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The Steadfast Sky

by TheGreyPotter

Chapter 40: XL : Overcast Return

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The Steadfast Sky : Overcast Return
The Grey Potter
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/11495/The-Steadfast-Sky
http://cosmicponyfiction.tumblr.com/

~Celestia~

There is a way in. Doesn’t matter if I spent most my life not knowing a way out. There is a way in, somewhere. We’ve just got to find it.

I watched Discord climb with a focused intensity, really seeing how he does it. I watched him as he ran his hand across the stone, trying to find crack or a wide groove to grip as he ascended. It wasn’t hard, or it didn’t look hard to him. The stones were uneven, jutting out at odd angles. And when he couldn’t find the next handhold, he’d just slap his hand down and use magic to haul himself up. It was slow compared to how fast he could scamper up a tree, but it wasn’t long until he rose above tree line, staring downward, back up… With more than a mile to go.

He paused for a moment, staring into the brick before he let go, gliding in a wide circle back down to us.

“I’m sorry Celestia,” Discord shook his head, “But no. This is crazy.”

“You were doing so well!” I urged, “You could probably make it!”

“Yeah… maybe I could. But…” He looked up again, frowning, “You remember how long it took to run up those stairs. Maybe I could make it up by myself, but no way could I carry one of you. Let alone carry you both.” His eyes kept flicking upward, and back down, glaring at the base of the city, trying to avoid staring up. “And I don’t even know what I’d do if I got myself in…”

“Unlock the secret passage into the city?” Luna offered with a weak giggle. Yet, Discord’s frown only grew a little bit more sour.

“Don’t I wish…”

I jerked my body to the right, forcing myself to walk through my thoughts as I stared up that massive black wall… This is just one little obstacle, one tiny little problem that should be easy to solve. We can do it. We’re the Bringers of Harmony. We have to do this.

“There’s got to be some way in from the ground,” I finally spoke. “The trade carts, they can’t all come from the Pegasus. Can they?” I stopped. “What if an earth pony wants to sell in the city… Do they just, I don’t know, turn him away? Ignore them maybe, with no obvious entrance…”

“You owned property,” Discord quietly pointed out, “Don’t you know how this stuff gets in the city?”

I froze, the reminder like a cold twinge on my brain. Why didn’t I know? I cleared my throat, throwing aside the moment.

“I did assist Hot Cross in bringing home supplies from some markets,” I snapped, “I uh… am not entirely sure where the good came from. I assumed they were all a tax thing. Teleported in by the Shadow Stallion.”

Discord’s face curled, sighing in disgust. “No way we’re going to get in if they’re being teleported.”

“Well I guess we could—“

“Guys?” Luna squeaked, backing into the bushes and trees, “Griffins!”

I looked up, surprised my neck wasn’t permanently stuck in this gaze by now. I tottered back… and couldn’t see what Luna was seeing. But did that matter? I trotted back into the tree line, unable to avert my gaze until the leafy barrier was well over my head.

“I hope that the only way to get in,” Discord chuckled nervously, “Isn’t just to get caught.”

“Goodness!” I gasped, “There’s an idea!” Discord recoiled, eyes wide. “We’ll look at our other options first, of course…”

“No,” he snapped.

“But as a last resort…”

“No!” Discord cried, “We don’t need to make this even more suicidal, Celestia!”

The look on Discord’s face… practically horrified. This wasn’t the time and place to be arguing. It was only a passing thought anyway… I tucked the idea away for later. If it really came down to it.

“Goodness,” I chuckled faintly. “I’m sorry. We’ll find another way.”

“Don’t make this worse than it already is, Celestia,” Discord mumbled, “Don’t make it worse…”

Alright… now what? I stared away, trying to find an idea. I couldn’t help continuing to stare at the wall, eyes slowly rising, only stopping when they bounced off the tree’s leaves. Grass tickled my chin as I looked back down, bending and brushing around my jaw. I swatted it away.

“You have any idea, Luna?” Discord asked behind me, out of sight.

