could use a party about now."
Pinkie spoiled the moment by backing away from the gesture and turning her head toward Twilight. The lavender mare needed to suppress a laugh; there was something about Pinkie in a western hat that was just humorous. "Hiya, Twilight. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she answered, stepping up to the group. "I just used my Sleepytime spell. By the time they wake up from that, we'll be long gone."
"So Applejack, what happened to you?" Pinkie asked, "You barely said a word before taking off like a month ago."
"Didn't you hear what I called back to ya when I got on the train?" Pinkie shook her head, and Twilight wasn't much help either. The cowpony gulped. "Guess it must'a looked like I practically ran off then, didn't it? I told Big Mac to tell ya'll where I was going if you came out to the farm. I barely remembered to call that out to you when I was takin' off, but my voice must have gotten lost over the train's engine."
The other two ponies shared a regretful look at each other. It truly hadn't crossed either one of their minds to check on the Apple family in Applejack's absence. Twilight was the first one to get words out of her mouth. "I'm sorry, Applejack. We should have made sure the farm was doing okay without you needing to tell us. I guess since Apple Bloom was always running around town, we just thought..."
Applejack chuckled modestly. "Shucks, Twilight, no need for an apology. Big Mac is more than enough pony to take care of Sweet Apple Acres." She paused in order to give herself a seat on the ground. After a breath, she continued, "Anyway, my story goes like this. We got a letter from some place way out in Pranceylvania wanting four entire crates of our apples. It looked like some business that I'd never heard of before, but who're we to turn down an order like that? So we loaded up the next train going out. That was when I ran into you, Pinkie. The train was set to take off in minutes and I wasn't on it, which was why I couldn't say much."
A calming draft broke the story up. After the workout back in the cave, it was a welcome breeze. Though, it could have also been an omen of sorts. Once it passed, Applejack's tone, along with her tale, grew darker. "It almost felt like everything that could go wrong along the way did. The darn train broke down three times just gettin' there. 'Bout a week later, I finally made it. Nice place 'n all, but I couldn't find that business anywhere. Askin' around, I found out it had closed down a few years ago. So, I took the apples and got back on the train. Another dang week later, I make it about ten minutes away from Ponyville... then the train gets jumped."
"Jumped? You mean you were attacked?!" shouted Twilight in surprise.
She got a raised eyebrow as her response. "Uh-huh. Betcha could prob'ly guess how that turned out, too. Blasted bears dragged me across the desert, and I've been stuck in that box ever since. Figure they're the ones that sent that 'order' in the first place."
"So, wait." Pinkie pushed one of her saddlebags open with her snout. She didn't need to dig far to find what she was looking for. Biting down in the center, Pinkie brought her head back around, revealing the long rope they had found in the desert. "Iz zist oars?" she questioned with a stuffed mouth.
The farmer wasn't able to translate that very well. Still, she seemed delighted at the sight of the twine. "You found my rope, Pinkie! I was able to hide that thing in my tail 'til about halfway through the desert or so. I could'a given 'em a lot more trouble if I'd 'a been able to hang onto that."
Twilight couldn't help but stare at the farm pony's bushy tail for a moment. It was a lot more fleshed out than Twilight's own tail, for sure, but she could really hide a whole rope in there? Oh, well. The owner of the tough string denied Pinkie's offer of giving it back, asking instead if it could just be kept in the saddlebag for the time being. As it was being put back away, Twilight spoke, "That reminds me, Pinkie. Did you have any luck finding the reverstone?"
The party equine sighed in disappointment. "No, not really," she said, not even trying to hide her feelings. "There was nothing but boxes of food and other stuff in there. Oh, this was in there, too." Pinkie finally removed the cowboy hat and handed it off to Applejack as well.
If the rope had delighted her, the accessory thrilled Applejack. She was practically beaming with ecstasy as the material touched her hooves. "Yeehah! Thank you kindly, Pinkie! I was startin' to miss this old—Pinkie?"
The mare had turned her back to her friends. With her head hanging low, she walked away at a snail's pace. A few moments after Applejack's call for her, she decided to respond. "If it's okay with you girls, I need a minute to figure some stuff out."
"She was putting so much hope in that lead..." Twilight turned from her sulking friend to Applejack. The orange pony had already gotten the hat back snug on her head. That grin sure didn't last long.
"So... ya'll wanna tell me what this reverstone thing is?"
