Under the skytrees of the city that shared the same name, a middle aged woman sat, surrounded by foals, children, and their parents. Behind her was a small reflection pond and the stone monument with the names of the dead during the Cataclysm. All were hushed, waiting for her to speak.

She stared up at the canopy of branches. People joking called Disneyworld the most magical place on Earth, but there was real magic here, deep magic. The power of the alicorn who wasn't was in the leaves, the branches, the roots, the bark, the soil. Wild Growth had poured herself into this place that fateful day, trying desperately to save the lives of all who lived in the city, and produced this miracle of a place. Few realized how much power there was here. No artifact on Earth or Equestria could compare to these few trees.

Our audience awaits, Jennifer.

She didn't change her expression when the voice spoke to her in her head.

I know. I'm just taking in the scenery. She thought back at it.

They grow impatient, as do I. Her constant companion replied.

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. The Narrative could be so childish sometimes.

She looked at her audience and smiled. "It is time for our story. Like many of my stories, this happened a very long time ago. It happened when the universe was much younger, and the night sky was as bright as daytime because all the stars were so much closer together. It was a time when life flourished on ten thousand different worlds beneath the warming light of a million distant suns. It was a fantastic time, a time lost even to legend, where magical feats beyond your wildest dreams could be accomplished. A time when the future of our universe looked bright, and would be filled with innumerable populated worlds for the duration of history."

As she spoke, the scenery around them shifted. The branches above them transformed into a bright green sky with hundreds of distant blazing balls of flame keeping it alight. The kids and parents all ooooed and awed as the illusion came into place.

The illusion grew until it covered all their surroundings. They were all still sitting, but the expanse of green interstellar space now extending into every direction they looked, even down. Into this illusion came the forms of planets. Some rocky, some molten, and some not unlike Earth or Equestria.

"In this time, travel between worlds was frequent. Everything was closer together, not like the unimaginable distances between stars today."

Everyone did startled jumps and yelps as a massive starship suddenly passed right by them. It was bigger than the biggest freighter on the seas, a long rectangular box with runes of magic glowing brightly along its sides.

"And technology and magic were at heights that have never been seen since," she continued.

A new star appeared, covering the entire horizon, it would have been blinding to everyone present if it were really there. If it were really there, they would have all been burned to a crisp, but this was an illusion, and since it was an illusion, they could see the outlines of a planet, sitting far too close to its star to possibly be habitable. Yet…

"There exists then and now a place, older than time itself. Even in these primordial days, its age was such that the time between then and now would not qualify as the blink of an eye. The people had a name for it, Jeg'galla'gamp'pi. It means the first and the last place. It predates the universe itself, and it shall outlast the universe. Nothing can harm it, nothing can scratch it, and the rules of our universe have only a passing effect on it, as if it simply tolerates them out of boredom, but could easily simply ignore them if it so suited it."

The illusion drew them.all nearer to the planet, and details came into view. At first, it seemed a pristine white, then it became clear that the surface was anything but smooth, and then as they got even closer, the true wonder of the planet became clear.

The entire planet was one big city.

The illusion dove them into the atmosphere, an atmosphere that should not be, not this close to the inferno of a star, but this was Jeg'galla'gamp'pi, and Jeg'galla'gamp'pi had an atmosphere because Jeg'galla'gamp'pi didn't care about trivial things like laws of physics that said any atmosphere should be burned away and its surface should be molten. They went down and flew between the massive towering spires that would be a thousand stories tall, among bridges so thin and delicate-looking that it seemed like they could not support the weight of an insect- yet could support the weight of a whole other planet and show no sign of strain. There were buildings with tall arched doors every direction you looked, and vacant windows staring down into barren courtyards. No decoration adorned any of these places. There were no murals, no drawings, no writing, no statues, not even the most basic of artistic designs. Each building was the same pristine white as everything else, and the only break in the white were the shadows they cast, as if the shadows were the only real thing here– the only thing that wasn't part of the single piece, for no building was separate from the ground it stood, and no building had any individual parts. Everything was one piece; everything was Jeg'galla'gamp'pi.

They slowed down as they came to one courtyard in particular, this one filled with dragonlike beings they made their homes among the buildings. They were hanging out cloths from windows, cooking meals while laughing and talking together.

"Jeg'galla'gamp'pi had no crops, no water, and no wildlife," the woman continued. "While the air was breathable and the temperature somehow moderate, there was no way to survive there long term. However, despite the incredible difficulty that even reaching it entailed, settlers did come, the poorest of the poor. What would attract people to a place where all food and drink had to be imported in? Where you couldn't even so much as mine since every piece the the world was unbreakable? Jeg'galla'gamp'pi was aware, although none could fathom its consciousness, and Jeg'galla'gamp'pi provided."