“Hm! Good question.” There was silence for a moment, “The walls can’t be exactly the same all the way around the city, right? Maybe we just gotta look for a place that looks climbable, or more open, or something.”

“The city can’t be the same on every side,” Discord said.

“That would take too long,” I huffed. “Maybe even days. We could be spotted.”

“But, but while we look, we could think of another plan,” Luna said.

“How about…” I found myself tugging out the well-worn map, unfolding it into the grass. “Stringhalt… it had that little trading town outside of it. A traveller’s waypoint. Bolton, I think? Maybe Canterbury has one of those?”

“That would involve far more walking than just circling the city,” Discord grumbled, “A town like that could be anywhere. Or just not exist. The Stallion could teleport stuff in, remember?”

“From anywhere at any time?” I replied with a frown, “If he could do something like that, he could have teleported himself or some griffins all over Equestria. He could have found us easily.”

“Maybe he did,” Discord shot back, “And we’ve just been lucky.”

“’Just been lucky,’” I scoffed, “After being spotted twice?”

“I don’t know, alright?” Discord rubbed his eyes. “I don’t want to wander around, looking for some mystery town that may or may not exist.”

“Better than a mystery set of stairs. Or a mystery hole in the wall.”

“Really? Is it really?

“It’s not back near Rearing Town or Broncsburg!” Luna exclaimed over us, “We know that much!”

“Yes… We do know it’s not either of those towns…” I do need to stop fighting with Discord, especially in such a stressful situation… Goodness. I stared at the tiny little lines on the map. Canterbury was obvious. A big tower, actually drawn onto the page. Big curly letters curved above it, one of the few cities given that privilege. Scattered around the tower were a number of tiny dots, maybe half a dozen… five without Rearing Town and its sister village. But the closest, almost touching the big outline of a tower…

“To the southeast,” I pointed, “Gelding. I think we should check there first.”

“Celestia,” Discord huffed, “It’s on the exact opposite side of where we are.”

I flicked my mane out of my eyes, tucking the map back away. We had a direction now, and heck if I was going to let any more doubts waver me now that the direction was clear.

“A little bit more walking isn’t going to kill us,” I stated, firm as I felt.

~¤~

It took more than a day to trudge around the city, with the wall a constant line. Curving somewhere in the distance, but to our eyes, flat and straight. I don’t know about Luna and Discord, but my neck was starting to hurt from its constant craning. I wasn’t even trying to see the top anymore. We just had to keep a constant vigil for the Griffins, and strange, armored Pegasi bobbing in and out of the clouds.

“You think those Pegasi will help us?” Luna had asked.

“They’re slaves given privilege…” Discord mumbled, “So…”

“So they have the power to help the other ponies!”

“I don’t know… I don’t know.”

Sometimes a pack of griffin-driven pegasi hauling carts sliced overhead, ripping through the cloud layer, little smoky trails left in their wake. They were like bizarre symbols to my eyes. I mean, they weren’t a good sign, no. But what were so many carts doing on the ground? As each one passed overhead, I drove myself even faster, knowing my guess was the correct one, knowing it.

Night bore over us, and we muttered back and forth constantly that we should sleep. That we needed to be fresh and ready to fight the stallion. I agreed, it was a smart move, right? We talked it over and we talked some more and we kept talking, and all the while we kept walking around the wall, still hearing the carts rattle and squeal over our heads, the cracks of whips and the screeches of the griffins. We walked and talked long past the thought of sleep, body aching and tense, eyes heavy, but still so painfully awake and aware. I jumped at the wind through the trees, froze at the screech of an irritated griffin.

Luna tried to give me and herself enough vision to see in the dark, but the spell kept flickering off as she sleepily stumbled over roots and rocks, plunging us into the impenetrably dark night. We slowed to nearly a crawl, trying to save Luna’s energy, trying not to trip in the dark. This entire time, I had been leading. But in the dark, I constantly saw Discord’s little reflective eyes, flicking back to check on us, warning us of particularly problematic spots.

