As my vision cleared and balance reasserted itself, I started to look around. Instantly, my jaw fell open, an awed stupor coming over me.

If Symphony looked like something out of a comic book, Paradise resembled an unformed, spectacular idea in the artist’s mind. There were no skyscrapers or overly grand buildings. In fact, the tallest one, a dark shape in the middle of the city, appeared to only be eight stories tall, not even half the size of the Canterlot Castle.

What made the city spectacular was the architecture.

In a way, it didn’t even look like the buildings had been built. Instead, they seemed to have been eroded into their shapes. The walls and roofs looked like the sides of a wind-swept canyon, smooth, flowing, and elegant. However, rather than being made out of reddish-brown stone, they were composed of a blended mixture of smoky grey and slate grey glass-like materials. Even the STREET seemed natural, the white stone having a pattern and texture like that of a frozen river, with light seeming to flow across it like water

I couldn’t see a hard edge anywhere. Everything was smoothly blended together, like a finely sanded sculpture.

We had landed in the outskirts of the city, where the buildings were small and cramped. I didn’t see a single one that exceeded one story in height, and they were all cramped together like ponies in an overfull train. However, when I glanced toward the center of the metropolis, I saw that the buildings became more spacious and tall the closer they were to the palace. It gave the city the appearance of a VERY wide stacked cake.

Everything had a nice, picturesque look to it, like an old photo. It helped that there were no Wolves anywhere in sight.

The one thing that took away from the splendor was the dull, grey sky

“Oh my Celestia,” Tranquility breathed softly, her eyes widening in awe.

“Something’s wrong,” Reed said sharply.

That snapped me out of my awestruck reverie, and I glanced toward him. “What?”

“It’s a little past noon,” Jasmine answered quietly. “Wolves should be walking around. Laborers should be sweeping the streets. Pups should be playing, scrambling around us and between our legs. This… this emptiness isn’t right!”

“Exactly,” Hawkeye confirmed worriedly. “Something’s happened… I think we need to move quickly.” He started to walk at a brisk pace, heading down a straight and narrow road that led toward the palace and motioning for us to follow him.

As we moved, our worry grew. Not a single Wolf could be seen… or heard. It was eerily silent, with the only sounds being those of our hoov- paws striking the ground. It was like we were walking through a ghost town.

“I don’t like this…” Cam whimpered, her ears folding flat against her head.

“Neither do I,” Reed said grimly, causing her to let out a low whine.

“The worst part is, there’s nothing here that should be s-scary, so I c-can’t rationalize my fear…” she whispered. “It’d be s-so much easier if there was something I could pin it on… it feels like s-something’s gonna jump out and kill u-us.”

Shoot, I thought. She’s freaking out! Unfortunately, I had no idea what to do about it. I pressed up against her side, trying to comfort her, but it just made her jump.

Fortunately, Tranquility was there. “Jasmine, tell me about the city,” she said sharply.

“Uh… okay?” she responded, confused. “What do you want to know…?”

“What’s up with the… the tiers of buildings? Y’know, how the structures get taller at periodic intervals,” she said.

Jasmine raised an eyebrow at her, confused. Tranquility subtly jerked her head in Cam’s direction, leveling a commanding glare at her. She glanced at her, and her eyes widened in comprehension. “Oh! Um… if nothing’s changed while I’ve been gone, it’s all for organization. The city is completely circular, so the architects planned it to be a set of rings, one for each rank of the Wolves. The Civilians live in the outermost ring, the one we landed in, with the one after that being for the Laborers, followed by the Protectors, and so on. The Den, Mages, and Alpha all live in the castle. It’s really simple and effective.”

“Not to mention absolutely sick,” Tranquility muttered softly.

“What? How?” she gasped, shocked. “It’s not like they can’t leave their rings.”

“Think of it this way,” she said. “Imagine that you were a Civilian. Every day, you would return to your house, walking past, bigger, better, taller houses, knowing that you’ll never be able to move into them because you’re not seen to be as good as them.”

