The Immortal Dream

The marsh cave grew wider as Rainbow Dash descended, a waterfall roaring in her ears in the distance below. At first, it clung to its identity as a narrow, claustrophobic crevice, but then surrendered all at once as she reached the bottom of the stone plate that supported the surface.

She emerged into an underground ravine as wide as it was tall, stretching out of sight around bends to the east and the northwest, a deep river carved into the floor, barreling around the bends with a ferocity she had rarely seen before in water. The channels were cut narrow, taking up only the center third of the tunnels' floor space, and on the damp banks were the lights and hovels of a village big enough to spread out of sight around the tunnel bends.

It was a village with raised stone paths built from a full hooflength of packed, large-grain gravel, to allow drainage for the water running down the walls. The walls were completely covered in thin sheets of groundwater seeping down from the marsh, a mix of dribbling waterfalls and glassy veils that followed the curvature of the stone, depositing mineral formations that made the walls look lumpy, organic and almost like they were melting. Something about those formations hit Rainbow viscerally, reminding her of what she thought intestines would look like if she ever got eaten by a giant.

The water from the walls joined the rivers, both of which were flowing towards her before colliding in a giant melting pot directly beneath the entrance. A roughly circular basin of dark waters churned and frothed, the city taking up space all around its north and south banks, where the tunnel was at its widest. And then, to the southeast, the river broke out of its melting pot, barreling forward and downward, plummeting off a cliff as the tunnel turned straight down, sending its water seething into a black abyss.

Houses lined the rim around the abyss, too. In the corner to the east, on the thin wedge of land separating the eastern river from the abyss and forcing it to collide with its neighbor and change course before it could fall, there was a more elaborate estate, almost enough to be called a mansion, though it was still made out of stone slabs like all the rest. A road led through it and out around the abyssal rim, and its front yard featured a spiky stone protrusion that jutted out over the melting pot and the waterfall like a broken bridge, positioned perfectly along the dividing line between water and void.

That stone spur would be visible from almost anywhere in the city. To a Daring Do villain, it would be the perfect spot for offering up live sacrifices.

Rainbow glanced back over her shoulder to gauge the others' reactions. Twilight looked unsettled and Starlight wary, but she couldn't spare too much attention for them, because Seigetsu was walking on the ceiling.

How did she do that? It looked like her feet were slightly melting into the stone...

"Okay," Twilight whispered, pulling up alongside Rainbow, though she could have shouted and nobody would have heard her below over the water's din. "I see what you meant about the vibes..."

Starlight hovered closer as well. "There are ponies in the streets, but it doesn't look like they've noticed us," she said stiffly, pointing to the patches of muted color where equines wandered the roads. "They don't look like they're doing much, either."

"I'd prefer to go talk to them," Twilight said, hovering close enough to the ceiling that Seigetsu could hear too. "But you said you specifically wanted to take point, so I guess I'll follow your lead?"

Seigetsu shook her head. "Oh, they've definitely noticed us. They are merely pretending not to see."

"Which means...?" Rainbow pressed.

Seigetsu gestured towards the stone mansion. "We must find our targets quickly. Stay vigilant, and follow me."

Then she jumped, flipping through the air and landing at the base of the outcrop that straddled the waterfall.

Rainbow dropped into a glide, tailing her as she strode across the rocky courtyard towards the mansion. There were no guards, and not even a physical door, just an opening through which Seigetsu entered without attempting to knock.

Inside, rather than the foyer Rainbow expected, was a single large room, the floor scored with small drainage channels in a checkerboard pattern faintly reminiscent of a ballroom, and the ceiling held up by rough-hewn stone pillars that provided ample shadowy cover for ambushers, especially ones that could climb or fly. Rainbow instantly ascended, checking to ensure no one was waiting to get the drop on her friends... not that she knew how to spot a batpony who was shadow sneaking. Starlight's stories had left her with ample reason to watch out for those.

But if there were any hidden attackers, none of them jumped out to accost her... until half a second later, a bright burst of light flashed behind her. Rainbow whirled, squinting, ready for a fight.