Beyond even that, between garbled by I’m-not-tireds and suppressed yawns, Discord offered to carry Luna on his back. In his words “since, well, I can see pretty good…” and not much beyond that. I was mutely handed off his smelly fish rot to carry. I had to shove it in my bag with my teeth, lest my bright yellow aura attract unwanted eyes. The taste wouldn’t leave my mouth, awful. Vile. A gust from the right direction blew hints of the stink up my nose. Why did I never notice it coming off Discord before?

There was no way to judge exactly how late it got… but when I saw the not-curve of the wall getting bright, orange light soaking and reflecting off the clouds, a dazed part of my mind thought it was sunrise. As in, we were starting to approach the sun before it rose into the sky. Because where else would the sun be at night, other than on the ground? I shook my head furiously, bashed my hoof into my forehead. No, Celestia. Dumb. That’s dumb. Wake up, stay focused. A light in the distance, what else could that be?

“It’s… Is that the town? Did we make it?”

I saw Discord look back at me. Actually saw a faint shadow along with his little glowing eyes… Luna mumbled something behind me, Discord quietly trying to encourage her awake. But somehow, despite the aching, walking for nearly a full twenty-four hours now, dazed and confused, I charged for that light, as if I was renewed. I forgot for the moment the griffins casually coming and going over our heads, pegasi carts still rattling, getting louder and louder. It wasn’t just a sign, it was a better sign. A clear sign! Clearer and clearer now, a brightly burning torch, illuminating the black wall behind it. And running up to it, I tripped, not on a branch or rock, but on innumerable wagon ruts, digging deep into the bare earth. Gradually getting fainter and fainter as they vanished into the grass, stopped existing. Almost as if the cart had flown away…!

Discord had to drag me back into the tree line. I was all too eager to walk directly beside those wagon tracks, find where they led. Instead, we followed the wall in the woods. The path of torches, goodness yes! The torches along the wall multiplied, created a row following a black cobblestone road… Both Luna and Discord began plucking and fiddling with shadows, prepared to hide at a moment’s notice.

“Do you hear that?” Discord suddenly whispered.

“What?” Luna whispered back.

“A cart. Coming down the road.”

“Hm?” I flicked my ears up, as forward as they would go, but stopping helped my hearing more. I could hear it too. A loud clatter of wheels, getting louder.

There was a crack, a whip, and a Pegasi team charged down that road, snorting and whinnying as the cart bounced and rattled behind them, smacking into the wall once to an angry screech of the griffin driver. They were by in a flash, but I ran out of the tree line, watched the pegasi take off into the sky, aiming for the high, high clouds. I fell back into the trees just as fast, charging, back on track, not even bothering to check if Discord and Luna were following me.

There was a way into the city! There was a way in!

“Celestia! Celestia, slow down!” Discord ran up behind me, out of breath. “Okay. Okay. This looks really promising, but…”

“I was right!” I gasped, “First guess, Discord! I was right!”

“Yeah, alright, you were right!” Goodness, happy little shot rocked through me to hear Discord admit I was right! “But hold up, jeez! Should we at least take a nap or something before heading in?”

I slowed down, if only to let my sister catch up. She had never started running… “With all of these griffins around?” I said, “What would happen if they saw us here?”

“One of us could keep an eye out, right? I sleep for a bit, then you sleep… ”

“I dunnoooo…” Luna yawned, finally catching up, “We’re all so, so tired. Would any of us be able to stay up all by themselves?”

Discord straightened his shoulders. “I would!”

“With nobody to talk to?” Luna mumbled, “Nothing to do?”

“I… I’m not sure.”

“It’s gonna be all…” Luna continued, rocking her head back and forth, “Daylight soon enough, too. Then it’d be all really easy to see us, and really, really hard to sneak in and stuff…”

“Luna,” Discord said, “You sound exhausted.”

“Mmnn…” she grumbled, rubbing her eyes, “We can find someplace to sleep inside the city.”

“What, at night?” Discord softly hissed.

Luna frowned, staring at the black little runway. “The griffins are going in at night. They’re not afraid. Maybe they got someplace to stay.”

