Spike and I stood like statues amidst the darkness of the Canterlot underground, our gazes interlocked. I felt like I was staring into Spike’s pain filled eyes for hours, but in reality only a few seconds passed. I knew it because I could hear Clandestine Delight choking from the sheer terror she was experiencing. It was the only sound disturbing the grave silence hanging heavily in the air.

I finally remembered what the word “joka” meant. Back when the first Zebrican dignitaries in centuries arrived in Canterlot, they were quite surprised to see a dragon amongst ponies; dragons were usually unwelcome by equines and rare to see outside their scorched homeland. They referred to Spike as “joka kidogo” – a name for all large scaly beings: dragons, sea serpents, wyverns. But since Spike wasn’t a huge, spiteful, death-breathing reptile, the zebras called him “kidogo”, a little one. They got along pretty well – Spike needed something to distract him from the most recent events. She was just as important to him, after all.

It was so long ago, when the war had only begun and our hopes were high. What was thought to be a short liberation mission went on for months, however. Months turned into years, and the distant battle for Equestria wordlessly called for Spike with every snippet of news from the Crystal Empire’s borders. Time after time I rejected his request to join the fray; he was too young and too innocent. But as the years passed by I could see how my number one assistant peaked and pined from a tedious life in laboratories too small for his growing frame. So, with a heavy heart I let Spike go to the frontline, but with one condition – he wasn’t allowed to participate in actual warfare. Nevertheless, his presence was very welcomed and his help was invaluable – Spike used his enchanted flames to pass the most sensitive information without danger of it being intercepted.

Since I came back to life, I had tried to avoid thinking about Spike. It was hard to accept the possible deaths of my friends, but it was something expected – five hundred years had passed after all. I had a sliver of hope that some of them might still be alive, but I would understand if they were but a memory by now. Spike, however… An average dragon’s lifespan could rival that of the true alicorns. But it was a very risky thing to cling onto. Anything could have happened to him in this nightmarish world. He might even have died during the war, I didn’t know how long it lasted after I “died” in the accident. And I didn’t know what was worse. Getting my hopes up was a dangerous path, one potentially leading to a lot of suffering. It seemed, however, that it mattered not in the end.

Like in a mirror, I saw my memories reflected in the eyes of the abomination my foster son had become. I could recognize those eyes anywhere, anytime. Even with Spike’s muzzle hidden by the metal armor and his body much bigger than I remembered. Even in his seemingly feral state of mind, those eyes were the same.

And I knew that Spike recognized me. He didn’t need to see my familiar face or lavender coat to know who was standing right in front of him. Spike was a dragon, a creature of the most primal magic and thus he could feel magic himself. It was five centuries, yes, but I doubted Spike would ever forget the touch of magic that brought him to life. It was the very same magic that whisked me from the realm of oblivion not so long ago. And it now oozed from every crack of my metal body.

I… I didn’t know how to feel. What to do. Any words felt like a bone in my throat. Guided not by my mind, but by raw emotion, I tried to reach out with my hoof. All that time Spike was still, overhanging above me like a gargoyle. My sudden motion provoked a violent reaction.

He reared on his legs and screamed. It was not a ferocious roar of a predator stalking the subterrain darkness for prey to rend. It was a wail of horrible realization and immense agony. I heard a shrill yelp behind me and a loud thud. Clandestine Delight either cowered in fear or simply fainted. But I couldn’t tear my eyes from Spike to check on her.

Before the echoes of the ghastly howl faded away, Spike fell on his knees and began to claw on the steel covering his body. Glass-like talons carved deep into the metal like it was butter, exposing tender flesh beneath. I gasped in horror as drops of crimson blood fell on the grated floor. Without even thinking, I rushed to Spike. But he noticed it the moment I tried to take the first step towards him. Again, he reared up and spread his claws, painting the walls in his gore, accompanying it with a roar of pain and anger. Spike made a full turn on the spot, so fast and vehement that his tail smashed out a chunk of the wall. By the time my hoof finally found a landing on the floor, Spike was rushing away through the tunnel, stumbling into walls and bellowing in agony, leaving deep furrows and red stripes behind.

In a moment he was completely gone, swallowed by the underground passages. I wanted to go after him, but I knew that chasing Spike was pointless right now. I didn’t know The Tunnels at all, but more importantly – something was very wrong with Spike. Something twisted his mind and body. And until I somehow found out what happened to him, it might be dangerous for both of us to meet again.

It was hard to refrain from following the only familiar thing from the past, but I knew it was the best decision in my current situation. Nevertheless, I still felt hollow inside. Spike and I always shared a special bond – I was the closest he had to a mother, and he was just as important to me. Even if he began to forge his own path in later years, I still loved him no less. Seeing Spike like this… it was tearing me apart. However, it wasn’t a crippling sorrow; either I had grown numb from all I had seen already, or I just couldn’t feel that much because of my unnatural body limitations.

I promised to myself that I would learn what caused Spike to be like this and then I would fix it, no matter what. But right now, I had two fillies, waiting for me in this horrible city, to rejoin, not to mention Clandestine Delight, who didn’t take the meeting with Spike very well.

I turned to the poor mare – just as with me, luck didn’t seem to be on her side lately. The pegasus curled on the floor, shielding her head and body with hooves and wings. She quietly whimpered and sobbed, shivering in her horseshoes. My eyes swept over her shaking form, I and saw her cutie mark, clearly visible on the white coat.

A simple subdued pink heart with two bandaids crossing in the centre of it. What a cruel world. I had never seen a cutie mark like this, but it wasn’t the first heart-related one. I could imagine a dozen jobs off the top of my head fitting for Clandestine Delight, but of all options she had to end up with this one, something I wouldn’t even think of. It felt like it was ironic on purpose.

“Hey, Clandestine Delight…” I softly called. But the snow white mare only curled tighter. She appeared to be inclined to silt through the grated floor to the lower level of The Tunnels. I desperately didn’t want to poke the frightened pegasus, in fear of giving her a stroke.

“Delight,” I called again, louder this time. After a moment of thought, I added, “he’s gone now, you’re safe.”

Sobs grew a little quieter and a single pink bloodshot eye tentatively peeked at me from between long feathers. Just as carefully and slowly, Clandestine Delight timidly rose to her hooves, the wide-eyed gaze fixed on the space behind my shoulder all that time. Realising that Spike was gone and she somehow miraculously survived, the pegasus looked at me with amazement and… awe?

“Y-you… it..? What..? How did you…?” Clandestine Delight stuttered, alternating between pointing with her hoof at me and the now vacant tunnel. I glanced behind, just in case.

“I knew him once, long ago,” I sadly uttered, turning back to the pegasus. I had some explaining to do. And I didn’t want to lie or hide this time, nor could the former prostitute be any menace to me anyway. Also, I desperately wanted to tell somepony my story, to share the heavy burden. I craved for a bit of genuine empathy after all the recent events.

“Are you…” Clandestine Delight blinked, looking at me with even more wonderment than before, “... a Former One?” She whispered with a reverence.

I had to rummage through my latter memories, I’d clearly heard that already… Right? They were the ponies who had somehow found ways to be immortal, or at least live for centuries, according to Scuff Gear at least. However, it wasn’t really my case.

“Not exactly…” I began. “I lived five centuries ago. And died.” I wasn’t completely sure when or how, though. A stray thought visited my mind. Could the “original” Twilight Sparkle... still be alive? No. There was no way in Equestria I would let things be like this. Anyway. “But I was brought back to life a few days ago,” I finished.

Clandestine Delight wordlessly moved her jaws, gears turning in her head.

“That was… in the Princesses’ Ages, right? Unbelievable...” She finally said with uncertainty. The pegasus mare visibly stumbled with her next words. If I were to meet somepony from a half millennium ago, back in my time of course, I would have some trouble with what to say, too.

For the first time I acutely felt a huge chasm between myself and modern ponies. For them, I was a relic, so ancient that my name had long since dispersed in the river of time. Clandestine Delight and I barely had anything in common, and not just because she was a pony and I was a machine with a magic imprint of a pony.

Once again I wished I knew how to sigh. My hope to find a warmth of compassion, shattered, just like my glass eyes. This was where our encounter ended, it seemed. That was a shame. Clandestine Delight was the first decent pony so far, not counting Flower and Wire, obviously. Speaking of which, I had already spent too much time underground. It wasn’t wasted by any means, but that didn’t make it any less gone.

“Listen, Delight,” I awkwardly began, “it was nice to meet you, but I really have to go now. I will point you the way to the surface, of course…”

“Wait!” the pegasus suddenly yelled, grabbing me by the shoulders. Looking me in the eye, she continued in a pleading tone, “please, take me with you!”

I was taken aback by such a request. It was the last thing I expected.

“But why? You don’t even know where I’m going,” I asked, trying to understand Clandestine Delight’s plea.