It was Starlight, light still receding from her horn.

"Don't patrol dark spaces without a light when you're hunting dangerous batponies," Starlight grunted, pointing for Rainbow to stay on the ground. "If there had been one there, you would have been at their mercy."

She then soared off between the pillars and launched another flashbang, sparing Rainbow with a pillar's shadow. "And look at the walls, not me!" she called back.

Rainbow groaned at getting shown up, briefly tried to soothe her ego, and drifted to the floor, where a different commotion was beginning to take place.

The center of the large room was empty, but the sides had an assortment of stone tables and water-warped crates, and the back featured a stone alcove bed that was probably supposed to be fancy, but didn't fit any style Rainbow had seen before. In the bed, blinking in annoyance at Seigetsu, was an earth pony colt, somewhere in his late teens, who had clearly been awakened by Starlight's flashbangs.

"I just got to sleep..." he complained, staring down the end of a war hammer made from a strange, monochrome, bright purple metal. His eyes crossed. "Oh, good grief. You're outsiders, aren't you? I take it you don't come in peace?"

Seigetsu pointed the hammer at him one-handed, raising her voice to ensure everyone in the room could hear it. "I am Special Inquisitor Seigetsu of the Holy Cernial Convocation. I am here in search of a pair of dangerous criminal fugitives who are believed to be hiding in this village. Forgive me for assuming by your lodgings that you occupy a position of importance here, but I require a form of insurance that we will not be ambushed by those I seek to apprehend."

The colt blinked groggily. "What? I don't have-" Starlight flashbanged again. "Stop doing that! I'm already awake!"

"Once we are assured that we will not be ambushed," Seigetsu promised. "I bear you no ill will, but any discomfort caused by using you as a hostage is far more temporary than the damage that could be caused by an ambush from the criminals I seek. Please accept my apologies, and order any guards to reveal themselves."

"For crying out loud, I don't have any guards!" the colt burst out. "We're not barbarians! That's the whole point! And no one here has any history with your world."

"Two batponies," Seigetsu said. "Completely gray, and likely to wear clothing that disguises the fact that half of their bodies are missing. Proficient with black daggers that can destroy the memories of their targets. Do you know them?"

"Oh." The colt sagged. "You're looking for them?"

Seigetsu twitched.

"Could you put that hammer away?" the colt asked, clearly uncomfortable. "We're all pacifists here, and force can't bring back whatever you're looking for."

Seigetsu withdrew the hammer slightly, but kept it out. "They are no longer here, then?"

The colt sighed, taking the space he was given to sit up. As his bedding fell off, Rainbow got a glimpse of his cutie mark: a yawning, black pit with a waterfall rushing in.

"They're here in body," the colt said, staring at Seigetsu with bleary eyes. "But they don't have any memory of anything they did to you before coming here. Same for everyone. If you're looking for anyone with a history on the surface, that history doesn't exist anymore. So if you're looking for revenge or whatever, you're wasting your time."

Starlight landed close by, eyes wide. "What did you say?"

"Weapons down, please," the colt yawned, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. "You'll get it if I show you... show you around. No one here has any problem with you, so there's no point in hurting us. Can't we talk this out?"

Seigetsu still hesitated... but Twilight tapped her leg with a hoof. "I want to talk about this too," she said. "And we haven't found anyone who's hostile yet. If it doesn't work, I'll take responsibility for that, but we should hear him out."

"...Very well, then." Seigetsu's hammer dissipated into thin air, though Rainbow could still tell she was on high alert. "Now, explain further. These two batponies are elderly, one male and one female, named Yelvey and Nencosay? Why do they no longer have their memories?"

"Thank you for your basic decency," the colt muttered, sitting up straighter. "They don't have them because they took them away. That's what their powers do. You said you knew that, right?"

"But why did they take their own memories?" Twilight pressed.

"And you said they took them from everyone here?" Starlight asked stiffly.

The colt shrugged. "Because they didn't want them anymore. Duh."