Discord glared at the track. In the soft torchlight, I could see he was pouting. Of all things…

“We’re…” he finally started, “We might do something rash. You’re too tired to think straight, we all are!” Discord laughed nervously. Then, quietly. “We can still change our minds. Not too late to go to Canterlot. Please. Let’s just go to Canterlot.”

Luna shook her head, blearily knocking her forehead into Discord’s shoulder. “I don’t think anyone wants to go there now…”

“Yeah… yeah… Guess not…” He rubbed his eyes, trying to force them open. “I guess… I’m on board with going now. It will be harder to hide during the daytime. Let’s use the shadows while there are still plenty around. And—”

Another cart rattled by at his words, barrels and boxes bouncing in the back. It jerked towards the wall, trying to straighten out. One crate tumbled over its side, smacking into the ground with a crash, rolling and spewing a number of glass jars, splattering contents into the trees. The shattering was only punctuated by a fleeting screech of a swear word, griffin already long gone, darting around the wall and up into the clouds.

“And um…” Discord muttered, in shock, “Let’s be careful about it.”

We stayed within the trees as we crept forward, but eventually that became next to impossible. Trees began to vanish as the rutted, torch-lines roads multiplied. Pegasi carts dashed down each one at regular intervals, charging off into the overcast clouds. It was only when we could see the city proper did we dare go out into the grass between the roads, praying nothing else fell off the carts as we ran… Besides that crate, we managed to see one Pegasi cart spill off the track, dumping barrels of fizzy liquid into the grass, Pegasi flapping and whinnying wildly with their legs in the air. Thankfully nowhere near us but, just the sight of it… I just kept moving forward. I had to keep moving forward, towards that little ramshackle town.

Gelding looked like Canterbury had bled out a little sister city. Black stone spilled everywhere from the mighty wall, digging out black, torch-lit lines that Pegasi carts dashed off or landed on. Among the stone, at the epicenter where all the roads originated, there were wooden huts nailed together crudely, blending in with various brick buildings. Silos and warehouses spilled out from the town center, ranging from obscenely crude to passably decent. And up in the sky, the same up-side-down cloud spires we had seen in Stringhalt, swirling down over the tops of the crude buildings. White clouds streaked with brown smears, griffin homes. Or possibly Pegasi barracks…

We made a beeline for that center, and tried to find a way through its randomly placed, empty streets. However…

Discord poked his head out from behind a building, looking up and down the torch-lined Pegasi runway. Empty, for now. It cut right through several other streets, dividing some of the rickety buildings from the others. He frowned, opened his mouth to say something. The words didn’t quite make it.

Instead, with a painfully loud yelp, he scampered backward, in just a moment more the impossibly loud cart wizzed by, bouncing off the stones. It heaved itself into the air, veering right, back tire smacking a weathervane right off a roof.

“Quick!” I hissed, “Before another one comes by—!” I galloped across the street, into another alleyway. Discord and Luna quickly followed after. I stared back, up and down the little road we were on, following it as it split into two parallel streets, cut by three other alleyways… Was this street unusually well-lit compared to the others?

I jumped as another cart crashed behind us, Pegasi squealing and screaming. I practically dove for one of the alleyways, knowing Discord and Luna would follow. Got to find where they’re loading the carts, and, and see if there’s a safe looking one… There is going to be one. There is.

“No.” I jumped two feet in the air, a whisper right behind me who—?! I spun around, and Discord stared back, giving me a funny look. He pointed to another alleyway. “Uh… down this street? Hear that? The carts?”

“The ones taking off all the time…?”

“No… like…” he heaved a sigh and rubbed his eyes again, “Like… like normal traffic sounds? Down here?”

“Oh!” I didn’t even have to strain my ears that time. I could actually hear normal creaking and clattering. At normal, reasonable speeds. “Yes, that way…”

A few of the strangely empty streets cut through ours at odd angles, leading to dead ends, to more of the rocketing pegasi paths, to—

“Oh!” Luna excitedly squeaked. My shoulders twinged at the sound, and I slapped a hoof over her mouth, trying to suppress a shout. She stared at me as I slowly lowered my leg. “Over there,” she pointed, “Ponies!”

