Twilight followed Luna in a daze. She chewed her lip and frowned to herself, grappling with the memories Celestia had given back to her—to them. How was it possible? Imagining herself in the situation, acting on pure, terrified impulse, seemed so wrong. But she knew it was so; the memories, reasserted, were too powerful and detailed to be false.

“Princess?”

Luna glanced at her. “Yes, Twilight?”

Twilight looked down. “Nothing.”

Luna was silent for a moment. “I know what you are feeling. So does Celestia. It is something that we all must bear.”

“How?”

“That is not something I can tell you. We all must find our own way.”

Rainbow trotted up to walk beside her. “What exactly are you remembering, Twilight?”

“Please, Rainbow Dash,” she said, closing her eyes.

“Your actions were taken in self-defense. You must remember that. Only the direst need brought you to it,” Luna said.

“Yeah. I know.” Twilight sighed and looked around a little. The princess’ words made her feel a little better, and she was able to move her mind to a different topic. “Your highness, I just thought of something I forgot to ask.”

“What is that?”

“Why isn’t the air thinner? We’re a mile off the ground, after all.”

“I wondered the same thing. Celestia thinks we had some atmosphere brought up with us.”

“That’s what we thought too.”

“Yes. Though I don’t know how, precisely.”

“Hey, if that’s true, shouldn’t we worry about the air leaking out across our borders?” Rainbow asked.

Luna thought. “Yes, we should. I’ll tell Celestia as soon as I’m done with you all.”

They turned down into a stairwell and went through another corridor, stopping before a pair of ornate double doors that Twilight recognized very well. When Luna opened them, Twilight trotted in, some of her unhappiness replaced with the excitement and comfort of the familiar library. She angled for the section concerning magical spells.

“I had forgotten that you are just as familiar with this library as Celestia and I,” Luna said with a smile.

“Oh, sorry. I—”

“No need to apologize. I’m not insulted.”

Twilight slowed anyway, waiting for her friends to take in the view. When she was young, the library had been spectacular; its domed roof was the second largest in the palace, after the great hall, supported by ivory beams and stone columns that melded together into a cat’s cradle of white webbing. From the doors, one could see the entire building spread out in a gentle ellipse, shelves of books basking in the subdued and segmented light from above, be it sunlight or moonlight. Here lived volumes, tomes, and encyclopedias on everything from science to magic, art to politics, literature to mathematics.

Now, however, the ceiling was cracked open, the delicate system of braces beneath it bent out of place. Bookshelves had fallen over like dominoes, throwing books all over the wooden floors. Pages lay asunder, torn and scattered, carpeting the ground along with broken glass and bits of masonry. Twilight could see a bird perched on one of the tipped shelves.

She led them to the magic wing, her head down to look at the jumble of books on the floor. Even disheveled as they were, their titles called to her—she wanted to read them all.

“What kind of book are we looking for?” she asked Luna, who scanned the piles absentmindedly.

“Advanced geomancy. I can teach you the Element-finding spell myself, but I don’t know the repairing spell off the top of my head.”

Twilight walked to a shelf of G’s, which lay in two pieces on the ground, a nest of bent books hidden underneath its larger fragment. She began searching amid the unhidden books, undaunted by their number, or by the fact that she had to look through them by hoof. Luna and Pinkie helped on the other side, and the others sat around Rarity, whom Luna had left on a clear patch of floor a few feet away.

“Ghosts, Grapes and Wine, Gemstones, Grass,” Twilight muttered to herself, placing books aside as she shuffled through them. She wanted to look through them all, if even for a minute, but didn’t. Another time, she told herself.

She dug down into a new pile, pushing past Griffons, Gold Mines, and Goddess Syndrome. “Geomancy! I found it,” she said, awkwardly picking it up between her hooves. She opened the book and tried to leaf through it, but her hooves were too clumsy.

“Why do you not use magic?” Luna asked.

“The wound on my pastern is infected, and Fluttershy told me that magic would make it worse.”

“Ah, yes. Sorry, I forgot.”

“It’s fine.”

“May I see it again? I might be able to help.”

Twilight angled her leg for Luna to look at the wound; her horn glowed, and Twilight’s pastern tingled for a moment before Luna retracted her magic.

“I do not have the magic to cure this, at least not safely. This needs a medicinal treatment.”

“That’s what Fluttershy said too. But why?”

“A medicinal treatment can bypass magic entirely, while a magical one must first overcome it. And… I am afraid I don’t have the magic to heal you.”

“Is the infection really that powerful?”

“The magic is Discord’s.”

Twilight looked at her incredulously.

Luna lowered her eyes for a second. “Together, Celestia and I can defeat him, but individually, we cannot.”

“Okay.” Twilight returned to the book, and was soon distracted. Her ungainly hooves slipped on the pages, and her focus was lost to the princess’ words. If Discord was more powerful than Luna or Celestia, what did that say about the Elements of Harmony?

