Rainbow Dash looked out over the world below her. From above, it looked so small. She saw the continents below, and the oceans of Equestria. She saw the green of the forests and grasslands and swamps- -and the deserts that now covered so much of the planet, their leading edge stained pink with the ever-encroaching advancement of the future.

She looked out at the horizon, and at the endless yellow sky above her. Beneath the strange light, she spread her wings and saw the glint of the golden metal surround her. In her mind, she realized that something was wrong. She knew what Twilight had said, that she needed to pull out of the dive, to correct to horizontal and activate the magical engines, but there were no magical engines. It was just her, alone in the sky- -and she knew that this was her last flight. That she would not pull up. She would not survive.

And, strangely, she was content with that outcome- -if only because she knew something that they did not.

“Is she dead?”

Rainbow Dash felt herself kicked firmly.

“No. She shall experience liver damage, though.”

“Satin…she drank the whole bottle?”

“It was only a matter of time.”

“To what?”

“Futureshock. Failure to thrive in a world of inadequate primativity.”

“Is that even a word?”

“Of course it is. I just said it.”

Rainbow Dash felt a prick in her neck, and moaned loudly.

“Why do you even have that stuff? You can’t drink alcohol.”

“No, but I can take it IV. And Rainbow Dash was anticipated to have addictive tendencies.”

“Ohhh,” moaned Rainbow Dash, suddenly feeling a sharp pain in her head as the effects of the alcoholic stupor began to wear off, leaving her once again with the soul-crushing pain of her mental situation. “Pinkie Pie…stop being so loud.”

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes, and saw that the face she was staring into was not Pinkies. Instead, it belonged to a gray-coated bat pony with big blue eyes and large, fuzzy ears, one of them pierced with three rings.

“Pinkie Pie had her head bashed in four hundred years ago,” said Five. “Now wake up and smell the future.”

Rainbow Dash sat up suddenly, and nearly vomited. The effects of the alcohol had been removed, but whatever had been injected into her had left her dizzy and hung over. “What happened to Pinkie Pie?” she said, grabbing Five by the straps that she always seemed to be wearing. “What did you just say?”

“I said nothing. You may be hallucinating.”

“I- -am? Am I really back in Ponyville?”

“Nope,” said Gell.

The whole room shook, exacerbating Rainbow Dash’s sense of illness, and she fell over, landing between the seat and the table, which was where she had apparently been lying before being forced back into reality.

“Oh, my head,” said Rainbow Dash. “What happened?”

“You just drank,” said Five. “A rather large amount, actually.”

“Kind of impressive, actually,” said Gell.

“Do not encourage this kind of behavior.”

“I’m not,” said Gell. Rainbow Dash felt a pair of cloven hooves on her shoulder, and then felt herself being picked up. She found herself staring directly into the yellow eyes of a demon. “Do you know what a stenaethax worm is?” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Then don’t let me have to make you find out. You’re like, what, twenty? Dashie, you’re too young for this sort of horse manure…”

“Can you…can you not swear?”

“No,” said Gell. “Satin does not approve.”

“Wait…you mean the pony devil doesn’t let you swear?”

“Nope. And you do not want to have her wash your mouth out with soap.” Gell leaned closer. “Because she makes it from your own fat. You know, when your still alive.” Gell poked Rainbow Dash in the ribs, causing her to twitch and giggle involuntarily. “Not that a sexy beast like you has much soap in you.”

“The owl is staring at us,” said Five.

Rainbow Dash looked to her right. The owl was, indeed, staring at them.

“Can you put me down?” said Rainbow Dash. “I’m feeling…queasy.”

“No time for queasy,” said Five. “We’re here.”

“Here?”

“Yes.”

“That fast?”

“It’s been, like, two days.”

“Two days?!”

“Equestria is large,” said Five. “It took six hours alone to get to the station within the city.”

Five and Gell stood up, and Philomena flew up, perching on the tip of one of Gell’s horns.

“Are you departing, owl?” asked Five.

“In 616? I’m not that crazy,” said the owl. “I’m riding this iron horse straight back to Unst.”

“Perhaps we should go there next,” said Five to Gell.

“No way. It’s rainy there.”

Rainbow Dash picked herself up, and found that even her robotic limbs were shaking. Whatever Five had injected into her, however, was rapidly consuming her hangover, forcing her back into full consciousness. Rainbow Dash braced for pain, but found that it was weaker, if only by a little. Two days of sleep had improved her condition slightly.

