"So does this show any place else?" Twilight asked, trying not to think about what she and Cosmos had just discussed. She actually felt sorry for anypony who tried to kill her.
Just a little bit though. Not much.
Cosmos snickered. "It can show quite a bit actually." Charging her horn, she began to rearrange the Great Wheel's map.
Twilight watched in fascination as many of the planes vanished one by one. Now there only seemed to be a few. Even Xoriat was gone. But what she really noticed had nothing to do with the map. "Why is it so hot??" She asked as she began to sweat.
Cosmos's smile grew wider. "Welcome to Athas. I can tune the Orrery to take us to any world that in some way shares the same cosmology as Equus does."
Twilight was in awe at the thought and what it could mean. "So where are we?"
"The northern section of the Dragon's Bowl," Cosmos replied. "Luckily very few come this way, and those that do only see a unassuming cave if the Orrery isn't connected to this world"
Twilight trotted over to the doorway that lead out. In the distance, she could see sunlight. Aside from a few, most of the archways were silent and inert now. "What about these arches?" She asked.
"They now lead to the few planes Athas has. One is tuned to the Lands Within the Wind, instead of what it was," Cosmos explained.
Twilight made another note as she turned around. But something was still bothering her. "What's stopping any being from coming and just, you know, walking through one?"
Cosmos smirked. "Nothing. Except for the fact that only me and the girls know which plane is on the other end of each Portal Chamber. And I'm not telling just yet which is which."
Twilight nodded. It made sense. Though even if she did know which one leads where she still wouldn't tell. "Are we going to visit every world?" She asked.
Cosmos nodded. "If you want to. There is no rush to be back in Equestria. The girls know we'll be gone for a few days. I can make it longer if needed."
Twilight only squeed happily.
***
Twilight poked her head out of the Orrery's entrance. The temperature rose several more notches. It was at least bearable inside, but out here the heat was more than she had ever imagined.
The view wasn't much as she had thought. Sand for a good distance that suddenly fell off in a cliff in front of her. To either side, the cliff face stretched off into the heat haze.
"So when are we exactly?" She asked as she trotted up to the cliff edge. Looking down, more sand greeted her before giving way to a verdant belt. In the distance, she could make out the glint of water.
Cosmos trotted out of the entry and joined her at the edge. "I'm not really sure. I didn't set the Orrery to send us to a particular time period, and with the time dilation effects, it could be any time."
Twilight nodded as she looked out at what she assumed was Lake Pit, but something else nagged at her. "If we're in the Dragon's Bowl, how do we get out? No one comes here and the Road of Kings is a long way away."
Cosmos thought about that. She could protect them for sure and she could make her powers look psionic in nature rather than arcane, but this was still a world full of danger, and she didn't want to see Twilight hurt.
Plus there was the fact that they stood out like a sore hoo, but that was easily fixed. "One step at a time. If we do plan to stay here for a while, I need to let the girls know I'll be gone a while."
"Or you could tell us now and we stay longer?" Came a voice that made Twilight jump. Turning around, she found Ivy snickering at her expense. Behind her, Crystal, Amber, Emerald, Celestial, Diamond, Orchid, Ocean, Lilly, and Moon Petal were taking in the view just like them.
"Is it always this hot?" Amber asked.
Cosmos nodded with a smile. "All the time. Glad you girls could join us."
Twilight though was still lost. "How did you guys know where we were? We didn't leave a note."
"The Orrery is still connected to Equus on the other end. We just followed it here," Emerald said.
"So where is here?" Orchid asked as she shuddered. "I've never felt so much death, so little life. What happened here?"
Cosmos cringed. "Something I hope you never see. And I hope Equus never does as well. It would not survive the Cleansing Wars."
"The what?" Diamond asked.
Cosmos sighed as she saw the girls wouldn't be happy until they knew the full story. Even Twilight wanted to hear it, and she had read the full story once.
"Fine. Just don't say I didn't warn you. It is not a happy story."
***
When Cosmos had finished her story, there wasn't a dry eye among them. Even Twilight couldn't help but shed tears as she heard the full horror of the Cleansing Wars.
"Why? Why would they do that? All those races, those people. Destroyed. Wiped out. Why?" Celestial asked.
"For the same reason all who so do. They thought themselves above all others, that they were all that mattered in creation. Oh, they could say what they wanted. But that's what it boiled down to," Cosmos replied.
"Can we go knock them around? They totally have it coming and then some," Crystal added.
Cosmos shook her head. "As much fun as it would be putting them in their place, and I know we can, we won't."
"Why not?" Ocean asked. Very faintly, she could feel a small glimmer of her namesake. But it was far, far away from where they were.