Luna cleared her throat lightly. “I am sorry. If it’s any consolation, the infection is not at all far along.”

Twilight nodded without looking at her, trying to make sense of a diagram. The princess’ words had glanced off her ears without effect, so distracted was she in her thoughts.

The sound of stirring behind her, however, made her ears perk up suddenly. Disheveling the books that flanked her, Rarity was turning over, and the others went immediately to her side. Twilight watched her come awake, slowly opening her eyes and then looking around groggily.

“What? What is this?” Rarity asked in a cracked voice.

Fluttershy immediately began explaining, quietly and patiently, and Twilight turned back to her book, tuning out the conversation. Luna came to her side, beckoning Pinkie to do the same, and wordlessly took the book from Twilight to begin flipping through its chapters. She finally found what she was looking for near the back, in a section entitled “Macro-Curative Geomantic Enchantments.” The title alone was enough to put her off.

She flipped through the pages slowly, scanning diagrams and lists of potion ingredients, stopping on a page showing a list of instructions for casting the spell. Twilight and Pinkie looked at the page, unsure; the spell was very complicated, demanding astounding amounts of concentration and multiple points of focus at once.

Twilight looked at Pinkie uncertainly. “Pinkie, can you handle this spell?”

“I think so. I mean, as long as you’ve got your sigil, what’s there to worry about?” She didn’t smile, but looked at Twilight, and then Luna, earnestly.

“Your confidence is heartening, Pinkie,” Luna said. “Give me a minute, and I will make copies of these pages for you.”

“Can I come with you?” Twilight asked. She felt bad leaving her friends to deal with what was very clearly a building reaction from Rarity, but she wanted to speak to Luna alone.

“Of course, Twilight.” Luna picked up the book and walked to the back of the library, stepping carefully between masses of volumes and leaning underneath the warped door-frame. As they walked away, Twilight could hear Rarity dumbly repeating the word “floating,” over and over.

The copy room, one of several in the tremendous library, was dark and uninteresting. A table stood to one side, opposite a photocopier; Twilight was momentarily surprised to see it, having not encountered one since moving to Ponyville. Xerography was not a technology that the small town had yet invested in.

Luna set the book down and prepared the machine. “Celestia told me that you’re upset with her.”

“R—really?” Twilight looked at her quickly, afraid she might be angry. “What did she say?”

“She told me the truth. She had to choose one of you to protect over the other, and that one was Pinkie. You didn’t take too kindly to that, I understand.”

“Well, maybe not,” Twilight said hesitantly.

“You can express yourself to me, Twilight,” Luna said, closing the copier around the book. “Celestia is my sister, yes, but I won’t be angry if you and she don’t get along all the time. That would be unreasonable of me.”

Twilight breathed in once, slowly, and sighed. She was nervous to open up to Luna, having barely known her, even with her closeness to Celestia. “I… guess it’s because she said it so callously. It was like she was just brushing me aside.”

“She said this to you already, I know, but it was important that she saw you as tools, not ponies.”

“I know,” Twilight said shortly. “But I’m not a tool.”

“But I agree that she could have said it a little more delicately.”

“I suppose. But saying it nicely wouldn’t really change it.”

The photocopier glowed for a moment and spat out a pair of papers. “Understand, Twilight, that last night was easy for nopony, least of all Celestia. She was asleep when Discord attacked, and had literally no time to prepare before the fighting began. While I was defending the mountain, she had to rouse and organize the troops on her own.”

“It was really that sudden?”

“Oh, yes. And as soon as the soldiers were out, she needed to get you all here and help prepare you. A lesser pony would never have been as understanding, patient, and kind as she was last night.” Luna made another copy, and turned the page.

“You really admire her, don’t you?” Twilight asked, and immediately reprimanded herself, thinking she had insulted her.

Luna only looked at her evenly. “I do. A lot has transpired between us, Twilight Sparkle, and I have never seen her give up, or let discouragement stop her. That’s more than I can say for myself.” She smiled humorlessly.

“Everypony makes mistakes,” Twilight said tentatively.

“Oh, I know,” Luna said, her voice returning to normal. “I’m not saying that my sister is perfect; she’s far from it. I apologize if I sounded bitter.”

“It’s fine.” Twilight watched Luna work in silence for a minute, the humming copy machine giving voice to the awkwardness she felt, so close to the uncomfortable subject of Luna’s past.

“Celestia is sorry for the way she made you feel,” Luna said at last. “I know she didn’t say so when we were in her room; I believe it was because she didn’t want to bring the issue to the attention of your friends. But she is sorry.”

“She shouldn’t be afraid of saying so in front of them.”

“Not fear, Twilight. Respect. You might not want your friends to know how she hurt you.”

“I suppose.” It still sounded like an excuse to Twilight, but she didn’t want to press the issue.

