PyraohXBlaze - Lol yeah, I'd be more worried about them than someone like Kreuger any day.

Killerbeast - Patience young Padawan...

DragonLovingBrony (Ch66) - Why thank you good sir :D

DragonLovingBrony (Ch65) - Lol yeah, I know how that goes... Probably gonna be awhile before I get to take another vacation though...

PSYCOPATH - A reference to be sure. But, have we seen the last of them...?

lonewolf4709 - Well, like all good things, it must eventually come to an end... And I've had a sequel planned since before I ever posted the first chapter ;)

xel101 - Not everything in my story is meant to be a total surprise :P

Fusion Blitz - I'm glad you enjoyed it :) I put a lot of effort into all my chapters, even the ones that aren't action-oriented

MortBlackthorn - Lol D'aww indeed

ShadowfireAngel - Try Doctor Who ;)

recordflipthepony - Well, more like any Doctor Who episode involving the weeping angels... but yeah, pretty much

bigjake90 - Thank you. It's always nice to hear when someone appreciates my work :D

PBJFanFiction - You'll just have to wait and see if I decide to do anything with that mister :P

KillerWoW - 1. Thank you 2. Hmm... I might... 3&4. I'll take a look this week if I have time 5. Ruffling? I was trying to get some stubborn cake batter off my hoof...

HYBRID BATTLESHIP INFINITY 210 - Then it gets extra fun ;)

DragonLord RyuKizoku - Weeping angels are plenty scary, especially for them :P

TurnupGrain43 - Hmm... Kreuger or Fazbear...

Kyguy - Oh, I'm sure we'll see more ghost stories in the future...

Mikalzilla - Lol yeah, he's pretty creepy too...

HeadBangingBrony - That sucks. Getting dumped is never pleasant, so I'm glad I could cheer you up, even a little :D

CorvusYT - Lol sounds like you two have a fun time then. And I'll have to talk to Luna about that, I kinda need Pinkie for my story... P.S. You can't make me :P

A/N - Howdy Everypony! Welcome back to this week's installment of A Second Chance! So, was anyone else blown away by the 100th episode of MLP? (AKA Season 5 Episode 9) I watched it over the weekend, and man was it wild! The only niggle I had with the episode was that Derpy was still named 'Muffins', but I suppose I can forgive them for that. Lol that scene With Vi and Tavi was wild enough to partly make up for it. Anywho, not much new to report here, so I suppose I'll end it here. As always, don't forget to follow/favorite, review, and most importantly; enjoy!

I felt a particular need bringing me back to my senses sometime later, though by how groggy I still felt, coupled with the heavy chill in the air, I could tell it was still the middle of the night, and after I finished answering nature's call, I planned to go right back to bed. As I wriggled my way around to unzip my sleeping bag and get up out of it, I noticed that Twilight's sleeping bag was already empty. Heh… looks like I'm not the only one with an impatient bladder tonight…

I kicked on my aurasight and quickly noticed Twilight standing outside, facing away from the tent. I crawled out through the open tent flap and stood next to her. "Can't sleep?"

She yelped and jumped nearly a full meter in the air. "B-B-Blake?! C-can't you see them?! Th-there, r-right across the f-fire pit!"

I focused my spell and looked in the same direction she was. "I don't see anything Twi… just the fire ring and the trees…"

I could hear her shaking next to me. "Th-there are p-ponies out there… a-at least…p-parts of p-ponies…" Her voice was quiet, yet high and squeaky, more like Fluttershy's than her own. "They're sk-skeletons…"

I tried focusing my sight further, hoping to find some trace of whatever it was Twilight was seeing. I scanned the area, but still came up with nothing. "I still don't see anything Twi… What do they look like?" I was hoping they weren't the denizens of Sunny Town.

"Th-they l-look like p-pony skeletons… b-but… made out of sh-shadows… I-I can s-see inside them… t-there's… nothing but a… a heart… i-it's glowing a-a sick green c-color a-and…" She gulped. "It's beating! Th-their eyes a-are glowing t-too… a-a pale yellow, d-dripping r-right out of their sockets… i-it feels like th-they're looking right. Through. Me!" Something was off; Twilight was usually never this easy to shake up, not even when Nightmare Moon had invaded Canterlot.

"Ok… what are they doing…?"

