“I don’t know how I know, I just do. That door is lost to us. You’ll just have to trust me.”

“That’s just the problem, Tarnish, I do trust you. Normally, your judgment is sound enough. But you wake up and you tell me that the door out is lost to us and it worries me. Doubly so after your… your… your—”

“Moment of violent state of absolute denial?” Rainbow, always a helpful, loyal creature, smiled. “Disconnectus Interruptus? Mental break? Violence vacation?”

Daring Do frowned, then her head shook from side to side while clucking her tongue. Rainbow, by all rights, should have cringed, ducked, or reacted with shame, but the rainbow-maned pegasus was shameless. Daring, perhaps realising she was wasting her time with Rainbow, went still and just glared at the defiant blue pegasus.

An unwanted silence lingered, lurking, just waiting to pounce, and Tarnish struggled to find the words that would drive it away. Something, anything, that would foil its efforts to cause discomfort and awkwardness among he and his companions. He had asked an awful lot of his friends, saying that they just had to trust in what he had said, and he was painfully aware of how disturbed he seemed at the moment.

The nightmares, the dreams, they had robbed him of meaningful sleep.

“Rainbow, I don’t know what you were trying to accom—”

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash interrupted, holding out her hoof. “The sooner we make fun of Tarnish and tease him just a little bit about what he did, the better off we’ll all be. He’ll feel like things have returned to normal, whatever normal is now that we’re trapped here, and he’ll know that we—me, at least, doesn’t feel any different about him after what happened. Ignoring what happened is the worst thing we can do, in my not-so-humble opinion. I still trust him and you should too, Daring.”

“Rainbow—”

“Don’t you Rainbow me, I know I’m right.”

Almost grinding his teeth, Tarnish, his insides squirming, wished that the lurking silence would come now. The two pegasus ponies had their hackles up. Oh, maybe not visibly, but he had been around the two of them long enough to know when the invisible hackles showed themselves. Daring Do demanded order, professionalism, and a stiff upper lip. Rainbow Dash relaxed and rolled with the punches. The two of them could not be more different. Distracted by his throbbing leg and blistered neck, he thought about saying something but had no words.

It was Vinyl who salvaged the moment, but quite by accident. Whimpering, she held her makeshift weapon up right beneath Tarnish’s nose and waved it around while her face pinched with worry. Unsure of what was wrong, he shook his head, not understanding, not comprehending what had caused Vinyl to be so upset.

“What am I looking at?”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Tarnish saw the cracks. The fine crystals that powered up the weapon all had cracks in them. The gun was disposable, something designed in such a way that it would break down over time. Security measure? Perhaps. Their best weapon against the automatons would soon cease to function. Which was why they had to follow through with his plan—crazy as it was.

Of course, like the door, he had no idea how his plan manifested inside of his head.

“It seems as though there was a contingency in place,” he said, his words dull and spoken without feeling. “Vinyl’s gun is falling apart. It was never meant to last.”

Daring Do’s brows furrowed in a most unpleasant way.

“We can’t go back,” Tarnish continued, his words still lifeless, still beaten down and weary. “The door… the door out has been tampered with. All we can do is go forwards. If we continue out this door where that tentacle monster tried to get in, we’ll reach the old metro tunnels. Dangerous or not, we’ll have to travel through them until we can reach Reality Fabrication—”

“You see, Mister Teapot, my dear and beloved friend, when you say words like ‘Reality Fabrication’ it makes me worry. Those words do not belong together in a coherent sentence, and to hear you say them fills me with concern. How can you know these things?”

“I don’t know.” Cringing from the bluntness of his own words, Tarnish turned away and stared down into the shallow water that flooded the floor. In the wan light, he saw his reflection looking up at him, a stranger wearing his countenance and skin. A changeling in the water. How did he know this stuff, anyhow?