“Don’t think that I’m telling you this for her sake; she didn’t ask me to relay any messages. I’m just letting you know, so you might not be as angry.”

“I’m not angry,” Twilight said, a little insulted.

“Did my words inflame you?”

She paused, considering. “A little bit, yes.”

“Then I apologize. I did not mean offense.”

“It’s okay. I’m not even really mad at her anymore.”

Luna made the last copy.

“But I guess I am a little hurt.”

Luna nodded. “I understand, Twilight. That will fade soon enough, as long as forgiveness is in your heart.”

They exited the room and walked back to the broken shelf, where Pinkie had joined the discussion with Rarity, speaking with more animation and cheer in her voice. Rarity merely sat with despondent eyes and listened; her mane and tail were still tangled and caked in dirt, her coat was filthy, and she was missing the scarf she had brought from home. It was probably on the battlefield, Twilight thought, destroyed by the movement of thousands of armored hooves. She looked away from Rarity, afraid their eyes might meet and she would be caught in a vulnerable state of mind.

“So all we gotta do is use the spell that Luna and Twilight found to put the pieces back together!” Pinkie concluded, and Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at Pinkie’s exuberance.

“Oh, so that’s all we have to do, is it?” Rarity said, her voice rising histrionically. “Well, that should be easy. We’ll just get in our carriage and drive across Equestria, then. Surely that won’t take forever!”

“Ah’m not sayin’ you ain’t right ‘bout all this, Rarity, but try to look on the positive side,” Applejack said.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Applejack. I just assumed there wasn’t one because, oh, I don’t know, there isn’t one!” Her voice echoed through the library, and Twilight looked around fearfully, expecting a librarian to come. “What about those of us with a business to run, or little sisters to keep safe?”

“Ah’ve got that too, Rarity,” Applejack said coolly.

“At least Discord didn’t destroy Canterlot,” Pinkie said.

“Yes, but we did,” Rarity countered. “Is this one of those ‘if I can’t have it, nopony will’ things? Because if so, nicely done, Pinkie.”

“Thanks, Rarity!”

“Ugh, I’m being sarcastic, dear,” she said tiredly.

“I know!”

“Then why—oh, never mind.” She lay back down, forelegs crossed angrily.

“Ah know it’s hard, Rarity,” Applejack said. “We’re all worried. Ponyville, our friends.”

“All the animals,” Fluttershy added.

“It’s not fair,” Rarity said.

“Pinkie, Fluttershy, come to me,” Luna said. Twilight took Fluttershy’s place on the carpet, thankful for the warm spot she had left.

“Oh, Twilight,” Rarity said sadly, looking at her eyes. “Is this really happening?”

Twilight paused. “I’m sorry, Rarity.”

Rarity hid her face in her hooves, and Applejack rubbed her back. Instead of looking up, hopeful, Rarity began to tremble and cry—not her usual, melodramatic, wracking sobs, but long, sighing, deflating sounds, like she had lost the energy even to make a scene.

Twilight looked nervously at Pinkie and Fluttershy, both with their eyes closed, Luna watching them intently. She had never been very comfortable with crying ponies, and with Rarity as she was, a weeping reflection of the same denial and confusion she felt, she could only watch Applejack try to console her, Rainbow to the side and looking on with equal concern. She felt acutely self-conscious, standing by their side, and was relieved to see Fluttershy and Pinkie conclude their conversation with Luna.

“That was quick,” she said.

“It was a really easy spell!” Pinkie chirped, her earlier sadness seemingly forgotten.

“So can you feel any Elements nearby?”

Pinkie and Fluttershy shook their heads together. “Sorry, but no,” Fluttershy said.

Twilight wasn’t surprised; Celestia hadn’t found any either. Still, she had hoped. “What’s the spell’s range?”

“Loooooooooong,” Pinkie said, turning her head in a lazy circle.

“Princess Luna said it can be anywhere between twenty and fifty miles,” Fluttershy said.

“The Elements of Harmony aren’t even within fifty miles?” Rainbow shouted. “This sucks,” she whined quietly.

“Come, my friends,” Luna said, heading toward the exit. “We still have two more stops before you can go home.”

“What’re those?” Applejack asked.

“We must get the medicine for Twilight’s infection, before it can get too serious. How are you feeling, Twilight?”

Twilight bent her pastern experimentally. Fluttershy’s spell was beginning to wear off, but all she said was “fine.”

They exited the library, and this time, Twilight knew the way to the great hall. It was a route she had traversed countless times in her youth, running to tell Princess Celestia of a new discovery, or ask her a question.

“Just where is this medicine?” Rainbow asked, sounding impatient.

“The medicine itself is not here; I would need to make it myself,” Luna said. “We are, however, going to search for the main ingredient, which we should find in a pharmacy at the foot of the mountain. And if not there, the apothecary just a few blocks north of it.”