The scene shifted to a room. The dragons were searching it, although it appeared empty.

"They were scavengers, Junk Peddlers they were called," she said as the crowd watched the dragons search.

"It might seem foolish to search an empty city–"

A small blue stone, twisted into a warped spiral, suddenly appeared in the corner of the room where it had not been before, and one of the dragons quickly picked it up and held it up in triumph.

"–but Jeg'galla'gamp'pi was aware of them, and it provided."

The scene shifted again, to different courtyard, where small spacecraft were parked on the ground and dragons in robes inspected crates of rocks similar to the one held by the dragon just a moment ago.

"Those items scavenged were then traded to those who were not poor, and the Junk Peddlers got their food, drink, and other items. Seasonally, they came, and seasonally the Junk Traders provided their bounty. What these well-to-do beings wanted with their unbreakable junk, the peddlers did not care. They only cared that they would have sustenance for another season, and they did not understand the true value of what they were trading away."

It's an audience of kids. Best not to bog it down with pre-Devourer economics and exploitation. This story is pushing the boundaries of what is appropriate for this audience as it is.

I know that, but the story must be told! She thought back at the voice.

I do not contest that.

The scene shifted again, to a family of dragons, a young pearly white female and her parents, all huddled together in one of the dwellings.

"The planet has forsaken us!" the mother wept. "We have not found enough to trade, and the merchants will be here tomorrow!"

"The others will help support us. There have been lean times before," the father assured her.

"Never so lean!" the mother cried, pointing at a crate that only had three of the stones within it. "The traders will give us barely any food, and no drink! How will we feed ourselves? How will we feed Triss?!"

The young dragon came close to her mother and laid her head against her. "I will be alright, Lifegiver. Joss will share his portion with me. He is my soulfriend."

"Which leaves two young ones being given only half of what they should!" the mother continued to cry. "Even with our each of our soulfriends helping us, we only make it harder on our soulfriends!"

"Triss was a young and determined dragon. Who did not like to see her mother cry," the woman informed her audience. The scene shifted to show Triss and a young male dragon with salmon colored scales hurrying into a building. "As her parents fretted, she decided to take action and make one last attempt to find things to trade. She was certain the planet would not let them go without anything to trade. Had they not always been good? She was joined by Joss, her soulfriend– which is like a best friend, only a million times more close. In their culture, soulfriends were even more important than family, but never were family, and never became lovers."

"Where should we search?" the young male dragon called out to Triss as they ran, the illusionary scene that surrounded the crowd moved with them.

Triss stopped and pointed upwards into the distance, towards a monolith that towered so high it seemed to extend into space itself. "The Big Spire!"

Joss came up beside her and looked up. "The Big Spire? The pickings are always few around there. No one searches there."

"Maybe that means it is holding out more than usual since few go there anymore," Triss suggested.

"Or that it will just be little to find again," Joss countered. "But I go where you go."

The ran and the crowd's perspective followed. The kids and parents looked on in wonder at the buildings as they zipped by, and the long-forgotten city seemed to watch them in turn through the vacant dark windows and doors. Maybe it did. Who could fathom the workings of Jeg'galla'gamp'pi? Perhaps, despite the distance, it was aware of them. Perhaps it sat waiting, many many light years away, for new residents to walk its streets and make homes within its halls. If a world could be lonely, then there was none more lonely than it.

Triss and Joss reached the foot of the Big Spire. The spire was a monolith that towered so high that its pinnacle could not be seen from the ground. There were no windows, but there was a door, one that brought the two young drakes up short as they stared at it.

"The Big Spire never has an entrance," Joss said as he looked upon the dark archway.

Triss smiled. "Do you see? The city provides for us!"

"A door does not assure anything to find," Joss said cautiously. "A door where there was none before is dangerous. It could choose to leave while we are inside, leaving us trapped."

"Doors and windows and cubby holes come and go all the time in other places, and no one gets trapped," Triss reminded him.

"They don't do that here," Joss said worriedly.

There suddenly seemed to be a greater number of windows than there had been a moment before facing the dragons as they decided what to do. The kids in the audience noticed this and shivered as the city watched.

"We go in!" Triss announced and began marching with purpose towards the archway.

"This is a bad idea," Joss whimpered, but followed her faithfully without further objection. The illusion followed as the dragons crept through the doorway.

As soon as the entered the spire, the door vanished.