“Beyond Reality Fabrication there is a service shaft. From there, we can attempt to go down and disable the mechanoid fabrication facility. I know it will be risky, and if necessary, I’ll go alone. But this must be done. We’ll be safe-ish in the Reality Fabrication labs, because the automatons don’t have clearance to be there. Not the hurty-stabby-hunter-killer types anyhow. Just the cleaning and maintenance types.”

“I’m still worried about how you know all of this.” Daring Do’s words were gentle now. Softened. Spoken with a great deal of warm affection and with no attempt made to hide her feelings. “I mean, you just woke up knowing stuff.”

“You have to trust me.” Tarnish’s eyes lingered upon the weapon that Vinyl now held up to her own nose, and he wondered if she would try to repair it somehow. Were repairs possible? What had he dreamed? Was he going mad? He worried that he was leading his friends into danger, and he began to second-guess himself. It was terrible: he was asking his friends to trust him when he did not trust himself.

“Um, what do you think is made in a place called ‘Reality Fabrication’ and why does that name make my asshole pucker?” Rainbow Dash, sitting on the narrow shelf where Tarnish had found his mighty, mighty monkey wrench, shook her head. “I wish Twilight was here. Pretty sure she’d know about this sort of stuff. Maybe.”

“Miss Dash, I fear that we’re about to find out.” Daring Do’s words lacked any sort of meaningful confidence. In fact, they were utterly devoid of it. “This is Tarnish knowing all about this Moochik fellow all over again.”

Tarnish could hear the fear in her voice now that she had accepted this course of action.

The Army Gun had been left behind, left on the shelf of the room they had sheltered in. Vinyl, fearful of what the gun might do as it continued to deteriorate, decided that it was a risk not worth taking. It could just continue to crack and crumble, or it might self-destruct at the worst possible moment.

What was Skyreach?

A place where things of unknown, potentially explosive ends were left behind.

The gulguthra had rapidly dissolved while they had slept and was now almost a puddle of putrescent, decaying filth. Tarnish peered ahead, his keen eyes searching for danger in the flooded passage. Several inches of warm, but rapidly cooling water flowed along the floor, and the sound it made deadened other noises, which made it difficult to hear anything.

Armed with shield and monkey wrench, Tarnish advanced with Rainbow Dash right on his heels. Vinyl followed Rainbow, and Daring Do brought up the rear. Keen hearing would be no asset here, not with the flowing water, and Tarnish felt oddly vulnerable. If there was one gulguthra, there were bound to be others. There was some manner of reproduction to keep the species going.

The hallway was steel, greyish steel. It was strange steel though, as there seemed to be very little rust for something so old and submerged in the wet. How did this place preserve itself? What means did it possess? The floor was also steel, some kind of grooved tiles that were rough to walk on.There was also a peculiar vibration in the floor, as if ancient machinery had been left running nearby.

“The old metro is somewhere ahead. I don’t know what we’ll find along the way. This section is different… not like the other places we’ve seen.” Tarnish, his wrench at the ready, continued his slow, steady advance.

Walking single file, the companions advanced down the flooded hallway, their hooves splashing in the shallow water. There was light here, faint, weak light offered by globes mounted to the ceiling overhead, some of which were no longer working. It was amazing that any of them worked at all.

No doors presented themselves, save for the one behind them, and this appeared to be quite a long passage. The gulguthra had roamed this hallway, which meant that things edible to the gulguthra also traversed this passage—not a reassuring thought. The fear this thought provided was almost—but not quite—enough to stave off the boredom that stalked them.

What was Skyreach?

Long stretches of boredom interspersed with screaming for one’s life.

The dog was quite unlike anything that Tarnish had ever seen, and he wasn’t even sure if it was a dog. It was dead and all manner of creepy, crawling things were eating it. The eyes were already gone—all four of them. Tarnish had a closer look while the mares kept their distance. Whatever this creature was, it was dog-like, but had a long, slender neck, eyes that faced front and rear, and had bizarre finger-like appendages on its front and rear paws.