Seigetsu gave him a look that demanded further elaboration.

"That's why anyone ever comes here. At least, most of the time." The colt slowly pulled himself out of bed. "This town's called Abaddon. I'm Keeper, the mayor. You probably know that already if you found us and came straight for me, but with how many questions you're asking, maybe you don't. And most of the people looking for us are people who can't live with their past anymore and seek freedom in ignorance. It's a more peaceful way to leave your failures behind than just dying, but to people like you, it's basically the same."

He got on his hooves and stretched. "No one here is haunted by the ghosts of their pasts anymore. So if you're the ghosts and you're looking to do some haunting, forget about it. Your marks don't even know who you are."

Starlight stared at the ground in horror.

"But..." Twilight protested. "What if they change their minds? What if they want their memories back?"

Keeper shrugged. "Then they're out of luck. Death is permanent too, though, so it's not like this is a worse alternative. Your friend there looks like she gets it."

He pointed at Starlight.

"Buddy," Rainbow said with a frown, "that's messed up. Who would want to get rid of their memories? You sure you don't coerce them into doing it? Not like they'd remember why they did it after the fact, right?"

"They don't remember, no," Keeper said. "That's the point. And we never use coercion. The pain of not knowing can be great, so it's something that should only be used when the pain of knowing is greater."

Rainbow gave him a stink-eye.

"Be that as it may," Seigetsu cut in, "they are still guilty of great crimes in my country, whether they remember them or not. Where are they?"

"No, they aren't," Keeper insisted. "The ponies who wronged you are dead. I'll show you to them if you need to see for yourselves, but please don't hurt them. It won't matter when they can just forget you all over again, but no one likes making that trade."

"I do not come for wanton vengeance," Seigetsu promised. "But I would hear what they have to say for myself."

"Alright, alright..." Keeper started wandering towards the door, clearly not in a hurry. "Follow me. And don't complain when they really don't remember you."

Rainbow glanced at her companions. Seigetsu was already in the vanguard, Twilight was practically bristling with questions, and Starlight... didn't look too hot.

"Twilight," Starlight whispered as they stepped outside, a small cluster of curious ponies starting to gather - most of whom looked decently healthy, if muted and dull. "Is this how it looked when you first met me?"

"Well," Twilight deflected, "That was long enough ago that I had some pretty differing expectations of-"

"Yeah, pretty much," Rainbow interrupted, landing on Starlight's other flank. "At least there's no creepy smiles..." She waved to the onlookers. "Yo! Hey guys!"

Some of the ponies waved back uncertainly, and a few returned hesitant greetings. "See?" Rainbow pointed out.

"He called himself the mayor," Starlight breathed, closing her eyes and inhaling. "But I doubt he's the founder. He's too young and not charismatic enough. If... If there's a demagogue behind this place, just a warning that I don't know how I'll be able to react."

Twilight put a reassuring hoof on her shoulder, forcing Starlight to look her in the eyes. "You'll be fine, Starlight. You've learned from your mistakes. And if this is another pony making that same mistake, then I'm sure you more than anyone will know what to do."

Rainbow considered their exchange, then caught up to Seigetsu and Keeper. "So," she asked the colt, "have you gotten your own memory wiped too, then? You really have that much trust in your past self that you don't regret it?"

"Oh, no." Keeper blinked at her. "I haven't. I was born into this community, you see, so I don't have a history on the surface to run from, or any real traumas at all. That's how I got my name, since I've kept all of my memories." He adjusted their path, walking out of the mansion courtyard to the south and embarking on a road around the rim of the waterfall pit. "It's also how I got my job. Many of the people ask for their memories to be reset fairly frequently, and you can't serve as an administrator if you're just going to forget your projects halfway through."

Outside of the mansion compound, space became more limited, a narrow ledge of rock running around the waterfall pit, separating it from the actual cave wall. It was just wide enough for the road plus a single row of houses, all built from stone, their roofs set up to provide adequate protection from the irregular dripping of the roof stalactites. Between that and the mist from the waterfall, Rainbow was already starting to feel damp, and she noted that none of the other ponies she saw looked completely dry, either.