“Hey, An,” said Gell.

“Don’t call me that,” said Five.

“I forget. Is 616 one of those drawn and quartering for littering towns, or is it one of the leather and tire-fire types?”

“Level hierarchy,” said Five.

“Oh yeah. I hate those,” said Gell.

“What does that mean?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“It means don’t mess with politicians, and you will be fine,” said Five.

“And if I do?”

“Sudden death.”

The train station itself was larger than anything Rainbow Dash had ever seen. She had thought that the last one was large, but this one dwarfed it by far. It had been built to accommodate multiple trains, and they were unloaded and loaded by a number of machines that moved freight at impossible speeds.

For a moment, Rainbow Dash forgot her fears and pain as she looked at the bustling of activity around her, at the hundreds of thousands of ponies around her. Not all were ponies, though, which was what surprised her. There were earth ponies, Pegasi, and unicorns, of course, but there were also so many more: donkeys, zebras, mules, sheep, cows, goats, llama, owls, griffons, equidroids, and several well-dressed ahuizotl and minotaurs. At one point, she even thought she saw a pair of centaurs.

Something about the structure of the station seemed to cause her a degree of panic, though. At first she could not place it. It was not the crowds, or the multitude of languages and strange beings that walked around her, many dressed in strange somber clothing and others with pieces of their bodies replaced with machines. Nor was it the heavy machines transporting goods at impossible speed and accuracy, or the small automated carts that pushed through the crowds.

After several minutes, she realized that it was from the fact that she could not see the sky. The station itself was closed, or somehow underground, like a system of solid pipes containing hundreds of trains. That was what bothered her, as it should have bothered all Pegasi, even though those around her seemed not to care.

The ceilings were high, though, and Rainbow Dash was able to stretch her wings, if only to float over the crowd near Gell and Five. Gell seemed somewhat agitated by the crowd around her, but even with her cloak and hood, the other ponies stayed a significant distance away from her. Five seemed relatively indifferent, as always.

Then, after what felt like forever, they reached a gate- -and Rainbow Dash realized that despite all their walking, they were still not in the city itself.

Rainbow Dash stared up at the gate. It was huge, but that was not what drew her attention. Rather, it was the strange bipedal statue standing to one side, its body made of thick metal and stone, its burning red eyes staring down at the crowd. Its size alone was immense; it stood at least thirty feet high. That was not the only part of that was disturbing, though. Rather, it was its presence alone, the fact that somehow Rainbow Dash instinctively knew that it was not a statue. She shivered at the sight of the steel giant, at its four clawed arms and angular armor, and at the long, curved horn protruding from its forehead.

“What is that?” she said, afraid to approach it.

“A Theben golem,” said Five. “Really don’t mess with those. Don’t even get near.”

“Pigs on our seven,” muttered Gell.

“Well isn’t that great,” replied Five, her eyes narrowing.

Rainbow Dash turned, fully expecting to see pigs- -but what she saw instead were a pair of large ponies dressed in hard black armor approaching them.

“Hey you!” they said, one of them flashing a badge. “You! Stop!”

“Is there a problem?” asked Five, turning toward the ponies.

“Display your immigration protocol,” one of them demanded, his green eyes narrowing on Five.

“I do not need one,” said Five. “I am only here to visit the Museum.”

“Yes, you do,” said the other guard. Rainbow Dash guessed that he was a unicorn, although his black helmet- -which seemed to be made of some kind of plastic- -covered his horn.

“Since when?”

“Since you bats started busting into our city and stinking it up,” said the other, probably an Earth pony. “Filth like you needs approval to enter here.”

“Hey!” said Rainbow Dash. “You can’t talk to her like that!”

“Quiet, Blue!” said the unicorn, pushing Rainbow Dash back. “You’re lucky we don’t ask you for papers. And because you actually look reasonably good,” he opened up a hologram from a device attached to his upper foreleg, floating it near his face, “we’re not going to bother to ask you about your missing prostitution license either. Now step back. Or I’ll have the golem step on you.”

“Excuse me?” cried Rainbow Dash, suddenly flustered. “I’m not- -why would you- -”

Gell put her hoof on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder.

“Calm down,” she said. She turned toward the pair of guards, and they looked up at her as if they were expecting a fight. One of them reached for his side-arm.