It was unsettling to look at: more so when one realised that this creature had sprung from the loins of another. Like the gulguthra, and everything else to be found here, this creature and its kind were breeding. Using his wrench, he nudged the corpse to roll it over so that he might have a better look. The finger-like appendages had what appeared to be suction cups on them, almost like an octopus’ tentacle.

The face was quite unlike anything that Tarnish had seen, and from the front, the odd dog might be mistaken for a cyclops. One empty eye socket gaped just over the nasal bridge. Two more eyes could be made out, their puckered sockets found in ridges rising up from above the ears, and the last fourth eye was on the back of the skull, right where the brain bump would have been found.

A mouthful of serrated teeth grinned up at Tarnish, a smile filled with bugs. Multiple rows of teeth, in fact, with the top and bottom teeth interlocking. It had a terrible bite, of this there could be no doubt. Grimacing, he lifted his head while also stepping away from the corpse. Blinking, he tried to make his eyes adjust to the dim light as he looked around him.

This almost looked like an apartment complex. A central courtyard is where they stood now, and along the stone wall there were a great many doors. Some—though not all—of the stairs had survived, so not every door was reachable. Beyond the doors were living quarters—all of which appeared ruined and ransacked.

An old fountain stood in the middle of the central courtyard, and there were four exits in total. One lead to the flooded passage where they had emerged from—no doubt some kind of maintenance or service hallway that allowed quick access between sectors. Of the other three exits, there were gates, old, ruined gates that barely hung from their hinges. Overhead, the illusion of blue sky flickered, but there was no sign of the sun.

Turning his head, Tarnish peeked through a window that held no glass. Overcome by his curiousity, he went over to have a better look at the dwelling he saw, this one a ground-floor model. The door—made of steel—had been torn from its hinges and now lay on the floor of what appeared to be a living room. Yes, a living room. To the right was a kitchen—a recognisable kitchen—and beyond the kitchen was a hallway.

To the left was a living room and at the far end, a door. A surviving door. With his companions huddled together behind him, he stepped over the ancient trash and with his wrench at the ready, he pulled the door open. Much to his surprise, he found a bathroom. The toilet was shattered, broken into several pieces. Sadly, the sink had suffered the same fate. Broken pipes from which water dripped jutted from the wall.

There was no tub: it was gone, just gone.

Standing in the ruined living room, Tarnish tried to imagine who had once lived here. It all made a terrible sort of sense, this residential district. The metro station wouldn’t be too far away from here. To live here, inside the heart of a mountain, beneath an artificial sky. Not an ideal life, at least by his own standards, but Tarnish suspected that some might have found happiness here.

No doubt the despoilers had come, Spear Breaker’s bunch, had found this place, and had made themselves at home. Turning about, he bumped into Rainbow, who let out a startled whinny. No words were exchanged though, as the oppressive silence seemed to suite this place. Mindful that trash piles held hidden dangers, he made his way into the small kitchen area.

The old appliances were not all that different from the modern ones. He could recognise the stove and there was a refrigerator, though the door to the fridge was missing. How peculiar. The cabinets had all been ransacked, smashed, and destroyed. How had some of the wood survived for all this time? Why hadn’t it rotted and decayed? It’s very existence was perplexing.

Vinyl held her slate up in front of his face. He had not even been aware of the fact that she had written something. Squinting, he took a moment to read the brief message written in loopy scrawl: This is a sad place. I don’t like it. Families were raised here. All gone now.

Seeing the weariness on his friend’s face, he nodded.

Then, just as he was about to leave, he noticed the blue glow coming from beneath the fridge. As he lifted the crystal rod from the floor, it activated and an ancient voice could be heard, a ghostly echo from a time long past. Ears pricking, he had himself a listen, knowing that the crystal rod would disintegrate. There was only one chance to hear the message.

“Other wheres and whens. Other wheres and whens. Does it ever end? I smashed the mirror, but the visions don’t go away. Seen too much. Saw too much. So much to see. Saw Spear Breaker’s folly as it played out across multiple worlds. She’s doomed to failure. We’re all going to die. I have seen the loom upon which reality is woven. The warp and weft are broken. Everything is broken. Even that stupid pillar is broken. I fear I’ve gone mad, but the conversation with the pillar was so enlightening. Pillar of Prophecy, indeed. It doesn’t even come from this world, so how could it know about anything here?