Twilight tried to explain anything she could about the situation they were in. Why the adventure had started, emphasizing where the idea had come from in the first place, and how they had ended up at the cave, all while inserting her own opinions on the matters when she was able to. Pinkie was a safe distance away and not paying attention, so she might have implied that she didn't hold much hope in the item at all. When she had wrapped up her own adventure, Applejack started chuckling.
"Well, shoot, Twilight. Considering yer thoughts on the thing, I'm sittin' here wondering why you came along at all."
"What was I supposed to do?" the exhausted unicorn asked rhetorically, watching Pinkie Pie from across the gap. It had been a little while now; somepony should probably check on her. "Even if this whole quest is the definition of insane, I couldn't let her leave Ponyville alone. Especially not in the kind of condition she was in."
"Sorta like the condition she's in now?" Applejack stood up and stretched her hind legs out. "I'll go talk to her."
Twilight bounced up right after her. "No, I will. With all due respect, Applejack... you could use a bath."
Once again, the farm pony gave a quiet laugh to herself. "Point taken. Those bears didn't offer me too many showerin' opportunities. Just tell me where I can wash up, and I'll see what I can do."
Twilight told her about the small pond that was straight ahead of them, hidden behind a little greenery. Promising to meet up with her there soon, Twilight trotted towards the local gloomy pony while Applejack went northward. Between fighting weeks' worth of BO or cheering up a depressed Pinkie Pie, Twilight wasn't sure which would be harder.
Even after giving herself time to mull it over, she wasn't sure of exactly what to say. All she came up with was the easiest question to ask, and just hoped the conversation would write itself from there. Not that planning how a conversation with Pinkie Pie might go was particularly productive anyway. "How are you doing, Pinkie?"
A small distance was kept between Twilight and Pinkie's back. The mare would show her emotions when she was ready, Twilight told herself, and approaching too directly would be rude.
"I've made up my mind," Pinkie replied after a moment's hesitation. "I know you won't like it, Twilight, but it's the only way for me to know for sure."
The possibilities were literally endless. Pinkie would find a way to dignify orbiting Neptune for a month to find this thing if she tried hard enough. Against her better judgment, Twilight bit her lip and took the plunge. "... And what did you come up with?"
Pinkie's neck swiveled around so Twilight could see her left eye. The amount of seriousness that one eye held was unnerving. "We need to break into the Canterlot archives."
That shocking judgment call overwhelmed Twilight with the need to groan. Though, not before slamming a hoof to her face. "Pinkie, the Canterlot archives are public. We don't need to break in to see them."
"Oh. Then we'll do that." It was hard to tell if she was disappointed in that revelation or not. Either way, she got up from her haunches and turned around to fully face her friend. "Your library's great, Twilight, but all of that old Canterlot stuff is the biggest in the galaxy. If I can't find anything about the reverstone in there, then we can go back to Ponyville... and I'll admit that you were right."
Under different circumstances, she might have felt the need to gloat at that statement. However, the sad tone Pinkie had used when saying it kind of spoiled that. She gently lifted a leg to put on her gloomy friend's shoulder while saying, "I'm not here to 'be right,' Pinkie. It's more important to me that you don't get your hopes up for something that might not even be possible. I think visiting Canterlot Castle is a great idea. And unless you were crazy enough to go back through that death trap—" She pointed at the Haymaker Desert. "—we'll need to go through Canterlot anyway."
She looked like she greatly appreciated those words, but still voiced what was on her mind. "I was just so sure that the reverstone was going to be in that cave. Then I got talking to Applejack, and she said that Sam was a spy, and then I slowly started believing her, even though I didn't want to, and..."
"You don't need to explain yourself to me," Twilight assured, smiling. "It can be hard to recognize the true intentions of new friends sometimes. Especially when they tell you things you want to hear." A second without sound passed by. Twilight's brain repeated those words back to her, and just like that, a light bulb turned on. "Hey, that'd make a good letter to the princess!"
She wasted no time using her magic to pull out parchment, a quill, and a vile of ink from inside her saddlebag. Pinkie giggled, and Twilight somehow felt it was at her. The subject was changed before she could inquire about it, though. "Thanks, Twilight. So, do you know what Applejack is doing? It would be great if she could stay with us, but I'd understand if she wanted to get back to her family too."
"I'm not sure," Twilight answered, setting the jotted note back in her bag. "She's just over here. Let's go ask her!"
Two pony friends, cheered up by each others' mere presence, galloped together toward the pond containing their third, more smelly friend.