Empty Horizons
Chapter 5: Supplement: Twilight's Notes on Archaeology
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by Goldenwing
First published
Twilight wakes up, alone in the dark. And she's drowning.
The surface isn't safe anymore.
In the ruined depths of Canterlot, a team of brave salvagers discover six mares, long forgotten but miraculously preserved. Though these mares cannot remember what happened to their world, they possess powerful magic that hasn't been seen for centuries.
Now the Elements of Harmony are thrust headlong into a world beyond recognition. Twilight and her friends must dive into the sunken remains of history to determine what happened, but Equestria isn't the harmonious land it once was. Before they can focus wholly on the past, they may first have to survive the present.
It isn't going to be easy.
Special thanks to Doccular42 for the original concept, and M1ntf4n for editing!
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I: The Darkness
Twilight was drowning.
Her eyes shot wide open as she began to rise, her legs jerking in a panicky ascent to an uncertain surface. A jolt of pain raced down her spine as her horn hit against something hard above her. She couldn’t move. Her hooves were tied, her neck, her barrel, her whole body was held in place, wrapped tight in some cold, unmoving web.
What’s happening? Where am I? She fought to calm her racing mind, to drive the panic out and find that calm core of reason that had helped her surpass every problem before.
Darkness. She was in total darkness, underwater. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t breathe. No matter how frantically she called upon her magic, she felt nothing, saw no warm purple glow from her horn. She was completely helpless.
The panic rushed back in a hungry flood, overwhelming her mind even as her lungs threatened to burst open. She kicked and bucked and shrieked through tightly closed lips, but to no avail. There was nopony coming for her. Here would be the end of Twilight Sparkle.
Then suddenly, movement. She could feel herself rising, feel the acceleration pushing her down against her bonds. The sudden burst of motion was so abrupt that it nearly jolted her mouth open. The panic receded ever so slightly, pushed back by the twin efforts of curiosity and hope.
She could feel it now: the cold chill of air running over her wet horn. The water was going down. She would survive.
It was almost too late. Just as the air touched the top of her muzzle, the reflexive urge to breathe grew too strong, and she sucked in a great shuddering gasp of water. A violent spasm wracked her body as the mixture of water and air rushed into her lungs. With renewed vigor she channeled magic once more and, even though she couldn’t see her horn’s glow, pushed the killing liquid out. The water burst from her mouth as she took in huge gasps of air, her whole body shivering as warm tears mixed with the icy cold drops that clung to her fur.
The movement stopped without warning, causing Twilight to wince in pain as her restraints pulled against her soaked fur.
After an eternity of silence, she opened her mouth to speak. A raspy cough came out instead. Her chest heaved as she inhaled another few lungfuls of life-giving air.
“H-hello?”
Her voice came out quiet and afraid, and was sucked up by the oppressive darkness far too quickly for her taste. She fought to control her chattering teeth as she waited for any response, for any sound at all. But, no matter how hard she strained, all she heard was the rush of blood pounding in her ears.
“Rainbow Dash? Applejack? Is anypony there?”
Silence.
Twilight’s breathing sped up and grew shallow. She squirmed helplessly against her restraints. “Help! Somepony help me!”
There was a sudden loud thunk from directly in front of her, causing Twilight to jolt in surprise. For a full minute she remained silent, listening to the noise echo into nothingness, barely even breathing, barely even thinking, for fear that she would miss something.
A harsh green light flared up before her.
“Ahh!” Twilight yelled out in pain as the brightness assaulted her eyes. She squinted against it, reflexively trying to block it out with one of her restrained hooves.
She could hear something, just barely. Her ears twitched at the sound of low, muffled voices from somewhere nearby. Was she in some kind of enclosed space?
“Ah, fuck,” the voice mumbled. “Still alive? Sabre, hoof me the pick!”
Twilight cracked an eye open, letting it adjust to the light. A spidery black lattice stood between her and the light, and behind it she could see a hazy silhouette moving about. The light moved and bobbed along with it, reminding her of hornlight following its owner.
Twilight screamed as a hefty spike punched through the wall before her with a sickening crunch. It ripped a long tear downwards before disappearing back into the light, only to return again just a moment later.
“Quiet, girl! Shut up before ye bring every beastie in town down on us!”
“Here, let me in. I’ve got her.”
An armored hoof shoved itself over her mouth and cut off her shrieks of terror. She continued to scream into it as the spike dove down again and again, tearing at her bonds.
“Sabre, we’ve got some movement closing in.”
“I’m not leaving her behind, Trails. Get these others out, too.”
“Eugh, right. This stink is gonna take forever to get out.”
Twilight whimpered as the last of her restraints was cut, and she fell limply into a puddle of thick green ooze. She lay there, quietly trembling, waiting for the spike to come down again and end it all.
“Miss, you alright?”
Twilight looked up as a hard, metal hoof touched her shoulder. A heavily armored form, only just recognizable as a pony behind the glowing blue lights set into its helmet and the interlocking plates that covered its torso, stood above her. It was unlike anything she’d ever seen before. If it wasn’t for the tinny, distorted mare’s voice that came from it, she would’ve never thought there to be a pony inside.
Twilight opened her mouth, a flood of questions all desperately fighting to go first, but all that came out was a weak, “Uh… I…” She looked around hazily. Massive, worn stone bricks surrounded her, the encroaching roots that gripped them black and lifeless. The walls disappeared above her into an inky blackness, a blackness which surrounded her in every direction, watching like a hungry predator just beyond the range of a brilliant blue lamp that rested on the floor. Green ooze tugged at her hooves as she shakily stood up, and for the first time Twilight noticed the thickness and taste of the fluid in her mouth. Behind her was a pony-sized black cocoon, one side torn to shreds, still leaking.
A changeling pod?
Changelings.
It all came back to her at once. Her brother, the wedding, Chrysalis, Princess Celestia lying beaten on the floor, the changeling swarm buzzing hungrily just beyond the shield. The changelings are attacking!
She turned back to the armored mare and pulled her closer with both forelegs. “Changelings are attacking Canterlot!” she exclaimed. “We need to find my brother! Where are my friends?”
The mare cocked her head, taking a step back. “I’m not sure what you mean, miss. My team is working on these other pods. You need to come with us.” She gestured behind her.
Twilight’s gaze followed the mare’s hoof. Five other pods were arrayed against the wall, another armored pony ripping into them with a pickaxe gleaming with the slick green liquid. This one had the bulkier shape of a stallion.
Just as she looked over, the stallion finished tearing apart the first pod, and a soaking wet Pinkie Pie fell out. Twilight reached out with her magic, catching her friend and easing her gently to the ground as she rushed to her side.
“Pinkie! Are you alright?”
“Aughhh…” Pinkie moaned, rolling into her back. “Twilight...? What happened…?”
Twilight looked up as another armored pony, this one taller but still with the body shape of a mare, spoke up from the very edge of the lamplight. “Uhh, Sabre. We really need to move. Soonish.”
The first armored mare, whom Twilight took to be ‘Sabre,’ scratched at the ground impatiently. “Faster, Flint. We don’t have all day.”
Flint let out an irritable grunt as he stabbed viciously into another changeling pod. “Well, how about ye quit standin’ ’round and give me a hoof then, eh?”
Sabre snorted as she approached a pod. She punched a hoof against it, and a matte black blade extended from her armor, stabbing through the hard carapace. “ETA till contact, Trails?”
Contact? A dozen possibilities popped up in Twilight’s head, each worse than the last.
Trails let out a thoughtful hum as she peered into the darkness. “A pessimist would tell you three minutes. So for your taste? Sixty seconds.”
Flint pulled a tendril apart with a loud snap, allowing an unconscious Fluttershy to fall face first into the green ooze around her pod. He moved on to the next pod without hesitation, tearing it apart hastily.
“Fluttershy!” Twilight ran up to Fluttershy, rolling her onto her side and feeling for a pulse. Her breath was faint, but it was still there. She looked up to the strange armored ponies, narrowing her eyes. “Who are you?” she demanded. “Where’s the Princess?”
Trails glanced back. “Princess? You been living under a rock or something?” She turned back to the darkness with a low chuckle.
Twilight frowned, taken aback by the response. Living under a rock?
“Quiet,” Sabre said, still cutting at her pod. “My name is Sea Sabre. This big guy is Flintlock, and the chatty one is Star Trails. We don’t have any time to talk. You just have to trust us. We can answer any questions you have later, but right now we need to move.”
She pulled her blade out, and a wild-eyed Rainbow Dash tackled her with a raspy roar. Sabre grunted in surprise, stumbling back a step before easily shoving the violent pegasus aside. Rainbow rolled with the blow, jumping back to her hooves with a quick wing flap and settling into a shaky attack stance.
“Rainbow, stop!” Twilight jumped in front of her friend. “They’re friends!”
“Wh-what?” Rainbow was breathing hard, her eyes flitting about uncertainly. “Where’s—changelings? The Princess? Fluttershy!” Rainbow practically fell at her unconscious friend’s side, laying a wing over her protectively.
Pinkie stumbled to her hooves. “Owww. Everything hurts.”
“What happened?” Rainbow demanded, rounding on Sea Sabre. “Where is everypony? Why’s it so dark? And who are you ponies?”
“Rainbow Dash, calm down!” Twilight whispered frantically. It was hard enough to figure all of that out as it was, and she really didn’t need an aggressive blue pegasus flying around attacking things.
Flintlock snorted as he began tearing into another pod. “I didn’t sign up fer this.”
“Thirty seconds,” Star Trails said.
Twilight quirked a brow. Thirty seconds? How could she possibly know that?
Sea Sabre only spared Rainbow a brief glance before she moved to start on the final pod. “Believe me, miss, I’d answer your questions if I could. But right now we really don’t have the—”
A distant boom echoed out from the darkness, causing dust and small stones to rain down from above. Twilight’s heart skipped a beat at the high-pitched animal shriek that followed soon after.
“That’ll be the mines,” Trails said. She shone the light on her chestpiece down the length of the wide hallway they seemed to be in, though the light wasn’t strong enough to reach the end. “Now or never, Boss!”
“What was that?” Twilight asked, peering into the darkness. The armored ponies offered no response.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Pinkie said. Her tail twitched as she backed away from the noise.
“Hey! She asked you a question!” Rainbow Dash flew past Twilight and right up to Star Trails, sticking her muzzle into her armored face. “What was that noise?”
Trails took a step back, eyeing Rainbow’s wings. “You’re a—wow. Very fast flyer.”
“Careful, little mare,” Flintlock said. “Those’re hunting calls ye hear. I’d recommend ye stay outta Traily’s way.”
Rainbow pulled back ever so slightly, uncertainty flashing across her face as she glanced to the big stallion.
A shrill screech pierced the air, and Twilight picked out an inky black figure sprinting out of the darkness at alarming speed. Star Trails shoved Rainbow Dash aside with one hoof, mechanical gears on her armor ticking as what Twilight had assumed was a saddlebag began to unpack itself. A jagged spearhead poked out of the contraption, continuing to tick as Trails adjusted her stance. The ticking was cut off by a sudden jet of steam from the back of the pack, a javelin the size of Twilight’s leg leaping out of its brace.
The figure yelped in pain as it was struck, its face slamming into the ground as it lost its balance. It continued to skid across the floor, carried on by its own momentum, until it finally slid to a stop at Trails’ armored hooves.
Trails’ horn glowed a pale blue as she pulled the javelin out of the creature’s skull. She gave it a couple quick flicks to get the green ooze off the head before sliding it back into its brace. “Okay Sabre, really now. Can we leave?”
“Hang on, almost got it,” Sabre said, slicing into the pod before her.
Twilight stared wide-eyed at the corpse before Star Trails as green ichor dribbled out of the hole in its mottled carapace. A sickly sweet smell, like rotten fruit, assaulted her nostrils. The changeling was unlike any she’d seen before, its legs long and spindly and its mouth overflowing with razor sharp fangs. Its wings hung uselessly at its side, completely without filament, and it even seemed to have extra horns beginning to grow from its forehead.
“What is that?” Twilight whispered.
The final two pods popped open at almost the exact same time. Applejack stumbled weakly forth from hers, hat drooping down over her eyes as Sea Sabre lent a shoulder for support. Rarity wasn’t nearly as lucky, as Flintlock stepped back to let her fall down into the ooze that had spilled from her cocoon.
Rarity moaned, lying on her side. “Where am I…? What is—what is this?!” Twilight flinched as her voice suddenly jumped up a couple octaves. Rarity raised a green-soaked hoof up to her eyes, her lip trembling. “Oh, Celestia! It’s everywhere! Ew ew ew ew ew ew—” She began to shake herself wildly, voice still steadily rising.
“Shut up!” Flint barked.
Rarity froze, looking up as if she’d just noticed the ponies around her. She scrambled to her hooves, letting out a few high-pitched titters as she straightened up. “Ah, yes, hello.” Another little squeal escaped her lips as a thick green drop slipped off her mane.
“Twilight?” Applejack asked, still leaning on Sabre. “What’s goin’ on?”
Twilight took a deep breath. Her friends needed her to explain things, to solve the problem. Alright, start with what you know. You just got pulled out of a changeling cocoon by weird armored ponies, it’s pitch-black, and one of them just shot some warped version of a changeling with a steam-powered ponyborne ballista. She frowned. That was a disturbingly small selection of information from which to draw a conclusion.
She braced herself to say something that came very hard to her, looking between each of her friends. “I—I don’t know.”
Another monstrous scream echoed down the hall, this one accompanied by at least a dozen others, the calls echoing and overlapping like some high-pitched roll of thunder. Twilight’s ears flattened as the fearsome sound triggered a deeply seated fight-or-flight instinct.
Sea Sabre seemed totally unfazed by the sound from behind her armored helmet. She looked between her squadmates. “Alright, we’re moving. What’s up with that one?” She nodded at Fluttershy, still lying unconscious in front of her pod.
“I’ll get ’er.” Applejack pushed off of Sabre’s shoulder, taking a brief second to fix her hat before leaning down and pulling Fluttershy up. She wavered briefly as the pegasus’ weight settled onto her back.
“Ye got that?” Flint asked.
Applejack grinned weakly. “Don’t y’all worry ’bout me none, sugar cube. I’ll keep pace.”
Sea Sabre nodded. “Excellent. Trails, take point. Flint, vanguard. Rest of you in the middle with me. Let’s make for extraction.”
“Wait!” Twilight said, drawing a groan from Flint. She looked desperately between the six pods around her, resisting the urge to run from the predatory howls. “Where’s Spike?”
Flint glanced back towards the source of the changeling calls, which had since grown louder and more numerous. “We don’t got time for this, Sabre.”
“I’m sorry, miss, but we’ve already risked too much just pulling you and your friends out. We need to go. Now,” Sabre said.
Twilight exchanged desperate looks with her friends, seeing her own confusion and fear reflected in their eyes. Her eyes came to rest on Applejack, who gave her a reassuring little smile from under the drooping brim of her hat.
Twilight didn’t know what was going on, but her friends trusted her to find out. She’d have to stay strong, for them. Spike would have to fend for himself a little while longer.
“Okay,” she said. Forgive me, Spike. I’ll come back for you.
Without a word, Trails began to move at a brisk trot, her shoulder-light piercing the darkness before her. Sabre grabbed the lamp up off the floor with a wing and held it up high in the middle of the group. Twilight stayed huddled together with her friends in the middle of the group, while Flint brought up the rear.
They traveled in silence, with only the sound of their hooves on the stone and the shrill calls of the changelings to accompany them. Twilight eyed the chipped pillars and torn tapestries critically as they passed, vainly trying to piece together clues as to their location. The fabric was so old and mottled that even when Flint shone his light directly onto them, the image was impossible to make out.
Despite the strange environment and the constant screeching from behind her, Twilight felt her fear starting to subside. There was another, far more powerful emotion swiftly taking its place, an emotion which she had been slave to for all her life. Curiosity.
“Sabre,” she whispered. “Where are we?”
They came up to a pair of heavy, wooden double doors, one of which was resting at an awkward angle, its lower hinges having rotted out of place.
“Old Canterlot,” Sabre said.
Trails pushed the door open with a small burst of magic. The hinges let out a tired squeal as the door swung open, Trails’ light revealing a shallow staircase descending into a cobblestone plaza. With the help of their escorts’ lights, Twilight picked out a wide avenue running down the middle of a wrecked city. Most of the city was wreathed in the same deep, black shadows, but where the lights did shine it was practically falling apart from neglect, with loose stones and deep potholes littering the pavement, doors and windows lying shattered out of their frames, roofs collapsed into the homes beneath them and the blackened bones of dead trees decorating the walkways. Twilight gasped as she picked out a far too recognizable place, the wreckage of Pony Joe’s Donut Shop, the building cleaved in half by the upper half of a fallen tower as its signage hung limply from one corner.
Canterlot? She looked up, but there wasn’t a single star in the sky. The air was stale and stagnant. Only the sound of her breathing pierced the eerie silence.
“What—when—gah!” Twilight’s unfinished questions were interrupted by a rough push from behind, sending her stumbling down into the street and nearly flat onto her face. The sound of her hooves slipping against the stairs echoed loudly into the distance.
“Get movin’,” she heard Flint growl. “Don’t got all day.”
Twilight’s brow furrowed, her blood going hot at the stallion’s dismissive tone. She could feel magic starting to course through her and gathering in her horn—Oh, hey, what’s that? The magic fizzled out as she leaned in closer to the ground. From this close she was able to see the thick layer of dark purple algae which covered it in intermittent splotches, previously invisible in the darkness. Purple algae? She didn’t recall ever reading about purple algae.
She was pulled from her reverie by Rainbow rushing up to her side and nearly knocking her over. “Hey, don’t push her!” Rainbow snarled, ears back as she glared up at Flint.
Flint laughed. “What’re ye gonna do, little mare? Bite me?”
“Cut the crap, Flint,” Sabre warned, walking down the steps.
Twilight straightened up, brushed herself off and mentally filed the strange algae away for later. “It’s okay, Rainbow.” She put a calming hoof on the bristling mare’s shoulder. “I’m fine.”
With an indignant snort, Rainbow looked away. They made their way down the broken avenue quickly, with the mares from Ponyville all taking in their surroundings with wide eyes and open mouths.
“Where is everypony?” Pinkie asked quietly.