“I have nowhere to go…” Clandestine Delight replied, her voice breaking. The pegasus hanged down her head and quietly sniffled. I saw the mare battling with herself, trying to decide how much she wanted to admit the direness of her situation without sounding too desperate. Then she looked at me with a hope and firmly continued, only with a slight waver. “And if you became alive again a few days ago, you might need some help around, everything has to be new to you, right? I owe you that much – you saved my life.”

Clandestine Delight had a fair point – I desperately needed help. Regardless of if I met the girls or not, unfortunately, they didn’t seem to know much about anything beyond The Edge. Also, something was telling me that Clandestine Delight wouldn’t last long on her own. She didn’t appear to be the kind of mare made for life in modern Canterlot. We needed friends out there, we needed each other.

The decision was not hard to make.

“Alright. Then let’s go, I have friends to meet.”

“So, Miss Sparkle,” Delight gingerly tried to start a conversation. We trotted side by side through still empty tunnels in silence for a while, and it was starting to become quite awkward. “Who are your friends exactly?”

I chuckled. Probably for the first time since I woke up in Flower’s workshop, I felt amusement. Clandestine Delight still looked at me with awe in her eyes as if I was one of the Princesses. It was just as confusing as endearing. I had my share of respect as head of the royal research facility and a hero at some point. But this was ridiculous – I was a traveler from a different time at most right now, which was barely a reason to treat me like a walking miracle. Not a single title I once had was worth an old song anymore.

“You don’t have to address me like that, Delight,” I said, glancing at the pegasus mare. “I was only twenty-four years old. My friends just called me Twilight back then.” With a considerable effort I let a wave of nostalgia pass over me.

“Heh, you are still older than me.” Nevertheless, Clandestine Delight relaxed considerably. “And there is no need to use my full name, nopony does. It’s usually ‘Del’ or ‘Clandie’. Pick the one you like more.”

“I’ll stick with ‘Del’,” I replied after a moment. Remembering from what it all started, I continued. “About your question – they are two fillies from The Edge.”

Upon hearing those words, Del’s brows instantly went up.

“The Edge?” She echoed in disbelief. “I thought most of them hate equinoids’ guts.” The pegasus blinked and stuttered. “Um, I mean… I know that you are actually not an equinoid…“

“I get what you want to say.” I nodded to Delight, dispelling the awkwardness appearing between us once more. “Ironically, it was one of those fillies who made my body and accidentally resurrected me.”

“Ressu-what?”

“Brought me back to life.”

A heavy silence was the answer to my last reply. It was really hard for me to come up with something both of us could talk about freely and casually. I was curious about many things, as usual, but asking Delight how she became a prostitute or how she got those burns would be very insensitive. However, it was Del herself who saved us from that situation.

“What were you planning to do after you meet you friends?” she asked, her head tilted and wings fluttering as she warily glanced around. In the corner of my remaining eye I could see a distant movement in the branching passways. It was equine silhouettes marking the return of the underground dwellers.

“I was going to visit a library or an archive.” I sped up just a little. The empty tunnels weren’t just unsettling, but also filled with ponies that very well might be dangerous. “Somewhere I can learn. I’ve totally missed the last five hundred years.”

“And after that?” That was a good question. Now that I had Spike to save, I couldn’t just go to Stalliongrad. Not that it was concrete plan before; I still had no actual proof of the distant city being a real thing these days. And if it was true, Stalliongrad was very far away – leaving without preparation was a bad idea.

“I don’t really know.” Uncertainly, I added, “maybe try to travel to Stalliongrad eventually.”

“You think it’s real?” Apparently, Del had heard of it and had some doubts as well.

“You don’t?” I glanced at the pegasus mare who had an unreadable expression on her face. I didn’t look forward to her making hay of my hopes.

“There hasn’t been any contact with Stalliongrad in years and nopony who has gone there ever returned,” Delight mused. That didn’t sound very inspiring. “There are only rumors. A lot of them, though. It all started after one of The Former Ones was said to have left to Stalliongrad.”

Now that sounded somewhat good – Del’s words perfectly aligned with Scuff Gear’s story. It still wasn’t solid proof, but as Starswirl always said: “Coincidence is a lazy word for lazy ponies.”

“Do you know who it was?”

“No.” Del shook her head. “It was a while ago, long before I was even born.”

It all was either an urban legend or a very strange story. A supposedly immortal pony left her friend to travel to a very far away place. And she never returned or was heard of again. Even if she wasn’t immortal, it was no average pony. Stalliongrad was either a haven too good to ever leave, or a place so horrible that it was a danger even for those who had managed to evade death for centuries. I needed to learn more before I would try and do it myself while dragging two fillies and possibly a young mare along with me.

As we trotted briskly, we met a passerby, the first one since I descended into the underground. A figure with their whole body concealed in rags, disguising their nature, walked past us, paying us no attention. In the distance I could see equines tentatively peeking out of the shadows, or galloping between the smaller passages. It would be mere minutes before this part of The Tunnels was bustling with life again.

“From what I remember, Stalliongrad has a high chance to still be standing.” I shared my opinion on that matter. To put an end to discussing vague rumors, I continued, “and it’s a better fate to try and travel there than to wait for Canterlot to collapse on itself.”

“True.” Delight was surprisingly quick to agree on that matter. “Many ponies are looking for ways to leave Canterlot these days.”

“ Is that so?”

“Nopony wants to talk or even think about it, but all who live in Canterlot are aware how close we are,” the pegasus mare sorrowfully answered, hanging her head. Her face darkened even more and she added. “There was some hope before, but it was all gone after that winter.”

“What actually happened?” Almost everypony I met mentioned the absurdly cold winter, but I still didn’t actually know anything about it. “I’ve heard two different versions from The Edge ponies. That it was either the Pink Butterflies or some kind of mishap.”

I still had trouble believing what Scuff Gear said about the magic running out. That was not how things worked.

“A part of the magical shield on the south of the city was gone for more than a month. It was cold before, but became outright freezing.” Delight visibly shuddered at those words and hugged herself with her wings. “And I mean deathly freezing. Staying on the streets for more than an hour was dangerous, even for equinoids.”

“But what caused it?”

“We were all told that it was the terrorists who blew up the shield’s spell amplifiers. But we are told many things, you know.” Delight sighed deeply, a thoughtful look visiting her face once again.

“During that time most of the ponies who were visiting brothels were coming not for sex, but just to warm themselves. Not like anypony could get it up in that cold, anyway.” She smirked on that, but her smile was gone with the next phrase. “And we were all too starved to have strength for anything.” After a brief pause she continued. “There was one old stallion who paid for the whole night – that’s a lot of e-bits, mind you. So, we were huddling together under the blanket and he told me something.” The pegasus mare paused again, remembering the story that happened years ago. “He said that the Pink Butterflies may be crazy, but they are not completely brainless. The shield has to be round and because of that it covers Everfree just as well. And the Butterfucks wouldn’t be so stupid as to blow the hole right above them – the rain falls on sinners and saints just the same. Also, why didn’t they do it before? They had centuries at their disposal, and shield amps are not even guarded, unlike the Spire they did blow up.” Del paused letting her words to sink in. “There was no evidence or reason for them to do so. But they are the boogiepony of Canterlot – if something bad happens it’s either the Pink Butterflies or the equinoids, depending on who brings the news, the Crown or the TCE.”

As she was finishing her story, we began to meet more and more ponies and equinoids filling the subterranean paths. To my surprise, the most prominent amongst them were the pegasi. However, they didn’t look very good. Most of them appeared to be either diseased or drug addicts. Sickly looking things with their wingtips dragging on the floor, they walked slowly, slouching against the walls. Other pegasi sported a lot of prosthetics, more than I expected from Tin Flower’s words. There were even ones with metal wings, a sight that was making me uncomfortable.

“So, do you think it was equinoids?” Since Delight’s words implied the innocence of the Pink Butterflies, there was only one option left. After meeting Brass Litany, I had no trouble believing in such a possibility.

“No, they suffered just as much from the cold, even those who hate ponies. And equinoids rarely do anything extreme, no matter how loudly they claim to despise us.” Del shook her head. “That stallion told me that it all happened because of the magic thinning out.”

“Thinning out?” Come on, not her too… Everything could change over centuries, but not the magic, its laws were absolute. “There is no such thing. I was a unicorn, I would know.”

“He was a unicorn too.” The pegasus shrugged. “‘There is a lot of magic stored in gemstones. Maybe too much,’ he told me. I may not know much about the magic myself, but he had a point. The older ponies tell that it was easier to cast spells before. My grandma told me that it was easier to fly and control weather years ago, and it’s not just because she had grown old.”