They walked down the great hall stairs, out through the courtyard, down the same central road they had slowly went down just last night, and stopped at the shattered drawbridge. Luna looked back at them and crouched down, wings spread out. “Climb on, Twilight, and I will take us there.”

Twilight hesitated. “No teleportation?”

“I want to see the cracks up close.”

“What ‘bout us?” Applejack asked.

“Go ahead and go back to the courtyard for now. I want somepony nearby, should my sister need something.”

“Doesn’t she have the Royal Guard for that? Or servants?” Pinkie asked.

“Not so much at the moment,” Luna said, looking at her strangely.

“Oh. Um, right.”

“I want to go with Twilight,” Rainbow said.

Luna thought. “Fine. But only because you can keep up. Now get on, Twilight.”

Twilight climbed unsteadily onto Luna’s back and slipped her forelegs around the princess’ neck. It felt strange, being so close to the less familiar of the two princesses; Luna seemed not to mind. Her muscular shoulders switched back and forth as she walked to the edge and jumped out over the river, still flowing down the mountain, seemingly unmindful of the chasms not a mile away.

Luna’s wings flapped powerfully, and they rose up over the mountainside. Twilight gripped her neck tightly in surprise. Though she was no stranger to flying around, doing so on the back of such an immensely strong pony was entirely different from what she had ever experienced. Luna moved through the air with ease that belied the force with which her massive wings pumped, ten feet at a flap, rising and gliding across acres of trampled grass like it was nothing. Rainbow, behind, had to flap her wings as fast as she could just to keep up.

They went slowly down the mountain, away from the palace and toward the ring of unassuming stucco and concrete buildings that was Lower Canterlot. A deep rift clove the mountain’s foot, and Luna glided out over the slopes until they were right above it.

She turned to Twilight with a smile. “Are you ready to drop?”

Twilight looked down and swallowed nervously, unable to form a response.

“Here we go!” Luna said, folding her wings in and letting them plummet. Twilight hugged her neck even tighter, allowing a strangled cry of fear to escape her throat. The wind whipped her mane and tail angrily, and they tilted down until she was looking straight at the open chasm, a bottomless hole that admitted the white of clouds and dark of barren shadow from a mile below, an entirely other world. Rainbow stayed just behind, a look of determination on her face as she tried to pass them. They streaked down past ragged stones and the tan, curving hairline of the road, and down into the hole—through the claustrophobic canyon of ripped rock and cold, compressed earth, no more than twenty feet wide in some spots.

Luna’s wings shot out suddenly, and they bent under the slab of ground and began to glide. Twilight wasn’t ordinarily afraid of heights, but, looking down, the sight sent a shiver across her body and a shot of adrenaline through her heart. There was nothing beneath them except insubstantial clouds that obscured, but didn’t cover, the mottled dark brown and black crater below. She could see its contours in some places, rough mountains and trenches of bedrock and sediment that hadn’t been exposed to the light in centuries. She tried to see beyond the hole, but they were too far inland; it was everything she saw, extending out to the horizon and not even shrinking into a vanishing point. An endless expanse of dark stone, like a chewed-up and petrified hunk of bread: needle-point towers; gaping, black holes; scissor-backed ridges, their edges wicked and raw like the teeth of a snarled saw.

This, however, was nothing compared to the visual shock that the floating patches of ground presented. And they were floating; there was nothing keeping them aloft that Twilight could see, not even the distinctive haze of glittering, sparkling magic. A billion piece jigsaw puzzle, each piece a cool dark brown cloud that weighed, she could only guess, hundreds of tons. Here, too, the earth had never seen the light of day, its porous and ragged texture alien to her. Conglomerates of stone hung from the bottoms, massive, finely-veined bulbs of dark colors, some bigger than a house. Like the earth below, the shell of land under which they coasted seemed to expand outwards from all sides, and though Twilight could not see its many-faceted surface well at her distance, she could see the slight dip in the horizon where the pieces curved downwards, accommodating the Gaia’s natural sphericity.

“Fascinating, no?” Luna asked, looking back at her curiously.

Twilight couldn’t respond; it was too remarkable, too impossible, too big. “Maybe I’m still dreaming. Maybe the whole battle, the whole spell casting, the passing out, and this are all the same, long dream.” She smiled weakly. “Maybe I’ll wake up a little early tomorrow and not go back to sleep, and think about this crazy dream. I’ll tell Spike, and he’ll agree—it’s all crazy, none of this could ever happen—and I’ll tell my friends, and they’ll agree with him. Fluttershy will be afraid of what I’m saying, Rarity will assure me that nothing like that can ever happen, Pinkie will crack jokes, Rainbow will make fun of me, and Applejack will comment on how weird it is to have a dream like that.”

When Twilight looked at Luna to respond, she was looking back up at the bottom of the ground, her face serious and thoughtful.

“She probably has an actual reason to want to see this,” Twilight thought. “Not just plain old curiosity.”