It was a main street, all right, and it was packed with carts, with Earth Ponies. In stark contrast to the speeding Pegasi streets, the traffic was barely moving forward. Ponies slept under blankets in the back of overstocked carts, while those in the reigns took turns between standing naps and chatting with other drivers. More than one group would walk away from the cart to chat, only to hurry back if the line began inching forward.

“Hey!” A griffin barked somewhere overhead, voice somehow amplified, “Keep the line moving! Let’s go let’s go!” I remained mute, glad the shadows hid me so well. And I expected some grumbled from the Earth Ponies, they had to be here, right?

But the griffin’s orders were followed by shouted complains and more than a few thrown objects.

“Operate at reasonable hours, you fat sack of fluff!”

“Give me my money back! Miser!”

“This system is bullcrap, and your tariffs are too high!”

“Have a gate like a normal city, you, youyouyou… Giant… flying bird!”

“Listen you stupid skarns!” The griffin screeched, “The faster you go, the sooner you can get back to your lousy, flea-bitten beds tonight! Let’s go you little dirt rutters! Move it!”

The exchange continued like that for at least another minute before the line slowly rocked forward a few yards. Then ponies went right back to what they were doing. They shrugged out of their harnesses, pulled down their lanterns, and returned to visiting with one another.

And I turned back to my friends.

“So. So, so… Should we hide in the shadows, or just walk out in our cloaks?” I struggled to pop open my bag with my snout. Both Discord’s and my cloak were folded neatly inside. Under a bag of oats and the sheet. Hm… “Luna’s already been doing a far too much for keeping us hidden. You think you can try and disguise yourself as a pony again, Discord?”

“Of course,” Discord mumbled. He strode beside me and reached in my pack, tugging out the two pieces of cloth. “Won’t be too much of a drain.”

The three of us put on our cloaks somehow without magic. Mostly with Discord’s help, I’m embarrassed to admit. Anyway, under his own green hood, Discord silently wrapped the illusion of a gray pony around his snout and feet. Silently nodding to each other, we slowly stepped into the main thoroughfare.

We were instantly ignored. Thank goodness

Immediately, I set my thoughts to finding the perfect cart. I thought the best target would be one with nobody sleeping in the back, and missing or sleeping ponies in the cart behind it. And looking to my friends… well, they were following my lead. So I kept leading. We began walking down the rows, my eyes peeled and ears open, completely and silently ignored.

“Yeah, Hock’s had it pretty bad this year—” “—and that crazy frost a few days ago? That’s not helping anybody—“ “No, no, just go back to sleep sweetie—“ “—grow up, can I grow wings like a Pegasus?” “First a drought, then a flood, and you say there was a—” “—of the frost, I’m just glad Stringhalt’s climate controlled—”

I stopped, the name flicking over my ears. Already, the speaker was behind us, as we stood beside his cart.

“I don’t think that frost affected the apples all too badly, but hell, the Apple family’s practically has a monopoly on apples in Canterbury. They’ll push ‘em fine, damaged or no.”

“Lucky. There’s a glut in the market for fabrics, and I only got crappy burlap in the back right now… Thinking of diversifying… “

I looked in the back of the cart. That insignia watch roughly etched on the barrels, the four pictures of the farms, the suns… and beneath it, a burned on brand: APPLE FAMILY GOODS.

And it a moment more, the line started rocking forward, cart clattering past.

“Celestia?” Discord asked.

“This one,” I replied.

“The one with the heavy barrels…?”

“Yes. I’m certain. It had to be that one. It had to be.”

“Uh…”

We trotted up to the cart… and I glanced back. The two cart ponies behind us were dragging massive spools of cloth, one of which immediately unhinged himself to continue chatting with the Apple pony. The other, a dark gray stallion… noticed me staring.

“What are you kids doing up so late?” he asked.