I had no answer for that. I had never even heard of something like a “thinning” of the magic. Formerly, Canterlot was the unofficial unicorn capital and thus a lot of spells were cast on a daily basis around the city, even including the movement of celestial bodies. But it didn’t make spells any less potent. The same could be said about all the large cities with a lot of magic cast in them. It was just not how magic worked. However, things were very different now. Canterlot was substantially bigger than any settlement from my time. The strain put on the thaumagical field should be unimaginable. I had read all the books about magic I could get my hooves on, and none of them predicted or mentioned something like a possible depleting of the magic in certain locations. It was just another mystery of the modern world to add to the list.

“Um, Twilight, where were you supposed to meet with your friends?” Delight pulled me out of my thoughts with a question. Despite it sounding very simple, it implied an additional meaning: when were we going to get out of these forsaken tunnels already? Neither Delight nor I enjoyed being here at all.

“The south-east Thunderspire.” If the equinoid’s words were to be trusted, I was supposed to be somewhere near the east one. But looking around I failed to see any pointers to the exit or any signs confirming that I had come to the right place. So, I reluctantly admitted, “To be honest, I don’t really know how to get there.”

“I thought you knew The Tunnels, you even wanted to show me the exit.” Del looked at me with raised eyebrows.

“Not really, I’ve only learned a little, sorry,” I said apologetically. With Delight not knowing The Tunnels herself, it could quickly become a perilous situation.

“It’s alright, you've only been in Canterlot for mere days, after all.” The pegasus kindheartedly dismissed my words. Then she stopped in one of the deep shadows and began looking around as if searching for something. “Okay, give me a moment.”

I followed Delight’s gaze and saw that she was intently studying the paintings on the walls. Her eye jumped from one cryptic inscription to another. It took about a minute of her squinting at the seemingly unintelligible lettering. Finally, Del poked me in the side and pointed at one of the smaller tunnels not so far away.

“That should be the exit.”

Without an answer I headed towards it. Delight instantly joined me, and together we made a beeline for the narrow duct. While she was looking for any sign, she had drawn the attention of a few local stallions, who were now openly ogling her.

I warily glanced back when we entered the dark corridor. I wasn’t sure I could handle another fight. But, fortunately, nopony was following us. The short path led us to the familiar sight of rusted stairs.

“I thought you didn’t know The Tunnels either,” I commented on Delight‘s pathfinding success. Not that I was ungrateful.

“I don’t know the local parts, I was relocated to the Silken Flute only a few months ago,” Del replied in a sad voice.

Wait. The Silken Flute? Wasn’t that the name of the re-opened brothel from that disgusting advert? What had happened to it?

“But I didn’t spend my whole life in brothels, I lived at one of the Spires when I was a filly. The underground layout was the same there.” She finished explaining and glanced back as we reached the stairs. I mirrored her motion and saw a black silhouette at the beginning of the passage. “Let’s get out of here already, I’m in no mood for any more adventures tonight.”

The stairs leading us skywards were impossibly rusty, much rustier than anything before. The sorrel sloughs were coming off the steps and walls in huge flakes. Most probably it was caused by excessive moisture – every surface was glistening with a layer of dew. Where it came from, however, was another question completely.

Delight, who quickly reached an access cover, was puffing and panting both from ascending the steep staircase and from fruitless attempts to push open the jammed hatch. She obviously wasn’t made for a harsh life. I joined her side and shoved the heavy metal trap door with my shoulder. With an ear splitting creak the door finally gave up and without hesitation we left the vile confines of the subterranean kingdom.

Unsurprisingly, we appeared in a short and narrow dead-end alley stuffed with trash containers. It was a very familiar sight, though a few things were different.

First of all, the street and the space above it were filled with a thick mist. And it seemed the higher it was, the denser the fog was becoming, probably seamlessly blending with the clouds in the sky. Though, that might not be the case, since I was able to clearly observe the Thunderspires from The Edge. No wonder the staircase was so damp, the humidity in the air was reaching its limit.

Delight, not giving me time to thoroughly take in my surroundings, quickly trotted ahead to the main street. I turned back and glanced at the gaping access port. Shouldn’t we close it? I looked back at the pegasus mare, who noticed me not following her and stopped herself. I motioned with my head at the trap door, but Del only shook her head and answered by dismissively waving her hoof. To be honest, I had no desire to interact with the jammed hatch. I didn’t want to risk damaging my fragile hydraulic system. That or break something else. Giving the entrance one last glance, I shrugged and joined Delight.

Delight confidently and jovially walked through the vapor, like it was nothing. Probably a pegasus thing, for me it was like being lost in a huge bowl of milk. The fact that it was still night outside didn’t help in the slightest.

Since I could barely see anything, it was hard for me to tell how wide the street was. But it certainly wasn’t desolate. In the fog I could see equine silhouettes, most of them winged of course. Painting the mist in pastel colors, neon lights were hiding somewhere in its depths. Fortunately, the thoroughfare wasn’t as lively as the last one from my experience. A few ponies passed near me, but I was too focused on not losing Delight to give them more than a momentary glance.

As I followed her, I stumbled a few times, almost tripping over my hooves. She probably caught sight of it and commented over her shoulder.

“The east Spire pegasi are the laziest ones, their nests often fall apart and cover the ground in a mist, like this. Instead of being high in the sky doing their job, they’re high on the zebras’ stuff.”

“So, that’s what it means to be ‘high,’” I silently noted to myself. I was too busy fighting with the remains of pegasi’s cloud building to say something aloud. The way Delight walked through the condensed moisture in the air, like it wasn’t even there, irked me. It acutely reminded me again how Moonie and I tried to create artificial wings only to fail time after time, because there was something more to pegasi than just two more limbs and lots of feathers.

Suddenly, the fog abruptly ended, as if was cut off by a glass wall. I stumbled, barely keeping myself on my hooves. Fortunately, Del stopped me from kissing the pavement with my muzzle. As I raised my only eye to the skies, I was graced by the sight of the east Thunderspire in all its endless glory.

To say that it was tall would be an offense. The gargantuan building dwarfed the highest spires of old Canterlot; it was putting Manehattan’s skyscrapers to shame. For its steeple was not only scraping the firmament, but tearing the heavens asunder.

As if with roots, the tower was digging in the ground with ten wide footings, forming thirty-stories-high arches in between them. The trunk, the main body of the Spire was gradually narrowing to the point where it was as pointed as a needle. Though it was impossible to tell from this far away how sharp it really was at the very top.

So unlike pegasi’s creations, the Spire’s entirety was made from metal. And it wasn’t covered in bloody ulcers of corrosion, no, it was still gleaming, reflecting flashes of constant lighting and moonrays.

It wasn’t an exaggeration that the spoke on top of the Spire tore a hole in the sky. There indeed was an opening in the neverending thunderstorm.. The open space wasn’t wide, but it was enough to let through a few beams of the soft moonlight.

However, those pale shafts were almost lost in a chaos of electricity arcs ceaselessly striking the exterior of the Spire. I expected an unbearable cacophony to be filling the air, but strangely, only a distant muffled booming could be heard. Apparently, a dampening spell was used to keep the city from the fiery roar of the storm.

But how did the Spire function? I glanced over it again, from the top to bottom. Wait… It couldn't be… Where in the world did they get so much arcanium? It was no mistake, the surface of the Spire’s top half bore a trademark sheen of the rare and potent metal. It almost instantly dawned on me how it worked, it couldn’t be a very complex enchantment and construction. It was the sheer size of it which was mind-blowing. I was looking at the biggest lightning rod in Equestria. So simple, yet so overwhelming.

It was an obelisk erected to defy nature, to enrage it. To tame its disastrous fury into a beast of burden. To feed all of Canterlot with the power of its righteous anger. It was so risky and so amazing. Dangerous, yet advantageous. It was something only the pegasi could pull off.

Finally, I was able to tear my eye from the almost unreal visage. I probably spent quite a while staring at the Spire in bewilderment, because Delight was giving me an amused yet proud look, practically saying, “It isn’t something you had back in your days, is it?”

“Ah, feels like back home!” Delight exclaimed turning back to the Thunderspire and taking a deep breath of the ozone-smelling air. “Haven’t visited the Spires in ages. The damn job,” she added, shamelessly stretching herself and cracking her joints.

The pegasus mare already mentioned that she spent her childhood at a Thunderspire. Now that she mentioned it again, it reignited the question I had from the moment I learned about Del’s occupation. How did she, a perfectly healthy mare, end up as a prostitute? It was too straightforward a question to ask when I just met her, and I didn’t have time when we were hurriedly getting out of The Tunnels. Now was the perfect opportunity.

“If you were born at the Spire, why didn’t you stay there?” Was she ineligible to work as a part of a weather team? Or a technician? Or whoever else they needed as part of a Thunderspire personnel? I mean, a prostitute, of all the jobs possible in this huge city...

“I was pretty enough to become a Moth, it wasn’t a chance I was going to miss.” Delight answered, coquettishly smoothing her mane.