Rainbow caught up to them, panting, and Luna smiled at her before continuing. They arced gently up at another crack, speeding up the side of another floating island and stopping their ascent far above the white roofs of Lower Canterlot.

“You’re not going to find anything by going under the ground, you know,” Rainbow said, speeding over to them.

“I’m quite aware, thank you,” Luna said calmly.

Rainbow gave no response as they passed over the city. From their height, Twilight could marvel at the cleanliness of the cuts; the ground’s edges seemed as smooth as shattered glass, neatly dividing the world into angular sections, like tiles in a work of art. From the mountaintop, what must the world look like?

The city below, however, was a testament to the devastating power Pinkie had unleashed. The wet streets were cracked and clogged with crashed cars and dislodged pieces of buildings, themselves collapsed mountains of stone and wood against leaning and solitary outer walls. Those that had survived were in little better condition, sagging inwards on collapsed roofs or gutted and charred from panicking ponies and electrical fires. Crowds of ponies picked through the rubble, sat on roofs, or wandered aimlessly through the streets, and as Luna flew over, they lifted their heads to her. Some cried out.

“Are you going to help them?” Twilight asked.

“The Canterlot Guard is already on its way. But yes. As soon as I’m done with you all, I’m going back down there.”

“What about Celestia?” Rainbow asked from behind.

“She is in no condition,” Luna said guardedly.

“Is she really hurt that bad?” Twilight asked.

“She seems to think so.”

Twilight frowned. What did that mean? She didn’t want to ask, and Luna volunteered no information, so she only watched the masses below, eyes turned up in supplication for the princess’ aid; Luna didn’t even slow her flight. It stirred Twilight’s heart to see them, forced to dig through the remnants of their homes and businesses, completely alone; had they even received an explanation for their suffering? Without knowing it, she had tightened her hooves around Luna’s neck, and Luna shook her head a little. Twilight eased up quickly.

“I should warn you, Twilight, that we might not be able to find what you need,” Luna said. “The substance is notoriously dangerous to contain. The earthquake could have set it off.”

“What is it?” Twilight asked.

Luna turned and descended onto what, to Twilight, looked like more of the identical areas of destruction, and everypony looked up at her, hopeful. “The substance is called phlogiston,” she said eventually, entering a glide over the rooftops. Twilight only nodded; she wasn’t particularly familiar with it, having only seen it mentioned in her studies a few times.

Luna stopped and hovered, bending down to survey the block. “Oh, ponyfeathers.”

“Is it gone?” Twilight asked.

“The pharmacy is destroyed,” Luna said, pointing to a tangled pile of girders and stone; Twilight could make out the remnants of a counter and a few shelves, both nondescript and anonymous among the dirty, flooded wreckage. On one corner of the ruined building was a peculiar, circular lack of rubble, leaving only a ring of blackened ground to be filled with water, like a shrine.

“What happened there?” Rainbow asked, coming up alongside them.

“That would probably be the phlogiston.”

“What the hay’s that?”

They began climbing again, and the ponies below cried out. Luna ignored them, and Twilight averted her eyes. She didn’t want to see their disappointment and anger.

“Phlogiston is a very dangerous, very mysterious compound,” Luna began. “To put it simply, it’s tangible fire. It’s usually liquid, but it can be condensed into solid if you know what you’re doing.”

“Is it real fire?” Twilight asked.

“Yes and no. Fire is the primary ingredient, but phlogiston does more than just burn. It can be concentrated like an acid, used as an explosive, and, of course, has a few medicinal properties.”

“This is starting to sound familiar,” Rainbow said.

“If I’m not mistaken, pegasi used to use it for rainbow production,” Luna said. “Before it was banned, of course.”

“That’s it! Yeah, rainbows. I remember the horror stories of ponies falling into the rainbow vats.” She thought for a moment. “That stuff is used in medicine?”

“Yes, in certain types. It’s used with magical compounds to burn out impurities, like what Twilight’s infected with.”

“What about it exploding?” Twilight asked.

“It only explodes when exposed to heat,” Luna said.

“Ummmm… heat? Like body heat?”

Luna chuckled. “If your body temperature is high enough to ignite phlogiston, explosions aren’t your biggest problem. Although…”

“What?”

“Sometimes it’ll explode if it’s exposed to itself.”

“Wait, what? How does that work?”

“It is basically fire, remember. Fire spreads.”

They descended once more and stopped over another block of buildings, as ruined as the first. “This is not good,” Luna said.

“Is the apothecary gone too?” Twilight asked.

“It is. And there, among the rubble, is the same blast mark.”

“That phlogiston sure goes off easy,” Rainbow said, sounding unsure.

“It does,” Luna said simply, banking and heading back toward the palace.

“Wait, so what now?” Twilight asked.

“I’m sorry, Twilight Sparkle, but you will not find your medicine here.”

“What? Why not?”

“There are only two businesses that carry phlogiston in Canterlot,” Luna said. “And you’ve seen the fate of them both.”