“Don’t worry, Pinkie. I’m sure we’ll get our answers soon. They’re probably all fine.” Twilight frowned as they passed by Pony Joe’s, climbing over a pile of wide stone blocks. The more of Canterlot she saw, the harder it was for her to believe that there had been any survivors. “Probably.”
There was a sudden screech from in front of them as they crested the pile of rubble, and Twilight saw a group of six changeling drones dash into the light, all with the same strange mutations as the one she’d seen before. But these changelings were bigger, with longer fangs and jagged spines running down their backs.
Sabre tossed the lamp to Twilight, who reflexively caught it in her magic. “Hold this. Stay here.”
Twilight flinched at the hiss of steam as Trails fired her javelin, immediately silencing the lead drone. Sabre charged headfirst into the changelings with a fearsome roar, her wings flaring as blades slid out of the flexible armor that lined them.
She jabbed a wing forwards, the hard metal spike over her joint crushing one drone’s head in. She raised the other wing to deflect another drone’s charge, spinning around to slash at its side as it passed. A third drone tackled her as she came out of the spin. The two rolled down the pile of rubble and out of Twilight’s sight, locked in a deadly grapple.
Flint shoved his way to the top of the rubble pile, and for the first time Twilight noticed the unusually shaped pipe that hung from his side. She nearly fell over in shock as it spat a sudden gout of flame with a painfully loud boom, and one of the changelings collapsed as a leg was cut clean off.
Flint laughed heartily as the pipe at his side continued to fire, causing Twilight’s ears to ring with the sudden bursts of sound. Two more drones were cut down, their chests exploding with sprays of green blood.
Twilight screwed her nose up at the sulphuric stench in the air, her eyes stinging as it mixed with the rotten-fruit scent of the changeling corpses. She swallowed back bile as she took in the green ichor and stray body parts that littered the stones like a foal’s painting. The screeching had died away now, both before and behind them, as Sabre climbed back up the rubble towards them.
“Good work. Back in formation,” she said, even more splashes of green staining the cool grey of her armor.
Twilight stepped gingerly over the corpses as the group continued its journey. She looked back at Flint in search of distraction and nodded at the pipe by his side. “What is that device?”
“What, this ol’ thing? Hah!” Despite the full coverage of his armor, Flint’s voice gave Twilight the distinct impression of a wide, eager grin. “This here is a Mk. 10 Repeater from th’ good ol’ boys at Viridian Specialty Munitions. It fires th’ biggest damn bullet this side of Harvest, and reloads itself faster’n ye can say ‘don’t shoot me’.”
“So it’s… some kind of self-loading cannon?” Twilight asked.
“Wha—cannon? Ye ain’t never heard of a gun, girl?” He paused as she looked at him blankly. “Sweet Celestia, how long’ve ye been down here?”
Twilight cocked her head. Down here? She opened her mouth to ask about the strange word choice when Trails’ voice cut her off.
“Hey shush, you two,” she said. “Sabre, we’ve got something big moving fast.”
Sea Sabre swept her head-light about, illuminating the long-dead plaza they were crossing. “Where?”
“It looks like it’s—well, here.” Trails nickered thoughtfully. “That can’t be right.”
Pinkie Pie perked up suddenly, her tail twitching wildly and kicking up a sizeable cloud of dust. “My tail! Twitch-a-twitch!”
Twilight’s heart skipped a beat. Reflexes honed from all the time she’d spent with Pinkie Pie began to kick in.
Applejack gasped. “Duck and cover!”
There was a sudden sound of crumbling rock.
A huge gust of wind knocked Twilight onto her side even as she tried to run.
The ground shook as a massive black shape fell past Twilight’s peripherals, the impact throwing her back to the ground as she tried to scramble to her hooves. A loud, angry buzzing filled Twilight’s ears as she pulled herself up, coughing at the sudden influx of dust. She narrowed her eyes as she searched for her friends, but the dust was too thick to see far.
“What was that?” she heard Rainbow yell.
“Tartarus, that’s a big ’un!” Flint shouted. Twilight could feel the report of his repeater firing in her bones.
She flinched as another huge gust of wind slapped at her face. An ear-splitting screech cut through the buzzing as she straightened up and finally got a good look at their assailant.
It was a changeling, and yet not. The beast towered above her, easily the size of a two-story building, its chitin marred by old dents and scars from a lifetime of battle. It stood hunched over like a wolf, a line of razor-sharp spikes running down its spine, easily long enough to gut a pony. Its mouth was so full to the brim with fangs that some of them seemed ready to fall out. Two twisted, gnarled horns grew from its forehead, wrapped in a raggedy green mane. And there, barely visible on top of the backmost horn, was a little green crown.
Twilight gasped. “Queen Chrysalis?”
The Beast-Queen lunged towards Flint, her jaws wide open. Flint spread his stance, bringing to bear another gun he had mounted opposite his repeater. He spared barely an instant to line up his shot before firing.
The Beast-Queen screeched in fury, rearing up as a cloud of razor-sharp flechettes smashed into her face. Twilight stared open-mouthed as the massive deformed changeling reeled, swiping wildly at its surroundings and forcing Rarity and Pinkie Pie to leap back.
Sea Sabre’s commanding voice shook Twilight from her reverie, amplified as if by a loudspeaker built into her armor.
“Run!”
Twilight broke into a full-on gallop, almost tripping over a small pile of rubble in her path. She screamed in terror as she joined up with her friends, leaping over a rotted tree and falling in behind Sea Sabre.
The ponies ran down the dilapidated streets of Canterlot as fast as they could, the pounding steps and shrill hisses of the Beast-Queen close behind spurring them on. Twilight could barely see where she was stepping at this speed; neither she nor her friends had the powerful flashlights which their rescuers wore, and in her panic she had forgotten to pick the lamp back up. Twice they ran into small packs of deformed changelings, and twice they were swiftly dispatched by Sabre and Trails. Twilight stumbled at least a dozen times, barely avoiding the obstacles revealed to her by Flint’s light only seconds before she reached them.
A changeling leapt out of an alley, rearing up before her. “Gah!” She shut her eyes tight, magic coursing through her in an instinctive act of self defense.
Thick wetness splashed over her face, and when she opened her eyes again, the changeling was gone. There wasn’t any time to spare on disgust. She saw Sea Sabre watching her for a brief moment before looking forwards once more.
“We’re almost there!” Trails shouted. “It’s right through this building!”
Twilight caught a glimpse of her diving into the collapsed wreckage of an old tower. Everything above the third floor was long gone, and the rubble from its second floor was spilling out into the street. Sea Sabre skidded to a stop outside the entrance, crouching low as her armor began to unpack. Small jets of steam poured from a device on her back as it ejected a net tied between a dozen spherical weights. Twilight’s mane and coat stood on end as it passed over her, electricity arcing across its breadth, and another pained shriek came from behind her. Glancing back, Twilight saw the Beast-Queen toppling over, a group of drones coming to her aid as she struggled to break free from the charged net.
“C’mon, pick it up!” Sabre yelled, waving Twilight into the building. She almost ran straight into Star Trails, who was standing on the far side of the room, forehooves pressed against a thick stone slab that had blocked off a hallway.
“No, no, no, fuck!” Trails said. “It’s blocked! Sabre, we can’t go this way!”
Twilight’s friends ran inside right after her, Applejack practically falling over as she stopped to set Fluttershy down. Flintlock and Sea Sabre came in last, Sabre immediately heading for Trails.
“What? It was clear when we came in,” she said.
“Something must’ve disturbed it.” Trails shook her head, glancing out a shattered window. “Who knows? There’s all kinds of monsters in this damned place.”
A chill ran down Twilight’s spine. Monsters? Besides the changelings?
“Ye got a plan, Sabre?” Flint asked. “We got drones comin’ in, and I don’t think that queen’ll be too long.” The room began to flash as he started firing his repeater out the window.
Sabre stomped a hoof, pacing back and forth. “Damnit! We’re trapped like rats in a hole here. We’ll just have to hold out, hope the queen gets bored. We can handle drones.”
A trio of drones leapt through the windows as if on cue. Flint tackled the nearest one, crushing it against the wall, while Sabre and Trails quickly dispatched the other two with blade and javelin.
“It’s just a dumb rock!” Rarity said. “We can levitate it out of the way. Come here, Twilight.”
A huge black hoof smashed through the roof, claws scraping against the stone before it pulled back out. More rubble poured down on top of the slab. Outside, the Beast-Queen let loose another hungry scream.
Twilight watched as the three armored ponies each looked up to the new exit, then to each other. Flint cleared his throat. “We do have grapples.”
“What?” Applejack stumbled to her hooves. “Y’all can’t just leave us!”
Sabre shook her head. “We won’t.”
Flint shrugged, leveling his repeater back onto the windows. “Well, alrighty then. Come at me, ya big bugs!”
“Ahhh, what do we do, what do we do?” Twilight said, turning in circles. She could figure this out. She always figured it out. She could save her friends, if she could just solve this problem.
A faint yet deep rumbling reached Twilight’s ears. She flicked them about curiously, uncertain as to whether she was imagining it. The rumbling grew louder and louder, and within seconds it seemed as if it was right next to her, shaking the very ground beneath her hooves.
An overwhelmingly loud roar filled the room, much unlike that of the monstrous changeling queen. This one was deep, and draconian, and Twilight even thought she could hear the thunderous crackling of an inferno beneath it.
Brilliant green fire burst into being outside the building, nearly blinding Twilight as it wreathed the entire street in hungry flames. She stared slack-jawed as a massive purple dragon, at least twice the size of the Beast-Queen, leapt into view.
A fragile hope flared up in Twilight’s chest. “Spike?” It had to be him! The purple scales, the green spines! But no, there was something wrong. His eyes were red and angry, his mouth overflowing with teeth even for a dragon, his body marred by long scars that didn’t seem to have ever finished healing. And the way he moved was completely different. Gone was the waddling gait of the baby dragon she had known. This dragon stood and moved like a wolf, saliva dripping from its jaws as it growled at the changelings that dared to trespass on its territory.
“Oh, Spike.” Twilight choked back a sob as Spike and the Beast-Queen hissed at each other, each one pacing across the street. “What happened?”
“What—is that—Spikey Wikey!” Rarity cried. “What did that monster Chrysalis do?”
“No time for that,” Sabre said, peeking out the window as the dragon charged. The Beast-Queen flew out of the way, jumping onto his back as drones pounced on his legs. “We need to move while they’re distracted. Trails!”
“Right! This way!” Trails didn’t wait for any response, jumping back out the entrance.
Sabre gestured hastily at Twilight and her friends, who were all frozen on the spot,staring with wide eyes at the thing that may have once been their friend. “Get moving!”
Rarity shook herself, her lips tightening. “Let’s go, girls. We need to run, if only so we may return to correct any atrocities that have been committed in our absence.”
“For Spike.” Pinkie said, fresh tears on her cheeks.
“And for the Princess!” Rainbow added, an angry snarl contorting her face.
Applejack let out a heavy sigh as she heaved Fluttershy onto her back once more, and the ponies followed Trails outside. Twilight resisted the urge to look back as Spike and the changelings fought behind them. Before long the sounds of fighting faded into the distance, but still they ran on at full speed. Twilight didn’t even spare a glance when they passed by the broken remains of her old tower. They didn’t stop until they reached a huge black wall, its rough rocky surface gently curving in all directions as far as Twilight could see.
“What is this? This wasn’t here before,” she said.
Flint stepped up behind her, scanning the city with his light. “Lady, I’m gettin’ real tired of yer questions.”
Twilight frowned, but before she could think of a snappy comeback, she saw Trails suddenly stepping out of the wall a small distance away.
“Alright, in here,” Trails said, panting.
Sabre nodded. “We can take it a little easy now. Let’s go.”
Twilight leaned in closer, and realized that there was actually a tunnel carved into the wall. It was only about twice the height of a pony, but wide enough for a couple dozen stallions to walk abreast. It curved at a gentle downslope, its walls smooth and clean.
“Where does this go?” she asked.
“Outside,” Sabre said, following Trails into the tunnel.
“Wha—”
Flint cut off Twilight’s question with an exasperated groan. “Celestia, just go.”
Twilight huffed, walking quickly to catch up to Sabre. “Hey, I have no idea what’s going on, okay? We were in Canterlot during the changelings, and all I remember is being captured and then—and now Spike and—it’s all blank! How could this possibly be happening? This makes no sense!”
Sabre paused, cocking her head as she looked to Twilight. “You were here when the city was alive? Right here?”
Twilight blinked, taken aback by the quiet tone of Sabre’s voice. She let out a nervous little giggle. “Well, uh, not exactly right here at this exact position no, but yes, here in Canterlot. We were.”
Trails and Flint both came to a stop. The three armored ponies exchanged looks. Twilight flicked her tail irritably, wondering if they had some way to see each other’s faces through that armor.
“It’s… hard to explain,” Sabre said, resuming her walk. “It’s best I showed you.”
“Hey!” Rainbow skimmed the top of the tunnel before landing right in front of Sabre. “Listen up! We’ve been through a lot and my friends are all scared and confused. We’re not taking another step until you speak up!”
Twilight raised a cautioning hoof. She was beginning to put the clues together now. Canterlot covered in algae, and a full-grown Spike roaming its ruins? It all pointed in the same direction. “It’s okay, Rainbow,” she said softly. “I… think we should let her explain her way.”
Sabre nodded thankfully to Twilight before stepping around Rainbow. “Let’s move.”
Rainbow’s nostrils flared as she turned to Twilight. “What the hay, Twi? They aren’t telling us anything and you want us to just keep going along!”
Pinkie frowned, looking back towards Canterlot sadly. “Dashie, can we please not fight?”
“I think this is the right thing to do, Rainbow,” Twilight said, fighting to keep her voice calm. Last she remembered, the swarm had still been outside her brother’s shield, yet now there were drones running free inside the city. Had the changelings found a way inside, or had Chrysalis created a new swarm from scratch among the ruins? “Things might be… worse than we think. Just give them a little longer, okay?”
Rarity put a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Come now, darling, you can trust Twilight. If there’s anypony that can get our questions answered, it’s her.”
Applejack cleared her throat. “I for one would kindly like to keep on movin’.” She let out a wheezy little laugh. “Fluttershy’s a mite heavier’n I thought.”
A round of subdued giggles passed over the mares, leaving the air feeling noticeably lighter.
“Alright then.” Rainbow took a begrudging step aside. “But you may have to hold me back if they keep this up!”
Twilight rolled her eyes as she started after the armored ponies, her friends walking beside her. Her mind jumped from one terrifying possibility to the next, pausing only to briefly linger on Spike before moving on. She took a shaky breath before finding some small solace in her friends’ presence.
The journey through the tunnel was longer than Twilight had anticipated, becoming harder as it continued to slope down at a sharper and sharper angle. The air was stuffy and stale, and even though she couldn’t see the other side of the tunnel, it still seemed to press in on her with nothing but her horn and her escorts’ flashlights to drive the darkness away. Just as she had started to calculate exactly how deep they’d traveled, she heard the sound of water up ahead.
“Almost there,” Trails said.
“And without any salvage,” Flint grumbled.
Twilight arched a brow at that, but said nothing. Within a few minutes the ponies came to the source of the water, a deep pool at the end of the tunnel. She peered into the darkness around her, but saw no sign of any other exit. This was where the tunnel ended.
Bobbing gently on the shore was a boat, though it seemed far too small to carry even three ponies. She wondered how it had gotten there; there wasn’t any sign of a stream leading into or out of the pool.
“Get in,” Sabre said, beckoning towards the boat. Trails and Flint approached first, opening a small hatch in the center of the boat and climbing down inside.
Twilight blinked. What kind of weird boat was this, with a tiny hatch on top and the rest of it sunk underwater?
“It’s a submarine,” Sabre explained. “You seen one before?”
“Submarine?” Twilight repeated. She hadn’t seen one before, no, but the word did a good job of explaining the concept. “This boat goes underwater?”
Sabre just nodded.
Rainbow flew up a little higher, flapping excitedly. “Oh, that sounds so cool! Me first!” She immediately burst forward and dived into the hatch.
Applejack let out a heavy sigh. “Finally, some rest. Y’all mind taking Fluttershy here for me, Twilight?”
“Sure,” Twilight said. Her horn glowed as she gently wrapped Fluttershy in her magic and levitated her to her side. She noticed Sabre watching the unconscious pegasus intently, but didn’t bring it up.
After lowering Fluttershy down into Rainbow’s waiting hooves, Twilight climbed down the ladder which lined one side of the hatch. She looked around curiously as she came out into the cramped interior of the submarine, thankful for the distraction. Little dials and meters lined many of the walls, and the sound of gears ticking echoed up and down the narrow halls.
Sea Sabre entered last, closing the hatch securely behind her before squeezing her way towards the front of the ship. “Come with me if you want answers.”
Flint shrugged, looking to Trails. “Ready fer a spot of R&R?”
“You bet. The suit’s starting to really chafe on my neck.” She followed him towards the back of the ship, her voice fading away.
Twilight followed after Sabre with her friends close behind her. They packed themselves into what Twilight took to be the bridge of the vessel, if the large number of flips, switches, and wheels were any indication.
Sabre settled heavily into the seat at the front of the bridge before the thick bubble of glass that served as a viewport. She reached up and grabbed her helmet with both hooves, giving it a quick twist. There was a brief hissing as she removed her helmet, revealing her sea blue coat and short grey mane, a single white stripe running its length. She leaned back and looked at Twilight and each of her friends with pale red eyes.
“You may want to prepare yourselves.” As commanding as she’d been before, Sea Sabre’s voice was even more stony without the helmet in the way. It was deep for a mare, and it didn’t tolerate dissent.
Twilight gulped nervously, looking to her friends with a weak smile. She had the feeling that nothing she did would properly prepare her. “We’re ready.”
Sabre nodded, turning to the controls. She flipped a series of switches and began to manipulate the wheels which dominated the control panel with her wings. The ticking of the ship grew faster and louder, and there was the muffled hiss of steam escaping as the submarine rocked into motion.
“Things have—” She paused. “—changed since your Canterlot.” The submarine sank deeper into the pool, and the rock walls disappeared as they dropped out of the bottom of the tunnel. Beneath them Twilight saw old bricks that had been worn down almost completely spherical, half-buried in the sand.
“We don’t really live on the surface anymore.” Within a few minutes the sea floor dropped down abruptly, leaving them in what appeared to be open ocean. The submarine began to rise, rotating in a slow one-eighty.