“What..?” I was at loss of words. I expected any answer, a story of her being forced under dire circumstances to accept such a fate, but not the fact that Delight chose her job willingly.

The first reaction from Del was her eyebrow trying to migrate to her forehead and an irritated expression trying to overtake her facial features. But it fled her face as soon as she realized that I didn’t mean any disrespect by that, but rather was ignorant of the modern order of things, and an understanding smile took its place.

“Don’t know how it was back in the Princesses’ Age, but these days working at a brothel is the best job one could wish for.” Delight thought for a moment, squinting her eye and pointing her gaze skywards. “At least in the Outer City.”

It didn’t help my confusion, not in the slightest. So I just continued to stare at Delight, failing to comprehend the situation. There had been a lot of things in Canterlot I had trouble understanding, but for most of them I could imagine an explanation. This, however… a mare of pleasure being the most prized job… It was beyond any reasoning.

Del either didn’t notice my lasting confusion, or simply decided to ignore it. Instead she asked me a question absolutely unrelated to our discussion.

“Let’s not make your friends wait. You said they’ll be waiting for you at the south-east Spire, right?”

All I could do was nod in answer. To that, Delight bit her tongue and twirled in place, taking a look at our surroundings. It seemed that being under open skies lifted her spirits considerably, or it could be the closeness to a pegasus neighbourhood that cheered her up.

“There.” She pointed with her wingtip in a general direction on the left and without missing a beat began to trot ahead. I had nothing left but to follow the pegasus mare.

We walked in the shadows of buildings on the edge of a square surrounding the Spire’s foundation. Del moved fast, with a slight spring in her step, so by the time I caught up with the pegasus, we had already dived back into the streets. Now that my bewilderment had passed, I had some questions to ask. But I had to state something first.

“Brothels were prohibited by the Princesses back in my days,” I said, trotting by Del’s side. She had slowed down since we entered a narrow street and kept to shadows, though she didn’t look alerted by any means; her eye still shone with a calm joy.

“That’s funny,” Del chuckled, “the Crown unofficially protects and maintains the brothel network.” Although Delight appeared to be relaxed, her gaze was sharp and she constantly scanned the street. Soon I noticed a pattern in our movements. We were giving a wide berth, if it was possible, to any groups of stallions larger than two.

“Unofficially?” I echoed only word that wasn’t making any sense for me. Considering what I had heard about that new “Crown”, supporting brothels wouldn’t be out of character for them. Why wouldn’t they openly admit it?

“Well, you will never hear the Crown mentioning moths in reports or during appeals to the public. Nor do they answer any direct questions.” Delight shrugged, apparently being in the dark about the reasons behind that as well. “But if anypony tries to attack the brothels or something like that, the Royal Guard will appear. Saw that one time, it was scary. And we had to clean a lot of blood from the walls and windows after that.” She cringed at that, but then continued. “We always got food, no matter what. Those who don’t have a place of their own are given one under a brothel’s roof. And it’s warm, warmer than any other, especially in winter. The old bed sheets, though.” Del shuddered in disgust. “The pay is stable. Not very big, but never delayed either.” Looking at me with a smile, the pegasus finished, “it’s one of the best jobs in Canterlot, as I said.”

In accordance with a longstanding tradition, that explanation resulted in more questions instead of answers. Actually, that wasn’t right. I had got a good answer explaining why somepony would prefer such a job. I had trouble imagining… er, the working process, but the benefits were obvious. Though, I didn’t get the most important answer: “Why would the government do that in such a peculiar not-really-discreet fashion?”

Delight distracted me from digesting the new knowledge with a bit of a surprising question.

“What was the best job in your time?” She asked innocently with genuine curiosity.

I had to think on that. Most of the ponies in old Equestria had jobs corresponding to their cutie marks, thus there wasn’t much of a choice. Nor was there a stark difference in benefits between different jobs. Sure, some salesponies or craftsponies were earning substantially more compared to that of, let’s say, janitors. But it never was an issue to my knowledge.

“All the jobs were good back then.” I finally gave my answer. Realising that it probably wasn’t what Delight wanted to hear, I added, “At least, I never met a pony who didn’t like theirs.”

“Huh.” Del seemed to be pleased with the answer, despite its vagueness. “I don’t think I ever met a pony who didn’t hate theirs,” she joked with a dry laugh; there was no sign of a smile in her eye. “And what was your job?”

“I was a chief scientist during the war. A librarian before that.” Being a protege of the Princess and a Bearer of the Elements didn’t count as jobs, right?

“Which did you like more?” Delight asked, oddly squinting at me.

“Being a librarian.” That answer didn’t take me long to come with.

“And you said that everypony liked their jobs.” Del chided me in a somewhat mocking and disappointed tone, shaking her head.

“I didn’t say I didn’t like being a scientist.” I tried to excuse myself, though I couldn’t deny that Delight had a point.

“It was part of my job to read emotions, Twilight. It’ll be hard to fool me, even if I have to judge you mostly by your voice,” Delight said with a smug, yet soft smile. I felt like it was an appropriate time to ask her the same question.

“Did you like your job?” I hoped that it wouldn’t incite a negative reaction from Delight. She didn’t seem to be uncomfortable talking about it before.

“Kinda. The benefits outweighed the downsides.” Her face darkened for a moment, but brightened again almost instantly. “The fear of becoming a red splat on a wall courtesy of the Royal Guard had its influence on patrons. And as I said, not all ponies came by only for sex, some just sought some comfort and compassion.”

I could only shake my head at that. If I didn’t know better, I would say that I was in a world ruled by Discord, for everything seemed to be put upside down.

“I barely understand how anypony can live here,” I muttered, still shaking my metal skull in disbelief.

Del just shrugged. Now that she had recovered from our misadventures in the Tunnels, she was way too happy for somepony living in a nightmare. Despite all the trouble Delight had been through, she was easygoing, but in a good way, unlike Nebula. Obviously, she had been hurt more than once during her relatively short life, but it didn’t stop her from being kind. Maybe the future wasn’t as bad as I thought, for as long there were ponies like Clandestine Delight, there was hope.

“It’s not that bad, really,” she elaborated, probably deciding that a simple gesture wouldn’t suffice as an answer for me. “Well, it was better before that winter. I wouldn’t have been kicked out of the brothel if not for that.” Her face became contorted in a scowl on saying that.

“How so?” I could barely see any connection.

“It was very devastating and scared the crap out of everypony in Canterlot. The screws began to tighten afterward.” Delight let a deep sigh escape her lips. “Retired or injured moths were usually kept as serviceponies. But lately brothels keep only a skeleton staff. So, they nullified my Moth ID and threw me out to the streets after I got those burns.” Bitterly, she added, “I’m sure that ten years ago they could have given me surgery.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” That was quite an unfortunate combination of circumstances.

“It’s not their fault.” If before Delight’s face was expressing just displeasure, now her eye burned with anger. “It’s all on the TCE.”

“The TCE?” That was an even less obvious relation, one that left me with no guess. “What do they have to do with all of this?”

“They started to blow up brothels one by one in the last few years. The Silken Flute was one of them. It was made to look like the Pink Butterfucks’ job, but everypony knows better.” Her scorn was abating, giving place to chagrin.

And now the Silken Flute was opening its doors again.

“But why would they do that?”

“The TCE tried for years to make their own brothel network, but with equinoids instead of ponies.” That wasn’t really a bad idea on one hoof and absolutely horrible on another. Actually, it wasn’t a good idea, no matter how you sliced it. Unless equinoids would willingly choose to work in said brothels, overwise it would be even worse than the current situation. But as it appeared to me, despite being as sentient as ponies, they were considered property. I already wasn’t very happy to learn that such practice as prostitution had returned to Equestria, though it seemed to be a voluntary thing. Creating artificial ponies who would spend their eternal lives as sex slaves would be vile beyond comprehension. Oblivious to my thoughts, Delight went on with her explanation. “The Crown was always persecuting any attempts at that. But recently the TCE has got much more influence in Canterlot, and they’re beginning to press on the Crown.” An expression of wrath twisted her kind face again, as she said the next phrase. “The TCE pays drug fiends from The Tunnels to blow up buildings near brothels, so it won’t look like a direct attack.” The flame was snuffed from her eye, replaced by hollowness. “If not for that, I would be a goner for sure.”

“If it makes you feel better, I didn’t survive an explosion.” I wasn’t sure if it was actually true or even the most appropriate thing to say at the moment. Delight’s life wasn’t all cupcakes and muffins, but it seemed better than mine, especially right now.

“Ouch.” The pegasus mare gave me a mirthless sympathetic glance and said no more.