“By the eternal treaty between Blackest Night and Satin Veil, I believe I am exempt from your mortal laws,” she said, slowly. “And I am within my right to take these two into the city, if that is my wish.”

The unicorn took a step forward. “Who’s command are you under, demon?” he asked.

“I serve no commander,” said Gell, sounding somewhat insulted.

“Well,” said the guard. “Then we have a problem. Cause the laws do apply to half breeds. And vermin like you aren’t even allowed in at all! Now get back on that train, and get out of our city!”

Rainbow Dash suddenly felt a strange sensation, as if all the tiny blue hairs on her body were standing on edge. She suddenly felt afraid, and instinctively took several steps away from Gell, who seemed to be exuding evil itself.

Gell reached up, and pulled back her hood. Rainbow Dash could see that she was smiling, but that she was not at all happy. The smaller of the two guards, the earth pony, took a step back.

“You,” growled Gell. “Turn around.”

“Half-breed mule! You have no right to- -”

“Turn. Around.”

They both shrunk back from her, and so did Rainbow Dash. Something in her voice had changed. It was filled with something not wholly identifiable. It sounded something like anger, but that was hardly it. There was another part to it, something that made Rainbow Dash’s wings instinctively tingle. Gell’s voice, she realized, was dripping not just with rage but with uncontrollable lust.

The earth pony did so, and Rainbow Dash saw that he was crying, but could somehow not resist the command.

“Now lift your tail to your tail to me,” whispered Gell.

“Captain,” pleaded the stallion. “Please help me. Don’t let her…” he trailed off into sobs as he lifted his tail, exposing himself.

Gell’s reaction was swift, almost faster than Rainbow Dash could even see. There was a flash of pink, and a momentary expression of pure agony on the guard’s face as his eyes nearly swelled out of his face. There was a sound of hoof hitting flesh, and then the guard was flying, screaming at an impossibly high octave, tumbling as he went. He then struck the golem, which only watched as he slid down its armor and collapsed into a heap below it, holding his crotch and weeping.

“Now you,” said Gell, leaning closer to the remaining guard, who was standing in a puddle of his own urine. “Know this. I am a female of my kind, daughter of Heresy Immolation, who is daughter of Endless Slain. I serve no commander save for Satin Veil herself. My blood is pure, given to me by the Goddess of Perversion herself. For your insult, I should force-feed you your own genitals and force you to lick my plot hole while I hoof your wife until she screams her undying love for me. But I was in a good mood today. So you get to stay intact, and know that it was your fault that your partner will never have children.”

“Ye- -yes, mistress,” he said, bowing.

“Come on, An,” she said, putting her hood back on. “I need to calm down a bit…”

Rainbow Dash watched the pair of them walking away, and then looked at the pair of guards. The unicorn had now collapsed onto the ground, breathing heavily. The other was still crushing his ruined testicles while a crowd formed around him, watching, but not one of them offering any help. Rainbow Dash momentarily wanted to run, to fly as fast and far as she could- -but instead felt herself walking forward.

“I’m sorry you had to see that side of me, Dashie,” said Gell when Rainbow Dash got close. “Lost my cool.” Then, to herself. “Why couldn’t they be mares?”

“It was impressive, though,” said Five.

“But won’t we be in trouble now?” asked Rainbow Dash. “I mean, you did just attack the guards.”

“They’re private rent-a-cops,” said Five. “Nopony cares if several are castrated. Besides. Having no balls is not a problem. I have none, and I feel fine.”

“But you’re a mare.”

“Exactly. And now so is he.”

“My actions were within the law,” said Gell. “Problem is, now I am incredibly horny. You’re even starting to look attractive, An, and that’s bad.”

“Rainbow Dash,” said Five. “Would you help her out with that?”

“What?! I- -”

“Don’t try to coerce her,” said Gell. “This wouldn’t be as good as a mare like her deserves.” She looked down at Rainbow Dash and smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine in a few minutes.” She looked back to Five. “However, I am going to need to take a trip to the lower levels before this is over.”

“Eew. Don’t tell me that.”

“Oh, come on. If anypony in Equestria needs to get laid more than I do, it’s you. And don’t tell me you can’t, because I know you can!”

“Can we…can we not talk about this?” said Rainbow Dash, trying to suppress her wings from bursting to full extension. “I’m feeling really uncomfortable.”
; “Sorry,” said Gell.