“That’s now how it works,” Jasmine protested.

“But it’s what you just said!” Tranquility argued insistently.

“Don’t jump to conclusions,” she said, a small smirk appearing on her face. “You’re forgetting an important detail- each ring is smaller than the last. The architects designed it so that the buildings in each ring make up for that loss. Each Wolf family gets an equal living space- one floor with two bedrooms, a kitchen, a sitting room, and two bathrooms. The floors just get stacked on top of each other.”

“That doesn’t necessarily matter,” Tranquility challenged confidently.

“How so?” Jasmine shot back.

The two devolved into a fast-paced, heated argument, much to the exasperation of Hawkeye, Reed, and I. However, my annoyance faded away when I saw the effect the conversation had on Cam. Over its course, she became more and more invested in it, and her trembles faded away. A few times, she chimed in, adding in her own opinion into the mix.

We passed through two more rings of the city before the argument started to wind down. “I still think it’s fine,” Jasmine stated defiantly.

“Only an idiot doesn’t change their views when they’ve been proven wrong,” Tranquility said, finality in her voice. “Oh… and thanks.”

“Thanks?” she asked, confused. “What for?” Tranquility flashed her a smug smile and walked over to me, staying silent. “What for?!” she asked again. Reed chuckled and pulled her off to the side.

“That was brilliant,” I muttered to her, pressing against her side.

She chuckled. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far-”

“Quiet,” Hawkeye hissed sharply, cutting her off and bringing our group to a sudden halt. For a few moments, we stood in silence, the only sound being that of the soft wind blowing in our ears. Hawkeye closed his eyes, the markings around the right one glowing softly, and snapped them open, his face contorting with anger. “That insufferable, manipulative, cunning piece of-”

Before he could finish his sentence, his paws blazed with a blinding light. The grey and white buildings around me around me seemed to twist and warp, their lines blurring and stretching down to a single point in the distance. It was almost like reality had shrunk down to a thin, long tunnel. A deep groaning sound echoed through the space around us, and I could feel the air around me stretching, along with the floor spreading beneath my feet, which sent a pang of alarm through me. Cam let out a shriek of surprise, and Tranquility jumped, her eyes widening. Considering that she looked like a dog, it was a little funny, but I didn’t laugh, my own confusion and fear eclipsing the humor.

After less than a second, reality snapped back to normal, with one crucial difference than before- we were no longer standing in the streets of the city. We had teleported to the top of a tall, archaic-looking building. We’re on top of the palace! I realized with a start. But how- never mind, we teleported. With as much time as I used to spend around unicorns, I really shouldn’t be surprised. With that in mind, I calmed down rather quickly, Tranquility doing the same.

The others didn’t exactly have the same reaction. While Hawkeye immediately began to walk around the edge of the roof, strange runes and symbols appearing in his wake, Jasmine and Reed both set their paws alight with magic, looking around fearfully, while Cam ran towards Tranquility and hugged her, eyes wide. For a few moments, the four of us stood in shocked silence.

“Warn us before you do that,” Cam eventually said, releasing Tranquility shakily.

“My apologies,” Hawkeye growled softly.

“Do you hear that?” Reed asked, his ears perking up.

“Hear wha-” I began, but broke off when I noticed something odd.

Background noise.

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have thought much of it, but we had just been walking through a city that was dead silent. To have sound suddenly reappear… was a bit jarring.

Cam ran towards the edge of the building and peered over it. “There’s a big crowd down there-” She broke off with a pained squeak as a cloud of golden magic appeared around her tail and forcibly yanked her away from the drop, an act that made me wince.

“Stay away!” Hawkeye yelled. “I haven’t finished setting up the wards!”

“So what?” Cam grumbled, crossing her arms and pouting. “That hurt!”