For a while we traversed a maze of Canterlot streets in relative silence. The city around us lived and breathed, indifferent to our journey. The paths chosen by Delight weren’t very crowded, nor were they some kind of creepy back alleys either. She moved nimbly, yet in an inconspicuous way that wasn’t drawing any unwanted attention. Del took turn after turn without any hesitation, navigating the stone and metal web Canterlot had become. So far, Delight’s offer was one of the most fortunate things that had happened to me. Without her it would had taken me hours to cover that much ground, if I managed not to get lost or get in trouble in the first place. I could only wonder at Del’s navigation skills, it was something that could be acquired only by being born in this labyrinth.

Despite putting reunion with Tin Flower and Red Wire as my top priority, I deliberately avoided thinking about it any further. Countless questions concerning their fate swarmed my mind. Most of them began with “what if…” and none of them made me feel any better. I tired to divert my thoughts to something else, but it was incredibly hard to think of anything even remotely positive. Spike? Alone and suffering deep down below. Clandestine Delight? A victim of the vile city, her life broken and dreams stomped. Canterlot itself? Neither Nightmare Moon nor Discord even came close to that level of wrongdoing.

However, I caught a glimpse of something really important in the cauldron of my bubbling mind. It was a little detail I didn’t properly consider before, but it didn’t make it any less crucial. We were to meet at the south-east Thunderspire, but… where exactly? It wasn’t just a remark from my perfectionism, it was an actual issue. The Spires, judging by the east one, were huge and surrounded by quite a wide area.

“Del, do you know any places near the Thunderspire which could serve as a meeting place?” I asked the pegasus mare who seemed to be humming some melody to herself. ”Like the main entrance?”

“The main entrance is a bad idea, it’s guarded pretty heavily.” Delight shook her head in disapproval. “Loitering around it is an invitation for a hoof to kick our asses. Or your friends’.” Raising her eyebrow she asked skeptically, “Didn’t you discuss where you agreed to meet?”

“There wasn’t any agreement,” I said in hollow voice, to Delight’s further confusion. I forced myself to continue. “We planned to go to the city together, to a place near the south-east Spire. But then things got hectic and we got separated. I… I’m not even sure they will come,” I said, almost choking.

Delight gave me a very sympathetic glance and moved a bit closer to my side, almost brushing against me. It was a little thing, but it did help. However, Delight didn’t intent to settle for only that.

“I think the best call will be to try and intercept your friends at the sole exit from The Edge in this area. I have been there a few times, you can’t miss a pony coming out of it.” With a smile she added, “and it’s even on our way.”

“Thank you so much, Del.” Her kindness was like a glass of water in the middle of a scorching desert. Either I was overdramatizing how horrible ponies had become, and there actually were enough decent ponies in Canterlot, or I was just incredibly lucky.

“Don’t mention it.”

We spent the next fifteen minutes or so just wordlessly trotting through narrow and short streets until we came to a big and wide thoroughfare. It looked like the one where I emerged from the underground for the first time. I was already preparing to fight my way to the other side of the street, but thankfully it wasn’t needed – Delight simply turned left and I followed. It took us another five minutes of walking, and we arrived at a little square formed by tall, looming buildings. It was like a bigger version of the entrances I encountered before, a dead end with a hatch and garbage cans. However, this wasn’t so much an access door, but more of a hole torn in the ground. Occasionally, ponies and equinoids would dive into the darkness or appear from it and join those who stood around. Those ponies most likely were traders or something like that, because they constantly exchanged items with newcomers. The only thing they seemed to have was metal scrap. Rusty or gleaming, twisted or undamaged, it was filling crates, which stood in the place where I expected trash containers to be. Some ponies just waited, crowding together near burning barrels, warming themselves or quietly chatting.

There were no fillies amongst them.

Apparently, Delight noticed it as well and gave me a concerned look. I looked at her, trying to keep a neutral expression. She silently motioned with her head to a vacant place near the edge of the little square on the corner of one of the buildings. We walked towards it and I sat on cold pavement. After dusting the ground with her tail, Delight joined me. From our position I could see both the entrance and the huge wall dividing Canterlot from its industrial zone. I craned my neck around the corner and through an entwinement of cables and girders I saw the unnatural thickness of a storm surrounding the south-east Spire. We were close to it indeed.

There couldn’t be a better position to wait for somepony coming out of that tunnel, if it really was the only exit leading out from The Junkyard. Considering my experience with The Tunnels and Nebula’s sector, I had my doubts about that. Flower and Wire could easily walk under the Spire and exit on the other side of it, if I understood the underground layout right. But Delight lived in Canterlot for years and seemed to know the city pretty well, so I trusted her judgement. However, all that didn’t exclude the chance that the fillies could have already left The Tunnels and our waiting there was an exercise in futility.

Time stretched by, and with every pony or equinoid coming out of the gaping void, my fear was only gaining strength. Of course, we had been there only for twenty minutes, at most, and it would be foolish to expect Flower and Wire the moment we arrived. There was another explanation why the girls weren’t coming, but I fought with my mind as hard as I could to block that thought. I was winning for now.

More time passed, more than the last time I made such an observation. I glanced at Delight out of the corner of my eye. She didn’t appear to mind the prolonged waiting at all. She sat a bit slumped, but her eye moved incessantly, scanning our surroundings and checking all the equines close to us. Like Cerberus, I guarded the gates to Tartarus under Canterlot, and she guarded me.

It was very kind of her, and I had a feeling Delight was doing that not only because she thought she owed me, but because her kind nature compelled her to look out for me. But it couldn’t go on forever. My festering fear finally bore fruit in the form of words.

“Delight,” I said, trying not to sound desperate, “what if they already came to the surface and are waiting for me somewhere near the Spire?”

I had no doubt that Delight sensed apprehension in my voice, though it probably wasn’t obvious to anypony without her skills.

“Have any of them been to the city before?” she asked me back in a calm voice. Even if Del sensed my growing distress, she did everything she could to not follow suit.

“Yes, Tin Flower said that she got my gems somewhere in Canterlot,” I replied, wondering if it really made a difference.

“Then she is bound to know that this square” –Del made a motion with her wing– ”is the safest place to stay for Edge ponies. It’s considered a neutral patch even by police, since they buy the old metal occasionally.” Seeing that her explanation wasn’t completely reassuring, she added, “But we can go and check in the Spire’s vicinity if you want.”

I shook my head. I believed that both Flower and Wire were sensible enough to come to the same conclusion as Delight, to make this place an impromptu meeting point. Going to look for them now felt like giving up.

Del gave me a short condolent glance, and we both returned to out silent vigil.

The silence hung in the air between us, not awkwardly like before, but ominously instead. Eventually it began to affect Delight as well as me, getting on her nerves, making the pegasus mare fidget uncomfortably.

“You know,” she suddenly said, “I also have a hard time imagining how it was back in your time. I almost don’t know anything about it either. I know that there was The Great War, the Princesses and practically no technology.”

“Don’t they teach history in schools?” I wouldn’t be surprised if she answered no, or even if she would say that there were no schools anymore.

“Not really,” Delight answered somewhat sadly. “Good teachers taught us how to survive, bad ones just let us go home all the time and went out drinking themselves to death.”

“That’s horrible.” I was kind of glad to know that the educational system still existed in Canterlot, at least in the city itself – The Edge seemed to be absolved of such a luxury. But the way it worked was disappointing at best. From all general subjects, history was, if not the most important, certainly an absolutely necessary one. For those who didn’t know it were bound to repeat it, as the saying went. Though, I couldn’t remember Equestria being that bad at any point in time.

“It’s practically impossible to get to the Inner City, and those who try and actually learn things usually end up as teachers. Of the second kind.” Delight tried to explain to me, which, of course, gave birth to more questions. “And no education is needed to work in the Outer City.” She scowled and grimly added, “Or the Edge.”

So, there was a clear segregation between two parts of the city, which was caused not by the merit of the citizens, but most probably by their wealth. I knew absolutely nothing of the Inner City, but I was almost absolutely sure that was how things were. We were in a dystopic version of Equestria, and the Inner City being elite residential areas restricted only to the wealthy was perfectly fitting the rotten rhythm of decadence.

Delight seemed to be very inclined to distract me from the dark thoughts. And maybe herself too.

“So, The Great War probably was very bad, and having almost no technology ought to suck as well.” Saying that the war with Sombra was bad was to say nothing, even of what I had seen. Nor could I agree on the second part either – we were perfectly content without advanced technologies. However, Del wasn’t finished. “But how was it living in the same world with the Goddesses? How were they?”

It was a question I should have expected. It was the age of no Princesses, after all.

How did one describe the living Goddesses? Were there even words that could match their perfection? Did I even have the right to pass their magnificence through generations to the world where they were absent for so long that they were forgotten?

I looked to the heavens for my answer. There, beyond the Edge, far beyond the mangled soil of the Toxic Dump, the sunrise had begun. Through the gap in the distant clouds, grossly incandescent rays of Her Sun effortlessly and mercilessly sliced the gloom of the night’s veil. The fiery orb barely rose above the crest of the concrete monolith dividing one nightmare from another. But it was enough to set the stone ablaze, to paint a large patch of the sky in a shining gold. The warmth of Her Sun couldn’t reach me, but I felt it anyway. I always would.