“There’s a corruption down here. It warps things, makes them violent and wild. It’s not safe.” They continued to rise, further than Twilight thought possible. The tunnel hadn’t gone down this deep, had it? Even the wildest ballpark estimate she’d made didn’t go this deep. She frowned thoughtfully as an underwater mountain came into view. It looked vaguely familiar to her. She turned to her friends, seeing the same confused recognition in their eyes.
“The world you know is completely underwater. It’s been that way for hundreds of years.” Twilight saw some light filtering down from above as they drew closer to the surface. Her jaw dropped as she finally realized where she recognized the mountain from. Her chest tightened and her legs went rigid as her breathing began to speed up.
“No,” she whispered.
Finally the submarine reached the surface, bobbing gently as it was carried by the waves. Before her, Twilight saw the narrow peak of Canterhorn Mountain, just barely poking out of the water with enough room for a pony to stand on. The tallest mountain in Equestria.
She turned and ran, climbing up the hatch and forcing it open. She couldn’t breathe in the tight little sub. She needed fresh air. She needed space.
Twilight climbed out onto the open deck of the submarine, squinting against the salty gust of wind that blew into her face. She turned and turned, completely around, but all she saw was water. There was no land. No land to be seen in any direction. Just endless water.
She heard armored hooves climbing up the hatch behind her. Sea Sabre cleared her throat, taking a deep breath.
“Welcome to the future.”
Author's Notes:
II: The Argo
She’d never seen so much water before.
Twilight stood in silence on the deck of the submarine, staring out at the empty horizon. The steady rocking of the ship and the constant ticking of its clockwork machinery did wonders to calm her mind.
She shivered as a wave broke against the ship’s hull, the water sloshing around her hooves before it slipped back into the ocean. A deep breath of sea air filled her lungs as she closed her eyes.
It was far easier to think here, without changelings leaping for her throat from the shadows and frantic commands ringing in her ears. There’s no need to panic, Twilight, she thought. Just ask to see the Princess. She’ll fix everything. Just stay calm.
“Hey, Twilight!”
Twilight opened her eyes, looking back to see Rainbow’s head poking up from the hatch.
“C’mon here. Sabre wants to talk to us all!”
Twilight smiled. “I’ll be right there, Rainbow.” She turned around, walking down the narrow, railed deck. Surely Sea Sabre knew where Princess Celestia was!
A breath of steam rushed past Twilight’s face as she climbed down into the confines of the submarine. It was a small vessel, and as far as she could tell, designed for a small crew. Star Trails and Flintlock had remained in the rear of the vessel, while Twilight’s friends had squeezed themselves into the relatively spacious cargo hold just rear of the hatch.
She went there now, seeing her friends waiting for her amongst the sparse spread of riveted metal crates. Fluttershy, still unconscious, had been lain gingerly across a longer, rectangular crate, her head resting on a folded up towel.
Twilight stepped up to Fluttershy’s side, glancing to her friends. “She still hasn’t woken up?”
Rarity shook her head, frowning. “I don’t know, dear. There hasn’t been a peep from her since we came to this wretched place.”
“She’ll be fine,” Applejack said, tipping her hat back. “She might not act it, but ’Shy’s tough. Ain’t no need to worry ’bout her.”
Twilight looked up to see Sea Sabre enter the room, now wearing a plain, gray-green tunic instead of her armor. A cutie mark of a scimitar with a curving trail of water adorned her flank. “We have a doctor back home that can look at your friend. He’s on the way here,” she said.
“Back home, huh?” Rainbow asked skeptically. “And where’s that, exactly?”
“Heighton,” Sabre said. “Our ride will be here soon enough.”
“Oh, great!” Twilight said, clapping her hooves together. Just a little while longer and she’d know what to do! “When can we see the Princess?”
Sabre arched a brow, looking between the six mares curiously. “The Princess? You want to see the Princess?”
“Uh, yes.” Twilight giggled nervously, taken off guard by the mare’s tone. “I’m sure she’ll be excited to see me again. I’m her most faithful student, after all.”
Sabre let out a thoughtful little grunt. “Miss—”
“Call me Twilight, please.”
Sabre sighed. “Okay then, Twilight... do you know what year it is?”
There was a time when Twilight had loved answering that question. After the redemption of Princess Luna, Celestia had decreed a new calendar: Anno Lunae, and Twilight practically burst from excitement everytime she wrote the date. She was alive in Year One, Anno Lunae! It had felt like being a famous pony from some ancient history book, writing letters and dating the year with a single digit. She had lived history!
But this was different. The way that Sabre had asked the question made Twilight’s blood run cold. Suddenly being ancient history didn’t feel like fun anymore. And as much as she might hope that no time had passed since her brother’s wedding ceremony, everything she’d seen since waking up in that hideous cocoon indicated otherwise.
Slowly, Twilight shook her head. “Uhh… no…?”
Sabre gave a little nod, pursing her lips thoughtfully. She cleared her throat, speaking firmly. “Well, Miss Twilight, it’s currently 673, Anno Caeli. The Princesses have been dead for over a thousand years.”
Exclamations of shock and grief passed over the room. Rainbow Dash sat down heavily, brow furrowed as she began to stutter out whispered denials. Pinkie Pie choked back sobs as her mane deflated, while Rarity fell to the floor with a high-pitched keen. Applejack simply closed her eyes and turned her face up to the roof in silence.
Twilight smiled. She leaned in a little closer. “I’m sorry, I think I must have misheard you.”
Sea Sabre leaned back as Twilight came closer. She quirked a brow. “You didn’t. The Princesses are dead.”
“Ahaha, no that can’t be right.” Twilight waved a hoof dismissively. A small corner of her mind wondered why the new calendar translated to ‘Year of the Sky’. Why was it getting so hard to breathe? “Princesses don’t die! I know that Princess Celestia wouldn’t leave me.”
A choked breath escaped her lips as Sabre grabbed her shoulder.
“Twilight.”
Warm tears raced down Twilight’s cheeks. She frowned as an ear began to twitch uncontrollably. Why was she crying? There was nothing to be sad about. Everything was fine. Everything is fine.
“The Princesses are dead,” Sea Sabre said. “They watch over us from above, now.”
It was like she was drowning all over again. Twilight braced herself against a crate as her hooves turned to jelly. The Princesses are dead. Nope! Everything was fine, she was the most faithful student. Princess Celestia has left you. That wasn’t possible. Not possible! Princess Celestia had always been there, would always be there. It was just another test! You are all alone.
What was she doing on the floor? The metal was so cold and hard, and yet it still rocked side to side with the waves. Her whole world had been cast adrift in far too many ways. What do I do now, Princess?
She was vaguely aware of Sea Sabre walking away. She squeezed her eyes shut as hard as she could. Wake up. Please wake up.
A shadow passed over her. Twilight opened her eyes, wiping away the blurriness.
Applejack was standing over her, the brim of her hat pulled down low and casting a deep shadow over her face. Another powerful sob racked Twilight’s body as Applejack pulled her into a gentle hug.
Applejack laid down at her side, pushing her hat up. For a moment, Twilight almost thought she’d been crying. “We’re all hurtin’ now, Twilight, but that doesn’t mean we can all just fall over and feel sorry for ourselves. Somethin’s gone awful wrong somewhere, and way I figure it, well… if we don’t fix it, then who will?”
“I don’t know,” Twilight whispered hoarsely.
Applejack nodded. She ran a hoof through Twilight’s mane thoughtfully. “Well, I ain’t much for waitin’ around when there’s a job to be done. Only issue is, I don’t really know where to start or where we’re goin’.”
Twilight looked up, meeting Applejack’s steady gaze. She knew that Applejack was right, even if she didn’t want to believe it. Something had come to destroy her world, and the Elements of Harmony hadn’t been there to stop it. They hadn’t been there to stop it. Whatever it was, the Princesses hadn’t survived the transition, but there were still ponies here, somehow eking out an existence.
Slowly Twilight climbed back to her hooves, looking at her friends around her. She saw Rainbow Dash’s gaze hardening as her wings quivered furiously, and Pinkie Pie staring blankly out the small curved porthole in the wall. She saw Rarity picking herself up from the floor, and Fluttershy unconscious. And then Applejack, waiting patiently before her.
Applejack cleared her throat. “We kinda need y’all right now, Twilight.”
They need me. Twilight couldn’t afford to break down. The Elements of Harmony could fix things, but they didn’t know how yet. It was a problem, a test, another question that had to be answered, and if there was anypony left in the world that could solve it, it would be her. It had to be her.
Twilight gave a weak nod. She wiped the rest of her tears away. “I… I need… a library.”
Applejack smiled, pulling Twilight in for a hug. “That’s my gal.” She paused, and Twilight felt her looking around. “Heck if I know where to find a library, though.”
Twilight let out a little giggle as she choked back another sob. The Princesses may be gone, but she wasn’t alone. She had her friends.
Twilight tore herself free from Applejack’s embrace. She turned to the rest of her friends, taking a deep breath.
“Girls…” Her voice broke as the rest of her friends turned to her with red eyes. She cleared her throat. “I know that—that it feels like the world’s come to an end, and like we’ve all lost everything, but… we still have each other.” Her voice grew a little firmer. She straightened up, locking eyes with each of her friends in turn. “We still have each other, and Equestria needs us. We can still… fix things. I know that we can. But I need you all to stay with me, okay?”
Rainbow Dash fluttered her wings angrily, rising a few inches off the ground. “Don’t worry about me, Twilight,” she snarled. “I’m not resting until whatever—or whoever did this pays for it.”
Pinkie Pie looked up to the ceiling, sniffling. “You’re right, Twilight. Even if some really bad things have happened… we can’t let it keep us down.”
Rarity tossed her disheveled mane, rearranging her haphazard curls gently with her hooves. “But whatever do we do, Twilight? We don’t know the first thing about this new Equestria, who knows what we’ll find out there, and the—the Princesses—!”
Twilight raised a hoof, stopping Rarity before she could work herself up again. “Let me worry about that, okay? We’ll ask our…” She paused, tapping a hoof against her chin as she considered her word choice. “Ask our rescuers to direct us to the nearest library once we get to this ‘Heighton,’ and we’ll go from there. Sound good?”
Twilight smiled as she saw her friends nodding around her. She had to stay strong, to look strong, even if she could still feel her hooves trembling and every glance out the window made her chest tighten. She just had to keep it together until she reached a library, and then she could lose herself in the hefty task that was researching how to save the world.
Pinkie Pie cocked her head, pointing a hoof towards the far window. “Hey, what’s that?”
Twilight turned, catching sight of a small grey object floating above the waves in the distance. She narrowed her eyes at it, but the thing was too far away for her to make out any details.
Star Trails and Flintlock stepped into the cargo room, sporting the same gray-green tunics that Twilight had seen Sea Sabre wearing. Flint walked through the room without acknowledging the mares, while Trails sat down and gave a little wave with a pale blue hoof. Her navy blue mane hung down just enough to tickle at her shoulders, framing curious green eyes.
Trails frowned, looking between the mares. “Uh, you ladies okay?”
Twilight cleared the hoarseness from her throat and offered up a little smile. “We’re fine. Is something happening?”
Trails raised a brow skeptically. “In fact there is. Our ship is nearly here. We’re all heading up top to board.”
Rainbow Dash frowned as she looked out the window at the grey dot. “Uhh… I thought this was your ship?”
“Heh, no. This is our sub, for our dives. She’s tough, but painfully slow for actually getting anywhere. That—” Trails nodded towards the dot, which was quickly growing larger. “Is the Argo. That’s how we get to and from our dives.”
Argo? Twilight recognized the name easily. It was from an old Pegasopolis myth. She felt some small relief at the knowledge that ponykind still knew the name. She’d been worried that much of its history might have been lost.
“Is it some kind of airship?” Twilight asked.
Trails grinned. “That’s right. Have you seen one before?”
“I’ve read some books on the subject.” Twilight actually hadn’t seen a functioning airship in person before, as the technology had only become viable after she’d left for Ponyville. Even then, airships had been little more than regular sea ships clumsily attached to balloons for the most elite of Canterlot high society to parade about.
Rarity gave a polite little cough and waved a hoof. “I’ve actually enjoyed a few airship parties, myself.”
“Huh, we had airships way back then? Cool.” Trails started down the hall towards the hatch. “Let’s go.”
Twilight beckoned to her friends with a nod of her head. After waiting for Applejack to hoist Fluttershy onto her back, the mares squeezed their way towards the hatch. Twilight picked up on a low buzzing in the background, almost imperceptible beneath the clockwork mechanics of the submarine at first, but rapidly growing louder. By the time Twilight began climbing up the hatch, the buzz had become a full-blown roar which threatened to overcome her very thoughts.
A heavy gust of salty sea air blew into her face as Twilight pulled herself out of the hatch. She raised a hoof to her eyes defensively, squinting into the wind as her friends climbed up behind her.
The distant grey speck had crossed an alarming distance since she’d first spotted it, and the Argo now cast a long shadow over the ponies waiting on the submarine. The Argo’s long, slender shape was suspended by thick cables beneath a rigid balloon. A single huge propeller on the rear of the gondola pushed the ship forwards, and Twilight could see a series of small ailerons lining the top and sides of the balloon, the ship rotating clockwise as they turned.
As it came closer, Twilight saw that the chassis of the Argo had a strange, elongated ring shape to it, with an open space in the middle. The ship came to a stop directly above the submarine before beginning to lose altitude. Gently, it lowered itself down, the bottom of the chassis dipping into the waves as it surrounded the submarine.
Twilight flattened her ears against her head in a vain attempt to shut out the roar of the airship’s engine. The submarine rocked side to side as the propeller began to kick the waves up higher. There was a barely perceptible hiss of steam, and then a vibration which Twilight felt in her hooves. The rocking of the submarine came to an abrupt stop.
The movement returned as suddenly as it had stopped, but now the submarine was actually rising. Twilight instinctively lowered her stance at the unexpected motion. Looking around, she saw her friends following suit, while their rescuers simply held on to the railing.
The water ran off the deck of the ship for the last time as it rose out of the sea. A pair of metal ramps fell down onto each side of the submarine, clamping onto the railings with thick hooks as a trio of steps unfolded from each one.
Twilight felt a hoof tapping on her shoulder. She turned to see Sabre talking to her, but couldn’t understand her over the din of the engines.
“What?” Twilight yelled. She could barely even hear herself.
Sabre came closer, cupping a hoof to her ear and speaking directly into it. “Follow me! Careful with the edge!”
Twilight gave an exaggerated nod as Sabre pulled back. She made eye contact with each of her friends in turn, beckoning for them to follow.
Sabre climbed the stairs to the port ramp, striding confidently across and to the hatch on the other side.
The wind whipped at Twilight’s mane as she gingerly clambered up the steps. She looked down and—whendidwegetsohigh?!
The world began to rock. Twilight’s entire body went tight as she hugged the cold steel, eyes squeezed shut. They had been in the water just a minute ago and now they were floating at least a couple dozen meters up!
A hoof nudged at her impatiently. Cracking an eye open, Twilight saw Sea Sabre standing before her, leaning halfway out of the open hatch. With a deep breath, Twilight willed the world to stop swaying, and all at once she pushed herself the rest of the way up the ramp and barreled through the hatch.
Sea Sabre stood over her, one corner of her lips ever so slightly pulled up in a smile. “You afraid of heights?” The roar of the engine had been reduced to a muffled drone now, and beneath it Twilight could hear the same quiet ticking that had filled the submarine.
Twilight nodded breathlessly, thankful to be on some relatively solid ground. Even if the floor continued to sway slightly beneath her, at least now she didn’t feel like a single false move would spell her doom.
Sabre grunted thoughtfully. “You might want to work on that.”
Rainbow Dash glided through the hatch next, looking around with wide eyes. “Whoa, what is this thing?”
Trails stepped through behind her. “This is the Argo. She takes us to our dive sites and back home and wherever else we need to go.” She ran a hoof along the riveted steel wall lovingly. “Pretty great ship.”
A flood of questions popped up in Twilight’s mind as she examined the interior of the ship. They seemed to be in a wide hall of riveted steel, with one door on each end and the hatch she’d come through in the middle of one side. Wooden crates and barrels were shoved up against the walls haphazardly, and pipes of all sizes ran the length of the ceiling, with even more half-hidden beneath the metal grating she stood upon. The pale white lights which lined the corners did a poor job of illuminating them, but Twilight could see many of the larger pipes were adorned with small gauges. She peered closer at one above her, flinching back as it suddenly released a torrent of steam. She’d never seen anything like it.
Rarity entered next, fussing with her freshly windblown mane. “And a dirty one, too! Oh, this is nothing like the ships they have in Canterlot! Is there a shower onboard?” She drew a hoof back from her mane, lip curling at the green fluid which clung to her coat.
Twilight watched Pinkie Pie carefully as she came into the hall, grimacing at the pink mare’s near-flat mane and downcast eyes, but she didn’t have time to consider it further.
“Showers can come later,” Sabre said. “Let’s get you all settled first.”
Applejack let out a hefty sigh as she carried Fluttershy inside. “Y’all… y’all mentioned a doctor?”
Sabre nodded. “Come with me.”
Twilight followed Sea Sabre down towards the aft door, marveling as it opened itself when they drew near. She didn’t pick up on any magical enchantments, but she did see gears ticking away within the frame. Is this whole ship… mechanical? Glancing back, she saw Flint and Trails leaving through the opposite door.
Sabre led Twilight and her friends into another hall, this one curving towards the opposite side of the ship and lined with doors. She came to a stop before the largest, a sturdy double-door which vented steam as it opened, and beckoned them inside.
Twilight found herself in a larger room almost completely bereft of decoration or content. Bright lamps set into the ceiling cast stark shadows against the small collection of pony-sized crates huddled in one corner. The hum of the engine was louder here, and she could even feel the floor vibrating beneath her.
“Stay here,” Sea Sabre said. “I’ll go get our doctor.” She stepped back into the hall and out of sight, the door closing behind her with another burst of steam.
Twilight turned back to her friends, taking her place in the loose circle they had formed in the middle of the room.
Applejack glanced about uncertainly. “I hope this ain’t what she meant by ‘get settled.’ It’s all hard places!” She shifted Fluttershy’s position on her back.
Rainbow Dash flew up a little higher and scanned the room with a lazy spin. “Do they not have beds in the future or something?”