Quite a few of them were outside socializing, sharing meals or else simply talking. The food looked worse the more Rainbow glimpsed it: some sort of completely homogeneous gray matter, and nothing else. All the ponies who were eating had exactly the same thing.

"So, uh," Rainbow began. "Do I wanna know what that food is?"

"It's food," Keeper explained. "It doesn't have a name. Long ago, we used to eat surface food, which I've heard comes in different types that need different names. But ever since Misophaes joined us, we haven't needed to."

"That's a weird name," Rainbow remarked. "Who's Miso-face?"

"One of the three pillars of our community," Keeper said. "Misophaes joined us shortly after I was born, along with Nencosay, so I don't remember what it was like before her. But she's a unicorn who knows a spell that turns water into food. Without her, we wouldn't be able to survive underground like this."

Rainbow Dash shook her head. "So basically, you've forgotten what real food is. That's kind of sad."

"I'm guessing the other two pillars are Nencosay and Yelvey?" Twilight asked. "Or is Yelvey too new of an arrival to count?"

Keeper chuckled. "You know when he joined us, then? I suppose you would, if you're looking for him. It's kind of refreshing to meet someone who doesn't think that was forever ago. You're right, though. I never learned much about what our life was like before them. I assume we must have lived on the surface, and I think there were less than a dozen of us, but that's all inference. It's probably better that I don't know more, anyway. Everyone else's ignorance is a curse that frees them from the greater curse of their painful histories, but mine is a blessing because I never had to suffer that pain to begin with."

Rainbow rolled her eyes.

"I see that you feel differently," Keeper remarked. "And I'm in no position to tell you you're wrong, so I suppose instead I'm happy for you. You're lucky. Abaddon has one hundred and fifty three creatures who weren't so lucky, not counting myself. But who is truly luckier, the soul who has never suffered at all, or the one who finds salvation when they can run no further?"

Rainbow glanced around at the village ponies they were passing by, most of whom were happily socializing with each other. The few that weren't stared curiously instead, and sometimes warily. None of the cheer they displayed felt as obviously fake as the first time she visited Starlight's old village, back when Starlight had been a small-town dictator in the middle of nowhere... but it still felt out of place.

"So is talking to each other just really interesting?" she asked. "Because what you call salvation looks like pure boredom to me."

Keeper nodded, repaying a couple of curious waves from the ponies he passed by. "I have my duties as mayor to keep my mind occupied, but many would agree with you once the novelty of meeting a new like-minded community wears off. That's one of the biggest reasons the villagers choose to get their memories wiped more than once. By resetting themselves, they can get to know their neighbors all over again. It frees them from any mistakes or hard feelings from previous cycles, and keeps things always new and never boring."

Twilight's face twisted in revulsion. "Your relationships are that disposable to you?"

"I can't comment, since I don't partake in that pastime," Keeper admitted. "Actually, I don't socialize much at all with the ponies who regularly do this, since it can be quite unnerving for both parties when speaking to someone you know much better than they know you. But actions on the surface have the kinds of lingering consequences that can force people to give up everything to escape them. Does it surprise you that those who accept such a deal find enjoyment in interactions where everything is temporary and both successes and failures are wiped away?"

"Are they temporary?" Twilight pressed, incredulous. "Don't you get old? Don't you have children? Time is passing, whether you like it or not, and the friendships we build over that time are what gives meaning to spending it!"

Keeper grimaced. "You're asking the wrong pony, since I don't live like that, thank you very much. And I'm sure anyone else here would be happy to debate that subject with you all night, but I need to keep my memories in order to keep Abaddon running and I'd very much appreciate it if you didn't fill them with questions I don't have the context to answer. I'm already making a significant sacrifice by standing apart from our culture rather than accepting its company, and before you think any more about how nice it is to be someone without a reason to abandon everything, please think about what would happen if no one did my job, this village forgot that Misophaes can make food as a result and we all starved to death."