“I’m not,” said Five.

They stopped talking for a moment, and so did Rainbow Dash. The outside of the gate did not seem to pass directly into any city, but rather into a long and massive concrete tunnel lit by harsh lights above. On both sides, the crumbling structure was covered with graffiti, which, like all things in this world, was impossible for Rainbow Dash to read, aside from one word that kept repeating in numerous designs: “Vale”.

Rainbow Dash was about to ask what that meant when they reached the end of the tunnel- -and all the words she could possibly ask caught inside her brain like a ball of tangled yarn.

In her life, she had seen cities. Her occupation as a Wonderbolt had brought her across all of Equestria. She had seen the largest cities of the world, from Manehattan to Tokaro, and spent a significant amount of time in the Pegasus capital Cloudsdale as well as the national capital Canterlot. They were huge, bustling, and sprawling- -but nothing compared to this.

The heights of the buildings surrounding her were dizzying- -but they were not even really buildings. They were diverse and different in construction and style, but so close together that they resembled heterogeneous walls stretching upward thousands of feet, their structures rusting in the fetid air but stretching out and meshing as though they were alive. They were fused by bridges and walkways and streets that stretched seemingly forever upward, and even then Rainbow Dash could not see the sky, but rather the darkened steel and glass of buildings even higher, perhaps miles away and behind the ones she stared up at.

She looked around her, and saw an impossible number of ponies and creatures of all kinds, filling the streets, all walking rapidly toward destinations of some kind. They were not alone, though: the streets below them were filled with rapidly moving vehicles: motorcycles, as she had seen in Appleloosa, as well as carts that were not drawn by any pony.

A roaring sound above her caused her to look up again- -and she saw a set of metal-clad airships pulling their way through the vast airspace over the street, surrounded by contingents of griffons and owls who filled the sky.

“What the fu- -” Rainbow Dash felt the slap of a cloven hoof smartly against the back of her head.

“What did I just tell you?” said Gell. “Satin hates swearing.”

“Sorry. It’s just that…are we indoors?”

“It’s a city,” said Five, motioning for them to follow her through the crowded sidewalk beneath the curving buildings that seemed to lean over them, forming only the narrowest of spaces over the walkways. “Of course it’s indoors.”

“But how…how big is this?”

Five extended her claws, and held two of them together a tiny distance apart. “You know how big the Pocket is?”

“No.”

“Well, imagine filling it up with a model where the ponies were of that size. And not just on the floor. Filling all the space.”

“That phrase is not helping me,” said Gell.

“You’re a lespony,” said Five. “You’re space never gets filled.”

“Not comfortable!” cried Rainbow Dash, covering her ears.

“Too sensitive. B.N. was right, you are a prude. Anyway, population here is…” She checked a hologram. “Three billion registered.”

“Three…billion?!”

“That’s actually rather small,” said Five. “Considering that Equestria’s population is over eighty nine billion right now.”

“That’s a lot of ponies!”

“Well,” said Gell, “you guys are really good at breeding.”

“And Gell has only mated with three quarters of them,” noted Five.

“Oh!” said Gell, leaping forward to Five. “Somepony just made a joke!”

“Yes. Yes I did.”

The crowd suddenly seemed to become pushy, and Rainbow Dash was momentarily separated from the pair. She spread her wings and leapt into the air. As she did, several ponies below her jumped back, and others stared up in awe, pointing and hindering traffic.

“Wow,” said Rainbow Dash, catching up easily to Five and Gell. “I didn’t realize I had this many fans!”

“They’re not fans,” said Five. “They are just surprised to see a pony flying.”

“Flying? But I’m a Pegasus. It’s what we do.”

“You have been gone a while,” said Gell. “Here,” she said, looking out into the crowd. She pointed toward a young red colored Pegasus stallion who was approaching them. “Watch this.”

She jumped forward, causing the crowd to scatter. She pulled down her hood and pointed at the Pegasus.

“YOU!” she said. “I’m gonna put your face on my face and say ‘hi’ to your mother!”

“Noooooo!” cried the Pegasus, turning to run. As he galloped away, his wings seemed to shudder involuntarily. Instead of allowing him to take flight, though, they pulled him to one side and tipped him over. As they buzzed and fluttered, he was drawn in wide circles across the ground, crying in fear as the other ponies around him snapped pictures. “But I don’t even play Borderlands!”

