The Steadfast Sky : Chapter 46
The Grey Potter
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/11495/The-Steadfast-Sky
http://cosmicponyfiction.tumblr.com

I don’t think we’re ever going to be happy again. I can almost not see any time where we won’t be running, scared. Where I won’t be tugging at shadows and holding them close. I’m tired of it. I’m really, really tired of running and hiding.

We all were bunched together, just staring up at the sky. Lanterns were bobbing and weaving in the clouds. A lot of lanterns. Sometimes, I could hear the griffins screaming and screeching at each other, and I think all three of us were all hoping those calls stayed far, far away.

“How are they still able to find us?” Discord mumbled.

“They wouldn’t have been able to find us,” my sister quietly snapped, “If you didn’t fly up to that patrol and—!“

“Do you think we’ll ever see the sky again?” I asked.

My two friends both fell silent. I looked at Discord, and he looked a little puzzled.

“What do you mean by that, Luna?” he asked.

“The sky was so pretty, especially at night.” I quietly watched a hazy orange ball as it drifted over our heads. “Do you think someday we’ll make all these clouds go away?”

“Of course we will?” I liked that he phrased it like a question. Like it was a fact, and that it was strange to be asking it. There was a reason to be confident. Discord was confident. Why couldn’t I be?

“Going to be the first thing we do,” he continued, “Get rid of all these gloomy clouds. And then the system that keeps them in place.”

Things were silent again. I don’t even think the forest was making a sound. Just clanking armor and screeching birds…

Suddenly, my sister sniffed.

“I detest being powerless,” she said, voice low and scathing.

“We’re far from powerless,” Discord mumbled.

“We were powerless in Canterbury, and we’re powerless now,” my sister shot back. “I can’t wait until we get to Canterlot. Maybe there we’ll stop being so useless.”

I snuggled up close to her, trying to give Celestia quiet hug.

We didn’t say much else for the rest of the night.

We’re on the road again! Or… at least travelling. We couldn’t really stay on the road right now. No more pushing ourselves to exhaustion, though! Even though Celestia sometimes really wanted to. But at least there’s no more scary stuff chasing us all over the place. Except sometimes griffins. Sometimes. Well, at least my friends aren’t fighting. Right now.

But they were five minutes ago! Oh my gosh, how can I be so happy when stuff’s still not fine?!

“You know,” I said to Discord as I kicked my way through a bush, “It’s almost like you guys like to fight!”

“I guess it’s a little funny how worked up she gets,” Discord mumbled. “She probably thinks it’s funny that I stand up to her.”

I stuck out my lip, watching Discord as his eyes never left the ground. He’s been like this for days! DAYS! Snapping at Celestia, mumbling at me, avoiding the both of us sometimes! Well, I’ve seen plenty of sad Discord to last me a lifetime! I poke my hoof into his side, and he slowly looks down at it. Slowly looks up at me.

“Discord?” I huffed.

“What?”

“What has got you so down?”

He snorted, “Besides Celestia’s never ending attempts to chew my ear off?”

And of course, off in the distance and half hidden by a fern, my sister spun around.

“I’m still mad you know!” She shouted.

He rolled his eyes. “I know!”

“Well GOOD!”

“Why can’t you just understand?!” Discord shouted. “I had to make sure they knew we were out of the city, Celestia!”

“No you didn’t! The longer the Stallion didn’t know, the longer we had to get away without them chasing us!” She rubbed her hoof across her forehead, turning slowly in place. I could hear her still, extra quiet. “Goodness, we haven’t set foot on a road in days…”

“Guuuuys!” I groaned, rolling my eyes. “If this is supposed to be fun, can you just tell me so I don’t keep separating you?”

Celestia grumbled something about fun or not fun and mashed her way nosily through another bush. Certainly didn’t look fun to me. I turned back to Discord, staring at the ground again.

“So, that’s over.” I said. “And I don’t think that’s what’s bugging you, Discord.”