Joss turned and started scratching at the wall. "No! I told you this was a bad idea! I told you this could happen!"

Triss looked around. "There is still light."

It was true. Despite there being no window or other source of illumination, the room was not dark. It was an empty room, except for a passageway that went downward.

"There's only one way to go," Triss said, walking towards the passage.

Joss turned and looked at the passage. "Passages never go down on the first floor. Nothing goes below the surface."

Triss flipped her tail in annoyance. "You are too concerned with what has never been seen before."

"And you are not concerned enough!"

"There is still only one way to go," Triss reminded him, still walking towards the passage. He gulped and then followed.

They descended in a spiral till where they entered was no longer visible, yet still they went down, round and round, in a never ending circle with smooth white walls and smooth white floor.

"This path can go on forever," Joss whined.

"Nothing goes on forever," Triss replied, not stopping in her run down the sloping spiral.

Joss breathed heavily as he ran to keep up. "Jeg'galla'gamp'pi does."

Then the path abruptly came to a door and they passed through.

"Whoa!" Triss said breathlessly as the gazed in wonder at what they beheld.

They were in a room, and the walls were covered in art.

"What is this place?" Joss asked, looking at the walls.

There were drawings of creatures in every shape and size, all of them things that the two drakes had clearly never seen before. Some creatures had tentacles, some arms and legs, some wings, and some defied all body plans that anything they knew had, or even seemed a mishmash of various different things. From all of them were depictions of something rising out from them.

Triss's eyes widened as she looked at the far side of the room. "It's where I find the stuff to trade."

There was a small statue, in the same bluish-colored stone that all the other junk came in. The statue of a drake.

Joss gasped. "That would bring lots to trade. We've never found anything but stones before. An actual statue is impossible. The stones can't be shaped."

Triss walked close to it, and both she and the statue started to glow with a pale blue light. She seemed oblivious to it, eyes fiercely fixated on the statue.

"Triss! Something is weird!" Joss called out in alarm.

The other dragon did not seem to hear. She picked up the statue in her claws and held it.

"It's so warm. I feel warmth inside me," Triss whispered. "This is me."

"Triss!" Joss yelled again.

The glow abruptly winked out, and Triss turned to look at her friend.

"I must keep this!" she exclaimed. "It was meant for me!"

"No!" Joss protested. "If you are going to take it. Then trade it for food! That is what is important! If we can get out of here."

The path behind them had vanished, and a new path had appeared to their side where there had not been one before. All the drawings in the room were gone.

"There is still only one way to go," Triss said, as she clasped the statue close to her and walked towards the passageway. Joss did not object as he followed.

They walked through the door, and found themselves back out on the street.

"How?" Joss asked in confusion.

"Triss! Joss! Where have you two been?"

The both turned to see a pair of adults standing down the street from them. It was their mothers, and behind them, the Junk Peddler's encampment.

"We went straight down, we never went back up or in any other direction. How did we exit here?" Joss asked in confusion.

"Jeg'galla'gamp'pi obeys its own rules," Triss replied, still grasping her prize.

They looked behind them. The doorway led into a normal vacant house. There was no passage leading anywhere else, no sign if the room they had just come from.

The illusion faded, returning the audience to their seats beneath the trees.

"What happened to Triss and Joss?" a foal cried out.

"What is up with the statue?" another asked.

"Is the city good or bad?"

The storyteller smiled. "I'm sorry, but that took a lot out of me. That was the first tale of Triss and Joss, or at least, the first half of the first tale. I shall complete it again in a little while, once I have eaten and drank. There are many tales to tell of them, more than I could tell if I spent my entire lifetime speaking. Give me a few minutes to rest. Maybe you can discuss among yourselves the significance of what you have seen."

Perhaps you will live to see the final tale come to completion. This has been the greatest tragedy ever told, but hopefully it shall come to an end soon.

Author's Note

An odd break in the story, but it has its purpose to the overall story.

Explanation of Narrative for those who are not aware of it from previous stories:

The Narrative is the consciousness and will of the Story. The Story's closest Equestrian equivalent is Harmony with the Narrative being the Equivalent of the Tree of Harmony. The Narrative basically gives a little nudge to events to help make them go the way that best lines up with the Story.

The Narrative also interacts with individuals called Storytellers. Jennifer is the most notable of the Storytellers and the only one that does down and has direct conversations with the Narrative. For other Storytellers they get information from the Narrative through other means– song, painting, various trances, bone readings. Consider them oracles or prophets who glean information about the past, present, or possible future from the Narrative.