“Beautiful,” I whispered.

Delight wasn’t looking at the dawn. She was looking at me, in a wonder and slight envy.

I was no longer looking at the dawn. I wasn’t looking at Clandestine Delight, either.

I was looking at the dirty filly with a metal leg who was glancing around nervously.

That filly was alone.

A feeling of immense relief, probably the strongest I ever felt in my life was coursing through my figurative veins as I rushed to Tin Flower like she was going to disappear into thin air if I didn’t grab her and hold tight.

Either she was too distracted or I moved so fast, but the filly noticed me only when I all but crashed into her. Tin Flower gave a frightened yelp, drawing the attention of nearest ponies, but soon it was replaced by muffled choking sounds as I hugged her. Fortunately I caught myself before it could become accompanied by a crackling of crushed ribs as well.

“A friend, eh?” chuckled Delight, who caught up while I was smothering Tin Flower. Was it just me or, despite the smile on her face, was her eye filled with envy and sorrow?

Tin Flower escaped my tight embrace and sat in front of me, giving me a critical look. I glanced over her as well and was glad to conclude that she didn’t look injured, just dirtier which was a notable feat considering how grimy she was the last time I saw her. Though, it was apparent that the filly was suffering from a severe lack of sleep: I could see bags under her eyes even though they had pitch black hair around them.

“We haven’t seen each other for a day and you’ve already got some shitty upgrades and broken half of what I installed,” Flower finally said with a barely contained smile, mirth dancing in her tired eyes.

But I was dead serious.

“Flower, where is Wire?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm. Tin Flower wouldn’t act so casually and joke around if something very bad had happened to her friend. But Wire wasn’t here anyway, and I was concerned.

“Oh, she didn’t make it,” Flower replied nonchalantly.

I froze in place, and though I could see it only in the corner of my eye, Delight became paralyzed as well. It took a few moments for Tin Flower to realize what she just said and her eyes widened.

“No, no, no! That’s not what I meant!” The little filly tried to explain, frantically waving her hooves. Del loudly exhaled, but I wasn’t so fast to relax. “She is alive, but she couldn’t come with me.”

Before I could ask her any more questions, because she sure had a story to tell, Flower was shoved to the side by a large stallion. A moment later he bumped into me as well. It wasn’t a hard thrust, and the stallion didn’t even glance at me or Tin Flower. It wasn’t something personal, we just stood where we actually shouldn’t have been. We were standing not only in his way, but in the way of many others, right before the entrance.

All of us understood it perfectly and I motioned with my head to the place where Clandestine and I had waited for Tin Flower. As soon we sat down I turned to the filly, still concerned with Wire’s fate.

“Flower, what happened after I went to that tunnel? Did Mercury catch you? Is Red Wire alright?” I unleashed a barrage of not so much questions, but demands.

Tin Flower yawned widely, thought for a moment, tapping her chin, nodded to herself and began telling her story.

“After you was gone, Wire and I argued a little and we decided to follow you. Then we saw through the door Mercury who finally went completely nuts, and you running away. But we couldn’t follow, it was too hot...”

“Wait, ‘finally’?” I interrupted Flower, for I couldn’t believe my ears. “You knew she was psychotic all along?”

“Yeah, it was obvious even before she got her wings torn off.” I could see Del visibly wince by my side. “But she was always on our side.” Flower paused momentarily. “Kinda.” Noticing my and Del’s incredulous looks she explained. “I mean, half the ponies in The Edge are batty in the brain. It’s better to be friends with them.” It was my turn to wince.

“So, we knew that eventually Mercury would go after us,” unfazed, Tin Flower continued, “but not immediately, cos shit hit the fan, she wasn’t the only pony who wanted to get rid of Grime’s fat ass. Methinks she’s still dealing with Furnace #3, they planned to take control even before Orange Swine came.” She licked her lips and went on with the story. “I could go to Canterlot straight away, but Wire wasn’t going leave her folks. I mean, duh.” The filly rolled her eyes. “And that was also the perfect time for them to migrate to the other sector. Hollow Druse was pulling strings with the zebras in Nebula’s sector for a while for that to happen.”

I heard a loud commotion somewhere to the side. All three of us turned our heads simultaneously and saw some kind of a fight. Two ponies, a scrawny, bald mare and a stallion with a lot of rusty, beat-up prosthetics were fighting over a spare part. The problem was that those two tramps were quite close to us, and each push and shove they were giving each other was bringing their brawl even closer. I glanced to the sides, hoping to find a quiet place, but Delight was already at it and motined with the wing for Flower and I to follow her to a small alcove in a wall nearby, occupied with nothing but some small rubbish.

We nestled there and Tin Flower continued her tale.

“Wire’s folks didn’t have a lot of stuff, but since miss Dust is blind, I decided to lend a helping hoof, at least until we reached the border. From there I went to Canterlot and Wire stayed with her family.” When did Flower sleep last? I didn’t need any sleep, it seemed, but she was not only a pony, but a rather young one. And, needless to say, I was happy to know that Wire and her family were unharmed and relatively safe.

“Druse gave me a token, so the ID maker will help us. Though, she said there’s no point in giving any directions, that stallion doesn’t stay in one place for long, but he should be somewhere near the Thunderspire.” Tin Flower finished her story with a shrug followed by another yawn.

“Are you talking about Segfault?” Delight chipped in the conversation, speaking for the first time in a while.

“Yeah, that’s his name.” The filly nodded absentmindedly. “Do you know him? And who are you by the way?” She squinted at the pegasus mare suspiciously.

It wasn’t very good of me not to introduce them to each other, but in my defense, there wasn’t a fitting opening for that. It wasn’t too late, however.

“I met Clandestine Delight in The Tunnels.” I motioned my hoof in the pegasus mare’s direction. ”Delight.” I motioned with another at the filly, “Tin Flower.”

I never paid much attention to Rarity’s etiquette lessons until I had to take a position in the government as an Equestrian representative. To my surprise a proper introduction could do wonders.

“Nice to meet you, Flower.” Delight smiled at the filly. “And no, I don’t know Segfault personally, but I might know where to find him.”

Delight and Flower looked each other in the eyes, just a mere moment longer than it should have lasted. It was an odd look. Respect? Familiarity? Rivalry? I couldn’t tell.

“Cool!” Flower exclaimed, like nothing happened. Then she did a double take at Del’s face. “Wait, is that a Moth’s mark?” The filly’s eyes lit up. “I have so many questions to ask!”

Oh, no, you don’t! I didn’t know how much of adult things Flower already knew, but probably more than she was supposed to. I wasn’t intent on allowing Delight teach her more, especially considering how vast Del’s knowledge probably was.

And Delight was already smugly smiling. The situation could begin to spiral out of my control at any moment.

”We now have a pony to find and I am still illegal.” I said firmly putting myself between Flower and Del.

“Alright, alright, I’m not going to teach your friend the birds and the bees.” The pegasus raised her hooves in the air defensively, accompanying that motion with a roll of her eyes. Under her breath she added, “Not while you are around, at least.”

I snapped my head at her. It seemed an untimely expansion of Flower’s knowledge was inevitable. I hoped that Del would at least have the decency not to teach the filly too much.

The mellow pegasus mare shrinked slightly under my icy glare and tried to switch the conversation to another topic.

“I know a mare who owns a rathole she calls an eatery. Morsel works with Segfault, so she always knows where to find him.” Pointing with her primaries in the direction we came from, Delight added. “She owes me one, and her eatery is just on the other side of the Spire.”

“What are we waiting for?” Flower exclaimed, ignorant to my attempts to defend the vestiges of her innocence. “Let’s go!”

I glanced at Delight and she only motioned with her wing to follow. I mirrored the motion with my head to Tin Flower.

As we huddled together, I noted how Del deliberately chose to walk on my right, trusting me with her blind side. Flower, in turn, walked by my left, as if to protect my own blind side. All of us trotted at a measured pace for barely a minute before the filly spoke.

“So, Twilight, what happened to you after you went into that tunnel?” She asked. Delight gave me a curious glance as well, interested to learn what happened to me right before I met her.

I smirked. Tin Flower was going to love that story.

“...And then we waited for you and Wire to come.” I finished telling Flower about the events of my first night in Equestria.

We already passed the Spire, where we stopped for a couple of minutes to let the Edge-born filly revel in the glory of the grand contraption. During the day it was an even more peculiar sight. Its surroundings were shrouded in deep shadows cast by the dense, almost charcoal-black thunderstorm, while the top of the Spire was glowing in the rays of Her Sun so brightly that it looked like it was going to melt down.