“I’m, um. Gimmie a second.” He ducked ahead of me. I could still see as he pressed his thumb into his forehead. “I’m also so, so very sorry that I left you in that hallway!” he exclaimed.

“Hallway?”

“Remember, when I went to go talk to Ruin?” He frowned at me with everything but his eyes. “You were hurting, barely able to cast. And I just left you there. It was selfish, and something could have happened, and—“

“But nothing did happen,” I pointed out.

“No. But what if it had?”

“I dunno!” I shrugged, “I don’t think it matters.”

“Yeah!” he nodded vigorously. “We all got out of the city safe. That’s what matters, right? That we’re all safe?”

Well he agreed with me quick! I must be pretty good at this!

“Of course!” I said.

“Nothing else matters, right?”

Wait, maybe this was too quick? I gave my friend a good, hard looking-at. He tried to look back, make eye contact and stuff. But he just couldn’t hold it. Maybe because we were moving through all these trees and plants and things, he had to keep his eyes on his feet.

Or maybe that was his excuse!

“Why do you keep asking me?” I said, “You keep trying to ask, over and over, with such a sad look on your face.”

“Aheh,” He looked away from me (again!). I could tell he was trying to force a grin. It was easy to see, because he was failing pretty terribly. “Well… bleh! Just glad to be out of there.”

“Me too! I mean,” I glanced up to my sister’s bobbing pink tail. “Glad we tried, glad it’s over.”

“Well good! Good that it’s good…”

“Discord.”

“Um?”

“You’re really, really bad at not acting sad.”

He snorted, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re still not happy about something!”

“Of course I’m happy.”

“Of course you’re not happy.”

“Everything went as well as it was going to go!”

“Uh-huh,” I nodded. “But are you guilty?”

He recoiled, face falling from sad to stunned. Jackpot?

“So you wanted to stay too,” I said.

“No!” He shook his head, “No, us leaving was the best possible option for the ponies. They’re going to be safe now. With us gone, they’re going to be safe.”

In the distance, Celestia fell quiet. I couldn’t even hear her beating through the underbrush anymore. I tried to catch up to her, following in her path. Discord glided over my head, falling a bit beyond my sister’s stubborn head.

With an audience in place (I seriously think that’s what she was waiting for) Celestia sighed.

“I really wish I could have been a part of that,” she grumbled. “Seen with my own eyes that somepony was being helped. I guess it was just an impossible dream.”

“We did the very, very best we could,” I said. I was kind’ve getting tired of saying this over and over and over. “What’s done is done, right?”

“Yes,” She nodded, firm, “Yes, I suppose it is.”

Discord nodded, and we all continued stomping our way through the forest. I thought, just for a second, that maybe I should ask Discord again what was bugging him. I never really did find out! He’s just so snake-y! But as we walked, I saw him hold his chin a little higher. I saw as his shoulder relaxed a little, walking beside Celestia like it wasn’t any big deal.

So... did the problem get solved without me? It was kind’ve weird, not really knowing what made things all better. But I guess, I was just happy that he was happy. And things were left just like that.

I love the sounds of night. Whether I'm sleeping or not, it always sounds like a song. The bugs and owls mix together with the wind though the trees. Dogs yip and yap in the distance, and, along with a few other animal calls, the whole forest becomes an orchestra. The world is one big stage, and the song is everywhere.

But sometimes songs can be sad. And sometimes they can be scary.

It sounded like a baby animal. I think all animals sound like babies when this happens. A continuous squealing screech, rising and falling. An animal sobbing, a raccoon, or a bunny hurt and screaming for help. In my half-awake brain state, I stared at the grass in front of me and wished I could mute the poor thing. But the thought of a poor bunny going unheard scared me even more.

“Put it out of its misery already,” Celestia mumbled beside me.

“Celestia, what…?”

“Dumb fox. Must have gotten spooked, and now it’s just left the poor thing to die.”

“You can tell it’s a fox?”

“I can guess,” she harrumphed into her leg. “I can never sleep when this happens.”