“It means that they could see you, that’s what!” Hawkeye growled, his paws flaring brighter than they already were. A wave of golden energy blasted out from them, sweeping through us and taking shape as a shimmering barrier around the edge of the roof. “That’s the last thing we need right now. I hope they haven’t started the broadcasts…”

“Broadcasts?!” Tranquility gasped. “What’s going on?”

“Ivy’s called an address,” Reed said, his eyes widening and his ears flattening against his head.

“What’s that?” Cam asked.

“An address is exactly what it sounds like,” Hawkeye explained, a growl building in his voice. “The Alpha calls one when an event happens that needs to be… well, addressed publicly. Generally, it’s used for emergencies, like an attack on a city or a full dimensional collapse, and technically, this takeover would fall under something that needs to be addressed, but right now, it’s the worst thing that could have happened.”

“Of course,” I mumbled. “Because Lady Luck doesn’t want to give us a break. Why is this so bad?”

“The rumor mill,” he hissed. “I was confronted in front of a crowd. It’s been a few hours since then, and the news has probably been spread throughout every Wolf city. It’s been contaminated with lies and falsehood as well, no doubt. Everyone’s unsure about what actually happened, nothing is set in stone, and they all want a consensus, an answer. With this, Ivy gets to control that answer. She gets to control the truth.”

“Truth can’t be controlled, though!” I protested weakly.

“You’ve got a lot to learn,” he chuckled sadly. “In the absence of opposing voices, anything that’s said becomes the truth. It’s why Ivy was able to turn the crowd against me a few hours ago.”

“But that’s messed up!” Cam gasped.

“Reality often is,” he muttered, walking to the edge of the building. “The broadcasts have started. This changes everything… why didn’t I think this would happen?”

“What the heck are the broadcasts?”

“A means to reach the other Wolf cities during an address,” Jasmine explained. “Large screens are erected in a designated gathering places, and a Mage sets up a device to broadcast the address to the screens.”

“Like a radio?” I asked.

“But with pictures,” she elaborated.

“Why can’t we just do what we were gonna do and have you give the address?” Reed asked, turning towards Hawkeye.

“Again, the rumor mill,” he said, annoyance. “Enough Wolves heard Ivy’s impromptu speech about me that if I took back the throne, they would be angry enough to stage another coup within the year. After all, there can’t be an Alpha who sides with the two-year old enemy, can there?” There was a particularly sarcastic emphasis on the word ‘enemy.’

“Can’t you just tell them why you did it?” I asked.

“Of course not,” he hissed, glaring sullenly in the direction of the crowd. “For a good portion of the Wolves, the fact that I helped the rogue Mage at all would be cause to remove me from the throne. It’s not that simple. It never is.” With that, he sat down, not wanting to continue the conversation.

A sense of frustration welled up in me, and I walked over to Tranquility, my ears against my head. “Why does it have to be so complicated?” I grumbled to her.

“I don’t know,” she said. “It is rather strange that the oldest one here is acting the most like a disappointed child.”

“Wait, wha-” I began, but I didn’t get a chance to finish.

A screech of microphone feedback cut me off before I could.

Author's Note

Oh hey, a new chapter! It’s only been what, over two and a half months since the last one?

Yeah... I’m sorry.

I’m also sorry that this chapter isn’t spectacular. With all the time it took to write, it should be, but it’s not, and I don’t know how to fix it. It’s... meh. And I’m sorry for that.

I’m also sorry that it’s not longer. Originally, I planned to have the address be in this chapter, but then I realized something: Ivy is hard to write. I didn’t want to deprive you guys of an update any longer, so I moved that to the next chapter and uploaded this.

Also, the half-hiatus isn’t over. I’m still not sure about my update schedule. Hopefully, though, I won’t go months without uploading again.

Also, the site updated. The only problem I have with it so far is that it took away the ability to stretch the text sizes outside of the set BBCode parameters. What do you guys think about it?

Sorry that this author’s note was so serious. As usual, if I screwed up grammatically, let me know and I’ll fix it.

Thanks for coming back to this story!

~Pyrepinna