“What- -what was that?” cried Rainbow Dash.

“Hilarious,” said Gell.

“No. I mean what’s wrong with him?”

“Nothing,” said Five. “It’s just that the vast majority of Pegasi lack the ability to fly.”

“But- -but they’re Pegasi!” She dropped from the air and reached down to help the pony up. Instead of accepting her hoof, however, he recoiled, blushing deeply, his wings suddenly flapping much harder.

“Get- -get away from me!” he cried, scrambling to his feet and lurching off into the crowd even as his wings continued to try to pull him over.

“It’s a lost art,” said Five, “especially for those developed in cities, especially those in the lower levels. There is little motive to lean to fly when machines can do it so much better. And, it is another reason why my kind are so hated.”

“And back to mopey An,” said Gell. She crossed through the crowd- -most of them getting out of her way- -and approached a cordoned off section where the pavement of the sidewalk had been removed, apparently by wear. Rainbow Dash took flight and approached it- -and realized, to her dizzying amazement, that it led to dimly lit depths below the street, to large and deeper levels.

“How- - how deep does this place go?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“No idea,” said Gell. “But the lower levels are where the fun happens. After you go to your museum, you should come down.”

“Don’t,” whispered Five, her voice clear over the noise of the streets.

“Hey, get away from there!” cried a work-pony in a shiny yellow vest.

“I’ll meet you in a few hours,” said Gell. Philomena jumped from her horn and flew over to Rainbow Dash. “And I’m taking a thousand bits from the account.”

“Hey!” said Five. “That’s my money!”

“Consider it my salary for having to put up with you. I also may borrow my gun.”

“Aim for the head.”

Gell smiled mischievously. “I always do.” She turned to Rainbow Dash. “Until then, we part ways, my dear Dashie.”

Without hesitation, she suddenly jumped into the hole, falling through it and into the depths beyond. Rainbow Dash moved to save her, but Five stopped her.

“Let her go,” said Five.

“But the fall- -”

“She’s a demon. They’re durable.”

Rainbow Dash looked back at the hole. The workpony, now dreadfully confused, was staring into it. Rainbow Dash turned back to Five. “What exactly is she going to do on those lower levels?”

“Hmm,” said Five. “Let’s just say that a lot of mares are going to be very sore tomorrow.”

Rainbow Dash shivered, but continued to walk with Five through the streets. As she did, though, she suddenly felt a tap on her side. She turned, expecting to see a fan of some kind, but instead saw a disheveled looking pony in a long coat.

“How much?” he asked.

“How much for what?” asked Rainbow Dash, confused.

“You know,” he said. Before Rainbow Dash could stop him, he reached up to her rump and flipped up her tail, bending over to take a look, smiling. “In fine condition I see. Must be- -”

“What the hay!!” screamed Rainbow Dash, bucking him in the face with her cybernetic rear leg so hard that he was flung backward with enough force to knock over several passerbies. Rainbow Dash spread her wings as if to fly, but found herself lowering her haunches, her tail pressed between her legs, extremely embarrassed. “Why would you even do that?!” she demanded.

“You just have to make things of difficulty,” muttered Five, grabbing Rainbow Dash’s leg and pulling her into the crowd.

“Let me go!” cried Rainbow Dash, partially regaining her composure. “I should beat that guy to a pulp for doing that to me! The sick freak!”

“No, you won’t,” said Five, sternly. “It’s okay when Gell is here- -she has a kind of diplomatic semi-immunity. I don’t. I’m a chiropteran. They will kill me for something like this.”

“But it’s not your fault! The pervert lifted my tail, just like that! And…and you can’t even die!”

“The point still stands.”

Five led Rainbow Dash through the street for several minutes, and then suddenly took flight, taking them several hundred feet in the air to a higher level, one that wrapped and entwined buildings, one of which, much to Rainbow Dash’s surprise, seemed to have been build a long time ago around a much larger version of the type of golem that they had seen before.

“This should be good,” said Five, leaning against a façade of one of the buildings across from the red-eyed golem and the buildings perched on its shoulders, as though it had been their foundation for decades of even centuries.

“Care to explain what it Celestia’s name just happened to me?”

“That stallion mistook you a sex worker.”

“What’s a sex worker?”

Five stared blankly. “Really?”

“It doesn’t sound good, though.”