“I don’t think they were expecting to find us,” Twilight said. She walked up to the wall where one of the metal plates had been removed, leaning closer to the clockwork machinery within. “Flint said something about looking for salvage.”
She heard Rarity scoffing behind her. “Salvage? There was nothing back there but a bunch of rubble!” Her voice began to quiver, and Twilight imagined her raising a hoof to her forehead dramatically. “All of those beautiful tapestries…”
Twilight cocked her head, brow furrowing as she inspected the guts of the ship. Even in just the small area visible to her she could see half a dozen gears interlocking, ticking away in service of some indistinguishable purpose. She found herself wondering what it was that drove all the gears. It couldn’t be magic—she hadn’t sensed even the slightest enchantments anywhere aboard the Argo—but Twilight couldn’t muster any other means of deriving the necessary energy.
“Hey, do you guys hear that?” Rainbow asked.
“Oh, it sounds like somepony’s coming,” Rarity said.
Applejack took a deep breath through clenched teeth. “They better be bringin’ a bed with ’em.”
Twilight’s ears flicked at the sound of two sets of hoofsteps approaching from out in the hall. She turned away from the machinery, watching the door expectantly as it vented steam. The voice of an irritable stallion drifted into the room as the door opened.
“I can’t believe you’re going along with this charade,” the voice said. “It’s unlike you, Sabre! Did Trails put you up to it? You know you could just tell me if you didn’t bring anything back up, it’s not a matter of who was right or—”
The voice cut off abruptly as the stallion stepped into view. The mug he’d been holding in one hoof dropped to the floor and shattered loudly as his jaw dropped.
Sea Sabre came into view behind him. “But for the record, Dusty, I was right.”
Twilight shifted about uncomfortably as Dusty eyed her and her friends with wide, bespectacled eyes. He visibly swallowed, pulling his glasses off with a hoof and rubbing some invisible filth away before placing them back on his muzzle. His horn gave off a glow so faint that Twilight almost didn’t notice it, and she saw him magically draw his old brown jacket tighter.
“You—Sea Sabre!” Dusty exclaimed, still staring. “You f-found these—them—in there?”
“Hey, don’t talk about us like we’re not here!” Rainbow said.
Applejack looked between Dusty and Sabre, narrowing her eyes. “Is that the doctor y’all talked about? And did ya bring a gosh-darn bed?”
Dusty ignored the comments, instead walking straight up to Rarity and reaching a hoof up towards her mane. “Who are you?”
Rarity stepped back gingerly and offered up a polite little smile. “My name is Rarity, pleasure to meet you. And you are?”
Dusty swept past her, his eyes drifting over each of the assembled mares before finally coming to rest on Twilight’s flank. “Sweet Celestia!” He looked to each of her friend’s cutie marks in turn. “And they’re all Gifted!”
Twilight’s ears perked up at the way he said the last word, as if it meant something significant. Resisting the urge to ask about it, she instead rose a hoof and asked, “Are you the doctor? Our friend still hasn’t woken up and we really need your help with her.”
Dusty turned back to Sabre. “You found six Gifted in those ruins?”
“Dusty Tome!” Sabre barked, startling Twilight and snapping the stallion out of his daze. “Tend to the yellow one!”
Dusty jumped, adjusting his glasses with a hoof. His eyes alighted on Fluttershy as if for the first time. “Oh, yes, sorry.” He trotted up to Applejack’s side, sliding out of his saddlebags and leaving them at his hooves.
Applejack cleared her throat intently. “Hahem. Y’all got a bed or somethin’ I can lay her down on?”
“No, no, that’s quite alright,” Dusty said. He fished about in his bags with a hoof, pulling out a stethoscope and laying it on Fluttershy’s chest. After a few moments he hummed thoughtfully, placing the stethoscope back into his bag. “Well, a cursory inspection shows no damage… are you sure she isn’t just sleeping?”
Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves. “Sleeping?” she deadpanned.
Pinkie Pie spoke up from the corner she’d been sitting in, peering around her mane. “We were just chased through the super creepy ruins of what used to be the biggest city in the world by a horde of freaky mutant changelings, and you think she’s been sleeping?!” Her voice rose suddenly with the last word, and she began to advance on Dusty Tome. “What kind of doctor are you?!” she yelled. “She’s not sleeping, she isn’t okay, and you need to fix her!”
Twilight flinched back at the sudden outburst. Pinkie Pie was now face-to-face with a very shocked Dusty, her chest heaving and her face almost completely hidden behind her mane. Wow.
Dusty’s eyes darted side to side. A nervous little chuckle escaped his lips. “Yes, uh, of course! Just, uh, right this way! I have a clinic onboard—uh, this way—as it were…” His voice trailed off into unintelligible mumbles as he ducked out into the hall.
As one, Twilight and her friends made to follow. Sea Sabre frowned, raising a hoof. “Do you all need to go? The clinic isn’t that large.” She looked to Rarity. “Didn’t you want a shower or something?”
“That’s quite alright, dear,” Rarity said as she walked past. “I could hardly enjoy it if I didn’t know if Fluttershy was okay.”
Rainbow Dash swooped out of the room, followed shortly by Applejack with her head and tail drooping. Pinkie Pie stalked past Sabre with a flick of her tail, and Twilight came up last, stopping next to Sea Sabre.
“Thank you,” she said, dipping her head. “For getting us out of there, and for the help with our friend.”
Sabre gave a curt nod. “You probably don’t want to fall behind.”
“Right, of course. It’s just...” Twilight gestured with a hoof at the ship around her. “Once we have time, I’d really like to sit down and talk. I—we—have a lot of questions.”
“Heh.” Sabre began to walk away, down to the opposite end of the curving hall. “Don’t you worry, miss. I’m sure we’ll all have more.”
Twilight watched in silence as Sabre stepped out of sight, lingering for just a moment before trotting down the path her friends had taken. A passing porthole treated her to the sight of an infinite ocean of water. How could this have possibly come to be? The last thing she could remember clearly was Chrysalis revealing herself at her brother’s wedding, and Princess Celestia rising to challenge her. Everything after that was… hazy. Glimpses of running and panic, flashes of light and sudden darkness. And now here she was, who-knew-how-many years in the future, in a strange ship surrounded by strange ponies. Canterlot was in ruins, the Princesses were… gone. She didn’t even want to think about what might have happened to Spike, and the whole world was—well—underwater.
Even now, the experience was so surreal that Twilight still reserved some hope of it all being some crazy nightmare. That she would wake up warm and safe under her sheets with Spike at her side, and her biggest worry would be her post-wedding hangover.
But as much as Twilight might hope, she knew that it wasn’t a dream. She couldn’t hide behind the hope that it was.
She passed another pair of doors before arriving at the end of the curved hall. Once again she watched with wide-eyed amazement as the door vented steam and opened itself, with no interaction from her whatsoever. Catching sight of her friends, Twilight picked up the pace, crossing the threshold into a skinny hall much like the one she had first entered the Argo in. She caught up to the group just as they passed through the door at the far end of the hall, coming out into another wider, curved hallway.
Twilight found herself following behind Pinkie Pie. She watched the pink mare in an anxious silence, unsure of what—or even if—she should say. She’d seen Pinkie like this only once before, when she’d forgotten about her own birthday, but somehow Twilight got the sense that this time it was… worse.
Dusty led them up a flight of stairs which led into a wide, straight hall that Twilight figured to run down the middle of the ship, just under the balloon. Many of the doors here were made of plain wood, though she did pick out one of the strange mechanical doors at each end of the hall.
Dusty Tome shot a nervous grimace back at the following mares as he opened the nearest wooden door. The ponies filed into the room one-by-one, with Twilight just barely having space to squeeze in herself.
There was scarcely any standing space left in the clinic, which was already cramped enough as it was with the array of equipment shoved up against the walls. Along one side a clean steel counter carried a haphazard array of gleaming metal tools, with the cabinets above it hinting at even more. Twilight’s eye, however, was caught by the selection of instruments along the opposite wall, each one decorated with a dizzying array of gauges labeled in a flowing, fine print. Dusty flicked a switch on the largest such instrument with his hoof, causing the pistons on the back to slowly come alive as it vented steam.
“Okay, uh, lay her down there, please.” Dusty pointed to the bed pushed up against the center of the far wall
“Finally,” Applejack grumbled. She grunted as she rolled Fluttershy onto the bed, straightening up afterwards with a relieved sigh.
Dusty tugged at a thick rubber collar hanging from the device, pulling out some slack. The collar had a hinge on one side, and he opened it with a quick flick before sliding it into place around Fluttershy’s neck. He grabbed a small bellows attached to the device and pumped it a few times, causing the collar to inflate. The needles in the device’s gauges began to bob up and down as the collar tightened around her neck.
Twilight saw her friends shifting about uneasily as Dusty squinted at the gauges. He tapped a hoof against his chin thoughtfully. “That’s… awful strange,” he muttered.
“Well, what is it?” Rainbow Dash asked, flicking her tail.
“Oh, uh…” Dusty straightened up, flicking on another, smaller instrument. “It’s nothing. Nothing at all.” He began to spin a selection of labeled gears on the side, frowning.
Applejack raised a brow. “Nothin’?”
“Whatever do you mean by that, darling?” Rarity asked, cocking her head sweetly.
“It can’t be nothing,” Twilight said, pointing at Fluttershy. “She’s been unconscious for—for hours! Tell us what it is!”
Dusty jumped, his eyes darting about at the verbal assault. “No, I think you misunderstand! She’s perfectly fine!”
“Well, if she’s perfectly fine, then why is she still so sleepy?” Pinkie demanded.
“I-I’m not sure!” Dusty said. Twilight watched with narrowed eyes as he walked over to one of the cabinets and pulled out a dusty hoof-held device. “She appears to be perfectly fine. It really does look like she’s just sleeping!”
Applejack stared at Dusty flatly. “Sleeping?”
Rainbow Dash fluttered her wings irritably. “There’s no way! She wakes up at the slightest thing!”
“Oh, hang on—ah, maybe…” Dusty scratched his chin thoughtfully as he looked down at the device.
“Spit it out!” Rainbow said.
“It seems that your friend is in some kind of…” Dusty trailed off, waving a hoof in the air before continuing. “Well, she’s perfectly fine, nothing wrong with her—physically, at least. It must be a magical affliction of some sort.”
“Magical?” Twilight’s blood ran cold at the word. Oh, no no no no! Is it some kind of a hex? Maybe a jinx or—ahhhhh when was the last time I read about arcane maledictions?! I’m not prepared, I need a library, I need to study—
“There’s no need to panic.” Dusty raised his hooves calmingly. “She’s perfectly safe, just… sleeping, as far as I can tell. If she isn’t waking up, then the problem must be of a magical nature, but it doesn’t seem to have actually harmed her at all.”
Twilight closed her eyes, forcing herself to take a deep breath and calm her racing heart. So she’s fine. She’s okay.
“Okay, so what’s wrong with her then?” Rainbow asked. “You’re a unicorn, shouldn’t you have some spell or something to figure it out?”
Dusty shook his head. “I’m afraid not. I don’t know how things may have been where you came from, but we don’t have much magic here. I’d be surprised if you could even find a doctor capable of treating it.”
Twilight sat back on her haunches, a wave of relief washing over her. She’d been worried that it might have been something else—perhaps internal bleeding, or a concussion—but magic, that was something she understood. Magic was a problem that she was very well familiar with, a problem that she could solve herself. Fluttershy would be fine.
When she opened her eyes it felt as if some great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Even with everything that had happened, this small relief was a sliver of light in the darkness. All was not lost.
Now she just needed to find a library.
Author's Notes:
Stay tuned for next time, and see our heroines' arrival in Heighton!
III: The Mainland
“Ah, this is so exciting!”
Twilight nodded hesitantly at the remark, re-arranging the blank notecards before her yet again. Normally the opportunity to have an extended conversation with a real live pony from the future would’ve filled her to the brim with excitement. Right now, however, the actual circumstances of that future were putting a bit of a damper on her mood.
“So, would it be okay if I went first?” she asked. She was seated at a writing desk in Dusty’s quarters, a thin wooden construction filled out with equally thin metals. The room was just across from the clinic where Fluttershy was resting, and Dusty Tome had brought her here with great haste when she’d mentioned asking some questions. He would have questions too, of course, but Twilight was hopeful that an intellectual discourse would go a long way towards solving the mystery of the future. Or would it be of the past?
“Oh, sure! No problem. I suppose it would make more sense since you are, aheh, our ‘guest,’ I suppose you could say,” Dusty said. He hummed absentmindedly as he shuffled about the small room, searching for something. Twilight wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking for, but she didn’t think he had very high hopes of finding it. Dusty’s quarters were very similar to Twilight’s own home—shortly after Rainbow Dash crashed into it. Books and scrolls in distressing states of disrepair were scattered haphazardly across the floor and bed, and the only organization Twilight saw were the two piles shoved up against one corner. The bookshelf itself was completely devoid of books, instead being stocked with various trinkets that looked as if they’d been found at an archaeological dig. The walls were covered with random scribblings and aged maps, except for one bare spot, the lone porthole placed just above the desk.
Twilight was finding it very difficult to focus in such a setting.
Still, she was prepared. She had her emergency notecards—the ones that Pinkie had convinced her to keep stashed in her mane—and she had prepared a small oasis of order on the desktop. She just had to power through this, stay focused and not let the mess distract her. Eyes forward, Twilight!
She cleared her throat, turning towards Dusty just as he bent down to peek under his bed. The movement drew his jacket upwards, treating Twilight to her first sight of his cuti—
“You’re a blank flank?!” she blurted out.
Twilight slapped her hooves over her mouth, cursing her idiocy.
Dusty jumped, smacking his head against the bedframe as he pulled out from beneath it. He hastily pulled his jacket down with a hoof, ears drooping. “Well yes, of course I am! Everypony is!”
Twilight raised a hoof. “But you’re the only blank flank I’ve seen so far.”
Dusty scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Well, I’m the only non-Gifted on the ship, alright? I don’t know how common they were in your time, but they’re not even one-in-a-hundred today.”
Twilight’s study instincts kicked in. Her horn glowed as her quill began to scratch across her first notecard. “What do you mean by Gifted?”
“Well—ah! Found it!” Dusty’s ears perked back up as he peered behind the map pinned above his bed. He reached a hoof behind it and pulled out a notepad and pen. “The Gifted are ponies born with special talents and magic. They’re almost supernaturally good at whatever their talent may be, and as they grow older they begin to manifest different powers based on their race. Y’know, flying, telekinesis, a spell or two, strength and endurance. Around puberty they usually gain these ‘cutie marks,’ as they call them, and that usually shows them the path they’ll tread in life.” He sighed, plopping down onto his bed. “And then they go on to live lives of adventure or riches or what have you, while the rest of us sit and watch.”
Twilight frowned, looking out the porthole. “So only a few ponies have cutie marks?”
“That’s right,” Dusty said. “I saw that you and your friends are Gifted. I admit I didn’t believe it when Sabre transmitted the report for the dive… six living ponies! And Gifted, at that!”
Twilight shook her head in wonder. “In my time, everypony had cutie marks. We didn’t have any special class of ‘Gifted’ ponies.” What could have caused that to start? I’ve never even heard of an adult pony who never got their cutie mark.
“Really?” Now it was Dusty’s turn to start taking notes. He laid the notepad flat on his bed, scribbling excitedly. “So—so all your pegasi could fly? Control the weather? And your unicorns all had spells? Oh! What spells can you do?”
Twilight flinched back from the sudden onslaught of questions. “Uhh, yes to all of those. And I can do, well, pretty much any spell I come across.”
Dusty’s jaw dropped. “What?! Unicorns in your time could cast any spell they wanted? Even our Gifted only have one or two!”
Twilight shied away, looking down to her notecard. “Well, not exactly. Our unicorns only have—uh, had a few spells too, but my talent is magic, so I can cast anything.” She looked back up and offered a little smile. “If I study hard enough.”
“Wow.” Dusty shook his head in disbelief. He fell back onto the bed, letting his notepad drop to the floor and slide under the bookshelf. “Incredible.”
The room fell silent as Dusty continued to stare up at the ceiling. Twilight looked out the porthole and was surprised to see what looked to be an isolated plateau peeking over the horizon.
“Hey, what’s that?” she asked.
“What?” Dusty jolted as if from a trance. He looked up, seeing Twilight’s pointing hoof, and rolled off the bed before ambling over to the porthole. “Oh, that’s Heighton! We’re nearly there.”
Twilight cocked her head, watching as Heighton continued to grow larger. She didn’t recognize the landmass, and even though her memory of the Equestrian map was a little hazy, she was fairly certain that there wasn’t anything taller than Canterhorn Mountain. And yet the Canterhorn was almost entirely submerged, and here was an entire plateau that seemed to rise far above it. She readied her quill. “Tell me about it.”
Dusty reached a hoof under the desk and pulled out a scroll. He pulled the string loose with his teeth before setting the open scroll down on the desk. “Heighton is the largest city-island in the north, with a population a little under thirty thousand. It serves as a trade hub between many of the smaller islands and the baron-islands, and it’s also where our salvage company is based out of. See? Here’s our place.”
Twilight curiously looked down at the scroll. It looked like a map of some kind of archipelago, though the spread of the islands was unlike any she’d seen before. It looked almost like a comet trail, with the largest island on the western edge and a full crescent of gradually smaller islands east of it. Especially strange were the numbers listed next to each island, which looked to be measures of distance ranging anywhere from several hundred meters to a full five kilometers, but she couldn’t discern their meaning. They couldn’t be measures of land mass—they weren’t squared—and they didn’t seem proportional to the diameter of the islands either.
Dusty’s hoof was pointing towards one of the smallest islands, almost all the way to the eastern edge of the map. It was circled in faded red ink, with a small ‘2,810m’ printed next to it.
Twilight looked back up to the porthole, seeing the plateau move out of sight as the ship turned. “Salvage company?”
Dusty’s hoof tapped against the engraving on the top of the desk. “That’s right! Long Salvage Inc. is the greatest deep-dive excavation team in Heighton, and probably the best in the region, too! We go down to the old world where nopony else will go and dig up valuable resources, artifacts, and, uh—well, I guess ponies now, too.”
Twilight ran a hoof over the engraving thoughtfully. That explained why Flint had kept on talking about ‘salvage,’ at least. They’d gone down into Canterlot in the hopes of digging up some relics from the old world. And I suppose they succeeded, didn’t they?