“Me neither.” I paused, unable to stop listening to the poor thing cry. “Do you think we should go find it?”

“I don’t think there’s a point in that. It would take forever to find, it could stop if we try to look. And it might, well, die anyway. Despite our best efforts.”

“I don’t know if I can keep listening to this...”

The branch above us shook violently. There was a heavy snapping of wings, and a soft thump beside us. I saw, with shadows still stuck in my eyes, as a dark Discord-shaped blur darted past, little yellow eyes flashing. I listened, frozen, as he trampled through the grass, growing quieter and quitter until his steps were lost in the wind.

Not long after, the screeching stopped.

Discord didn’t return for a long time.

“Your Element’s looking better.”

“Oh, it is? Gosh, I hardly noticed!”

I looked down at my Element, shifting it up with my knee as I walked. The metal setting, the place where the stone sat was still squished and scrunched up. But the back was smooth now, metal all straight. And the little sliver of blue that was left, that was also smooth and shiny now. It rested in the center of the gold, just a little slice of curving blue. It looked to me like a crescent moon, just like my cutie mark.

“If I didn’t know better…” Discord said slowly, “I would have thought you just got it that way.”

“Yeah! Wonder how it did that? Just like it healed itself or something.”

Discord stared at the little gem as it dropped back around my neck.

“Maybe it did.”

“You think so?”

“I told you,” he muttered, “These things are alive. Maybe it can just heal itself, like we can just heal our bruises, our cuts naturally. Actually…” He fell quiet, staring down at his own silver little Element.

“Actually what, Discord?”

“Just thinking back to when I first found my Element,” he said, “I mean, both Celestia’s and yours, you found them as orbs, right?”

“Um…” I tried to remember my own Element before I got it, all the way back to Jubilee’s tomb. “Well, I thought it kinda looked like a ball! But I also thought it was the King of the wispy things.”

Discord blinked. “The what?”

“It’s kind’ve not really related. But!” I continued, “Celestia’s looked kind’ve orbular when it was above the statue, didn’t it?”

He nodded. “But mine wasn’t. It was carved into a butterfly. In a room covered in dust, the same color as the Element. And,” he waved his hand, smacking branches and trying to fish for a memory. “The dust also seemed to collect around that butterfly… In crystals, I think?” He frowned. “I’m wondering, did the Shadow Stallion try to powderize his Element, but it just collected itself back together?”

“Um…” I shivered, the mental image of my own Element shattering in front of my eyes. “He… it feels like, he’s the kind of creature who would try to do that, I think. But would that mean, after we left, that the stone would have still tried to collect itself up into an orb?”

“Yeah, probably,” Discord mumbled, “We didn’t notice anything, did we?”

“But,” Celestia suddenly piped up, “Why?”

Celestia trampled a bush on my other side, just as lost in thought as Discord was. It was only a couple hours into the day, and the lack of roads was already starting to show on my sister. Her normally carefully brushed hair was all tangled. Mud ran up her legs, and her saddlebags were askew. I looked down at my own feet, and wondered if I looked as bad. Discord, well, he always looked like Discord. He didn’t look any messier than usual.

“Why didn’t we… check?” Discord asked. “To see if it was regrowing?”

“No. Well,” Celestia huffed and tried to straighten her mane. “Why would he do that? Why would the Shadow Stallion try to smash up the Element?”

We all got quiet again, probably thinking very hard. But the answer was obvious, wasn’t it? Why wasn’t Discord pointing it out? He likes to do that, doesn’t he? Pick on my sister?

“Well that’s easy!” I finally said, “Because, all together, they’re the only things that can stop him!”

Discord chuckled, “That makes sense.”

“Wait,” I stopped, another nagging its way through my brain. “No it doesn’t.”

“No?” My sister looked confused. “Why not, Luna?”