“So what? Twilight’s just going to have to not be cured? She’s just going to suffer?” Rainbow asked angrily.

Luna sighed audibly, and it was enough answer for them both.

“What the hay, princess? You can’t just give up that easily! Shouldn’t you have some private stores of it in the castle or something?”

Luna snorted. “Only an idiot keeps phlogiston in her house.”

“Well then use magic or something! You can’t just let that infection get worse!”

“I truly am sorry, Rainbow Dash, but there is nothing I can do here. I don’t have enough magic to help her safely.”

“Some princess you are,” Rainbow said before taking off for the castle on her own, leaving Luna to fly at her own leisurely pace.

“Princess, I’m sorry about her,” Twilight said when Rainbow was but a blue speck.

“Never mind, Twilight. She has every right to be upset with me.”

“Yeah. Uh, so is there anything you can do to help?”

“I would not feel safe casting magic on you in this state,” Luna said. “Anything I do could very easily backfire, considering the nature of the magic in your body.”

“Discord.”

“He is more dangerous than you know, Twilight. His magic is corrosive, and I would be endangering your life by trying any sort of spell on you. Even a pain-reducing spell is too risky.”

Twilight didn’t speak, and Luna took her back to the palace silently. As they landed, back in the courtyard, the others looked at her with a mixture of anger and disappointment.

“I see Rainbow Dash already told you what we found,” Luna said, and Applejack nodded, glaring. “I am sorry, but I am unable to do anything for her now. The nature of her infection makes it impossible for me to safely heal her.”

“It’s because it’s Discord’s magic, isn’t it?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

“That is correct,” Luna said.

“How long does she have?” Rarity asked. “Before the infection gets… deadly?”

“If it were any other kind of magic, I would say a matter of days,” Luna said. “But this is Discord.” Her voice dropped to half-volume. “I think she’ll be lucky to have until sunrise tomorrow.”

They stared at her, slack-jawed; Rainbow was the first to speak. “I’m sorry, but what the hell? Until sunrise? What kind of crap is that?”

“You can’t possibly be serious,” Rarity said, her quietude forgotten for concern.

“But that’s less than a day away!” Pinkie said.

“But how can she be that close? She looks fine now. Ya feel fine, right, Twi?” Applejack asked, her voice a little unsteady.

“I do feel fine,” Twilight said, and Luna nodded knowingly. Twilight looked at her, thinking. “It’s going to get bad fast, isn’t it?”

“Most likely,” Luna said.

They were silent, and Twilight looked at them all. “We need to find a solution.” “Any ideas are welcome. Your cure is not in Canterlot, though,” Luna said.

“Maybe we can suck the magic out of the wound, like snake venom,” Applejack suggested.

“No, that wouldn’t work, Applejack. And it would kill you.”

“They used to use phlogiston in rainbows,” Rainbow said. “Maybe if I got some of them, we could do something?”

“Not unless you got a hold of some very old rainbows.”

“Can we find a substitute?” Rarity asked.

“Not in this city, I’m afraid,” Luna said, shaking her head.

“So what do we do? Where’s the nearest phlogiston?” Twilight asked.

She looked at them all, one by one, and they each shook their heads, until she reached Pinkie, who only shuffled uncomfortably under her gaze. “I… miiiiiiiight be able to get some,” she said slowly.

“Where?” Rainbow demanded, grabbing Pinkie and getting in her face.

“If I could get to the rock farm where I grew up, I think I can find some,” she said.

“You think you can, or you can?” Applejack said.

“Ummmm. No, I can! I can totally find some!”

“How far away is it?” Twilight asked.

“Just a couple miles south of Cloudsdale.”

“But then we gotta bring it back here fer Princess Luna to make her medicine,” Applejack said.

“Oh, um, actually, maybe not,” Fluttershy said.

“What do you mean?” Rainbow asked quickly.

“Um, well, I can make the medicine. Um, I know how to.”

They were silent for a moment. “Can you do it at your cottage?” Rarity asked.

“I think so. If Pinkie can find the phlogiston, I have the rest already.”

“And how long would it take you to mix it up?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh, um, maybe two hours.”

“Pinkie, how long will it take you to get the phlogiston when we reach Ponyville?” Twilight asked.

“Hour and a half, maybe. I dunno. It’s a long walk.”

“That’s almost four hours,” Applejack said. “Plus the time it takes us to get there.” She calculated in her head. “With all those gaps, we might not make it.”

“Hold on a moment,” Luna said. “You’re not thinking of walking, are you?”

“Well, yeah. We kind of lost the balloon,” Rainbow said.

Luna smiled, and it relieved them a little. “I can give you a faster way to reach Ponyville. Follow me,” she said, walking down a thin path out the side of the courtyard.

“Where are we going?” Twilight asked.

