It was easy now, to move as one, and the companions moved through the snow with surprising alacrity. It was overcast, a winter’s day, and the temperature hovered near ten degrees below zero. They had set out early, when it was still dark in fact, with the hopes of getting a full day of exploration. It was a risky move, leaving their sheltered cave before knowing what the day’s weather was going to be.

The boreal forest had a strange silence, a terrible silence. Here in Skyreach valley, there was very little that made noise, and what few sources of sound there were to be had were muffled by the snow. Things had become quite calm and peaceful, which unnerved Tarnish a great deal. Of their tormentors, the automatons, there was no sign, but there were tracks, which they were following now, with the hopes that the tracks would lead them to the door.

Ahead, there was something between the trees, something hulking that was buried in snow. Nopony rushed ahead to see what it was—they remained cautious and together—with Tarnish ready to shoot anything that moved. The calm and the quiet were getting to him, leaving him paranoid, he was itching for some kind of confrontation, some release.

Very curious shapes could be made out beneath the snow, and Vinyl cast a spell, focusing intense heat on the area. The snow steamed, and the vapour rose in lazy, wavering wisps. Tarnish leveled the Bellringer at the emerging shapes, uncertain of what he was seeing, and then, beneath his heavy scarf, his mouth fell open.

A garden of statues. Was this a park? A place to rest along the road that lead from the weather factory to whatever entrance lay ahead? Tarnish could see benches as more snow evapourated, and ancient statues became visible. They were weather-worn, but details could be made out.

Some of them had been vandalised, Tarnish realised, while he studied a pony statue that had been decapitated. It was a collection of statues of different species. There was a centaur, she stood with one hand raised up above her head, and in this hand was a small crystalline globe. Tarnish suspected that the globe had once shone with light.

Almost clinging to her leg was a unicorn, and his studious, solemn expression could still be seen on the stone. A neat little goatee hung down from his chin, and the details of his eyes were almost too real. If Maud was here, she would spend forever studying these statues. Distracted, Tarnish blinked when Vinyl snapped a picture.

A noble looking pegasus pony stood beside a regal looking griffon, who had a front leg snapped off. The pair of them were looking up at the centaur’s crystalline orb. Tarnish realised that the centaur was holding up a model of the sun, his brain insisted that what he was seeing was exactly that. After staring at the orb for a bit, Tarnish looked down at the third pony present, and with a chill that ran down his spine, he knew that the headless pony was an earth pony.

Seeing it like that made him feel sick, and he trembled with fresh-kindled rage.

A minotaur leaned on a massive stone axe and a diamond dog cradled a massive two handed sword in its long, beefy arms. There was another figure, one that Tarnish wasn’t sure he recognised. He stared, he squinted, trying to recollect what he was looking at might be, but drew a blank. It seemed familiar, but also strange—

“A human,” Daring Do said as she moved forwards. “An extinct species, they don’t exist any longer, and there are many that doubt that they even existed at all. I know for a fact that they did, because I’ve studied Megan, Danny, and Molly. I’ve seen some stuff.”

“This is all pretty weird,” Rainbow Dash remarked as she studied the pegasus pony and griffon statues. “Ponies and griffons working together… we’ve been enemies in the past, but I guess we’ve been friends too. It’s strange, looking at this.”

“I wonder what it represents?” Tarnish moved forwards, and his booted hooves crunched through the crusts of snow. The stone benches were worn, some of them were broken, and this little park had suffered untold centuries of frozen neglect. Some kind of magic had to be present though for it to be in as good of condition as it was.

“Where are the dragons in this group?” Rainbow asked.

“Rainbow,” Daring began, “there is a lot of debate about if dragons are native to this world. They might be, there might be dragons, but it is said that the first dragons were created with a powerful magical artifact of pure evil. We don’t know if this is true though. Their origins are lost to time.”

“No alicorns in this group.” Tarnish looked around and felt some unease. “The centaurs, they loved their alicorns. Something about this just feels off now that I’m noticing this.” Brows furrowing beneath his ushanka, Tarnish’s mind remembered the visions of things he saw in Maledico’s orb. Feeling a tug, Tarnish watched as the magical spectacles that he and Vinyl shared went flying over to her.

She had found something, a cartouche that still had faint lettering that could be seen. It sat at the base of an ornamental sundial that had stylistic renditions of the heavenly bodies, and then, while Vinyl was reading the cartouche, Tarnish’s blood ran cold because he saw two symbols he recognised. It was unmistakable, he was seeing Princess Celestia’s sun cutie mark, and Princess Luna’s mark as well. With some steam, he cleared away more snow for a better look.

“Is that…” Rainbow breathed, “is that what I think it is?”

Head bobbing, Vinyl looked away from the cartouche, looked at what the others were looking at, and then snapped a picture of it with her camera while passing the glasses to Tarnish. Taking the glasses, he did not peer through them, but continued to look at the two familiar symbols on the sundial.

Blinking, he tore his gaze away, flummoxed, baffled, and he held the glasses in front of his goggles so he could see the letters on the cartouche at the base of the sundial. It took a few seconds for his vision to come into focus, and he began reading the letters that could be seen on the ornamental stone scroll secured to the sundial’s base.

He read aloud, “Skyreach Weapons and Research. Securing today with tomorrow’s tech.” It seemed familiar, and it was, he had seen it on the other statue. Squinting, he continued to read fine, delicate letters. “Biosciences research and development division. Taking what already exists and making it better. Director Solis leads the way, bringing a brighter future today.”