She gulped and took a shaky breath. "Th-they're just s-staring…"

I took a step forward. "Hey!" Twilight yelped again. "I don't care who you are or what you want, but you can either state your business here or leave; we have better things to do than worry about a bunch of creepy skeleton ponies creeping around our campsite at night." There was an odd, warbling 'hum' sound.

"Th-they're st-staring at you Blake!" I couldn't see anything, but I could still feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.

I nodded to her, unwilling to let the feeling of apprehension growing in my gut get the better of me. "Good; that means I've got their attention." I turned back to the direction of the fire pit. "Now, what do you want?"

"Leave… this… place…" The voice, which was more of a grating, howling sound, seemed like it was coming from everywhere all at once.

I heard another odd humming sound. "That's fine; first thing tomorrow, we'll-" I stopped as I felt Twilight tugging on my hand.

I waited for her to say something, but it took a moment for her to find her voice, and when she did, it was quiet and timid. "Th-they left… a-as soon as they told us t-to leave… they j-just… vanished!"

I patted her shoulder reassuringly. "Well… I couldn't detect them at all… it was like they weren't there to begin with. If we're as close to the temple as you say we are, my guess would be that they're just some illusion, meant to scare off anyone who might be thinking about robbing the place."

"Like we're planning to do…"

I took a step off into the woods; I still had business to take care of after all. "No. We're going there for a flower that grew there long after the place was abandoned, nothing more, so we're not really robbing the place because we won't be taking anything that belongs there."

Twilight stood there as I headed to the edge of camp. "Wait for me!" She finally called out as I heard the sound of hoofsteps behind me. They caught up to me and I looked over to see Twilight's head on a swivel as she walked next to me. "Would… would you mind keeping me company? I don't really feel safe out here by myself…"

I shrugged. "Sure thing Twi. It's probably better if we don't split up anyway."

When we were sufficiently far from the campsite, I turned my aurasight back to the tent to keep an eye on the somehow still sleeping Applejack, and started emptying my now painfully full bladder. The sounds to my left told me that Twilight had managed to start doing the same, though her quiet grunts told me it wasn't coming easy. Considering what she'd just seen, I couldn't say I blamed her for having a bad case of nervous bladder.

The two of us finished our business, and I felt the familiar pressure of her magic. I focused my aurasight on her, and quickly turned it away, back towards the camp when I realized she was holding the compacted roll of bathroom tissue with it.

We both went back to the tent, and slipped back into our bags. I had a feeling that sleep would come more easily to me than it would to the mulberry mare, so when I was situated back into my warm bag, I rolled over and pulled her close to me. "Blake… I feel so safe with you…" I lifted my arm slightly when I felt her shifting around to roll over. "I know what I did was wrong, but-"

I leaned in and kissed her tenderly. "Twilight… all that's in the past now, you don't need to keep apologizing or beating yourself up over it; I've already said I forgive you, but I can't forget if you don't do the same." I stroked my hand across her cheek, and felt a damp line there. "I never stopped loving you Twilight Sparkle."

She sniffled and placed her hoof on my hand. "I love you too Blake Marshall… so much…"

I kissed her again, and this time we didn't break the kiss for several moments. "Come on, we should get some sleep; I doubt we've seen the last of the temple's defenses." She snuggled into my chest and started to settle down.

I woke up to see that everything outside the tent was shrouded in the pale, bluish-gray light that passed for early morning in this dreary forest. I shook the girls awake and stretched as I made my way outside to get a small fire going so we could cook breakfast and warm ourselves up before we hit the trail once again.

"Hoo-wee! Ah slept like a sucklin' pig with a belly full o' her momma's milk!"

I blinked several times as the image of a baby Applejack suckling on a pig's teat came unbidden into my mind. "Well… I coulda done without that image…"

"Heh heh… sorry Sugarcube… anyway, what say we rustle us up some grub? Ah feel like Ah could eat every apple in tha Sweet Apple Acres orchards!"

I had to suppress a laugh as the image of the baby Applejack was replaced by a comically spherical version rolling around the orchards in search of more apples. "Wh-what's goin on out here…?" I looked over my shoulder to see Twilight fumbling her way out of the tent. My guess was that last night's ordeal had had a bigger effect on her that I'd thought, and she hadn't gotten much sleep. "'S too early… can't we sleep a bit longer…?" Or she might have just still been tired…

"Sorry Twi, but we're gonna need an early start; I don't know about you, but I'd rather not get there after nightfall… especially not after last night…"

Twilight shivered. "Brr… don't remind me! That was way too creepy…"

"What tha hay're y'all talkin' 'bout?" Applejack was looking back and forth between us. "Just what tha hay happened last night?"