“Think about it again,” I said, “Why were the other Elements just set out in the open? Left alone in the tomb and the shrine for just no reason? Once he knew his was gone,” I pointed a hoof at Discord, “Wouldn’t he grab the rest of the Elements and to try and destroy them instead?”

Discord shrugged. “Maybe he thinks they’re well hidden.”

“Maybe he thought that…” Celestia muttered, eyes on the ground. “He has proof that they’re not well hidden anymore.”

“Oh…”

“Whoever the other three are,” Celestia said, “I really hope they’ve gotten their Elements already.”

I agreed of course, right before everybody got quiet again. I didn’t want the other three to have any troubles! I wanted them to get their elements nice and easy, just like we did. Then we could all meet up in Canterlot and…

Be friends, I guess?

That seemed strange to say. Even stranger to think about. I pictured three strange ponies, faces and flanks blank. I saw us and those three blank ponies all hugging and getting along, right before we blasted The Stallion. Then we were just friends forever, I guess? Wearing crowns and trusting everybody equally? I’m not above making friends, but…

It just feels really, really strange.

“What do you think Canterlot’s going to look like?”

“Black stone,” Discord replied with assurance, “More depressing black stone.”

“Hmmm… You think so?”

“Canterlot. Canterbury.” He shrugged, “They sound the same, probably sister cities, built around the same time. Same as Hock. Government buildings, they’re probably all going to be dark and spooky.”

“Oh…” I thought for a bit. “But Stringhalt wasn’t dark and spooky. It actually seemed pretty nice.”

“Minus the slave camp, griffin barracks, and the crazy mob people.”

“Well it looked kinda pretty. You know, swirling up a hill with pretty white clouds! Sheesh!”

“Well, Canterlot… It will be…” Celestia piped up, squinting up and down her map. “It’s built on a mountain. Canterlot mountain, I suppose? And it must be pretty big. They’ve drawn a picture for it, only cities get that treatment.”

“Ooh, lemme see!”

I snuggled up to my sisters side, trying to look over her shoulder. Discord did the same, but over my side! I giggled as his fur scratched at my shoulders (even through my cloak!) and shrugged him off.

“You won’t see it over me, go look on Celestia’s other side!”

He snickered, maybe a bit too long. But he did as I asked, poking his nose under Celestia’s neck. And after a minute of being pointed and directed and…

“That’s it?” Discord snorted.

“What do you mean ‘that’s it’?” Celestia scoffed.

“It looks like a bunch of cupcake frosting blops,” I giggled.

“P-pardon?”

“Like if you frost a cupcake right, it makes that sort’ve… squished, swirly…” I waved my hoof in front of me, trying to simulate the idea of the blop. “Raindroppy shape.”

“I… well…” Celestia stared down at the page, frowning. “Those are supposed to be the tops of towers, Luna.”

“Well I’ve never seen a tower topping that looked so silly!”

“Were they supposed to be imitating the shape of baked goods?” Discord said.

“What if they’re actually made of frosting?!” I squealed

“… ew.”

I frowned at Discord. “Ew?”

“Think about it, all that sugar just sitting out in the hot sun, rotting away… And of course, birds and other animals would be all over that, crawling around in it.”

“Oh, gross!” I giggled, “Ew!”

“Why I never, you two!” Celestia huffed. “This design is, is um… clearly classical Unicorn architecture!”

Discord grinned. “Did you just come up with that?”

“No!” Celestia retorted. “It merely took me a while to remember correctly.” She slapped the page, poking a hole in her aura. “This style is clearly reminiscent of pre-Equestrian Unicorn architecture. It’s very efficient for keeping heavy snow from collapsing a roof!”

I frowned, “Snow’s not that heavy… We could kick it around really easy.”

“And it all melts in a few days anyway,” Discord continued.

“Well, unicorns used to live in ever-frozen mountains,” Celestia explained, “Unmelting, eternal snow would have been a big problem for them.”

Discord stared at my sister, then poked his nose over her tangle-maned shoulders.

“What do you think, is she making it up or…?”

“I’m not making this up!”