"Alright, see," Rainbow pressed, "You just said you're making a sacrifice with your role here, but right before it you said you were the lucky one..."

"Can I see some of that food?" Starlight requested, face ashen.

"We have plenty, so I don't see why not." Keeper waved at a pair of dining ponies, marched over, and soon stepped back with a small stone bowl filled with something gray and indistinct - an airy mass, fuzzy around the edges, so featureless that it appeared to completely lack depth. He offered it to Starlight.

Starlight stared into the bowl for a long moment, then touched the food with the tip of her tongue. Immediately, she went rigid.

"Starlight?" Twilight pulled the bowl from her aura, standing right in front of her friend.

"Ether flakes," Starlight said with a grimace. "Not the usual flavor." She shook her head, letting Twilight take the bowl. "I feel like there's something about this whole situation I'm forgetting, and I desperately need to remember. Something about the stone, or what they're doing to their memories, or this food. Is it that...?" She turned her head upwards, towards the crack in the ceiling they had entered through, which was now thoroughly obscured by a field of dripping stalactites.

"Yo, Starlight?" Rainbow waved a wing in front of her face. "You still in there?"

Keeper, too, tilted his head at Starlight.

Starlight stared for a while longer, then tore her gaze away. "This isn't right," she said. "I feel like I know this place, somehow, but I've never been here before. And it's not the same as I feel like it should be. And there was something important I needed to do here... This isn't just about my own village. What am I thinking of? Is there something that's messing with my head...?"

Rainbow glanced at Seigetsu and Twilight. "Either of you feel any head-tampery things going on? This place is messed up, but I feel fine."

"Perhaps," Seigetsu admitted, stepping closer to the edge of the waterfall pit. "There is some type of powerful magic in that hole. I suspect it is the source of the Aldenfold enchantment they use to conceal the entrance, and it is strongly aligned with the domain of Ignorance. But if you feel there is something you need to remember, sensitivity to this would be more likely to produce the opposite reaction."

"Uh," Keeper cut in, "if it matters, we do usually have to make sacrifices to the abyss to open the entrance for new arrivals... How did anyone know to let you in, anyway?"

"Sacrifices?" Starlight raised a wary eyebrow.

Keeper nodded. "Memories. Items with personal significance. Performing memory erasure near it works best. The abyss primarily protects itself, so for us to live under its protection, we have to do something for it in return. That's another thing it would be pretty bad if there wasn't a mayor around to remember."

"I don't think it's the pit." Starlight shook her head, sounding far away. "I think... it's something to do with the ceiling? And everyone is counting on me to succeed."

"Everyone?" Twilight asked. "You mean us, right here?"

"I don't remember." Starlight frowned. "It feels important. But also like it doesn't quite fit in my mind. Like... a piece from a different puzzle." She turned pointedly back to the road. "I'll think about it more once we're no longer down here. If something's trying to manipulate me into doing something, I don't feel like going along with it."

Keeper nodded in solidarity. "If there was something down here causing people to feel that way, I don't think we'd notice it. The socialites who reset themselves for fun, they live here on the long bank." He gestured to the rim of the pit, to his mansion, and to the southern riverbank extending up the tunnel to the northwest. "But some of us have big enough scars that just erasing their memory isn't big enough. Even once they're fresh, they'll slowly start remembering feelings without context, like spontaneous guilt or fear. There's not a lot we can do for them aside from being ready to erase again the moment they have a crisis."

Rainbow glanced across the waterfall pit and the bowl before it where the rivers collided. "So they're all on the other bank, or something?"

"They live on the short bank," Keeper agreed. "Mostly to stay away from the socialites, to try to avoid interactions that could bring back those feelings. But also so they have to go through my place first if they want to reach the abyss."

Halfway around the pit's rim, Rainbow could see that spur jutting out over the boundary. "Knew it," she dryly cheered.

"You don't mean..." Twilight trailed off.