“The airship tower. Or rather, the part of it that fell off last night. I don’t believe all the airships are completely destroyed, though. They weren’t last time I looked.”

They walked through a small arch in the hedges and to the outer perimeter, a sunny lawn of chartreuse grass that stretched out to the riverbanks nearby. From this angle, the world looked completely fine.

“Where did the tower land?” Rainbow asked.

“Somewhere near the inner courtyard,” Luna said. “I would take you through the palace, but there’s a hole in the walls now, so we can just slip through.”

They walked around a convexity in the hedge and passed through another archway, heads ducked and hooves quickened slightly under the cracked keystone.

“It’s beautiful,” Rarity said.

“It was beautiful,” Luna said. “Thank you, though.”

She led them through more short, green grass, past the blocky remains of crumbled statues that littered the lawn like gravestones. Fluttershy squeaked and muttered an almost inaudible “oh dear” as they passed the soft-eyed, smiling face of Celestia, carved in rain and wind-streaked marble, staring up at them from its landing place many meters away from her dignified body.

They walked the length of the lawn, passing a demolished fountain that had left the surrounding ground muddy and sloppy. Twilight looked up; the sun indicated that it was about eleven, and for the first time since she had been awoken the night before, she was aware of a bitter hunger within her, mixing with her general fatigue and disorientation into a miasma of slow thought and dulled perception. She blinked languidly, and, with some effort, pushed the feelings back. “I’m going to pay for this later.” And, on the tail of that thought, another: “If there is a later.”

She shook her head and looked back to the sky for a distraction from her condition, examining the palace from her new angle. No longer was it crowned with graceful towers and turrets, connected by hair-thin bridges or standing alone in the windy skies. Instead, it was splintered and ruined, like a tree struck by lightning; no tower remained perfectly intact, though some were only decorated with crawling cracks.

“Oh, um, those towers aren’t going to fall on us, are they?” Fluttershy asked from behind.

“I do not believe so,” Luna said, leading them underneath another partially-collapsed archway.

“Oh, okay.”

“How much longer?” Rainbow asked.

“Not long, Rainbow Dash,” Luna said, patiently as ever.

They approached another wall, much taller than the outside wall, but split down in a rough V, edged with brick halves and exposed mortar. Rubble piled at its base, and they had to climb awkwardly over the scattered blocks and stones to enter the inner courtyard, a smaller and darker quadrangle of lush grass and shaken flowers.

“The tower should be around the corner,” Luna said.

Twilight could see the glittering of broken glass on the ground near where the lawn bent toward the palace. They rounded the corner and paused at the scene, while Luna fearlessly approached the colossal tower, now an inert cylinder. It lay like a dead monster in the middle of the courtyard, its tarnished, golden, garlic clove cap reflecting the sunlight dully where it was still unbroken. Paint-flecked pieces of masonry shellacked the grass, and through an open window, they could see the dark and dusty web of destroyed machines: struts, beams, propellers, all tangled and smashed together like teeth.

“Wait here, and back up,” Luna said, squeezing through a window. They obediently backed off, nervously watching the tower.

“Twilight, darling, how are you feeling?” Rarity asked.

“Okay, I guess. I’m more worried than anything. Pinkie, you’re sure you can get the phlogiston?”

“As sure as sure can be, Twilight!”

“Fluttershy? You’re sure you know how to make the medicine?”

“Absolutely,” she said with conviction. “I’ve made medicine almost exactly like this before. Although I am a little scared to work with the phlogiston.”

“You’ve never handled it before?” Pinkie asked.

“Um, no. I haven’t.”

“Have you, Pinkie?” Applejack asked.

“Only a little bit, when I was just an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny, Pinkie-winkie! It’s so much fun! You get to wear protective clothes and goggles and pour it really slowly into these little jars and—”

“Hang on,” Rainbow said. “You handled that stuff when you were just a filly?” “Yup! Not a lot, though. Just enough to get the ropes. I can help you with it, Fluttershy.”

“Oh, if you wouldn’t mind. I’m going to need as much help with this as I can.”

“What kind of foalhood did you have that required you to know how to use a compound like that?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, you know, normal rock farming stuff,” Pinkie said with a shrug.

“Not to be rude, dear, but what is rock farming, exactly?” Rarity asked.

“It’s super easy, Rarity! You just move rocks around! Push ‘em to different sides of the field so they can catch the sun just right, and then papa would do something to them.”

“Do what?” Rainbow asked. “Last I checked, you couldn’t do anything with a stupid rock.”

Suddenly, there was a loud, cracking bang; they all looked at the tower, hearts struck with fright, to see chunks of stone flying through the suddenly dusty air and coming to rest on the grass, a few feet away from where they stood. Once the dust settled, they saw a ragged hole in the tower, splitting its top away from its base.

In the clearing stood a large, long, swan-like dirigible, alabaster white. Its back was mounted with four fat propellers, and its corners stretched up in four long posts to hold the balloon, not attached. At the helm was a round wheel with smooth spokes, elevated over an elegant prow that looked like it could cut the air with remarkable ease.