“The other whens and wheres are watching me. I can feel their eyes. All of their horrid, horrid eyes! They are peering through the endless distances that exist between the walls, the dark spaces. Such dark spaces. I’ve seen them. Seeing is believing. Peering into the mirror was a mistake because now the attention of those beyond is upon me. All upon me. Mine eyes have cursed me. Cursed me. The eyes must come out if I am to make the visions stop.

“But what of the others? They saw too. Yes, the others also gazed into the mirror with me. Our eyes must come out. Oh, they will hate me, but I must do what is best for all of us. Offending eyes must all be removed. I’ll be a hero… yes, a hero, and I will save us all from the—”

The crystal rod began to crumble and the rambling message ended mid-sentence.

“You think he found a spoon or something in here?”

“Rainbow Dash, that is horrid!” Sucking in a deep breath, Daring Do shuddered with revulsion while also backing away from her fellow pegasus.

In spite of her flippant remark, Rainbow wasn’t laughing. Tarnish saw fear in her eyes. Poor Rainbow was coping—yes, she was coping the only way she knew how. Crumbled motes of the crystal rod fell like glittering snowflakes to the floor, but so intent was he upon reading Rainbow’s expression, that he did not notice them.

“You’re a ray of sunshine, Rainbow Dash.” Tarnish dropped his wrench to the floor and stood it up in the corner. “We need to keep going, but I also think we should have a look around this place. We might find more history. As awful as it is, as terrible as everything was, we should seek out what we can.”

“Agreed.” Daring nodded, but was still casting a disapproving glance at Rainbow.

Finding bones was expected, but not these bones. These bones were odd bones, and they still had some meat on them. While the mares kept their distance, Tarnish had himself a closer look at the corpse of the unicorn that Vinyl had found in a closet. A leg was broken, that much was obvious. Seeing the body was quite perplexing, and filled Tarnish with questions.

How had it gotten in here? Without the snowflake gem, access was restricted. Had it been dragged in for ‘processing’ and broke free from its captors? That seemed unlikely, as the automatons would have killed him on the spot, and not left him alive. This… this was a mystery unlike any other.

On the floor, Tarnish spotted a gun. At least, he thought it was a gun. It looked like one. Sort of. But it was unlike any gun that had been pointed at him. There was also a satchel in the very back of the closet. Perhaps answers could be found in there. Reaching out with his telekinesis, he lifted the canvas sack, opened the flap, and had a look inside.

Foil packages could be seen, some of them open and empty. At least this unicorn, whomever they had been in life, was not a litterbug. The foil packages had to be rations. A sudden anguished wail almost caused him to drop the satchel, and just as he started to turn around, he heard Rainbow Dash say in a loud, panicked shout, “That’s Twilight!”

Tarnish froze.

“It’s Twilight! What is she doing here? No!”

While Daring Do pulled Rainbow into a tight embrace, Tarnish had a better look at the body, and ignited his horn for more light. Yes, the corpse was rather purplish, what remained. There was something familiar about it, something that caused the hairs on the back of his neck to rise. There were no wings though, and Twilight was an alicorn. Still, there was something unsettlingly familiar about this corpse, and even in its state of decay, there were parts of it he recognised.

It was Twilight, and of course her most loyal friend had recognised her.

Tarnish took a step back and then tried to make sense of this situation. Rainbow was sobbing now and Daring Do was doing all she could to console her. This might not be their beloved Twilight, but this was still a Twilight. He glanced down at the broken leg and while he stood staring, for the first time he noticed the small hole in her head, just behind her rotting ear cavity.

His eyes darted over to the strange gun.

This could not have been their Twilight, because she had given up.

Once more, he looked into the satchel, hoping that he could find some answers.

Author's Notes:

Updates should now be rather regular, barring real-life fiascos.