"Have I not driven home yet that not everyone is as attached to this world as you seem to be?" Keeper raised an eyebrow. "If it sets your mind at ease, our system actually works quite well. The abyss promises a much more gentle end than jumping in the river, and all of us revere it, whether troubled or not. So when the path to get there is longer, and help is positioned directly on the way... I don't know any units of time that would be meaningful to you, but the abyss hasn't claimed a living soul in a very long time."

Twilight looked only very slightly pacified, and Rainbow didn't blame her. If the ponies down here had completely lost the will to live, there was a great solution to that: not living in a pointless and gloomy cave.

Keeper looked harangued enough already, so she hesitated to drive it home. In fact, he looked like he already knew what she was going to say. A simple raised eyebrow was all she needed.

"...The point is, if you're having strong feelings with no context and don't understand why, you'll be in good company over there." Keeper sagged, pointing across the river. "I've had as much of this as I can take. The two you're looking for were in my mansion all along, there's a back room... I wanted to show you our town to make you understand, so that you'd agree to leave us alone and prevent any other ghosts from following you. It's not working. Any more listening to you, and I don't know if I'll be able to fulfill my duties anymore, and then... Just go. I need to put this out of mind the normal way."

"...I've changed my mind," Starlight said, straightening up. "This isn't the same as my old village. However it started, if you're the only thing holding it together... This isn't an engineered trap, and it's not powered by malice or delusions. It's just a self-sustaining pit of despair. Without hope, you'll never remember to seek the surface. All of Equestria is waiting for you just beyond that barrier..." She stared up at the jagged, pointy ceiling with a glare that challenged it to crumble to dust. "That's what I'm supposed to do here."

Rainbow blinked at Twilight as Starlight hovered, soaring off towards the mansion. "Never seen her talk like that before."

"Oh, um...!" Keeper reached out a hoof after her. "Try not to fly directly above the abyss? Not that I doubt however you're flying like that, but that's kind of like taunting our deity and we don't actually know if it's possible to fly back out again if you fall too far in..."

"Eh, don't worry about it." Rainbow patted him on the shoulder. "She's survived falling off like six cliffs way higher than this before she even learned that trick. More likely the abyss would break from her hitting the bottom."

Keeper tapped his forehooves together. "It's also our guardian deity, so that wouldn't be good either..."

Rainbow was already gone.

Given how tired of them Keeper seemed to be when they left, Rainbow Dash guessed that waiting for him to catch up would leave them waiting forever. Still, barging into his house when they knew he wasn't there felt just a little rude, and while Rainbow usually didn't mind being rude, things were different when it was to someone she felt bad for.

But Seigetsu had no such reservations.

"Seigetsu," Twilight called, chasing the dragon as she strode back into the large open chamber of Keeper's mansion. "Before we find them, do you have a moment?"

"I suppose," Seigetsu said, stopping and turning as Twilight, Starlight and Rainbow grouped up before her. "Though I can already guess what this is about."

"This whole city is upside-down," Twilight told her with a grimace. "It's completely antithetical to everything I stand for, and even if some of the ponies seem to be having a superficially good time, the ones on the other bank clearly aren't. But everyone here still thinks it's working."

Seigetsu raised an eyebrow. "Are you troubled by the ethical issues of imposing your own worldview on a society that holds a separate one?"

"Well..." Twilight's ears fell. "Yes. I mean, I don't know. But whether I am or not, you clearly don't intend to leave this place alone. And if you capture the two batponies who are erasing their memories and take them with you, then this town will be destroyed. They're using the memory magic as a crutch to release the pressure of living in such deplorable conditions, and if you take it away, I doubt they'll last a week before they start fighting each other. So... what are you going to do? You can't just take their means of survival and then leave them to their fate."

Seigetsu nodded slowly. "Are you using your presumption of my future actions to avoid making the choice yourself?"

Twilight blinked. "Are you saying you're not going to take them?"

"No," Seigetsu said. "I'm simply asking if that's a choice you are willing to make, or if you must rely on others to make it for you."

