You wouldn't believe it unless I told you, and since you are kinda obligated to believe me by reading these, because I seriously doubt you would ever see me for real, so I'm going to be straightforward: I was right all along! My first assumption that Celestia and Luna were females by comparing their voices with the few women we came across was exact! Truly, I am one of the greater minds of this world.

I still don’t understand how Celestia managed to blush with a fur coat, by the way.

On the way to the breakfast room, Luna snickered now and then when I stayed mostly silent, observing in awe the superb setting of this place: everything was lit via some strange screens made to look like ancient stain glasses, the colorful lights of the scenes depicted of these pictures giving a warm tone to the otherwise white walls, richly decorated with more pictures and small statues.

Mister Discord left us alone to deal with a matter involving ‘noodly appendages’ as he said, not that he explained too much, so I was left with Verso and the two alicorns. And their numerous amount of guards.

That was the funniest part: the two big horses were supposed to be protected by tiny ponies wearing armors I could probably bend with our hands. I discovered there were at least two kinds of guards, each subdivided in three different types of ponies.

The first ones had a white coat and wore golden armors, just like the two ponies waiting at the door earlier. The other ones had a much grayer coat, were wearing purple of dark blue armors and had golden cat-like eyes and strange, bat-like ears. They somehow also looked a lot more tired than their lighter comrades.

The two guard corps were divided between three races of ponies: the plain old nearly normal ponies, the unicorns –real ones this time– and winged ponies, or pegasi for the golden armored ones and bat-ponies for the darker kind.

Well, Verso noticed all that. I was mostly occupied by a question of the utmost importance: What do ponies eat for breakfast? Here’s hoping it’s not just hay. I don’t think humans digest it very well.

We finally arrived to a rather big room with a huge three-dimensional screen covering an entire wall, depicting a beautiful garden and a colorful sunrise that turned the sky orange. The realism of this scene really took us both by surprise, and they had to put some kind of magic in there because the rays of light coming from the screen were warm and comforting. I stared at it for a moment, stopped in admiration.

There was a ‘sun room’ back in the Institute, a giant room made to mimic the outside world as much as we could, with fake holo-trees and a gigantic curved screen supposed to imitate the sky, both during the night and the day.

We had been allowed there a few times and I always looked forward such escapades that broke our otherwise somewhat monotonous life-style, but it had nothing in comparison to their probably magical screen.

Another growl from our stomach reminded me why we came here for the first place: breakfast. And maybe even a real one, without this simili food they always gave us back home.

Both Celestia and Luna had already sat down on cushions around a small table, whispering to each other, with Luna’s gaze not leaving us for more than a blink. Okay, even I had to admit, it was beginning to get a bit creepy: she was staring at us since mister Discord had explained that Verso was a better magician than me by nature, except when she was laughing on the floor with him earlier.

I walked to another cushion and sat, interrupting their quiet discussion. Celestia smiled warmly again – I swear, seeing a horse smiling like that is strange – and announced the bad news.

“The food should arrive shortly, there had been a bit of trouble going on in the kitchens this morning. While we are waiting, why don’t you tell us more about your home? Discord has been very vague about it.”
“Well, there isn’t much to say. We mostly lived in the same room for as long as I can remember. People didn’t talk that much and Verso followed most classes in my stead. There were some funny books and we often played cat and mouse with the guards and Verso tried to reach for the elevator to the outside of the Institute monthly. That’s about it.”

They glanced at each other, visibly disturbed.

“You lived in an Institute?” Luna asked and I nodded.
“Yep. For most our life and for as long as I can remember.”
“How old are you, if that’s not too much to ask?”
“Well, we had twelve birthdays at the Institute, but Verso says we’re eighteen,” I smiled. “We reached majority a few months ago. They gave us a bottle of strange grape juice to celebrate, and we even had a cake this time!”

Another shared glance and back to us.

“How did your world looked like?” Celestia asked, changing the subject a bit.
“Well, from what the reports said, it was mostly gray. They said the rain still hadn’t washed away all the ashes and that it was still too irradiated to get outside. I believe it was still a bit cold. You would think it would have mostly cleaned off after a century, but it still hasn’t.”

Actually, Recto, it mostly has. It’s still a bit cold and overly irradiated around where we lived, but some other parts of the planet probably were fit to live.