Princess Luna calmly strode out, her horn alight, and levitated the airship out onto the grass. Twilight marveled at the feat: the airship, she estimated between three and four-thousand pounds, floated without even a jot of effort from the princess. At its back, Twilight looked inside the round docks to see large, metal propellers, attached to clunky, oily squares that looked to her like mere jumbles of spare pipes and rods. Luna laid down the ramp, and they slowly made their way up to the deck, a modest, chipped and debris-strewn plain of varnished wood that bowed downwards subtly in the middle.

“How does it work?” Twilight asked.

“You inflate the balloon like you would any other airship, but the propellers are motorized, so you don’t have to rely on the wind to take you where you want to go,” Luna said.

“This thing is motorized?” Applejack said, her voice a little awed. She looked around. “Ah’ve never seen somethin’ this big with a motor in it.”

“Once she’s in the air, all you need to do is steer,” Luna said, indicating the wheel.

“Um, this might be a dumb question, but where’s the balloon?” Rainbow asked.

“Below deck. That’s also where you’ll find the engines.”

“I’ll get ‘em!” Pinkie said after a pause, bouncing over to the hatch that led into the belly of the ship.

“So we just go down there, turn on the engine, inflate the balloon, and steer?” Twilight asked.

“Inflate first.”

“Got it!” Pinkie returned, dragging the deflated black balloon up in a pink fog, seemingly without even slight exertion.

“Thank you, Pinkie Pie,” Luna said, magically affixing it to the ship’s corners. “Would you mind getting the torch from below as well?”

“Sure thing, Princess!” She ran downstairs and emerged with the huge, unwieldy torch a few seconds later, a metal cylinder knocking around in the air awkwardly as Luna grabbed it and pressed it onto its central post, just below the balloon’s opening. She ignited it, and they stood around it, watching silently as the jet of flame spewed up into the hanging black envelope, a roaring gout of flame that made the one on Twilight’s hot air balloon look like a candle.

“Uhhhh, is there any way you can fill it up faster?” Rainbow asked.

Luna glanced at her and, with a twitch of magic, turned off the torch. Before Rainbow could comment, her horn lit up brightly, and the balloon swelled immediately, perilously, its fabric groaning with the sudden pressure. They only stared, impressed, and the ship began to slowly lift into the air.

Luna quickly fluttered over the rail and to the ground. “I trust you know how to operate an engine?”

“I can do it, Princess,” Pinkie said.

“And steering?”

“Ah know how to steer,” Applejack said.

“You do?” Rainbow asked.

“Ah’ve driven a tractor before. How hard can this be?”

“It’s very easy, Applejack. Just turn the wheel where you want to go,” Luna said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must get back to my duties. I apologize that I cannot accompany you further, but there is much to do here in the aftermath of last night.”

She opened her wings, and then hesitated, turning back. “Oh, and Twilight, Celestia will shortly arrange for a way for both of us to communicate with you directly, as I doubt—advise against, in fact—that you’ll be bringing Spike along with you.”

“Oh,” Twilight said simply, the mention of her assistant’s name striking a nerve in her heart. She hadn’t even thought of him in her absence.

“Are you clear on how to operate the airship?”

“Yes, your highness,” Applejack said.

“And are you clear on what it is that you need to do?”

Applejack paused, looking at them all. They nodded disjointedly, not actually clear at all. There would be travel, and the casting of spells, but neither princess had seemed to know much more about it.

“I think we understand,” Rarity said.

Luna nodded solemnly. “Then waste no more time here. Celestia and I have the utmost confidence in you all. If you need help, you can always write to us, though I cannot say how available we will be.” She sighed. “I know you will be tempted to stay in Ponyville, but you must not. Too much depends on you now.”

“We understand, Princess,” Twilight said, bowing her head. The light was hurting her eyes.

With the resounding sound of powerful wings flapping, Luna took to the sky and disappeared behind a nearby tower. The engines growled to life, and Twilight walked to the edge to watch them glide over the courtyard walls. They rose past the tower windows, and she looked through them, catching a glimpse of the palace armory. They rose past the shattered end of a tower, bits of wall and scaffolding sticking out like shards of glass.

“You okay, Twilight? You look pretty spaced out,” Rainbow said.

Twilight almost didn’t respond to her, but shook her head, clearing it. “Sorry. It’s just… Spike. I hope he’s okay.”

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Fluttershy said confidently, walking over to them.

Twilight only sighed.

She watched them ascend past the tower and looked back to see plumes of thick, dark gray smoke billowing out of the four cannon-shaped mounts. As she did, her vision hesitated, as if caught in a delay between what her eyes saw and what her mind interpreted. She pursed her lips and nodded. Ponyville was forty miles away.

“Here we go,” she thought grimly.