“Hold still.” Five lifted one of her hooves and extended a claw to Rainbow Dash’s forehead, causing the latter’s eyes to cross. Five’s eyes glinted green and the defintition- -as well as several pictures, apparently taken from Five’s youth, many of them involving Gell in a pile of mares- -appeared in Rainbow Dash’s head.

“Eeeeeewwwww!” she cried, covering her eyes. “I’m not- -I’m not that kind of filly!”

“Hey!” snapped Five, her eyes narrowing. “Don’t say it like that. It’s a hard enough job without you looking down upon them. They’re ponies too, you realize. They have hopes and dreams, just as you. And not all of us get good special talents like flying abnormally fast.”

“I’m- -I’m sorry,” said Rainbow Dash, still blushing. “But they do- -they do that for bits?”

“Don’t pretend like it did not occur in your own time.”

“But it didn’t- -”

“It did. It’s just legal now.”

“You seem to be defending them an awful lot,” said Rainbow Dash, her mind slowly recovering. “You weren’t- -” She gasped. “You were!”

“And this must be how you felt about twenty minutes ago. Annnnd poetic justice. But no. I was not. Neither was Gell, but she has many friends who were and are. They have helped us when times were harder. They are members of a very short list of ponies who I generally avoid administering pain upon.”

“You make it sound like you would kill them,” chucked Rainbow Dash.

“I would kill Gell if I could figure out how,” said Five with absolute seriousness.

“Okay,” said Rainbow Dash, backing away.

“But that isn’t the question,” said Five. “Not the one you asked. The reason why you have been, and will continue to be, confused as a prostitute is because of your coat color.”

“I’m blue,” said Rainbow Dash. “Well, actually cyan, I guess. What’s wrong with that?”

“History. After the Second Choggoth War, blue ponies were considered an inferior breed.”

Rainbow Dash remembered. During the invasion of Equestria by the Choggoth D27, massive riots had ensued while ponies attempted to capture the shapeshifter, who inevitably manifested as a blue pony- -attacking the rest of the “Blues” in the process. “But we fixed that,” said Rainbow Dash. “With the Elements of Harmony!”

“Says the last living Element. And you cannot kill racism. Blues were denied jobs, housing, even basic rights. Eventually, the unicorns responded with a spell that could change phenotype in utero. Blue-coated ponies were eventually rendered nearly extinct.

“That was many years ago, before that golem even started standing there. Since then, there has been a mild renaissance. You are now considered exotic. It does not help that the majority of Blues surviving are of great poverty. They lacked funds to pay for the procedure.”

“That sucks,” said Rainbow Dash, sitting against the corrosion-stained wall behind her. “It just…sucks.”

“Admittedly, for Zero-Level, that one’s actions were extremely rude. That should not happen in the future, assuming you avoid the lower levels.”

“It’s not me I’m thinking about,” said Rainbow Dash.

Five seemed confused. “Who, then?”

“The others. Soarin, and Twilight’s dad, that guy who makes the moonshine- -hay, half of Ponyville was blue.”

“They have been dead for centuries. They care little now.”

“That’s not the point! They were all unique, and all great ponies. That ponies would just look at them and assume like that…I know they’re dead.” She sighed deeply. “I know that. But it’s like they’re kicking mud on all my friend’s memories.”

“I see. Or rather, fail to. The emotions you portray are beyond my comprehension.”

“I know,” sighed Rainbow Dash. “I know…” She suddenly felt a strong thirst for alcohol.

“It appears I have depressed you,” said Five.

“I’m a Wonderbolt,” said Rainbow Dash, standing up. “I don’t get ‘depressed’!”

“You were a Wonderbolt. They disbanded centuries ago…and I am making it worse. Hold on.” She dug through one of her miniature saddle bags. Rainbow Dash momentarily saw the glint of a gun under her wing.

“Here,” said Five, passing something to Rainbow Dash with her teeth. Rainbow Dash took it in her mechanical hoof. Rainbow Dash turned it over, and saw that it was a pair of plastic glasses, the fronts of them tinted with a metallic color with two decals of spirals on them.

“I don’t think these are going to cheer me up much,” she said, trying to pass them back to Five.

“Put them on,” said Five, waving them away. “I think you will like the result.”