There was something nagging at her, at the back of her mind, but she couldn’t quite grasp it clearly. She stood up, turning to Dusty. “Are there forwards-facing windows on this ship?”
Dusty nodded, pointing towards what Twilight had reasoned to be the front of the ship, opposite the propellers. “Head for the flight room. The rest of the crew is probably in there right now, watching the approach. It’s straight down the hall, the door right in the middle.”
Twilight gave Dusty a brief dip of her head. “Alright, thanks. It was good talking to you, and I hope we get to resume this conversation soon.”
Dusty Tome responded with a wide, sincere smile. “Me too, Twilight.”
With that, Twilight stepped out into the hall. Sunlight streamed in through the portholes which lined the front part of the hall, the rays filtering through the occasional burst of steam from its pipes. She made a quick stop to poke her head into the clinic and was pleased to see Fluttershy still sleeping soundly. She saw Rainbow Dash there as well, awkwardly curled up on the floor as she snored loudly. Her other friends had been content to get some rest in the cargo hold that they’d been stationed in, but Rainbow had refused to leave Fluttershy’s side.
Satisfied, Twilight resumed her journey to the flight room. The hall widened just beyond the stairs from the lower level, ending in another one of the automatic mechanical doors.
The door hissed as it opened, and Twilight stepped through the haze of steam into a wide room dominated by two walls of gauges, wheels, chains, and levers. At the far end of the room was a solid wall of thick, curved glass, giving a clear view of the world before the Argo. Sea Sabre, Flintlock, and Star Trails were scattered lazily about the back of the room, watching the horizon. An aged pegasus mare stood on a raised dais at the front, surrounded by levers and a low wall of gauges.
Trails looked up as Twilight entered. “Oh, you eggheads done already?”
Twilight glanced askance at Trails, but chose to ignore her word choice. Not like I wasn’t used to it. “For now, yes. I came to get a better look at Heighton.”
“Well, there ye go,” Flint said. It was the first time Twilight had gotten a good look at him outside of his armor. He had a straight blonde mane, trimmed not as cleanly as Sea Sabre’s but perhaps an inch closer. He raised the mug in his thick, white-coated hoof and gestured towards the horizon. The sunlight glinted in his hard blue eyes. “Heighton in all its glory.”
Twilight cocked her head as she looked out the window. She frowned, furrowing her brow, and rubbed at her eyes before looking again. That… makes no sense.
Earlier, Heighton had looked like a plateau, and while it was difficult to believe that there was a plateau so much taller than the Canterhorn Twilight had been willing to accept it considering that she had no idea how much time had passed in her absence. But now that they were closer, it looked far more like some kind of upside-down mountain, with a flat surface and craggy purple rocks beneath that grew gradually thinner towards the bottom. She couldn’t see the bottom quite yet, but Twilight was absolutely certain that such a landmass couldn’t possibly be stable. Or even possible at all, for that matter.
Then the bottom finally came into view, and Twilight realized that it wasn’t even touching the water.
“Is that floating?” she asked, her voice rising incredulously. She looked to each of the ponies around her and pointed. “That’s not physically possible. It can’t be floating.”
The mare at the front of the room looked back flatly with her cool blue eyes. “Obviously it can, because it is.”
Twilight’s frown grew even deeper at that. What kind of explanation is that? She trotted down one of the shallow staircases that separated the back half of the room from the lowered front half, getting a better look at the mare. She had a light gray coat, and her silver mane and tail were both tied into sloppy buns, though her cutie mark was hidden behind the thick, brown wool robe she wore.
Twilight came to a stop next to the mare. She took a deep breath. “There’s no way that the island is less dense than the surrounding air, unless possibly if it was hollowed out and filled with helium, but the horsepower required for such a task makes it unfeasible, and even then it might not be enough! And any levitation enchantment that might be cast upon it would require a dozen top-tier magi to channel it non-stop, or a similar upkeep of magical energies, which is frankly—”
She stopped as the mare rose a single hoof. “I don’t care what you think. It’s floating.”
The gears in Twilight’s head began to jam. Obviously she was right—there was no way for an object that size to float—and yet there it was, floating, against all rationality.
She heard Trails cheerfully chip in from the back of the room. “Twilight, meet Sunfeather. She’s our pilot! Sunfeather, this is Twilight. She’s one of the six mares we dug up at the bottom of the ocean.”
Twilight’s mouth flopped about uselessly as several different trains of thought competed for the right to be spoken. After a few seconds the victor emerged. ”But how can it be floating?”
Sunfeather stared at her silently, as if speaking to ponies found in the depths of the ocean from the distant past was not only a regular occurrence, but indeed an annoyingly common one. “No idea,” she said, and slowly turned back to her controls.
What? How can you live on a floating island and not know how it works? Twilight looked desperately to the three other ponies in the room. “Why does it float?”
Flint and Trails exchanged amused glances. Sabre responded with an apologetic shrug. “We don’t know why. The islands have floated for hundreds of years.”
Islands? Plural? It suddenly clicked in Twilight’s head why there were all those distance measurements next to the islands on the map. Altitudes! All of Heighton was built on dozens of islands floating hundreds of meters above the sea, and nopony even knew why.
Twilight closed her eyes, forcing herself through a mental reboot. She filed the question of the floating islands away in the back of her mind, behind the drowning of the world, the destruction of Canterlot, and the loss of the Princesses.
Twilight opened her eyes to see Sea Sabre standing before her. “Could you go and bring your friends here? We’ll be docking soon.”
Since waking up earlier in the day, Twilight had been assaulted with what seemed to be an unending series of implausible, miraculous, and completely impossible sights. She had begun to think that maybe she was getting used to it, and that maybe she was finally ready to take whatever the future might throw at her. Surely nothing could top a gigantic island floating nearly a full kilometer above the surface of an ocean which covered the whole world, she’d thought. Surely things would tone down from there.
Yet as she stood in the dockroom of the Argo, face and hooves alike pressed up against the thick glass of a window, she realized that the future had far more in store for her.
Heighton was truly a city in the sky, more elaborate and awe-inspiring than even Cloudsdale had been on her first visit. The main—and by far the largest—island was covered with a solid mass of stone architecture. Slender white towers dotted the cityscape, connected with a network of bridges and platforms that cast the buildings beneath into shadow. Scattered amongst them were massive square constructs that Twilight reasoned could only be warehouses, especially if the expansive series of docks and piers that jutted out over the edge of the city were any indication. A flotilla of airships surrounded the city, some coming in to dock beneath the tall cranes that unburdened their open decks of the heavy crates stacked upon them, while others cast off their ties and set off to travel in what seemed every possible direction. Even the sides of the island were put to use, covered in a spiderweb of rickety wooden scaffolding and shacks, some of which looked accessible only from tunnels dug into the island itself.
Five other floating islands were directly connected to the mainland by sturdy steel bridges secured to the land around them with thick cabling. They were much smaller compared to the bulk of the mainland, but no less busy. Two were covered in high-rise apartment complexes that reminded Twilight of pictures she’d seen of Manehattan. The other three belched thick clouds of black smoke from the veritable forests of smokestacks that rose from their surface. Noxious waterfalls of murky brown sludge poured from the pipes which jutted forth from their sides.
“Shucks, I’ve never seen anythin’ like it,” Applejack said.
“Neither have I,” Rarity said, turning her nose up at the black stains in the water. “It’s absolutely filthy!”
Rainbow Dash snorted indignantly and crossed her hooves. “Cloudsdale is still cooler.”
Pinkie Pie scuffed a hoof against the floor bitterly. “If it’s still there.”
Rainbow arched a brow. “Of course it is!” she snapped, before adding, “It was already floating. The cloudgineers would’ve just moved it up some.”
Rainbow turned back to the window, shoulders slumping. Twilight frowned as she watched the display. Dusty had told her that most ponies had lost their magic, and without their magic she didn’t think any pegasi would be able to live in Cloudsdale, even if it had survived whatever calamity had befallen the world. She decided against voicing the thought.
Focusing back on the window, Twilight watched as they floated gently towards the mainland of Heighton. A pair of small boats which Twilight took to be tugs—really, nothing more than a deck, an engine, and a balloon—approached them. There was the muffled sound of venting steam, and a pair of thick chains shot forth from the Argo’s hull, one landing on each tug. After a brief scramble from the ponies aboard, the chains were secured, and they began to ease the larger ship through the dizzying cloud of airships which filled the air around Heighton.
A hoof tapped Twilight on the shoulder. She jolted in surprise, turning to see Sabre holding out a folded up uniform. Trails and Flint had also entered the boarding room, though it looked like Sunfeather had stayed behind in the cockpit.
“Put this on,” Sabre said.
Twilight levitated the uniform, holding it up.
“Also, don’t do that,” Sabre added, slapping her horn.
“Hey!” Twilight flinched as the sudden impact broke her concentration. The uniform fell limply into her hooves. “What was that for?”
Sabre shrugged. “I’d rather avoid advertising that I found six Gifted at the bottom of the ocean. If anypony asks, you’re from Skymoor and your business is your own.”
Sabre didn’t wait for a response. She advanced down the line to deliver another uniform to Rarity, leaving Twilight to rub her horn gingerly. The uniform was made of the same plain, gray-green fabric that Sabre wore, though it covered the legs and flank as well as the barrel.
Rarity let out a muffled whimper as she looked the clothes over. “Oh, these are terrible! Do we really have to wear them?”
“Yes,” Sea Sabre said, holding a uniform out for Applejack.
Rarity let out a dramatic sigh as she began to pull the uniform on. “It really is the apocalypse,” she muttered.
With her cutie mark now hidden, Twilight turned to watch as the Argo was tugged into port. The tug crews tied their chains off at the pier, securing the ship to the thick wooden beams, and set off to pull in their next charge.
A deep vibration shook the room as heavy gears audibly sprang into life. An entire wall of the room began to slowly open up, allowing the sounds and smells of Heighton to filter in. Hoofsteps on wood and steel reached Twilight’s ears. A gust of wind blew in, bringing with it heavy smells of smoke and salt, with the scent of dried fruit just barely detectable underneath it. The ramp came to a stop on the dock with a tired shudder, allowing Twilight to see the crowds of ponies hastily milling about. Most wore simple cloth tunics or leggings, their coats marred with black stains. A select few were outfitted in elaborate silk robes and vests, their eyes protected by thick shaded glasses and their manes tucked away beneath wide-brimmed hats decorated with gold and silver. Twilight didn’t see a single cutie mark amongst them.
“Come with us,” Sabre said, speaking up to be heard over the din of the city.
“And keep close,” Flint added.
Twilight didn’t need to be told twice. She’d never been anywhere with so many ponies in such a small space before, and the hasty indifference in their eyes was enough impetus to keep her next to Sea Sabre as they stepped out onto the dock. Flint led the way, breaking a path through the crowd with his girth, as Trails brought up the rear of the group.
Occasionally Twilight would bump into a passerby, calling out with a reflexive apology only to find that the offender had already moved on. The crowd was so thick here on the docks that she could scarcely see more than a few meters ahead of her, and the cloud of smoke cast out by the airships kept her from seeing anything over their heads. She found herself in between Rarity and Pinkie Pie, the fashionista strutting proudly down the path while the party pony ambled forward with her eyes down. With a glance back, Twilight saw Applejack pushing Fluttershy’s gurney, and Rainbow Dash glaring at anypony that dared to come close to her unconscious friend.
Twilight sighed in relief as they finally came out on the other side of the crowd. The wood of the dock gave way to the cobbled stone of the city proper as the ponies and smoke thinned out enough for her to see. The buildings were huddled close together in Heighton, as if trying to fend off the constant breeze that wove through the city and carried the smoke away. She didn’t have any time to look around, however, before Flint began to wave a hoof.
“Taxi!” Flint looked back to the rest of the group, brow furrowing. “I need three taxis!”
Within seconds, a trio of faded yellow, enclosed wagons pulled up to the curb. A stallion waited patiently in front of each.
After a brief meeting the group divvied up into the taxis. Flint and Applejack rode in the middle with Fluttershy, and Trails took Rainbow Dash and Rarity in the front wagon. Twilight found herself in the back with Sabre and Pinkie, who seemed set on looking silently out her window.
“So uh, where are we going?” Twilight asked, gritting her teeth as the wagon passed over a hefty bump.
“To our office,” Sabre said. “It’s where you’ll be staying.”
“Office?” Twilight cocked her head at that. “Dusty told me that you’re some kind of ‘salvage crew.’ What do you do there?”
“Ponies can come there to hire us out, when we’re free. It’s also where they come to buy our salvage.”
Buy our salvage? That’s when it clicked. Twilight’s heart sank as she suddenly realized what had been bothering her before, when Dusty said they were a salvage crew. These ponies had dived into Canterlot, risking their lives for the potential of finding some salvage to sell, and all they had found was her and her friends. They were the salvage.
She could feel her heartbeat speeding up. “Uh…” She gulped, glancing out the open window of the wagon. The other two taxis seemed to have pulled ahead, out of sight. Could she escape, if she needed to? “So are—you wouldn’t—are you going to sell us?”
The corner of Sabre’s lips pulled up into a tiny little smirk. “To be honest, Miss Twilight, I don’t even know, myself. Normally we sell most of what we find, but, well, finding actual living ponies—and from before the world drowned, no less—there’s no precedent.” She looked out her window thoughtfully. “I’ll have to speak to our benefactor about what he’ll want to do with you all. But I wouldn’t worry if I were you. I’d say you were lucky that we found you instead of another crew.”
Twilight smiled nervously, trying to calm her racing heart. “Why’s that?”
“Because our benefactor is more interested in having a priceless relic to show off to his friends than he is in turning a profit,” Sabre said. She turned to look Twilight in the eyes. “And I don’t think it would be exaggeration to say that you and your friends are the most priceless relics we’ve ever dug up.”
Twilight wasn’t sure how to respond to that. She glanced over to Pinkie Pie, but the mare didn’t look like she’d even heard the conversation. Sabre didn’t seem to be waiting for a response, however, so Twilight allowed the wagon to fall into a steady silence, broken only by the clamor of the wheels upon the street.
She spent the rest of the ride looking out the window on her side, letting the sight of Heighton passing by distract her from her worries. The streets were more narrow than in Canterlot, just wide enough for two carriages to pass side-by-side while still leaving room for pedestrians to squeeze through, and thankfully carriages didn’t seem very common. The roads were filled mostly with hoof traffic, the crowds flowing around any passing taxi wagon or cargo-laden cart like a stream around stone. Most of the ponies here wore nothing, leaving their coats open to be stained black by the smoke which wafted through the streets, though Twilight did notice the popularity of bandanas and goggles to protect the face.
The ride was shorter than Twilight had anticipated. It couldn’t have been even an hour when the wagon finally clattered to a stop, and when Twilight climbed down to the street, she was surprised to see that they had already reached the other side of the mainland. She quickly glanced about, surreptitiously searching for a possible escape route. Sabre was busy speaking with the taxi driver, but the street was thinly populated here. It would be too easy to get caught if she ran now.
Perched on the very edge of the island, and indeed a little beyond, were a bar and a gambling hall. Running between the two, on the third story, was an arching, open-topped bridge that gave easy passage to drunks looking to win money and gamblers looking to spend it. It was between these two buildings, crammed into the space underneath the bridge, that Twilight saw the office of Long Salvage Inc. It was a sordid stone construct, its top floor almost completely blackened from years of exposure to smoke, and its bottom a plain, worn grey. The only decoration was the four squat windows that looked out onto the street and the painted wooden letters on the second story. Twilight got the impression that the letters were supposed to spell the name of the company, but between the faded, chipped paint and a pair of missing letters, they instead sadly labeled the building as “Lo–g Sa–vage Inc.”
Twilight frowned. She had expected something more. “Is this it?”
Pinkie Pie sighed. “It makes me want to cry.”
Twilight’s ears flicked at the clattering of their taxi driving away. She glanced back to see Sea Sabre walking up.
“I know it’s not much, but we don’t really use it for much either way,” she said. “C’mon.”
Sabre led Twilight and Pinkie to the door, holding it open with one wing and beckoning them inside with the other. Long metal shelves took up most of the first floor, each one adorned with a selection of ancient, dusty mundanities. On one shelf Twilight saw old quills, cracked cider mugs, rusty pans, and faded picture frames side by side, each set up as if a valuable antique. It looks almost like somepony raided my kitchen to stock this place. Which I suppose they very well could’ve.
Trails looked up from where she sat behind the desk, idly toying with a pencil. “Ah, there you are. Flint is upstairs with the others.”
Sabre responded with a brief nod, leading the way to the back of the store and up the stairs to the second story. Most of the second floor was devoted to a small living space, with a pair of patched sofas flanking a low wooden table. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were seated on one sofa, with Fluttershy laid across the one opposite. Rarity was peering out a window in the back of the room, which looked out over the sea. Flintlock leaned against a corner, watching the ponies sharply.
Rainbow Dash looked up as Twilight entered. “Took you long enough,” she said. “We’ve been waiting here forever.”
Applejack glanced askance to the mare at that. “It ain’t even been five minutes, Rainbow.”
“Five minutes?” Rainbow scoffed. “Might as well be five days!”
Flint rolled his eyes, looking to Sabre. “Alright, so we’ve got ’em all here. What now, Boss?”
“I’ll be going over to Mr. Rich’s place to talk to him,” Sabre said. She looked to each of the other ponies up in turn, stopping on Twilight. “In the meantime, you all will stay here under the watch of Flint and Trails.”
“What?” Rainbow Dash leapt to her hooves, wings flared. “You’re gonna keep us cooped up in here even longer?”
Sea Sabre was already starting down the steps. “Non-negotiable!” she called.
Twilight went down after her, keeping pace. “But Sabre, I need to get to a library! I have to figure out what happened!”
“I’m sorry, Miss Twilight, but nothing you say will prevent me from doing my job.” Sabre looked back briefly as she opened the door. “I’ll be back after a couple days. We’ll talk about your library visit then.”
Sabre stepped outside, using a wing to shut the door behind her before Twilight could say anything else.
“Ugh!” Twilight glanced back and immediately locked eyes with Trails.
Trails grinned. “Yep. I’m watching. How about you back away from that door?”
Twilight narrowed her eyes. She was already at the door, and Trails was all the way across the room. What would happen if she just slipped out right now? Disappeared into the crowd?
A blue glow surrounded Trails’ horn, and a long, slender harpoon floated up from behind the counter. “Go ahead, Twilight. Step outside. It’ll hurt you more than it’ll hurt me.”