Our company was drawing more glances than I considered comfortable, but it was only logical. A beautiful, even if a bit ragged, pegasus mare; an incredibly dirty filly; a half-demolished custom equinoid. Even with all the variety of different ponies on the streets, we still stuck out like a molting feather.

Both Del and Flower listened to my story with an acute interest. So now I was expecting questions. The filly was first to that.

“Whoah. Was you really friends with a dragon?” Flower asked looking at me with wide eyes. “Neat!”

Delight reacted to the reminder of that particular part of the night with a slight shudder. Spike inadvertently scared the wits out of her, after all.

“You… could say so,” I chuckled with a tinge of sadness.

“Damn, I shouldn’t have left you by yourself there.” Flower shook her head with a serious and even guilty expression. “Shouldn’t have let you help Mercury in the first place.” But then she brightened a little. “Though, I never heard of that tunnel before. And yeah, methinks I’ve seen Brass Litany, at nights. I even wondered back then who was stealing the best equinoid spare parts from where I left them to take later.”

I prepared to stop the filly from blaming herself, after all I had a choice, and Flower couldn’t predict how events would turn out. But Delight suddenly halted before the glass door of a small eating joint.

The glass panels in that door, and the windows by that extent, were cracked, every single of them. And where the glasswork wasn’t covered in a web of cracks it was dirty to the point where “transparent” wasn’t something that could be said about it.

Delight didn’t enter the eatery straight away. She let out a deep sigh and scowled, then closed her eyes and just as deeply breathed in. And only then she opened the door, bearing the fakest smile I ever saw.

Inside, the bistro looked absolutely disgusting. The floor was so dirty that I couldn’t tell its color. The same could be said about most of the furniture… and even the ceiling. Obviously, the concept of cleaning was absolutely alien to this place. Patrons who sat at the tables perfectly fit the filth surrounding them. Most looked like homeless ponies, and I even had serious doubts that all them were alive. They weren’t the only visitors dining in this beastliness; flies and roaches held a feast, undisturbed as if it was their right. Under tables and in corners I could see little shadows scuttling and glimpses of hairless tails reflecting the dim light of soot covered lamps. Opaque tobacco smoke hung in the air, actually obscuring sight. And the smell, Goddesses, the smell...

Behind an elevated counter, a mare sat, who seemed to be an empress of this realm of filth, or rightfully deserving to be one. She wasn’t young, or at least, didn’t appear to be a young pony. She wore a stained apron of a color that can be described only as “vomit”. Her mane was so greasy and tangled that I expected drops of fat to fall from it any moment. Her pale eyes were glued to us, or rather, Delight as soon as we came inside. I had no doubts that the epitome of unsanitariness behind the counter was none other than Morsel.

“Heeeey, Delight, haven’t seen you in ages!” She croaked in a sandpaper voice, spitting over her shoulder. “How’s the job, still giving the best wingjobs in Canterlot?”

I winced at that. Flower looked at me questioningly, tilting her head. Delight didn’t flinch, her face was a perfect mask of faux politeness.

“Ha-ha, Morsel,” she replied without a hint of humor in her voice, “does your greasy spoon still give your patrons loose bowels every time they eat here?”

A few of the said visitors, who still showed signs of life, slowed munching on the questionable contents of their bowls, but didn’t completely stop.

“Of course it does, that’s what makes it so good.” Morsel laughed, but it quickly turned into a coughing fit sending chunks of phlegm flying everywhere. “Ain’t it right, lads?” It didn’t incite any reply, nor did it stop the customers from potentially poisoning themselves. “Anyway, did you come here for a pleasant conversation or a tasty meal?”

“Thanks, but no, thanks. I’ll pass on both. How’s Segfault faring?” It was obvious that Delight would prefer to be anywhere but there. Her faked politeness and obviously a tremendous self-control were all that kept this situation from escalating into a vicious and fruitless verbal fight. I had to to thank Del later for that. “Still not dead from your cookery?” She asked in a syrupy voice.

“Ha. Ha. Ha. Of course he is not. Just because one mare got sick once from my food doesn’t mean that everything I cook is rat poison.” Oh. That explained a lot. What had possessed Delight to even come here in the first place? “Why do you ask, wanna suck his cock?”

I winced again. If I had known, I would have insisted on finding any other way to locate Segfault, even if it took us ten times more time and effort.

“Isn’t that your job?” The reply came was instant and cut through the polluted air sharply.

In a moment the whole eatery froze. The only thing that moved were ponies’ eyes, all watched as Delight and Morsel were locked in a staring contest.

Delight was still smiling widely, but I could see cracks in her mask. The pegasus looked like she was going to throw up, and her right eye twitched slightly. I couldn’t blame her, the stench was unbearable, and the situation was anything but pleasant. Even Tin Flower resorted to breathing through a rag, and she was accustomed to work with Scuff Gear.

Morsel’s face was a mask of a mocking politeness before, but as she stared back at Delight, it gave a jerk and in a moment was deformed into a furious scowl.

“Segfault is at southeast 234th street, 18, and will be there until tomorrow night!” Morsel snarled at the pegasus mare. “Now get the fuck out!” she screeched. Delight didn’t need to be told that twice. The mare behind the counter continued to yell at our back as we hastily exited that disgusting place. “And don’t ever bother to come back, damn whore!”

However, before closing the door, Delight decided to have the last word.

“Bon appetit ponies, hope you have nothing planned for the next few weeks. Or the rest of your lives,” she loudly proclaimed to the patrons.

Delight had to dash out of the food joint, because her announcement was met with not only an enraged howl from Morsel but also a cooking pot thrown after her.

The saucepan smashed against the closed door, adding a few fresh cracks and painting the inside of it in what looked like a yellowish slime with dark lumps in it.

Tin Flower and I stood absolutely speechless while Delight was taking deep breaths of fresh air, fanning herself with her wings.

Finally, after a whole minute of silence, I came up with a comment.

“That was… very unlike you, Delight.”

“Twilight, after the first and last time I unknowingly ate the food from there, I was vomiting for two weeks straight,” the pegasus answered in a bitter and haunted tone.

Why wasn’t I surprised? Delight was lucky to survive, in my opinion. But at least we got what we came for, so now we could leave it all behind and never talk of that horrid place ever again. Or so I thought, because Tin Flower had other plans.

“Um, Delight, what’s a ‘wingjob’?”

None of us dropped a single word as we made our way to Segfault. Delight obviously wasn't in a very good mood, and she also had to concentrate of finding a path where we wouldn’t draw the attention of the wrong ponies. Tin Flower was yawning every few minutes. I offered her a ride on my back, but the filly declined it, explaining that she should be awake if we got in trouble. I tried to think of my plans after we make a fake ID, but my attention was diverted by preventing Flower from tripping over her hooves.

It didn’t take us long to reach Segfault’s place, or rather an apartment building where he resided. It was an average-looking, tower-like edifice with no signs telling that somewhere inside was a pony providing very specific and undoubtedly illegal services. If Segfault wasn’t an equinoid, of course.

I wondered aloud how Delight would know in which particular apartment the ID forging master was, and she explained me that he had a few hideouts. Segfault rotated between them randomly, so even if Delight knew all of them, she needed to also know in which one he was at the given moment.

We used a cramped and dirty elevator to rise to the top floors. At the end of a long, barely lit corridor was a door without a number. Not bothering to knock, Delight boldly entered the door.

We came into a dark room, illuminated only by the light coming from a large screen. In front of that screen a huge spider sat, furiously typing on a keyboard. I had to suppress a shriek. But as I stared at that creature, I realised that in fact it was a pony. And since there were nopony else besides him and us in that room, it had to be none other than Segfault.

The first thing that was impossible to miss, and that made me think he was a spider, was a dozen thin metal “arms” protruding from a hole on the back of the stallion’s clothing. Those artificial limbs had an uncanny resemblance to insects’ legs, they even moved in the same creepy way. Segfault used them to type at an incredible speed, while sitting still, staring at the numbers on the display in front of him.

After a thorough look I noticed that Segfault had wires coming out of the back of his skull and leading straight to the device with a glowing screen in front of him. Actually, it looked like several screens of a few devices put together.

In the darkness it was impossible to say what color Segfault’s mane and coat were, except that they were probably dark, not outstanding colors. The stallion didn’t appear to be very tall, but again, with the way he hunched, I couldn’t really tell. Segfault wasn’t a pegasus, that was certain, nor could I see a horn poking from his head.

Segfault seemed to either not notice us, or simply ignore us for a whole minute, while we just stood awkwardly waiting for him to pay us any attention. Finally, he sighed and turned his head to us, locks of his greasy long mane falling like a waterfall around a cracked horn on a visor in the place where his eyes should be.

“A former prostitute, a shitty custom equinoid and The Edge scum. Is this the beginning of a joke, or I am missing something?” Segfault said in a voice of pony who spoke for the first time in weeks.

Delight didn’t react in any way, but Tin Flower took a step forward.