“We uh—“

“This is our cart, right?” Luna yawned, propping her hooves up on the back ledge. “I’m just going to find a spot to take a nap…”

“Yes!” I squeaked, “Appleseed… you’re up far past your bedtime. Up you go…”

I nudged my sister over the edge of the cart, into the bed, knowing the pony behind us was eyeing us strangely. Please just don’t say anything, please just ignore the three little ponies... I hopped up after my sister, making the cart lightly shake.

“Hey!” cried the Apple pony. “I just felt my cart move?”

I rubbed a hoof into my forehead.

Discord grabbed my cloak with his apparent hoof, urgently trying to pull me down, try again. But… but this was the cart. I knew it would keep us safe, I knew where it was going. This was our best bet, wasn’t it?

“Uh, hello?!” The orange Apple pony jogged around the corner. “What are you kids doing?!”

“Well um…” My brain was in a tizzy. Was it because I was tired? Or just because… no, no, focus on the situation, Celestia! Think! “Hello… father.”

“Father? What? No way, you have the wrong cart kid.”

Think brain, think! “No I don’t father!” I cried, actually shocked how convincingly desperate I sounded. “Don’t you recognize me?!”

“Kid,” the stallion snorted, “Get off my cart.”

“But… but Apple …”

“Um, Celestia…?!” Discord hissed.

“Come on now,” the apple pony continued, flicking his hoof. “Go back to your family. Go. Uh… shoo?”

Was he trying to swat me away like some cat?! I stared at him and… Oh goodness, my brain was absolutely at a loss. But… but this cart! This was the right cart!

Panicked, blood rushing to my head, I squeezed my eyes shut and let lose a blinding flash of light.

There was shouting, some in pain, lots annoyed, some confused. A Griffin screeched above us, one shouting through the amplifying cone. I grabbed Discord’s cowl and dragged him up, somehow finding the strength to haul him into the cart. I jumped in afterward, forcing myself into a spot between the jam-packed barrels.

“They’re gonna know…!”

“An illusion!” I hissed, “Make it look like we’re running away!”

Discord scraped at his eyes, nodding through his frustration. He found a shadow and vanished under it. I watched briefly as three little cloaked blurs darted away from the cart before ducking down myself.

“What the heck?!” the Apple pony cried. “Snotty little brats…”

“They might’ve been trying to filch some apples, Apple Core. This town’s full of little street rats, they practically run wild.”

Great… I’ll check the barrels…”

Discord dropped back beside me as the whole cart shook. His hand shot above my head, tearing at the shadows, ripping them. There was a light in front of me, behind a barrel, Luna’s light. Shadows fell over us like a blanket, obscuring some of the bottoms of the barrels. For a moment, there was silence.

“Anything?” a cart pony asked.

“Nah… too hard to tell in this light. How many apples could they grab anyway? Six or seven?”

“I dunno, of them was a unicorn. They could’ve grabbed a whole barrel.”

“You kidding me?” Apple Core exclaimed, “I think I’d notice if a barrel was stolen.”

“Right… Guess so.”

“Anyway.” With a rattle, the pony dropped off the cart. “Apples smelled a little foul back there... maybe that frost did rot them...” His voice grew distant, quiet as a murmur. Shortly after, the apple cart began to clatter forward.

“That was stupid and this was stupid,” Discord quietly hissed, “What are you thinking?!”

“We’re on a cart,” I shot back, barely whispering, “And my leadership got us here.”

“Your leadership is what’s going to get us killed!”

“Guys…” Luna piped up. “Keep talking and we’re gonna be really loud, and that’s bad.”

Discord grumbled. “Okay… okay.”

I took a deep breath and tried to find a comfortable place on the hard floor. Barrels rattled on either side of me, shifting slightly, pinning my sides. And that’s just from slow and steady starts and stops. There was no space big enough for all three of us to sit, and each of us was jammed between at least two barrels. I could only see Discord’s head, to my left. Luna was hidden from me, behind another heavy barrel...

Maybe finding a cart of hay or something soft was the smarter idea... and another thought bubbled to the surface of my brain, something I should have thought about ages ago. Wouldn’t the griffins unload this cart, and load up one of their own?