Twilight froze, her ears flattening against her head as she eyed the barbed head of the harpoon. It was becoming all too apparent to her that these ponies might not be their rescuers after all. Would she really use that on me? No, no, there’s no need to be worried, Twilight. Sabre said that you’re a priceless artifact! But then what if they make an example of you, for the others? How many prehistoric mares do they really need, anyways? Slowly she pulled herself away from the door, watching as Trails followed her with the harpoon. We’ve got to get out of here before they hurt my friends.
Once she was halfway across the room, Trails gave a content little nod and stashed the harpoon away. Twilight flicked her tail irritably at the smug expression on her face, but said nothing. It wouldn’t do to challenge her now, and Twilight couldn’t entirely blame her for following orders.
Without another word Twilight trudged up the stairs. When she arrived on the second floor she was surprised to see Flint slumped over in his corner, snoring loudly.
What? It’s only been a few minutes and he’s already asleep?
Rainbow Dash was standing just inches away from the sleeping stallion. “Do you think he’s faking it?” she asked.
“Rainbow! Get away from him before he wakes up!” Applejack hissed, climbing off the couch.
“But think about it, AJ,” Rainbow Dash said. She glanced suspiciously at Flint before continuing. “If he’s asleep, we can get out of here.”
“And then what, huh?” Applejack shot back. “We don’t know the first thing about this place!”
Twilight raised a hoof. “Also, Trails is waiting downstairs. With a harpoon.”
Rarity tossed her mane indignantly from her position next to the window. “I don’t know why you’re in such a rush to traipse about in this filthy city anyways, Rainbow. I think we should wait and try to get an audience with that ‘Mr. Rich’ gentlecolt that Sabre was talking about.”
Pinkie Pie, who was lying limply on the couch next to Fluttershy, waved a hoof in lazy circles above herself as she mumbled something under her breath
Rainbow scratched at the floor. “Okay, well why don’t we go ask Trails? Maybe she’ll let us go.”
Twilight frowned as Rainbow brushed past her, down the steps. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said, but Rainbow was already gone.
“Gosh dangit, that mare’s more stubborn than a cat in a rainstorm.” Applejack immediately crossed the room and started down the steps. Twilight let out a hefty sigh as she followed.
She came out on the first floor to see Rainbow Dash hovering over the counter, her muzzle pushed up in Trails’ face. “C’mon, let us go! We’ve got more important things to do than wait around in here!”
Trails cocked a brow as she stared back coolly. “Oh yeah? Like what?”
“Like—like—ugh, I dunno! Saving the world!” Rainbow Dash looked around, zeroing in on Twilight. “We need to go visit a library!”
Trails nodded with mock sincerity. “Mmm, yeah. Well, I need to keep you here, so that sounds like a personal problem to me. Can’t help you.”
Twilight took a sharp breath as she saw Rainbow Dash draw back, her body coiling like a spring. Applejack jumped up and bit down on her tail just as she tried to pounce, causing the pegasus to slap limply against the countertop and roll onto the floor.
“What the hay, AJ!” Rainbow rubbed the back of her head gingerly.
Applejack stomped a hoof sternly. “Y’all need to calm down, Rainbow! Y’ain’t gettin’ nowhere fast like that.”
Twilight stepped in front of Trails, blocking her sight of the arguing mares as she cleared her throat. “Star Trails, have you ever heard of the Elements of Harmony?”
Trails shrugged. “’Course I have. It’s just some old mare’s tale.” She tried to lean around Twilight and get a better view of the continuing argument.
Twilight mirrored her movement perfectly. “And you know about the six Bearers that wield the Elements against any danger to ponykind?”
Trails froze. Her eyes came up to meet Twilight’s. “Are you saying…”
Twilight gave a curt little nod. “Actually, I am.”
“No way.” Trails shook her head vehemently. “There’s no way. The Elements aren’t real! That’s impossible.”
Twilight couldn’t help but let out a sharp, barking laugh at the word. Impossible? I thought I knew what was impossible when I went to my brother’s wedding, and yet here I am! “Well, digging up six living mares from hundreds of years in the past was impossible too, wasn’t it?”
Trails frowned. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “It was.”
Twilight smiled sweetly. “Well, as long as you’ve done one impossible thing today, why not make it two and help the Elements of Harmony save the world by showing me a library?”
A silence fell over the room. Even Rainbow Dash and Applejack had ceased their bickering. Twilight could feel their eyes on her back as they watched her and Trails face off.
Trails gave a ponderous nod of her head, leaning back. “Well… I suppose, maybe, I’ll humor you, if only to see where you go with it. But only you, okay?”
“Hey, no fair!”
“Rainbow! C’mon here!”
Twilight let out a relieved sigh, allowing herself some small relaxation as Applejack pulled Rainbow Dash back upstairs. Maybe now I can finally find out what happened. “So, when can we leave?”
“I just need to talk to Flint real quick, pull in some favors.” Trails turned for the stairs. “Make sure he doesn’t fall asleep as soon as I leave… And then I’ll take you to the library myself.”
Twilight sat back on her haunches, a wily smile forming on her face. The library visit would give her an excellent chance to learn more of the city, and perhaps even find some method of escape. And better yet, she’d even get the opportunity to borrow a few books.
“What do you mean, I can’t get a library card?”
The librarian mare very slowly raised a brow. Her head moved at a glacial pace as she eyed the massive pile of books on the desk before her. “I just need your ID, hun.”
“ID? Ughh!” Twilight tossed her hooves up in frustration. “I don’t have an ID!”
The librarian seemed unfazed by the protest. Over the course of several seconds she leaned back in her chair, picking up her magazine. “Look, if you forgot your ID then just go home and bring it here, m’kay? No card without ID, and no rentals without a card.”
“But—what—Trails!” Twilight perked up, looking back as a solution came to her mind. “You have an ID, right? You can borrow them for me!”
Trails laughed nervously as she scratched the back of her neck. “Actually, I kind of have a hold on my account.”
The librarian cleared her throat loudly. “Which will be cleared as soon as Miss Star Trails returns her book or pays the lost fee. It’s been overdue for 789 days.”
Twilight swore she could feel her heart stop. A small part of her died inside as she closed her eyes and took some time to digest what she’d just heard. They opened abruptly, honing in on Trails with a fire so intense that the other unicorn actually took a step backwards. “Over two years? Two years that you haven’t paid for one lost book?”
“I didn’t lose it!” Trails shot back. “It’s just I haven’t—I’m sure it’s right where I left it, I just haven’t gotten around to finding it yet is all.”
“It’s been two years!” Twilight said, throwing a hoof up in disgust. “Just admit you lost it and pay the fee!”
Trails flinched back, shaking her head vehemently as if struck by the suggestion. “Are you crazy? I’m not going to pay them a month’s wages for a book I haven’t even lost!”
“Ugh, fine!” Twilight turned back to the librarian. She leaned all the way over the counter and pulled her magazine down with a hoof. “I don’t have an ID. I’ve never had one.”
Slowly, the librarian arched a brow. “Ahuh. Real funny, miss. No ID, no books.”
Twilight rounded on Star Trails, leveling a hoof on the startled mare. “How do I get an ID?” she demanded.
Trails shrugged helplessly. “Hay if I know! I’ve never met anyone without one!”
“What?! How is that possible?” Twilight began to advance on Trails, pushing the mare up against one of the library’s bookshelves.
“We all get one when we’re born!” Trails said, raising her hooves. “It’s just part of being an Equestrian citizen, alright?”
“Hah!” Twilight raised a hoof and jabbed Trails in the chest. A few books rained down upon her, jostled free from the impact. “So what if I’m not an Equestrian citizen, huh? How do I get an ID then? There must be an immigration office, right?”
“What—immigration?” Trails pushed Twilight back, chuckling. “Where the hay would anypony immigrate from? There’s no land outside of Equestria!”
What? Twilight could feel her brain finally snap.
She slumped down onto the floor, taking some small comfort in the books that had fallen there.
“Ugghhhhhhh!”
Author's Notes:
IV: The Rich
“Are you sure this is it?” Twilight asked.
Trails narrowed her eyes at the paper in her magical grasp. “The address seems correct.”
“It just… isn’t what I expected,” Twilight said, cocking her head at the building before them.
“Not what you expected?” Trails scoffed, folding the paper up before slipping it into a pocket on her uniform. “I didn’t even think we had an immigration office. The whole thing is unexpected!”
Twilight shot a sideways glare at Trails, squinting as the dawn sun shone into her tired eyes, but said nothing. The building before them looked more like a home than any kind of office. It was a wooden building, something which Twilight had inferred was a sign of wealth in this distant future, with one side set into a tall stone pillar supporting a passing bridge and the remaining three open to the street. The walls were painted a pleasant, inoffensive blue, and if the relative lack of black stains on its sides were any indication, the paint must have been recent. Wide windows flanked wider balconies on the second and third floors, but no matter how hard Twilight looked, she didn’t see any indication or sign that it was a government office.
But this was the address. She had spent a full hour perusing city maps in search of this place, and she was absolutely certain that this was the right spot. She stepped confidently through the open archway, down the paved path, and up the shallow stairway. Resisting the urge to use her magic, she raised a hoof and grasped the silver knocker, giving three solid knocks to the firm wooden door.
Several seconds passed where nothing happened. Twilight shared an uncertain glance with Trails.
The door opened abruptly, revealing a young unicorn stallion wearing a vivid purple bathrobe that clashed just as violently with his bright green mane as it did with his dark brown coat.
The unicorn narrowed his eyes. “What’re you selling?” He leaned over to look behind the two mares. “Are you bringing the cider?”
“Cider?” Twilight let out a nervous little chuckle. “Uh, I think maybe we have the wrong place. Could you direct us to the immigration office?”
The unicorn froze. He leaned in slowly, lowering his voice to a hoarse whisper. “Did my uncle send you?”
Trails rolled her eyes, stomping a hoof. “Look, is this the immigration office or not? We require its services.”
The unicorn’s mouth flopped about uselessly before he spoke. “Well, uh… yes, I suppose it is.” He poked his head outside and scanned the street. “Come on in, I guess.”
Twilight bowed her head politely as she entered. The office looked even more like a home on the inside, with an open parlor decorated with a varied selection of tapestries and sculptures. She even saw a few relics displayed in glass cases, one of which she recognized as a piece of Cloudsdale sky marble. The parlor seemed to take up almost the entire floor, though there was a door set into one wall which hinted at other rooms. An elegant staircase curved up along one corner and past the high vaulted ceiling to the next floor.
“This doesn’t look much like an office,” Twilight said. Are all government offices like this?
Trails snorted. “Looks more like a ballroom to me.”
The unicorn let out a half-hearted laugh. “Uh, no, this isn’t the office. The uh, the office is over here. Please, uh, step into my office.”
He led them towards the staircase, and as they came closer, Twilight picked out a small door set into its side. He pulled the door open with one foreleg, ushering them in with the other before closing the door behind them.
Twilight frowned. It was pitch black inside. “Excuse me?” she called. “There’s no light in here.”
No response. A chill ran down Twilight’s spine. The words ‘salvage’ and ‘sell’ bounced about wildly in her head.
Trails’ voice reached Twilight’s ears. “Ugh, this is unbelievable.” The shuffling of hooves along the wall preceded the flicking of a switch.
Twilight flinched back as the room suddenly burst into a pale, white light. She cracked an eye open, letting it adjust to the sudden brightness. She cut back a sharp gasp. The words ‘disorganized’ and ‘apocalypse’ bounced about wildly in her head.
It was almost as if someone had taken Dusty Tome’s messy airship quarters and shoved them into the cramped confines of the submarine. A thin metal desk set into the middle of the room practically cut it in two with its length, and the metal stools which flanked it looked as if they’d been designed to actively discomfort anyone that sat in them. A quartet of filing cabinets, barely taller than a pony, had been shoved into the small space behind the desk, each one resting at an angle that implied they were too tall to actually fit into the room but had been forced into place anyways. There were no windows. The only source of light was the bare bulb above the desk.
Twilight jumped in surprise as the door opened behind her, smacking into her flank and pushing her aside. The brown unicorn slinked into the room with all the enthusiasm of a stallion paying taxes.
“Alright, uh, my name’s Easy Coast.” He climbed clumsily over the desk, wincing as his horn scraped against the low ceiling, and fell into the stool on the other side. His robe had been replaced with a hasty polka dot bow tie that looked even more nervous than he did. He cleared his throat, adjusting his position in the stool before straightening up. “Welcome to, uh, the office of immigration. How can I, uh... help you?”
Twilight glanced over to Trails. The other mare shrugged cluelessly and waved her on. With a flick of her tail, Twilight stepped up to the desk. “Well, Mr. Coast. I would like to apply for an ID.”
Mr. Coast flinched as if struck by the words. “You mean like, you lost yours and need a new one?”
Twilight shook her head curtly. “No, I mean I’ve never had one and I need one.”
Mr. Coast let out a nervous, breathy laugh. “No uh, I don’t think that’s possible. Everypony gets an ID when they’re born, so—”
He whimpered as Twilight suddenly reared up onto the desk. “Is this the immigration office or not?”
“It—it is, but—”
She banged a hoof against the desk. “And this is where immigrants would come to get an ID, so they could borrow a book from the public library?”
“Well uh, yeah, b—”
“So then what’s the problem?” Twilight snapped. “I want my books!”
Mr. Coast’s whole body began to shake as he sniffled helplessly. “I—I d-d-don’t know how to do it!” he whined. “I’ve never d-d-done this before, okay?”
A calmness settled over Twilight’s mind as she watched the stallion begin to cry. She had read before that panic, fear, or anger were often replaced with such a calm when ponies were on the brink of death. She wondered if maybe she had surpassed mere rage as her fury fell away from her. She had to get her books, and she wasn’t going to let something as common as an incompetent government employee stop her.
She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she eased into the stool behind her. It was just as uncomfortable as she’d predicted. When she opened her eyes again she spoke gently, laying a comforting hoof on the stallion’s shoulder. “Do you have a manual?”
“So I guess you’re like a full Equestrian now, huh?” Trails asked.
Twilight looked away from the alley she’d been eyeing. No use in running away now when I’m so close to figuring things out. “How do you mean?”
Trails shrugged as the two of them walked around a passing wagon. “I mean you used to just be like, I dunno, some salvage we dug up. But now that you’ve got an ID, you’re a citizen like everypony else.”
“Oh,” Twilight said. “Wait, what? Are you implying that natural rights are attached to government-issued forms and not to a pony’s being?”
Trails stopped mid-step, grimacing. “Y’know, I’m starting to feel like maybe Sabre won’t approve of what I’ve done.”
“Hah!” Twilight let out a sharp, barking laugh. “I just can’t wait to finally get some time with my books.” A particularly thick plume of smoke blew into Twilight’s face. She burst into a vigorous coughing fit, scrunching her nose up at the disgusting taste.
“What is it with you and books?” Trails asked, resuming her walk. “They’re just books, it’s not like it’s the end of the world if you don’t get them.”
Twilight blinked. “Not the end of the world? It is the end of the world!” She cut in front of the other unicorn, stopping her with a hoof. “Don’t you get it? All this happened because my friends and I weren’t here, and now we have to fix things and—and make them right again!” Her throat began to tighten. Her mind started to drift, and she swiftly wrestled her thoughts back into focus. Fix things! There’s no time to think about anything else, just focus on fixing things!
Trails frowned, lifting a hoof to brush Twilight’s aside. She looked up thoughtfully as they passed under a bridge. “I don’t think this world is so bad.”
“Not so bad?” Twilight looked around her, at all the ponies trudging past them with their eyes dull and their coats stained black. There was so much smoke, and none of the rolling green hills, blue skies, or thick white clouds that had once characterized Equestria. Her homeland had gone from a vibrant rainbow of color and life to a black-stained skeleton of what it once had been. “You don’t even know how far it’s fallen.”
Trails grinned. “Actually, Twilight, I think things have really been looking up.” She snickered quietly and sped up, taking the lead.
Twilight flicked her tail. “Whatever.”
Luckily, the library wasn’t much further. That was all that had kept her going through the day: the promise of the library, and the books she could use to get some insight on what had happened. Getting the ID had been no easy task. Twilight was convinced that the immigration office manual was written either by or for someone that didn’t ever read it, and the sheer mass of grammar mistakes and ambiguities that marred each page had nearly driven her mad. It hadn’t helped that a dozen other unicorns had arrived half-an-hour in for some kind of party, and had insisted on carousing loudly in the parlor instead of coming back later as Twilight had asked. If she didn’t know any better, she’d think that that Mr. Coast didn’t even care about his job! A government employee ought to take their role seriously, like Ms. Cheerilee always—Nope! Focus, Twilight.
She let out a relieved sigh as she turned a corner and the library came into view. It was a thin structure, made of the same stained stone as most everything else in the city. It was smaller than her old—Focus!—smaller than other libraries she’d seen, though the second floor helped to make up for its cramped dimensions.
Twilight accelerated into an eager canter, noting with some irritation that Trails also sped up to keep pace. The two mares entered together, and Twilight paused to take a deep breath of the library air. The scent of books was a welcome break from the smoky stench of the streets.
Trails closed the door behind them, dulling the clatter of a passing cart. “Alright, make this quick. I’d like to be back before sunset, in case Sabre arrives early.”
“Don’t worry, I already know what I’m looking for.” Twilight pulled a rolled up piece of paper out of her chest pocket, quickly scanning the list of titles, authors, and topics written within. She had made the list last night to keep herself focused. She liked lists. Lists were nice.
Twilight answered the librarian’s flat gaze with a cheery nod as she approached, and she quickly filled out the necessary forms to obtain a library card. At least, she tried to do it quickly. The librarian moved at an agonizingly slow pace, and nearly ten minutes had passed by the time she finally held the card in her hooves.
Twilight suppressed the urge to giggle her joy as she delved into the depths of the library. Even Trails hovering impatiently behind her didn’t dampen her spirits as she retraced her path, pulling books from each section in turn. She spent most of her time in the history section, heart leaping each time she checked another box on her list, pulling out works on ‘modern’ history, pre-flood history, and biographies of historic individuals. She made brief detours into geography and science as well, picking up a pair of atlases and a gigantic tome which seemed to discuss the nature of the floating islands themselves. She found a piece on the Gifted and a treatise on cutie marks, and lastly she visited the library’s painfully scarce magic section.