I giggled, “I dunno, I never got real far in my history lessons.”

“Luna, you’ve seen a Hearth’s Warming Eve play!” Celestia pleaded, “Several times!”

“…I have?”

Discord snickered into his elbow.

“You know, Hearth’s Warming Eve?” Celestia said. “We didn’t manage to get to one this year, but the previous two we saw a lovely play. Remember? The Windego Blizzard? The Exodus? Princess Platinum and Clover … Commander Hurricane?”

“I guess it kinda sounds familiar.”

“… Chancellor Puddinghead?”

“Oh! Puddinghead!” I nodded. “He was funny, I liked him.”

“You both lost me,” Discord said. “What are you talking about?”

“Hearth’s Warming Eve,” Celestia explained, “is a holiday celebrating the foundation of Equestria, and the true unity of the three tribes of Pegasi, Unicorn, and Earth ponies.”

“And there’s a feast, and presents, and a funny play!” I stopped, midsentence and midstride. “Wait… Celestia?

“Yes?”

“What does the play have to do with the roofs over Canterlot?”

Discord lost it. He broke into a loud, roaring laugh. “It, it was a distraction!” he stammered, “She tried to change the topic!”

“I did not!” Celestia retorted, “I brought up the play for a reason!” And then she turned to me! “Don’t you remember the look of the backdrops, Luna? When the Unicorns were onstage? The appearance of their castles?”

“Um…”

“They had a specific sort of cone on top. A cone that swirled upward, like, well, a ‘blop’ of blue and gold.”

“Hm… Nope. I don’t remember that at all.”

“Oh stop snickering, Discord!” Celestia groaned, spinning on my laughing friend. “It’s not even that funny!”

“What even is this?”

“What even is what?”

“This pack you’ve been pulling around,” Celestia nudged Discord’s brown leather bag with her snout. “You haven’t even opened it since we left.”

He shrugged, “There’s no reason to open it. The contents will just get lost.”

“So…”

“It’s a stack of papers,” he explained.

“Just paper?” I asked, “Blank paper?”

Discord grinned. “Now that makes no sense. Why would I haul around a bunch of blank paper?”

“Because your brother told you to?” Celestia asked.

Discord opened his mouth, then stopped and frowned.

“Well,” he said, “This paper has stuff on it.”

“And what exactly would that be…?”

“Stuff he’s been writing since before I was born.”

Celestia continued to stare at Discord’s face, waiting for more. But he looked back, and darted in front of her, letting a cart pass cleanly beside us. We hadn’t seen the griffins days, and Celestia couldn’t take any more treks through the wilderness. Soon as we saw a road again, she jumped all over that opportunity. Personally (and by personally, I mean “according to Discord”) her need to keep her mane fresh and clean trumped the safety of the group.

“Go on?” Celestia prodded.

“About what?” Discord asked. “The pages?”

“Yes!”

“Sorry. I can’t.”

“Why not? Oh!” She retreated, hoof over heart. “Goodness, it isn’t personal, is it? Some private dairy, for your eyes only?”

He shrugged, “Might be.”

“But… you don’t know?”

“Nope. Could be anything.”

“You haven’t even thought to check what they are?”

Discord chuckled. “Be a little pointless. And like I said. They could get lost, and I really don’t want that to happen.”

“I don’t think it’s pointless!” I suddenly said, “What if it’s secret instructions? Telling you all the secrets that you need to know right now?!” I stared at the bag. “Everything, every question we don’t have answered. How you should learn Shadow Magic. Everything secret about the Shadow Stallion and The Nightmare. The locations of the other three Elements. It could all be in that bag!”

“How much do you think Ruin knew?!” Discord laughed.

“I dunno. A lot of stuff?”

“He knew a lot, yeah, but he didn’t know that much. Especially not that much directly related to The Elements. I don’t know if he even knew what those were.”

He snickered again. He’s been getting happier and happier the further we’ve gone on, it’s actually really nice to see!