"Well, long story short, Twilight saw some weird skeleton ponies in the camp last night."

AJ cocked her head to the side. "What tha hay d'ya mean 'Twilight saw em'? Didn't you see em too?"

I shook my head. "I couldn't sense them at all with my aurasight, but I definitely got the feeling that there was something there, especially when they spoke to us."

"Wh-what did they say?"

Twilight stepped up next to me. "They just told us to leave, and then vanished… it was really weird, and really, really creepy…"

Applejack shook herself, then set about gathering things together. "Well… there ain't nothin' for it; we're gonna hafta keep goin' and get our flanks to that temple thingy today." I chuckled as a loud growl echoed from her stomach. "Heh heh… after breakfast that is…"

We sat around the meager fire and ate our breakfast, the same one we'd been eating since the first day in here; oatmeal with dried fruit and an apple, courtesy of Applejack, apiece. The meal wasn't exactly anything to write home about, but it, along with the food bars I'd made for the trip, would give us the energy we needed to keep going for most of the day.

When we finished eating, we set about breaking down camp; gathering our things and breaking down the tent before spreading the parts of it between the three of us. We had decided before we left that carrying the whole thing would be too much for one of us to comfortably do, so we shared the load instead; Applejack had offered to carry the poles, while I carried the rope, pegs and rainfly, and Twilight carried the main body of the tent itself.

When we finally finished, we started down the trail for the fourth time in as many days. "Ah been thinkin'… it feels like it's been way too easy so far… usually tha Everfree woulda thrown somethin at us besides a lousy cocka-thingy by now."

"I know what you mean Applejack… The first time we all came in here together, we had to overcome all kinds of crazy obstacles just to get to the ancient castle… but now, we're way past that, and we've hardly seen anything… it almost makes me wish it'd just get things over with already."

I kicked my aurasight on just long enough to take stock of our surroundings; trees, trees and more trees, just like I expected. "I dunno, I kinda like the idea of an easy task for once; after all the other crap we've all been through since I've been here, I say we deserve this to be an easy quest."

I felt AJ moving her head all around. "Aww shoot… now that we done gone an' talked about it, Ah bet apples ta bits somethin' bad's gonna happen…"

We lapsed back into silence, AJ's head on a constant swivel as she stayed alert for any danger. I pinged my aurasight every now and again just to be sure there wasn't something just off in the foliage that the two vigilant mares couldn't see. We walked for some time like that.

I stopped suddenly as a flash of magic appeared in front of my face, vanishing as quickly as it had arrived and leaving a scroll in its wake. "Hmm… that's weird; Lulu should be asleep by now, I wonder why I'm getting a letter from her."

I plucked the scroll from the air before it had a chance to fall to the ground and slipped the seal off of it. The first line of the scroll made it apparent that this scroll wasn't from Luna.

To Sir Blake Marshall –

It has come to my attention that you and companions Twilight Sparkle and Applejack of Ponyville are performing an expedition deep into the Everfree forest in an attempt to locate an ancient temple ruin. While I cannot stop you in your personal endeavors, I feel I should remind you that such a dangerous undertaking should not be handled alone, especially when your only companions happen to be two of the six Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. I would request that the next time you feel it necessary to perform a dangerous task, that you bring your intentions to me, that I may assign capable warriors to aid you and ensure your safe return, and NOT endanger the wielders of Equestria's greatest defensive artifacts.

Signed, Her Royal Highness,

Princess Celestia

I rolled the scroll back up and slipped the seal back on it. "Welp, I'm in trouble…"

"What do you mean? Who was that letter from?"

I chuckled and handed the scroll off to Twilight, who reopened it and started reading. "Heh heh… looks like ol' Sunbutt didn't like that I didn't get her permission to come out here."

Twilight finished reading and handed it back to me. "That's her hoofwriting… but I've never seen the Princess write anything so… formal…"

I shrugged. "Like I said; I didn't tell her where I was going, and now she's got her royal panties in a bunch." I could practically feel the heat coming off of Twilight's face as I finished my thought.