Turning his head, Tarnish looked at the centaur statue, and he wondered if that was Director Solis. It might be. Might not be. He looked back down at the words written in stone, and wondered what they meant, what context they held. Reading them a second time terrified him. Lifting his head, he looked at the diamond dog and wondered if it had been engineered in much the same way that Vinyl had rigged together the Bellringer.

In silence, he glanced down, and the unmistakable symbol of Princess Celestia’s cutie mark stared back up at him. Seized with a question, Tarnish asked his companions, “Is improving on what is already there harmony? Everything has to be managed… our weather, our magic, our planet, and apparently, even us. Where does it end? Have we messed with things so much that they can no longer function on their own without us?”

“I don’t know, Tarnish,” Daring Do replied. “I am forced to wonder though, what is Skyreach?”

Leaving the park behind, the companions headed north, and Tarnish wondered if there was a road somewhere deep beneath the snow. He was confused, puzzled, wondering about a number of things that didn’t make sense. If the weather control was broken, and more and more snow fell into this valley, wouldn’t it cover the doors?

But, this was a boreal forest, so maybe it was warm enough in the summer for the snow to melt. He was gripped by uncertainty and left unsettled by the current state of calm. To their left was a high ridge, a wall of mountains, and Tarnish suspected that they would find a door along this natural wall.

There were tracks in the snow, so something had passed along here recently. Tarnish kept a watchful eye on everything with his lofty height advantage, and Rainbow led the way. To their right was a vast, snow-blanketed forest full of evergreens. The air was filled with the scent of cold pine, a smell that used to remind Tarnish of the holidays, but now filled him with dread.

“Hey,” Rainbow said as she came to a stop. “What do you think it was like for the pegasus ponies who rediscovered this place?” She gestured all around her, indicating everything, and shook her head. “How did they get in? What do you think brought them here?”

“I don’t know, Rainbow.” Daring Do gave her curious pegasus pony companion a nudge. “Keep moving, time is precious.”

The magic here was palpable. Tarnish could feel radiant heat blasting through his heavy clothing, and it was as hot as summer. There was no snow in this secluded glade, this ravine that opened in the ridge. All the tracks led here, to this place, and beyond the slush and melted snow was green, green grass. Fresh fruit trees could be seen growing in the narrow crack.

Every nerve in Tarnish’s body sang with danger, but the sight of fresh, juicy apples almost drove him mad. Even stranger, the sky immediately over the glade was blue and the sun was shining. Tarnish was almost certain that it was an illusion, but he had no way of knowing for certain. Already, he was sweating beneath his many layers of protective clothing.

There was a path visible, winding between the trees, and worn stones could be seen along with bare patches of earth. There were waterfalls on each side, rivulets of running water from snowmelt, and Tarnish wondered where it all drained. It had to drain someplace, otherwise this ravine would be flooded.

Rainbow Dash stood up on her hind legs and rested her front hooves against the trunk of the apple tree. The tree showed signs of pruning, of grafting, it showed signs of care. Tarnish could only assume that the automatons of Skyreach must be doing it. These apples were large, round, perfect. They were also growing in the middle of winter.

Dropping back down to all fours, Rainbow continued onwards, and none of the companions took any of the apples, even though they all wanted too. This place was too strange, too odd, there was still too much that wasn’t known. Tarnish however, could sense that the apples were safe, they wanted to be eaten, but he didn’t trust his senses at the moment.

The ravine narrowed as they went further in, and there was nothing here to challenge them. Tarnish pulled back his hood while he felt sweat soaking his pelt, he pulled down his scarf, and he took off his ushanka, allowing his ears to pop free. They flapped in the warm, balmy, summery breeze and the sweat trickling down his scalp tickled him.

His companions began doing the same, pulling down scarves, taking off hats, each of them almost smothering under the many layers of protective clothing. Unable to stop himself, Tarnish plucked an apple, pulled it down to him, and then began to examine it. He could feel the excitement of the trees around him, it had been a long, long time since something had eaten of their fruit.

Who comes here? Tarnish asked of the trees around him, projecting his will into them.

Just dumb animals, and nothing else living, the trees replied, all speaking with one voice.

The apple was green, shiny, it appeared to be perfect, and it reeked of sugary sweetness. Tarnish could feel the anticipation of the trees around him, how they longed to sustain life once again, how eager they were for harmony to return to them. Tarnish, feeling clever, took a moment to compose his thoughts, then he decided to ask the trees a question.

Who made this grove? he asked, still holding the apple, but not biting it. Perhaps the trees could tell him much. Or not. Either way, this apple would be eaten, but he would make the trees wait. His companions were growing restless, but the silence was maintained.

None of us are that old, the trees replied, still speaking with one voice. The oldest of us is almost two hundred years old, and still fruiting, but only just barely. The dead metal maintains us.

Without meaning to, Tarnish asked his next question aloud, startling his companions. “And this dead metal, where does it come from? Is there a door here?”

There was an odd sound, like a wooden house creaking in the wind. The trees all began swaying, each of them moving a few of their branches, and all of them pointed at the other end of the ravine. Tarnish could feel Rainbow Dash and Daring Do pressing up against him, fearful, he could feel them trembling, and he could hear the trees all speaking with one voice inside of his head.

That way lies the door and beyond it is a dead place. If you go in there, you will die too, for what lies beyond is the bane of life. The air that comes out when the door opens is dead. Beware, do not enter, gentle pony of the earth.

Author's Notes:

There are a lot of important details buried in this chapter.

That's all I'm saying.