“Alright,” said Rainbow Dash. She did not see how a childish toy was going to help her, but she did not want to agitate Five. She slipped the glasses onto her nose. “I bet I look like a total- -”

She gasped as she looked around. She had expected the world to be colored some strange hue by the tinted glass, and to see the comical spirals in her vision. Instead, she saw clearly- -directly into ponies. She suddenly found herself looking at a horde of skeletons, as though she had fallen into the middle of some abnormally well-orchestrated Nightmare Night celebration.

“I- -I can see their bones!” she cried out, laughing. “This is so cool!”

Rainbow dash looked down at her hooves. One of them, her metal one, appeared as a mass of machine parts moving like nearly microscopic clockwork in response to her will. The other showed her internal bones- -and she was surprised to see that, beneath their hooves, ponies actually had something sort of resembling a hand.

She looked up at Five, and instead of seeing a cynically stone-faced bat pony saw herself instead looking into a wide-eyed skull. “You’re a skeleton!” laughed Rainbow Dash. “Hey, Five, you look like you need to put on some weight.”

“Funny,” said Five, Rainbow Dash watching her jaw moving. Five turned, and Rainbow Dash momentarily saw an unusual number of items inside her body. Some were in her pouches, but others looked like large pieces of shrapnel imbedded in her body. Five pointed. “Two o’clock, range ten meters,” she said.

Instinctively, Rainbow Dash zeroed in on the position that Five had listed- -and saw something even more amazing.

“What is that?” said Rainbow Dash. She reached up and removed the glasses. Without them, she saw an ordinary looking pale-coated unicorn stallion wearing the upper half of a suit laughing alongside a similarly dressed mare. When she put the glasses on, though, Rainbow Dash saw something vastly different from the normal skeletons. Instead of bones, his body seemed to instead consist of a number of grotesque interlocking plates around internal, tube-like structures.

Rainbow Dash looked around, and saw that he was not alone. In the crowd, there were several ponies with the same internal appearance. One was a donkey standing at a vending cart. Another was an earth pony staring of the railing down at the street below. A third was one of a group of workponies seeming to contemplate something about a nearby structure.

“What are they?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Changelings,” said Five.

“Changelings?!” said Rainbow Dash, loudly. She spread her wings, preparing for attack.

“Not so loudly,” said Five. “Calm down.”

“But- -changelings!”

“They make up almost five percent of the population.”

“Is it- -is it an invasion?”

“No,” said Five, slowly. “They just live here. Like every other pony.”

“So they’re not plotting anything evil?”

“Why would they be?”

“In my time they nearly took over Equestria!”

“Um…no. I was there. Sort of. That was actually an attempt to assassinate the Anomaly. By Celestia.”

“What the hay are you talking about?”

“Ten, fifty degrees high, range eight meters.”

In the middle of her question, Rainbow Dash turned her head, almost without realizing it. She expected to see another changeling, but instead she saw a skeleton that clearly belonged to neither a pony nor a changeling. She immediately recognized it as a griffon. Something was strange about it, though. There was something other than bones present in its body, a pale stream of pink colored light inside its body, coiled like a worm, one end of it reaching up to the griffon’s skull.

Rainbow Dash watched as the griffon passed overhead, and for a moment she saw it look down at her, its skeletal eye sockets nearly dripping with pink energy, as though it knew she was watching. Then it dropped to the lower level as a narrow airship passed.

“That is far rarer,” said Five.

“A griffon? But there are tons of griffons- -”

“You should have seen something inside.”

“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash. “A long thing.” She slid off the glasses and turned to Five. “What was that?”

“That was an Incurse.”

“In-curse?” said Rainbow Dash. She recalled having heard the word several times. “I almost know what that is.”

“You should. You met one.”

“When did I do that?”

“Flesh’s riding mare. She was one.”

Rainbow Dash recalled the broken looking, leather-clad mare that the pervert unicorn in Appleoosa had kept around him. “What…what exactly is one of these ‘Incurse’?”

“Parasites,” said Five. “Loosely. They are a type of living spell. They infect the dead or dying, stealing their memories and making a new mind for them to live on in.”

“I heard ponies talking about a war with them.”

“There was. It was very long and very bloody. My mother spent most of her life as a soldier in that war.”

“Well, you don’t seem very bothered by seeing one.”

“I am not. Because not all Incurse are the enemies of ponies. But I am one of few who believes this. As the changelings, their existence here is largely a secret.”