"I..." Twilight swallowed. "I know I'm right. They don't understand how bad they have it because their society fundamentally disallows them from knowing. There's no possibility they can change on their own, and I couldn't live with myself if I left them like this. I don't even know why I should be hesitating. Just, taking away the only home they've ever known, when I don't actually know for sure what it's like to live like this... Should I really be the one making that decision? Shouldn't it be them?"

"Does it matter if you can't decide?" Starlight asked. "Ever since we became friends, you've been asking me to rely on your judgement if I can't see what's right. Can't you do the same? Because for me, this problem is very easy."

She gestured at the rough stone pillars surrounding them. "This place has no hope by design. Their futures get stolen again and again so they don't have to fear them, but they have nothing to strive towards or look forward to as well. This is what I was feeling out there. It's so bleak that even I couldn't see how my role as a Flame of Harmony fit into it... because it didn't. This picture they've made doesn't require me and is complete without me, to such a degree that I couldn't even remember what my purpose is. And now I haven't remembered this strongly for a very long time."

Twilight stared at her.

"The Flames of Harmony are this world's fabric and foundation," Starlight said, running a hoof along a pillar. "They're supposed to be its essence, present in everything. But they're not, and that imperfection is what gave me so much grief as a filly. I couldn't live with it. And maybe I'm not supposed to. As a filly, I didn't have the power to fix it, but isn't that supposed to be different now? This town does not belong in a harmonic world. And we have the power to let the light in, break the cycle happening here, and give these ponies back to society with the help they need to re-learn how to face the sun with the pride of the living."

Something intense burned in Starlight's eyes, and Rainbow Dash found herself speechless.

"You're both bearers of harmony," Starlight said. "Isn't this our purpose?"

"Starlight..." Twilight's voice hitched. "All three of us are also ponies. The whole point of the story of your foalhood was that the principles of harmony are too abstract and uncompromising to be used purely on their own merits. That's why they're loaned to ponies like me and the other element bearers. So that... we can make our own decisions when life is too complex to let a single principle tell us what to do."

"And now that it's come to that, you're having trouble making a decision," Starlight pointed out. "I'm not. If you think I'm wrong, I'll... I want to respect you, but ignoring my purpose here would be no less painful than when I tried to deny my desires as a filly. Is it really worth that to trust ponies who obviously can't know any better to make the right choice with their lives?"

Twilight bit her lip.

Seigetsu waited.

Rainbow still didn't know what to say.

"...The reason I can't decide is because neither answer is acceptable," Twilight finally said. "I couldn't live with myself if I left them alone, but it feels wrong to take away what they have here without even asking. If I had more time, I'd stay down here, try to convince them to see the surface and live without the promise that their decisions don't matter. But with their worldview, they have no possible reason to agree. I'd just be wasting time, which would delay our trip to Ironridge, and they actually want our help. Even with all the powers Princess Celestia just entrusted me with, I don't have the capacity to do everything the right way. I just don't have the time to be everywhere at once, do I?"

She gave a weak chuckle. "Is this how you felt, Starlight, trying to take responsibility for your entire world?"

Starlight evaluated her seriously. "No. If it was, you'd be a lot more desperate."

Twilight sighed, then straightened up. "Seigetsu. If I ordered you to leave the batponies alone and go back to Snowport with us, would you do it? Would you trust me to put something together so that someone else can find and help this place properly in our stead?"

"I think you misunderstand my goals," Seigetsu said, tapping a claw with her arms folded in front of her. "The well-being of the populace here barely ranks third on my priority list. Above that, I have a cold case to crack, and if the fugitives have indeed purged themselves of their knowledge of their own motives, that will require opening this place up for a deeper investigation... which will certainly be conducted by Halandyne, whom I have no authority over. But most importantly, I am tasked with observing how you use the Aegis."

Twilight frowned. "Well, I can tell you right now I don't need Aegis to accomplish anything here."