“Well let’s see what these pages contain!” Celestia exclaimed. She motioned to the bag with her horn. “Discord? Can I remove the top sheet?”

“Alright... But be careful. It might tear.”

Celestia nodded. Her golden glow encased the satchel as we walked. With a flick of her horn, the bag popped open. First, she floated out a little brown clay pot. And then she stared at it.

“That’s just some petrichor,” Discord explained, “For cuts and such.”

“Alright...”

She hovered the pot above her head, and returned to her task. One of the wrinkled brown pages lifted off the rest and smoothly slid out. I looked over Discord’s shoulder, trying to get a closer look as she shut his pack. The page looked creamy and smooth, covered in a tight and cramped ink scrawl. Celestia frowned at it. She flipped it over, and the other side was rough with sandpapery brown patches.

“A, A, A, A, B, B, B, B…” She mumbled. “So he was trying to teach himself to read?” She flipped it over again. “Star…swirl the bearded… had many….questions… This is copied from a colt’s school book, isn’t it?” The page flipped over and over, Celestia’s face wrinkled in disbelief. “Are they all like this?”

“Beats me!”

“Well, why would he give you his writing lessons? There must be more.” She slid the page back in, and another paper began sliding out.

“Don’t get them all out of order!” Discord warned.

“I’ll mark my place with the little pot, don’t you worry.”

Again, Celestia glared at the page. But this time, her eyes followed a slow, more reading-like pattern down the teeny tiny scrawled notes.

“I’m honestly surprised how small he could write!” she huffed. “He had very large paws! How did he even hold a pen?”

“He didn’t,” Discord said with a shrug, “He wrote with ink on his claws.”

“Oh.” She scanned a few more lines, flipped it over and back, and then:

“While the season has been very… fruitful? For my studies on the…” She frowned, and dove further down the page. “My participation in the… something season has granted me another unforeseen boon. Two Draconequus… fingers.” Celestia stuck out her tongue. “Blech!”

“How is that a boon?!” I cried.

“He…” She stared at the page. “I can now test my own… processing? On… something-enriched bones. Now all I need is an everflame and…” Celestia snorted, “And this is very difficult to read! I suppose it’s some kind of journal?”

“You tell me!”

“Aren’t you curious at all, Discord?”

“When I can read it, I will. But right now? I just want to get it bound.” Discord grinned, “Izzat good enough for you, Celestia?”

“I suppose so...”

The page got tucked back into Discord’s pack, and I guess that was the end of that.

“Hey…” I stopped, panting for breath, “Hey guys…”

“No. Luna. Don’t stop halfway.” Discord’s shoulder heaved, wings limp and pack hanging off one of his sides. “Don’t be your sister. She’s…” he laughed, “She’s never going to get up this hill.”

“Who… Who puts a road!” She shouted, far, far beneath me, “Who puts a road on a sixty degree incline?!”

Discord looked down the from top of the hill, pebbles bouncing from his feet down, down, down… Past me, past Celestia, past another cart… Said cart rattled past us, no, practically rocketed past. Two buff stallions huffed and puffed as a third ran behind them, keeping an eye on the tarped back, catching odd rolling vegetables as they bounced out.

“Man!” I gasped, “Look at them go! Woo! You can do it!”

And one of the stallions laughed! He nodded at me as they passed by, crested the hill, then rolled out of sight.

“Man, those guys took the hill quick. Blaaaaaah!” I threw my head back, “Why are there so many hills?!”

“I can’t, I can’t BREATHE you guys!” Celestia cried, “I can’t do this! I’d rather be chased by the griffins! I can’t DO THIS!”

“You took, like, the last four. Or… was it more? Ooh!” I squeaked, “I just rhymed!”

“That’s not… oh my goodness…” Celestia dropped to the ground. “I can’t do this! I just can’t, I can’t! All my legs hurt, and, and my pack feels too heavy, and the straps are digging into my back, and no! No!”