“Oh,” said Rainbow Dash, suddenly realizing that she was privy to a secret that even the future ponies that surrounded her did not even know. That made her feel better, somehow. “So it’s like spy stuff then…”

“Not at all.”

Rainbow Dash continued to look around, admiring the skeletons and watching for more Incurse. She saw several more changelings out of the hundreds of ponies, but no ponies with the characteristic- -and slightly grotesque- -spell living inside them. “Where did you even get these?” she asked.

“I ordered them out of the back of a comic book.”

“No way. Did you make them?”

“I was serious. Not an ordinary comic, though. At one point, Gell and I were pulled within the pages of one.”

“No way!” cried Rainbow Dash. “The same thing happened to me!”

Five’s skull stared at Rainbow Dash. “Really? Was that common in the past?”

“No, it was something Spike bought. I got to be Zapp, and it was awesome!” Rainbow Dash paused. “Which comic did you get?”

“I would rather not say.”

Rainbow Dash smiled widely. “It wasn’t…”

“Don’t say it.”

“Batpony?”

Five sighed. “Yes. Yes it was. I was batpony, and Gell was the Robin.”

“You as batpony!” Rainbow Dash laughed so hard she collapsed onto the ground. “It’s perfect! All dark and spooky- -‘I am the night!’- -HA!”

“It was ridiculous. The thing wouldn’t even allow the use of guns, and Gell ended up having relations with Catmare. And the Jester’s sidekick. At the same time.”

“Talk about the colt-wonder!” said Rainbow Dash, recovering from her fit of laughter, which promptly restarted with a loud snort when she realized what she had just said.

“I will admit, though…It was amusing to not have to be one of them, for once…”

Rainbow Dash leaned back against the wall and looked out at the crowd. “I wouldn’t know. I love being me. I wish I still could be.”

“You still are.”

“Hey,” said Rainbow Dash, changing the subject. “That really big golem. Is it on?”

“If by ‘on’ you mean active, yes. It is. Thebe has just mot moved it in a great while. They do not expire.”

“Oh. That explains the colors.”

“Colors?”

Rainbow Dash felt the glasses snatched from her nose.

“Hey!” she said.

Five put them on her own face and stared at the six-hundred foot tall goliath across the way. “I don’t see anything,” she said. “What did you see?”

“Lines, sort of,” said Rainbow Dash. “And…circles?”

Five have Rainbow Dash the glasses back. “Describe it. Carefully, please.”

“Fine,” said Rainbow Dash, putting the glasses back on. She looked back at the golem and allowed her eyes to focus on the chains of light that seemed to be passing through its body. “Yeah,” she said. “Lines. Kind of…curvy, like that BNA stuff Twilight kept talking about.”

“DNA,” corrected Five. “You mean double helicies?”

“Yeah, but others. Flat lines and balls and stuff, all kind of moving.”

“What color are they?”

“Red. Really red. Like glowing blood.”

“That shouldn’t be possible,” muttered Five.

“What?”

“Do you know what you are seeing.”

“Yes, clearly,” said Rainbow Dash sarcastically. “Of course I do.”

“What you are seeing is the golem’s source code!”

“And that means…what?”

“It means you just somehow cracked widely one of the most advanced security systems in Equestria. Nopony sees Thebe’s code. I don’t know why you can see it, but if only I could. Just a fraction is worth several billion bits.”

“For those squiggles?”

Rainbow Dash felt the glasses being plucked off her face again. “Yes. Because if somepony had that, they could hack the golem, and that one alone could level this city in a blink.”

“But that would be really bad, wouldn’t it?”

“Not if I’m the one selling the code, no. But it’s actually best not to pursue this.”

“Why?”

“Because if the golem catches you, well…it ends well for nopony.”

“I think I could take that thing,” said Rainbow Dash, standing up.

“That is a good spirit to have,” said Five. “Unless you act upon it. If you believe I am cruel, Thebe is worse. By far. Do not disturb the golems. Do not tempt fate.”

Rainbow Dash momentarily wondered what this Thebe pony might be like. For some reason, in her mind, she imagined an alicorn much like Celestia- -in fact, the one in her mind was Celestia- -but with spiky future-hair and heavy eyeliner. The image in her mind was almost comical.

“Come on,” said Five. “We have waited long enough.” She spread her wings. “Do you wish to take a flight to the museum?”

“It’s like you read my mind,” said Rainbow Dash. For some reason, though, she was terrified- -and not at all of the golem.