I would have corrected myself, but both alicorns were looking at me as if I just said something horrible, like ‘bacon tastes horrible’. Though, as they were probably herbivores, it would probably be horrible for them.

“From what kind of Hell do you come from?” Luna whispered, flabbergasted.
“Luna!” Celestia exclaimed. “That is hardly…”
“Nah, I understand what she meant and we mostly approved,” I intervened, giggling at their reaction.
And I guess it’s well deserved, seeing as Humanity did that to itself.

I repeated his remark and they now seemed curious and a bit taken aback.

“What do you mean you brought that upon yourselves?” Celestia shuddered, slightly less comfortable than her sister.
“Well, we started a global war and some idiot thought it would be a good idea to bring about the nukes,” I said for Verso.
“What are ‘nukes’?” Asked Luna, a bit more interested by the subject. “And you also used the word ‘irradiated’ earlier. What do these words mean?”
“Well, ‘nuke’ is a slang term referring to some of the most powerful weapons humans ever designed, called a ‘nuclear bomb’,” Verso explained through me.
“Think of it as a really, really big fireworks," I added.
“You mean like magic missiles?”
“Uh… Dunno, what are those?” I asked, tilting our head.
“A spell used to create controlled and beautiful explosions up to a few hundred meters away from the caster.”
“Then yeah, like ‘magic missiles’.”
“And irradiation is a side-effect of some of those bombs: basically, it poisons the air and the environment for an extended period of time.”
“That sounds horrible!” Celestia said.
“It is. I’m rather glad we weren’t born yet during the Swan Song.”
“The ‘Swan Song’?” Luna inquired.
“Yep. That’s how we call the global thermonuclear war where we come from. I don’t know where the expression comes from, though…”
“I do. It is rumored that swans – you have those, right? ” he was rather surprised by their nod but continued anyway: “At the verge of death, swans are rumored to put out their most beautiful song that will end only with their life. So some poetic minds amongst the survivors called the wreck ‘Humanity’s Swan Song’, as it was our greatest act right before we were wiped out. Kinda changed the world forever, after all.”

They stayed silent for a few seconds and shared a few glances once again. I don’t really know why, but Celestia seemed rather nervous, where Luna looked a bit worried. Alicorns sure are weird.

I heard doors opening and watch in wonder when a small group of unicorns levitated trays and trays probably covered in the delicious food we were discovering since our encounter with mister Discord. I wasn’t let down: lots and lots of strange but good-smelling things were being carried to us.

I recognized some of them with our memories of the database: eggs, croissants, toasts… A lot of those dishes disappeared a long time before we were born, but were normal breakfast material before the Song.

That’s not logical! Verso whined. How come sentient horses in another universe speak English and have the same recipe as the humans? And why do they eat freaking eggs? Horses are herbivores!
Don’t go and jinx it! And I’ll soon be too occupied trying to make our stomach explode to answer, by the way…
… I’m not even sure I would do better if I was out there…

To say I was drooling would be an understatement. I didn’t even know smells could be so strong! Luna looked at me a bit more worried, even if I could see a spark of amusement in her eyes.

“Are you alright?” she asked when the unicorns departed.

I didn’t answer, our eyes were darting all over the table and I was trying to decide whether or not we died when we arrived here or were simply sent into a coma and it was all a dream. I raised a trembling hand to grab a toast and just looked at it for a while.

“There is only one word that can describe where we landed,” I told to no one.
“And it is?”
“WE’RE IN HEAVEN!” I shouted at the top of our lungs before taking a bite out of the bread.

Oh gosh… So much taste! Nearly better than the cookies!
Try to put some of the yellow jar on our right on it.
What is it? I asked while I grabbed it and search for a spoon.
Use the wooden thing next to it. And I believe it is honey.

I gasped, nearly choked on bread crumbles, swallowed and asked confirmation from our two hoofed hosts. Their nod was enough to make me hurry and catch the honey dripper to pour some of the sticky golden liquid on the bread and bit it again.

I’ll stop describing my eating process during the following minutes, both because Verso says it is mostly boring for everyone except for the two of us and because the pony maids still tell stories about it with a sense of horror. Let’s just say that Verso had to stop me before I successfully burst our stomach open.