I could feel that Twi wanted to say something, but she held her tongue as we got back underway, off towards the forsaken temple. The closer we got to our destination, the more it felt like something was going to happen, and the more the three of us were put on edge.

The girls suddenly yelped and AJ stopped and lowered herself into a fighting stance. I turned on my aurasight to see what looked to be a crude spear sticking out of the ground just in front of us. I let out a groan. "Aww come on! Can't you at least find a less cliché way to ambush someone?!" A strange pony suddenly leapt down from a tree in front of us and started shouting what sounded like orders in some weird language I'd never heard before.

"What tha hay is he sayin' Twilight?!"

Our unicorn companion shot her a glare. "How should I know?! Nopony's been this deep in the forest in centuries!" The pony, who looked to be wearing various baubles attached to strings all across his body, kept yelling at us and gesturing, as if that would magically make us understand his guttural language.

Finally growing tired of the display, I stepped towards him. He stopped ranting long enough to regard me, and I stopped just in front of him. We simply stared at each other for several moments, until I pulled my fist back and gave him my best left hook, sending him sprawling backwards and to the ground, dazed.

I looked up into the canopy of the trees surrounding us and inhaled a deep breath. "Listen up! If any of you can understand me, know this; we're here for one thing and one thing only! You let us have that, and we'll leave this place in peace!"

The canopy started rustling like mad and whoops and hollers filled the once quiet forest with noise. My head jerked back down as I noticed another pony shambling through the underbrush, seemingly not even trying to hide his presence. I watched as he stepped out and into the path, regarding the fallen stallion with only mild interest. From what I could see of him, he appeared to be an older stallion, probably a village elder or something by my guess.

As the elder stallion walked towards me, leaning on a heavily decorated walking stick, I noticed that silence once again reigned around us. The stallion stopped in front of me and hefted his walking stick, resting the bulbous tip against my sternum. He was utterly silent for a moment before calling out to the treetops in the same strange language the stallion I had put on the ground had used. He stopped calling out and looked straight at me. "You. Why you attack Kokello Agra?" He gestured back to the stallion that was only now picking himself up off the ground.

I shrugged and pointed to the spear. "He attacked us."

The old stallion started chuckling. "That was warning."

I returned his jovial chuckle with a smirk of my own. "So was that." I pointed back to the stallion as well.

The elder stallion's chuckling died down and he turned back to me after watching the young 'Agra', which probably meant 'warrior' or something similar, scamper back into the forest. "You are Nagara. You are friend to Kokello tribe. Tell me, what you seek in sacred temple?"

I looked around, suddenly nervous of the possible retaliation my answer could bring on us. "We're looking for a plant, called Quagon'Leth. I need its healing properties to restore my sight to me." It was odd that he knew we were going to the temple, but I guessed that there wasn't much else of interest this far into the forest.

The old stallion nodded. "Yes. I feel you using Etal'an… you call 'Aurasight'. Temple made by Nagara, only Nagara enter. My tribe sworn to protect temple until Nagara return to world. You stay with Kokello until fire-rise, then we take you to temple. You call me Wanate." He turned and started walking down the path, and we followed. A short way down the trail, he turned back to me. "You saw shadow-bones, yes?"

I thought for a moment. "You mean those weird, black skeletons?" He nodded. "Yeah, they showed up in our camp last night out of nowhere."

He nodded again. "They guardians of temple."

I elbowed Twilight lightly. "See, I told you they were illusions."

"No, shadow-bones real. They protect temple. When you enter, you see them again. When you see them, you spirit-walk them. They touch you, you spirit-walk."

Twilight gulped and leaned up to whisper. "I think he means… they'll kill you…"

I nodded and whispered back. "Yeah, I got that impression. It also looks like I'm going to have to do this alone."

Wanate cleared his throat. "Shadow-bones only first test, many test come after."

I looked away from him and noticed that we were in the middle of a very Native-American looking camp of some sort; mares were cleaning hides and preparing food while foals either played or helped their parents, watching and learning their roles for when they came of age. I didn't need to look to the girls to know that they were more than a little uneasy seeing fellow ponies cleaning the carcasses of animals. I also noticed that many of them stopped and stared at the four of us as we made our way through the camp.