Unfortunately, the library didn’t seem to have much in the way of books on magic. She needed some kind of healing or diagnostic spell, or at least some base she could attempt to construct her own spell from. She paced back and forth before the single small bookshelf that constituted the library’s magic ‘section,’ but she found mostly fundamental knowledge or theoretical texts, the sort of basics that she had read herself in magic kindergarden. The closest thing she found to an actual spellbook was a collection of advanced levitation techniques, all of which were incorrectly named.
She groaned in frustration. “Where are all the spellbooks?”
Trails cleared her throat from behind her. “You do realize that pretty much nopony has magic, right?”
Twilight blinked. She looked back, licking her lips. “But… but there’s the Gifted, right? They have magic?”
Trails snorted. “Yeah, we have magic, but we’re like—I dunno, a thousandth of the population, if that? You’ll hardly find a spellbook in a public library. Spellbooks only exist in little filly’s stories.”
“But what about you?” Twilight drew closer to Trails, looking at her horn. “You’re a unicorn. Where did you learn your spells?”
“Heh.” Trails rolled her eyes. “You mean spell, right? Nopony can have more than one spell, even among Gifted. What good is a spellbook?”
Twilight felt her legs go weak, and she sat down heavily. Of course there’s no spellbooks. If there’s nopony with the talent or magic to learn new spells, then what good would one do? She was probably the only unicorn for hundreds of years that wasn’t restricted to the instinctive talent spells that unicorns came to learn on their own. She bit her lip, shivering. How am I going to save Fluttershy?
“Uh, you okay there?” Trails tentatively reached out and pat her on the back. “Don’t cry, alright? Please? Can we just go back now?”
Twilight fought back her tears. She thought of Fluttershy lying asleep, never waking up again. I don’t want to lose you too. She’d already lost so much. No time to cry. She would fix things.
She looked up to Trails, pulling her close with a hoof. “Can you teach me your spell?” If I can learn from Trails, then that shows that I can learn from anypony. And then I just have to find a unicorn with the right spell.
Trails flinched back from the sudden intensity in the mare’s voice. “Well, uh, I don’t really know if that’s possible—”
“It is!” Twilight snapped. She leapt back to her hooves, not breaking eye contact. “I can do it, okay? I was Princess Celestia’s personal—” She paused, closing her eyes before pushing the next word forth. “—faithful student. I can learn any spell you show me!”
Trails glanced furtively side-to-side. Twilight followed the mare’s eyes, and saw a few other library patrons watching from a distance. Oh.
Trails pulled herself away from Twilight’s grasp, lowering her voice. “Okay, okay, I believe you! But not here, alright? Sabre’ll be mad enough as it is and it’s getting late. Let’s just get your books and head back.”
“Just one more book,” Twilight said. She looked up to the top of the magic bookshelf, horn glowing as she magically grasped a leyline atlas and levitated it into her bags. She was curious to see how the leylines had shifted during her absence.
“Ah, stars! Stop that!” Trails flicked Twilight’s horn—shorting the magic—before grabbing her by the collar and tugging her towards the front desk. “Let’s go!”
Twilight was practically shaking in anticipation as she waited before the Long Salvage Inc. office. She had spent the entire twenty minutes of the walk from the library fighting the urge to levitate a book out of her bags and read it on the go, restrained only by Trails’ stern glares and the constant need to dodge and weave through the crowds of Heighton, but now she was here. There was nothing left to stop her from reading these books. She would fix things.
Trails pulled her key out and tried the door, but it didn’t even budge. She let out an exasperated growl and pounded on the wood with a hoof. “Flint! Get up!”
Twilight heard the shuffling of heavy hooves on the other side of the door, and it opened to reveal a groggy Flintlock on the other side.
“Oh good, ye’re back. Was gettin’ worried that Sabre’d beat ye to it,” he said. “I didn’t think ye’d take so long.”
“Yeah well, neither did I.” Trails stepped inside, heading for the desk. “Did we get any customers? Any issues?”
Flint shrugged as Twilight stepped past him. “Hard to say. That blue pony was gettin’ real insistent on leavin’, so I just propped myself against the door and told ‘er she could leave if she moved me. She kept it up for ‘bout half an hour, then I fell asleep.”
Trails shook her head as she settled down behind the desk. “Damn, you’re lazy. Go upstairs, I’ll tend the shop.”
Twilight didn’t hear his response, as she was already halfway up the steps. She came out on the second floor to see her friends in more or less the same positions as when she left. Rainbow was prowling the ceiling next to the window, occasionally making a half-hearted attempt to open it. Applejack and Rarity were having a hushed conversation on one sofa, occasionally throwing furtive glances across the table in the center of the room.
Twilight didn’t bother to look to the other sofa. She didn’t need to be distracted by Fluttershy’s sleeping form. Her ears drooped as she tried to shut out Pinkie’s quiet mutterings, and she immediately began to organize her freshly borrowed books by subject, page length, priority, and publishing date. Now where did I put my notepad?
A delicate cough threatened to shatter her fragile focus. “Twilight, darling?”
Hoofsteps approached from behind. Twilight flicked an ear irritably as a dainty hoof laid itself upon her shoulder.
“Twilight, I think we should talk,” Rarity said.
“Can we do it later?” Twilight asked, not looking back. “I really need to look over these books.”
“Later?” Rarity let out a feminine huff. “You’ve barely spoken to us at all since we… well, since we woke up in this dreadful place.”
Applejack stepped in front of Twilight, stooping low to catch her eye. “I know what I said earlier, Twi, but ya can’t just stick yer nose in a book and disappear.”
“Why not?!” Twilight snapped. She squeezed her eyes shut, wrestling with the pain in her chest. “We need to fix all of this, and I need to figure out how! Every minute I’m not doing that is another minute that we’ve failed Equestria!”
A hoof pulled at her face, and she opened her eyes to see Rarity’s blue pupils looking down at her sternly. “Because we need you, Twilight! Do you think you’re the only one who’s had nearly everything she knows taken from her?” Her eyes softened as she pulled Twilight into a hug. “All we have left is each other.”
Twilight blinked the wetness away from her eyes. She returned the embrace, looking over Rarity’s shoulder to where Pinkie Pie was sitting on the couch. The pink mare’s mane was completely flat, her face hidden behind it as she continued to murmur something under her breath. Rainbow made another tug at the window, her lower lip quivering as she admitted defeat once again.
Twilight let out a heavy sigh. Maybe she had been shutting herself away from her friends too much. She just wanted to fix everything so badly, to make it all as it once was. But things will never be the same, will they? Your world’s been gone for centuries. What’s another minute, day, month, or even year going to change?
“You’re right, Rarity. I’m sorry.”
Rarity pulled out of the hug, leaving a hoof on her shoulder. “It’s quite alright, dear. But Applejack and I were hoping for your help with something…”
“What is it?” Twilight asked.
Applejack cleared her throat quietly. “It’s Pinkie. We reckon she’s been takin’ things worse than all the rest of us. We were hopin’ to talk to her all together, but y’know how stubborn Rainbow is. Ain’t nothin’ we can do to calm her down till she does it herself. That just leaves us three.”
Twilight nodded, glancing to where Pinkie was sitting once more. “I understand. Let’s go.”
Together the three mares advanced on the sofa, their shoulders brushing past each other. Pinkie’s mutterings grew clearer to Twilight’s ears as she drew closer, and she was finally able to make out some of the words.
“Jonagold, Sunshower... Open Skies, Wensley, Berry Frost... Cloudchaser, Cloud Kicker, Brass Blare, Peachy Sweet... Amethyst Star, Comet Tail…”
Twilight’s throat tightened. She recognized some of these names. Amethyst Star had been an event planner, Cloud Kicker one of Rainbow’s deputies on the weather team, and Jonagold an Apple Family cousin. Ponies that had all lived in Ponyville with her.
Wet tears streaked down Pinkie’s face as she recited the names, each one only coming clearer as Twilight came closer. She realized that of all her friends, Pinkie had to be taking things the worst. And how couldn’t she? She had been friends with everypony in Ponyville, as she had always so loved to declare. Twilight had always been somewhat of a loner, even after meeting her best friends after leaving Canterlot, and she hadn’t even lost half a dozen friends or family to the apocalypse that had befallen the world.
Pinkie Pie was mourning hundreds.
She couldn’t help it. The shaky dam she’d constructed finally broke as she pulled Pinkie into a tight, quivering embrace. The tears flowed freely, unimpeded by any thoughts of a world that needed saving.
“Cherry Spices, Diamond Mint, Blossomforth, Fly Wishes, Junebug…”
The names kept on coming. Twilight heard Pinkie’s voice begin to waver as she felt Rarity and Applejack join the hug, lending their own bodies. There was the flap of wings, and Rainbow Dash’s prismatic mane fell into view. Together with her friends, Twilight mourned not only the passing of her world or her family, but also of the hundreds of ponies that had been her neighbors in Ponyville, and the forgotten millions that had lived all across Equestria.
Twilight couldn’t say how long they stayed that way. After an eternity, Pinkie’s voice finally fell silent, only to be replaced by Applejack’s as she recited the names of her extended family. Rarity and Rainbow Dash both spoke the names of their lost loved ones, voices breaking as they remembered the lost Cutie Mark Crusaders. Twilight spoke last, finally taking the time to acknowledge exactly whom she had lost.
“Spike, Twilight Velvet, Night Light, Shining Armor, Cadance… Princess Celestia…”
The group lapsed into a silence broken only by their quivering sobs. Finally they broke away, standing in a small, teary-eyed circle that huddled together as if they feared some torrential rain may come to sweep each other away at any moment.
Twilight took a deep breath to steady her voice. “Pinkie, we came to… to see if you were okay,” she said. She couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of the statement. Obviously none of us are okay.
“Heh.” Applejack let out a low chuckle. “I suppose we weren’t quite okay ourselves, huh?”
Rainbow Dash flicked her head, straightening her mane with a hoof. “Ugh, you guys even got me all sappy.”
Rarity sniffled as she wiped a black trail of mascara from her cheeks, pouting. “Oh, this is just awful! All this crying has ruined my makeup, and I haven’t a clue of where to get more.”
Pinkie Pie giggled, her mane puffing up ever so slightly. For a brief moment she almost sounded like she had before they’d woken up at the end of the world, and Twilight wondered if she would ever be back to how she used to be. Will any of us ever be the same?
The sound of her laughter was like a streak of vivid sunlight cutting through a dark room. Twilight could feel herself relaxing, and saw her friends doing the same around her. Perhaps it was instinct, or force of habit, or maybe just some secret magic that only Pinkie possessed. The laughter spread between her friends like wildfire, and soon all five of them were giggling uncontrollably, neither one quite sure what they were laughing at, but relieved to do it nonetheless. They were together. Despite anything else that might have happened, they were still together. Even if they had lost everything else, they still had each other to cling to.
Twilight looked around for the first time in what felt like hours, and saw Flint shaking his head grumpily by the stairway.
“Y’all mares are crazy,” he grumbled.
The comment spurred on another round of laughter, harder this time. They fell to the floor, writhing about in fits. When the last of the giggles finally died down, Twilight climbed back to her hooves feeling miraculously refreshed. It was as if a dark haze had cleared from the room, and she was able to breathe and see clearly for the first time in days.
“Thanks, girls,” Pinkie said, looking up. “I guess I really, really, needed that.”
“I think we all did, Pinkie,” Applejack said. “I’m just glad y’all’re alright.”
“Yeah.” Pinkie closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.
The mares moved with a renewed energy, and Twilight was pleased with the new clarity in her mind. They fell into a comfortable silence, simply basking in each other’s company. Twilight glanced at the pile of books in the corner, feeling their call to her, but resisted the urge to devour their contents. The world wasn’t in any immediate danger—at least not of its current equilibrium being disturbed—and she felt safe in the knowledge that a few moments relaxing with her friends couldn’t possibly do any harm.
The red-orange light of sunset was filtering through the one window of the second floor when Twilight heard the sound of the front door opening below. She raised her head blearily from its place on Pinkie’s shoulder, ears twitching at the sound of conversation approaching up the stairway.
Sea Sabre stepped into view, her eyes immediately darting to the veritable hoard of books next to the table. “Where did these books come from?”
Trails shrugged sheepishly as she came to a stop by Sabre’s side. “Oh, uh. Twilight wanted to read up on some history, so I went out and borrowed some books from the library.”
“The library?” Sabre slowly turned to face Trails. “The same library that you borrowed that comic from two years ago?”
Trails blinked. “Uhh… yes?”
There was a long moment where Sabre didn’t say anything, only narrowing her eyes as Trails shied away.
“You got her an ID and took her to the library, didn’t you?”
Trails looked away, suddenly finding the pile of books to be very interesting. “Well, I suppose you could say that, yeah.”
Sabre sighed, running a hoof through her mane. “Did you at least manage to keep her Gift hidden?”
“Uhh…”
“Nevermind, we’ll talk later.” Sabre turned, arching a brow at the pile of mares on the floor. “Mr. Rich apologizes for any inconvenience. He’d like to extend an invitation to dine with him at his estate tonight.”
Twilight straightened up, climbing to her hooves as her friends stirred around her. Rainbow Dash was the first to speak. “Invitation, huh? And what happens if we say no?”
“Then you’ll be free to go,” Sabre said. “Mr. Rich is not in the business of keeping ponies against their will.”
“What is he in the business of, exactly?” Twilight asked.
Flint spoke up from his spot in the corner. “That ain’t an easy question t’ answer, little mare.”
Sabre nodded. “He describes himself as a businesspony, but all the businessponies I know say otherwise. Do you want to come, or not?” She glanced over to the pile of books. “I would recommend that you do.”
“And why’s that?” Applejack asked.
“Where else would you go?” Sabre asked. “Out onto the street? You have no bits to pay for a room, and I doubt you want to take up labor in the factories or mines. There’s a dozen ponies on every street corner waiting to con you. If nothing else, I can assure you that Mr. Rich has no malice in his mind, and he will help you understand what’s happened to the world in your absence.”
Twilight’s mind lingered on that last sentence. It was true that she had no idea what they might do if they were set free, and ultimately she could end up seeking out a pony like Mr. Rich anyways. Sabre and her crew had treated them well so far, and as far as she could tell hadn’t lied about anything yet. If it was true that they were free to go, then she had nothing to lose from accepting the invitation. I’ve already lost so much.
“I think we should go meet him,” Twilight said, turning back to her friends.
“What?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “Twilight, this is the guy that’s been holding us here!”
Rarity raised a hoof delicately. “Sabre just said that we could leave whenever we wanted, darling. And it’s not as if we were tossed into some grimy dungeon and locked behind bars.” She wrinkled her nose as she eyed the dirty fabric of the sofa behind her. “Though it’s hardly a Canterlot suite.”
“Twilight might be right, Rainbow,” Applejack said. “Where else are we gonna go, huh? This Mr. Rich fella might even be able to help us out.”
Rainbow tossed her hooves up in frustration, hovering a few inches off the floor. “I don’t know! I’m just so tired of sitting around and doing nothing, and going to dinner with the guy that’s been holding us prisoner doesn’t sit right with me!”
“He’s also the guy that dug us up in the first place,” Applejack said, stomping a hoof.
Pinkie Pie stepped in front of Rainbow Dash, cutting her off. “He doesn’t seem like a really bad pony, Dashie,” she said. “Why don’t we become friends with him?”
Rainbow snorted, tossing her mane. “Okay, okay, fine! We can go! I guess every one else doesn’t mind being imprisoned in some stupid office for two days.”
“Hey!” Trails said. “Our office isn’t stupid!”
Sabre smiled, giving a little nod. “Great. We’ll leave now, then.”
“Already?” Rarity asked, her eyes darting about. “Oh, but I haven’t seen a mirror in days! I’m hardly proper!”
“It’s already sunset,” Sabre said, turning for the stairs. “Dinner will be served shortly after. Let’s go.”
She didn’t bother to wait for any further response. Sea Sabre was already out of sight as the other ponies set about preparing to leave. Twilight and Trails packed the sizeable pile of books into the bulging saddlebags that had been borrowed from the office’s stores, and Applejack wasted no time in hefting the sleeping Fluttershy onto her back once more. Rainbow’s grumbles and Rarity’s panicked titters fell on deaf ears as the mares were guided out of the building and a short ways down the street, where a lonely pier jutted out from a small patch of exposed rock between a pair of wooden buildings.
Floating lazily at the end of the pier was a simple airship, little more than a balloon and a propeller attached to a small boat. Sunfeather was waiting patiently near the front, next to a large wooden wheel and a pair of levers that stuck out of the floor.
They boarded quickly, with Sabre releasing the rope from the pier before making a wing-assisted jump aboard. Sunfeather pushed a lever forwards with a wing, silently guiding the ship away from the mainland as the propeller spun up. Twilight stayed pointedly in the center of the deck, distracting herself from the thought of all the open air beneath her by watching the islands pass by.
They traveled east, away from the setting sun and gaining in altitude. The mainland grew distant as they flew, with the islands passing by above and below gradually growing smaller as they went further east. Twilight thought back to the map of Heighton she had seen before, trying to keep track roughly of their position.
The islands east of the mainland were as varied in architecture as they were in altitude. They seemed to be organized into loose groups, and Twilight saw thick ropes running between many neighboring islands, with open gondolas ferrying ponies between the packed tenements of some islands to the smoke-clogged streets or busy markets of others. More than once their ship turned to avoid columns of smoke rising up from the factories beneath them, and several other vessels of similarly sparse design criss-crossed their path as they went..
The sun was low on the horizon by the time they finally reached their destination, with much of its light blocked by the bulk of Heighton beneath them. They pulled up to a small but sturdy pier at what looked like the easternmost island in Heighton, and Twilight actually found herself somewhat short of breath from the thin air, her ears having popped multiple times during the ride. A bleached white tower dominated the center of the island, its thick stones reminiscent of some kind of medieval castle. Four wide gravel paths extended out from its base, each one decorated with stone statues fashioned into abstract shapes that reminded Twilight of the spiraling magical diagrams of her youth. Smaller, packed dirt walkways snaked between the paths, weaving between an array of colorful trees and bushes that filled the air with the heady scent of their flowers.