Cosmos pointed to the bowl below them. "Because as hard as it is to believe, they do serve a purpose. The Dragon needs what they give him and whatever else he is, Borys remembers that."
"Hard to believe anyone would ever do that," Moon Petal said.
Twilight pushed her glasses up her snout. "It makes sense. Someone has to keep Rajaat's prison sealed."
"So what? Are we gonna stay here the whole time? Not much to see here," Crystal said as she gestured around the group.
"Is it even a good idea to leave?" Emerald asked.
Cosmos nodded, but her expression was still grim. "For us it's fine. But we can't go out of here looking like this. Athas has no equines, so we would stick out like a sore hoof."
"What do we do about that?" Lilly asked.
Cosmos smiled as she ignited her horn and cast one of her more advanced spells. "Hold still a moment. This won't hurt a bit."
The girls closed their eyes as the light grew more and more intense. For a moment they didn't feel anything, but then their stomachs did flip flops and their heads spun before all returned to normal.
"You can look now girls," Cosmos said as the light faded to reveal the forms she had changed them into. She had made sure to pick ones that would fit in whever they went.
Twilight was interested to see that she was once again human. But now her clothes and skin color fit in with where they were.
Crystal and Amber were also human. Crystal's origins in the Crystal Empire now only showed as a slight sheen to her skin. Neither had aged.
Lilly, Orchid, and Ocean Breeze had become halflings. Taking in their new shorter stature, they all felt an instinctive connection to the world around them.
Celestial, Diamond, and Ivy had become dragonborn. Diamond and Ivy shared a knowing look at feeling magic they had not used in so long), while Celestial felt a new connection to magic she had never felt before.
Emerald though was another story as she looked at her new insect-like appearance. "What the hay am I supposed to be?" She asked. Though it came out as a series of clicks and other sounds from her mandibles, they all understood her perfectly.
Cosmos chuckled as she took in her human form. "You're a thri-kreen. Not very common this side of the Ringing Mountains, but that shouldn't be a problem."
Everyone took a moment to digest their new form. As new as they were, they still felt comfortable in them, like they were natural. "So where do we go now?" Ivy asked.
Cosmos pointed toward the mountains. "West. If I remember right there is a path leads out of here through the mountains and down into the flatlands beyond."
"And then what?" Celestial asked.
Cosmos smiled as she veiled the Orrery. Now nothing would find it or walk-in by accident. "Find the Road of Kings and decide where to go from there," she replied.
Twilight tapped her chin. "We are kind of in the middle of nowhere. Urik is the closest city-state, and I'd rather not take my chances with Raam or Draj farther east."
Cosmos tapped her chin as she lead the group away from the Orrery up a slope toward what looked like a path out. "Raam could be fine depending."
"On what?" Moon Petal asked.
"On if Abalach-Re has gone off her rocker yet and named herself Grand Vizier. It used to be one of the more beautiful city-states," Twilight replied.
Everyone nodded. "And Draj?" Amber asked.
"We'd more than likely end up being sacrificed at the Father and Master Temple," Cosmos said before snickering. "At least they could try to anyway. But I'm hoping we don't stick out more than we need to."
"Is there any place we can visit then?" Crystal asked.
"Plenty," Twilight said as they came to the pathway. One way lead down into the bowl below, but they turned left and began to climb their way up and out. "But getting there and then paying for anything is another story."
Cosmos smiled. "Getting anywhere shouldn't be a problem. I'm sure we can find a Dune Trader or Silt Skimmer to take us on." Her hands glowed a moment before twelve pouched appeared in them. These she handed out to all. "As for paying for anything, there's enough for each of you to buy just about anything."
Twilight put a hand in hers. There was no bottom where there should be one. "A Bag of Holding?" She asked.
Cosmos nodded. "Each goes to where I keep an infinite amount of money used on every world. Just don't buy massive quantities of anything or you'll arouse Templar suspicions."
"And what if they find the Orrery? I don't think Equestria could stand up to them if they found a way through," Diamond said.
Cosmos nodded. "No, it couldn't. But somethings work in our favor. For one, none of the Sorcerer Kings know about it or where it is. Add on top of that that the Orrery only connects to here if I want it to."
"So what does it do the rest of the time?" Ocean asked.
Cosmos smiled. "It's just a regular old cave, no different from any others around here."
Author's Note
So this should help explain Long Live the Empress's crossover tag. I know some have wondered what it meant before now. Now you know. It was always in the plan.
I chose Athas as the first world the group visits because I love the Dark Sun Campaign Setting. I have ever since I found it in 4th Edition. As bad as 4th was.
They will in time visit Eberron, Forgotten Realms, and maybe even Dragonlance during the story.