I pushed my ankle into my fetlock and ground circles around my temple. For goodness sake, why didn’t I think of that sooner? There’s been almost no stopping all night, we’ve needed to rush, to get where we’re going. I guess, now, there’s nothing left to do but sit and wait. Sit, wait, and hope my decisions were the right ones.

Discord’s paw edged into my vision. I watched it, bleary, as it gripped my hoof, clutching it tight. And warm. I looked up at him, and he gave me a very strange face. A sideways frown and a shrug, eyes staring back, determined. He sighed, and leaned down, away from me, other arm moving to the other side of the barrel, probably to grip Luna’s hoof as well. I stared at my barrel, wondering if she was feeling just as many apprehensions as Discord, or maybe she had fallen asleep... funny how a single barrel can make us a world apart...

Especially when the hopeful glitter of an Element might expose our hiding place. Discord squeezed my hoof, thumbing the nail. I guess a physical connection might be all we need right now... I dropped my head down, staring at Discord, exhausted from the long day.

The next time the cart rattled forward, Discord frowned, and the barrels slowly rattled apart. A black crust formed over our heads, one of his solid illusions. It squeaked and cracked as the barrels moved, but the sound easily blended in with the squeal of the tires, and the clattering of the cobblestones. At least, I convinced myself that it did. It was relieving to not have the barrels pinch my sides tighter and tighter with every bounce. There was actually room to breathe now.

But what was especially strange to me is that it blocked out some of the light... and not just the orange light from the torches and lanterns. A gray light that made everything around a little bit clearer. I could see my sister’s hoof, and the baggy shadows under Discord’s eyes...

It was nearly sunrise.

~¤~

I think I’ve been up and awake for almost thirty hours now. Things were hectic at first, avoiding griffin eyes, reinforcing the solid illusion as we took off, nearly getting crushed as the barrels threatened to fall over. But after that… there was a howling wind and a strange rocking, like being on a boat. A jolt as we landed. An a long, long silence. Discord and Luna fell asleep after things got quiet, and it’s a miracle than the illusion above us held by the time we got moving. I couldn’t sleep myself, of course I couldn’t. I kept watch. For the both of them, staring at the Apple Family logo in silence.

There was a long, slow drive… Going down. Very far down, cart too quiet to be driven by the rowdy griffins. I still could only see the black ceiling, squeaking and flaking into my hair. But we were inside. For the longest time, I knew we were inside somewhere.

Then…

I edged out of my spot, to another space without the ceiling as the world got brighter. There, above me, was the sky above the walls, the gray ceiling now so familiar to me… And I knew then it was early morning. Maybe around nine. I remember being able to tell time like that. Using these walls, their light and shadows. Accurate as any clock.

The air smelled funny. No, it smells familiar. It smells like trapped heat and baking stone. Like sweat and blood, thousands and thousands of ponies trapped in a tight little city. A caged city of shadows, none are allowed to leave. None are allowed to live on their own terms.

Why would any pony be dumb enough to come back here?

The cart rattled to a stop, and I could hear the street around us… Nowhere near as busy or unfriendly as Stringhalt, and not quiet empty as a small town. A quiet bustling. A few friendly calls and ponies chatting with street vendors. Pleasant and quiet, I always thought. I always thought, at least the ponies are nice. My fellow prisoners. A hushed familiarity that I hated to say I missed, or at least forgot I missed.

In a flash, the barrel beside me began to glow bright pink, and was yanked away. The black illusion cracked and broke, fragmenting and vanishing into nothing. I spun around, finally free and curling up from stiffness, staring at a burly brown unicorn.

And he was staring back.

“What in the world…?!”

“What is it sweetie?” A kind old voice called. “We got a rotten barrel or…” A green head poked around the edge of the cart. A familiar green head.

“Celestia?” she asked.

“Apple-a-day…” I choked, “It’s so good to see you again.”

Next Chapter: XLI : Overcast Retribution Estimated time remaining: 13 Hours, 25 Minutes
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