We stopped in front of a huge-looking tent, which looked more like a Vietnam-era military tent than any Native American structure. The flaps of said tent opened, seemingly of their own accord. I looked around for a pony, or some sort of apparatus that might have opened them, but found nothing. Wanate seated himself at the far end of a large fire ring and beckoned us to sit on the opposite side. Once we were seated, he made a gesture with a hoof, and a young filly I somehow hadn't seen before scampered out of the tent.

We sat there in silence for some time, waiting for Wanate to say something, but just as I was about to break the silence and ask what was going on, the tent flaps opened behind us and several other, elderly ponies started filing into the surprisingly spacious tent. I could only guess that Wanate was the village chief, and these other ponies were some sort of council or some other cliché nonsense. The filly I saw leaving the tent must have told them to gather.

Wanate addressed the other stallions in the tent in their native language before turning back to us. "Only Chief know Nagara tongue. Chief before teach me, and I teach next Chief." He gestured to the elderly ponies that were now staring at us, or more specifically, me. "These advisors. Each master of craft, they help guide tribe and keep temple safe. Tonight, tribe celebrate, and tomorrow, you go to temple." The chief clapped his hooves together, and the other stallions all rose.

I got the hint, and pulled AJ and Twilight with me as I stood as well. All the other stallions gestured, first to their Chief, then to me. It almost seemed as if Twi and Applejack weren't even there. Honestly, I was just glad that they didn't seem to take offense to mares being in the Chief's tent, as so many older cultures tended to do.

When they finished their gestures, the chief's advisors filed out of the tent again. "Come, you meet with them later, now time for celebration of Nagara return." We followed Wanate out of his tent and to a large, open area. "This where tribe make ritual. Tonight, it used to honor Kokello guests with song and dance and feasting. Marae make tent for Nagara and guests to rest after celebration."

We watched as what looked like the whole tribe got together, building a large fire and setting about making food. I informed Wanate that Twilight and Applejack didn't eat meat, and he clapped his hooves together, speaking to the young colt that arrived in their language before he scurried off again.

As the fire built in height, several of the stallions of the tribe gathered around it and started doing a primitive dance around it, often rearing back onto their hind legs and calling out to the sky in warbling tones. "This dance is older Agra asking gods for good hunt so tribe can survive winter." The stallions finished their dance and moved away from the fire, huffing from the effort. A moment later, the sounds of mares singing filled the air. "Now Sencha asking gods to protect tribe through winter, and keep young ones safe from spirit-walk."

A thought popped into my head as he was speaking. "There's not gonna be a ritual where I end up marrying one of the village girls, is there?"

Wanate chuckled. "No, no… Kokello not trick stallions into marry girls… that old Thanara tribe trick."

I nodded to the wizened Chief. "Good. I'm already involved with these two mares." I felt Twilight's breath catch in her chest next to me. "So tell me, how was it that you sensed my… what did you call it…? My Etal'an? You look like an earth pony to me… in fact, the whole tribe looks like earth ponies."

He nodded. "Yes, that is word." He pointed to Twilight's horn. "It ancient magic, not same as Uceca. Anypony can use ancient magic, but most never know they have gift."

I chuckled and leaned over to Applejack. "Well, I think we just found our explanation for Pinkie Pie…"

My mouth suddenly started watering as the smell of cooking meat tickled my nostrils like sweet ambrosia. I looked back to see that several of the Agra had hoisted what looked to have been a boar of some sort onto a pair of forked tree branches via the spit that had been shoved through the thing. The flesh of the skinned animal started to sizzle lightly in the heat from the large fire as one of the mares, the Sencha as Wanate had called them, began turning it slowly.

I almost couldn't hold myself back from going over and cutting myself a piece of the succulent meat right then and there. "Bleah! Ah didn't know y'all ate critters…"

"Yes, not enough grow here for tribe to survive winter, so we must eat those that live in the forest alongside us."

AJ shuddered. "Ah think Ah just lost mah appetite…"

Wanate clapped his hooves together and a filly trotted up to us. "We make place for you to eat. Little Apaka show you where."

The girls all too happily got up and followed Apaka off somewhere else in the camp, while I stayed with Wanate, drool practically flooding out of my mouth at the mere thought of getting some meat in my belly again after so long. When the wooden plate was given to me, I stopped and took a slow, deep whiff of the steaming, juicy slab of meat before me. I pulled a piece of it off, the meat practically leaping into my fingers, and took a bite.