“Geez!” Discord said. He un-broached his cloak and yanked the bag over his head, dropping them beside him. His wings, finally free, slowly folded open, rising far above his head. He gave them a flew test flaps. Discord’s entire body arched as he stretched, rolling down, and up again like a cat coming out of a nap. After a few more flutters of his feathers, he hopped down the hill, slowly gliding towards me.

“Who knew all it would take to break Celestia again is a few odd hills?” Discord said, landing by my side.

“This isn’t like, a few hills. These things are like… everywhere!” I waved my forehooves at him, which he deftly avoided. “And they’re huge! And oh, Discord! Discord? Discorddiscord ahh, what are you doing?!”

In one quick motion, Discord ducked under my forelegs. He flung me in an awkward position over his prickly shoulders. With a snort, he shot forward. His wings slapped at my sides as they flapped, his feet bouncing off the dirt and rocks, kicking them up as we bounced higher and higher, and higher! Ground was never more than a foot away. But to look down! To see our shadow as it separated from Discord’s feet!

It was fun! It was scary! Them he came crashing into the ground, smacking and scraping my legs before bouncing up again.

“Nonono!” I squealed, laughing and giggling like crazy, “I can make it, I can make it on my own! Ow! My forelegs! Your back’s all sweaty! EW!”

We fumbled like that all the way to the top of the hill. Skidding and stumbling, probably screaming right in his ear! I saw the peak, and I flung myself from his back. Pebbles and sand stuck and scraped all down my back as I tumbled, earth, cloud, earth cloud…

I found my feet, but that didn’t stop me from skidding, rocks bouncing up to my chin, dust clogging my nose. I skidded a few feet down the other side before I could stop! But I just charged back up to that silly Draconequus, laughing and giggling with all the energy in the world. He was standing there, gasping for breath…

So I spun around and whapped him! Right with my tail!

It probably didn’t hurt much, because he gave me a stupid grin.

“Just wanted… to see if… I could do… that first… Just…” he gasped, “I’ll go back and get Celestia too… just let me catch my breath.” He dropped to the ground, tongue stuck out like a dog’s. “Woo! Woo…” he laughed “Wish we had some water or something!”

“Nope! No water.”

“That’s dumb! Next town,” he gasped, almost too long. He was just being silly, wasn’t he?! “We-buy-a-bag-of-water. Or something.”

“That’s silly! You can’t buy bags of water!”

“Course we can. Why not?”

“Because water comes in barrels.”

And he laughed! He laughed really loud, throwing back his head and pointing his snout at the sky. It was a real deep laugh too. Usually Discord snickers, or snorts, with a little hiss clicking in the back of his throat. But this was different!

It was so happy! It made me want to just rock on my heels and laugh along with him!

“It wasn’t even that funny! Laugh at my actual jokes next time!” I giggled. And I looked up… “Oh! Hey Discord!”

“Yeah, Luna!”

“Do the clouds look closer to you?”

“What?”

He opened his eyes, easing his jaws shut. He frowned, but it was a puzzled frown, so that made it okay.

“I think… Maybe?”

“I feel like, if I or you jumped off the top of the tree, we could touch those clouds. Look!” I waved a hoof up at them, “You can actually make out shapes and stuff! I can see them moving!”

Discord continued to look up as his breathing slowly steadied, wings drifting back in their folded position. We quietly watched, together, just for a moment. It was hard to see, but they looked a little bit like rows of a garden freshly plowed, rows and rows ready for seeds. The mounds, huge and long, shifted above us, flowing and curling at a ponderously slow pace.

“Did they look like that when we fell through them?” I asked.

“I don’t know… But now that you mention it.” His head fell back down, and he frowned at the struggling Celestia, still barely halfway up. “Each hill has been higher than the last, hasn’t it?” He looked beyond me, to our distant goal. “Though you can obviously see why.”

I looked back as well. Another cart bounced and crashed past us, not even pausing at the top before charging back down the hill.