The two alicorns looked at us ajar for a while and stayed absolutely silent until the end, Celestia sipping a cup of tea – the normal way, not mister Discord’s – and Luna munching another pastry. Then, when Verso advised me to stop, Celestia smiled again.

“You are something, aren’t you? It looks like you never ate before today.”
“Kinda never did,” I replied, not feeling so well. “Not real food – oh gosh…”
“What do you mean?”
“We didn’t have access to lots of things, and that includes real food. Chemists recreated artificial nutrients, but we had what we needed, not anything with a good taste.”

She tilted her head, and Verso continued:

“We lived in a destroyed world where most life forms had vanished. You don’t seriously think we had water to use watering fruit trees when we could survive without them? Honestly, I’m still amazed Haven even survived for so long. Glad some big companies were run by conspiracy theorists…”
“’Haven’?”
“The name of the ‘city’ we lived in. Well, more like the Institute was situated nearby. Or in it, I don’t really know.”
“You come from a very, very dark world, Recto.”
“Nah, it was well lit. Light bulbs everywhere!”
“What is a light bulb?” Luna asked.
“A new device designed to produce light, Luna. I’m sure you noticed them, they aren’t used everywhere, but still,” Celestia answered.

I looked at them, surprised. Verso was downright shocked. Light bulbs are new here? I thought that was how cavemen lit their caves!

“A ‘new device’? ” Verso asked. “Light bulbs are a novelty in your world?”
“Why, yes, a stallion named Bright Idea invented them just a decade ago.”
“A decade is not ‘new’” I countered.

For such technology, yes it is. I’m… Wait, they invented light bulbs ten years ago?
That’s what she said.
So how could they build a screen with a displaying technology better than the ones the Institute used?!

I stared at the ‘screen’. A pony was watering flowers in the simulation, and the sky was abandoning it orange hue and turning bluer. It was so realist it even distorted light a bit a created a few rainbow rays on the ground and wall.

“Say, how does this screen even work, if you invented light bulbs ten years ago?” I asked slowly, pointing at the object of our questioning.
“What is a ‘screen’?” Celestia replied. “And it’s only a window."

Now, I may be a bit naïve, or sometimes slow to understand things, but even I understood the implications of this question. Mainly, that it was wasn’t a screen and that I wasn’t watching a video. I noticed a door situated next to the ‘window’ and got up, ignoring the disapproving message of our stomach. I ran to the door before anything could stop us and threw it open.

I felt a fresh airstream caressing our face, and warm rays heating our skin. I smelt odors I didn’t think existed for real and heard birds chirping. I saw a small garden with trees and grass. The sun was shining beautifully in the sky over white buildings, and the clouds moved lazily in the heavens.

We, Recto and Verso, were outside. And it was so much more beautiful than anything I could have expected.

Both our souls stayed still, basking it the sun’s rays, frozen in awe of the absolute beauty displayed before our eyes. I think I fell on our knees at some point, because that's how we were positioned when Celestia put a hoof on our shoulder. I didn’t think anything of it. Verso didn’t think anything of it. Probably because we weren’t thinking at all.

“Recto, are you okay?” the white alicorn asked, somewhat breaking the spell. “You’ve been silent for five minutes already.”
“Re-Really?” I sniffed. I felt something wet on our face.
“Yes, you just rushed for the door, opened it and fell to your knees before starting to cry silently.”
“Oh…” Well, mystery solved. I rubbed our eyes, wiped our tears and sat back, still looking at the single most beautiful thing we had ever witnessed. “I’m sorry, it’s just…”
“You don’t have to be.”

I stayed silent for another minute and asked:

“Can we… Can we continue outside, please?”
“Of course.”

I stood up and looked at the ground. One step. One step was all that separated us from being completely outside. Just one simple step, and we would be walking on the natural ground, and not in a building. No human had done it for a century.

You know what they say. ‘A small step for a man…' Verso said, breaking his own silence.

I breathed in deeply and made the giant leap.

Author's Note

Woohoo! Another chapter! Should I call it the fourth one because it says so at the beginning or is it the fifth if I take the prologue into account? That's a question begging to be answered, but, meh.

Please help my severe case of bad english by pointing out the errors so that I can correct them. And tell me what you think about it, guys!