“I’ve come for a fake ID.” She proclaimed with an indignation burning in her eyes.

Segfault sighed again and turned the rest of his body to face us.

“Do I look like somepony who does a fucking charity?” Each word was punctuated by a pause and was spoken in an annoyed and tired tone.

“I have a token from my friend’s sister,” said Tin Flower, not giving up.

“And I have a gun from my friend’s brother’s friend,” the stallion retorted in a mocking tone. “It’s magical, I’ll point it at you and you will turn 180^o and never bother me again.”

This meeting was beginning to move in the wrong direction. I took a single step towards Segfault, but before I came up with anything to say, Tin Flower protruded a metal chip from the rags serving as her clothing and threw it to the stallion.

Segfault caught it with one of his mechanical arms and moved the token close to his visor. The stump that was left of his horn sizzled like a humid firework with a few sparks and the small metal trinket glowed in response, lighting up his face and revealing a web of scars converging on where his eyes once were.

“You ain’t lying, huh,” said Segfault in voice no longer hostile. “Hollow Druse, wasn’t it? Best enchanter I ever met outside Noxiae...” His brows furrowed above a frame of the visor. “Why didn’t she come personally, though?”

“She and her family are busy at The Edge right now,” Tin Flower began to explain, “there was…”

“Yeah, yeah.” Segfault interrupted her with a wave of his hoof, “already heard about that shit.” He threw Druse’s token back to Flower. “So, you need an ID. What kind?”

That was my cue.

“One that will give me no trouble with the police.”

“Bwahaha.” Segfault guffawed, his “spider” arms rattling as his body shook from laughter. “You are funny.” He shook his head, looking at me. “There is no ID in all of Canterlot that will do that for you. You couldn’t possibly look more custom made and… when the fuck were your gems last cleared, hundred years ago?”

“Five hundred to be exact.”

Segfault gave me a long look, probably expecting one of us to crack a smile or just say it was a joke, but none of that happened.

“Aight. I’m not gonna ask you any questions,” he concluded in a careful tone with a nod and turned back to the screen. He began to type something, and after a moment his croaking voice joined the rustle of metal limbs. “I’ll forge you a universal equinoid ID, but it’s no use until you get a stock frame, model doesn’t matter. And even then any unicorn in the police is going to sense your magic noise. Keep to The Tunnels where your kind belongs and you will be as fine as you can be.”

After a minute of silence it was evident that Segfault had nothing else to say, but had work to do.

“So what are we going to do after that?” Tin Flower asked in a quiet voice. She looked like if she didn't keep talking or moving she might fall asleep.

“I’m a bit hungry,” came Delight’s reply, accompanied by a rumble of her stomach, which sounded louder than her voice. Looking slightly embarrassed, she continued, “I know a place not far away where they serve something that isn’t toxic sludge.”

“I have some mushrooms with me.” Tin Flower enthusiastically said and pulled a bundle from somewhere inside her clothing. It was squished and reeked of mold so strongly that even Segfault paused in his work and half-turned his head glancing at us with a raised eyebrow.

“Eww…” Delight instantly recoiled and took a step back from Flower as if the filly had pulled a snake from her rags.

Tin Flower merely shrugged, and the bundle disappeared in the folds of her improvised attire without a trace. Nonchalantly she commented, “Strange to hear that from somepony who was earning money by eating coc…”

The filly’s eyes widened as Delight dashed to her and mockingly tried to strangle Flower with the wings. They both smiled and giggled, prompting another look from Segfault, though it was somewhat amused.

I waited until their little feigned fight wound down.

“We need to go to library or something like that, I need to get as much information on history as possible.” I reminded Flower and Delight of my initial plan. Flower opened her mouth to say something, but was rudely interrupted.

“Name!” Barked Segfault not even turning in our direction.

“Huh?” I blinked - on the inside. I needed to ask Flower to fix my eyes as soon as possible.

“What is going to be your name, stones-for-brains?” The stallion elaborated in a harsh tone.

“Twilight Sparkle.” I said on reflex and instantly regretted it. It would be better to hide my name for now, just in case. But it seemed that it was too late to change, from a distance I saw it already being typed down.

“Really?” Segfault turned his head to glance at me. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you when equinoids laugh at that. You need something, like, I dunno, Adamant Smash.” Wait, what? “And you will find what you seek at the Royal Archives.”

I had been there before on countless occasions, they were adjacent to the Royal Library after all. Any recorded information in Equestria could be found in those ancient vaults of knowledge. But there was one problem...

“Aren’t they supposed to be in the Sky Palace?” Assuming that the tower in the centre of Canterlot was build on a place of the old palace, the Archives had to be somewhere inside it.

“Of course not! The Crown doesn’t need that old shit.” Segfault scoffed. “Southeast 56th street, a big old building.” Blindly pointing over his shoulder in our general direction he added. “Your feathered friend should know how to get there.”

It was very kind of him to just tell us that. At least now we knew where to head next. And I hoped that the modern Royal Archives were as good and complete as those from my time.

“I think we all need to go back to Wire instead,” Tin Flower suddenly said.

“But why?” Red Wire was safe as I understood and didn’t really need our help. I knew that Canterlot wasn’t going to crumble tomorrow, but I still didn’t want to waste time if it was possible. And I still needed to find out what happened to Spike. I didn’t want him to suffer a day longer.

“You won’t be able to learn history there, but the zebras in Nebula’s sector pay money for a job well done, and we can save some to buy you a new body.” That sounded reasonable to some extent. And it was true, neither Nebula nor the zebras minded equinoids. “Or, I can make one, if I get blueprints. But I can’t do it here, anyway.”

“I don’t think going to The Edge is that good an idea,” commented Delight with a sour face. “Frankly, it sucks.”

“You're a fine one to talk,” retorted Flower with a smug grin.

Delight nimbly leapt over her and encased the filly’s head in a feathery embrace of wings, tickling Flower’s muzzle. This time the pegasus held Tin Flower firmly in her forelimbs, preventing another feigned fight. That allowed Del to suggest her idea.

“I have some contacts across the city, both in The Tunnels and on the surface. I’m not eager to go back underground, but it will be faster than saving money while making drugs.” She paused for a moment, letting Flower finally escape from the feather trap. Delight didn’t smile, however. Her face grew dead serious. “And the thing is, the Archives are very close to the Inner City. Police there aren’t as lousy as on the outskirts. It’s risky to go there in your state, Twilight.”

“Delight has a fair point, though.” Flower again joined the conversation, spitting feathers. “Her option probably would be much faster. And she is totally right, it’s rather risky to walk around like that. I don’t want to lose you again. I’m not supposed to be in the city either, it’s illegal to leave The Edge.”

A sudden idea visited my mind. I turned to Segfault.

“Could you make an ID for Tin Flower too?” I asked him, hoping that this could also be a part of his favor to Hollow Druse. If anything, we could pay later.

“With the shit happening at The Edge right now?” Segfault shook his head. “No way, no use. It will get nullified the moment she tries to use it, and she will get caught.”

Flower and Clandestine looked at me expectantly. Seemed like it was up to me to decide what were we going to do next.

I carefully began to consider both ideas. I needed two things: a new body and knowledge. Both were crucial for my survival in Canterlot and ultimately, our escape from it. Though, I had to discuss it with Del and Flower first. Also, with Wire and her family. But even if they would reject that idea, nothing changed.

I needed a new body to stop looking like a violation of the law. But more importantly I needed a new body that wouldn’t be falling apart everytime I did something more physically straining than just a fast trot. Tin Flower had done a great job. An impossible job. But her resources were severely limited. Brass Litany’s help was appreciated as well, but it didn’t fix the problem. And there was no way to easily solve said problem.

Tin Flower’s idea might take months, if not longer. Nor was the idea of making drugs appealing to me. Delight’s idea, on the other hoof, could bear fruits much faster, but it was dangerous and not guaranteed to actually make my situation better.

And there was the option of going straight to the Archives. It was risky, it was unreliable and most probably it was unproductive. However, if I succeed in finding the information I needed, I could possibly find help by myself. Canterlot had changed, five centuries had passed, but there ought to be ponies for whom my name still bore any significance. I had to be honest with myself, it didn’t sound like the most intelligent decision. But there was one thing that was tilting the scales in its favor.

Spike was somewhere underground and he was in pain.

Author's Notes:

Alrighty, my faithful readers, here goes the 6th chapter of the story. Some say it is a bit boring, but I wanted to focus a bit on world-building again and give a moment of respite for Twilight. You may say it's a moment of calm before the storm.
Also, I've almost finished the next chapter and got some other stories going. Got even an idea for a new side story – "The Black Tales of White Winter", but I'm not going to focus on it until I finish this story arc and the previously planned side story.

As usual, I appreciate any feedback, and if you notice any mistakes sneaked in through the editing, let me know.
I hope you enjoyed reading this story so far.

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