It was a strange sight, these hills. I was very used to swaths of trees blocking my view. Maybe sometimes there was occasional hill here and there in the forest, just tall enough to get a good look around. They were tough to climb, but rare when they happened. Stuff was mostly flat around both the top and the bottom.

But there was nothing around here that I could call ‘flat’. Hills, big, big hills rolled like green waves, creating walls against the sky. They didn’t even look climbable, and in the far, far distance, I could see that the road didn’t even attempt to go up those monstrous mounds. Little black specks wormed their way around a dim brown line at the base, trying to slowly follow their way past the monstrous wave.

And that wasn’t even the biggest hill!

In the far, far, far distance, hazy, almost too far away to see, was something huge. A big, big, big dark stone wave. It was like the clouds themselves just spilled to the ground, solidifying into a huge chunk of earth that went on and on and on forever. A gigantic black wall, just like the ones that surrounded Canterbury.

And just like that, a thought came to mind.

“Do you think that’s the edge of the world?” I asked Discord.

“What?”

“Like, do you think that the outer wall of all Equestria?”

He stared at me. “Is it even possible to wall in a whole country?”

“Maybe,” I looked down at my Element. “You think all the alicorn First Gods together, maybe they could have done it?”

Discord chuckled. Not his big laugh, but still, a nice and happy sound.

“That seems a bit excessive ,” he said.

“Maybe they did it to keep the Windegos out!” I gasped.

“The what? No, hold that thought. Better go get your sister.”

He looked down the hill, flipped open his wings, and with a tiny hop he was off. With nothing better to do, I just stared at that big, big rock wall. It made sense to me. The Stallion liked his walls. Maybe it was something to keep stuff out… Or maybe, like in Canterbury, it was a big, scary way to keep everybody in. It took up hours to climb our way out of Canterbury. A wall like that, just that big? Who knows how high it would go? Maybe it would take days.

Discord slowly dragged himself up and over the hill, legs shaking violently, hauling a pink-faced Celestia on his back. He collapsed right in the crest, gasping and heaving for breath. Celestia shrugged off him, collapsing on her side, panting as well.

“M *gasp* Man,” Discord panted, “These *gasp* these hills *wheeze* suck.”

“Hey Celestia!”

“How… How do you…” Celestia gasped for breath too. “Have energy?”

“I’ve been sitting here waiting!” I explained, “Do you see that big rock wall over there?”

“Over…?” Her eyes peeled open, and she slowly stared into the distance. “That… that’s a mountain… isn’t it?”

“Is it the wall keeping Equestria in, Celestia?”

“What? … No… you see…” Celestia took a deep breath, and her aura flared unnaturally bright around her horn and bag. The map flopped out, along with a couple apples and our bag of oats. “After Canterlot… Look…” She slapped the paper. “Beyond it… yes, unexplored… But there’s more country to the north… The… The north.” She groaned and flipped onto her stomach, fanning herself. “I had no idea… hills would be so hard… to climb… Oof…” She looked around again, slowly glancing at her map, at the gigantic mountain wall. “Oh!” She exclaimed. “Look… Over there.”

She flung her hoof into the air. It fell into the dirt. A puff of dust floated into the air and vanished. I looked where she was pointing anyway. Off in the distance, there was a little black smudge dropped in the green. Little lines wove their way up the side of the gray wall, coiling and pooling into a weblike center.

“Kind’ve looks like Hock,” I admitted.

“That’s, that’s probably…” she looked at her map. “You know… The little trading town before the city… like Gelding or um…”

“Does...” Discord gasped. “Deos every city have to have one of those?”

“I suppose so,” Celestia slowly retorted. “Canterlot’s up the mountain… So you need … someplace to stay the night… before climbing. Right?” She took another deep breath, and tried to struggle to her feet. “We’ll probably spend the night there… if we can get there before dark.”

“I guess so!” I nodded. “What’s this one called, huh?”

“Huh? Oh…” She looked at the sheet from her knees, then heaved herself up. “That town? That’s Ponyville.”