"Perhaps not now," Seigetsu agreed. "But you are still basing your decisions off a concern for the free will of mortals. While this is admirable, you are a goddess in possession of power to be a goddess among goddesses. Meanwhile, they have chosen to exist in such a manner that their decisions are completely without consequence. Their wills are meaningless. They choose for them to be meaningless, because the one choice they have that retains meaning is whether or not to partake in their cycle of erasure. And we have just finished hearing from the one creature down here who seems at all inclined not to embrace it."

She fixed Twilight with a pointed stare. "Your will has the authority to shape nations. Theirs is nothing against yours. It is nothing by choice. They are less than children weighted against a parent even compared to my will. To value these equally would be to commit a grave mathematical error, and yet to do so is still within your rights as a goddess. Is this the kind of ruler you will be, allowing the use of your absolute and singular power to be influenced by those who have already relinquished their stake in the outcome?"

"No," Twilight told her, voice firm. "No, the error would be to weigh the strength of our wills against each other in the first place. You're trying to see what kind of ruler or goddess I'll be, how steadily I can manage this power? Then watch me."

She let out a deep breath. "Seigetsu, do what you came here to do. The world changes around us and forces us to adapt, and now it's going to do the same to them. This is because of your investigation and the worldly consequences of whatever those batponies did, not the whim of a goddess. The ponies here closing their eyes to that reality doesn't make it go away. And I choose not to protect them from that. It won't be a goddess that demolishes their lives here, but the natural flow of the world. The same way it works for everyone else."

Then she turned to Starlight. "And then we'll be there for them when it happens. It doesn't take a Flame of Harmony to help someone rebuild when their life falls apart. Anyone can offer a hoof to someone who's lost and show them a way. We don't need to do this as goddesses or as avatars of harmony. We can do it as regular ponies who happen to be in the right place at the right time. Once word spreads that their way of life here is unsustainable, which should happen quickly, we can offer them a place in the Crystal Empire, and others can step in to walk with them from there. We don't need to be Convergence and Hope. We can do it as just Twilight and Starlight. Will you try it this way with me?"

Seigetsu stared at her for a moment. "Interesting."

"Don't think this means I don't understand your point, or that I won't use this power when I need to," Twilight added. "I just think that right now, I don't need to. I know this sounds strange coming from someone with as much power as I've been given, but I have faith in ponies' abilities to make the world better on their own. More faith than I have in a single goddess to choose the best course for everyone, especially when their biggest problem is that they've lost their understanding of how to act on their own behalves. As a goddess, I could command Aegis to blow off the roof of this place, then levitate everyone out whether they struggle or not. But as a pony, I can show them that there are still roads towards the future, even in the face of adversity. That they don't need to rely on shortcuts like memory magic, or on waiting for someone more powerful to have their way with them."

She squared her shoulders. "So it's not that I don't know how to solve this, or that I'm afraid to use my power for fear of wronging them, or that I want someone else to decide in my stead. It's that remaking their world by force for them is the wrong tool for the job. They'll learn much more if we set an example they can live by and use to overcome adversity. And for an example that will be relevant to ponies as weak as they are, we won't need any powers or authority at all."

Starlight was stunned.

Twilight offered her a hoof. "I think you could benefit a lot too from being the one to show them this."

Starlight grabbed her in a hug, burying her face in Twilight's still-slightly-ethereal mane. Twilight took a step back in surprise.

"I wish I could see what you see," Starlight eventually said, extracting her face and breaking the hug. "When you put it like that, I can believe it, but I've never known anything other than giving every fiber of my being towards a goal, or forcing myself to give up. You don't think they'll, I don't know, blame us for being in Seigetsu's company when she's the one doing the wrecking?"

"If they do, then they'll just get an extra lesson that other ponies don't do only things you like or only things you don't like." Twilight shook her head. "Maybe some of them will decide to resent us for coming here. Maybe some of them won't take it any differently from how they would if we excavated this place and didn't give them a choice, and just relocated them by force. But if they're asking questions about their lot in life again, that's a step towards looking for answers and re-engaging with the world."

"If you say so," Starlight said. "But let's still do this quickly. The feeling this place is giving me is really strong."