Twilight took a deep breath, savoring the scent as she and her friends disembarked and followed Sabre down the closest gravel path, which led directly to their pier. It was the first time since her arrival in Heighton that the air had felt fresh, unmarred by the bitter taste or thick clog of smoke which seemed to linger over every part of the larger islands. Her ears flicked at the sound of songbirds in the depths of the garden, and she turned to see a pair of blank-flanked gardeners stretching up to trim at a tall passing bush with long shears.
Rarity let out a soft gasp behind her. “Oh, heavens, what a divine estate!”
“Eh, I’m not impressed,” Rainbow said, hovering above the group.
“The gardens’re certainly somethin’ special, if nothin’ else,” Applejack said.
“Does Mr. Rich live up in that tower?” Pinkie Pie asked. “It’s really, really, big! He must have some crazy-fantabulous parties!”
Trails looked back with a smirk. “Quite possibly the best parties in Heighton,” she said.
Pinkie sucked in a great big breath of air, and Twilight braced herself to parse an indecipherable assault of words, only to be saved by Sea Sabre’s voice.
“It is his tower, though it’s mostly for show,” she said. “He doesn’t really go up there that often, except for his open parties. He normally likes to entertain guests downstairs.”
Twilight cocked her head, looking back at the receding silhouette of the small ship they’d taken here. “He pays for all this with salvage crews?” The only other ships she saw docked were all of the same spartan, air-taxi design that seemed to be used for getting around locally. There wasn’t any sign of any other large, long-range roaming ships like the Argo that other salvage crews might use, and as far as she knew, the crew’s little office hadn’t had a single customer for the past two days.
Flint let out a low chuckle from the back of the group. “We’re more a hobby of his, actually.”
Sabre nodded. “You can ask him about it yourself, if you want. We just work for him.”
They came at last to the ornate wooden door at the end of the path, its surface carved into swirling patterns and further decorated with the same flowering vines that crawled across the marble statues of rearing earth ponies. It opened of its own volition as they approached, sweeping inwards with startling silence.
A smartly dressed unicorn mare was waiting for them in the expansive vaulted chamber that served as the tower’s foyer. Twilight couldn’t help but stare at the blank spot on her exposed flank as she bowed.
“Welcome to the estate. Mr. Rich is waiting in his study,” the mare said.
“Thank you, Aura,” Sabre said, not breaking stride. She led the group across the room, to a wide archway set into the base of the staircase which curved up the walls. Beyond the arch was another curved stairway with a similarly gradual slope, though this one sloped downwards.
Gently flickering lanterns set high on the rounded walls illuminated the carpeted steps as well as the sweepingly intricate murals painted onto each side. The murals seemed to tell a story, perhaps that of a popular legend, and Twilight studied them with wide eyes as they passed in the hopes of learning more of the history she had missed.
The beginning of the murals seemed to be the artist’s interpretation of Equestria during Twilight’s time, with wide plains and rolling hills, each side showing a stylized depiction of the alicorn sisters watching lovingly over the cottages that dotted the countryside. The Princesses were depicted as watchful goddesses, with their flowing manes each taking up the entire sky at one point, their manes flowing in gentle twirls across sunny day or starry night. Twilight’s eyes especially lingered upon the warm gaze of Princess Celestia, her pale pink eyes full of a knowing kindness.
They delved further down the stairway, and Twilight was forced to tear herself away from her old mentor as the mural changed. The Equestrian countryside grew dark as heavy clouds rolled into view, carrying on their backs a trio of hazy ethereal beasts with the tall, majestic bearing of horses, their flanks little more than wispy curls of grey smoke.
Wendigos. Twilight recognized the creatures from the old Hearth’s Warming legend of Equestria’s founding, despite a few noticeable differences. These wendigos were dark and grey, with flashing yellow eyes that crackled with electricity, and each sported a pair of wide sweeping wings that released torrents of water in their wake. Does anyone still remember Hearth’s Warming?
A great wave of water passed over the Equestria in the mural, and left in its wake an image of the land drowning beneath torrential rains. The peaceful cottages of the countryside were half-submerged amongst the waves of ponies stood on their roofs or hovered above the waters, all of ponykind looking up to the skies. There the two alicorn princesses faced off against the three wendigos, with powerful magic beams criss-crossing the wall. As Twilight followed Sabre further down the stairway, another wave of water washed over the land, smashing against a wall of swirling gold and blue magic.
Princess Luna was nowhere to be seen in the penultimate frame of the mural, which showed only Celestia casting a beam of magic into a huge wave of water spouting from the last remaining wendigo’s horn. The Equestrian continent was now completely submerged, though the mural did show a single island floating alone above the waves. A small swarm of pegasi seemed to be rushing between the island and the water beneath, rescuing what unflighted ponies they could find before bringing them to the safety of the island.
A flash of radiant gold separated the last part of the mural from the rest. Now both Celestia and the last wendigo were gone, leaving only the floating island sandwiched between the thick stormclouds and the raging waters beneath. A small group of ponies, mostly pegasi, huddled together on the landmass.
They came to the bottom of the stairway, the wooden door framed on top by carved clouds. Painted waves sloshed against the lower part of the door, while a few islands floated gently above.
“What is all this?” Twilight asked as Sabre opened the door. “Is this history?”
Sabre shrugged, holding the door open. “More like a legend.”
The underground part of Mr. Rich’s estate was just as impressive as the gardens and tower above, and perhaps even more expansive. Twilight had been expecting cramped corridors and darkness, but clearly the network of chambers were constructed with appearance in mind before cost. Support beams were disguised as carefully carved decorations, and no expense had been spared on lighting every corner with sparkling gold or silver lamps or chandeliers. If it wasn’t for the lack of windows or the recent descent, Twilight wouldn’t have even been able to tell that they were currently traversing the depths of an island.
They passed more ponies here, mostly servants wearing strangely colorful assortments of bow ties and trim coats that were quick to step out of the way or offer little bows before carrying on with their business. Twilight saw Rarity curling her lip more than a few times at some of the more unusual color combinations, the white unicorn letting out little titters and gasps at the very worst.
Finally they arrived at their destination, a tall wooden double door flanked on either side by hanging red curtains and chipped old statues of the alicorn princesses. Each of the doors was decorated by a trio of golden trim moneybags arranged in a tight triangle.
Sabre paused as she raised her hoof to knock, looking back to Twilight and her friends. “He can be a bit tactless sometimes, but he doesn’t mean it. Try not to get offended.”
Her knock was quickly answered by a stallion’s voice, heavily muffled by the thick wood but still clearly discernable. “Come in!”
The doors gave way with an eerie silence as Sabre pushed them open, the well-oiled hinges giving no complaint at the weight. Behind them was a wide semicircle of a room, with the curved wall made up of a series of rectangular window panes separated with thin red framing. The center of the room was dominated by two wide columns of brick, each housing a square fireplace framed in by carefully constructed arches. Tall bookshelves laden with a colorful variety of books covered the two flat walls besides the doorway, each volume thickly bound with golden trim. One side of the room had a raised wooden platform, currently vacant except for a large phonograph that was playing a quiet orchestral tune which sounded vaguely familiar to Twilight.
The remainder of the room was filled with a wild collection of mismatched furniture pieces. It was as if someone had gone out of their way to make sure that every item came from a different set, with smooth marble, intricately carved wood, gently curving glass, and even blocky stone all fighting for dominance. A pair of stallions were seated around a gently curved marble table with a glass top, in the middle of conversation.
The first, a plain brown earth pony with a black mane slicked to one side, was quick to jump off of the rainbow of pillows slathered over the carved wooden sofa he’d been reclining on. He spread his hooves wide in welcome, beaming brightly at the new arrivals.
“Ah, and these must be my latest finds! Welcome, welcome!” he said, beckoning to them eagerly. “Please, sit wherever you’d like!”
The second stallion—a unicorn—also stood, looking towards with the newcomers with a detached interest. “I didn’t know you were expecting visitors.”
The first stallion ignored the comment, making straight for Sea Sabre. “Everything went well? No issues at all?”
Sabre shook her head. “No, sir. Did you need anything else?”
“That’ll be fine, Sabre. Keep your team here for now though, alright?”
Sabre dipped her head. “Yes, sir.” She beckoned to Trails and Flint with a flick of her tail, and the three ponies promptly stepped outside, closing the door behind them.
The stallion immediately rounded on Twilight and her friends, who had remained standing near the door while they took in the scene. Rainbow Dash, who had been hovering closest to him, let out a little yelp as he reached out and snatched her hoof into an eager shake.
“Ah, you must be the fast one! And flying too, how impressive! I’m Mr. Rich, but please, just call me Crazy.”
Rainbow blinked, the corner of her mouth twitching upwards. “Uh, I’m Rainb—”
“Ah, and the two unicorns!” Mr. Rich advanced on Twilight and Rarity, reaching a hoof up to tap at the latter’s horn experimentally. “Which one of you two has the—or is it both of you? Did you have formal magic training in your youth?”
Rarity stepped back at the touch, her eyes darting side-to-side as if the garish furniture was threatening to attack her. “Well, Twilight is much better at—”
Mr. Rich had already turned to face Twilight directly. “So it’s you, then? You’re the one with that magical ability I’ve heard so much about?”
Twilight flinched back at the intensity in his gaze. Those bright silver eyes reminded her all too much of her own expression as she flipped open the cover of a fresh spellbook, eager to uncover the secrets of their target. She wasn’t sure if she wanted herself to be read quite so thoroughly.
“I’m, uh—nothing special, Mr. Rich. I only cast a few major cantrips,” she lied. A good compromise. Stronger than your average unicorn, but not enough to be noteworthy.
Mr. Rich’s eyes bored into her own as he leaned in even closer. “Multiple spells? Magnificent!” He looked over her to the door, raising his voice. “Aid!”
“Sir?”
Twilight started, looking back to see a stiff-backed attendant mare standing in the open doorway. She hadn’t even heard the hinges creak.
“Send for Aura!” he said. “Tell her to arrange for a reveal dinner for tomorrow, and then a followup next week. The best of everything!”
The attendant frowned. “We already have the ball tomorrow, sir.”
“Even better!” Crazy let loose with an excited laugh. “We shall make the reveal at the ball, then!”
The mare dipped her head as she stepped backwards, the door drifting silently closed behind her. Twilight glanced over to Pinkie Pie, and was happy to see the pink mare’s ears perked up attentively.
“Oh! Oh! Are you throwing us a party?” she asked. “Can I help? Please let me help!”
Mr. Rich gave Pinkie little more than a passing glance, instead taking a few steps backwards to address the group as a whole. “So then, guests from another time! I imagine you’re quite hungry!”
The unicorn stallion—who had been waiting alone by the marble table with faltering patience—cleared his throat loudly. “I wasn’t expecting our visit to be interrupted by other guests, Crazy.”
Mr. Rich froze for a second, and for a moment Twilight thought that he had actually forgotten that the other stallion had even been there. He recovered quickly, however, giving a friendly beckon with his head as he started for the door. “Don’t worry about it, my friend! Come along and join us for dinner!”
The double doors glided open at Mr. Rich’s approach, and the other stallion followed along with a begrudging flick of his tail. Twilight exchanged a few glances with her friends, giving Applejack a sympathetic smile as the mare re-adjusted Fluttershy’s weight on her back.
“I suppose we had better follow him,” she said.
Rainbow fluffed her wings and snorted as she landed. “I’m getting tired of all this following.”
“You and me both, sugar cube,” Applejack huffed.
“Just a little bit longer, dears,” Rarity said. “We can get some well-deserved rest and relaxation after we fill ourselves with the exquisite food that’s surely waiting for us. And perhaps have some of our questions answered, as well!”
“And he’s throwing us a party!” Pinkie Pie added.
Twilight couldn’t help but smile at the party pony’s energy. “Let’s go, girls. I think it’s been too long since we had a good meal.”
Together they followed after Mr. Rich and his guest, Pinkie and Rarity making quiet conversation at the back of the group. As much as the concept of food excited her belly, it was the enticing lure of answers that truly tugged Twilight forwards. And even though she knew a good night’s rest would be good for her, Twilight didn’t think she’d be able to truly relax for a long time.
Author's Notes:
Supplement: Twilight's Notes on Archaeology
Author's Notes:
This chapter is purely SUPPLEMENTAL. The content contained herein is not necessary for the enjoyment of the central story, and is intended only for readers that desire some extra context for the setting. Feel free to skip this chapter. You can always come back later.
Research Notes, Entry Twelve
17th of May, 673 Anno Caeli, 3:22 AM
After searching through five different books on world history, ten different regional history books, and a pair of extremely well organized noble pedigrees, I’ve learned very little as to the nature of the world-shattering event that occurred in my absence. Although they’ve given me a clearer view on modern Equestrian politics and culture—and I am looking forwards to gathering more books on the subject of the various Princess cults that seem to have sprung up—their knowledge of what is now “ancient” Equestrian history is so sparse that many of them don’t even mention events further than three centuries in the past.
As it seems modern Equestrian scholars lack the knowledge I need, I’ve turned to first-hoof accounts of archaeological expeditions. It’s my hope that my personal experience with old Equestria will give me a unique perspective that may bring some new theories to light.
I’ve read several archaeological journals since Entry Eleven (17th of May, 673 Anno Caeli, 2:42 AM), and of particular note to me is Sir Sea Diver’s Survey of the Sunken City of Stalliongrad, written by the titular Sir Sea Diver—the third son of Count Cave Crawler—during a series of archaeological dives he headed from years 642–655.
The unusual thing about them is that they were in fact archaeological dives. Every other journal I’ve read were written by archaeologists on ride alongs with dedicated salvage crews, and their inability to direct their vessels or look at anything of historical value for more than a few minutes before the crew moved on in search of further salvage shows in just how broad many of their findings are.
Sir Diver’s first expedition into Stalliongrad is little more than an excuse to go hunting deep sea creatures, and reads as such. An excerpt from one of his first journal entries reads:
Keep in mind the time of year if you intend to dive around these waters. It’s early spring right now—an ideal time for deepfish hunting, as the beasts roam closer to the surface in the warmer waters—but I’ve seen the Gray [Note: The Gray is a colloquial term in the northern islands for the ice sheet that moves south during the colder months] start moving south as early as August before, sometimes at great speed. I recall a story my cousin Shoal told me of a fishing trip he’d taken late in autumn, when most of the sane folk have settled in for the off-season or gone south to keep their coat warm. He’d gone under for maybe four or five hours, and when he came up to haul his catch the ice had moved in above him! He had to travel almost a quarter mile before he found wet waves again. The daft fool even had the nerve to complain that he didn’t see anything on the ice! He isn’t all dumb, though. He’s refused to fish even a day past July ever since.
He rambles on for nearly five thousand words about fishing and weather and his cousins before returning to the dive itself. Even then, he does little more than theorize on the possible religious significance of what I believe to be the Stalliongrad industrial sector’s smokestacks before returning to the subject of “deepfish,” the term for the various monstrous breeds of fish that now populate much of the ocean below the epipelagic zone. I admit that it was interesting subject matter; the deepfish seem to have some sense for objects which disturb the ocean surface, and will rise up in schools of ever-increasing size to investigate (and subsequently attempt to eat) anything which remains there for much longer than an hour. It’s curious to note that the deepfish otherwise are observed to live largely solitary lives, and don’t seem to have any sense for objects beneath the surface.
I recall reading in the world history books of a period where surface vessels were used for salvage, at a time when scrap and wooden wreckage were a fairly common occurrence floating on the ocean surface. Crews would often use airships to lift themselves out of the water whenever the deepfish became too agitated, as the fish would actually slam themselves into the boats hard enough to create leaks in unarmored hulls, and eventually jump up onto the deck to bite at the crew. In fact, In the interest of remaining topical, thoughts on the deepfish can be found in Addendum A to this entry.
His future journal entries are much more informative. Included in the journal are sketches done by Sea Diver’s skilled companion, Dewlight. The sketches depict battered Royal Guard helmets (Sea Diver theorized them to be ceremonial drinking bowls), bankhouses (He mistakes them for churches. How? Equestria still has banks!), and commemorative crystal pins depicting Princess Cadance (It seems Cadance’s existence is no longer common knowledge among Equestrians. He hypothesized she was a local fertility goddess.).
Reading an archaeological perspective of one’s own past is an almost surreal experience. Of course any decent scholar knows that archaeology involves a great deal of conjecture due to the general lack of context given with any artifact that’s dug up, but seeing just how wrong one pony can be in their hypothesis casts everything I’ve ever read on Old Equus into a skeptical light. I’ve included here an excerpt of Sir Sea Diver’s theories on the purpose of what I’m certain is the Stalliongrad Rail’s train tracks.
The trail consists of two steel rails, travelling in parallel throughout the entire city. Although the passage of time has warped much of it, careful measurement of the best preserved segments leads me to believe that it was designed very precisely to accommodate two full-grown mares of average build. The rails are laid across a path of heavy stone, raised above the cobble that was used in much of the city's hoofpaths, and decorated with long crystal nails that seem to have been driven into their surface with great force. Attempts to follow the rails to any form of origin point have all been for naught; they travel beyond the city in many directions, perhaps to smaller villages that might have existed into the surrounding metropolitan zone.
Based on the religious columns and large gathering buildings lining the trails, the raised surface, and the crystal used as decoration, I can only assume that that they were used for some form of religious ceremony centering on Stalliongrad’s ubiquitous fertility goddess. We’ve found more of the ceremonial bowls in structures built around the trail, and so I believe that some form of idol or altar may have been carried by teams of mares marching abreast throughout the town, while the populace would wait at these stations to shower them with praise, adoration, or pleas. From afar, it is difficult to tell whether the trails or the city came first. Perhaps these trails are marks of some arcane leyline ancient ponies drew succour from, or perhaps they were built in such a way that as many ponies as possible could reach them easily for religious satisfaction. One thing is for certain: Stalliongrad was an extremely religious settlement.
It appalls me how Sea Diver seems to see religion in almost everything he touches, despite diving in a city known for being rather cold towards the Princesses in general. On the plus side, the crystal Cadance pins tell me that whatever apocalypse befell Equestria didn’t happen more than a few years after my disappearance. I recall Cadance discussing plans to attempt to ingratiate herself to the city through distributing collectible pins to the populace in five-year increments. It’s merely a coincidence that the northern city had developed a penchant for using crystal in much of its infrastructure.
From my readings so far, it seems that the loss absence of the Princesses has led to a significant rise in what I’m calling “Princess cults” around Equestria. As much as I wish to read and discuss further on the subject, I shall hold myself back for now in the interest of remaining relevant to the material at hoof.
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